Yemen's Houthi interior minister dies in Lebanese hospital

An ambulance rushes wounded victims to the hospital after they were injured in the area of clashes in the Abra district of the southern Lebanese city of Sidon on June 24, 2013. At least sixteen soldiers have been killed in clashes with supporters of Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir in southern Lebanon, the army said, in violence tied to rising sectarian tensions fanned by the Syria conflict. AFP PHOTO/JOSEPH EID/ Getty

A minister in the administration of the Houthi-run area of Yemen died in a Lebanese hospital on Saturday, a Lebanese official told Reuters on Monday, confirming earlier Houthi media reports about the death.

Interior minister Abdul Hakim al-Maori died at the age of 60 while receiving treatment for chronic disease in a Lebanese hospital, Houthi-run Masirah TV said on Saturday.

The Lebanese official confirmed al-Maori had come to Lebanon for treatment before he died, without giving further details. It is not known in which hospital he died.

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Lebanon is the home of the Iran-backed Shi’ite Muslim group Hezbollah. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement also receives support from Iran.

Yemen’s war is widely seen as part of the regional struggle for influence between Iran and Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia.

The four-year war pits the Houthis against the internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition of Yemeni and Arab forces including the United Arab Emirates.

Saudi has said that Hezbollah members are fighting for the Houthis in Yemen, but Hezbollah denies this.

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