ADEN: Shiite militia in Yemen seized the airport in a key central city Sunday as deteriorating security prompted Washington to evacuate personnel and the UN Security Council to call an emergency session.
The Houthis and their allies seized the airport in the city of Taez, which is just 180 km north of Aden on the road to Sanaa and seen as a strategic entry point to Hadi’s refuge. Security sources told AFP 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. Security sources said Houthi militiamen were also patrolling parts of Taez and had set up checkpoints in Raheda, some 80 km south of the city on the road to Aden.
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.
Abed Rabbo Mansour 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.”
Yemen has long been a key US ally in the fight against extremism, allowing Washington to carry out drone strikes on AQAP on its territory.
But in statement on Saturday, Washington said it was evacuating its remaining personnel from the country.
“Due to the deteriorating security situation in Yemen, the US government has temporarily relocated its remaining personnel out of Yemen,” State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said.
The US would “continue to actively monitor terrorist threats emanating from Yemen and have capabilities postured in the area to address them,” Rathke said
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