Yemen’s Houthis, Saleh loyalists continue to rally despite their calls for calm

Ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh called for committing to his partnership with Houthi militias in managing the government in Sanaa as per the terms of their alliance.

Saleh also voiced the importance of working to empower military and security institutions and popular committees and volunteers’ efforts to provide security.

Houthi militias and Saleh loyalists are still mobilized in Sanaa as each party is willing to confront the other amid a state of cautious calm.

Saleh’s party, the General People’s Congress, has tried to reassure its supporters and the capital’s residents and called on them not to allow the situation to deteriorate towards more violence.

The party’s political bureau said in a meeting that the clashes which erupted between Houthis and Saleh loyalists last week sound the alarm bells and voiced the importance of maintaining unity.

Meanwhile, sources in Sanaa said Saleh loyalists have taken additional measures to fortify themselves in south of the capital, adding that Houthi militias stationed their members in offensive posts north of the capital as they are on high security alert across Sanaa and in mountains surrounding it from the north and west.