The Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, predicted Wednesday that victory over the al-Houthi armed rebellion is imminent.
“The army is making tremendous progress on all fronts, and in the next few days victory will be declared,” stated Saleh in his speech commemorating the 46th anniversary of the October 14th Revolution. He also discussed how the al-Houthi rebels have forced women and children to leave their houses and obstructed the people of Sa’adah from receiving or reaching development services.
“They attack government interests and kill citizens and soldiers, and then they say they are just defending themselves,” Saleh said during a small ceremony held at the College of War in Sana’a. “Who are they defending themselves from,” he wondered.
However, Saleh made no mention of the unrest in the south where demonstrations were taking place while he was speaking in Sana’a. On Wednesday thousands of demonstrators in Lahj and al-Dhale’e demanded independence for the south, which was united with the north in 1990.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni government has repeated President Saleh’s accusation that al-Houthi rebels are preventing civilians in the volatile areas in Sa’adah from relocating to safer places, in effect, using them as human shields.
Nonetheless, the Supreme Security Committee (SSC), which is supervising the now 63-day-old war, has ordered civilians to move to one of four different areas that are relatively safe and have IDP camps already established.
In addition, in response to the U.N.’s repeated calls that safe routes be secured to deliver assistance to the war-affected people, the SSC stated that the National Committee for Relief would secure aid organizations’ passage to the following places:
The Khaiwan camp in Harf Sufyan.
The al-Mazrak camp in al-Malahaid, which is west of Sa’adah, meant to serve the people from Razeh, Shada, al-Dhaher, Haidan, and Ghamar.
The Alab camp, north of Sa’adah, for the people of Bakem, Kataber, and Manbah.
The Sa’adah city camp, and the two nearby camps of Ahsa and Wasam, for the people of Sahar and Sakain.
More than 60,000 people have fled their homes since the outbreak of the war on August 10th, 2009. The UN estimates the total number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) caused by the armed rebellion that began in June of 2004, at 150,000. In comparison, the population of the entire Sa’adah province is estimated at about 700,000.
Concerning Saleh’s predictions, experts say that the end of the ongoing war may very well be near, but that it will not necessarily be the end of the problem.
“If the government imposes its sovereignty on the entire Sa’adah province, sporadic clashes will continue there or in other areas,” predicted Najeeb Ghalab, a political analyst and professor of politics at Sana’a university.
“The ideological extremism of the radical al-Houthi as well as his connections with the Iranian revolution do not help the situation,” Ghalab said.
Ghalab pointed to the fact that the rebels have resorted to suicide attacks against the government troops in the last few days and said that he agreed with Saleh’s forecast that military victory over the rebels is close on the horizon.
The government’s latest efforts against the insurgency include distributing pictures of the 55 most want rebel leaders around the province of Sa’adah and posting them in public places.
Some of those on the list have already been arrested, including the top leaders Abdul Malik al-Houthi, his brother Yahya, who is in Germany, and their father, Badr Adeen al-Houthi.
Arrests continued on Wednesday in the city of Sa’adah where al-Houthi sleeper cells have tried repeatedly to assist semi-suicide attackers control the city of Sa’adah, but without success.
According to Deputy Minister of the Interior Mohammed al-Kawsi, who has been supervising the special security operations in the city since August 10th, three rebels were killed and four others arrested on Wednesday during these operations in the old city of Sa’adah.
Al-Kawsi also stated that 12 other rebels were arrested on the same day in the Alab area, near the northern limits of the city.
More than 200 rebels have been arrested in the city so far, and about 40 of them have been handed over to the justice system on charges of forming armed groups with the intent of committing acts of sabotage.
Except for the government air strikes on the rebels’ fortifications and supply vehicles, it was relatively quiet in the region earlier in the week.
The Ministry of Defense did report that on Monday government troops destroyed a weapons stash in the Farwah area of al-Mahather. Troops also gained control of two farms in Senan and Abu Kuroosh, near Sa’adah city, after bombarding the rebels who were occupying the farms.
According to the Ministry’s statement, approximately 20 rebels were killed the same day at the two main frontlines of Harf Sufyan and al-Malahaid.
Government troops also re-secured the road between al-Buqa and Sa’adah on Monday, which was blocked by al-Houthi rebels earlier Sunday, the statement said.
On the political front, according to press reports, Germany has prohibited the political spokesman for the al-Houthi rebels, Yahya al-Houthi, from engaging in any activities hostile to Yemen. Yahya al-Houthi has been living in Germany since 2005.
The Arab American Magazine quoted a Yemeni official currently in Germany as saying that Germany has instructed Yahya al-Houthi to cease any hostile activity against Yemen or his asylum will be terminated.