Saudi Arabia places Yemen’s president under house arrest

Saudi Arabia has banned Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, his two sons, ministers and military personnel from returning to Aden, the Associated Press reported yesterday.

The agency quoted unnamed Yemeni officials as saying last night that the Saudi ban was put in place due to the “bitter hostility between Hadi and the UAE, which is part of the Saudi-led alliance, and controls southern Yemen”.

A presidential source, however, today denied the claims saying: ““[These lies] are part of a systematic campaign targeting Saudi Arabia, which is leading a battle to stop Iranian interference in Yemen and the region.”

Since Hadi left Yemen in February, he has repeatedly sent written requests to Saudi King Salman asking to return home. However, a Yemeni security official said none of the letters had been answered.

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The agency quoted a Yemeni official as saying that Hadi went to Riyadh airport last August to return to his temporary capital of Aden, in southern Yemen, but he was returned from the airport.

The official explained that Hadi’s passport and many those of other Yemeni officials were initially confiscated and were returned them later, but they are still unable to leave.

Other Yemeni officials were quoted as saying that Hadi, his sons and several ministers with him in Riyadh had been prevented from going to Yemen.

“The Saudis placed them under house arrest, and when Hadi asks to travel they tell him that his return is unsafe and that there are conspirators who want to kill him, and that the Saudis are afraid for his life,” one of the sources said.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are part of an Arab coalition fighting in Yemen against the Iran-backed Houthis and forces loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The coalition entered the war in 2015 to reinstate the UN-backed Hadi. However in recent months the UAE has been found to be backing the Southern Transitional Council in an effort to split Yemen in to two countries, North and South, contrary to the objectives of the coalition.