Shia rebels in Yemen are fighting within 12 miles of capital

AP/San Diego Union-Tribune:

Yemeni government forces have beaten back an advance by northern rebels who brought their fight to within 12 miles of the capital, officials and witnesses said Saturday.

Eyewitness Hamoud Mohammed said many houses were demolished in the village of Bani Heshiash near San'a after three days of airstrikes and shelling by government forces battling the rebels. Artillery shells could be heard exploding in the area over the weekend.

“The bodies of the dead were seen in the streets, left unburied because of the intensity of the strikes,” Mohammed said. “Water and medicine is scarce and the injured have to drive dangerous roads to the capital for proper treatment.”

Tribal officials and medics said scores have been killed on both sides in fighting over the past few weeks. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns and the government did not provide any casualty figures.

The rebels from the al-Zaydi sect of Shiite Islam have been fighting intermittently since 2004, claiming the government is corrupt and too closely allied with the West. Thousands have been killed in the rebellion.

Until recently, the rebellion had been concentrated in Saada province, close to the Saudi border and more than 100 miles from the capital.

But in the last three days, government forces pounded advancing rebels in the mountainous around Bani Heshiash, 12 miles north of San'a, tribal and local officials said speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

...

There is more. This is a war that has not gotten much attention because it is mainly Muslim on Muslim fighting so you don't get the typical victim offensive you would get from Muslims when they are fighting Israelis or the US.

Yemen is not a well run country. At one time it was split in half with communist running part and a thugocracy running the other. With the fall of the Soviet Union there was not much reason to be communist anymore so they united.

Al Qaeda has active cells in Yemen and the government has been indifferent at best to seeing justice done in the Cole bombing.

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