Tense truce returns to Yemen capital after deadly clash

SANAA - 28 August 2017: An uneasy calm returned to the Yemeni capital on Monday as talks were underway between ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh's forces and Shiite Huthi rebels following unprecedented violence between the two allies.

Cracks have emerged in the rebel alliance between Saleh and Huthi leader Abdul Malik al-Huthi, with tensions spilling over into the streets at the weekend when a colonel with Saleh's forces and two Huthis were killed in a shootout.

Witnesses and a military source in Sanaa, which is jointly controlled by the alliance, said armed rebels and forces loyal to the ex-president have slowly begun to withdraw from the streets, after a heavy deployment following a dispute that led to Saturday's shootout.

A security source, declining to be named, said a mediation committee had been set up to try to restore ties between the two rebel forces.

Saleh's forces are demanding the Huthis hand over responsible for the killing of Colonel Khaled al-Rida, according to the source.

A war of words broke out earlier this month between Saleh and Huthi, with the former president terming his allies "a militia" and the rebels firing back that he was a "back-stabber" and "traitor".

Ties between Saleh and the Huthis had been bitter for decades, with the former cracking down on Yemen's minority community during his two-decade term as president.

Saleh resigned under popular and political pressure in 2012, ceding the presidency to his vice president, Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

Two years later, Saleh and Huthi joined ranks in a shock alliance that drove Hadi's government out of Sanaa.

The two rebel forces have since fought troops loyal to Hadi as well as a Saudi-led Arab military coalition which intervened in the war in 2015 in support of the internationally-recognised Yemeni government.

More than 8,400 civilians have been killed since the intervention, with political deadlock, a blockaded airport and ports, and poverty pushing the country to the brink of famine.

Another 2,000 Yemenis have died of cholera since April and 600,000 more are expected to contract the infection this year.