FRI 29 - 3 - 2024
 
Date: Mar 24, 2015
Source: The Daily Star
30 killed in central Yemen clashes: tribes
Agence France Presse
ADEN: At least 30 people have been killed in clashes between pro- and anti-government forces in central Yemen, tribal sources said Tuesday.

The Shiite Houthi militia, backed by troops allied to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, clashed with armed tribesmen in Baida province late Monday, the sources said, adding that nine tribesmen and 15 Houthi fighters were killed.

The tribesmen booby-trapped two houses used as bases by Houthi fighters and ambushed several patrols, the sources added.

Meanwhile, clashes raged late Monday in Marib, east of Sanaa, where tribesmen loyal to Yemen's internationally backed President Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi confronted advancing Houthi fighters and pro-Saleh troops, tribal sources said.

Six tribesmen, including a tribal chief, were killed in these clashes. The sources said that many Houthis had also been killed.

The advancing forces included units from the former presidential guard, an elite force that Saleh built during his three-decade rule, the sources added. 

The gunfights took place as the Houthis, who seized control of Sanaa last year, sent additional reinforcements south, upping pressure on Hadi, who is refuged in the southern port city of Aden.

Hadi last month escaped house arrest in Sanaa imposed by the Shiite militia, fleeing to Aden where he retracted an earlier resignation tendered under pressure from the Houthis.

He has since tried to cement his position as Yemen's legitimate president, but Hadi faces growing pressure from the Houthis and Yemeni army troops that have remained loyal to Saleh.

Although Saleh resigned in 2012 following nationwide protests, he has continued to enjoy widespread support from the armed forces, and is accused of aiding the Houthis in their advance south from their northern mountain stronghold. 

Military sources in south Yemen said that reinforcements from the army's Al-Hamza Brigade - under Saleh's command - had been mobilized from central Ibb province to Qatabah, in Daleh, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Aden.

Dozens of tanks belonging to the 133rd Brigade, also loyal to Saleh, were also sent to Qatabah, military sources and witnesses said.

The reinforcements came as anti-Hadi forces deployed south of the key city of Taiz, which lies strategically on the road between Sanaa and Aden.

Demonstrations continued Tuesday in Taiz against the arrival of pro-Saleh forces and militiamen in the city, after security sources said they seized the airport.

The head of Taiz police denied late Monday that the airport or other government installations had been taken over.

In a statement carried by Saba state news agency, which is now controlled by anti-Hadi forces, General Mutahar al-Shuaybi said air traffic at Taez remained "normal."

The United Nations Security Council voiced support for Hadi Monday, as U.N. envoy Jamal Benomar warned that Yemen was facing the prospect of a protracted civil war.


 
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