Shiite rebels seize new Yemen territory after a call to arms
Rebels’ defiance could tip Yemen into civil war
(about 7 hours later)
BEIRUT — Shiite rebels captured new territory in Yemen on Sunday in response to a call to arms from their leaders, pressing south toward the headquarters of the country’s embattled president and seizing parts of the central town of Taiz.
SANAA, Yemen — Shiite rebel forces captured new territory in Yemen on Sunday after a call to arms from their leaders, pressing south toward the headquarters of the country’s embattled president and pitching the country further toward sectarian war.
The push came a day after the Houthi rebel movement called for “a general mobilization” against forces loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who has established a rival governing authority in the southern city of Aden.
Local officials said Houthi forces had seized the airport in the central city of Taiz, sparking concerns that they were planning a push toward Aden, the port city 120 miles further southwest, where President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has set up a rival governing authority after being driven out of the capital.
Amid fears that the impoverished country is sliding into a state of all-out war, the U.N. Security Council is due to hold an emergency session Sunday to address the spiraling crisis.
After a week of escalating conflict, the U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting Sunday to address the crisis, which has resulted in the United States withdrawing its remaining military personnel from the impoverished country.
The United States pulled out its remaining 100 military personnel in Yemen on Friday after al-Qaeda briefly captured a town close to their base. The U.S. Embassy was evacuated in February, and the troop move will further undermine counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the local affiliate of the terror group, which uses Yemen as a staging ground for attacks against the West.
The U.N. special envoy for Yemen, Jamal Benomar, warned at the meeting that events appear to be leading the country “to the edge of civil war” and urged all parties to step back from the brink and resolve the conflict peacefully, the Associated Press reported.
Houthi fighters took over the military airport in Taiz without a struggle, Reuters news agency reported. The gain came despite high anti-Houthi sentiment in the city, the country’s third largest, which lies on the road between Sanaa and Yemen’s port city of Aden. The advancing fighters shot in the air to disperse protesters as they progressed, Reuters added
Benomar stressed in a video briefing from Qatar that neither the Houthis nor their opponent, Yemen’s president, could realistically expect to establish control over the whole country.
With rival regional powers of Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia backing opposing sides, the struggle has taken on an increasingly sectarian tone, stoking fears that Yemen is becoming the battleground for a proxy war between the two countries.
The instability also has given extremists linked to al-Qaeda an opportunity to step up attacks, with fears that Islamic State militants may also exploit the unrest after an affiliate took credit for the Friday bombing of two Shiite mosques in the country.
“It is difficult to imagine a more dangerous downward spiral than we have seen in Yemen in the last six months,” Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) said in a statement. “The sectarian divide is widening; a geographic chasm has opened between North and South; the proxy battle ground there between Iran and Saudi Arabia has intensified; and al-Qaeda and [the Islamic State] have a new opportunity to grow in this vast ungovernable space.”
The fighters who entered Taiz, both by land and air, were special forces from the Ministry of Interior, which is under Houthi control, said Sheikh Ahmed Mohammed Othman, a prominent anti-Houthi politician in Taiz.
[Read: Who are the Houthis?]
[Read: Who are the Houthis?]
The Houthi declaration was issued shortly after Hadi gave a televised address, his first since fleeing the capital, Sanaa, which is now under Houthi control. He stated that he is the legitimate leader of Yemen and called the actions of the Houthis a coup.
Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, is known for its anti-Houthi sentiment, and footage from the city showed large demonstrations near the seized airport Sunday, before tear gas was used to disperse crowds.
In the speech, he demanded that the militants withdraw from government buildings, return looted weapons and participate in proposed peace talks in Saudi Arabia.
“The people of Taiz refuse to have their province used as a starting point for a war against the south,” Othman said. “[The Houthis] want it to be a starting point for their attack on Aden, since it is considered the main gate to the south.”
In a sign that Yemen’s violence is taking on a sectarian dimension, Hadi also referred to the Houthis as proxies of Iran. “We shall deliver the country to safety and raise Yemen’s flag on Mount Maran in Saada, instead of the Iranian flag,” he said, referring to the northern province that is the Houthi stronghold.
The push came a day after the Houthi rebel movement called for “a general mobilization” against Hadi’s forces.
Shiite Iran has boosted support for the Houthis, who follow an offshoot of Shiite Islam known as Zaydism. Hadi’s authority, meanwhile, has received increasing support from Iran’s primary nemesis, Saudi Arabia, which is Sunni, raising concern among Yemenis that their country is becoming a proxy battleground between the regional powers.
