Houthis threaten to send former defence minister to Iran

The Yemeni tribal leader, Sheikh Rashas Al-Otari, has said that the Houthi leaders informed him that they will send the former defence minister Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Al-Subaihi to Iran if the legitimate government did not discuss the demands to release him and others, Al-Arabiya reported on Sunday.

Al-Otari, from Lahj province, has called for an immediate action, stressing that he made lots of efforts to activate negotiations regarding the Yemeni leaders held by the Houthis. He said, however, that there has been no response.

Houthi militias have been holding Subaihi, Nasser Mansour Hadi, the Yemeni president’s brother, and military commander Faisal Rajab since the war erupted in 2015.

Read: 20 Houthis killed in northern Yemen

Meanwhile, the Arab coalition air force has destroyed a warehouse for the Houthi militias and forces loyal to the ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh in Al-Thar Mountain, north of Saada.

An official source said that the coalition had launched several raids on the militia positions and destroyed a heavy and light weapons’ warehouse. The source added that seven militiamen were killed and 17 others were injured in confrontations with the army in Maqbanah, west of Taiz.

The source pointed out that the coalition has succeeded to thwart the militias’ attempt to sneak into the surroundings of Alqa Mountain in Al-Kadha area near Maqbanah, which inflicted them heavy losses.

The coalition air force has also targeted the militias’ posts in the surroundings of the Khaled camp and the Mocha junction in the west of Taiz.