Free Republic

Yemen's government said Sunday it will accept a truce offer only if the rebels operating in the country's north comply with six previously laid-out conditions. The Shiite Muslim rebels, known as the Houthis, had indicated Saturday that they were open to a cease-fire and to accepting the government conditions. But they demanded an end to military operations first. The intractable stance on both sides means the conflict, which had lasted more than five years, is likely to continue. In August, Yemen laid out cease-fire terms that included removing checkpoints, ending banditry, handing over all military equipment and weapons, and releasing...

Yemeni forces killed anti-U.S. rebel cleric SAN'A, Yemen (AP) -- Yemeni forces killed anti-U.S. rebel cleric Hussein al-Houthi and dozens of his supporters on Friday, ending over two months of clashes in which over 200 rebels and troops have died. Houthi was one of a number of rebel leaders in Yemen, but he represented a considerable target having engaged the security forces over a long period. His group is not linked to al Qaeda. The Yemeni defence and interior ministries, in a joint statement, announced that their forces had killed Houthi in a mountainous area north of the capital Sanaa....

Video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erk22YkMybA Saudi Arabia uses fighter jets against Yemeni Houthi rebels. Both Yemen & Saudi Arabia accuse Iran of arming the rebels. Why did Arab satellites carriers drop Iranian Al Alam TV? And will the war of proxies lead to a confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran ?

SNIPPET: "Yemeni Shi'ite Cleric and Houthi Disciple 'Issam Al-'Imad: Our Leader Houthi is Close to Khamenei; We Are Influenced Religiously and Ideologically By Iran" SNIPPET: "On September 28, 2009, the Iranian website ayandenews.com, which is affiliated with former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezai, published an interview with cleric 'Issam Al-'Imad, who is a disciple of Hussein Al-Houthi, leader of the Houthi rebels in Yemen. [1] Al-'Imad, who was born 1968 in Yemen, received his religious education in Saudi Arabia, but after studying Shi'ite Islam left Wahhabism to become a Twelver Shi'ite. Since1989 he has been pursuing advanced Islamic studies in the...

TEHRAN, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki postponed a planned to visit Yemen because of concerns from the Yemeni president. Mottaki said he planned to deliver a message from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the Yemeni government in an effort to resolve lingering conflict with Shiite rebels, Iran's state-funded broadcaster Press TV reports. Yemen launched a major military offensive against al-Houthi rebels in the north of the country in early August. The government claimed it found Iranian-made weapons at depots used by al-Houthi rebels, who the government accuses of attempting to establish a caliphate in the region.

Note: Photos included. Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center Geopolitically strategic Yemen has become a focus of local Iranian-Saudi Arabian strife. The Yemeni government accuses Iran of supporting Zaydi-Shi’ite (Houthi) rebels in the northern part of the country with weapons, money and propaganda. Subverting local Shi’ite populations in the Middle East is a frequent Iranian modus operandi.

Renewed fighting in northern Yemen between government and rebel forces is feeding fears that a Middle Eastern proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran is spreading to the ungoverned spaces of the southern Arabian peninsula. But western analysts are staring boggle-eyed at quite a different spectre: the prospect that the biggest beneficiaries of Yemeni weakness will be the fanatical jihadis of al-Qaida. UN agencies raised the alarm last week after 55,000 people, mostly women and children, fled clashes in and around Sa'ada city in northern Yemen between the forces of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's Sunni-led government and the Zaydi Shia...

Blog Note: The following blog entry is a quote: Larijani In Yemen On Reassurance Visit The London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reports that Iranian Majlis speaker Ali Larijani is visiting Yemen to reassure it regarding fears of Iranian involvement in rebel activity in southern Yemen, and regarding activity by the Houthis in the Sa'ada district in northern Yemen. Senior Yemeni officials have accused Iran of supporting the Houthis (see Yemeni Official: Iran Clearly Involved In Al-Houthi Rebellion). According to the report, Larijani told Yemen President Ali Abdallah Saleh that his country supported Yemen's stability and security. Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, May...

At Least 40 Killed as Rebels, Army Clash in Yemen Thu Aug 5, 2004 05:03 AM ET SANAA (Reuters) - At least 40 people were killed and scores more wounded in fierce overnight fighting between Yemeni forces and supporters of an anti-U.S. rebel cleric, security sources said on Thursday. They said clashes between the army and followers of Hussein al-Houthi erupted again on Wednesday after a weeks-long lull, when efforts to mediate an end to the fighting failed. The clashes, in the northern mountainous province of Saada, began after the government launched an offensive against Houthi and his supporters on...