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Yemen’s dominant Houthi militia group Monday released former premier Khaled Bahah and his Cabinet ministers after nearly two months under house arrest, government spokesman Rajeh Badi said, The Daily Star reported citing news agencies.

State news agency Saba reported that Bahah, whose government resigned in January after the Houthis captured Yemen’s presidential palace, had left Sanaa. A source close to Bahah said he was on his way to Saudi Arabia and from there he would go on to New York where his family lives.

In a statement on his Facebook page, Bahah said the lifting of the house arrest was a goodwill gesture to ease talks on Yemen’s political transition. But he said he had no intention of resuming his post. “This comes as an expression of sincere good intentions ... [the government] confirms it does not desire to return to its duties in light of the exceptional circumstances,” he wrote.

The Houthis invaded the capital Sanaa and fanned out across much of central Yemen in September in what they hailed as a revolution against misrule and corruption.

A power struggle with President Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi began when the militants laid siege to the presidential palace and forced him, Bahah and the Cabinet into house arrest in January.

Hadi has since escaped to the southern port city of Aden and reclaimed the presidency, setting up a rival administration there backed by Gulf neighbors, who have rejected the Houthi takeover as a coup.

Defense Minister Gen. Mahmoud al-Subaihi reached Aden this month, escaping following a firefight with Houthi militiamen that killed at least one of his guards.

But Bahah said that his government “does not intend to act as caretaker due to the exceptional circumstances” in the country.

He also announced no immediate plans to travel to Aden.