Yemen northern rebels move near capital

[Jacaylbaro]

Yemeni government forces have beaten back an advance by northern rebels who brought their fight to within 12 miles of the capital, officials and witnesses said Saturday.

 

Eyewitness Hamoud Mohammed said many houses were demolished in the village of Bani Heshiash near San'a after three days of airstrikes and shelling by government forces battling the rebels. Artillery shells could be heard exploding in the area over the weekend.

 

"The bodies of the dead were seen in the streets, left unburied because of the intensity of the strikes," Mohammed said. "Water and medicine is scarce and the injured have to drive dangerous roads to the capital for proper treatment."

 

Tribal officials and medics said scores have been killed on both sides in fighting over the past few weeks. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns and the government did not provide any casualty figures.

 

The rebels from the al-Zaydi sect of Shiite Islam have been fighting intermittently since 2004, claiming the government is corrupt and too closely allied with the West. Thousands have been killed in the rebellion.

 

Until recently, the rebellion had been concentrated in Saada province, close to the Saudi border and more than 100 miles from the capital.

 

But in the last three days, government forces pounded advancing rebels in the mountainous around Bani Heshiash, 12 miles north of San'a, tribal and local officials said speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

 

The Ministry of Defense said its forces had taken control of the village and detained dozens of rebels. But fighting in the area persisted.

 

The government put checkpoints on main streets in San'a, searched cars and questioned passengers while deploying armored vehicles to Bani Heshiash. Soldiers were taking positions behind barricades and underground trenches on the main road leading to San'a airport.

 

The fighting has also spread to the northern province of Amran, a predominantly Shiite area between Saada and San'a. On Friday, a gunmen went on a shooting rampage inside a mosque in the town of Kohal in Amran province, killing eight worshippers.

 

It was the second attack on a mosque in northern Yemen this month. The government indicated the attack was not related to the rebellion, saying it was a criminal act.

 

There have been clashes between rebels and the government in Harf Sufiyan district in Amran for the past two weeks. Local official said the rebels cut the highway linking Amran with the capital and preventing the army from deploying soldiers and sending ammunition and weapons to military zones in Amran and Saada.

 

Officials in Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and in Yemen's government suspect Iran and Libya support the al-Zaydi rebels. Sunni governments in the region suspect Shiite Iran is trying to increase its influence by supporting Shiite groups such as the militias in Iraq and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

 

Outside the violence in the north, Yemen has seen a spate of attacks, some of them aimed at foreigners and blamed on al-Qaida linked militants.

 

Yemen is the ancestral homeland of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. The group has active presence in Yemen despite government efforts to destroy it.

 

Al-Qaida was blamed for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole destroyer in the Yemeni port of Aden that killed 17 American sailors.

 

 

 

Source AP