Scores killed in clashes between Yemenis security, al-Houthi supporters

Continued clashes which erupted on Monday between the Yemeni forces and supporters and followers of Hussein Bader Eddine al-Houthi in the northern part of the country resulted in killing scores of killed persons in the two sides.

Tribal sources said that clashes which concentrate in Saadah governorate, in the north, resulted in killing 23 persons between al-Houthi supporters and seven members of the security and the army and that 51 persons were arrested.

The sources added the security forces made a security belt on the villages of Kataf, Dahyan and Nshour in Sadah where sounds of frequent fire exchange were heard.

News reports in Yemen said that the confrontations between the two sides erupted following an attack launched by gunmen against a Yemeni military source to the north of the country on Sunday evening, after which the government forces used heavy weapons and helicopters to bombard al-Hosson mountain in al-Razamat area where gunmen of al-Houthi followers are stationed, now led by Abdullah Eiza al-Rami, his deputy, in the al-Shabab al-Mu'min (young believers ).

The first spark for the resumption of confrontations between the two sides traced back to the killing of four members of al-Houthi followers last week in al'Talah area where a market for weapons is situated in the north of the country.

Government sources say that members of al-Houthi followers were intending to buy weapons and ammunition. The sources expected that the military solution is still strongly debated by the authorities which believe that changing the thinking that al-Houthi followers can only be made by overcoming them militarily.

The current confrontations are considered the first of its kind since the government announced on September 10th 2004 it killed al-Houthi, three months after the eruption of a rebellion he had led in a mountainous area to the north of the country close to Saudi Arabia, when the fighting resulted in killing 400 persons in the lines of the two sides.

Al- Houthi was a parliamentarian from 1993- 1997. He is the son of a prominent figure in al-Zeidi sect which forms the majority in northern Yemen and a minority in the country of a Sunni majority.

He ran the forum of the "young believers" which was established in 1997 following a split in the opposition Islamic al-Haq ( rightful) movement.