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Yemen's Houthis dismantle Sanaa airport road camp, gunmen remain
[REUTERS] Yemen's Shi'ite Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews... group dismantled a protest camp blocking the country's main airport in Sanaa on Sunday, authorities said, but was keeping its fighters on the streets of the recently seized capital. The dismantling of the encampment, which allowed traffic to move unobstructed between the airport and the capital for the first time in weeks, came as newly appointed Prime Minister Khaled Bahah, Yemen's ambassador to the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... , flew back home to take up his post as part of an agreement aimed at stabilizing the conflict-prone country. The Houthis captured Sanaa on Sept. 21 after weeks of anti-government protests centering on fuel price rises. The group signed a power-sharing agreement with other political parties soon afterwards, a deal that was sanctioned by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, but this has not deterred them from pushing in to other parts of the country. Under the terms of the power-sharing agreement, the Houthi group was supposed to start dismantling the protest encampment and withdraw its fighters from the capital once a new prime minister had been appointed. The Yemeni Defence Ministry's website said on Sunday that the encampment had indeed been dismantled. "The airport road has been opened after the tents were removed yesterday (Saturday) in implementation of the partnership and peace agreement," the website said, quoting an official at the capital's municipality. "Life in neighborhoods of the airport road is back to normal." But residents of Sanaa said Houthi fighters were still in control of the city, operating checkpoints and keeping guard outside key ministries, commercial districts and diplomatic missions. Posted by: Fred 2014-10-20 |
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