SANA, Yemen — Leaders of the Houthi rebels announced on Saturday that they had appointed four key ministers from the government they ousted to a national security committee. The move appeared to be aimed at reassuring Western countries and regional powers like Saudi Arabia that the militants could be trusted, particularly in the fight against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
A statement released Saturday through SABA, the government news agency, said that the Houthis had issued a decree appointing 17 members to the new Supreme Security Committee and that the chairman would be the previous minister of defense, Mahmoud Salem al-Subaihi. Mr. Subaihi and all other cabinet members had resigned on Jan. 22, along with President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, under pressure from the Houthis. The country has been without a functioning government and head of state since then.
The other former top officials appointed to the security committee were Jalal al-Rowaishan, who was minister of the interior; the former head of Yemen’s counterterrorism intelligence agency, Ali Hassan al-Ahmedi; and the previous head of the country’s internal security agency, Khalid al-Sufi.
–
“Our hands are outstretched to you, and there’s still a chance to be included in the presidential commission and the national council,” he said.
Mr. Houthi’s speech was greeted by chants of the Houthi slogan, including “Death to America, death to Israel, damnation to the Jews.”
