Saudi jets 'continue' targeting Yemen villages

Press TV, Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:33:39 GMT

Saudi airstrikes on northern Yemeni villages on Sunday killed over a dozen civilians in the beleaguered area, Houthi fighters said.

Based on a statement released by the fighters, Yemeni women and children were among the dead. They said Saudi forces also killed several other civilians who had fled to the Fotrah area.

Fierce fighting reportedly are underway in the border regions.

The fighters also claim that they have repelled Saudi and Yemeni incursions by launching major attacks on Sa'ada, al-Malahit and Saudi border areas.

Saudi Arabia joined the Yemeni government's campaign against the Houthi fighters on November 3. The fighters accuse Riyadh of targeting civilian areas far from the Saudi-Yemeni border.

The attacks have so far killed scores of civilians and displaced thousands of others in northern Yemen.

The Yemeni government claims the fighters are seeking to revive an imamate that was toppled in 1962. The fighters, however, say they demand an end to government's social, economic and political "discrimination" against Shi'is in the northern areas.

SB/MD

Yemen boosts security at coast, holds talks with US

Mohamed Sudam | Reuters  

Arab News, January 3, 2010

SANAA -

Yemen's president met a top US general on Saturday to discuss boosting military cooperation, after President Barack Obama tied Al-Qaeda's regional arm to the Christmas Day attempt to blow up a US passenger jet.

Yemen also said it was tightening security along its coastline to prevent Islamist militants infiltrating from Somalia. However, a local Shiite rebel group said it was ready to talk peace with President Ali Abdullah Saleh once fighting in its conflict with the Sanaa government had stopped.

US General David Petraeus met Saleh for talks focusing on strengthening security, military and economic cooperation, an official said. Petraeus, who heads the US Central Command, also handed over a letter from Obama. Details of the letter were not released but on Friday Obama said Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Yemen, had trained, equipped and directed the Nigerian who tried to bomb the flight heading for the US city of Detroit. Petraeus has said Washington would more than double its $70 million security assistance to Yemen.

The United States and neighboring Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda could exploit instability across Yemen, which also faces separatist sentiment in the mainly Sunni Muslim south, to turn the country into a launchpad for more international attacks.

US officials have said they were looking at ways to expand military and intelligence cooperation with Yemen, the poorest Arab state, to root out Al-Qaeda leadership in the country.

Washington has increased training, intelligence and military equipment provided to Yemeni forces, helping them to stage raids against suspected Al-Qaeda hideouts last month.

Yemen has tightened security measures on its coastline, boosting monitoring and inspections, to prevent militants from Somalia from entering the country, the state news agency said.

"Yemen will not tolerate any terrorist elements on its territories and will be ready to retaliate against anyone looking to tamper with its security and stability," Foreign Minister Abubakr Al-Qirbi told Saba News.

Somalia's hard-line Islamist rebel group al Shabaab said on Friday it was ready to send reinforcements to Al-Qaeda in Yemen should the US carry out retaliatory strikes, and urged other Muslims to follow suit.

However, Yemen's Shiite rebels responded positively on Saturday to a plea from Saleh, saying they were ready for talks with the government once fighting stops.

"We welcome the call by the president of the republic to return to dialogue, and consider it a positive call and a right step to peace and a return to security and stability," Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi, leader of the northern Yemen-based rebels, said in a statement carried on a rebel website.

"We confront aggression and defend ourselves, and when the war stops, we are ready for dialogue," he added. He also denied that his group was targeting neighboring Saudi Arabia, which has been drawn into the conflict.

There was no immediate response from the Yemeni government.

Saleh, in a New Year plea, had offered to extend a hand of peace if the Shiite rebels fulfilled conditions such as abandoning violence, freeing prisoners and agreeing to stop attacks on Saudi territory.

The Yemeni president, writing in the state's Al-Thawra newspaper, called on the northern rebels and southern separatists on Friday to abandon violence and urged anyone tempted by Al-Qaeda to reconsider. "The time has come to lay down your weapons, to steer clear of the violence and the terror and evil acts so as to save your souls and be good citizens in your society," Saleh said.

Northern Shi'i rebels from the Zaidi sect have been fighting government troops in Yemen's mountainous north since 2004, complaining of marginalization. The conflict has killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands.

In the south, Yemen has also clashed with separatist protesters seeking independence for southern Yemen, which unified with its northern neighbor in 1990 and failed to secede in a 1994 war.