Yemen rebels tighten hold after killing ex-strongman

Thousands of Huthi supporters rallied in Sanaa on Tuesday as the rebels cemented their grip on the Yemeni capital after killing their former ally ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Following Saleh's death at the hands of Huthi fighters Monday, fears had mounted of an uptick in the violence that has devastated the Arab world's poorest country over the past few years.

A night of heavy air strikes followed in Sanaa as well as skirmishes between the Huthis and Saleh's supporters in southern districts that had been loyal to the slain strongman.

But there was no repetition of the fierce fighting that had rocked the capital for the five previous nights.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, or ICRC, said at least 234 people had been killed and 400 wounded in what it described as the "fiercest" clashes since the conflict began in March 2015.

New checkpoints manned by rebels sprung up across Sanaa as their leaders hailed their control of the capital, rallying supporters and pledging that backers of Saleh were safe.

Huthi supporters massed in their thousands near the capital's international airport, shouting "Sanaa is free and the state still stands!" and "Yemenis are one!" as rebel chiefs struck a conciliatory tone, declaring they were "ensuring the safety" of members of Saleh's General People's Congress party.

But the GPC slammed the rebels as "militias of treason and backstabbing" in an obituary for one of their top leaders.

Tarek Saleh, a nephew of the ex-president and commander in his troops, died after sustaining a shrapnel wound during the Sanaa clashes, the GPC announced Tuesday.

Reports of widespread arrests of suspected Saleh supporters in the army and the rebel government also spread. They were confirmed by GPC vice president and Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Bin Daghr, although not the Huthis.

- Rebels target 'collaborators' -

Saleh al-Sammad, head of the Huthi's political council, said Monday he had ordered the security forces to "take steps against the saboteurs and all those who collaborated with them".

Former strongman Saleh retained the loyalty of some of the best equipped units of the army after being forced to step down as president in 2012.

Saleh, who ruled Yemen for three decades, had joined forces with the Huthis in 2014 when they took control of large parts of the country, including Sanaa.

But that alliance unravelled over the past week as Saleh reached out to the Saudi-led coalition that has waged an air campaign against the Huthis since March 2015.

The coalition stepped up its bombardment of the capital overnight, carrying out at least seven strikes on the rebel-held presidential palace, witnesses said.

There was no word of any casualties.

Yemen's war has left thousands dead, led to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises and deepened tensions between arch-rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, who both took a firm stand on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia called for a Yemen free of "militias supported by Iran" in its first official statement since Saleh's death.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani meanwhile warned that "the people of Yemen will make their aggressors regret their actions", in reference to the Saudi-led coalition.

- 'Drip-fed for years' -

The commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, said Saleh was killed because he had been trying to overthrow the Huthis.

"The traitor Saudis are seeking to create insecurity in the region under orders from the United States and working alongside Israel... We witnessed their attempt to launch a coup against (the Huthis), which was strangled at birth," Jafari said.

Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit condemned Saleh's killing, saying that the "way it was done reveals to everyone the criminal nature" of the Huthis.

The United Nations Security Council called on all sides in Yemen to "de-escalate" and return to UN-led talks aimed at securing a ceasefire.

Japanese ambassador Koro Bessho, the council's president, said after a closed-door meeting on Yemen that the 15-member body was deeply concerned about the sharp escalation in violence as well as "the dire and deteriorating" humanitarian situation in the country.

The Red Cross appealed for action to finally end the suffering of Yemenis.

"This country has been drip-fed now for two years. It needs intensive care," the ICRC's regional head of operations, Robert Mardini, told AFP in Beirut.

"Statistics always hide the tragedy of individual stories, but today there is no single Yemeni who has not suffered this conflict. The time has come now to stop this, to take bold measures."

Saleh was forced to step down in 2012, after his forces waged a bloody crackdown on peaceful Arab Spring-inspired protests calling for his ouster.

The 75-year-old had survived civil war, rebellion in the north, an Al-Qaeda insurgency in the south and a June 2011 bomb attack on his palace that wounded him badly.

The body of Saleh was said to still be in Huthi possession, leaving the question of whether there will be a funeral for one of the region's most powerful politicians hanging.

Source: AFP