article_snippet.sent: Yemen has been descending into chaos in the weeks since Houthi rebels -- minority Shiites who have long complained of being marginalized in Yemen -- forced Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi from power in January.
article_snippet.sent: the Houthis put Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi under house arrest when they overtook Sanaa in January.
article_snippet.sent: But Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi escaped in February, fled to Aden and declared Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi to still be president.
article_snippet.sent: the Houthis and the Houthis allies, including those loyal to Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi's predecessor, then fought Hadi's forces in Aden.
article_snippet.sent: Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi fled Aden in late March, ultimately for Saudi Arabia, when the rebels and their military allies advanced on Yemen.
article_snippet.sent: The conflict prompted Saudi Arabia, a predominately Sunni nation and Yemen's northern neighbor, and The United Nations to hit the rebels in Yemen with airstrikes.
article_snippet.sent: A Saudi source told CNN that special forces supplied weapons and communication equipment to Yemeni fighters in Aden loyal to Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi.
article_snippet.sent: the Houthis were retreating from areas in the center of Yemen, including the presidential palace there, A Saudi source said.
article_snippet.sent: Saudi special forces help oppose Houthi rebels in Yemen, A Saudi source says .
article_snippet.sent: Complicating matters in Yemen is that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- not the Houthis or Hadi-loyal forces -- holds sway in Yemen's east.