SANAA: Dozens of people were killed or wounded as fighting raged anew on Sunday between government troops and rebels in the Omran and Saada provinces of northern Yemen, military sources said.
“The army is bombarding Al-Waqiya zone, northeast of Wadi Shabareq in Harf Sufyan,” one source said, adding that troops also managed to seize the nearby Ghalla region from the rebels.
“There are dozens of killed and wounded in violent fighting which is under way in the region” of Omran province, dozens of kilometers north of the rebels’ mountainous stronghold of Saada, another military source said.
Military sources also reported fighting on the outskirts of Saada city in Al-Magaash, Al-Iguab and Mahdhah districts.
Meanwhile, the US and key Arab states expressed concern Friday for the unrest in northern Yemen and offered “full support” to President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The statement followed talks in New York involving Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Oman, Iraq, Egypt and Jordan.
“The ministers ... noted their concern for the situation in Yemen,” said the statement that came on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“The ministers expressed full support for the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh; for the unity, security, and stability of Yemen; and for efforts for a peaceful dialogue,” the statement said. “The ministers underscored the importance of ensuring the security of civilians and relief workers, and the provision for the safe passage of emergency relief supplies to civilians affected by the conflict,” it added.
Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands of civilians have fled their homes since Aug. 11 when the government began its “Scorched Earth” offensive against the rebels.
Saleh said on Saturday his government was prepared to fight the rebels in the mountainous north for “years,” at a celebration marking the anniversary of 1962 revolution that established the republic. “It is a vicious war, a guerrilla war. We are facing a war of rebellion and destruction. If it were a systematic war, the matter would have been settled,” Saleh said.
The Yemeni government accuses the rebels of hindering the work of aid agencies by blocking essential roads and taking civilians as human shields.
