Yemen’s Shia rebels name a prime minister

A Yemeni news agency says the former governor of the southern port city of Aden has been appointed prime minister by the joint leadership of rebel alliance that control’s Yemen’s capital.

A Yemeni news agency says the former governor of the southern port city of Aden has been appointed prime minister by the joint leadership of rebel alliance that control’s Yemen’s capital.

Tribesmen loyal to Houthi rebels, hold their weapons as they chant slogans during a gathering aimed at mobilizing more fighters into battlefronts in several Yemeni cities, in Sanaa, Yemen, on October 2, 2016. (AP)

The rebel-controlled Sabaa news agency says Abdel-Aziz Ben Habtour was tasked on Sunday with forming a “national salvation” government. Habtour is an ally of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is aligned with Yemen’s Shiite rebels.

His appointment was decreed by Saleh al-Samad, chairman of the Supreme Political Council, the highest political body in rebel-held areas.

Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, has been at war since the rebels swept into the capital, Sanaa, in 2014. A Saudi-led coalition of mostly Arab nations entered the war in March last year on the side of the internationally recognized government.