Houthi Shiite Yemenis raise their fists during clashes near the presidential palace in Sanaa
Yemen’s President Abdurabuh Mansur Hadi has negotiated a cease-fire to end fighting in the capital, Sana’a, as rebel Shiite Houthis battled soldiers near Yemen’s presidential palace and elsewhere across the capital yesterday, seizing control of the country’s state-run media in a move an official called “a step toward a coup.”
The fighting near the palace marks the biggest challenge yet to the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi by the Houthis. Hadi will meet with political advisers and Houthi representatives to defuse the crisis, said an aide to the president, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the press. Fighting had erupted earlier yesterday after the Houthis set up a checkpoint near the presidential compound, Al-Masdar news website reported.
Houthi rebels seized Sana’a last year after advancing from their northern base and forced the president to form a new government. Their surge has prompted al-Qaeda and Sunni tribal fighters to step up attacks against the Shiite group, raising the prospect of the state’s collapse along sectarian lines and alarming neighboring Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter.
Tensions surged in the capital after Houthi fighters kidnapped Ahmed Bin Mubarak, the director of the president’s office, on Jan. 17. He and three people with him were snatched by fighters who set up a checkpoint, a government official, asking not to be identified because of the issue’s sensitivity, said at the time.
Since taking Sana’a, the Houthi fighters have sought to consolidate their grip by embedding supporters in security forces and keeping key ministries and the central bank under guard. They have also taken control of Yemen’s second-largest port on the Red Sea and a crossing post on the Saudi border. Shaji Mathew , Bloomberg/AP
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