SHI’ITE Houthi rebels announced yesterday that they had taken over Yemen and dissolved its parliament, finalising their months-long power grab.

In a televised announcement from the Republican Palace in the capital of Sanaa, the Houthis said that they were forming a five-member presidential council to replace President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi for an interim two-year period.

They added that a “revolutionary committee” would be in charge of forming a new parliament with 551 members. 

The committee is the security and intelligence arm of the rebel group, led by Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, who is related to Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi.

An unidentified announcer read a statement in Sanaa claiming that the takeover marked “a new era that will take Yemen to safe shores.”

Other political parties had failed to meet a Houthi-imposed deadline on Wednesday to agree on an acceptable way forward.