Yemen: Ten soldiers killed in clashes with Shiite rebels

SANAA - Ten soldiers were killed and 18 wounded in clashes between the army and the Shiite Zaidi rebels in northern Yemen, said on Monday a military source.

•    These incidents took place while the rebels have not yet made their response to a government initiative announced on Saturday, setting a timetable for the implementation of a cease-fire.
  
     The clashes took place around the town of Saada (240 km north of Sana'a) and on the fronts and Harf Sufyane Malahidh, the source said, adding that most soldiers had been killed by snipers.
  
     The Yemeni government said Saturday after acceptance by the rebel of the government’s six conditions for a cease-fire, a security commission had drawn up a timetable to stop the fighting.
  
     The calendar was sent to the rebellion led by Abdel Malek al-Houthi through an intermediary, according to authorities who had stated that the war would end immediately if the rebels accepted.
  
     On 30 January the rebel leader had said he accepted the Government's five conditions for ending the fighting, but Sanaa had claimed that the rebels also commit themselves to "stop attacking" Saudi Arabia and insisted on the release of prisoners. The rebellion had responded positively to these demands.
  
     The government requires the rebels to "observe a cease-fire, opening roads, clearing and evacuating the heights", to "withdraw from public buildings and not interfere in the functioning of local government", to "restore public assets and weapons seized," to" release both civilians and military prisoners, including the Saudis, "and" respect the law and the Constitution."
  
     Armed clashes oppose since 2004 sporadically the Yemeni army and the Zaidi rebels, from a branch of Shiism. They have caused several thousand dead and some 250,000 displaced.
  
  
• Ennaharonline/ M. O.