Houthi fighters on Tuesday accused Yemen’s army of cooperating with Saudi forces to launch attacks against them, and also said they had defeated a multi-pronged Saudi assault from across the border.
“The people’s army charged with protecting the border is cooperating with the Saudi army in bombing and ground attacks… against the country and its sons,” a statement from the Zaidi fighters, also known as Houthis, said.
The Houthis have previously accused both mainly Sunni countries of cooperating against them, and allege that Saudi Arabia allows Yemeni forces to attack rebel positions from inside Saudi territory.
In a separate statement, the Houthis said they had defeated a three-pronged Saudi attack into Yemen. “The Saudi attack continued on three fronts, but two were broken by Monday evening,” it said.
“The attack on the third front continued until night, but was broken completely and the (Saudi) aggressors suffered heavy losses in men and materiel.”
The attacks on Tuesday were taking place in the border districts of Malahiz and Shada provinces. In the incursion, the Saudi army had been using all kind of weapons; land, air, tanks, and artillery. It was not clear if the bombardment and air raids were launched by Saudi or Yemeni forces.
The fighters said that after they had defeated the Saudi advance, bombing resumed along the border, and continued until early on Tuesday. The bombing targeted the Jebel al-Dukhan, Jebel Rumayh, Jebel al-Madoud, Malaheez, Shedah and Hasama areas and various border villages, they said.
IRAN URGES ALL SIDES TO END YEMEN CONFLICT
Meanwhile, Iran has called on all sides of the conflict in northern Yemen to exercise self-restraint for the benefit of the world of Islam. “The conflict is what worries the Arab and Muslim world… So, we advise all involved parties to exercise self-restraint. We invite them to try to resolve the issue through dialogue,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters on Tuesday.
“All that this fighting does is harm the interests of the world of Islam. Some powers, however, will benefit from such conflicts in our region, as they are hostile towards the Muslim world,” Ramin Mehmanparast said at the press briefing.
Mehmanparast said those parties that are benefiting from the conflict in Yemen are trying to create division between Muslims and thereby divert attention away from major issues. He added that the Iranian people were following the developments in Yemen “with high sensitivity” as they do regarding other issues of the Muslim world.
The spokesman said that Tehran hopes the conflict ends as soon as possible through peaceful means such as negotiation.
In the initial stage of the recent conflict, Arab officials on several occasions accused the fighters of having ties with Iran. The Houthis also charged that the Sana’a government was being influenced, financed and armed by Saudi Arabia.
Although Saudi Arabia’s offensive later proved right the Houthi claims which were originally rejected by Riyadh, the accusations against Iran were never substantiated.
At one point, even the Yemeni President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, said that Sana’a did not accuse the Iranian government of interfering in the conflict.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, however, made quite contrary comments in Washington earlier this week, accusing Tehran of meddling in Arab affairs.
During his weekly press conference, Mehmanparat said the “not so interesting” comments made by Mubarak played into the hands of the enemies of the world of Islam. He advised the Egyptian leader to try to promote “cooperation among Muslim states” instead of making such destructive comments.
Notes/Sources:
1.As posted by Al Manar,Lebanese News Outlet
