Sunday, 05 September 2010 17:13

SADAA, 14 Nov — Two Saudi soldiers were killed and five others wounded Saturday in clashes with Yemeni Shiite rebels, the London-based Saudi-owned al-Sharaq al-Awsat newspaper said.  Two weeks of Saudi bombardment of rebels’ positions has failed to drive them out of Saudi territory, the website of Yemen’s Socialist Party (YSP) said, adding “Saudis are ignorant about the fighting tactics used by the rebels and recent reports confirmed the rebels are still inside Saudi territories.”  Meanwhile, the rebels Saturday said in a statement on their website “Saudi warplanes Saturday night bombed the regions of al-Malahid, Hidan, Shada, al-Hasama, Ghafra and mount al-Hamar,” adding “up till now, Saudi jet fighters dropped 145 missiles targeting areas in al-Malahid, Shada, Hasama and Hidan districts.”  In related news, al-Masder online Saturday reported 70 thousand people in the district of Razeh in Sadaa are “living in dire humanitarian conditions because the rebels have surrounded the district from three sides preventing food supplies from reaching the area,” adding “the price of one sack of wheat has climaxed to YR10,000.0 riyals and it cannot be found easily while medicine supplies are non-existent.”  People in the area have complained Saudi authorities banned cross-border trade amid news several pregnant women have died due to lack of basic medical supplies.

Sunday, 05 September 2010 17:13

SANAA, 07 Nov – Tribal leader and business tycoon, Sheik Hamid Abdullah al-Ahmar late Friday accused the Republican Guards of supporting the Shiite rebels in previous wars. He said “the Yemeni army is no longer capable of ending the war in north Yemen militarily because it lost trust in the political leadership in Yemen which plays around with peoples’ lives.” Al-Ahmar who was speaking to the Doha-based al-Jazeera satellite TV channel said “the Republican Guards headed by the President’s son supported the Shiite rebels in north Yemen in order to hit the First Artillery military division led by Brigadier General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar and hence get rid of him,” adding “a rebel leader is a friend of the President’s son, Ahmad Ali Abdullah Saleh.” Ali Mohsen is President Saleh’s half brother and al-Ahmar talked about “internal conflict between the various wings inside the army about the war in Sadaa,” and called on President Saleh to visit Abyan or Sadaa “in order to prove to us that he is still the President of all of Yemen,” adding “the President no longer has a state to rule.” “The state no longer exists except in the Presidential Palace and in the capital, Sanaa which is protected by 60 thousand troops,” Al-Ahmar said, adding “dialogue is the only hope to bring Yemen out of this situation,” stressing “dialogue with everyone is still possible to resolve the current crisis in Yemen.” He accused President Saleh of “wanting to turn the country into a monarchy through his pursuit to install his son in power,” and renewed his call for the President to step down, stressing “changing the head is the door to reforming the situations in Yemen.” “If President Saleh wants the people to stand by him against monarchism, then he should first get rid of his monarchy and if he wants people to stand by him to protect the nation’s unity, then he has to prove his patriotism by lifting injustice,” he said, and criticized the management of the war in north Yemen saying “the way this war is run has humiliated the army and caused it to lose its fighting moral.”