(CNN) The Iranian-backed Houthi movement has formed a new government in the capital of Yemen, in a surprise move that is expected to hinder efforts to end a 20-month-old civil war in the impoverished country.

The minority Shia group has been in control of Sanaa over the past two years, after driving out the internationally-recognized government and forcing its president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, to flee to neighboring Saudi Arabia.

The so-called National Salvation Government, formed on Monday, will be headed by Abdul Aziz Habtoor, a politician who had defected from Hadi's government and joined the Houthi coalition last year, according to the movement's news agency Saba.

Houthi spokesperson Mohammed al Bukhaiti said that the new government, formed with a number of allied groups, "was meant to strengthen the partnership in the country."

"It includes parties from all the political spectrum," he told CNN over the phone from Sanaa, while adding that it excluded politicians supportive of Hadi's exiled government.

Read More