DUBAI (Reuters) - The party of former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh named a new leader on Sunday after he was killed last month by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement his one-time allies in the country’s civil war.

Members of the General People's Congress party, once headed by Yemen's slain former president Ali Abdullah Saleh (pictured in poster), attend a meeting of the party's leadership in Sanaa, Yemen January 7, 2018. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

Questions have arisen over where the loyalty of the General People’s Congress (GPC) fighters lay after Saleh was killed in a roadside attack after switching sides, abandoning the Houthis in favor of a Saudi-led coalition.

Sunday’s announcement condemned the Saudi “aggression” and said the party would keep resisting, but did not mention the Houthis. It said Sadeq Amin Abou Rass, a former agriculture minister, had succeeded Saleh.

Saleh’s exiled son Ahmed Ali Saleh, had vowed to lead a campaign against the Houthi movement after his was killed, but the statement on Sunday did not mention his name either.

Yemen’s war, pitting the Houthis who control the capital Sanaa against the Saudi-led military alliance backing a different government based in the south, has resulted in what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

“What happened (Saleh’s killing) will not prompt us to make peace with the aggressors against the sovereignty, the dignity and the freedom of our great Yemeni people,” the statement said.

It also called for releasing all the party’s prisoners, including Saleh’s family members and employees of his TV channel Yemen al-Yawm, detained by the Houthis - held after Saleh switched sides.

The statement said the party remained open to all Yemeni factions and national reconciliation.

The Saudi-led coalition has called on party members to join the internationally recognized government and offered an amnesty to its fighters.

For months, the Houthis have retaliated with attacks on Saudi Arabia from its mountainous strongholds in northern Yemen and has launched around a dozen ballistic missiles at the kingdom, all of which were intercepted.</s>SANAA, YEMEN: The political party of Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was killed in December by his erstwhile Huthi rebel allies, on Sunday named his replacement.

The General People's Congress, a key player in Yemeni politics for decades, elected former deputy premier Sadiq Amin Aburas by consensus at a meeting of its general committee, it said in a statement.

It made no mention of the Huthis, but said it would continue to "reject and resist aggression and siege" against Yemen, a reference to a military campaign being waged since 2015 by a Saudi-led coalition.

Aburas, 65, is seen as having been close to Saleh, the long-time Yemeni strongman killed by Huthi gunmen on December 4 after their alliance collapsed.

Saleh held power in the Arabian Peninsula country for three decades before being ousted in 2012 following mass protests.

He later allied with his former enemies, the Iran-backed Huthis, to seize the capital in 2014 from the internationally backed government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

That prompted Iran's regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia to lead an intervention against the alliance the following year.

In late 2017, the Saleh-Huthi alliance fell apart after Saleh offered to "turn the page" with Riyadh in return for a ceasefire and the lifting of a crippling blockade.

That sparked fighting in the streets of Sanaa, and Saleh was gunned down as he tried to flee.

The GPC said Aburas would lead it until its next general assembly, a date for which could not yet be set "because of the current difficulties".

The GPC said it was still open to dialogue and "national reconciliation".

More than 8,750 people have been killed since the Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen, according to the World Health Organization.

The country also faces what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.</s>DUBAI (Reuters) - Yemen’s ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s party named a new leader after he was killed by his one-time allies in the country’s civil war, the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, last month.

The General People’s Congress party said Sadeq Amin Abou Rass, a former agriculture minister, had succeeded Saleh. The Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthis had received backing from army units loyal to Saleh, which it hoped would help it gain a major edge in the three-year conflict.

Sunday’s announcement criticized Saudi “aggression” and said the party would keep resisting, but did not mention the Houthis.</s>Yemen’s General People’s Congress (GPC) has picked a new leader to replace long-time chief Ali Abdullah Saleh who was killed last month.

In an announcement on Sunday, the GPC named Sadeq Amin Abou Rass as Saleh’s replacement.

The former agriculture minister is now expected to lead a fragile partnership between tribes who have been traditionally loyal to Saleh but are now split on how to deal with the ruling Houthi Ansarullah movement, a group that has led a two-year resistance campaign against a brutal war by Yemen's northern neighbor, Saudi Arabia.

The GPC announcement said the party would keep resisting the Saudi “aggression”, but it did not mention the Ansarullah. Also missing from the statement was the name of Ahmed Ali Saleh, the exiled son of the former president who had vowed to lead a campaign against the Houthis after his father was killed in a roadside attack by fighters loyal to the Ansarullah.

“What happened (Saleh’s killing) will not prompt us to make peace with the aggressors against the sovereignty, the dignity and the freedom of our great Yemeni people,” said the statement, adding that the GPC remained open to national reconciliation and talks with all Yemeni factions.

The party also called for the release of its prisoners, including Saleh’s family members and staffers of the pro-Saleh TV channel Yemen al-Yawm.

Saudi Arabia launched its devastating campaign against the impoverished Yemen in March 2015 in an alleged bill to restore power to a resigned president. Saleh initially took sides with the Ansarullah and opposed the Saudi air campaign which has since killed more than 13,600 people. However, he switched sides apparently under pressure from Riyadh in what the Ansarullah’s described as a clear form of treason.</s>The party's General Council elected Abu Ras head of the party unanimously. Voting on the party's secretary general will take place later, for the time being, several party leaders jointly have taken up this post.

