Overview
- State-run Yemeni TV and international outlets reported on Thursday that Hadi died at his residence in Riyadh at the age of 80.
- The internationally recognized government declared three days of mourning and ordered flags to be flown at half-staff.
- Hadi had lived in Saudi Arabia since fleeing the Houthi takeover in 2015 and formally handed authority to the Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council in April 2022, so official command of the government remains unchanged.
- A Houthi spokesperson called the death ‘mysterious,’ a statement that highlights competing narratives and deep mistrust between Yemen’s rival factions.
- Hadi’s long military career, Sandhurst training and years as president shaped the alliances and fractures that feed Yemen’s civil war and the country’s ongoing humanitarian crisis, which continues to affect millions.