At least 15 rebels killed, 30 surrendered in hideouts storming

By Nasser Arrabyee/08/12/2009

At least 15 Al Houthi rebels were killed and more than 30 of them surrendered after the storming operation by the army on their hideouts in the old city of Sa'ada, said independent sources and military officials Tuesday.

The army stormed the old city early Monday and controlled almost all the neighborhoods and houses from which the rebels used to fire at the soldiers who have been surrounding the city since the beginning of the war in August 10.

Other than those rebels who were killed, injured, arrested or surrendered, and escaped after that special storming operation, there are still few of them in some houses in the old city until now and they still resist the soldiers, said the sources from city Tuesday.

Sporadic clashes continued Tuesday in the streets of the city where dozens of dead bodies from both sides could be seen easily, the sources said.

The army commanders expect to permanently clean the city from the rebels within the coming 24 hours. The sources said the residents of the city are waiting eagerly to get their life back to normal after long time of blockade and sufferings.

The spokesman of the army Askar Zauel, security forces are combing the few remaining parts of the city to clean it from the rebels. The security forces are using loudspeakers to tell the rebels to surrender.

He said 12 rebels at least were killed and 24 surrendered and five arrested in the storming operation.

Zauel also said that army was advancing in the other front lines in Harf Sufyan and Al Malahaid.

Four cars laden with weapons and ammunitions were destroyed in Wadi Ayan in Harf Sufyan, he said.

One car laden with armed rebels was destroyed in Thuaeb, he said.

The spokesman also said at least five rebels were killed when tribesmen loyal to the government attacked positions of rebels in Haidan, an important stronghold of the rebels.

Meanwhile, tribal sources from the neighboring province of Al Jawf said the local tribesmen with support from the army cleaned their areas from the rebels who escaped from Sa'ada.

The Dahm tribes, Thu Hussein, led by Sheikh Hadi bin Ghalia, and Sheikh Khaled bin Kharsan, seized two cars, weapons, ammunitions, and 40 anti-tanks mines after they blockaded the fugitive rebels and forced them to escape from their areas, the sources said.

Dahm tribesmen men also found a big quantity of women clothes which were used by the rebels to disguise while escaping from place to place, the sources added.
On their part, Al Houthi rebels said Tuesday in a statement sent through emails, that Saudi air strikes and artillery bombardments continued on their positions in the western frontline of Al Malahaid.

The statement counted 18 air raids on Al Dhaher, Jabal Al Dood, Majda'a, Al Malahaid and Al Husama.