Saudi air force hits Yemen rebels after border raid

[ejaz007]

Saudi air force hits Yemen rebels after border raid

* Officials say planes hit area inside Saudi Arabia
* Saudi government adviser says time to finish rebels
* Yemen denies any targets hit
* Al Qaeda claims ambush against Yemeni security officials

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has launched heavy airstrikes on rebels in northern Yemen and is moving troops nearer the border after a raid into its territory by insurgents, a Saudi government adviser said on Thursday. A Yemeni Defence Ministry official, however, denied that Saudi forces had struck targets within Yemen. “Saudi Arabia did not hit targets in Yemen,” the official told Reuters, but declined to give further comment.

Inside Saudi area: Saudi government officials said only that the air force had bombed Yemeni rebels who had seized a border area inside the kingdom, which they said had now been recaptured. The officials said at least 40 rebels had been killed in the fighting. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, has become increasingly anxious about instability and militancy in Yemen, which is also facing separatist sentiment in the south and a growing threat from resurgent Al Qaeda fighters.

“As of yesterday late afternoon, Saudi airstrikes began on their positions in northern Yemen,” the adviser said, asking not to be named because operations were still going on. “There have been successive airstrikes, very heavy bombardment of their positions, not just on the border, but on their main positions around Saada,” he said, alluding to the capital of the northern province where the rebels have been battling Yemen government forces since August.

Al Jazeera television quoted a rebel spokesman as saying the Saudi air force had raided six locations inside Yemen. One position had been hit by about 100 missiles in one hour. There was no official confirmation from Riyadh or the Yemeni capital Sanaa of cross-border Saudi airstrikes, which the Saudi adviser said were coordinated with Yemen’s armed forces. Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday a security officer was killed and 11 were wounded in an attack by gunmen who had crossed the border from Yemen – the first such reported incursion since the long-running Houthi revolt flared up again in August. The Saudi-owned Elaph website reported that a second soldier had died later from the same clash.

Zero tolerance: The Saudi government adviser said no decision had yet been taken to send troops across the border, but made clear Riyadh was no longer prepared to tolerate the Yemeni rebels.

Ambush: An Al Qaeda group said on Thursday it was behind an ambush this week in which seven Yemeni security officials were killed. The rebels, known as Houthis after the family of their leader, have previously accused Saudi Arabia of backing Yemen’s armed forces in the conflict. Sanaa had denied this. The rebels said on Wednesday they had taken control of the Jabal Al Dukhan area after defeating Saudi forces there. reuters

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[TruthSeeker]

It's about time the Saudis got to shoot of a few of their weapons. They must have a god-awful storehouse of US munitions to expend. The Yemenis would be wise not to set themselves up for target practice.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Iran warning over Yemen conflict

Saudi troops near the Yemeni border (8 November 2009)
Saudi Arabia says its troops are ready to defend the border areas

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has warned against foreign intervention in the conflict between the Yemeni government and rebels.

Unidentified parties were adding fuel to the crisis, and attempts to help or to take military action would have negative consequences, Mr Mottaki said.

Correspondents say his comments appear to have been intended for Saudi Arabia.

Shortly afterwards, Riyadh promised it would continue air strikes until the rebels moved back from its border.

"We are not going to stop the bombing until [they] retreat tens of kilometres inside [the Yemeni] border," Deputy Defence Minister Prince Khaled Bin Sultan said, according to the AFP news agency.

Saudi forces launched a ground and air offensive on the rebels, known as the Houthis, after a security officer was killed in a cross-border raid by the group in its south-western Jizan region.

The Houthis meanwhile said on their website that Saudi fighter jets had bombed villages on the Yemeni side of the frontier on Tuesday, killing two women and wounding a child.

Strikes also targeted a government building in the village of Shida, they said.

'Be careful'

In Tehran on Tuesday, Mr Mottaki was asked about Yemeni allegations that Iranian religious and media organisations were backing the rebels, who want more autonomy and a greater role for their version of Shia Islam, Zaydism.


Those people should be assured that the smoke and the fire they have ignited will entangle them themselves, Manouchehr Mottaki, Iranian Foreign Minister.

Last month, officials in Sanaa said security forces had seized a ship carrying weapons destined for the Houthis at a port in Haja province, and detained its crew. Iranian officials dismissed the story as a fabrication.

