Turkey freezes assets of Houthi leaders, Yemen's slain President Saleh

Turkey has frozen assets of three senior Yemeni Houthi militia leaders in line with U.N. Security Council sanctions against the rebels, the state's official gazette said on Thursday.

The U.N. imposed sanctions in 2014 on the Houthi leadership and then Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was forced out in 2012 and blacklisted for obstructing peace by later backing the Shiite militia after it seized power in Sanaa.

Ankara has in the past targeted assets of Saleh and his son, in line with U.N. sanctions against the ousted strongman, who was assassinated two years ago.

The official gazette said the new sanctions targeted Houthi leader Abdulmalek al-Houthi and two military commanders Abd al-Khaliq al-Houthi and Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim.

It also listed Saleh and his son Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Assets belonging to Saleh and his son in Turkish banks and other financial institutions were already temporarily frozen more than two years ago.

Saleh amassed between $32 billion and $60 billion through corruption and stashed assets in at least 20 countries during his 33 years in power, according to a U.N. report.

The Yemen conflict pits the Iran-linked Houthis against a regional pro-government coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which intervened in the conflict four years ago.

Since then the war has killed around 10,000 Yemenis, according to the World Health Organization, triggering what the U.N. calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.