SANAA, 12 May 2007 — Yemen has recalled its ambassadors to Libya and Iran, after the ruling party accused Tripoli and Tehran of funding a rebel uprising in the mountainous north of the country. The summons followed a meeting by President Ali Abdullah Saleh with party leaders on Thursday, a senior official of the National Congress Party said yesterday.

Meanwhile, a week of deadly clashes between the northern rebels and government troops in the Saada province claimed the lives of 150 people, mostly young men, according to an army official.

The clashes are marked by government troop raids of Saada villages, including artillery bombardment, helicopter and tank attacks, while the rebels respond by guerrilla-style fighting.

The violence has claimed about 3,500 lives since it erupted in February. Tribal leaders in the region say more than 30,000 residents have been displaced by the fighting.

The military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the press, said the past week witnessed some of the most fierce battles between rebels and government troops. Yemeni Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar has blamed the latest flare-up on Libyan support.

“We have recalled our ambassador, Hussein Ali Hassan, for consultations in the light of information from Saada province about Libyan support to the followers of Abdul Malek Al-Houthi,” said the party official.

Houthi’s brother Yahia Badruddin, a member of the Yemeni parliament despite moves to lift his parliamentary immunity, was briefly based in the Libyan capital earlier this year, but has since moved to Germany. Houthi himself has said that he was in Tripoli as part of efforts by Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi to broker an end to the violence.

While he was still in Libya, Yemen submitted a formal request for his extradition, official media reported on Feb. 16. The Yemeni prime minister later accused Libya of backing the rebels, saying: “They did receive help from outside, chiefly from Libya.”

But in an interview with international satellite channel Al-Jazeera from Germany, broadcast on April 29, Houthi strongly denied the accusation. “Had we had an external support, our fighters would have reached by now the gates of Sanaa,” he said.

The fighting has begun to affect aid efforts in Yemen, one of the world’s poorest countries. The International Committee of the Red Cross announced on May 3 that two Yemeni volunteers were wounded when one of its convoys got caught up in the crossfire.

“This attack jeopardizes vital humanitarian work,” it warned.