Yemen crisis: Houthi rebels clash with army in Sanaa.. Fierce fighting between troops and Shia Houthi rebels has erupted in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, with the presidential palace and PMs convoy attacked. Prime Minister Khaled Bahahs motorcade was shot at after he left a meeting with the president, though no-one was hurt, the information minister said. Clashes began early on Monday in one of the most serious challenges to the government for months. The rebels overran Sanaa last year before signing a UN-backed deal. Under the agreement with President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, the Houthis pledged to withdraw from the capital once a new unity government was formed. However, the rebels have remained in place and since expanded their presence in mainly Sunni central and western parts of the country. Media seized Heavy gunfire and explosions were reported near the presidential compound and the residence of the national security chief in the early hours of the morning. Columns of black smoke rose over the palace as soldiers and Houthi fighters fired heavy machine-guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars at each others positions. Soldiers blocked roads leading to the presidential palace after the clashes erupted Tensions between the government and the Houthis have risen in recent days Rebels also took over state-run TV and the official news agency, Saba, according to reports quoting Information Minister Nadia Sakkaf. The Houthis TV channel, al-Maseera, said the clashes erupted after troops fired on a rebel patrol. An unnamed Yemeni military official told the Associated Press that the Houthis provoked the attack by approaching military positions in the area and setting up their own checkpoints. The information ministry later said a ceasefire had been agreed, but there was no sign of an end to the fighting. Activist Hisham al-Omeisy wrote on Twitter that bodies lay in the streets. Abduction The presidential guard has reportedly deployed reinforcements to the streets around the palace and outside the residence of President Hadi. There were also reports of gunfire and explosions in the Hadda district, in the south of the city. A witness told the Reuters news agency that he saw gunmen in a street that is home to several senior government security officials, including the defence minister. Tensions between the government and the Houthis, which were already running high, escalated when rebels abducted the presidents chief of staff on Saturday. The rebels said they seized Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak to disrupt a meeting he was to attend that day on the draft constitution, which they oppose, and to prevent Septembers peace deal from being broken. The Houthis, who adhere to a branch of Shia Islam known as Zaidism, have staged periodic uprisings since 2004 in an effort to win greater autonomy for their northern heartland of Saada province. They consolidated their control over Saada during the 2011 uprising that forced long-time President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. Since July the rebels have inflicted defeats on tribal and militia groups backed by the leading Sunni Islamist party, Islah, and battled jihadist militants from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has vowed to defend the countrys Sunni community. Opponents allege that the rebels ultimately hope to reinstall the Zaidi imamate, which ruled North Yemen for almost 1,000 years until 1962.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 12:09:54 +0000
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