War continues and Saudis won't talk to rebels

By Nasser Arrabyee/06/02/2010


The war between Al Houthi rebels and the government troops continued in northern Yemen despite the rebels' announcement of accepting all conditions set by the government for ending the war.

At least 11 Al Houthi rebels were killed in fierce battles in the areas around Sa'ada city, where rebels still implement suicide attacks on the troops, military and independent sources said Saturday.

A total of five rebels were killed when a group of them implemented a suicide attack on the troops in Al Makash ans Al Okab, the military source said.

The source identified the five rebels who were killed as Abdul Qader Hussein, Fadhel Al Wabashi, Saher Masoud, Nabil Muhsen, Hussein Mahdi.

And six more rebels were killed when a group of tried to infiltrate to the hill of Dares around the city of Sa’ada.

The sources also said that the tribal leader Ahmed Mohammed who was providing the rebels with weapons , was arrested and referred to investigations.

The independent sources said that five people at least were killed when Al Houthi rebels bombarded the house of the tribal Shiekh Othman Mujali. The son of the government loyal sheikh, Hamid, was among the dead.

Al Houthi rebels on their side, said Friday the Saudi forces implemented 13 air strikes and fired 174 missiles on the border areas of Shada and Dhaher.

Thesedevelopments came after Al Houthi rebels announced their acceptance of the six conditions set by the government for ending the war.

The government insists that the rebels should start implement the conditions by going down from the mountains and handing over the weapons and releasing the Saudi and Yemeni “kidnapped” people .

The Saudi assistant minister of defense , Khaled Bin Sultan said on Friday the Kingdom would only speak with the Yemeni government about five Saudi missing soldiers .

“We will not talk with Al Houthi infiltrators about the five missing soldiers , we will talk only with the Yemeni government, and Al Houthis know this more than others,”said the prince Khaled Bin Sultan, commenting on a previous statement by Al Houthi rebels that they would swap prisoners with Saudi Arabia.