Yemen urges Iran to end support for Houthi rebels

By Faisal Darem in Sanaa
For Al-Shorfa.com
2009-12-14

[KHALED FAZAA/AFP/Getty Images] In late November, Yemenis protested alleged Iranian aid to Houthi rebels.

Yemeni government officials said they have proof that Iran is providing material support to Houthi rebels who are battling government forces in the north of the country.

"There are indeed signs, proof of Iranian interference, but we say we can't elaborate on what these indications and their details are to the media," Ali Mohamed al-Anisi, chairman of Yemen's national security agency, said Saturday (December 12th). Al-Anisi, who was attending a security forum in Bahrain, said the Houthis are also receiving support from another influential group.

"Al-Qaeda has a link to the Houthis," Anisi said.

London-based Asharq al-Awsat reported Sunday that unnamed intelligence sources on the Saudi-Yemeni border detected a secret meeting between Yemen's Houthi rebels and an official from Iran's Revolutionary Guard and top Hizbullah leaders. Hizbullah has denied a recent report that its representatives met recently in Lebanon with a top Houthi leader.

In preparation for a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) meeting in Kuwait this week, Abu Bakr al-Kurbi, the Yemeni foreign minister, urged Tehran to end its support for the rebels, saying that "Iran is partly to blame for the conflict that is raging in the northern part of the country."

"Religious (Shia) circles and groups in Iran are providing aid to the Houthis," he said prior to the GCC summit, according to the Kuwait Times.

"Although we are not directly accusing the Iranian official side, we believe that the message is clear that a country with groups aiding rebels in other countries is partly responsible. Iran must stop this aid," he said.

Mohamad al-Ghabri, a Yemeni political analyst, accused Iran of building an axis along regional waterways, including Hizbullah along the Mediterranean, the Sadr Movement in Basra and the Houthis in Saada, near the Red Sea.

"There are indications that Houthi rebels received new weapons right before this war broke out. The Houthi rebels' use of Katyusha rockets across the Saudi borders is glaring evidence of the Iranian military support they received,'' said al-Ghabri. ''The Yemeni authorities detained Iranian crew ships carrying weapons for the Houthis, and the Iranian authorities could not deny that.''

Ghabri said Iran is also giving moral support to the Houthis through their media.

"TV stations such as Al-Alam and Al-Kawthar extend solid support, which is an irrefutable proof of Iran's support of Houthi rebels in Yemen," he said.

Iranian officials have repeatedly denied involvement in the conflict. In an address before the security forum in Manama, Iranian Foreign Minister Manoshahr Metki, spoke against a military solution to end the crisis in northern Yemen.

"Iran supports the unity and stability of Yemen and believes a peaceful solution is the best option to terminate that crisis through dialogue and not through violence," he said.

Meanwhile, the conflict continues to spread throughout the region. Saudi Arabia entered the conflict in November after Houthis seized Saudi lands, triggering Riyadh to launch a military attack.

On Sunday, Houthi sources accused the Saudi air force of shelling a Yemeni village located on the Saudi Yemeni borders, killing at least 70 persons, according to an online statement by the rebels. But a Yemen army spokesman told AFP that the Saudis were not involved in the attack.

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