Rebels capture north Yemen base

Source: Al Jazeera

Rebels capture north Yemen base

UPDATED ON:
Monday, July 26, 2010
19:31 Mecca time, 16:31 GMT

Shia rebels in north Yemen have captured a strategic army post and several soldiers in clashes that killed 10 people and threatened a fragile truce in the area, army officials and rebels have said.

Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Monday accused the rebels, known as Houthis after the name of their leaders' clan, of trying to ignite a new war with the government.

Both the government and the rebels confirmed that a number of soldiers had been taken hostage at the Zuala army base in the flashpoint north district of Harf Sufyan, but neither side would give an exact number of how many men were seized by the Houthis.

Among those killed in the clashes were rebels, soldiers, and tribesmen from the Ibn Aziz tribe which allied with the government against the Houthis in the northern war.

Yemen agreed a truce with Houthis in February to halt a war that has raged on and off since 2004 and displaced 350,000 people.


Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/07/2010726155319970682.html

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The situation in Yemen is far more complex than the infantile story being peddled in America by the government and corporate-controlled media.

The government's forces are incompetent, the economy in shables (no oil and chronic instability don't make for a good economy), and the government is so corrupt they literally steal half of all the tax money. It's one of those classic damned if you do and damned if you don't places as far as US foreign policy choices go.