Following Saudi attacks on Al-Houthi rebel positions in northern Yemen, conditions among those fleeing the conflict have markedly worsened, reports Nasser Arrabyee The two-week old Saudi military operations to drive Al-Houthi rebels from Yemen out of Saudi territory have worsened the humanitarian situation in the region and forced up to 4,000 Yemeni refugees to return to Yemen. The refugees had been hosted by the Saudi authorities after they had fled their homes because of the conflict between the Yemeni government and the Al-Houthi rebels, which erupted more than three months ago. At the beginning of the conflict, most of the refugees were prevented by the rebels from moving to safer places inside Yemen. As a result, they moved to the neighbouring Saudi areas of Al-Ghawya, Al-Shaneq and Al-Khuba. When the Al-Houthi rebels attacked and occupied the Saudi mountain area of Al-Dukhan on 3 November, Saudi authorities ordered all civilians in the border areas to leave for safer places, including the Yemenis. However, the Yemenis were not allowed to enter further into Saudi territories because they are suspected of being Al-Houthi sympathisers. Yemeni refugees who had returned from Saudi Arabia after the Al-Houthi attacks were staying in the over-crowded Al-Mazrak refugee camps in Yemen last week, from where many of them spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly. According to 45-year-old Musfer Ali Ahmed Al-Waleb, who escaped from the Saudi village of Al-Ghawya after he had spent three months there with his 30-member extended family, he and all the male members of his family had at first been held in Saudi custody for around 24 hours. "They thought we were working with the Al-Houthis, although they knew that we had spent three months under their supervision. They only allowed women and children to go by bus to Al-Tiwal, where they were handed to Yemeni authorities in Haradh," he said. Musfer and the other men from his family remained in Saudi custody over the weekend of 6- 7 November. "The Saudi soldiers thought we were cooperating with the Al-Houthi rebels. Some of us were beaten, and we were left alone in custody without food," Musfer said. When asked who they blamed for what had happened to them, some of the refugees blamed the Al-Houthi rebels, while others said that they did not know whom to blame. All they knew was their suffering, they said. "I blame the Al-Houthis for what's happened to us. They have goals that they hope to achieve as a result of our suffering," said 18-year-old Rakan Mohamed Ali. Another refugee, 43-year-old Ahmed Jar Allah Al-Balwi, who is Zaidi by religious confession, said that he had been displaced only last week from Haidan, one of the rebels' most important strongholds, because the Al-Houthis were harassing him and his family. "They said that we had given information to the troops to strike at their hideouts," Al-Balwi said. According to 66-year-old Bassam Mohsen Jar Allah, also a Zaidi refugee from Haidan, the Yemeni government is to blame for what has happened, since it had not been serious enough in ending the rebellion in its early stages. "I blame the Yemeni government for this war," Jar Allah said. "It is the government that has made this war so long. In every round of the war thus far, the government has ended up with a deal in favour of the Al-Houthis, who have been getting stronger and stronger in every round," he said. "The government should realise that the Al-Houthis have no clear demands. They only want to rule Yemen, and this is impossible because they want to achieve this by force," he said. Regarding claims that Iran was supporting the Al-Houthi rebels, Jar Allah said that there had been "clear support from Iran for more than two years." "The Al-Houthis have been repeating the speeches of Khomeini and Hassan Nasrallah, saying that they are the only real scholars of Islam and insulting other scholars in Saudi Arabia and Egypt." The conflict on the Yemen-Saudi border has greatly affected many people from both sides, including 45-year-old Ali Abdu, whose business has been completely stopped because of the conflict. "I blame Saudi Arabia for my sufferings," Abdu said. "Before Saudi Arabia started its war on the Al-Houthis, I was fine smuggling wheat, flour, qat and other things, and I used to make money to support myself and my family. Now I cannot even feed myself." Fifty-five-year-old Ahmed Abdullah Al-Manjashi with eight members of his family are also still outside the overcrowded camp of Al-Mazrak. Sitting in a small tent outside the camp, he said that he had not received any food or water, but had just been told to wait. About 4,000 Yemenis are waiting to receive assistance from the Al-Mazrak camp, where more than 8,000 refugees are already receiving food, water, shelter and medicine from relief agencies. Over the past three months, he and his family had shifted to four different places because of the fighting, Al-Manjashi said. "At the beginning of the war, we first moved to Razeh, and when war came there we moved to Al-Husama. Then we moved to the Saudi area of Al-Khuba, and only last week we moved to this camp. We are still waiting outside it as you can see." In a statement last Monday, Saudi monarch King Abdullah Bin Abdel-Aziz said that Saudi armed forces had cleansed Saudi territories from Al-Houthi infiltrators. Chairing a cabinet meeting and reported by the Saudi media, the king thanked all those states that had supported military operations against the Al-Houthi rebels and had helped protect the sovereignty of his kingdom. For their part, the Al-Houthi rebels said that they were continuing artillery bombardments on Saudi positions in the south of the country. "With the help of Allah, we pounded the Saudi position of Ain Al-Hara, and fire could be seen inside the position. This attack was intended to defend civilians targeted in Al-Malahaid, Shada and Haidan," the rebels said in an e-mail statement. "The Saudi regime should reconsider the military operations being launched against the Yemeni people," the statement said. After the Al-Houthi bombardments of the Saudi positions, Saudi air strikes and artillery bombardments of rebel positions intensified on Sunday and continued on Monday and Tuesday. Saudi naval forces are also imposing a strict blockade on the Midi harbour in north-west Yemen, in order to prevent supplies reaching the rebels. For its part, the Yemeni army is also tightening the noose on the rebels and imposing a blockade to cut all supplies. More than 20 pharmacies suspected of providing Al-Houthi rebels with medicines were closed in the Yemeni province of Al-Jawf this week. According to Hassan Abu Hardra, director of health in Al-Jawf, all medicines going from the Yemeni capital Sanaa to Al-Jawf would now be transported according to a new mechanism designed to prevent any medicine from reaching the rebels in Saada. Tribal Sheikh Abdullah Hussein Rukan, who represented the Al-Houthi rebels during Qatari attempts at mediation last year, said on Tuesday that the goal of the Al-Houthis was to undermine the security and stability of Saudi Arabia in the interests of Iran. "Iran wants Saada to be a military base to confront Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries," Rukan said. "They kill any citizen in Saada who refuses to fight with them."
