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A Saudi-led air campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen has been "very successful" and gone "beyond its goals," Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States said Wednesday, AFP reported.

In the past three weeks, the campaign "has been able to degrade and destroy much of the military infrastructure that Houthis and (former president Ali Abdullah) Saleh possess," said ambassador Adel al-Jubeir.

He told reporters in Washington that "we are also beginning to see cracks" in the Houthi and Saleh military ranks and "we see military commanders defecting back to the regular Yemeni military."

"We expect to see more and more of them as pressure intensifies," he said, adding "this operation will continue until objectives are achieved. There can be no half measures."

Saudi Arabia and a coalition of Arab countries launched the air strikes on March 26, after the Iran-backed rebels seized the capital Sanaa late last year.

The Shiite rebels then advanced on the main southern city of Aden, where President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi had taken refuge, forcing him to flee to Riyadh.

The Houthis have allied with troops loyal to Saleh, who was forced from power in 2012 following a year of nationwide protests against his three-decade rule.