Yemen president appoints Ali Mohsin as deputy supreme commander

Veteran military general, Ali Mohsin al-Ahmar, has been appointed deputy supreme commander by Yemen's President Hadi.
2 min read
23 February, 2016
General Ali Mohsin's forces were pivotal in the ousting of former president Saleh [Getty]
Yemen's president has appointed a former senior military figure as deputy supreme commander of the armed forces.

President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi's decision to place General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar in a position of power once again, has been described as a strategy aimed at garnering support from local tribes and military leaders in Yemen's capital Sanaa.

General Mohsin is a veteran army general who was pivotal in the ousting of Ali Abdullah Saleh during the 2011 revolution.

He held the position of military and security affairs adviser since 2013 when President Hadi dramatically restructured his cabinet as a show of power against former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Al-Ahmar, who comes from an influential clan in northern Yemen, attempted to combat Houthi control in 2014 but failed.

He has since taken base in Saudi Arabia.

This comes as documented evidence emerged showing Saudi-led coalition forces cooperating in combat with al-Qaeda militants, just miles from Yemen's besieged Taiz city.

Saudi Arabian documentary filmmaker, Safa al-Ahmad, who filmed Houthi rebels at the height of their movement in September 2014, was on the frontlines with coalition forces when she said she was told not to film a group seen participating because they were angered by the presence of a woman.

The group, she was told, was Ansar al-Sharia, an al-Qaeda affiliate in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The Saudi-led coalition launched an aerial bombing campaign in Yemen in March in a bid to regain control of territories taken by Houthi rebels in September 2014

More than 6,100 people have been killed in the conflict since March, about half of them civilians, according to UN estimates.