Yemen denies president has fled country as Houthis advance

A Yemeni government source has insisted that the country's president remains in the country, after reports he had fled as Houthi forces moved closer to his temporary base in the southern port city of Aden.

The AP news agency reported on Wednesday that a line of presidential cars had been seen leaving Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi's hilltop palace in the city, and that five officials had confirmed separately that he had moved to an "undisclosed location".

Arab media reports stated he and his family had flown out of the country on a private jet.

A government source however told al-Araby al-Jadeed that claims of his flight were lies and "part of a psychological war" being fought by the Houthi movement.

The Houthi movement earlier on Wednesday said on its television channel that it had taken control of al-Annad airbase, the largest in the country and 35 miles from Aden, and that its fighters would be in Aden "within hours".

The US and the UK recently withdrew soldiers stationed at the base after al-Qaeda briefly seized a nearby city. Annad was used for US drone operations in Yemen. 

Meanwhile, Houthi militants entered al-Houta, the provincial capital of Lahej province and the northern gateway to Aden.
 
Hadi on Tuesday asked the UN Security Council to authorise a military intervention "to protect Yemen and to deter the Houthi aggression expected to occur at any hour from now" against Aden and the rest of the south.

In a letter to the council's president, Hadi said he also has asked members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab League for immediate help.

Saudi Arabia warned that "if the Houthi coup does not end peacefully, we will take the necessary measures for this crisis to protect the region".

Hadi fled to Aden from the capital Sanaa in February after it was taken over by the Houthis.

This is an edited translation of the original Arabic.