Abu Ras held various positions in the government of Yemen during the reign of Saleh. In 2011, he was injured during the missile attack on the presidential residence in Sanaa during the so-called Arab Spring protests. The unrest eventually led to the resignation of Saleh and then-Vice President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in 2012.

READ MORE: Yemeni Chief of General Staff Injured in Mine Blast Near Saudi Border — Source

​Since 2015, Yemen has been torn by a conflict between the government, headed by Hadi and the Houthi movement backed by army units loyal to former President Saleh. The Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf countries has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request.

The civil conflict in Yemen between the Houthis and the authorities, led by President Abd Rabb Mansour Hadi, continues from 2014 onwards.</s>Al Mukalla: Yemen’s General People’s Congress party have accused the Iran-backed Al Houthi militants of seeking to hijack the party by pressuring the party to choose a new leader.

The accusations came as party members in Sana’a chose Sadiq Ameen Abu Ras on Sunday to succeed its founder Yemen’s ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh who assassinated by Al Houthis on December.

In a statement carried by the Saba news agency, the party’s members, who live in government-controlled areas or abroad, said that Al Houthis have released senior members of the party, who have been under house arrest since Saleh’s killing, and forced them to meet in Sana’a to select a new leader to the party and issuing a statement backing Al Houthis and criticising the Saudi-led coalition.

“Al Houthis’ attempts to hijack the party in Sana’a through [pushing the party’s] hostages and prisoners to legitimise their crimes and pass their policies do not reflect the party’s unchanged nationalist principles and the speech of its founder before his martyrdom by Al Houthis.” the statement said.

In the wake of supressing a brief military uprising by Saleh, Al Houthis launched sweeping arrests and executions of Saleh’s supporters and members of the General People’s Congress.

Al Houthis took control of Saleh’s media outlets including Yemen Today TV and a newspaper that carries the same name.

The party said that most its members are currently in exile or in liberated areas and Al Houthis are trying to dismantle the party by poaching its members who live inside their territories.

Two days before his death, Saleh vowed to “turn a new page” with the Saudi-led coalition and officially ended three years of uneasy alliance with Al Houthis by urging his supporters in all Yemeni provinces to revolt against them.

Yasser Al Awadhi, a senior member of the party and Saleh’s close friend, said that he would oppose any statement from the party that does not echo Saleh’s appeal to his supporters to sever tries with Al Houthis.

“I am against any statement [from the party] that does not declare severing ties with killers of Saleh and the Secretary General [of the party] and other issues,” Al Awadhi said on his official twitter feed on Monday.

The General People’s Congress was founded by Saleh in 1982 and has dominated the political landscape in Yemen ever since.

The party and the Yemen’s Socialist Party are credited for unifying the former South and North Yemen in 1990.

Meanwhile on the ground, Yemeni troops are continuing to advance towards Al Hays in the Al Houthi-controlled coastal province of Hodeida, with heavy backing from the Saudi-led Arab Coalition forces.

The UAE Air Force has provided cover for the troops, cutting the supply lines of the Iranian-backed Al Houthi coup militias between Taiz and Hodeida, south of Al Hays.

The forces are advancing towards farms adjacent to a line between Al Hays and Taiz.

UAE forces have secured the road, cutting the supply route of Al Houthis and capturing dozens of militiamen while regaining control of a number of villages in the region.

A number of tanks and military vehicles were also captured.

On Sunday, an Al Houthi militia commander turned himself in to UAE forces and voiced willingness to work for the Saudi-led Arab Coalition.

Shaikh Hamir Ebrahim, who was in charge of the Hais and Al Khokha fronts in Yemen, urged, in statements to the Emirates News Agency, his tribesmen to surrender, turn themselves in and join the ranks of the Arab coalition against the Iran-backed Al Houthi rebels in order to “liberate the entire Yemeni territories.”

He added that the rebels are forcing the Yemeni people to fight along with them before leaving them in the lurch in utter suffering along with their children who are “forced to fight on the frontlines.”

“Whoever dares to reject their orders is targeted and expelled away along with his family from their tribe and from the entire area,” he said.

He noted that he has received fair and decent treatment from the UAE forces after giving himself in, urging all those fighting along with the Al Houthi militias to renounce them and adhere to “the righteous path of the Arab Coalition who are fighting for restoring legitimacy in Yemen.”

He called upon all Yemeni people to close ranks against the Al Houthis who, he said, are “wreaking havoc on all Yemeni territories”, affirming that the Saudi-led Arab coalition forces are going on the “right path toward achieving victory and liberating the entire Yemeni lands from the grip of the rebels.”

Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi came to power in early 2012 after massive Arab Spring protests ousted Ali Abdullah Saleh who ruled Yemen for more than 30 years.

He was forced to flee to Aden after escaping Al Houthi-imposed house arrest in 2014.

Since then, Hadi has led an offensive to liberate Al Houthi-occupied territories. With help from the Saudi-led Arab coalition, it has achieved widespread gains in many provinces, but Al Houthis still control the capital Sana’a and most northern provinces including Hodeida, Ibb, Mahweet, Yareem, Amran, Baydha and Hajja.
Sadeq Ameen Abu Rass, not Saleh's son Ahmed, is named as the successor to late Ali Abdullah Saleh as leader of the General People’s Congress party.