Sanaa, Yemen: Yemen's embattled president fled his Aden home Wednesday for an undisclosed location as Shiite rebels neared his last refuge, reports The Associated Press (AP).

Hadi fled just hours after the rebels' own television station said they seized an air base where US troops and Europeans advised the country in its fight against al-Qaeda militants. That air base is only 35 miles away from Aden, the port city where President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi had established a temporary capital.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren't authorized to brief journalists. Witnesses said they saw a convoy of presidential vehicles Wednesday leaving Hadi's palace, located at the top of a hill in Aden overlooking the Arabian Sea.

Forces loyal to Hadi had no immediate comment. US and European advisers fled the seized air base days ago after al-Qaida fighters briefly seized a nearby city.

The advance of the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, threatens to plunge the Arab world's poorest country into a civil war that could draw in its Gulf neighbors. Hadi has asked the United Nations to authorize a foreign military intervention in the country. Early Wednesday, the satellite Al-Masirah news channel reported that the Houthis and allied fighters had ‘secured’ the al-Annad air base, the country's largest.