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 Saturday's fighting in the town of Yareem in Ibb province came
after 15 people were killed in fighting on Friday between Sunni
tribesmen and Houthi rebels on the outskirts and in the city of Ibb,
150 km (90 miles) south of Sanaa.
Houthi fighters were attacking the home of an Islah official, Ali
Bdeir, in Yareem, residents said. The attack came after the Houthis
were ambushed at dawn in Yareem and four Houthis were killed
Eyewitnesses told Reuters dozens of bodies of fighters from both
sides were strewn on the main street in Yareem. In a letter seen by
Reuters, the police chief of Ibb province resigned after the Houthis
entered Ibb.
"There are heavy clashes now between the Houthi fighters and the
supporters of Islah. It's a very scary situation," a local Ibb
official told Reuters.
The Houthis established themselves as powerbrokers in Yemen last
month, capturing the capital, Sanaa, on Sept. 21. The weak
administration of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi put up little
resistance.
Clashes between Houthis, Sunni tribesmen and fighters from al Qaeda,
who regard Shi'ites as heretics, have since intensified across
several provinces in Yemen, alarming neighboring oil-exporting giant
Saudi Arabia.
PROTEST IN HODEIDAH
Activists in Hodeidah told Reuters on Saturday that residents took
to the streets of the city, the second-largest port in the Arabian
peninsula after Aden, calling on the Houthis to leave.
The Houthis, who come from the northern highlands and champion the
interests of the Zaydi community, which makes up a fifth of Yemen's
population of 25 million, extended their control to the Red Sea port
of Hodeidah on Tuesday.
The conflict with the Houthis has also extended to clashes with al
Qaeda fighters who view the group as pawns of Iran. Before its fight
with the Shi'ite group, al Qaeda was already battling the
government, frequently attacking security officials and government
targets.
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Early on Saturday, suspected al Qaeda militants shot dead Saleh
al-Subaihi, the head of the government-allied local militia in the
southern province of Lahj, and two of his aides, a local official
said.
Tribal leaders said Houthi fighters withdrew to the outskirts of
Radda in Bayda province, an al Qaeda stronghold, on Saturday after
an agreement with the tribes.
In Sanaa, dozens of armed Houthi demonstrators protested in front of
the Saudi embassy on Saturday, calling for the release of a
prominent Shi'ite cleric who was sentenced to death by a Saudi court
this week, a Reuters witness said.
The Houthi demonstrators, who were carrying AK-47 rifles, also
chanted "Death to America, Death to Israel" slogans. Yemeni security
and military forces blocked both sides of the street in front of the
embassy and watched the demonstration.
A Saudi judge on Wednesday sentenced to death Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr,
who had called for greater rights for the kingdom's Shi'ites.
(Additional reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden; Writing by Yara
Bayoumy; Editing by Larry King)
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