- Title: YEMEN-SECURITY/HOUTHI RALLY Houthi loyalists stage mass protest in Sanaa
- Date: 24th August 2015
- Summary: SANAA, YEMEN (AUGUST 24, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ARMED HOUTHI LOYALISTS CARRYING MACHINE GUNS AND CHANTING SLOGANS DENOUNCING SAUDI ARABIA AND THE COALITION AIRSTRIKES ON YEMEN (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RADWAN AL HAIMI, MEMBER OF THE HOUTHI REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE, SAYING: "The initiative proposed by the UN was good but, as revolutionaries and anti-aggression forces, we think it (the initiative) came too late, after the Saudi enemy became involved in the shedding of Yemeni blood and the killing of children and women. This initiative was only offered after pressure from Saudi Arabia on the United Nations." VARIOUS OF MEN CARRYING WEAPONS AND CHANTING SLOGANS MAN AND HIS SON CARRYING PICTURE OF HOUTHI LEADER ABDEL MALEK AL HOUTHI AND THEIR EMBLEM VARIOUS OF ARMED MEN CARRYING WEAPONS, ONE OF THEM CARRYING A PICTURE OF THE DEPOSED YEMENI PRESIDENT ALI ABDULLAH SALEH
- Embargoed: 8th September 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Yemen
- Country: Yemen
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA3MV7JF5ZAMZ8Y2N9L7C8XGU4N
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Thousands of Houthi protesters took to the streets of the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Monday (August 24), brandishing weapons and chanting slogans denouncing the Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on the war-torn nation.
The protest came as rockets fired by Houthi militiamen killed 14 civilians, most of them children, as fighting intensified for control of Yemen's third largest city Taiz, residents and witnesses said.
The northern-based Houthis, a Shi'ite Muslim group, took control of Yemen's capital Sanaa last September. Arab countries intervened in the conflict in March to halt a Houthi advance into the south which caused the Saudi-backed government to flee to Riyadh from its refuge in the southern port of Aden.
Months of air strikes and arms deliveries by the rich Gulf states to government loyalists began to pay off last month, when they seized back Aden and made surprise gains toward Yemen's north and Sanaa.
"The initiative proposed by the UN was good but, as revolutionaries and anti-aggression forces, we think it came too late, after the Saudi enemy became involved in the shedding of Yemeni blood and the killing of children and women," said Radwan al Haimi, member of the Houthi Revolutionary Committee at the protest referring to a United Nations proposed plan to end the conflict.
"This initiative was only offered after pressure from Saudi Arabia on the United Nations," he added.
Earlier this month, the U.N. envoy to Yemen said he believes his plan is increasingly gaining acceptance among the warring parties.
U.N.-led talks in June between northern Houthi rebel fighters and supporters of the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi failed to end the war, in which the UN says nearly 2,000 civilians have been killed.
The five days of talks in Geneva produced agreement in principle on a ceasefire and withdrawal of armed forces. The talks broke up before a final deal could be agreed, but Ould Cheikh Ahmed said he remained optimistic.
Gulf Arab states view the Houthis as a proxy for their arch rival, Iran, but the group says it is fighting a revolution against a corrupt government beholden to the West.
The United Nations is working to broker a political compromise to end the civil war which has killed over 4,300 people and avoid a showdown in the Houthis' northern heartland. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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