Yemen Seems to Reject Cease-Fire With Rebels صنعاء ترفض الهنده مع الحوثيين

[اسد الضالع]

Published: January 31, 2010
SANA, Yemen — Yemen on Sunday appeared to reject a cease-fire offer from the leader of the Houthi rebels, raising fresh questions about a festering conflict that has diluted the government’s ability to deal with a growing insurgency by Al Qaeda.

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Times Topics: Yemen




The leader of the rebels, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, issued a statement on Saturday accepting the government’s terms for a cease-fire. But on Sunday, Yemen’s National Defense Council said it would cease military operations only after the rebels had complied with those terms, which include disarming, releasing captured soldiers and property, removing roadblocks and withdrawing from strategic positions.
Another condition was that the rebels cease all attacks on Saudi Arabia, which lies just across the border from the rebels’ terrain in northwestern Yemen, and vow not to attack it again. Last week Mr. Houthi declared a unilateral cease-fire with Saudi Arabia, but Saudi officials have rejected that offer, insisting that the rebels withdraw from the border.
Yemeni officials have said the continuing war has drawn resources away from the struggle with Al Qaeda. The terrorist group’s Yemen-based branch has drawn international attention since it claimed credit for the Dec. 25 attempt to bomb a jetliner as it was approaching Detroit.
Yemen’s intermittent war with the Houthi rebels began in 2004. The latest phase, starting in late August, has been the most violent, with the government declaring it would wipe out the rebels for good. In early November, Saudi Arabia became involved after rebels shot and killed a Saudi border guard. Although the rebels were vastly outnumbered and outgunned, they kept up the fight, and last week Saudi military officials said at least 133 Saudi soldiers had been killed.
The rebels say they are defending themselves against unjust government policies, but Yemeni officials accuse them of trying to revive the religious system of government that prevailed here before 1962. The conflict has a sectarian dimension: the rebels are Zaydis, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Many hard-line Sunnis in Saudi Arabia view Shiites as heretics.
The war has set off a humanitarian crisis that has worsened in recent months. About 75,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, and many are without food and water, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross