live in doha with coverage in yemen and sanaa and intense fighting between houthi fighters and the army, we also have other news, funerals expected for six hezbollah fighters in the golan heights, tightening grip on power and turkey chairs its first cabinet meeting. after six weeks of no new infections mali is free from the ebola virus. ♪ welcome to al jazeera, if you

are just joining us the situation in yemen seems to be spiralling out of control and you see on t.v. gun battles ongoing between yemen soldiers and houthi fighters who took control of sanaa last year. the president has flown from the presidential palace and prime minister's convow has been attacked. the minister of information told al jazeera the capitol is in chaos and could be a new yemen by the end of the day. >> the president is in his house. it's very tense. we can still hear fire exchanged and random, not as much as the morning, random explosions or gunshots. there is -- there was a meeting around an hour ago at the president's house that included the prime minister and high-level representatives of the houthis and they agreed from this meeting that the ceasefire will happen and there will be a field committee which is

supposed to go around the streets and ensure that the ceasefire does happen. however, once the members of the meeting including the prime minister left the meeting at the president's house they were shot at and hopefully they can make it to their residence but we know that the prime minister is still fine. we know the leaders are fine. >> where is the president? sorry where is the president? house. sorry. >> his house, he is still in his residence in sanaa. >> the president is in sanaa. >> yes, this meeting did not include any diplomate. there was news that this happened but it did not. the meeting was many and in charge of the defense interior

was supposed to meet with the houthis to start calming the streets and having a ceasefire and they did not meet and a ceasefire has not started and streets. >> the state news agency you have said has been taken over by the houthis and you have said this is an attempted coup. >> the attempted coup is not with the t.v. it's actually this morning when there were attempts to enter the or takeover the presidential palace that the takeover of the t.v. actually happened gradually and it was through the popular communities starting from november were spread in all public and state-run organizations or establishments including the media establishment. what happened is that they were there as monitors and saying they are there to fight corruption but by this time they

refused to acknowledge the state authority in the state t.v. and radio to the news agency. so i have no authority over those organizations. i've tried to pass instructions i've tried for the government to public this and broadcast that, they have refused to acknowledge the authority. >> you are saying there was an attempted coup when the houthis tried to enter the presidential palace. what is the situation now? were the houthis successfully repelled? >> no, there was just i think one casualty and three injured so there was a lot of fire exchanged but not many people were actually killed and eventually the mediators, they managed to meet at the president's house and the meeting resulted, an agreement

to ceasefire, the ceasefire has not been able, they couldn't get it to be like that because the committee is supposed to calm the streets and could not start operations. and third-party. >> sorry, who is in control of sanaa now? >> to be honest i don't think any single party is in control of sanaa. there are places where the state security is in control, places where houthis are in control and it. >> and who is this third-party? >> well, i think there were some people who came from the tribal areas and the last they came in and we have news of people affiliated with the republican government because they are wearing the military uniform of the republican which is affiliated somewhat with the former regime and there are

people who are just bandits like people who in their best interest to create chaos. this is a very volatile situation. i'm very worried that al-qaeda or other terrorist organizations will use the lack of order and target anybody. this is why we have been instructed to lay low and all of the foreign diplomates and everybody is taking guard. >> have you yourself, a government minister been instructed to leave sanaa, to leave yemen? >> we have been told to stay put in our homes and see how this develops. but we are all staying in the same place where we were before, nobody has left the country and the president himself is still in sanaa. >> what is the president's plan to try to regain control?

