By Nasser Arrabyee/09/09/2009
The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh accused Iranian and Iraqi bodies of supporting the Al Houthi rebels who have been fighting with the government troops for about one month in Sa'ada north of the country.
President Saleh said Wednesday in an interview with Al Jazeera satellite channel that Muktada Al Sadr in Iraq and unofficial Iranian bodies are in direct connections with Al Houthi rebels.
He said Iraqi and Iranian bodies offered secretly to mediate between the Yemeni government and the rebels.
"We can not accuse the official side of Iran, but the Iranians are contacting us to mediate and this means that they have connections with the rebels," President Saleh said.
He said also that Muktada Al Sadr offered a proposal to mediate between the Al Houthi rebels and the government and "this means he has connections with the rebels."
President Saleh said that Al Houthi rebels had received financial support worth 100,000 US$ from Iranian bodies.
He said that the rebels did not comply with the Doha deal which was signed between the rebels and the government early last year.
President Saleh blasted the opposition parties who announced two days ago what they called the national vision for rescue.
"The people did not vote for the opposition parties in elections, so they want now to make a crisis and to take revenge on the nation," Saleh said.
Meanwhile, military sources said Wednesday that the army is continuing heavy fighting against the Al Houthi rebels.
The sources said the armed forces destroyed Wednesday the hideouts of the rebels in Ayan and Tabah Sawda and Bait Al Kahem south of Sa'ada where troops try to secure the road between Sana'a and Sa'ada.
The rebels had forced the people of Kahza area to leave their houses after they refused to fight with them, local sources said.
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