Houthi militia sets up body to run Yemen, targets Saudi cities

Shi'ite Muslim rebels hold up their weapons during a rally against air strikes in Sanaa — Houthi militia in Yemen

Iran-backed Houthi militia and its allies in former President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s General People’s Congress party have signed an agreement to set up a council to run the country, Al Arabiya News Channel reported.

In a statement carried by the Houthi-run state news agency sabanews.net, the two groups said that the council would include a rotating leadership that included a president and a deputy from both sides.

In response, the foreign minister of Yemen’s internationally recognized government dubbed the development as yet another coup by the Houthis. The minister also urged the international community to act against this move.

The move comes as UN-sponsored peace talks now underway in Kuwait show no sign of producing an agreement to end Yemen’s civil war.

A ceasefire accord between the Houthis and President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s loyalists has repeatedly been violated since it took effect in April.

The move comes as U.N.-sponsored peace talks now underway in Kuwait show no sign of producing an agreement to end Yemen’s civil war. The conflict has drawn in a coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia and precipitated a humanitarian crisis in one of the poorest countries in the Middle East.

Yemen has been wracked by chaos since late 2014, when the Houthis and their allies overran Sanaa and other parts of the country, forcing President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and his Saudi-backed government to temporarily flee to Riyadh. Saudi soldiers

The Saudi-led coalition began a military campaign against Iran-backed Houthi militias in March 2015. It sides with the President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, while the Houthis are aligned with ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was ousted after Yemen revolution in 2012.

Houthi rockets damage buildings in Jazan

Security sources on Tuesday said that some rockets launched from across the Yemen landed in the Samtah region of Jazan Province, causing destruction to some buildings in the area.

The rockets were fired by the Houthi militias loyal to deposed president Ali Abdullah Saleh. They fell on the courtyard of Sheikh Nasir Qur’an Memorization School and on a house and caused minor damages.
No one was injured in the attack.

The Saudi Forces retaliated by destroying the Yemeni rocket launchers.
Ambulances headed to the locations where the rockets fell, but found only slight damages to some buildings, the sources said.

Citizens of Samtah region expressed confidence in the capabilities of Saudi Land Forces and Border Guards, and pride in the Saudi armed forces’ weaponry, which keeps them safe.