Exiled Yemeni Vice President, Ministers Return to Aden - Source

A group of senior Yemeni officials returned to the city of Aden, recaptured from Houthis.

SANAA (Sputnik) – Yemen’s exiled vice president has returned to the southern port of Aden, the government’s only stronghold since it was recaptured from Houthi rebels, a local source told Sputnik on Wednesday.

"Yemeni Vice President Khaled Bahah arrived in Aden under heavy security and accompanied by Interior Minister Abdou Hudhaifi, Transport Minister Badr Ba-Salma," the source said.

The source added that the delegation was accompanied by the minister of finance, minister of public works, roads, and others. Local media named government officials from the ministries of communications, planning, foreign affairs, as being among the other returnees.

Bahah, the country’s vice president and prime minister, declared Aden liberated from Shiite Houthi forces in mid-July. President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi returned to the port city alongside several ministers for a brief period last month.

Bahah was also the first senior official to return to Aden in early August two weeks after its recapture from the Houthis.

The province’s governor suggested earlier this month that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two of the nations in an Arab coalition engaged in anti-Houthi airstrikes since late March, would create a security belt around Aden.