Aden, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Yemeni government will push to sue Houthis and allied supporters of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh for “deliberately destroying infrastructure and state institutions,” a spokesman has said.

“Governmental and nongovernmental bodies have been documenting the scale of destruction and will sue the perpetrators at local and international courts,” Rajeh Badi, a spokesman for the Yemeni government, said, adding that “rebellion and destruction [by Houthis] constitute war crimes against all Yemenis.”

Yemen’s President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi returned last week to Aden from exile after loyalists, backed by Saudi-led coalition forces, drove the Houthis out of the strategic southern city last month.

Badi said the newly returned government faces a tough task in normalizing life in the city whose infrastructure and vital sectors have been destroyed “in a deliberate and systematic manner.”

He also accused the rebels of causing “a rift in society which cannot be easily healed.”

“Saleh cells are continuing to disrupt and block any attempts to repair the damage caused to several cities in Yemen,” Badi added.

He also called on people to be patient about the situation in the liberated areas, arguing that the government was collaborating with its Arab allies to normalize life there.

He said: “The government is quickly working with all coalition member states, particularly the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, to restore security and stability as well as to revive the projects that immediately affect the daily life of people.”

Badi said that several government bodies and state institutions will resume their duties in Aden soon.

Saudi Arabia has led a coalition of ten Arab states since late March to fight an alliance of Iran-allied Houthi rebels and Saleh supporters who took large parts of Yemen, including Sana’a, in September last year, forcing President Hadi and his government members into exile in Riyadh.