YEMEN'S SHIITE REBELS CAPTURE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE IN ADEN

[WestVirginiaRebel]

AP:

SANAA, Yemen (AP) -- Yemen's Shiite rebels and their allies fought their way through the commercial center of Aden on Thursday and seized the presidential palace on a strategic hilltop in this southern coastal city, security officials said.

 

The capture was a major blow to the Saudi-led coalition, which has been carrying out airstrikes for a week now across Yemen, including in the capital, Sanaa, in a campaign meant to halt the advance of the Iran-backed rebels known as Houthis.

 

The Maasheeq palace in Aden - a cluster of colonial-era villas perched atop a rocky hill that juts into the Arabian Sea - was President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi's last seat of power before he fled to Saudi Arabia last month in the face of the Houthi advance. He had earlier fled to Aden from rebel-held Sanaa.

 

Fighting was still underway late Thursday as Hadi's forces and loyalists were holding on to some scattered parts of Aden after losing the palace and the city center.

 

The capture of the palace came just hours after al-Qaida militants, who have profited from the turmoil and violence roiling Yemen to expand their foothold in this Arabian Peninsula nation, captured the coastal city of Mukalla, another key port, to the east of Aden.

 

In the raid, al-Qaida militants freed about 300 inmates from a local prison in Mukalla, including scores of militants, according to the security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.

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The Yemen "success" story continues.