“Yemen is definitely closer to hell than it has ever been,” said Farea al-Muslimi, an analyst with the Carnegie Middle East Center, adding that Taiz’s only strategic significance was its position on the road to Aden — and the president’s headquarters.
Iran weighed in on Sunday, with Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian declaring that the “expectation” is that Hadi should resign “to play a constructive role in preventing the break-up of Yemen and the transformation of Aden into a terrorist haven,” the official Islamic Republica News Agency reported.
A security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, dismissed theories that Houthis were planning a move south as “rumors” and said that special forces in Taiz were merely providing reinforcements against al-Qaeda.
“It is difficult to imagine a more dangerous downward spiral than we have seen in Yemen in the last six months,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said in a statement. “The sectarian divide is widening; a geographic chasm has opened between North and South; the proxy battleground there between Iran and Saudi Arabia has intensified; and al-Qaeda and [the Islamic State] have a new opportunity to grow in this vast ungovernable space.”
Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi said in a televised address that the mobilization of security forces was in order to fight al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, not the people of the south, though he dismissed Hadi as a “puppet” of the extremist groups.
On Thursday, Hadi’s allies blamed the Houthis for an airstrike that attempted to hit, but missed, the president’s palace in Aden. That alleged attack followed hours of intense clashes in the city between Hadi’s forces and military units loyal to Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was ousted as president by an uprising that began in 2011. Many Yemenis accuse Saleh of conspiring with the Houthis against Hadi.
As sectarian rhetoric gears up, the beleaguered president has branded the Houthi actions a coup and described the rebels as proxies of Iran.
Hadi’s address came a day after suicide bombers targeted two Houthi-linked mosques in Sanaa, killing as many as 137 people in one of the deadliest attacks in the country since the civil war of 1994.
Iran weighed also in Sunday, with Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian declaring that the “expectation” is that Hadi should resign “to play a constructive role in preventing the breakup of Yemen and the transformation of Aden into a terrorist haven,” the state news agency IRNA reported.
A group claiming to be a wing of the Islamic State took responsibility for Friday’s bombings. The Sunni militant group that has sowed chaos in Iraq and Syria is not known to operate in Yemen, but the incident highlights how extremists are exploiting the unrest, which began when Houthi insurgents captured Sanaa in September and toppled Hadi’s government in January.
Former president Ali Abdullah Saleh also has been accused of conspiring with the Houthis against Hadi, with the State Department on Saturday calling on the ousted leader to cease “violent incitement” as it pulled out the last of its troops.
The escalating violence prompted the United States on Saturday to announce the withdrawal of its remaining security presence in Yemen. “We urge the immediate cessation of all unilateral and offensive military actions,” the State Department said in a statement. “We join all of the other members of the Security Council in underscoring that President Hadi is the legitimate authority in Yemen and reemphasize our support for his efforts to lead Yemen through crisis. We call upon the Houthis, former President [Saleh], and their allies to stop their violent incitement that threatens President Hadi, Yemeni government officials, and innocent civilians.”
The move has raised concerns that it will undermine counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the local affiliate of the terror group, which uses Yemen as a staging ground for attacks against the West.
About 100 Special Operations troops, who specialized in assisting Yemeni forces in the fight against AQAP, were leaving the al-Annad air base, CNN reported. It was unclear whether the troops had departed the facility, which is in southern Yemen.
Morris reported from Baghdad.
On Friday, militants from AQAP captured a city close to the base before being repelled by local military units. The city, al-Houta, in Lahj province, was briefly taken by the Sunni militants in fierce clashes that killed as many as two dozen Yemeni soldiers.
AQAP has been targeted by U.S. drone strikes for years in coordination with Yemeni forces, but the recent unrest has jeopardized that counterterrorism effort. The United States withdrew its embassy personnel from Sanaa in February, and much of the Yemeni intelligence and security apparatus that participated in coordinating the drone strikes has fallen under the control of the Houthis.
In February, AQAP militants stormed a military base in the southern Shabwa province, using sophisticated attacks involving car bombs. They were forced to leave by local tribesmen. AQAP also said it ordered the attack in Paris in January against the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The group denied involvement in Friday’s suicide bombings in Sanaa.
Loveday Morris in Baghdad contributed to this report.
Read more:
Read more:
Suicide attacks on two Yemen mosques
Suicide attacks on two Yemen mosques
Fighting escalates in Yemen as Houthis launch airstrikes
Fighting escalates in Yemen as Houthis launch airstrikes
Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world
