11 March 2018•Update: 12 March 2018
By Ammar Elkhalfi and Hamdi Yildiz
MA’RIB, Yemen
Yemen's State Minister Salah Sayyadi on Sunday urged citizens to come out on the streets and call for the return of their president who fled the country in 2015.
In a post on Facebook, he said Yemen will plunge into a catastrophe unless President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi returns to the country from Saudi Arabia.
"Everyone should do their best to stop Iran's militia in the country and put an end to the coup," he said.
Some local activists and media outlets claim that Hadi is being held in the kingdom against his will.
Other reports suggest Hadi had left the country fearing a siege by Houthi rebels of the port city Aden.
Yemen has remained dogged by violence since 2014, when the Shia Houthi militia overran much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.
In 2015, Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a massive military campaign aimed at reversing Houthi gains and shoring up Yemen's pro-Saudi government.
Over 10,000 civilians have been killed in the war in Yemen with over eight million at risk of starvation and famine since the Saudi-led coalition imposed a blockade on the country’s main ports.
