Yemen's Saleh recovering from surgery by Russian medical team

Former Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh is recovering in a Sanaa hospital after going under the knife on Friday for wounds suffered in a 2012 bomb blast.

Saleh was treated by a Russian medical team flown in to teh capital to treat the former dictator and is in a stable condition, his General People's Congress Party said, according to Reuters.

The treatment was related to wounds he suffered following a 2011 assasination attempt, although no further information was given.

The Russian team were flown into the Yemeni capital for the operation, after getting permission from the Saudi-led Arab coalition, which is waging a war against Saleh and his rebel Houthi allies.

Saleh is unable to leave Yemen for treatment due to a travel ban imposed on him and several other officials in 2014 by the UN Security Council.

He was previously treated in the US before the sanctions were announced.

Saleh ruled Yemen for 34 years before he was deposed in 2012 following popular protests.

He has since managed to regain some of his power after Houthi rebels drove out the government in Sanaa.

An alliance between Saleh loyalists and the Houthis has seen the former president pitted against his former deputy President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his one-time backers Saudi Arabia.