Dubai: Yemen’s Al Houthi rebels on Sunday swept into the strategic central city of Taiz ahead of a United Nations meeting on the deteriorating situation in the country, local officials said.
Al Houthi insurgents captured several state facilities in Taiz, including the city’s airport, airbase and a court complex, they added.
“Houthi forces also took control of the city’s central prison Saturday night and set up checkpoints near the prison,” an official confirmed.
Taiz, located some 255 kilometres south of the Al Houthi-held capital Sana’a, is the access point to Yemen’s southern part, where internationally recognised President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi is based.
In September, the Al Houthis seized Sana’a and have since controlled much of northern Yemen, raising fears of a civil war. The Al Houthis have vowed to retaliate against forces loyal to Hadi after at least 137 people were killed in twin suicide bombings on Friday.
Soldiers loyal to the Al Houthis and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh seized the airport in Taiz and set up checkpoints in the city, Salah Noman, an anti-Houthi activist, said by phone. The US evacuated all remaining personnel in the country due to the deteriorating security, State Department spokesperson Jeff Rathke said in an e-mailed statement.
The escalation of violence threatens to split a country that only reunified in 1990 after decades of division. The erosion of government authority has already allowed Al Qaida to take root in Yemen and use it as a base for operations against Arab and Western nations.
“If it does turn into a civil war, then we’re in a for a long, protracted conflict,” Sultan Barakat, senior fellow and director of research at the Brookings Doha Centre, said by phone. “It doesn’t look promising.”
Late on Saturday night, King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia received His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and first Deputy Prime Minister, Shaikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al Thani, Qatar’s Prime Minister and Interior Minister, and Shaikh Mohammad Al Khalid Al Sabah, Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior to discuss the latest developments in Yemen.
The leaders reiterated the support of the Gulf Cooperation Council to President Hadi and underlined their readiness to make every possible effort to support Yemen’s security and stability, adding that the security of all GCC countries and that of Yemen is inseparable.
They also underlined the importance of a speedy response to Yemeni President’s call to hold a conference in Riyadh under the umbrella of GCC countries to be attended by all political groups interested in protecting Yemen’s stability and security
The Al Houthis ordered troops to “carry out their duties in repulsing this dirty war,” according to a statement carried by the Saba news agency. They blamed “terrorist elements” in militias loyal to Hadi for attacks in the cities of Aden, Lahj and Sana’a.
Hadi, who fled to Aden in southern Yemen after weeks of house arrest by the Al Houthis, said the suicide bombings were aimed at dragging the country into chaos.
“There’s no one right now that can beat the other,” Farea Al Muslimi, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Centre, said by phone from Sana’a. “It’s a very dangerous situation.”
Compiled from agencies
