A few days after President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi called on the tribes of Bani Matar to serve as a shield against the Houthis, should the militants bas bold as attempt to march on the capital, Sana’a, the embattled president has issued an ultimatum to the Houthi leadership: Abdel-Malek al-Houthi.
The Shiite group, which stronghold is based in the northern province of Sa’ada has following its success against Salafi militants in Dammaj in late October 2013, continued to advance steadily down south, ever closer to the capital.
When Houthi militants finally launched a series of attack in the province of Amran, directly north of Sana’a, military and security analysts warned that the group might envisage a take-over of the capital to capitalize on its recent territorial gains as to assert itself as the main political power in northern Yemen. While such allegations have been time and time again rejected by the Houthis; only earlier this month, Ali al-Bogheti, senior spokesman for the Houthis told Asarq al-Awsat that his faction had neither the desire nor the ambition to topple President Hadi’s presidency; fears have persisted as the group presses on toward Sana’a.
With outposts in Hamdan, some 20 km away from the capital, President Hadi and his cabinet have their eyes pinned on the Houthis, determined to stop the militants in their tracks, even to the cost of a military operation.
Sources in the presidential palace have already confirmed that the military has been put on high alert, ready to deploy at a moment notice. Moreover, military checkpoints in and around the capital have been reinforced with added personnel and fire power.
Local media have reported that President Hadi gave the Houthis a strong ultimatum, calling on their troops to immediately and unconditionally withdraw from Hamdan.