Yemeni leader vows to crush rebels

Mohammed al Qadhi, Foreign Correspondent

• Last Updated: August 19. 2009 11:35PM UAE / August 19. 2009 7:35PM GMT

SANA’A // After nine days of intense fighting between government troops and the Shiite al Houthi rebels in the north, Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president, vowed yesterday to crush the uprising.

“The armed forces are continuing their heroic acts. We are determined to destroy this sedition. We will nip this cancer in the bud wherever it exists, in Sa’ada or elsewhere, with an iron will,” Mr Saleh said in his address to fresh military school graduates during a ceremony.

The president said he had no choice but to take military action against the rebels and that funds would be diverted to the armed forces to end the rebellion.

“They have pushed us to use force. We will buy all the new weapons needed instead of building schools; yes, we will build fortified military positions to uproot them from earth and hit them in their alleys. We will continue [the operation],” Mr Saleh said.

“For six years, we have been dealing with this deviant group with responsibility and mercy ...,” he added.

Mohammed al Sabri, a leading member of the Joint Meeting Parties, an opposition coalition of six parties, said a military solution alone is not enough to achieve the objective, even if efforts were doubled, as the al Houthis were seasoned fighters and well armed.

“What is happening on the ground decides the continuation or the termination of the operations. It is difficult to end the rebellion militarily as the army is facing guerrilla fighters who have gained experience through the past wars and have heavy weapons which they seized from the army. This enables them to sustain themselves, which makes the military operation very costly,” Mr al Sabri said.

“Only one thing [has changed on the ground]: local tribesmen are fed up with the behaviour of al Houthis, who resorted to sabotage activities such as blocking roads and imposing taxes on the ordinary citizens. This makes the tribesmen long for a weak state other than live under the control of the rebels,” Mr al Sabri added.

Mr al Sabri, however, said that a military resolution would prove to be effective only if the army was able to destroy the rebels’ leadership.

“If their [al Houthis] leadership is crushed, then we can speak in the logic of military [strategy]. However, military action will generate several social, political, tribal and sectarian consequences. This will broaden the social gulf in the country,” he said.

Mr Saleh’s speech comes as fighting continues in different parts of Sa’ada and Harf Sifyan in neighbouring Amran province.

Dozens have been killed and injured on both sides, according to local sources.

The ministry of defence said yesterday that the army was making progress on the ground and that 100 rebels had been killed and 300 were arrested over the past few days in al Malahez, al Talh and al Malahidh districts of Sada’a, which had been under the rebels’ control, according to a ministry statement.

However, Mohammed Abdulsalam, the al Houthi rebels’ spokesman, said al Malahidh district had come under its control and his people seized army weapons, including rockets launchers. He also sent an e-mail that said the rebels were able to repel the army operation in Harf Sifyan hours after Mr Saleh visited the region on Tuesday. Mr Abdulsalam said his fighters were able to inflict heavy casualty on the army.

Such reports, however, could not be independently verified as both Sa’ada and Harf Sifyan are closed to journalists.

The government has accused the rebels, who have been fighting since 2004, of fomenting sectarianism and attempting to restore the Zaidi imamate in the north, which was overthrown in the 1962 revolution. They oppose the government of Mr Saleh, even though he is a Zaidi.

While about 23 per cent of Yemenis are Zaidis, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, many of them, especially those outside of the religious elite, reject the idea of reviving the imamate, as does Yemen’s Sunni majority.

Hashid, Yemen’s biggest tribe, declared yesterday its support for the army in its operation against the rebels.

“The state has the right to crack down anybody who violates the constitution, law and fixed norms of the nation,” Shiekh Sadeq al Ahmar, the chief of the tribe, said in a letter to Mr Saleh, urging his leadership to deal a blow to the rebels.

On Tuesday, The attorney general ordered the arrest of 55 rebel leaders wanted for “armed insurgency and insurgency against law and order, kidnapping of innocent citizens, destruction of houses and farms, carrying out sabotage activities against the public and private installations, blocking roads and sabotaging the security checkpoints and army personnel as well as crippling development projects”. Mr Abdulsalam described the arrest decision as “political foolishness”.

malqadhi@thenational.ae