SANA, Yemen — Yemen’s top security body imposed an overnight curfew in restive areas of the capital, Sana, on Saturday after Shiite rebels took over the state television building amid heavy clashes.
The U.N. envoy to the country signaled that a deal had been reached to end the violence.
The Supreme Security Commission said the curfew was being imposed in the north and west of the capital and will remain in place indefinitely.
It follows days of clashes between Shiite rebels, known as Hawthis, and Sunni militiamen affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood’s Islah party that have left more than 140 dead and prompted thousands to flee.
The fighting has raised fears of an all-out sectarian conflict in an impoverished country grappling with a powerful local al-Qaeda affiliate and an increasingly assertive separatist movement in the south.
Mohammed Abdel-Salam, the spokesman for Hawthis, said in a statement posted on his official Facebook page that his group took over the TV building after a heavy exchange of gunfire with troops guarding the building.
All three state TV networks went off the air, and witnesses said the building was on fire. Clashes were ongoing late Saturday between Hawthis and army troops near an army barracks in the capital.
As the Hawthis consolidated their grip over the TV building, the United Nations envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, announced a deal that could end the fighting.
“An agreement has been reached following intense consultations with all the political parties … to resolve the current crisis,” said a statement posted on Benomar’s Facebook page.
He said that preparations were underway to sign the deal, which he described as “a national document that will advance the path of peaceful change, and will lay the foundations for national partnership and for security and stability in the country.”
No further details were available on the content of the agreement. Benomar has been holding talks with Hawthi rebels in their northern stronghold of Saada along with Yemen President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who has kept channels open with Hawthis. The United Nations has been mediating a deal between Hadi and the Hawthis, who say they seek economic reforms and a new government.
