ali abdullah saleh, who was ousted from power by the 2011 yemeni revolution, was widely suspected in 2014 of allying with the houthis in their successful insurgency against the government of his former vice president and successor as president, abdrabbuh mansur hadi. after the houthi takeover of sana'a and a monthlong detention by militants, hadi escaped to aden in february 2015, followed some weeks later by his defence minister, major general mahmoud al-subaihi. saleh stated the week before his forces assaulted aden international airport that he would drive hadi into the red sea.