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| Arabia |
| Yemen Rebels, Tribes Clash after Govt Mediator Resigns |
| 2014-02-08 |
| [An Nahar] Fresh festivities between Iranian catspaws and rustics backed by Sunni Islamists erupted near the Yemeni capital on Friday, the rebel Ansarullah group said, a day after a government mediator resigned. The rebels have been advancing from their mountain stronghold in the far north to other Zaidi Shiite-majority areas nearer Sanaa in a bid to expand their hoped-for autonomous zone in a future Yemen. But they have met resistance from tribes loyal to the huge Hashid confederation and their Sunni Islamist allies in the Islah party. Intermittent festivities pitted "our supporters against hostile elements" north of Arhab, 35 kilometers (20 miles) from the capital and near its international airport, Ansarullah front man Mohammed Abdessalam said, without saying if there had been casualties. A tribal source also said tensions were high in Arhab district, particularly as government mediator Abdulqader Hilal announced his resignation via Facebook on Thursday night. Hilal, tasked by President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi with ending the fighting, has accused Ansarullah of failing to respect the terms of a truce agreed last weekend. But Abdessalam rejected the charge, saying the mediator should resume his mission after talking to the rebels, who are also known as Huthis. "Ansarullah is calling for guarantees of a simultaneous withdrawal of both sides from Arhab, the neutrality of the army and the opening of a road linking Omran and Sanaa via Arhab," he said. Last week, the rebels seized areas in the northern province of Omran, leaving more than 150 people dead and overrunning the home base of the Al-Ahmar clan which heads the Hashid confederation. Political sources have said the rivals had been seeking to win ground ahead of the demarcation of provinces for the creation of a federal Yemen, as agreed in a national dialogue which concluded in late January. But the Ansarullah front man said his movement, which is based in Saada near the border with Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... , was not seeking to expand its influence. "We do not intend to control Sanaa, where our supporters are already present," he said. But "if hostile forces do not stop their attacks on Arhab, we will expel all of them from the region". |
| Posted by:Fred |