Shiite militia seize airport in key city
Print Edition
SHIITE militia in Yemen seized the airport in a key central city yesterday as deteriorating security prompted Washington to evacuate personnel and the UN Security Council to call an emergency session.
The Security Council was to meet later in the day after President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi called for “urgent intervention” amid mounting unrest, including suicide bombings claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 142 people in the capital Sanaa on Friday.
Impoverished but strategic Yemen has descended into chaos in recent months, with the Shiite militia, known as Houthis, seizing control of Sanaa and forcing Hadi to flee to the main southern city of Aden.
The Arabian Peninsula country is increasingly divided between a north controlled by the Houthis, who are allegedly backed by Iran, and a south dominated by Hadi’s allies.
The Houthis and their allies seized the airport in Taez, 180 kilometers north of Aden on the road to Sanaa and seen as a strategic entry point to Hadi’s refuge.
Security sources said some 300 men, including Houthi fighters 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.
Saleh was forced from power in early 2012 after a yearlong popular uprising and has been accused of working with the Houthis to restore his influence.
Security sources said Houthi militiamen were also patrolling parts of Taez and had set up checkpoints in Raheda, some 80 kilometers south of the city.
A military source said troops loyal to Hadi and southern paramilitary forces had meanwhile deployed in Lahj province, north of Aden, in anticipation of a possible advance by the Houthis.
Call for urgent intervention
Hadi, backed by Western and Gulf states as Yemen’s legitimate ruler, has been struggling 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.”
The country is increasingly divided along sectarian lines, with the Shiite militia facing resistance from Sunni tribesmen and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
The Houthis were targeted on Friday by IS, who claimed responsibility for suicide bombings at mosques in Sanaa.
Yemen has long been a key US ally in the fight against Islamic extremism, allowing Washington to carry out drone strikes on its territory.
On Saturday, Washington said it was evacuating its remaining personnel from the country. The US would “continue to actively monitor terrorist threats emanating from Yemen and have capabilities postured in the area to address them,” a State Department spokesman said.
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