Key airport seized in Yemen as safety state of affairs deteriorates – ABC On-line

&#thirteen; Houthi rebels in Yemen have seized keep watch over of the us of a’s 1/3 biggest metropolis, prompting an emergency assembly of the United International locations Safety Council.

The Houthis seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, ultimate 12 months and the president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi used to be compelled to flee to the principle southern metropolis of Aden.

Now the Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdulah Saleh, who used to be ousted within the so-known as Arab Spring, have seized Taiz, about one hundred seventy kilometres from Aden.

Native radio journalist, Sara al-Zakari, mentioned it used to be a strategic transfer.

“This can be a very sturdy observation and it could rely as a gateway to Aden so going via Taiz after which to Aden it makes it a lot easier for the influence of the Houthis to grow and to use Taiz as a gateway to start the huge battle, as we can see,” she said.

Security sources said some 300 men, including Houthi fighters dressed in military uniforms and allied forces, had deployed at the airport and reinforcements were arriving from Sanaa by air and land.

The forces allied with the Houthis included members of the former central security force, a unit seen as loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Mr Saleh was forced from power in early 2012 after a year-long popular uprising and has been accused of working with the Houthis to restore his influence.

President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi called for “urgent intervention” from the UN Security Council to stop the Houthis advancing on Aden.

The Security Council was to meet later today at the UN headquarters in New York.

Mr Hadi, backed by Western and Gulf states as Yemen’s legitimate ruler, has struggled to reassert his authority since escaping house arrest in Sanaa last month and fleeing to Aden.

In a letter to the Security Council, he said the Houthis and their allies “not only threaten peace in Yemen but regional and international peace and security”.

He called for “urgent intervention by all available means to stop this aggression that is aimed at undermining the legitimate authority, the fragmentation of Yemen and its peace and stability.”

President decries ‘Iranian influence’

Mr Hadi has been trying to cement his power base in Aden which he declared the temporary capital after he retracted a resignation tendered under Houthi pressure.

On Thursday, his forces overran the special forces base in Aden after its commander rejected Hadi’s decision to remove him.

On Saturday he pledged to fight Iranian influence in Yemen, accusing the Houthis of importing Tehran’s ideology.

Mr Hadi said he would ensure that “the Yemeni republic flag will fly on the Marran mountain in (the Houthis’ northern stronghold) Saada, instead of the Iranian flag”.

Yemen is increasingly divided alongside sectarian traces, with the Shiite militia going through resistance from Sunni tribesmen and Al-Qaeda within the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the highly effective department of the worldwide jihadist community.

The Houthis had been centered on Friday via Islamic State, which claimed duty for a collection of devastating suicide bombings at mosques in Sanaa.

Yemen has lengthy been a key US ally within the struggle in opposition to Islamic extremism, permitting Washington to hold out drone strikes on AQAP on its territory.

However in remark on Saturday, Washington mentioned it used to be evacuating its last personnel.

“As a result of the deteriorating safety scenario in Yemen, the U. S. executive has briefly relocated its final personnel out of Yemen,” State Division spokesman Jeff Rathke mentioned.

Washington would “proceed to actively reveal terrorist threats emanating from Yemen and have capabilities postured within the space to handle them”, he stated.

The chief of the highly effective Houthi motion vowed to pursue Islamist militants in the back of suicide assaults “anyplace”.

In a are living televised speech, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi mentioned his resolution to mobilise his warring parties amid accelerating violence in latest days used to be aimed in opposition to Islamic State and towards al Qaeda.

Mr Abdel-Malek mentioned the usa used to be in peril of descending into Libya-fashion strife.

He additionally criticised the UN Safety Council, announcing it was once led through international locations that plotted “evil” towards others.

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