On Oct. 12, 15,000 members of the presidential guard, special security and intelligence forces spread throughout the capital city of Sanaa to secure the road taken by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, as he went to attend the graduation of military officers about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) from the presidential palace. According to the local Al-Shareh newspaper, Hadi fears being targeted for assassination, particularly after security forces thwarted an attempt against his life a month ago.
In Yemen, it is not only the president who fears assassination. The specter of death no longer hovers above the heads of prominent leaders or security figures alone but also unprecedentedly haunts second-row security and military officers as well as civilians. This comes after many second-row officers died in individually targeted assassinations that took the lives of more than 100 officers in the last two years.
