While the Yemeni government said that fighting between Yemeni forces and a rebel cleric and his supporters is coming to an end, key players remain at large. Peter Willems reports "Sheikh Hussein Badruddin Al-Houthi and whoever is still with him are living their last breath after the noose has been tightened on them," Major General Ali Mohammad Salah was quoted as saying last week. Yemeni forces launched a major offensive to defeat the rebel group in north Yemen earlier this month. Soldiers, backed by planes, tanks, helicopter gunships and heavy artillery, were able to move in and seize rebel hideouts in the Jabal Maraan Mountains in the Saada province 240 kilometres (150 miles) north of the Yemeni capital Sanaa soon after the offensive began on Thursday 5 August. "Army forces have entered all areas in the Maraan mountains, and there are now a few pockets of limited resistance in some villages there," Yemeni's Army Chief of Staff Brigadier-General Mohamed Al-Qassimi said last Friday. But even though it was believed that the offensive would end the conflict, fighting between remnants of Al-Houthi's followers and government forces has continued and the rebel leader is still on the run. "It isn't clear when the fighting will stop," a government official told Al-Ahram Weekly. "It looks like those fighters just won't give up." Five days after the offensive began, over 100 soldiers and rebels were killed and 62 wounded during intense fighting. Since the clashes started over a month and a half ago, the official death toll has reached 600. The remaining followers of Al-Houthi are still using guerrilla tactics, making it difficult for the military forces to end the struggle. The day after the offensive began, rebel fighters ambushed a military patrol north of the city of Saada, killing four soldiers and wounding three others. Although military sources have said that the forces are combing the area to capture Al- Houthi -- including house-to-house searches -- it appears that the leader has managed to escape. Even though his whereabouts are unknown, tribal sources have said that Al-Houthi has been able to slip out of the Saada province. The offensive came after a team of leading politicians and Islamic scholars was sent by President Ali Abdullah Saleh to negotiate with Al-Houthi and persuade him to surrender. According to Brigadier-General Mohamed Ali Al-Khatami, talks broke down because Al- Houthi's demands were unacceptable. The demands included permission for the rebel group to continue its campaign against the US and Israel; a change in the school curriculum in Yemen to include Al-Houthi's opposition to America and non-Muslims; withdrawal of Yemeni troops from the area; and government compensation for the rebel leader, his followers and people living in the area for the damages incurred as a result of the fighting. The Yemeni government attempted to negotiate with Al-Houthi twice in June, but the cleric said that he would rather fight than surrender. Al-Houthi, leader of the Shia Zaidi sect -- a minority Muslim sect in Yemen that makes up roughly 30 per cent of the population -- is accused of organising violent anti-US and anti- Israeli protests and attacking government buildings and security forces. He was the founder of a group called "Believing Youth" and is charged with training his followers to form an illegal armed group at his base in the north. Al-Houthi has said that along with being opposed to US involvement in the Middle East and Israel's conflict with the Palestinians, he is against the Yemeni government having a close relationship with the US. "I am working for the propagation of the Quran and the fight against the United States and Israel," Al-Houthi was quoted as saying late last month. "He [President Saleh] is a tyrant who does not have any legitimacy... and who wants to please America and Israel by sacrificing the blood of his own people." The Yemeni government joined the US-led "war on terror" and has rounded up hundreds of suspects, including key Al-Qaeda members. On trial are six suspects allegedly involved in the bombing of the USS Cole at the port of Aden in 2000 and 15 others believed to have taken part in the attack on the French tanker Limburg in 2002. Some believe that apprehending Al-Houthi is critical: if he gets away, it might encourage others to form radical groups and create more trouble for the government. "The fighting has lasted much longer than anyone had expected, which does not look good for the government," a Yemeni analyst said. "If they do not catch Al-Houthi, other leaders might come forward and start their own movements." Soon after the offensive began, an Islamist group, Tawhid wa Al-Hijra (Monotheism and Immigration), pledged their support for Al- Houthi on an Internet website and condemned the Yemeni government because it "opened the country of Muslims to the crusader forces". Last month, Abu Hafs Al-Masri Brigade, which has links to Al-Qaeda, said that it would "drag the United States into a third quagmire -- that is, after Iraq and Afghanistan, and let it be Yemen, God willing". The group has claimed responsibility for attacks in Iraq, Turkey and the 11 March railway bombings in Madrid. Some are critical of the government's use of force to deal with Al-Houthi and his supporters. They say that peaceful methods should have been used before resorting to an armed conflict. "It has been a shame from the beginning because it isn't fair that so many people have died," said Mohamed Al-Mutawakkil, assistant secretary-general of the Popular Forces Union Party and former minister of supply and trade. "At the beginning, the situation probably could have been solved in other ways. This was not a wise decision."
