Yemeni Civil War

Kuwait has joined its Gulf partners Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates and decided to reopen its Yemeni embassy in Aden, instead of the militia-controlled capital Sanaa.

Yemen's beleaguered Western-backed president escaped house arrest and fled the capital to friendly territory Feb. 21, labelling as a coup the grab for power by the Shiite militia that had held him.
      
An aide said presidential guards had sneaked Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi out of his residence in Sanaa, and that he later made it to the main southern city of Aden.
      

Yemen's political parties are edging closer to a deal that would resolve the crisis caused by the Shiite Huthi militia seizing power, UN envoy Jamal Benomar has said.
      
Parties including the powerful Huthis have agreed on the "form of the legislative authority in the interim period", Benomar wrote on his Facebook page late Feb. 19.
      

The Turkish embassy in Yemen has decreased its staff to a minimal level due to the unpredictable security situation in the Arabian peninsula state, where a rebel group has seized control of the capital, a Turkish official told Hürriyet Daily News.

Turkey expressed its deep concern Feb. 7 over recent developments in Yemen where the Huthi militant group seized power in the volatile country and dissolved the parliament.

"We are deeply concerned with the seizure of government in Yemen by Houthi movement through the unilaterally formed 'revolutionary council'," a foreign ministry statement said.

Shiite militia who have seized Yemen?s capital announced Feb. 6 they had dissolved parliament and installed a "presidential council" to run the country in the face of a power vacuum.
 
The Huthi militia said it would set up a national council of 551 members to replace the legislature in the violence-wracked country, a key US ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda.
 

Turkey has urged its citizens to leave Yemen due to the worsening security situation, despite a tentative deal among the country's rival factions battling for power. 

President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi and Yemen's powerful Shiite militia agreed Jan. 21 to end a deadly confrontation that had raised fears the impoverished but strategic country might descend into chaos.
      

Shiite militia clashed with Yemen's army and fired on a convoy carrying the prime minister on Jan. 19 as pressure mounted on the embattled government of President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.
      
The militiamen, known as Huthis, opened fire on the convoy carrying Prime Minister Khalid Bahah in the capital Sanaa but he escaped unharmed, Information Minister Nadia Sakkaf said.