Yemen's President, Prime Minister Resign Due to Rebel Pressure

The two top government leaders in Yemen resigned this week following an ongoing stand-off with Shia Houthi rebels.

Yemen's President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and his Prime Minister, Khaled Baha announced their resignation on Thursday evening after the Houthi rebel group retained control of the country's capital of Sanaa since September. In an effort to overthrow the government, the rebel group held hostage a presidential aid since last week.

President Hadi reportedly had extreme pressure to resign from his post after rebels confined him to his home for the past two days.

Despite a recent peace deal between Hadi and the rebels, the Houthi group would not let the president leave his house and would not abandon their post at the presidential palace.

Baha issued the resignation of his cabinet via Facebook this week, saying in a Facebook post saying he chose to resign to avoid further controversy.

The former prime minister said he held office in "very complicated circumstances," and was resigning to "avoid being dragged into an abyss of unconstructive policies based on no law."

"We don't want to be a party to what is happening or will happen," Baha added.

A government spokesperson also released a statement that quoted Hadi's resignation letter as reading: "We apologize to you personally and to the honorable chamber and to the Yemeni people after we reached a dead end."

According to Reuters, the speaker of parliament has now become the interim head of state under Yemen's constitution.