With an end to the conflict between government forces and the Al-Houthi rebels only days away, according to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, humanitarian costs are still rising, writes Nasser Arrabyee Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said this week that the conflict between government forces and the Al-Houthi rebels that has been taking place in the country since the summer would end in rebel defeat in a matter of days. However, hundreds of rebels and some Yemeni government soldiers are still being killed and injured daily in fierce battles described by officials as the "final and decisive" stage in the government's military action against the rebels. Sources from the field say that the high numbers of those killed among the rebels are due to suicide attacks carried out against government troops. There are also rumours that the rebel leader, Abdel-Malik Al-Houthi, was injured in an air strike in the Kutaf area east of Saada earlier this week and subsequently detained by government forces. For their part, the rebels, who have denied the arrest of their leader, said on Tuesday that in addition to Yemeni government troops, Saudi Arabian forces are also fighting against them. In a statement the rebels said that Saudi Arabian artillery had pounded the area of Al-Husama, where rebel fighters are positioned near the Saudi border. "Such allegations indicate only that the rebels feel that their defeat is very close, and that they want to explain it by claiming Saudi interference," said the Yemeni Ministry of Defence in a statement. At least two Saudi border guards were injured in clashes with the Al-Houthi rebels in the Al-Husama area after the allegations had been made, press reports said. Meanwhile, a visit to Yemen by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was postponed this week, Saleh describing himself as being too "busy" to meet his Iranian guest. Iran has been semi-officially accused by Yemen of supporting the Al-Houthi rebels with money and weapons. Immediately after the postponement of the foreign minister's visit, scheduled to start on 20 October, Yemeni envoys were dispatched to Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Last weekend and on Tuesday this week, 12 Al-Houthi supporters were sentenced to death and 14 others to between eight and 15 years in prison for fighting with the rebels. The 26 defendants were convicted by Yemen's State Security Court on charges of forming an armed group with the intention of fighting against the state. The 26 are among a group of about 150 Al-Houthi supporters who ignited a three-month-long armed rebellion in Bani Hushaish in the northern outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa. Behind these developments are the tens of thousands of people, mostly women and children, suffering from hunger, thirst, and a lack of shelter and healthcare after fleeing their homes because of the conflict. The Al-Mazrak camp in the far west of Saada is one of at least four camps established to receive more than 60,000 internally displaced people. Al-Mazrak is currently the only camp open to visits by the UN, the others being described as too dangerous to visit because of the fighting. Almost everyone in the Al-Mazrak camp complains of not having enough tents, or of not having tents large enough for their families. Water is available in tanks, but the camp contains no sanitary facilities or kitchens. A piece of cloth hanging near a group of tents is the bathroom for the men, women and children living in the camp, said 55-year-old Yehia Ahmed Morshid. Morshid, who has 11 children from two wives, complains that he does not have the two tents necessary for his wives. Only two months ago, Morshid had a stall in the Al-Malahaid market, where he was able to sell qat to support his family. Then "we heard heavy firing on the market and on our houses around the market. Hundreds of Al-Houthis came down from the mountains shouting 'death to America,' 'death to Israel,' and 'victory to Islam,'" Morshid said. Morshid said that no one had expected the rebels to get to the area because they were thought to be far away, and government troops had controlled the Al-Malahaid area before 10 August. "I hurried to my house, thinking only of my wives and kids. I bundled the children into my pick-up truck like goods," Morshid said. Despite the firing, Morshid fled the area by car with his family, only halting when the truck developed a puncture. "I continued in the direction of this camp until my car stopped. Then, my two wives and I carried the children and walked here on what was a very hot day," he said. At the entrance of the Al-Mazrak camp, there is a school used for children from the area before the conflict started. The school now has more than 942 pupils, after 777 pupils joined it from the refugee camp. UN goodwill ambassador, Egyptian artist Mahmoud Qabil, visited the camp on Monday to see the overcrowded conditions and the health and food situation for himself. Fifteen-month-old twins Mughnia and Ali were almost dying from diarrhoea on the visit to the camp. "The health situation is very bad, and it gets worse and worse, especially among children," said Chariotta Land, emergency child protection officer for Save the Children. "Mughnia and Ali are just one example." "There are about 40 cases in the camp like the twins," Land said, adding that she would like the twins to be taken to Sanaa to receive better treatment, which could be the only way to save them from dying. The twins were taken with their mother to Sanaa following pressure from Qabil. An elderly couple, Tanan Allaw and Shueyah Mubarak, were seen crying since they did not have a tent for shelter, despite having arrived in the camp one month ago. According to Tanan, who can only walk with the support of his wife, they stay in relatives' tents during the day, but they cannot do that at night. Instead, they wrap themselves up in blankets and sleep on the ground. There are about 8,000 internally displaced persons in the Al-Mazrak camp, most of them women and children. More than 60,000 people have fled their homes from various places in Saada after the conflict broke out last August. The UN estimates the total number of internally displaced persons since the first round of the conflict in 2004 at 150,000. There is a need for some $24 million to help such people over the coming four months, the UN says. Thus far, $10 million has been pledged by donors including the US, UK, Saudi Arabia, and others. Other camps, inaccessible because of the ongoing fighting, have received less assistance. The Alab camp in the far north of Saada has received relief assistance from UN agencies based in Saudi Arabia, while the camp in the Al-Houthi area in the south of Saada is too dangerous to access because rebels have attacked the camp many times in an attempt to break the troops based in Harf Sufyan. The fourth camp is inside Saada city and receives assistance from the Yemeni government and the city's residents.
