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 Tehran has strongly denied providing any military support for
Houthi fighters, whose advances have drawn Saudi-led air strikes in
a campaign dubbed "Decisive Storm."
If confirmed, the presence of two Iranian officers, whom the local
militiamen said were from an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary
Guards, would deepen tensions between Tehran and Riyadh, who are
vying for influence in the Middle East.
Three sources in the city's anti-Houthi local militias said the
Iranians, identified as a colonel and a captain, were seized in two
different districts rocked by heavy gun battles.
"The initial investigation revealed that they are from the Quds
Force and are working as advisors to the Houthi militia," one of the
militia sources told Reuters.
"They have been put in a safe place and we will turn them over to
Decisive Storm to deal with them," the source added.
Heavy Saudi-led air strikes and ground combat between armed factions
battered southern Yemen on Saturday, killing around 20 Houthi
fighters and two rival militiamen, residents and militiamen said.
The war threatens to turn Yemen into a failed state and spread
sectarian strife in the Middle East.
Bolstered by more than two weeks of air raids led by Sunni Muslim
Saudi Arabia, local armed groups have been resisting the southward
advance of the northern-based Shi'ite Muslim Houthis.
Residents said southern fighters ambushed a convoy of Houthis and
allied forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh in a tribal
area about 100 km (60 miles) north of their base in Aden, killing 15
of the northerners.
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Inside the major port city, clashes erupted between Houthi forces
and local militiamen firing rocket-propelled grenades and
machineguns. Five Houthis and two local militiamen died, residents
said.
While the Houthis deny getting help from Shi'ite Iran and say their
armed campaign is designed to stamp out corruption and Sunni al
Qaeda militants, Saudi Arabia and its allies describe them as an
Iranian-backed threat to regional security.
The United Nations says the conflict, in which the Houthis seized
the capital Sanaa in northern Yemen in September, has killed 600
people, wounded 2,200 and displaced 100,000 others.
(Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf; Writing by Noah Browning; Editing
by Michael Georgy/Mark Heinrich/Susan Fenton)
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