Yemeni army mops up Marran, number of killing tolls 500, Sanaa vows to end al-Houthi rebellion today
Yemen, Politics, 8/7/2004

The Yemeni forces announced yesterday it controlled various areas in Marran mountains in Saadah province to the north west of Yemen during violent clashes with the supporters of the Shiite Zeidi clergy Hussein Bader Eddine al-Houthi that resulted in killing more than 500 persons, and vowed to end al-Houthi rebellion within the few coming hours.

The Yemeni army carried out a house- to house mopping up operation in the villages which are considered a position for the Zeidi scholar. This however, followed violent battles between the two sides that resulted in killing 72 persons during the 48 hours. The authorities ran patrols in the already controlled areas while the soldiers, through loudspeakers, called on al-Houthi supporters to collaborate.

The Yemeni army chief of staff Muhammad al-Qasimi said that the soldiers are carrying out a mopping up operation in the mountainous Khamis Marran area in Sadaah. He added that al-Houthi is still in the area and operations in search of him will continue to arrest him.

He added " I assure you that the rebellion will be ended within 12 hours, the military forces broke into Marran area and only few pockets are left resisting in several villages." He indicated that there are certain groups of armed men in the outskirts of the north east of Saadah, we warned them to surrender or face a similar military attack."

Al-Qasimi attributed the recent failure of negotiations with al-Houthi, to that the conditions set by the latter are " unacceptable." He said that al-Houthi wants to continue provoking violence against the US and Israel and to include that in the learning curricula, adding that al-Houthi also asked for the withdrawal of the Yemeni forces from areas under his influence and to get compensations for him and his supporters and the people for the damages inflected by the fighting.

However, the last losses inflected on the army was ( 34 ) soldiers because these forces became open to al-Houthi forces as it had started the attack, according to security sources. A military source in Marran stressed that some 30 persons of al-Houthi supporters surrendered on Thursday. Other 20 surrendered on Wednesday before the advancement of the army forces during the battles which erupted following the failure of the mediations assumed by men of religion with al-Houthi at the request of the Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Previous Stories:
  Yemeni forces tighten al-Houthi positions. his fate is unknown   (8/6/2004)
  Clashes beween Yemeni forces and al-Houthi supporters renewed   (8/5/2004)
  Yemen: postponing the trial of persons convicted in Limburg explosion   (8/2/2004)

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