ADEN: Houthi fighters opposed to Yemen’s president took over the central city of Taiz in an escalation of a power struggle that diplomats say risks drawing in neighbouring Saudi Arabia and its main regional rival Iran.

Residents of Taiz, on a main road from the capital Sanaa to the country’s second city of Aden, said that Shia Houthi men took over the city’s military airport without a struggle from local authorities late on Saturday.

Eyewitnesses in the central province of Ibb reported seeing dozens of tanks and military vehicles headed southwards from Houthi-controlled areas towards Taiz, while activists in the city said Houthi gunmen shot into the air to disperse protests by residents demonstrating against their presence.

Conflict has been spreading across Yemen since last year when the Houthis seized the capital and effectively removed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who now seeks a comeback from his base in Aden.

The advance of the Iranian-backed group has angered Gulf Arab states led by Saudi Arabia.

The Houthi spread into mostly Sunni areas in the centre and west have led to months of clashes with local tribes and Al Qaeda, raising fears that the poor and heavily armed country at the base of the Arabian Peninsula might descend into civil war.

Iran on Sunday called for dialogue, but suggested that Mr Hadi should leave to spare the country further bloodshed.

“The expectation is that President ... Hadi will resign rather than repeat mistakes, to play a constructive role in preventing the break-up of Yemen and the transformation of Aden into a terrorist haven,” said Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, according to state news agency IRNA.

But Gulf Arab leaders and security officials had said on Saturday that Mr Hadi was Yemen’s legitimate ruler and they were ready to make “all efforts” to defend the country’s security.

“Yemen is sliding into a dark tunnel which will have serious consequences not only for Yemen but for security and stability in the region,” the officials, who included Saudi Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, said.

“The security of Yemen and of the GCC countries is an indivisible whole,” it added.

Yemen’s struggle for power intensified on Thursday, when loyalists and opponents of Mr Hadi fought gun battles in Aden.

The fighting paused by nightfall, but suicide bombings against Houthi mosques claimed by the self-styled Islamic State group killed 140 worshippers, raising tensions and leading the Houthis to announce a military mobilisation against the militants.

On Sunday, anti-aircraft guns opened fire at an unidentified plane flying over Mr Hadi’s compound in Aden and appeared to force it away, witnesses said, in the third incident of its kind since last Thursday.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2015

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