Women loyal to the Houthi movement carry rifles as they take part in a parade to show support to the movement in Sanaa, YemenSeptember 7, 2016. (Reuters photo)
SANAA, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's dominant rebel Shiite Houthi group and its ally party of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Sunday appointed Abdulaziz bin Habtoor as the prime minister and tasked him to form a "national salvation government," state Saba news agency reported.
The appointment came in a decree issued by Houthi leader Saleh al-Sammad, the president of supreme political council, which is the country's higher governing coalition between armed Houthi group and Saleh's General People's Congress party.
Abdulaziz bin Habtoor is from southeast province of Shabwa and served as a governor of southern port city of Aden during the rule of internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
It was another blow to the UN-sponsored peace talks after Houthis and Saleh established the governing political council in July to unilaterally rule the country.
Previous UN-backed peace talks between Houthis along with its Saleh ally against Hadi's government have ended without tangible results.
There were new attempts to hold another round of negotiations sponsored by the UN envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
Houthis, backed by Saleh's loyal forces, stormed the capital Sanaa in September 2014, fighting against what they said "Hadi's government corruption."
They seized Sanaa and much parts of the country's north, forcing internationally-backed President Hadi and his government to flee into exile.
Hadi asked a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia to intervene to restore his power and recapture Sanaa.
The Saudi-led coalition launched a military air campaign against Houthis and Saleh's forces on March 26, 2015.
The coalition's air strikes and ground battles have since killed over 10,000 Yemenis, mostly children and women, injuring around 35,000 others and displacing three million others, according to UN reports.
Houthis and Saleh's forces have still in control of the capital Sanaa and much parts of the war-stricken Arab country.
