A Houthi official says fighters with the Ansarullah Shia movement have seized control of a Yemeni army base on a hill overlooking the presidential palace in the capital, Sana’a.
The Shia fighters “at this moment control the Nahdain mountain, which overlooks the presidential complex,” said the official, Ali al-Bukhaiti.
“They have allowed soldiers to leave with their personal weapons,” he added.
Forces of the country’s Presidential Guard surrendered to Houthi fighters, also known as Ansarullah.
Informed military sources say a group of soldiers gave up part of the base to Houthis.
Ansarullah revolutionaries battled soldiers near the presidential palace and elsewhere across the capital on Monday. Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi does not live at the palace.
Casualties
Earlier in the day, clashes between the army and Shia fighters in Sana’a killed at least two people and wounded 14 others.
The bodies and the wounded were brought to the Quds Military Hospital close to the presidential palace in southern Sana’a.
Yemeni Information Minister Nadia Sakkaf has said the country’s president has cut a ceasefire deal with Houthi fighters.
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