Iranian ship laden with weapons seized off Yemen

By Nasser Arrabyee/27/10/2009

An Iranian ship laden with various weapons believed to be for Al Houthi rebels was seized Monday off the Yemeni coasts of the Midi harbour in the far northern west of the country, security sources said Tuesday.

The 5-member crew, 4 Iranians and Indian, were taken immediately to the capital Sana'a where investigations with them are going on now, the sources said.

The security sources believed that the ship was in its way to unload its weapon shipment, which includes anti-armour missiles, somewhere close to Haradh where it can be hidden in a farm before Al Houthi rebels come and take it.

Midi harbour and Haradh area is only tens of kilometers from the western frontline of Al Malahaid.

Earlier on Monday, the independent paper Al Ahali said that the Iranian revolutionary guards train
Al Houthi rebels in training camps in the neighboring Eritrea. The paper also said that the Iranian revolutionary guards transport the weapons through the Eritrean harbour of Asab, from where it is transported to Yemen harbour of Midi.

To this end, the rebel leader Abdullah Al Mahdoon, who surrendered himself to the army earlier this month, said in previous statements, that Al Houthi rebels receive unlimited support from the Iranian revolutionary guards, and experts from the Lebanese Hezbuallah.

The Al Mahdoon also said that while preparing for this round of war before August 10th, 2009, the top rebel leader Abdul Malik Al Houthi was always telling his fighters ," This is our last war, and everything will be in our favour."

Meanwhile, the army said Tuesday that 10 rebels at least were killed including the field leader Yahya Kazmah when the rebels implemented suicide attacks on the troops' posts in the areas around the city of Sa'ada. The army also said it achieved progress in Harf Sufyan and Al Malahaid where air strikes target the hideouts and supply movements of the rebels almost daily.

eyewitnesses said that Al Houthi rebels kill any citizen who has gun and refuse to fight with them, in Razeh, west of Sa'ada, where Al Houthi rebels have been trying to open a new front by forcing the local people to fight with them. Al Houthi rebels killed two citizens Monday afternoon in Razeh only for not taking out their guns and fight with them against the state, the eyewitnesses, said.