Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi declared Sunday Sanaa an "occupied city" by Houthi fighters, describing the latest Houthi takeover of power in Yemen as a "coup," Anadolu Agency reported. Hadi's remarks followed his meeting with tribes' leaders and politicians of the southern provinces of Maarib, Al-Jawf and Al-Bayda, in his new governance capital, Aden, where he moved after leaving Sanaa on February 21. "I didn't leave Sanaa to announce the separation of the south, but to maintain the unity it achieved in 1990," Hadi said. "The priority now is maintaining the security and unity of the country," he added. Hadi accused Iran of backing the "coup" in Yemen and aborting the initiative of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), in cooperation with the General People's Congress, led by the ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Houthis took over the capital Sanaa in last September, and put the legitimate Yemeni president, Hadi, under house arrest until February. The member states of GCC announced their support to Hadi, and moved their embassies to Aden, the new governance capital.
