Yemen rebels take presidential palace, deny coup

SANAA, Yemen – A second consecutive day of violence in Yemen’s capital raised fears of deepening instability in a nation regarded as pivotal to Washington’s counterterrorism efforts in the Middle East.

Fresh assaults by Houthi rebels on Tuesday had sparked speculation that the U.S.-backed government in Sanaa could fall, prompting an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council in New York. But by early today, President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi appeared to maintain a tenuous hold on power.

Houthi forces now in effect control the presidential palace and Hadi’s residence, according to reports here. But officials said the president was safe and a measure of quiet descended over the capital on Tuesday evening.

Officials in Washington were keeping a close watch on the situation, given Yemen’s strategic location and its role as an ally of the United States and Saudi Arabia. The Yemeni government has given U.S. forces wide latitude to carry out drone strikes against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, a potent al-Qaida franchise based in the country, and there is fear that a collapse would strengthen the militant group’s position.

Al-Qaida, an adversary of the Yemeni government and the rebels, did not appear to be involved in this week’s fighting.

Houthi officials denied that they were pushing for a coup, describing the military actions as a response to provocations, including shots fired at a Houthi patrol. Military units guarding the presidential palace appeared to surrender without a major battle.

The government already had lost control of the capital in September, when Houthi militiamen entered the city largely unopposed and set up checkpoints, eventually expanding their presence to key installations. But the assault on the presidential sites raised fears that the Houthis might overthrow the government.

In a long televised speech Tuesday evening, rebel leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi assailed officials in Hadi’s government as corrupt and “putting their interest ahead of the Yemeni people.”

But the Houthi leader seemed to indicate that negotiations would continue with Hadi’s administration about a range of political and constitutional issues, as the rebels seek to maximize their power base in a future Yemeni government. He also went out of his way to praise the national army.

Analysts generally say the Houthi leadership, which represents a minority concentrated in Yemen’s north, is more interested in a dominant role in a new government than in running the country directly.

Diplomats and the White House expressed alarm about the fast-deteriorating security situation in Yemen, which has endured political turmoil and sporadic violence since “Arab Spring” protests that erupted in 2011 led to the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

As of late Tuesday, U.S. officials said they weren’t evacuating the American Embassy in Sanaa, though an embassy vehicle in the capital was targeted by unknown gunmen late Monday.

The gunmen first fired into the air, then at the vehicle, which was carrying embassy personnel. No one was hit, the embassy said in a statement.

“We strongly condemn the violence and those stoking it in an effort to disrupt Yemen’s political transition,” the White House said Tuesday in a statement.

President Barack Obama has pointed to Yemen as a major success of his counterterrorism strategy.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for “a restoration of the full authority of legitimate government institutions.”

Ban also dispatched the U.N. special envoy for Yemen, Jamal Benomar, to Sanaa.

Hadi, tasked with overseeing a transition to democracy after Saleh’s tumultuous departure, has had little success confronting myriad complex challenges, including widespread poverty and corruption; the al-Qaida-led insurgency; a southern secessionist movement; and the advance of the Houthi rebels, who have emerged as perhaps the nation’s most powerful force.

Still, Hadi, elected in a 2012 vote in which he ran unopposed, has the backing of much of the international community and is viewed by Washington as a key regional ally and a bulwark of joint U.S. and Saudi Arabian interests.

Saudi and U.S. officials are wary of the Houthi rebels, who mostly follow a branch of Shiite Islam and are reported to be close to Shiite Iran, though Tehran denies aiding the group. Saudi Arabia – which, like Yemen, is a predominantly Sunni Muslim nation – is engaged in a regional power struggle with Iran and views the reported Houthi-Iranian alliance on its border with considerable unease.