Yemen’s Shia rebels have seized parts of the southern city of Taiz and its airport and are pushing to seize more territory across the country, Al Jazeera correspondents reported.
Correspondents said the rebels, known as Houthis, were pushing south towards the city of Aden, where President Abd-Rabbu Mansout Hadi has set up a rival administration after the Houthis forced him out of power.
The rebels seized the airport in Taiz, the third-largest city, on Sunday after clashes with forces loyal to Hadi, reported the AFP news agency, citing security sources.
Tens of tanks and armoured personnel carriers carrying Houthi fighters had crossed into al-Dhalie and Aden governorates, Al Jazeera correspondents said.
A Yemeni political activist, Ahmed al-Wafi, said the Houthis had taken full control of Taiz military airbase and had deployed fighters to man checkpoints at the city’s entry points and streets.
Al-Masirah TV, a pro-Houthi channel, announced that Houthi leader Abdel-Malik al-Houthi would deliver a speech in the evening. No exact time was given.
The airport was seized amid demonstrations against both the Houthis and supporters of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the former president backing the Houthis.
Yemeni anti-aircraft guns on Sunday opened fire at an unidentified plane flying over Hadi’s compound in Aden and appeared to force it away, witnesses cited by the Reuters news agency said.
It was the third incident of its kind in the past four days, in which unidentified aircraft have flown over the compound, where Hadi is based, on one occasion dropping bombs without causing any casualties.
The Houthis, who swept into Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in September, now control nine of the country’s 21 provinces.
The turmoil comes as Yemen battles al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the target of the US drone programme, and faces a purported affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which claimed responsibility for a series of suicide bombings on mosques, killing at least 137 people on Friday.
