To end the war, Al Houthi must first start implementing the government's conditions, defense panel

By Nasser Arrabyee/31/01/2010


The Yemen's supreme defense council said Sunday the military operations against Al Houthi rebels will stop if the rebels start to implement the six conditions set by the government at the beginning of the war in August last year.

This came after Al Houthi rebels said they would accept five conditions if military operations stop. The rebels ignored the sixth condition of not to attack Saudi Arabia.


If Al Houthi rebels abide by starting the implementation of the six conditions set by the government for ceasefire including not attacking the Saudi territories and handing over the Yemeni and Saudi kidnapped people without delay, then the government would not mind stopping the military operations, said a statement issued after the senior military and security officials met Sunday.

In addition to the condition of not attacking the Saudi territories, the Yemeni government previously set five other conditions to end the war, which included the Al Houthi rebels going down from the mountains and handing over the weapons.



Earlier in the day, the deputy governor of Sa'ada Mohammed Al Emad, said the rebels' announcement to accept the government's conditions to end the war in Sa'ada is not more than a new shiftiness to rescue themselves from an imminent defeat.


"The successive defeats and breakdowns inflicted on the rebels made them resort to such evasions only to gain time and try to regroup their scattered elements as they did previous rounds," said Mohammed Al Emad, deputy governor of Sa'ada, in a statement published by the state0run media.




Al Houthi rebels earlier said, "Since we are so keen on ending this bloodshed and in order to avoid the catastrophic situation that the country is heading toward and in order to end the acts of genocide against civilians, we renew for the fourth time what we previously announced, our acceptance of the five points that the Yemeni government asked for, after they end the aggression."

Meanwhile, battles between Al Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government troops are continuing, after the Saudi army had driven out the rebels who occupied Saudi territories at Yemeni Saudi borders last November.

About 20 rebels including the filed leader Kayed Abu Malik were killed in Al Safiyah area in Sa'ada, military and local sources said Sunday.

The rebels on their part, attacked a refugee camp near by the hospital of Al Salam in Sa'ada, killing two children and injuring three other people, eyewitnesses said.