Alwaght - The Yemeni foreign-backed army and Ansarullah clashed near the presidential palace in the capital Sanaa on Monday, in the sharpest escalation of tensions since the Shiite Muslim movement took over the city in September, Reuters repoted .
Gunfire and explosions were heard across the city and in close proximity to the palace of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the residence of the national security chief. Hadi was at his private residence, away from the fighting.
Automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades were being used, and security officials shut roads leading to the area .
Heavy gunfire and explosions could also be heard from Hadda district, in the diplomatic quarter in the south of the city. Gunmen were seen in Al-Khamseen street, home to some senior government security officials, including the defense minister .
The Ansarullah, who demand more rights for the country's Zaydi Shiite Muslim sect and are campaigning against corruption, seized Sanaa in September and advanced into central and western parts of the country where Saudi-backed Sunni militia predominate .
A deal signed in September between political parties and the Houthis called for the formation of a new unity government followed by the withdrawal of Ansarullah from the capital.
In attempt to defuse the clashes, Saleh al-Sammad, a member of the Ansarullah movement appointed by Hadi as a political adviser in September, issued a statement with a list of conditions addressed to the government .
The conditions include having a "fair" and inclusive partnership with Ansarullahand omit sections of the draft constitution that violate September's political agreement .
"If the previous agreement is not honored, there is commitment to escalate the situation...and it is difficult to undo the escalation which will come at a big cost," al-Sammad said in a statement .
Since Yemen’s central government has so far failed to confront the terrorist threat, Ansarullah fighters, who played a major role in ousting Yemen’s former dictator, Ali Abdullah Saleh, in 2012, have intervened to fill the vacuum and have driven al-Qaeda militants out of many areas in the country including the capital Sana’a . In September 2014, the Ansarullah movement gained control of the capital, Sana’a, following a four-day battle with army forces loyal to General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, the half-brother of the former dictator.
Saudi who shares a 1,800-kilometer border with Yemen spares no effort to shackle Yemen's security and stability. Saudi Wahhabi regime, extremist Sunni sect that assume Shiite as its arch-foe, is afraid of establishing a strong government in its southern neighbor in which Shiite will deservedly get the lion's share in the country's power structure.
