The prime minister of Yemen ’s internationally recognized government said Saturday he was resigning due to political struggles, underscoring the fragility of an alliance fighting Houthi rebels in the Arab world’s most impoverished country.
Prime Minister Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak announced the decision in a post on social media, attaching a resignation letter directed to Rashad al-Alimi, head of the ruling presidential council. The internationally recognized government is based in the southern city of Aden.
Bin Mubarak, named prime minister in February 2024, said he was resigning because he was unable to take “necessary decisions to reform the state institution, and execute the necessary Cabinet reshuffle.”
Within hours of the announcement, the presidential council named Finance Minister Salem Saleh Bin Braik as prime minister, according to the state-run SABA news agency. The council also named Bin Mubarak as an advisor to the ruling body, without addressing his claims.
Ahmed Nagi, a senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank, said Bin Mubarak’s resignation capped months of simmering tensions between the prime minister and the ruling council over the mandate of each party.
He said Bin Bubarak was in part a scapegoat for the government’s failure to address the towering economic challenges in the government-held areas, including soaring prices and repeated power outages.
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Yemen has been embroiled in civil war since 2014, when Iranian-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital of Sanaa, forcing the internationally recognized government into exile in Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi-led coalition intervened months later and has been battling the rebels since 2015 to try and restore the government. The war has turned into a stalemated proxy conflict.
The seven-member presidential council was appointed in 2022 with the aim of unifying the anti-Houthi block, but has since been divided into two main blocs.
One is loyal to council member Aydarous al-Zubaidi, who chairs the secessionist Southern Transitional Council, an umbrella group of heavily armed militias propped up by the United Arab Emirates since 2015.
The second is loyal to Saudi Arabia and includes al-Alimi and Sheikh Sultan al-Aradah, the powerful governor of energy-rich Marib province.
Bin Mubarak's resignation came as the United States has increased its attacks on the Houthis in Yemen. The U.S. military has launched nearly daily strikes in Houthi-held areas since March 15, when President Donald Trump ordered a new, expanded campaign against the rebels.
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The war has devastated Yemen and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters. More than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, have been killed.