Yemen’s President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has fled the port of Aden on a boat after Houthi militants drew closer to seizing the southern city where he had been holed up amid an intensifying assault, local officials said Wednesday.
A convoy of Saudi Arabian diplomatic officials helped Hadi escape, according to local officials and Houthi spokesman Mohammed Al Bukhaiti.
The Shiite-linked Houthi militant group recently seized control of Yemen’s capital, San’a, and forced Hadi from power. He fled the capital to Aden, where he enjoys support from local security forces.
Over the past week, the Houthis advanced on the south of the country and closed in Wednesday on Aden. Yemen’s ousted dictator, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has aligned himself with the Houthis against Hadi and forces loyal to Saleh have aided the group’s advance.
The U.S., which considers Hadi Yemen’s legitimate president, has warned that Yemen is quickly devolving into a civil war like those in Iraq and Syria.
Source: MarketWatch