>> well, that was the plan yesterday because it was -- he instructed his commanders and military from ministry of defense and interior to spread in the city and ensure that there is control, there is state control after his office manager was abducted a few days ago. now i think his most important security is safe. >> and how is he hoping to achieve that? is the yemen army still responding to his command? >> not all of it. some of the yemen army are responding to his command and this is why the both ministers of defense and interior were there in this committee but there are people who wear the uniform and they do not obey the orders. >> it sounds as though sanaa is

in a state of utter chaos. >> at this point, yes. it's a very -- this story is developing so quickly i think by the time i finish this conversation something new will happen. we may probably have a new yemen by the end of the day in terms of maybe a new system altogether. i still don't know what is happening. what i know now is there are attempts to ceasefire and there are people or body whose are trying not to happen. >> let's get an update from the yemen capitol sanaa and talk to the editor in chief of the yemen post and joins us live via skype from sanaa. and dramatic events in the yemen capitol today, this morning and today. bring us up to date if you can with the latest on the fighting in the capitol. it appears to be chaotic, what

are you seeing and hearing now? >> no one expected militants more than 2000 can defeat the entire government, army and shows the president was not responsible for the military divided them in two years which resulted in them having now noted stance against under one ruler there. this is why this happened today. the commanders cannot move their soldiers to fight, the houthis are unified and the government is not unified and the military is not under one hand and the reason why the houthis entered sanaa and right now are having the upper hand in the negotiations. we do expect in the next 24 hours the houthis to be in complete control of the government whether directly or indirectly even if the president remains in power it will be public because for now on they will continue and rule the army and the military directly after

today of what happens today. >> we will come back to the army in a second but for the benefit of viewers who may be joining al jazeera now just talk us through the sequence of events that happened this morning that brought us to where we are now. >> let me go back two days ago when the president chief of staff was supposed to hand over the new draft of the constitution which mentioned state. this resulted in the houthis kidnapping the president chief of staff. when that happened the president escalated and threats from both sides happened resulting in last night to when the president closed main roads and houthis sent over hundreds of fighters inside sanaa. this is when the guards and houthis clashed with one another and started near the presidential palace, then his house and now in almost every street around sanaa. >> and reports the houthis seized the t.v. station and

perhaps other media as well and the information minister reported as saying it's a step toward a coup, what do you make of that, if they are in control of the media what is that telling us? >> they are in control of everything, no government media outlets in sanaa that is in control or controlled by the government. all the media outlets in sanaa are controlled by the houthis and some of them have been for the last couple days and probably weeks if we compare the newspaper. so the houthis are in control but they had hadi as president over the last couple of months as a puppet when he did not go with demands and they revoted to show they are powerhouses of yemen and are not president. >> to go back to the point you made earlier about the split loyalties in the military, how has that played out and helped the houthis today? >> dramatically. over the last three years president hadi weakened the

islam party and weakened the former president's party and his followers, all the loyalties within the army from the belonging to the islam party or to the former president were all ousted and resulted in many different loyalties within the army, hadi thought he would weaken allies and be stronger and did not realize by weakening allies he would have one more enemy left and could defeat him and which today are the houthis. >> it's a chaotic scene in the capitol where you are. what are you hearing about the whereabouts of president hadi and the prime minister, where are they now? >> the prime minister is in sanaa but the prime minister is not in sanaa, a helicopter three hours ago evacuated him from the presidential palace and two hours ago to an unknown destination so he is now out of sanaa and the prime minister is in a safe location but in the

capitol sanaa. >> editor and chief thank you for the update and we will no doubt camp back to you a little bit later in the program and let's go south to the port city of aden in southern yemen. omar extraordinary and dramatic scenes in the capitol this morning. you were there in the south. we spoke to the yemen information minister earlier and said some extraordinary things and one of the things she said omar is we will probably see a new yemen by the end of the day. that is a very powerful and dramatic statement to make. what do you make of it omar? >> it is very powerful, dramatic and very, very significant because every one here was feeling this particular moment where the houthis will storm the palace and try to force the president to resign and have their own day in ruling the country.

