Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah returned to the southern port of Aden on Wednesday in a step towards restoring a government on home soil after months of working from exile with Gulf Arab allies to combat Houthi domination of the country.
Government spokesman Rajeh Badi said Bahah, who is also vice president, was accompanied by seven ministers when he arrived in Aden, which loyalist fighters backed by Saudi-led troops recaptured from Iranian-allied Houthi forces in July.
“Khaled Bahah and the ministers who arrived with him are in Aden to stay permanently,” Badi said.
Bahah’s return from Saudi Arabia follows that of several other Yemeni ministers who relocated to Aden from the kingdom in the weeks after the city was retaken in July. Bahah made a brief visit to Aden on Aug. 1.
President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fled Aden for the Saudi capital Riyadh in March as Houthi forces closed in. Since its recapture, loyalist forces supported by Saudi-led coalition air strikes have pushed northwards and driven back the Houthis.
