Yemen’s General Peoples Congress on Thursday launched in southwestern Taiz its first attempt at unifying the party’s image, after it had been divided by the death of ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Leaders of the local party, at an unscheduled conference held on Thursday in Taiz, announced their loyalty to the internationally-recognized President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi after the death of Saleh. The meeting came under the slogan of “maintaining organizational unity, restoring the state and building a new federal Yemen, contributing to the unification of the internal ranks and supporting the process of liberating Taiz.” Despite attempts by the partys opponents to disrupt its local leadership meeting in Taiz, they succeeded in overcoming threats and held their extraordinary session in presence of official provincial leadership. The leaders reiterated that they will be carrying out Saleh’s last desire before which is standing up to Iran-backed Houthi militias. Houthis, backed by Iran and Saleh loyalists, overran the capital in September 2014 and in February of this year launched a coup deposing President Hadi and the government. Saleh was killed in a roadside attack after switching sides in Yemen’s civil war, abandoning his Iran-aligned Houthi allies in favor of the Hadi’s Aden-based government. Saudi Arabia has led a coalition of ten Arab states since late March to fight an alliance of Iran-allied Houthis who took large parts of Yemen, including Sana’a, forcing President Hadi and his government members into exile in Riyadh. GPC members stressed the need to unite internal ranks between political, public, military and security forces in Taiz especially, and in Yemen generally, in an effort to liberate all Houthi-controlled provinces and areas. National GPC delegates at the meeting authorized local party representatives in Taiz to punish members who have taken up arms alongside the Houthis, especially those who are still standing in militias ranks. GPC leaders said that the measures include organizational sanctions against those involved with Houthi militias, and the permanent revocation of membership in accordance with the rules and regulations. More so, a collective GPC party statement called on Yemeni President Hadi, Vice President Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr to shoulder their historic responsibility to unite all forces opposing the Iran-aligned Houthi coup, in the best interest of Yemen and national salvation.