now, it's a bit late to a lot of people that we have been speaking to some in the south and others when we were up north in the capitol sanaa because this is what they expected from the houthis to do and they were even criticizing the president for not doing enough and know the president is weak and doesn't have power over his military but they did say to save the prestige of the state you cannot tell your people you are weak or hand over power to the houthis and let them rule and there is question if they will be able to rule on their own and i doubt that darren. >> how critical are the events, is this able to make or break the president, is it too late? can he regain control of the situation do you think? >> i think he can because i think this is what he was trying to do, after the kidnapping of his chief of staff the president

met with his advisors and top military commanders and talked about a way to stop this chaos and need to put at least restore some of the state's prestige in front of the houthi expansion and they started by deploying some of their troops that are still loyal to them. now today's events proved that the houthis didn't like that and therefore the two did clash and led to the events that we are witnessing. i think the decision taken by hadi will make or break the new yemen and indeed the president himself and i think he took a very tough decision darren. >> we are hearing, omar, about this third force playing in the yemen political space, who or what is this third force and what influence do they have over events playing out in yemen? >> huge influence, darren and referring to loyalist of the

former regime who is still loyal to the president and as you know he ruled this country for more than 30 years and had a complicated network and built the complicated network with loyalties as well as army loyalties and appointed all of his close allies and key key

ali velshi, the news has become this thing where you talk to experts about people and al jazeera has really tried

to talk to people, about their stories. we are not meant to be your first choice for entertainment. we are ment to be your first choice for the news. live in doha with coverage in yemen and sanaa and intense fighting between houthi fighters and the army, we also have other news, funerals expected for six hezbollah fighters in the golan heights, tightening grip on power and turkey chairs its first cabinet meeting. after six weeks of no new infections mali is free from the ebola virus. ♪ welcome to al jazeera, if you are just joining us the situation in yemen seems to be spiralling out of control and

you see on t.v. gun battles ongoing between yemen soldiers and houthi fighters who took control of sanaa last year. the president has flown from the presidential palace and prime minister's convow has been attacked. the minister of information told al jazeera the capitol is in chaos and could be a new yemen by the end of the day. >> the president is in his house. it's very tense. we can still hear fire exchanged and random, not as much as the morning, random explosions or gunshots. there is -- there was a meeting around an hour ago at the president's house that included the prime minister and high-level representatives of the houthis and they agreed from this meeting that the ceasefire will happen and there will be a field committee which is supposed to go around the streets and ensure that the ceasefire does happen. however, once the members of the

meeting including the prime minister left the meeting at the president's house they were shot at and hopefully they can make it to their residence but we know that the prime minister is still fine. we know the leaders are fine. >> where is the president? sorry where is the president? house. sorry. >> his house, he is still in his residence in sanaa. >> the president is in sanaa. >> yes, this meeting did not include any diplomate. there was news that this happened but it did not. the meeting was many and in charge of the defense interior was supposed to meet with the houthis to start calming the streets and having a ceasefire and they did not meet and a

ceasefire has not started and streets. >> the state news agency you have said has been taken over by the houthis and you have said this is an attempted coup. >> the attempted coup is not with the t.v. it's actually this morning when there were attempts to enter the or takeover the presidential palace that the takeover of the t.v. actually happened gradually and it was through the popular communities starting from november were spread in all public and state-run organizations or establishments including the media establishment. what happened is that they were there as monitors and saying they are there to fight corruption but by this time they refused to acknowledge the state authority in the state t.v. and radio to the news agency.

so i have no authority over those organizations. i've tried to pass instructions i've tried for the government to public this and broadcast that, they have refused to acknowledge the authority. >> you are saying there was an attempted coup when the houthis tried to enter the presidential palace. what is the situation now? were the houthis successfully repelled? >> no, there was just i think one casualty and three injured so there was a lot of fire exchanged but not many people were actually killed and eventually the mediators, they managed to meet at the president's house and the meeting resulted, an agreement to ceasefire, the ceasefire has not been able, they couldn't get it to be like that because the

committee is supposed to calm the streets and could not start operations. and third-party. >> sorry, who is in control of sanaa now? >> to be honest i don't think any single party is in control of sanaa. there are places where the state security is in control, places where houthis are in control and it. >> and who is this third-party? >> well, i think there were some people who came from the tribal areas and the last they came in and we have news of people affiliated with the republican government because they are wearing the military uniform of the republican which is affiliated somewhat with the former regime and there are people who are just bandits like people who in their best

