Yemen peace deal dissolves as Shiite rebels take capital; 340 feared dead

A Shiite militia that overran the Yemeni capital seized tanks and armoured vehicles from military headquarters on Monday and raided the home of a longtime archenemy, a powerful army general and Sunni tribal leader, as officials reported that a week of fierce fighting in the city has killed at least 340 people. The heavily armed Hawthi fighters occupied the house of Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and set up checkpoints across the capital Sanaa, as the general and his allies fled and went into hiding. The move against Ahmar consolidated the Hawthis’ grip over Sanaa, now fully under rebel control. The militia had earlier seized a series of strategic installations and key state buildings in Sanaa, though it later handed most of them over to military police.

For years, the Hawthis have moved closer to Iran in terms of organisation, ideology, politics and media.

Samy Dorlian, Yemen specialist, Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Aix-en-Provence, France.

It was the latest development in the Hawthi blitz, which has plunged volatile Yemen into more turmoil. Sanaa’s northern and western districts, the scenes of fierce battles, were damaged by relentless shelling, their buildings pockmarked by gunfire and bodies of slain fighters left rotting in the streets. The fighting was initially reported to have killed 140 people but health ministry official Ali Sayria told state-run news agency SABA that 200 bodies were retrieved on Monday from the streets where ambulances could not reach them during the clashes. Resident Ahmed al-Hamdani said he saw Red Crescent staff carrying away bodies from the street he lives on. He said some “were torn, with no limbs,” a testimony to the intensity of the fighting.

Middle East