Global Arab Network | Yemen intensives attacks - Houthi rebels experience great losses

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Yemen intensives attacks - Houthi rebels experience great losses

Global Arab Network - - Adam Turner

Wednesday, 02 September 2009 16:39

Houthi rebel forces have suffered great losses in confrontations with government troops in recent hours, a military source said. The Yemen News Agency as saying that many militants have been killed and captured in various areas.
The agency said the armed forces were able to drive out rebel forces from positions in the Damaj area in the north.

It said that a Houthi leader and two of his bodyguards turned themselves to the authorities in the Abdi area south of Sa'da.

Yemen's army has intensified its three-week-old offensive against Houthi fighters after government security chiefs rejected a truce offer.

Fighter jets hit several Huthi positions on Wednesday near the northern city of Saada, military officials said.

Hasan al-Lawzi, the Yemeni information minister, confirmed that military operations would continue until the government's conditions for a ceasefire agreement were met.

The military has launched a second phase of its operation Scorched Earth in the Harf Sufyan region in an attempt to reopen the road between the Yemeni capital Sanaa and Saada that has been cut for three weeks.

The escalation comes after the government rejected an offer of truce from Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.

"The so-called ceasefire initiative announced recently by the rebels offers nothing new," said an unnamed spokesman for Yemen's high security commission, which is supervising the military operation.

Among Sanaa's demands is the withdrawal of rebels from official buildings, the reopening of roads in the north, and the return of weapons seized from security services. The Huthis have already rejected these demands.

There is no official figure of casualties, but the situation is unlikely to improve quickly. Ali Abdallah Saleh, the Yemeni president, says the army needs several more weeks to crush the rebellion.

The United Nations is warning of a disaster as up to 150,000 flee the fierce attacks concentrated in the north.

Andrej Mahecic, a spokesman for the UN refugees' agency, stressed that the "humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Saada ... the situation is deteriorating by the day".

UN Under-Secretary-General John Holmes has announced Wednesday a UN appeal for USD 23.5 million to provide humanitarian relief to people displaced by recent fighting between the Yemeni Government and armed groups.

Holmes said, in a press conference today, that the needs are now acute because of this latest crisis and due to a long period of suffering in Yemen from combined effects of extreme poverty, protracted absence of health facilities and insecurity for years.

Though many displaced found shelter with family and friends, but displaced people have been found without shelter, suffering particularly from the harsh summer climate. Holmes described the situation of the displaced need help quickly, and that it is a situation that is likely to continue for some time.

The Emergency Relief Coordinator had already allocated USD 2.6 million in emergency funding from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). So far in 2009, Yemen has received over USD 7.3 million from CERF.

World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Paul Garwood said that on behalf of the Health Cluster, WHO has requested USD 2.3 million which are included in today's UN flash appeal. He added that the first shipment of humanitarian supplies has arrived today in Saada City, Yemen containing essential medicines to treat 30,000 people for one month. The United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) said that UNICEF has launched today an appeal for USD 6.1 million to meet the needs of women and children affected by the current fighting in Yemens northern region of Saada. This figure is included in the UN flash appeal. (SBAA, KUNA, AP, AFP, Reuters)

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