SANAA // Rebel Shiite Houthis battled soldiers near Yemen’s presidential palace and elsewhere across the capital on Monday, despite claims of a ceasefire being reached to halt the violence.
The fighting near the palace marks the biggest challenge yet to the government of President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi by the Houthis, who seized the capital of Sanaa during their advance in September across parts of Yemen.
Many believe deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh, ousted in a deal after Arab Spring protests, has orchestrated their campaign.
The violence began early on Monday, with heavy machine gun fire ringing as mortars fell around the presidential palace. Civilians in the area fled the fighting as columns of black smoke rose over the palace.
The fighting caused a number of casualties as ambulance sirens wailed throughout Sanaa.
“Oh God! There are bodies on street,” well-known Yemeni activist Hisham Al-Omeisy wrote on Twitter.
The Houthis’ Al Maseera satellite television channel aired a report accusing the army of sparking the violence when it opened fire without reason on a militia patrol in the area of the presidential palace.
A Yemeni military official said the Houthis provoked the attack by approaching military positions in the area and setting up their own checkpoints.
Mr Hadi does not live at the palace, but his home nearby was quickly surrounded by additional soldiers and tanks. Schools located near the clashes also closed as Houthi rebels manned checkpoints throughout the city. Many families remained trapped in their homes.
“People are leaving on foot, searching for safety,” resident Tarfa Al Moamani said.
Information minister Nadia Sakkaf later said that Mr Hadi reached a ceasefire with Houthi rebels. Mr Sakkaf also said Mr Hadi will hold an emergency meeting with his political advisers and representatives from the Houthis later in the day.
However, heavy gunfire continued again after her comments.
The spark of the latest spasm of violence appears to be rooted in the Houthis' rejection of a draft constitution that divides the country into six federal regions. On Saturday, the Houthis kidnapped Mr Hadi's head of office to disrupt a meeting scheduled for the same day aimed at working on the new constitution.
Mr Hadi took over the presidency in 2012 after a popular revolt toppled his predecessor, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is a Zaydi, a branch of Shiite Islam that exists almost solely in Yemen. Houthis, who are Zayidis, represent about 30 percent of Yemen’s population.
Many believe Saleh has been orchestrating the recent Houthi rebel offensive around the country. The United Nations last year put Saleh on a sanctions list, along with two Shiite leaders, for destabilising the country.
Security officials said they believed tribal fighters loyal to Saleh were racing into Sanaa to back the Houthis in the fighting.
Monday’s battle comes a day after Mr Hadi chaired a meeting in which he demanded the army defend Sanaa, the official Saba news agency reported. It was not clear whether Mr Hadi, who has made similar calls in the past, was issuing a new order for security services to take back control of the city from the Houthis.
Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, has suffered years of turmoil since the Arab Spring.
It also is home to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, considered by the US to be the most dangerous arm of the terror group. That group has said it directed the recent attack against the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris "as revenge for the honour" of Islam's Prophet Mohammed.
The US has carried out a campaign of drone strikes in the country targeting suspected militants. Civilian casualties from those strikes have angered Yemenis.
* Associated Press
