Egypt closes embassy in Yemen after rebels seize capital

Egypt has closed its embassy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa due to the increasingly dangerous security situation, the state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.

The diplomatic mission returned to Cairo on Monday morning, according to MENA.

Yemen has been gripped by extreme violence since the Shia Houthi rebels captured Sanaa in September. In January, the militants stormed the presidential palace and forced the Western-backed President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to resign as they held him under house arrest. The Houthis dissolved parliament and set up their own interim government, which they announced would rule the country for the next two years.

Hadi was finally able to flee to the southern city of Aden on Saturday, where he met with governors from Yemen’s six southern provinces and asked for their allegiance.

On Sunday Hadi issued his first public statements since he was forced out of office, and announced that he was still Yemen’s legitimate president and would continue to “exercise his functions as president of the republic in Aden.”

He exhorted the Arab and international communities to “denounce the coup and not recognize its legitimacy.”

He called on Yemeni institutions, particularly the Armed Forces and security personnel, to submit to and protect the constitutional authority.