"A country which seeks a role to establish peace and stability in all countries in the region... cannot have a role in creating tensions," Mr Mottaki said.

"We strongly warn the regional countries to be careful, to be vigilant," he added.

"Monetary aid, providing arms to extremist and terrorist groups or actually taking action against them and crushing those groups or the people and embarking on military operations - these all will have negative consequences."

In an apparent reference to Saudi Arabia, with whom Tehran has had hostile relations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Mr Mottaki said there were "certain people who add fuel to some crises".

"Those people should be assured that the smoke and the fire they have ignited will entangle them themselves," he added.

The minister said regional powers should instead try to restore stability in Yemen.

"Any kind of instability in Yemen, any kind of instability in Iraq, in Afghanistan or in Pakistan, they will have their own impact on the whole region," he warned.

Later, a commander of the militant group, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, purportedly urged Sunnis to confront the Houthis.

In an audio recording posted on the internet, Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman al-Rashid, denounced what he called the Yemeni rebels' aspirations and incursions against Sunnis.

He said the Shia community and Iran were trying to take over Muslim countries, and that "their threat to Islam and its people is much bigger than that from Jews and Christians".

Yemeni soldiers fighting Houthi fighters (Yemeni army handout 1 October 2009)
The Yemeni government launched a fresh offensive in August 2009

The Houthis, named after the family of their leader, say they are trying to reverse political, economic and religious marginalisation of their community.

They also accuse Saudi Arabia of supporting the Yemeni armed forces by allowing them to launch attacks from its territory, a charge both countries deny.

The Yemeni government accuses the rebels of wanting to re-establish Zaydi clerical rule, which ended in 1962, and of receiving support from abroad.

The Zaydi community are a minority in Yemen, but make up the majority in the north of the country.

The insurgents first took up arms against the government in 2004, after which government forces killed or captured much of the Houthi leadership.

The government launched a fresh offensive in August 2009, which has precipitated a new wave of intense fighting.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran warning over Yemen conflict

 

[pak-marine]

too bad al parties must sort out their act Muslim Umah should act as one party when having conflicts amoung each other, We already have enough to deal with, howver i think some one where is funding or flaming this wonder who these pricks are?

 

[TruthSeeker]

Saudis impose Yemen 'buffer zone'

Saudi Arabia is enforcing a 10km deep buffer zone inside Yemen in an attempt to keep members of a Yemeni rebel group away from its southwestern border, a Saudi government adviser has said.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he warned on Thursday that any Yemenis caught crossing into Saudi Arabia would be interrogated to make sure no fighters were among them, and then placed in camps.

Heavy artillery and aircraft pounded the supected position of Houthi fighters inside Yemen, Saudi officials said, creating what the the Saudi media referred to as a "kill zone".

Houthi fighters said that Saudi rockets had hit Yemeni villages.

Mohammed Abdel Salam, a spokesman for the Houthis, confirmed to The Associated Press news agency that the Saudi forces were using air raids and artillery strikes to force them back form the border.

"Their goal seems to be establishing a buffer zone or a no man's land on the border," he said.

"It is obvious, they are trying to scare us and make us leave the area."

"The orders are not to go physically into Yemeni territory," he said.

"We don't want to get bogged down there or inflame any local sensitivities, if there are any, against us."

Saudi Arabia launched its offensive against the Houthis, who are named after their deceased former leader, after they apparently crossed the border and seized control of a small area.

The Houthis say that the Saudis have been allowing Yemeni troops to use the area to attack their positions.

Prince Khaled bin Sultan, the Saudi deputy defence minister, said the offensive would continue until the Houthis "withdraw dozens of kilometres" from the border.

Riyadh 'anxious'

Riyadh has become increasingly anxious about the stability of the government in Yemen, which is facing opposition from the Shia population in the north, separatist sentiment in the south and a growing threat from al-Qaeda fighters.

The Houthis first took up arms against the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen’s president, in 2004, citing political, economic and religious marginalisation by the Saudi and Western-backed administration.

The conflict intensified in August when Yemen's army launched Operation Scorched Earth in an attempt to crush the fighters in the northern province of Saada.

Aid groups, which have limited access to the northern provinces, say at least 150,000 people are believed to have fled their homes since 2004.

The United Nations refugee agency said last week it was looking into whether the Saudi air raids had affected 3,500 to 4,500 displaced people gathered near the border.

Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Saudis impose Yemen 'buffer zone'