On 22 January 2015 President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi of Yemen and his government resigned after Houthi rebels seized the presidential palace and his residence in the capital Sanaa, the culmination of a takeover that had been building for months. The Houthis, a Zaidi Shia movement from the northern Saada region, had stormed into Sanaa in September 2014 amid anger over fuel subsidy cuts and corruption, taking government buildings and signing a power-sharing deal that they then pushed past. In January 2015 they assaulted the presidential palace and Hadi's home, placing the president, Prime Minister Khaled Bahah, and the cabinet under effective house arrest while demanding more control over the government and the drafting of a new constitution.
Rather than comply, Hadi and his ministers tendered their resignations on 22 January. On 6 February the Houthis dissolved parliament and declared a Revolutionary Committee the interim authority, a move the United Nations rejected. Hadi, held under house arrest, escaped Sanaa on 21 February, fled to the southern port of Aden, rescinded his resignation, and declared the Houthi takeover an illegitimate coup, saying he remained the constitutional president.
A Houthi advance then forced him to flee to Saudi Arabia in March, and a Saudi led coalition began a military intervention, opening a long civil war.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who resigned under Houthi pressure and was held under house arrest before escaping to Aden and then Saudi Arabia
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi (president who resigned)
Abdul-Malik al-Houthi (Houthi movement leader)
Khaled Bahah (prime minister who also resigned)
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi (head of the Revolutionary Committee)
Sources
The Houthi takeover escalated when the Houthis stormed Sanaa on 21 September 2014, and led to the resignation of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and his ministers on 22 January 2015 after Houthi forces seized the presidential palace, residence, and key military installations, followed by the formation of a ruling council by Houthi militants on 6 February 2015.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, Houthi takeover in Yemenopen source ↗
In January 2015 Houthi forces assaulted the presidential palace and private residence of Hadi, placing the president and his ministers under virtual house arrest while demanding further concessions, and Hadi and his cabinet resigned on 22 January; three weeks later the Houthis declared the House of Representatives defunct and named a Revolutionary Committee.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, Aftermath of the Houthi takeover in Yemenopen source ↗
The Houthis seized the presidential palace and key government buildings on 22 January, prompting President Hadi and his prime minister to tender their resignations, and Hadi and his cabinet were then held under house arrest by the rebels.
On 21 February 2015, one month after Houthi militants confined him to his residence in Sanaa, Hadi slipped out of the capital and traveled to Aden, declared the Houthi takeover illegitimate and that he remained the constitutional president, and after a Houthi advance fled his palace in Aden and Saudi Arabia to launch airstrikes.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, Aftermath of the Houthi takeover in Yemenopen source ↗
Editorial Note
Coded fate arrested or jailed is verified: Hadi and his cabinet were held under house arrest by the Houthis after resigning. Coded as a rebel coup on 01-22, accurately reflecting that this was a takeover by an armed insurgent movement (the Houthis) rather than the regular military. The contested legitimacy is handled neutrally: the Houthis called their movement a revolution, while Hadi and the UN called it an illegitimate coup; Hadi later rescinded his resignation from Aden. This event opened the Yemeni civil war and the Saudi led intervention that began in March 2015, noted here only as the consequence.
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who resigned under Houthi pressure and was held under house arrest before escaping to Aden and then Saudi Arabia.
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; arrested or jailed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
“Houthi coup plunges Yemen into anarchy,” January 21, 2015
The Times
“Al-Qaeda poised to exploit coup in Yemen: Yemen,” January 22, 2015
Irish Times
“Yemen In Danger Of Becoming Failed State As President Resigns: Had I Decision Marks Abrupt Turnaround after power-sharing deal was agreed,” January 23, 2015
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →