SANA'A, March 9, 2012- At least seven people were killed on Wednesday, amongst whom a high-ranking military commander of Yemen's northern province of Amran in an exchange of gunfire with al-Houthi rebel group. Sources said that the armed confrontation took place in the Harf Safyan district, of the Amran province, north of Sana'a, when the head of an army brigade and six of his bodyguards refused to stop at an armed checkpoint manned by al- Houthis militants. As tension rose, guns were fired and an officer, his bodyguards and 3 al-Houthis fighters were killed. Al-Houthis who seemingly is continuing its anti-government campaign despite having claimed that it wanted to move away from war and into dialogue as it seeks to be recognized as a genuine political faction, risk engulfing North Yemen in another lengthy war. With 4 Northern provinces under their control, the Shia rebel group represents a growing threat to national unity, by draining much needed government resources and preventing troops from fighting terrorism in the South. Two weeks ago, al-Houthi group was hit by a bomb during an anti-U.S. protest wounding at least 22 people. The group accused in a statement the United States of America of having fomented the attack. However, since al-Houthis have several other very real enemies, determining which faction was being the attack could turn to be a difficult task. Over the past few past the Shia group has come to clash numerously with, Salafists, a fundamentalist Sunni which bears political affiliation with al-Islah, Yemen's Islamic party. The 2 have been debating their different religious doctrine, belief and political stance on the battlefield, with both factions refusing to back down. The Shia rebels who are led by Saada-based Sheikh Abdel-Malek al-Houthi oppose the political-settlement deal that swore in the country's consensus President Abdu-Rabbo Mansour Hadi and ended almost a year of protests against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. In recent months, the region has seen bouts of fighting between al-Houthis and Sunni Muslims espousing puritanical Salafi doctrines, influential in Saudi Arabia. Al-Houthis have accused Riyadh of arming their foes. Sunnis make up nearly 60 percent of Yemen's population, while the Shia account for 40 percent. Al-Houthi-led rebels have been engaging in severe sectarian conflicts for several months with Sunni fundamentalists in Saada and the neighboring provinces of Hajja and Jawf that left hundreds of people killed and forced thousands of residents to flee their villages. Yemen has witnessed sporadic battles since 2004 between the government troops and the rebels, with Sana'a accusing al-Houthis of seeking to re-establish the clerical rule of the Imams overthrown by the Yemeni revolution in 1962 which gave birth to the Yemeni republic. BM
