Yemen's ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh killed by Houthis in Sanaa

[basquebromance]

the dominant figure in Yemeni life is gone and all bets are off.

The next few days will be hell. Either Houthis will take full control of Sanaa or coalition & Hadi forces will push into the city. Both scenarios will involve many civilian casualties. Hearts and minds with Sanaa.

Nawal Al-maghafi on Twitter

 

[basquebromance]

Houthis who killed Saleh were saying "your revenge Sayyidi Hussein." Hussein Al-Houthis was the founder of the rebel group and was killed by orders from Saleh in 2004.

 

[waltky]

Yemen's former leader Ali Abdullah Saleh 'killed'...

Yemen's former leader Ali Abdullah Saleh 'killed'
4 Dec.`17 - Reports from Yemen say ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been killed in fighting with his former allies.

Media controlled by the rebel Houthi movement quoted officials as declaring the "end of the crisis of the treason militia and the killing of its leader". Sources in Mr Saleh's General People's Congress party also confirmed that he was dead, according to Al Arabiya TV. Pictures and video circulated online showed the body of a man resembling Mr Saleh with a severe head wound. Until last week, Mr Saleh's supporters had been fighting alongside the Houthis in a war against Yemen's current president, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.

Ali Abdullah Saleh became an ally of the Houthis after Yemen's civil war began in 2015​

But longstanding political tensions and a dispute over control of the main mosque in the rebel-controlled capital, Sanaa, triggered fierce clashes that have left more than 125 people dead and 238 wounded since Wednesday night. On Saturday, Mr Saleh offered to "turn a new page" with the Saudi-led coalition backing Mr Hadi if it stopped attacking Yemen and ended its crippling blockade.

The coalition and Mr Hadi's government welcomed the comments. But the Houthis accused Mr Saleh of staging a "coup" against "an alliance he never believed in". More than 8,670 people have been killed and 49,960 injured since the coalition intervened in the civil war in March 2015, according to the UN. The conflict and the blockade have also left 20.7 million people in need of humanitarian aid, created the world's largest food security emergency, and led to a cholera outbreak that is thought to have killed 2,211 people since April.

Former Yemen leader Saleh 'killed'

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Ali Abdullah Saleh, Ex-President of Yemen, Is Said to Have Died
DEC. 4, 2017 — Ali Abdullah Saleh, the former president of Yemen, was killed after his home was blown up in the war-torn capital, Sana, on Monday, according to reports from both sides in the conflict.

The Interior Ministry, which is controlled by Houthi rebels, reported that Mr. Saleh had been killed. Ali al-Bukhaiti, a Yemeni politician who is well connected with Mr. Saleh’s party, the General People’s Congress, also said the president had died. “The news is 100 percent true,” he said. The precise circumstances of his death remained unclear. Ahmad al-Hawati, a resident of Sana, was told by relatives living near Mr. Saleh’s complex that it had been bombed by rebels, and an official in the General People’s Congress also said the complex, on a busy street, had been bombed. The official declined to be identified by name because he had not been authorized to speak to reporters. The episode followed a rift two days ago with the Houthis, Mr. Saleh’s former allies in the fight against a Saudi-led coalition, which imposed a blockade on Yemen last month after a missile fired by the rebels was intercepted near the Saudi capital.

Former president Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen at a rally with his supporters in Sana, Yemen, in August.​

In a televised speech on Saturday, Mr. Saleh blamed the “idiocy” of the Shiite Houthis for years of war in Yemen and said he was ready to turn a “new page” in his relationship with the Saudi-led coalition if its forces ceased attacking Yemen. Mr. Saleh stepped down in 2011, in the popular uprising known as the Arab Spring, after many Yemenis turned against him. Until then, he had been known as a shrewd and dogged survivor of Yemen’s tangled, tribal politics. He once compared his years in office to “dancing on the heads of snakes.” In the latest fighting, he was initially allied with the Houthis, themselves loosely aligned with Iran, but the relationship became fissured. Sunni-led Arab states embroiled in the conflict suspect the Shiite theocracy in Tehran of using the Houthis as part of their broader struggle against Saudi Arabia for regional dominance.

In his televised address on Saturday, Mr. Saleh declared: “I call upon the brothers in neighboring states and the alliance to stop their aggression, lift the siege, open the airports and allow food aid and the saving of the wounded, and we will turn a new page by virtue of our neighborliness.” The Saudi-led coalition seemed to welcome his remarks. A statement on the Saudi-owned news outlet Al Hadath said the coalition was “confident of the will of the leaders and sons” of Mr. Saleh’s political party to effect a rapprochement. The weekend maneuvering came as Mr. Saleh’s supporters fought Houthi adversaries for a fourth day in Sana. At least 80 people were reported killed as the fighting threatened to escalate.

Houthi fighters during clashes with forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, in Sana on Monday.​

On Sunday, Houthi rebels said they had fired a cruise missile at a $20 billion nuclear facility under construction in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, which is allied with Saudi Arabia. But a state-run news agency in the United Arab Emirates denied the assertion. The fighting in Yemen has been accompanied by signs of famine and outbreaks of cholera as humanitarian conditions have sharply deteriorated.

Ali Abdullah Saleh, Ex-President of Yemen, Is Said to Have Died

 

[basquebromance]

Saleh regime's leftovers in Riyadh living a luxurious life. Corrupt, lazy, completely disconnected from the reality on the ground, and (just like Houthis) are invested in sustaining this war.

 

[basquebromance]

Saleh created Yemen as we know it, then he proved himself willing to burn the country to the ground in order to remain in power