Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Houthis Take Over Presidential Palace in Yemen, Attack President’s Residence

1/21/2015

SANA’A – Shiite Houthi rebel fighters on Tuesday took over the presidential palace in the south of Sana’a and bombed the residence of Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, located to the west of the capital.

A group of Houthis, accompanying a commission formed by president Hadi to verify the implementation of a ceasefire that was signed Monday between the Presidency and the rebels, had started an argument with a few presidential guards.

The quarrel resulted in a violent confrontation, official sources and witnesses told Efe.

Following the clashes, hundreds of Shiite fighters stormed the palace and moved inside the building, forcing employees and presidential guards to leave.

Efe witnessed the rebels loyal to the movement’s current leader, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, closing all of the presidential palace’s windows and installing checkpoints on every road leading to the building.

It is expected that al-Houthi will give a speech to the Yemeni people in the coming hours through the movement’s official television channel al-Maseera.

Meanwhile, Yemeni Information Minister Nadia Sakkaf confirmed through her Twitter account that the rebels had taken control of the presidential palace in an attempt to topple the regime.

The minister added that the rebels attacked Hadi’s house from the top of the buildings surrounding the Yemeni president’s residence.

The Houthi insurgent movement started taking over some of Yemen’s northwestern governorates back in November 2011, after rejecting the provisions of a reconciliation deal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The group adheres to a Zaidi Shia interpretation of Islam, and takes its name from its former commander, Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, killed in 2004 by government forces.


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