AFP – 23 March 2015 – Yemen is nearing “the edge of civil war”, the UN envoy to the country warned as the Security Council voiced unanimous support for its embattled leader and Shiite militia seized the airport in a key city.
The impoverished country has descended into chaos in recent months, with the militia, known as Houthis seizing control of capital Sanaa and forcing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee to the main southern city of Aden.
The UN Security Council held an emergency session Sunday as unrest mounted, including suicide bombings claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 142 people in Sanaa on Friday.
Its 15 members voiced their unanimous support for Hadi, who called in a letter to the council for “urgent intervention by all available means”.

A member of a local armed resistance group supporting the Yemeni president mans a checkpoint in the southern city of Aden on March 21, 2015

“(Recent events) seem to be leading Yemen to the edge of a civil war,” UN envoy Jamal Benomar told the meeting on Sunday by video link from Qatar, warning that without immediate action “the country will slide further into further violence and dislocation”.
In a letter to the council, Hadi said the Houthis and their allies were threatening security in Yemen, the region and beyond.
He called for “urgent intervention by all available means to stop this aggression that is aimed at undermining the legitimate authority, the fragmentation of Yemen and its peace and stability”.
Hadi has been struggling to reassert his authority and cement his power base in Aden, which he declared the temporary capital after retracting a resignation tendered under Houthi pressure.
A statement from the Security Council said it “reaffirms its strong commitment to the unity, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Yemen, and its commitment to stand by the people of Yemen”.
The council “supports the legitimacy” of Hadi, it added while denouncing the “unilateral” actions by the Huthis and threatening unspecified measures against the militia unless it cedes control of Sanaa and other regions.
The Security Council statement also urged Sunday against any foreign interference, in an implicit reference to Iran’s alleged support for the Huthis.
Washington announced Saturday it was evacuating its remaining personnel, underlining fears in the West of growing instability.

Map of Yemen and Taez

On Sunday, the Huthis and their allies seized the airport in Taez, which is just 180 kilometres (110 miles) north of Aden on the road to Sanaa and seen as a strategic entry point to Hadi’s southern refuge.
Security sources told AFP that some 300 men, including Huthi fighters and allied forces, had deployed at the airport and reinforcements were arriving from Sanaa by air and land.
A military source said troops loyal to Hadi and southern paramilitary forces had deployed in Lahj province north of Aden, in anticipation of a possible Huthi advance.
Huthi militiamen killed one protester in Taez when they fired on thousands of people demanding that the rebels withdraw, activists said.
And six tribesmen were killed in Qania, in Marib province, in a clash with Huthis advancing towards the eastern province, a tribal source said. The source claimed that 30 militiamen were killed. AFP could not verify the death tolls.