Yemen's Houthi: Ali Abdulla Saleh killed for 'treason'

The leader of Yemen's Houthi rebels has praised the death of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the country's overthrown president, as a victory against a Saudi-led military coalition that Yemen has been battling.


Saleh's party has confirmed reports that he was killed in a roadside ambush on Monday outside the capital, Sanaa, after switching sides in the civil war, abandoning his Iran-aligned Houthi allies in favour of the Saudi-led coalition.

In a lengthy televised speech aired on the Houthi-run Al Masirah TV network, Abdul Malik al-Houthi said his fighters killed Saleh for his "treason" and congratulated Yemenis "on this historic, exceptional and great day in which the conspiracy of betrayal and treason failed, this black day for the forces of the aggression".

He said the uprising of Saleh's loyalists against the Houthi group was the greatest threat the Arabian Peninsula country had faced, but that it was defeated in three days.

He said the Houthi group - officially called Ansar Allah (Partisans of God) - would maintain the country's republican system and would not seek vengeance against Saleh's party.
 [aljazeera.com]
 4/12/17