Allies of Yemen’s Shiite rebels capture Aden airport

World Today

Houthi Shiite fighters, background, patrol as their comrades attend the funeral procession of victims who were killed from triple suicide bombings that hit a pair of mosques in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, March 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

Yemeni security officials say forces allied with Shiite rebels have captured Aden’s international airport, hours after the country’s embattled president fled his palace home in this southern city.

The airport’s takeover cuts off one of the last remaining routes out of Aden for President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. It also makes the fall of Aden into the hands of advancing Shiite rebels known as the Houthis and their allies more imminent.

Hadi fled Wednesday morning from the presidential compound in the palace in Aden to an undisclosed location.

The officials say the airport fell after intense clashes between forces allied with the Houthis and militias loyal to Hadi. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

Report by The Associated Press.