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Yemeni Shia Muslim Houthi fighters backed by government forces drove the local wing of Al Qaeda from one of its last strongholds in central Yemen yesterday in intense fighting that killed at least 35 people, tribal sources said. |
The Houthis’ Ansarullah movement has become the main political force in Yemen since capturing Sanaa in September and then pushing south and west into the Sunni Muslim heartland of Al Bayda province, where Ansar al-Shariah has allied itself with local tribes.
Tribal sources said the Houthis had met stiff resistance as they pushed towards the village of Khobza district using Katuysha rockets and heavy artillery.
They said at least 25 Houthis and 10 Ansar al-Shariah and tribal fighters had died in the fighting, which began on Thursday afternoon. Ansar al-Shariah and its allies withdrew to Yakla district, on the border with Maarib province.
The fighting has given Yemen’s strife a sectarian slant as Sunni tribes have lined up with Ansar al-Shariah, the local affiliate of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which views Shias such as the Houthis as heretics.
Last month, an Al Qaeda suicide bomber killed at least 47 people, mostly members of the Houthi group, as they prepared to stage a rally in Sanaa.
The rise of the Houthis has challenged the authority of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and violence has continued despite UN-backed efforts to find a political solution.
Instability in Yemen, which lies next to key shipping routes from the Suez Canal to the Gulf, stems from the 2012 overthrow of long-time president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been accused of backing the rebels.
A new cabinet, including members considered close to the Houthis, was sworn in on Sunday in a bid to resolve the political crisis, despite calls for a boycott from both Saleh and the Shia militia.
Meanwhile, thousands rallied yesterday for independence in the main southern city of Aden waving the flags of the former South Yemen.
“Raise your voice southerner—it’s death or independence,” they chanted.
Emboldened by the Houthis expansion in the north, southern activists began a campaign of protests last month, including an indefinite sit-in in Aden.
The south was independent between the end of British colonial rule in 1967 and union with the north in 1990.
