Yemen’s Houthi militias fear ‘coup,’ says ousted president Saleh

Yemen’s Former president Ali Abdullah Saleh said in an interview on Al-Yemen Al-yom television (controlled by his party) that the country’s Houthi militias feared a “coup” but that there were no longer any tensions with them. Also he said that there were fears and suspicions that the rallu would be a coup against the iran-backed hutis and said houthi leaders told him ther had been an operation against them and a GPC plot to take control of state institutions. In response, Saleh said he had sent two letters to Abdel Malek al-Houthi, head of the militia group, to reassure him. Cracks emerged in the alliance between Saleh and Houthis after the two publicly accused each other of treason. Saleh ruled Yemen with an iron fist for more than three decades before stepping down in 2012 after a bloody, year-long uprising. But Saleh retained the loyalty of some of the best-equipped units in the military and later joined forces with the Houthis, after they overran the capital in 2014.