Rabat – Saudi Arabia has put Yemen President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi under house arrest along with his sons, and senior ministers and military bodies, Yemeni officials told the Associated Press (AP).
The officials stated that the president and his entourage had been banned from returning home since late February due to enmity between the Yemeni president and the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is a member of the Saudi-led coalition against the Houthi rebels, officially called Ansar Allah. Currently, they maintain control over southern Yemen, reported AP.
Saudi Arabia and the Emirates form the backbone of the coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen, allegedly in support of Hadi’s cabinet. The alliance has been conducting an air campaign against the Houthis since 2015. The country’s southern part is marked by a strong Emirati military presence.
On Sunday, Saudi Arabia escalated its siege on Yemen by closing the country’s air traffic, seaports, and land crossings.
President Hadi has repeatedly sent written requests to Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud asking him to return to home, added AP. Since 2015, Yemen has witnessed a ravaging civil war between forces loyal to Hadi’s government and Houthi rebel movement.
The conflict started due to the failure of the political transition that was meant to bring stability to the country after a rebellion that forced Ali Abdullah Saleh, former president of Yemen, to cede power to Hadi.
On November 6, Saudi Prince Mansour Bin Muqrin was killed in a helicopter crash 160 kilometers from the Yemeni border while conducting a tour of local projects near Abha.
Saudi officials have not yet determined the cause for the crash. “While returning in the evening of the same day, contact with the plane was lost in the vicinity of the Reda reserve,” stated the kingdom’s interior ministry.
While the ministry did not establish a link between the crash and the war in Yemen, the Saudi military said on Saturday that they intercepted a ballistic missile near the Saudi capital, Riyadh, that “was fired by Houthi rebels.”
