Yemen on edge of civil war

Shia militia in Yemen seized the airport in a key central city yesterday as deteriorating security prompted Washington to evacuate personnel and the UN Security Council to call an emergency session.

The Security Council was to meet later yesterday after President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi called for "urgent intervention" amid mounting unrest, including suicide bombings claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 142 people in the capital Sanaa on Friday.

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Impoverished but strategic Yemen has descended into chaos in recent months, with the Shia militia, known as Huthis, seizing control of Sanaa and forcing Hadi to flee to the main southern city of Aden.

The Arabian Peninsula country is increasingly divided between a north controlled by the Huthis, who are allegedly backed by Iran, and a south dominated by Hadi's allies.

The Huthis and their allies yesterday seized the airport in Taez, which is just 180 kilometres north of Aden on the road to Sanaa and seen as a strategic entry point to Hadi's refuge.

The forces allied with the Huthis included members of the former central security force, a unit seen as loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Saleh was forced from power in early 2012 after a year-long popular uprising and has been accused of working with the Huthis to restore his influence.

Security sources said Huthi militiamen were also patrolling parts of Taez and had set up checkpoints in Raheda, some 80 kilometres south of the city on the road to Aden.

Hadi, backed by Western and Gulf states as Yemen's legitimate ruler, has struggled to reassert his authority since escaping house arrest in Sanaa last month and fleeing to Aden.

In a letter to the Security Council, he said the Huthis and their allies "not only threaten peace in Yemen but regional and international peace and security".

Yemen has long been a key US ally in the fight against Islamic extremism, allowing Washington to carry out drone strikes on AQAP on its territory.

But in statement on Saturday, Washington said it was evacuating its remaining personnel.

"Due to the deteriorating security situation in Yemen, the US government has temporarily relocated its remaining personnel out of Yemen," State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said.

Washington would "continue to actively monitor terrorist threats emanating from Yemen and have capabilities postured in the area to address them", Rathke said.