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ByAhmedAl-Haj The Associated Press SANAA, YEMEN Saudi- led airstrikes hit weapons caches held by Iran-backed Shiite rebels, touching off massive explosions Mon- day in Yemen's capital that killed at least 19 people and buried scores of others un- der the rubble of flattened homes. The U.S. Navy has dis- patched the aircraft car- rier USS Theodore Roos- evelt toward the waters off Yemen to join other Amer- ican ships prepared to in- tercept any Iranian vessels carrying weapons to the rebels, U.S. officials said. After the coalition air- strikes, mushroom clouds rose over the mountainous outskirts of Sanaa, where the arms depots are located. The Fag Atan area has been targeted several times since March 26, the start of the air campaign against the rebels known as Houthis. "It was like the doors of hell opened all of a sudden," said Mohammed Sarhan, whose home is less than 1 mile from the site. "I felt the house lift up and fall." The blasts — among the most powerful in Sa- naa since the airstrikes be- gan — deposited a layer of soot on the top floors of buildings in Sanaa and left streets littered with glass. Anti-aircraft fire rattled in response. One bomb hit near the Iranian Embassy in Sanaa, drawing a sharp rebuke from Tehran. Saudi Arabia and sev- eral of its allies, mainly Gulf Arab countries, have been trying to drive back the rebels, who seized Sanaa in September and have over- run many other northern provinces with the help of security forces loyal to for- mer President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The U.S. supports the Saudi campaign. Western governments and Sunni Arab countries say the Houthis get their arms from Iran. Tehran and the rebels deny that, al- though the Islamic Republic has provided political and humanitarian support to the Shiite group. The Houthis and Saleh's forces have also advanced on the southern port of Aden, Yemen's main sea hub, forcing President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee the country last month. The Houthis and their allies have been trying to take over Aden for weeks. The announcement that the USS Theodore Roos- evelt was moving through the Arabian Sea toward the region comes amid re- ports that a convoy of Ira- nian ships may be headed toward Yemen to arm the Houthis. There are about nine U.S. ships in the region, includ- ing cruisers and destroyers carrying teams that can board and search other ves- sels. The U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not au- thorized to discuss the ship movement on the record. One of Monday's air- strikes hit dangerously close to the Iranian Em- bassy, shattering windows but causing no casualties among the staff, the Ira- nian state TV reported. Iran summoned the kingdom's envoy in Tehran in protest. Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian warned the Saudis to abide by their international obliga- tions and respect diplomatic missions, the report said, adding that it held Riyadh responsible for the safety of its mission in Sanaa. In a column in Monday's New York Times, Iranian Foreign Minister Moham- mad Javad Zarif called for a regional dialogue, and said "Yemen would be a good place to start." He noted that Iran had urged an immediate cease- fire, humanitarian aid and an "intra-Yemeni dialogue" leading to the formation of a national unity government. WORLD AirstrikestouchoffmassiveblastsinYemen'scapital HANIMOHAMMED—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS People flee from their homes a er a Saudi-led airstrike hit a site where many believe the largest weapons cache in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, is located. By Christopher Torchia The Associated Press JOHANNESBURG Only a few miles separate Alexan- dra, a gritty Johannesburg township where South Af- ricans attacked immigrants last week, from Sandton, a district jammed with high- end stores, restaurants and gleaming office towers sym- bolizing the upper reaches of the prosperity that at- tracted so many job-seek- ers to South Africa. Adding to South Afri- ca's allure was its image as a "rainbow nation" of di- versity and inclusion af- ter white racist rule ended in 1994. Now a nation that seeks to lead in Africa is struggling with perceptions that some of its communi- ties breed intolerance to- ward foreigners, many from elsewhere in Africa. The violence against im- migrants and the looting of their shops that erupted this month in parts of Jo- hannesburg and the coastal city of Durban appear to have abated after the deaths of three South Africans and four foreigners. On Tuesday, Alexandra was bustling as uniformed students walked home after school and a few police cars patrolled streets lined with shacks made of sheet metal. The unrest, however, has been a public relations disas- ter for South Africa, a coun- try that a visiting Zambian said had been perceived as a "heaven of Africa" because of its relative wealth, stabil- ity and freedom. The Zambian, Dennis Nyati, was attending a Jo- hannesburg conference hosted