Iran-backed Houthi rebels battle forces loyal to former president as UN calls for end to Saudi-led coalition’s blockade

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Violent clashes between rival factions in Yemen’s rebel-held capital have continued for the fourth straight day as forces loyal to a former president and Iran-backed Houthi rebels faced off in the streets of Sana’a, signalling disintegration in the rebel alliance that has been at war with a Saudi-led coalition for nearly three years.

Fighting intensified on Saturday, according to accounts of local residents who said loud explosions were heard overnight across the city and into the morning. Mediation efforts by tribal elders and officials over the past few days have come to no avail.

Timeline Yemen's civil war Show Hide 2011 An Arab Spring-inspired uprising forces Yemen’s authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to agree to leave office. 2012 Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, previously Saleh’s deputy, takes over as president following an election. He was the only candidate. He struggles to unite the country’s divided political landscape, cope with food insecurity and al-Qaida threats.

2014 Houthi rebels (who belong to the Zaydi sect of Shia Islam) make advances and begin capturing the north of the country, an area they have historically controlled. In September they enter the capital, Sana’a. Hadi flees to Aden.

2015 A renewed rebel offensive forces Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia, which views the Houthis as an Iranian proxy force. It begins bombing what it says are “military targets” associated with the Houthis and forces loyal to Hadi’s predecessor, Saleh. The Saudi air campaign receives backing from a coalition of Sunni Arab states, as well as logistical support from the US, UK and France.

June 2016 The Saudi-led coalition is included on a UN blacklist of states and groups that violate children’s rights in conflict, reporting it is responsible for 60% of child deaths and injuries. After Riyadh protests, the UN removes it from the list. Human Rights Watch warns of “political manipulation”. At least 6,200 people have been killed, 2.8 million displaced.

October 2016 An airstrike by the Saudi coalition hits a funeral in Sana’a, killing 140. The UN announces a 72-hour ceasefire, which is allegedly broken by both sides.

2017 Devastated by two years of fighting, Yemen is described by the UN as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Millions facing famine and the threat of cholera.

November 2017 Saudi Arabia imposes a blockade on Yemen’s ports, following the firing of a missile at Riyadh from rebel-held territory in Yemen. Medicines, vaccines and food are prevented from entering the country. The heads of the World Food Programme, Unicef and the World Health Organisation warn “untold thousands of innocent victims, among them many children, will die”.

Rebecca Ratcliffe

“It’s been like a street war,” one resident said, adding that ambulances have been ferrying the wounded to hospitals. Theresidents spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals. There has been no official word on casualties, but the International Committee of the Red Cross said dozens had been killed and hundreds wounded in the fighting.

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Over the course of the day both sides claimed control of sensitive areas in the capital, including the airport, but nothing was confirmed.

Amid the escalating violence, the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh announced in a televised interview on Saturday with the broadcaster √Yemen al-Youm that he is open to dialogue and is willing to open a “new page” to deal with the Saudi coalition after ending its blockade and ceasing fire.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Houthi rebels check cars near Sana’a airport after clashes erupted with forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Photograph: Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images

The US-backed, Saudi-led coalition has been fighting to defeat the Iran-backed Houthis along with Saleh’s forces in Yemen since March 2015. The coalition had also imposed a blockade on the country, allowing occasional humanitarian access, with the aim of reinstating the internationally recognised government of Saleh’s successor, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The UN urged the coalition in a statement on Saturday to “fully lift” the blockade on Yemen’s Red Sea ports, saying that partial lifting only “slows the collapse toward a massive humanitarian tragedy costing millions of lives”.

Saleh, who led Yemen for more than 30 years, was deposed after 2011 Arab Spring uprisings that swept the Middle East. The country has since fallen into chaos and Saleh later joined the Houthis to drive Hadi out of the capital in 2014.

In his address, he also blamed the Houthis for laying siege to the homes of several officials in the General People’s Congress (GPC) party, which he leads, and “storming” a mosque named after him. Broadcasting of Yemen al-Youm was stopped shortly after.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Yemeni woman watches the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s television interview. Photograph: Yahya Arhab/EPA

Officials working at the TV station say Houthis raided its headquarters. They spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals.

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Earlier, the rebel-run Al-Masirah television quoted a Houthi spokesman as saying that Saleh was “turning against the alliance and partnership”.

The rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi later described Saleh’s stance as a “betrayal” and is forcing Houthis to stand against him and forces loyal to him.

Seeing the strains in the rebel alliance, the Saudi-led coalition praised the GPC’s move to take the initiative, saying this “will rid Yemen of the evils of Iranian militias”, referring to the Houthis in a statement carried by Saudi news agency SPA.

The coalition also said it realised the GPC had been through “difficult times” during its alliance with the Houthis.

The Arab world’s poorest country suffered heavy losses due to the war that killed more than 10,000 people, displace over 3 million, pushed it to the brink of famine and contributed to an exacerbating cholera epidemic.