A Houthi Shiite rebel holds a weapon while on patrol following dawn prayers attended by supporters of the rebels on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014. Photo: Hani Mohammed/AP
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have announced today that they are dissolving parliament and seizing power outright, with plans to install a new five-seat interim presidential council and a temporary parliament pending new elections.
The plan for an interim council seems remarkably similar to what Yemeni officials were talking about yesterday, and it isn’t clear why those talks broke down and the Houthis decided to impose the solution unilaterally.
The US State Department has made it clear they oppose the presidential council solution, and any transitional government at all. The US was a major supporter of President Hadi, who was installed in a single-candidate vote, and has been riled up since Hadi’s resignation last month.
Sunni tribes in southern Yemen are also rejecting the Houthi takeover as a “coup.” Some of the Sunni tribes have been backing al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), seeing them as the only credible alternative to the Houthis.