'New players' reported in Yemen war

Al-Shorfa and wire services
For Al-Shorfa.com
2009-10-17

Yemeni anti-terror Special Forces in a field training session in the Saref mountain area on the outskirts of the capital, Sanaa, on Aug. 5, 2009. (Khaled Fazaa/AFP/Getty Images)

The government's war against Shiite tribal rebels who Sanaa claims are backed by Iran drags on, and may be widening with the reported involvement of fighters from Hezbollah, Tehran's Lebanese proxy,

Sanaa admits it lost the jets, but insists both crashes were the result of technical failures rather than ground fire. That is entirely possible, given the air force's lack of combat experience and the age of its aircraft, some designed in the 1950s.

The agency added that on Oct. 7, sources in Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah claimed that their guerrillas had shot down the attack planes with Iranian-manufactured Misagh-1 shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles.

"These claims have not been verified, and Hezbollah has made no comment on them,"

However, if they are correct, the involvement of Hezbollah would mark a serious escalation in Tehran's clandestine activities in the Middle East and the Saudi-dominated Arabian Peninsula in particular.

The possible deployment of Hezbollah personnel in Yemen would suggest that Tehran is prepared to increase confrontation with its Arab neighbours in the Gulf and the Levant.

Suspected Hezbollah operatives are currently on trial in Cairo for planning sabotage attacks on the Suez Canal and other strategic targets in Egypt.

The United Arab Emirates has in recent weeks deported several hundred Lebanese Shiites for "security reasons." Those who returned to Lebanon said they were thrown out because they refused to spy on Hezbollah for UAE's intelligence services.

In Iraq, U.S. forces have arrested Hezbollah veterans operating with Iranian-backed Shiite groups. One is Ali Mussa Daqduq, a 24-year Hezbollah veteran who once headed the security detail protecting Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the organisation's leader.

Saudi Arabia is increasingly concerned that the fighting in Yemen, along with growing separatist agitation in the south, a resurgent al-Qaeda in the eastern sector and a steadily declining economy could lead to the eventual collapse of the state.

Egypt, another of Iran’s adversaries, also backs Sanaa’s government and reportedly airlifted military supplies to the country.

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