(Reuters) - Houthi fighters battled guards at the Yemeni
president's private home and entered his palace on Tuesday, raising the stakes
in a turbulent campaign for more political power that has enfeebled state
authority and thrown the Arab state deeper into turmoil.
Speaking hours after his
fighters' display of force, Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi warned
President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi that he had to implement a power-sharing deal
struck when his men seized the capital in September.
"All the options are
open and without exception and the ceiling is very, very high. And this is why,
I here advise the president. Implement this deal. It is for your benefit and
for the benefit of your people," he said on live television.
Houthi prizes the accord as
it grants his Shi'ite Muslim group participation in all military and civil
state bodies.
"We will not
hesitate to impose any necessary measures to implement the peace and
partnership agreement," said Houthi, whose Shi'ite Muslim group is widely
seen as an ally of Iran in its regional struggle
for influence with Saudi Arabia.
Hadi, an ally of the West and
staunch supporter of U.S. drone attacks on al Qaeda fighters in Yemen, has been
also increasingly at odds with Houthi over a draft constitution intended to
help end decades of conflict and underdevelopment.
The emergence of the Houthis
as Yemen's de facto top power in September has scrambled alliances and stirred
tensions across Yemen's political spectrum, raising fears of deeper instability
in a country that has one of al Qaeda's most active branches.
Gulf Arab foreign ministers
were due to discuss the crisis in Yemen at an emergency meeting in the Saudi
capital Riyadh later on Wednesday.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon has condemned the violence and called for order in the country.
The United States remains
"firmly committed" to supporting Hadi and his government and is
calling for an "immediate cessation of hostilities", a State
Department official said.
WEAPONS
FROM IRAN?
Other U.S. officials in
Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were not sure of
Hadi's status or whether he was in either of the buildings under Houthi
assault.
They said their latest
information from Sanaa indicated Houthi rebels were surrounding Hadi's private
residence and were in control, or close to taking control, of his official
residence.
The U.S. officials said Iran
was backing the Houthi rebellion with financial and political support. Some
officials said shipments of weapons from Iran to the Yemeni Houthis had been
tracked by foreign governments.
Washington has been
concerned about the turmoil in part because it relies on the Yemeni government
for help in counterterrorism operations against al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula (AQAP), which claimed responsibility for the Jan. 7 attacks in Paris.
Yemeni Information Minister
Nadia al-Saqqaf said the clashes at Hadi's residence amounted to an attempt to
topple Yemen's government, a charge denied by a senior official of the Houthi
group.
The clashes followed some of
the worst fighting in Sanaa in years on Monday. Guards loyal to Hadi fought
artillery battles near the presidential palace with the Houthi.
"Yemeni president under
attack by armed militias seeking the overthrow of the ruling system,"
Saqqaf said on Twitter on Tuesday evening.
Residents said later the
fighting had died down. A government official said two people had been killed.
The minister did not identify
the militias, but she said they were firing from nearby houses. Hadi lives in
his private home and not in the palace.
Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a
member of the Houthi politburo, said his group had no plans to target Hadi.
"Ansarullah has no intention of targeting President Hadi or his
house," Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the group's politburo, told
Reuters, using the group's official name.
He said what happened at
Hadi's house was the result of a "provocation" by Hadi's security and
that the incident has been contained. Earlier on Tuesday, Houthi fighters had
entered Yemen's presidential palace after a brief clash with security guards,
witnesses and security sources told Reuters.
Bukhaiti said the Popular
Committees acted at the palace on request from officers who had asked them to
help stop a local officer from stealing weapons from the compound.
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