this week by Afri- can Monitor, a South Africa- based group that promotes development. Another dele- gate, Yoadan Workneh Shif- eraw of Ethiopia, speculated that South Africans involved in the attacks had forgotten "how cruel it was during apartheid," when the coun- try's white minority rulers harshly suppressed dissent. She said: "Now they're doing it to someone else." The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki- moon, on Wednesday con- demned "the wave of xeno- phobic violence in South Africa" and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims. In a statement, he said he welcomes the public expres- sions of the many South Af- ricans who have been call- ing for peaceful coexistence and harmony with foreign nationals. He also urged that all efforts are made to avert future attacks. More than 2,000 Mo- zambicans have returned home from South Africa because of the violence, Mouzinho Saide, Mozam- bique's deputy health min- ister, said Wednesday. Hun- dreds of immigrants have also taken buses back to Malawi and Zimbabwe. As many as 7,000 immigrants are living in South African refugee camps after fleeing their homes, according to Doctors Without Borders. More than 300 suspects in the unrest have been ar- rested, the South African government said. 'RAINBOW NATION' So ut h Af ri ca 's i ma ge s uff er s a er a nt i- im mi gr an t at ta ck s By Trisha Thomas and Chris Mangion The Associated Press ABOARD THE PHOENIX From the bridge of their 130-foot refitted yacht, Christopher and Regina Catrambone are stepping in to fill the void they say has been left by an ineffec- tive European response to the Mediterranean migrant crisis. The Malta-based insur- ance entrepreneurs are among legions of volunteers working with the Italian coast guard, non-govern- mental groups and others to save lives and meet the ba- sic needs of migrants who survive treacherous cross- ings from Libya. The Euro- pean Union as a whole will be asked to do more at an emergency summit Thurs- day. The couple founded the Malta-based Migrant Off- shore Aid Station in 2013 after the drowning of 366 people off the island of Lampedusa, and are gear- ing up for a six-month tour of duty rescuing migrants in need. "Nobody deserves to die out at sea in such desper- ation," Regina Catrambone said from the Phoenix, docked in the Marsa boat- yard near Valletta, Malta's capital. The Catrambones are joined in the volunteer ef- fort by people like 21-year- old Ibrahima D'Amic, a Muslim refugee from Sen- egal who was rescued from a rubber dinghy in 2013 off Sicily and now spends his free time handing out sand- wiches and helping new ar- rivals in his adopted home- town of Catania. "A poor guy helping a poor," D'Amic says of him- self. "I wish I could do more." D'Amic works with the Sant'Egidio Community, a Catholic aid group that helps refugees. He is of- ten seen at night delivering food to the homeless on Cat- ania's streets, though these days as he waits for his asy- lum application to be re- viewed, he is also helping to prepare welcome kits of toothbrushes and other ne- cessities for new arrivals. "I have been so grateful," D'Amic says of his chance at a new life. "But if someone ask me 'What are the things you did in your life which you regret most,' it is com- ing through the sea." The Catrambones hope to give more people like him a chance. They founded the Migrant Offshore Aid Sta- tion in response to Pope Francis' call for ordinary people to reverse the "glo- balization of indifference" that has long confronted refugees seeking a better life in Europe. "We believe search and rescue is the number one priority," Christopher Ca- trambone said. "More as- sets should be put out there because more deaths are go- ing to happen." With the Phoenix and two rigid-hulled rubber boats, the team will head out into the Mediterra- nean May 2 along with two doctors and a nurse from Doctors Without Borders. MOAS works with local search and rescue author- ities, using its own drones to locate and photograph ships in distress and relay the coordinates to author- ities. The MOAS teams re- spond themselves when di- rected to do so, providing initial rescue and medical care until authorized ships arrive on the scene. The team is headed by a former Maltese defense chief and consists of about 20 people. In its first year of operation, some 3,000 people were rescued over 60 days, said Christopher Catrambone, a native of New Orleans who moved to Malta with his Italian wife and their daughter in 2008. In its first year, MOAS was funded entirely by the Catrambone family. Last fall, they launched a crowd- funding initiative to help defray the 600,000 euro ($644,000) a month oper- ating costs. MEDITERRANEAN Volunteers step in to fill void in European migrant crisis THEMBA HADEBE — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Foreign nationals line up for food at a temporary refugee camp, east of Johannesburg, South Africa. Thiscouldbeyourluckyday by helping a dog or cat find a loving home from... 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