SANAA, 11 April 2005 — Yemeni troops yesterday overran the main stronghold of rebels battling government forces in the mountainous northwest of the country, tribal sources said.
Army troops backed by anti-terrorism units moved into the Al-Ruzamat district of the northern province of Saada, where a rebel leader called Abdullah Eyda Al-Ruzami was believed to be hiding, the sources said. They said Al-Ruzami might have fled the area. The forces engaged in violent clashes with followers of Badruddin Al-Houthi, whom authorities blame for the fighting that erupted on March 28.
Medics and tribal sources in Saada, 250 km north of Sanaa, said yesterday’s clashes left at least 27 people including eight soldiers dead taking the toll in two weeks of fighting to around 270 people killed and dozens wounded on both sides. Government forces have killed at least 40 rebels and captured 50 others since Friday.
Officials in a hospital in Saada city said they had received bodies of eight soldiers. They said 11 soldiers were wounded.
Officials say that Al-Ruzami was the commander of the rebels loyal to Al-Houthi who is being described as the spiritual leader of the Shiite insurgents in Saada.
Military and security officials refused to comment and the official news agency did not report the latest clashes in Al-Ruzamat. The fate of Al-Houthi, whom authorities blame for the violence in Saada, was unknown.
Al-Houthi, 81, is the father of the radical preacher Hussein Al-Houthi, who was killed in similar clashes last September.
The fighting renewed on March 28 after officials said members of Al-Houthi’s outlawed “Believing Youth” group attacked military and police buildings.
Clashes first erupted in June and ended with Al-Houthi’s death on Sept. 10. The first round of fighting that lasted for more than ten weeks left more than 400 dead.
Authorities accused Hussein Al-Houthi, a former MP, of setting up an underground armed group and inciting violent protests against the United States and Israel.
Observers in Sanaa say that the conflict was prompted by the cleric’s anti-US views, and that it has nothing to do with the Shiites themselves, who represent about 30 percent of the Yemeni population of 19 million and are not discriminated against.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh, himself a Shiite, has reportedly asked a new mediation committee to work with local authorities to persuade Al-Houthi to surrender along with militants who have attacked security targets. This follows reports of the failure of another mediation committee set up at Saleh’s behest to persuade the rebels to turn themselves in.
The US Embassy in Sanaa remained closed for a second day yesterday because of security threats, but a US diplomat said the closure was not related to the clashes in the northwest.
The British Embassy reopened yesterday after a one-day suspension. “We resumed our work today, and the embassy is open,” a Yemeni employee at the embassy said.
On Friday, the US State Department and British Foreign Office warned of potential extremist attacks against US and British citizens or interests in Yemen.
