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Yemeni defense minister flees from house arrest by Houthis to Aden

Xinhua, March 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

Yemen's defense minister, under house arrest by the Shiite Houthi group, managed to flee the capital Sanaa and reached the southern port city of Aden, a government official told Xinhua Sunday.

"Major General Mahmoud al-Subaihi has succeeded in leaving his house arrest late on Saturday night and arrived in Aden along with some of his followers," the local official based in Aden said on condition of anonymity.

A security official said that al-Subaihi's convoy clashed with the Houthis on its way to Aden in the southern Taiz province late on Saturday night. Five of Subaihi's bodyguards were killed and two others critically injured in the clashes, the security source said on condition of anonymity.

Late last month, Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fled to Aden after three weeks of house arrest imposed by Houthi militants after they seized control of the capital Sanaa.

On Feb. 6, the Houthi group announced a unilateral move to dissolve the parliament and form a presidential council, which was rejected by Yemen's political parties and denounced by the Gulf Arab states.

One day later, the Supreme Revolutionary Committee led by the Houthi group named al-Subaihi as acting defense minister to lead the Higher Security Committee to maintain security in the capital.

However, security sources said al-Subaihi was put under house arrest since then.

A source close to the defense minister said that dozens of Houthi militants stormed Subaihi's house in Sanaa and a number of his security personnel are put under detention.

After arriving in Aden, Hadi said he would make Aden a temporary capital as long as the Houthi group controls Sanaa.

Aden, the country's second biggest city, was capital of former South Yemen before unification with the north in 1990, when Sanaa became the unified country's capital.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have moved their embassies to Aden after more than a dozen countries closed their missions in Sanaa in February in protest against the Houthi takeover the power.

Security situation deteriorated in Yemen since January when the Shiite Houthi group seized the presidential palace in Sanaa after deadly clashes with presidential guards, leading to the resignations of Hadi and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah.

The Shiite Houthi group, also known as Ansarullah and based in the far northern province of Saada, has been expanding its influence southward after signing a United Nations-sponsored peace and power-sharing deal on Sept. 21, 2014 following week-long deadly clashes.

It has complained of marginalization for years and fought the government between 2004 and 2010.

Yemen's political parties resumed talks last week in Sanaa under the mediation of U.N. envoy Jamal Benomar, but still unable to find a solution to end the crisis. Endit