Yemen knot

Ali Abdullah Saleh: the ‘wielder of power’ who never went away

Ousted Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has teamed up with Iranian-backed Houthi rebels to reclaim power in Yemen. Yemeni army commanders loyal to him together with the Houthis have taken control of the capital Sanaa and put the internationally recognized President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi under house arrest.

When Hadi managed to escape to the southern city of Aden and declared it Yemen’s temporary capital and received wide international and regional backing, Saleh and the Houthis tried to kill him.