Houthi militias terrorize tribal leaders in Yemen

Houthi insurgents have resorted to terrorizing Yemeni tribes by threatening them of facing a fate similar to that of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was killed on Monday.

A number of tribal elders loyal to the General People’s Congress (GPC) party uncovered that Houthi militias ordered them to announce in writing their support to the rebels, or face the fate of Saleh.

In Riyadh, the Saudi Cabinet expressed hope that the uprising of the Yemeni people against sectarian and terrorist Houthi militias supported by Iran will rid Yemen from persecution, death threats, exclusion, bombings, and seizing public and private properties.

The cabinet reiterated the Kingdom's constant keenness on Yemen's stability and return to its Arab surroundings and all matters in the interest of its people and maintaining their land, security, identity, unity and the social fabric within the framework of Arab, regional and international security.

GPC sources said Tuesday that Houthis were still hiding the corpse of Saleh at a hospital that falls under their control. The militias refused to hand over the body to any of Saleh’s family members or party officials. Meanwhile, several GPC sources announced that Tarek Saleh, a nephew of the ex-president and commander of his troops, had been killed and his brother Mohammed injured.

sources close to the family said that Tarek was killed in confrontations while defending the house of his uncle and that the militias have kept his body in an unknown location. Saleh's youngest son Madian was being held by the Houthis while the fate of his second son, Salah, remained unknown. The sources also confirmed the ex-president’s deputy Aref Zoka had been killed.

Yemen’s former president was shot dead on Monday by Houthi insurgents in Sana’a, leading to widespread anger among Yemenis, amid signs of an emerging alliance between political forces opposed to the coup and tribes that expressed their wish for revenge.

On the other hand, Houthi insurgents have detained more than 40 media staff, press watchdogs said on Wednesday, demanding their immediate release.

They include staff of Yemen Today -- a television channel affiliated with former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, whom the Houthis killed on Monday, the watchdogs said.

The insurgents overran the television's Sana’a offices on Saturday after attacking it with rocket-propelled grenades and wounding three guards, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said.

"This hostage-taking is typical of the climate of hostility in Yemen towards journalists, who are often targeted in this conflict," said RSF's Alexandra El Khazen.

A spokesman for the Committee to Protect Journalists called for the immediate release of the journalists, saying the Houthi attack on Yemen Today "shows a profound contempt for press freedom".

An official of Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC) said some of the detained staff had since been transferred to prison while others were still being held in the television's offices.

"The Houthis were exerting pressure on them to change their coverage, to issue certain statements and report the betrayal of former president Saleh.

"But the journalists refused to do it," the official said.

Yemen's Sana’a-based national syndicate of journalists said the Houthis were posting the names of employees of media they regarded as hostile at checkpoints around the capital and demanded "an end to abuses".