Aftermath of the Houthi takeover in Yemen
| Part of a series on the Yemeni crisis |
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After seizing the capital in September 2014, the Houthis obtained the resignations of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, Prime Minister Khaled Bahah, and the cabinet in January 2015 and then moved to dissolve parliament and instated the Supreme Revolutionary Committee to govern their territory of Yemen on 6 February 2015. However, despite their military successes and an alleged alliance with the former ruling General People's Congress, the Houthis faced widespread domestic and international opposition to the coup and they assented to United Nations–led talks on a power-sharing deal. At least one analyst went so far as to suggest the Houthis' declaration "fizzled" in the days after it was announced, although they have Ali Abdullah Saleh's political support.
On 21 February 2015, one month after Houthi militants confined him to his residence in Sanaa, Hadi slipped out of the capital and traveled to Aden, the capital of the former People's Democratic Republic of Yemen. In a televised address from his hometown, he declared that the Houthi takeover was illegitimate and indicated he remained the constitutional president of Yemen. Hadi's ex-ministers were released by the Houthis on 16 March as a "goodwill gesture". On 21 March, Hadi officially proclaimed Aden to be the temporary capital of Yemen, until his pledged recapture of Sana'a. Within days, however, a Houthi-led military campaign wrested much of southern Yemen from Hadi's loyalists, prompting Hadi to flee his presidential palace in Aden and Saudi Arabia to launch airstrikes against Houthi positions throughout the country.