interest to create chaos. this is a very volatile situation. i'm very worried that al-qaeda or other terrorist organizations will use the lack of order and target anybody. this is why we have been instructed to lay low and all of the foreign diplomates and everybody is taking guard. >> have you yourself, a government minister been instructed to leave sanaa, to leave yemen? >> we have been told to stay put in our homes and see how this develops. but we are all staying in the same place where we were before, nobody has left the country and the president himself is still in sanaa. >> what is the president's plan to try to regain control? >> well, that was the plan yesterday because it was -- he instructed his commanders and

military from ministry of defense and interior to spread in the city and ensure that there is control, there is state control after his office manager was abducted a few days ago. now i think his most important security is safe. >> and how is he hoping to achieve that? is the yemen army still responding to his command? >> not all of it. some of the yemen army are responding to his command and this is why the both ministers of defense and interior were there in this committee but there are people who wear the uniform and they do not obey the orders. >> it sounds as though sanaa is in a state of utter chaos. >> at this point, yes.

it's a very -- this story is developing so quickly i think by the time i finish this conversation something new will happen. we may probably have a new yemen by the end of the day in terms of maybe a new system altogether. i still don't know what is happening. what i know now is there are attempts to ceasefire and there are people or body whose are trying not to happen. >> let's get an update from the yemen capitol sanaa and talk to the editor in chief of the yemen post and joins us live via skype from sanaa. and dramatic events in the yemen capitol today, this morning and today. bring us up to date if you can with the latest on the fighting in the capitol. it appears to be chaotic, what are you seeing and hearing now? >> no one expected militants

more than 2000 can defeat the entire government, army and shows the president was not responsible for the military divided them in two years which resulted in them having now noted stance against under one ruler there. this is why this happened today. the commanders cannot move their soldiers to fight, the houthis are unified and the government is not unified and the military is not under one hand and the reason why the houthis entered sanaa and right now are having the upper hand in the negotiations. we do expect in the next 24 hours the houthis to be in complete control of the government whether directly or indirectly even if the president remains in power it will be public because for now on they will continue and rule the army and the military directly after today of what happens today. >> we will come back to the army in a second but for the benefit of viewers who may be joining al

jazeera now just talk us through the sequence of events that happened this morning that brought us to where we are now. >> let me go back two days ago when the president chief of staff was supposed to hand over the new draft of the constitution which mentioned state. this resulted in the houthis kidnapping the president chief of staff. when that happened the president escalated and threats from both sides happened resulting in last night to when the president closed main roads and houthis sent over hundreds of fighters inside sanaa. this is when the guards and houthis clashed with one another and started near the presidential palace, then his house and now in almost every street around sanaa. >> and reports the houthis seized the t.v. station and perhaps other media as well and the information minister reported as saying it's a step toward a coup, what do you make

of that, if they are in control of the media what is that telling us? >> they are in control of everything, no government media outlets in sanaa that is in control or controlled by the government. all the media outlets in sanaa are controlled by the houthis and some of them have been for the last couple days and probably weeks if we compare the newspaper. so the houthis are in control but they had hadi as president over the last couple of months as a puppet when he did not go with demands and they revoted to show they are powerhouses of yemen and are not president. >> to go back to the point you made earlier about the split loyalties in the military, how has that played out and helped the houthis today? >> dramatically. over the last three years president hadi weakened the islam party and weakened the former president's party and his followers, all the loyalties within the army from the

belonging to the islam party or to the former president were all ousted and resulted in many different loyalties within the army, hadi thought he would weaken allies and be stronger and did not realize by weakening >> the united states is in the midst of the worst drug addiction epidemic in its history. but it's not a crisis of illegal drugs. it's one of prescription painkillers - oxycodone, hydrocodone, and other legal narcotics, all related to opium. collectively they are called opioids. >> these are the opioid painkillers. and prescriptions for drugs like these have more than quadrupled over the last 15 years - to the extent that the us now consumes more than 80 percent of the global supply of these d