JEDDAH — Gulf Arab states said on Wednesday that they would not allow Yemen to transform into a center for regional terrorism organizations, Al Arabiya News Channel reported. In a statement issued by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the Arab states also condemned “the actions taken by Houthi rebels to dissolve the parliament and the takeover of government institutions in Yemen.” The Arab Gulf bloc expressed its “rejection of the various acts of violence, for achieving political goals, intimidating the Yemeni people, suppressing their freedoms, and violating their rights.” Meanwhile, the family of a prominent Yemeni politician and Houthi supporter says he was assassinated by gunmen in front of the family's home in the capital, Sanaa. The son of Abdel-Karim Al-Khewani, who was also a respected writer, says a pair of armed men riding on a motorbike opened fire and gunned down his father as he came out of the house in the morning. Mohammed Al-Khewani says the attackers left his father in a pool of blood and sped away. The elder Al-Khewani was transferred to hospital but died of his wounds there. On Tuesday Houthi militiamen who control the Yemeni capital attacked the house of a senior army commander, killing one guard and detaining two more, an army source said. Gen. Mohammed Rajah Laboudha was not home at the time. The source said the Shiite militiamen were “responding to a gun attack on Sunday on the convoy of the Houthi military commander, Abu Ali Al-Hakam.” Gen. Laboudha heads the Fifth Military Region, which covers the strategic Red Sea province of Hudeida, which has been partly held by the Houthis since they seized power in Sanaa on Feb. 6. Tuesday's attack came the day after the Houthis fired air force commander Gen. Rashid Al-Jund and one of his deputies, Gen. Abdellatif Al-Zuhairi, replacing them with officers close to Sanaa's new masters. The sacking of the senior officers was announced by a Houthi security body that said the two officers would also face questioning for refusing to comply with orders from the militia. — Al Arabiya News/Agencies
