Yemen Shiite rebels meet deadly Sunni resistance

Houthis lose 12 fighters in ambush by tribesmen as they push south.

Yemeni Shiite supporters of the Houthi movement chant slogans before dismantling part of their protest camp in Sanaa on October 16. Mohammed Huwais / AFP

SANAA // Shiite rebels sweeping across Yemen met deadly resistance from both Sunni tribesmen and Al Qaeda on Saturday as they pushed south into mainly Sunni areas with the security forces largely absent.

Yemen has been dogged by political instability ever since an Arab Spring-inspired uprising forced veteran strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh from power in 2012.

Rival armed groups, including both the Shiite rebels and Al Qaeda, have sought to step into the power vacuum.

In predominantly Sunni Ibb province, the rebels lost 12 fighters to an ambush in a second straight day of clashes with Sunni tribesmen, medics and local officials said.

In mixed Sunni-Shiite Rada further east, they withdrew just hours after entering the town, following twin suicide bombings and rocket-propelled grenade fire by Al Qaeda, tribal sources said.

The rebels, who are known as Houthis, took control of the capital Sanaa on September 21 after orchestrating weeks of protests that paralysed the government. They then pushed south earlier this week, meeting little or no resistance from security forces.

But as their advance has taken them out of the mainly Shiite northern highlands into predominantly Sunni areas, they have met increasingly fierce resistance from local tribes as well as the Sunni extremists of Al Qaeda.

The latest fighting in Ibb province, which also killed four tribesmen, came despite an ultimatum by its governor, Yehya Al Iryani, for “armed groups from all sides to leave the province and end violence.”

Fighting for Ibb city killed 14 rebels and 10 tribesmen on Friday and Iryani threatened to take “all necessary measures to restore security and stability”.

* Agence France-Press