Sana’a- Yemeni Information Minister Nadia Sakaff, said on Tuesday in Sana’a, that Houthi rebels have launched an attack on the house of President Abd-Rabu Hadi.
He said the President of Yemen was coming under attack from armed militias who wish to overthrow the government.
Sakaff said that fighters of the Shiite rebel movement, which seized control of most of the capital in September, started firing on Hadi’s residence at about 4 pm.
President Abd-Rabu Hadi earlier warned that his country faced a choice “to be or not to be, as the Houthis maintained a siege on the prime minister’s residence for a second day running.
The president warned his advisors and top security officials that “It may be possible to resolve and discuss this today, but it may not be possible tomorrow or the day after,”.
Hadi called for an urgent meeting of the country’s political forces, including the Houthi Shiite rebel movement, which took effective control of Sana’a in September.
A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed that Prime Minister Khaled Bahah’s residence remained under siege by the rebels. Bahah’s whereabouts were unclear.
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On Monday, Houthi representatives and the interior and defence ministers agreed to a ceasefire, which the Houthis said would also involve addressing their concerns about the draft constitution.
Meanwhile, officials and tribal leaders in Chief of staff, Ahmed Mubarak’s native southern Yemen said they would block oil and gas exports, a mainstay of the country’s fragile economy, until his release.
Information Minister Sakaff said the sides had failed to agree on the release of Hadi’s who was taken captive by the Houthis on Saturday.
The British delegation to the United Nations said the UN Security Council would hold closed consultations later Tuesday on the “deteriorating situation” in Yemen.
The Houthis, who seek to revive the Zaydi Shiite traditions of the historically dominant northern highlands, have expanded across much of northern and central Yemen in the past year.
A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said as tension continued in the capital, the commander of an infantry brigade in southern Yemen escaped an ambush by suspected al-Qaeda gunmen in which five of his bodyguards were killed,.
He said gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons on General Yahya Abu Awja’s convoy near the town of al-Qatan in Wadi Hadhramaut.
The officer said the militants have repeatedly attacked army units in the remote inland valley. (dpa/NAN)
