Yemeni militant Islamists are under siege from government forces after violent confrontations left many dead and wounded, reports Peter Willems Clashes between Yemeni forces and militants supporting an anti-US Muslim cleric in north Yemen have left up to 51 militants and a dozen soldiers dead. On 20 June the Yemeni government attempted to arrest Hussein Al-Houthi, a Shia Muslim leader, in the Saada region but became involved in clashes with hundreds of his followers. According to the Ministry of the Interior, more than 50 Al-Houthi supporters were captured and are now being interrogated before being handed over to judicial authorities. Yemeni forces have surrounded Al- Houthi's stronghold in Maran, a remote mountainous area in the Saada province, 240 kilometres north of Sanaa, the capital, and near the border with Saudi Arabia. The government accuses Al-Houthi of provoking violent anti-US and anti-Israel protests and destabilising security in the country. Authorities hold him responsible for attacks on government institutions and mosques, as well as attacking sheikhs and forcing them to preach anti-US sentiment. The government says he is the head of a group of rebels known as "The Believing Youth" which has been involved in protests outside mosques. Yemeni authorities also say that Al-Houthi has secretly recruited and trained a militia. "The Yemeni government has enough evidence to arrest Al-Houthi and his followers as a rebel group," General Ali Shatter, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense told Al- Ahram Weekly. After several days of stand-off, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh sent a team of parliamentary members, dignitaries and clerics, which included Al-Houthi's brother, to Saada in order to persuade the group to surrender. But after two days of talks, negotiations broke down mostly due to Al-Houthi refusing to cooperate. The cleric reportedly demands that the government cancel his arrest warrant. Some families living in the area in which the militants are under siege have fled, fearing that clashes may escalate since negotiations have failed. The Yemeni government controls around 40 per cent of the country while tribal leaders rule most of the vast rural regions. Weapons are easy to come by in Yemen, and authorities say there are about 60 million weapons in circulation in the country, which has a population of 20 million. One of the country's largest weapons markets is in the Souq Al-Talh, located near Saada, where customers can pick up pistols, automatics, hand grenades and rocket- propelled grenade launchers (RPGs). Al-Houthi's heavily armed supporters used a variety of weapons during the clashes, including machine guns, mortars, RPGs and land mines. Tribes in the Saada region are known for being well-armed and follow tribal law that has kept a distance between the tribes and the government. When tension grew last April between Saudi Arabia and Yemen resulting from a new barrier built along the border by the Saudi government, one tribe in north Yemen, which claimed to have 30,000 armed tribesmen ready to fight, threatened to attack if the wall was not removed. Anti-American sentiment is running high in the Middle East as a result of the US-led occupation in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and a number of Yemeni clerics regularly deliver anti-US sermons in mosques after Friday prayers. "With Iraq still occupied by coalition forces and no solution for peace found between Israel and Palestine, it is not surprising that a renegade group developed in Saada," said a foreign diplomat based in Yemen. "Yemen is a poor country and many areas, such as Saada, are very conservative on religious and political issues. It may not have been difficult for Al-Houthi to attract followers." Yemen has been fighting local terrorist elements since it joined the US- led "war on terror" after the 9/11 attacks in America, and the authorities have rounded up hundreds of militants and captured a number of top Al-Qaeda members. According to government sources, however, Al- Houthi is not suspected of having ties with the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.
