YEMEN'S HADI SEEKS UN MILITARY SUPPORT TO DETER HOUTHIS

Houthi control map. (Image: Al Jazeera) — **Houthi control map.** (Image: Al Jazeera)

Aden, 5 Jumadil Akhir 1436/25 March 2015 (MINA) – Yemen’s embattled president has asked the UN Security Council to authorise a military intervention in support of his government to oust Houthi rebels who control much of the country’s north and are advancing south.

President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said on Tuesday in a letter to the Council that he had also asked members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab League to intervene militarily to protect Yemen and its people from “Houthi aggression”, Al Jazeera quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

He said that the resolution should invite willing countries to immediately support Yemen’s legitimate government “by all means and measures, to protect Yemen and deter the Houthi aggression expected to occur at any hour from now against the city of Aden”, where he is trying to hold on to power.

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“The Yemeni people have never faced such heinous aggression.”

Hadi, the country’s internationally recognised leader and a key US ally, asked the Security Council to approve a resolution that can be militarily enforced under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, the AP news agency reported.

Meanwhile, Houthi Shia forces, backed by troops allied to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, have clashed with forces loyal to Hadi in at least two southern provinces as they continued their push towards Aden.

In another southern city, Taez, the Houthi forces shot dead five demonstrators as protests intensified against their presence, in what Amnesty International denounced as a “shocking disregard for human life”.

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The group has seized large parts of Yemen and, in recent days, have been moving towards Aden, where Hadi fled after escaping house arrest in the capital Sanaa last month.

Tuesday’s clashes came after the Houthis seized the airport and a nearby military base on Sunday in Taez, 180km north of Aden and seen as a strategic entry point to Hadi’s southern refuge.

Clashes were also erupted in the province of Lahj, just north of Aden, where forces loyal to Hadi had deployed in anticipation of an attack, the AFP news agency reported.

The Houthis are members of the Shia Zaidi community, which makes up around a third of Yemen’s population and is concentrated in the north. Their opponents view them as a proxy of Shia Iran, charges the Houthis deny. (T/P001/P3)

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Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)