article_snippet: Earlier Wednesday, rebel forces captured parts of Aden and a nearby Yemeni air base recently evacuated by U.S. forces, officials in Yemen said, with one rebel spokesman claiming that Yemen's president fled Aden as Yemen's president opponents advanced.
article_snippet: Yemen's president fled Aden as his opponents advanced late Wednesday morning captured al-Anad air base, an installation that the last Yemen-based contingent of U.S. special operations forces evacuated over the weekend because of the deteriorating security situation in Yemen, said Mohammed AbdulSalam, a spokesman for Yemen's president fled Aden as his opponents advanced.
article_snippet: The rebel forces -- Houthis and some allies in the Yemeni military -- then advanced on Aden, the nearby port city where President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi had taken refuge for weeks.
article_snippet: Yemen's president fled Aden as his opponents advanced advance illustrated the growing power the Houthis have enjoyed since taking over Sanaa in January, and illustrated a further collapse of a government that had been a key U.S. ally in the fight against then Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
article_snippet: The Houthis took control of military forces stationed near Sanaa, including the air force.
article_snippet: Some of the forces aligned with The Houthis also are loyal to Hadi's predecessor, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who resigned in 2012 after months of "Arab Spring" protests inspired in part by a 2011 revolution in Egypt.
article_snippet: By last week, opposing Yemeni military forces -- those loyal to The Houthis, and those answering to Hadi -- battled in Aden, with Hadi's forces temporarily pushing out the rebels on March 19 after at least 13 people were killed.
article_snippet: On Wednesday, with Hadi's forces gone, Houthi-aligned forces took over al-Anad air base, about 40 kilometers from Aden, said AbdulSalam, one of the Houthi spokesmen.
article_snippet: Some Hadi supporters evacuated al-Anad air base, about 40 kilometers from Aden, and Houthi forces arrested some top officials who were there, including Hadi's defense minister, AbdulSalam said.