SANAA, 13 August 2004 — Yemeni Army troops have tightened the noose on a rebel preacher and his supporters in rugged northern mountains where they were nearing “their last breath”, the deputy chief of staff said yesterday.

“Sheikh Hussein Badruddin Al-Houthi and whoever is still with him are living their last breath after the noose has been tightened on them” in the Maran mountains, warned Maj. Gen. Ali Mohammad Salah.

“Al-Houthi and a group of his followers have dispersed in homes in Jalil, Al-Jumaima and Al-Khirb in an attempt to hide,” he was quoted as saying by the SABA news agency.

“Army and security forces are now tracking them down in their hiding places until they are caught and brought to justice,” he said.

Salah said food and medicine were being distributed to residents of the Maran region which had “returned to calm and stability after the liquidation there of rebel elements.”

President Ali Abdullah Saleh, also quoted by SABA, said the army had “suffered a number of martyred and wounded for the sake of the security and stability of the nation.”

Saleh, who claimed that Al-Houthi “only represents himself”, said the aim of the fresh military assault launched since Aug. 3 to crush the rebellion was “to end extremism”.

The assault has left at least 89 dead, including 47 soldiers and 42 militants, and about 106 wounded as the military battles through Al-Houthi’s stronghold in the Maran mountains, military sources and medics said.

Army soldiers were still facing pockets of resistance in several villages in the Maran mountains which have been overrun by the regular army since the start of the onslaught, military sources said.

The onslaught came after the failure of efforts to broker the surrender of Al-Houthi and his estimated 3,000 armed supporters.

The clashes have left a total of nearly 400 people dead since the rebellion erupted on June 18. The full toll could be higher as the army has given few details of its own losses.

The authorities have offered a 10-million-rial ($55,000) reward for information leading to Al-Houthi’s capture.

A preacher and former MP from the Zaidi community, Al-Houthi heads the Believing Youth outfit, formed in 1997 as a breakaway from the Islamist movement Al-Haq.