Former Yemeni president assassinated by Houthi rebels

Former Yemeni President Saleh was killed in fighting between his side and Houthi rebels in the capital Sanaa.

Former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh at an event of the General People's Congress party in August 2017. Photo: Reuters.

Saudi Arabian television channel Al Arabiya today quoted a source from the General People's Congress (GPC) party of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh saying he was assassinated by a sniper.

Video posted on social media by Houthi rebels showed the body of a man resembling Saleh, dressed in grey clothes, lying under a blanket with a deep wound on his head.

Yemen's interior ministry, controlled by the Houthis, announced on the rebel group's al-Masirah television channel that "the crisis is over" and "their leadership and supporters have been eliminated", referring to Mr Saleh.

Mr Saleh was president of Yemen for 33 years before being forced to resign in 2012 following the Arab Spring movement. Yemen was then led by the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, backed by a Saudi-led coalition.

Saleh and his supporters allied with the Houthi rebels in September 2014, with the shared goal of retaking Sanaa from the Hadi government. The disagreement between the two factions escalated into conflict on November 29. Saleh's faction quickly lost ground to the Houthi rebels.

Seizing the opportunity, President Hadi ordered his forces to advance on Sanaa. "The president has instructed Vice President Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who is in Marib, east of Sanaa, to activate army units and head towards the capital," a Hadi administration official said.

The Hadi government also reached out to Saleh's supporters, pledging amnesty for them.

The collapse of the Saleh-Houthi alliance has raised fears of a new front in the war in Yemen, which has killed more than 8,750 people since a Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015. The conflict has pushed Yemen to the brink of widespread famine, described by the United Nations as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

According to VNE