SANAA, Yemen — Yemen’s information minister says Shiite Houthi rebels are shelling the residence of the country’s president as they also swept into the presidential palace in the capital, Sanaa.
The minister, Nadia al-Sakkaf posted on her Twitter account on Tuesday that President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s home in downtown Sanaa has come under “heavy shelling since 3:00 PM by armed forces positioned over rooftops facing his house.”
Hadi is believed to be inside the house.
Mohammed Huwais / AFP / Getty ImagesMembers of the Shiite Huthi movement gesture outside a damaged building near the presidential palace in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Tuesday, following fierce clashes between Huthi militiamen and the presidential guard the previous day.
The shelling is a dramatic escalation in the violence that has gripped Sanaa since Monday and which has been described as a coup.
Al-Sakkaf’s posting came as a Yemeni army commander said the rebels have also raided the presidential palace — where Hadis’ office is — and are looting its weapons depot.
The USS Iwo Jima and USS Fort McHenry have moved into the Red Sea if needed to assist a potential evacuation of US embassy in crisis-hit Yemen. No tasking orders have, however, been issued yet.
Officials are "continuing to closely monitor developments in Yemen and will adjust the embassy’s security posture response in accordance to the situation on the ground,” a State Department spokesperson told ABC.
“We are deeply concerned about the turn of events in Yemen over the last few days,” he said, adding the embassy has been operating with “reduced staffing and heightened security,” the official added.
Yemen has been the scene of tensions after Houthi rebel fighters arrested Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi's chief of staff, at a checkpoint in the country’s western district of Hada a few days ago.
On Tuesday, Houthi rebel fighters in the poor country gained full control of the presidential palace in the capital, Sana’a.
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