The Yemeni government has protested against what it alleges is Iranian support for the Al-Houthi rebels, writes Mohamed Al-Asaadi The government of Yemen this week announced its deep concern at what it described as the support being given by the Iranian media to the Shia rebels in the northern provinces of Saada and Amran in Yemen. Yemeni Minister of Foreign Affairs Abu Baker Al-Qirbi said on Monday that he had summoned the Iranian ambassador in Sanaa and warned him that Yemen would take what he called "difficult decisions" if the Iranian media continued its "biased coverage" of the situation. Al-Qirbi also said in an interview with the official weekly Al-Methaq that the reporting of the Iranian media could harm bilateral relations between the two countries. Moreover, Yemeni military officials said last week that they had captured Iranian weapons used by the Al-Houthi rebels in their fighting against government forces in the sixth round of the ongoing confrontation. Iranian officials responded to earlier Yemeni accusations by saying that what is going on in Yemen is a national issue and that they have no stake in it. For their part, the Al-Houthi rebels have also accused foreign forces of being involved in the conflict. According to a statement from the rebels, Saudi air fighters have attacked their hideouts in support of the Yemeni air force, though this was denied by the government. In the ongoing conflict between the Yemeni government and the Al-Houthi rebels, government forces are supported by tribesman, including Sheikh Hussein Al-Ahmar of Amran, whose tribe is seeking revenge on the rebels for damage inflicted during previous rounds of the conflict. Sunni jihadist fighters are also taking part in the war against the Shia rebels, something that is viewed by analysts as a sign of continuing civil war in the country. According to Abdullah Alfaqih, professor of political science at Sanaa University, he himself discovered that the jihadists were engaged in the conflict from a visit to a local hospital in Sanaa. In comments made to Al-Ahram Weekly, Alfaqih said that he believed that the jihadists were not under the control of the Yemeni army. "The jihadists believe in killing the Al-Houthis because of sectarian differences," Alfaqih said. "Anyone of these people could later turn into a terrorist and a threat to society." Alfaqih said that he believed that the engagement of the jihadists in the conflict could turn a conflict fought between the state and the rebels into one among the wider population, translating into an extension of the conflict in geographical and temporal terms. For his part, Murad Al-Azzany, a researcher into Islamist groups, said that he believed that the Sunni jihadists in Saada could not be a party to the conflict, since their views were different to those of Al-Qaeda. "The Salafis in Saada believe that jihad should be under the flag of Islam, and not under the control of the warring parties in Saada," Al-Azzany said. "They also believe that their mission is to educate people rather than to fight them, although they are armed." The children's advocate society Seyaj also said on Saturday that the Al-Houthi rebels were employing thousands of children as frontline fighters. According to Ahmed Al-Qirshi, president of the Seyaj Society, in an interview with the Weekly, at least 50,000 children in the Saada province have been exposed to danger by the conflict. On the ground, security sources in Saada told the Weekly that the situation in the city was calm and security was being maintained. However, dozens of militants, soldiers and civilians were killed on Monday near the republican palace. Local sources also confirmed that the rebels had occupied a military site in the Harf Sufian district of Amran, where a confrontation with government forces took place over the past few days. Last week, President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen said that the army would uproot the rebellion. While he admitted the hardships that the army is facing, he praised the security forces' attacks on the rebels. Saleh has personally supervised part of the operations in the Amran province, which started three weeks ago. At the humanitarian level, local and international aid agencies have expressed their frustration at the deteriorating situation in Saada. UN agencies, the Yemeni Red Crescent, International Committee of the Red Cross representatives and others have all expressed their concerns at the inability of thousands of people to move from the conflict zones to places of safety. No exact figures have thus far been released of the number of people being sheltered in temporary refugee camps. The Yemeni government has called upon the population and on business leaders to send humanitarian aid to people affected by the war in Saada and Amran. The call was backed by the opposition coalition last Monday, though the opposition warned that the government might attempt to use any large show of support for political purposes. Several convoys of food and supplies from different cities have thus far made it to the refugee camps in Saada and Amran. However, there is still a shortage of supplies, according to relief agencies, which could lead to more tragedies. This is the sixth major rebellion by the Al-Houthi rebels against the government in Yemen, with the five previous rounds having resulted in widespread destruction in Saada, Amran and parts of Sanaa. Thousands of people have been displaced, hundreds of farms destroyed, and schools and businesses remain closed. The Al-Houthi rebellion started in the late 1990s and is led by members of the Zaidi sect, which is partly Shia. The founder of the rebels, Hussein Al-Houthi, has organised members into what he calls "believing youth", and the group has protested against US and Israeli atrocities in Afghanistan and Palestine. At first, the Al-Houthi group received the support of the government in Yemen as a way of balancing the influence of the Salafi Sunni group led by prominent scholar Sheikh Moqbel Al-Wadie. By 2004, the Al-Houthi group were well prepared when the first round of conflict started, dragging it out into six rounds of wars so far.
