Domestic political opponents of the Houthi group have argued the Shi'ite group's take-over following months of territorial expansions was effectively a coup.
"This step is a historical and important step and it was necessary. It came to fill the political vacuum by which others wanted to target the people of Yemen," said Houthi leader Abdel Malik al-Houthi.
"The political forces that seized that vacuum aimed to undermine the political process and destroy the governmental institutions and make things chaotic. They didn't have a wise or correct project," he added.