Yemenis protest on war anniversary

Hundreds of thousands took to the streets of Yemeni capital of Sanaa Sunday in a show of support for the rebel government, two years after a Saudi Arabia led Gulf coalition launched a war on the impoverished Arab country in order to install ousted pro-West president.

The Yemen conflict pits the Houthi dominated Ansarullah and its allies against troops of Saudi backed ousted preisident Abdu Rubb Mansoor Hadi who had fled following an uprising in 2014. A year later Saudi-led coalition launched a relentless aerial campaign against rebel government which has left thousands of people dead sofar.

Opposition ostensibly supported by neighbouring Iran staged a show of force over the weekend with the mass rally in Sanaa and a symbolic court ruling against former president.Crowds converged on the capital's Sabaeen Square, chanting their vows to "resist to the end."

The protest came a day after a court in Sanaa sentenced President Hadi to death for high treason in absentia.

The court found Hadi guilty of "usurping the title of president after the end of his term in office . . . instigating attacks by Saudi Arabia and undermining the independence and integrity of the Republic of Yemen,"Saba agency said.Six members of the Hadi government were also sentenced to death.

Hadi, whose two-year term in office expired in February 2014, now lives in Saudi Arabia where he fled after the uprising although he also visits his government's temporary capital of Aden.

The president was placed under house arrest after the rebels overran the capital in September 2014, and later fled to the southern port city of Aden.The Saudi coalition launched airstrikes on March 26, 2015, after opposition advanced on other parts of the country, including the port city.

Hadi's forces have since gained ground in southern Yemen, but the opposition still control the capital and strategic ports on the Red Sea coastline.

On Saturday, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, an opposition ally, slammed Saudi Arabia's role in the conflict."Free Yemenis will continue to choose resistance, as long as the coalition led by Saudi Arabia continues to choose war," Saba quoted Saleh as saying in a speech marking the two-year anniversary.

Rebel leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said the coalition had been "living under the illusion that they can take Yemen in a week or a month . . . but have sunk into the mud."

The rebels had long complained of marginalization and in 2011 mobilized protests demanding economic and political reform that led to Saleh's resignation the next year after decades in power.But the Ansarullah and Saleh put their differences behind them in 2014, as their supporters took control of the capital with the support of troops still loyal to the former president.

More than 7,700 people have been killed and 3 million displaced in Yemen since March 2015, the United Nations says.This month, 42 people, mainly Somali refugees, were killed when a boat transporting them out of Yemen came under coalition air attack off the main Red Sea port of Hodeida.

Saudi Arabia has denied involvement and called for the United Nations to take control of Hodeida port, which is currently in the hands of the rebels.

On Sunday, Human Rights Watch said there was evidence the attack may have come from the coalition and could amount to a war crime. 

The United Nations has described Yemen as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today, with fighting leaving millions desperate for food and shelter.It says the country this year also faces a serious risk of famine.