The flight of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the internationally recognized president, triggered military intervention by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia that has carried out thousands of air strikes on the Houthis but failed to dislodge them from Sanaa. More than 7,000 people have been killed and nearly 37,000 wounded since Yemen's conflict escalated after the Saudi-led military coalition intervened in March 2015 to support Hadi. In a statement issued earlier today, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said that a proposal to form a new government in the capital, Sana’a, goes against the interests of Yemeni people, and contradicts the recent commitments provided by both sides to the UN and to the United States Secretary of State John Kerry in Muscat.
Despite criticism by UN Special Envoy for Yemen, 42 cabinet members of the National Salvation Government in Yemen have taken oath and convened its first meeting. The new government, led by the former governor of Aden Abdel-Aziz bin Habtour, vowed to help UN efforts for peace and stability in the country.