Saudi forces keep up Houthi assault

[Recursion]

Source: Al Jazeera

Saudi jets and ground forces have carried out more raids against Yemeni Houthi fighters, the government has said.

The operations were to "neutralise the firing by intruders" and to clear areas where they had encroached on Saudi territory, the government said in a statement on the official SPA news agency on Friday.

Residents were reportedly evacuated from villages in the southern Jizan province and relocated to tent camps further away from the border.

The government statement said the raids were limited to Saudi territory. But a Yemeni military official speaking on condition of anonymity said Saudi forces were shelling Houthi fighters' positions in the Yemeni province of Saada.

The Saudi statement said it was responding to an incursion into its territory and attacks on its citizens.

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/11/2009116125810626250.html

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Not to be Debbie Downer, but this could get ugly really fast: Yemen's civil war is spreading into Saudi Arabia.

[madrchsod]

1. bin boy`s crew left afghanistan and moved to yemen.

they want to create shit for the saudi`s but i think they may have bitten off more than they can chew....

[FarCenter]

2. The Houthi are a branch of the Shia; Al Qaeda is aligned with Wahhabism, the religion of Saudi Arabi

So if anything, it is Saudia Arabia and Al Qaeda versus Houthi and Iran.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/08/200981294214604934.html

[JCMach1]

3. Not exactly, KSA is propping up Al Saleh... they see him as the only way

to keep Yemen from descending into chaos.

Wahhabis do not equal Al Queda! Jeesh

[closeupready]

8. Even though 15 of the 19 hijackers and OBL himself are/were Saudi?

n/t

[formercia]

4. This Civil War has been going on for generations.

I was there in '67 when they were fighting the Brits.

[bemildred]

5. Yep, you got a lit fuse there.

That one has been waiting to explode for a long time.

[Blandocyte]

6. Do we need to help them?

We got some jets and crap that we could throw in...

[bemildred]

7. Saudis flee villages in Yemen clash

At least 240 villages have been evacuated in southwestern Saudi Arabia due to fighting between Saudi forces and Yemeni rebels along the border, the UN children's fund (Unicef) has said.

Unicef, citing contacts in Saudi Arabia on Friday, said more than 50 schools have also been closed in the country, after fighting between Yemeni government forces and Houthi rebels in Yemen's north spilled over into Saudi Arabia last week.

"Unicef is deeply concerned about the escalation of the conflict in northern Yemen," Sigrid Kaag, the Unicef regional director for the Middle East, said in a statement.

"Fighting has now spilled over into Saudi Arabia, reportedly causing 240 villages to be evacuated."

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/11/20091113133153733615.html

[bemildred]

9. U.N.: Yemen's civil war spreads to Saudi Arabia

(CNN) -- Fighting in northern Yemen has moved into Saudi Arabia, forcing school closures and sending thousands fleeing, according to the United Nations.

"Fighting has now spilled into Saudi Arabia, reportedly causing 240 villages to be evacuated and more than 50 schools to be closed, " Sigrid Kaag of UNICEF said in a statement this week. "The total number of people displaced by the conflict since 2004 has gone up to more than 175,000, from an estimated 150,000 only a few weeks ago."

Battles between Yemeni forces and Shiite Houthi rebels have raged intermittently for five years. A government offensive launched this summer has caused more bloodshed.

The conflict is considered to be both separatist -- over who will assert authority in the area -- and sectarian -- whether Shiite Islam will dominate in majority Sunni Yemen. The rebels are supporters of slain Shiite cleric Hussein al-Houthi.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/11/14/yemen.fighting/

[bemildred]

10. Houthi claim Saudis bombed villages

Yemen's Houthi fighters have accused Saudi Arabia of flying over their territory and firing scores of rockets on villages.

Video footage released by the fighters on Thursday allegedly contains images of Saudi missile attacks in Yemen's northern Saada province.

Saudi Arabia has been enforcing a 10km deep buffer zone inside Yemen in an attempt to keep members of the Yemeni rebel group away from its southwestern border, a Saudi government adviser has said.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he warned that any Yemenis caught crossing into Saudi Arabia would be interrogated to make sure no fighters were among them, and then placed in camps.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/11/20091112175536353768.html

[bemildred]

11. A witches' cauldron brews in Yemen

Lebanon has always been the cauldron where the alchemy of the regional politics in the Middle East can be tested. The formation of the unity government in Beirut this week signifies a considerable advancement of the rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Syria that began with the visit of King Abdullah to Damascus last month. Clearly, the Saudis have accommodated Syria's preponderant influence in Lebanese politics.

The speech on Martyr's Day in Beirut on Tuesday by Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah indirectly underscored that the political deal behind the unity government stemmed from a Syrian-Saudi understanding and, more important, that Iran is not party to it. He said:

We also take positively the Syrian-Saudi summit and we were the first to reap its fruits. We look positively at any rapprochement in the region ... Even more, we call for a Saudi-Iranian rapprochement to establish communication between the two countries. Let there be an Iranian initiative toward Saudi Arabia, or a Saudi Arabian initiative toward Iran.

The big question now is how far there could be a similar Syrian-Saudi collusion over Iraq, or more accurately, whether such collusion can gain traction in the critical period of transition ahead as Iraq heads for crucial parliamentary elections in another two months and the American troop withdrawal commences in 2010.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KK14Ak01.html