United Nations warns of Yemen’s collapse

On 15 February, a picture was circulated of Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, chairman of the Supreme Revolutionary Committee set up less than a week before as Houthi rebels swept aside Yemen’s established organs of power. The photograph showed him presiding over a meeting inside the presidential palace in Sanaa, and its symbolism was clear: with Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who resigned as president of Yemen on 22 January, under house arrest, Al-Houthi was effectively being anointed head of state, even as the state he was intended to govern was disintegrating around him.