Yemeni rebel leader vows escalation if reforms stall

SANAA, Yemen — The leader of the Shiite rebels who control Yemen’s capital and seized the presidential palace on Tuesday warned of a further escalation if President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi stands in the way of political reform.

In a lengthy speech aired by the group’s TV network, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi said “all options are open” and that escalation “has no ceiling” if the president does not “speed up” implementation of a U.N.-brokered peace deal.

That deal would grant the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, greater power and shake up a committee tasked with drafting a new constitution.

Houthi also voiced defiance to the U.N. Security Council, which held a closed-door meeting on the Yemeni crisis on Tuesday, saying “any measure you take to force this country to succumb … will not benefit you.”