Yemen's ex-President Saleh: Key Dates

Key dates in the life of Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose death Huthi rebels announced on Monday.

- March 21, 1942: born to a North Yemen family linked to the powerful Hashid tribal confederation.

- 1962: Joins the army. Takes part in the coup that replaces the Zaidi imamate with an Arab nationalist republic.

- 1978: Following the assassination of president Ahmad al-Ghashmi, Saleh is elected president of North Yemen by a constituent assembly.

- 1990: He successfully steers the country to reunification with the communist south, becoming president of a unified Yemen.

- 1994: He crushes a secession bid in the south.

- 2004-2010: Saleh fights northern Huthi rebels, who like him belong to the Zaidi Shiite Muslim minority.

- 2012: Steps down on February 27 after months of demonstrations against his 33-year rule, and after being injured in a June 2011 attack.

- 2014: Saleh allies himself with his former enemies -- the Huthis -- who in 2015 seize the capital Sanaa, and briefly Aden in the south, which is quickly retaken by a Saudi-led coalition.

- 2017: Break up of the alliance between Saleh and Huthi rebels, who claim on December 4 that the ex-president had been killed as fighting shook Sanaa.