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Houthi-Saleh Tension Paralyzes Coup Institutions | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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A Yemeni soldier stands on the debris of a house hit in an air strike on a residential district in the capital Sanaa, on August 26, 2017 (AFP Photo/MOHAMMED HUWAIS)


London- Clashes between militias of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and head of Ansar Allah group, Abdul Malik al-Houthi uncovered on Sunday a “paralysis” that affected the “coup” institutions.

Signs of confusion appeared in a statement issued by the Houthi-controlled “parliament” in Sana’a announcing that both parties were not anymore bound by agreements signed earlier between them, also asking the two sides to reveal all settlements signed without the parliament’s knowledge.

On Saturday, a war of words between the two previous allies exploded into a military confrontation when militants believed to be linked to Saleh’s Republican Guards fired at a Houthi military position in the Joulat al-Misbaha where the two groups exchanged fires in the presence of a high security deployment. Reports said the clashes erupted after Houthi fighters tried to set up a security checkpoint near Saleh’s house in Sana’a.

Meanwhile, a leading figure at the General People’s Congress (GPC) Khalid al-Shujaa compared Houthis to ISIS, in a comment posted on his Facebook page on Sunday.

“Houthism is an intellectual dirt that needs to be removed similar to ISIS and Qaeda,” Shujaa wrote, adding that Houthis survive on the presence of disputes between the warring parties and different Yemeni forces.

A Yemen affairs expert, Najib Gholab said that what happened in Sana’a lately was similar to “an explosion of the crisis before rearranging the papers of the coup.”

Despite a cautious calm reported Sunday by several news agencies, a high-security presence appeared at several intersections in the Yemeni capital.

Yemeni political writer Sam al-Ghobari told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday that the dispute between the two parties is very deep and was previously buried under the sand.

Also on Sunday, Saleh’s GPC party said in a statement that Colonel Khaled al-Rida, deputy head of foreign relations in the GPC was killed last Saturday by groups “that are strangers to morals, treaties and commitments,” falling short of naming Houthi militants for killing him.