Sana’a: Al Houthi fighters backed by Yemeni government forces entered an Al Qaida stronghold in central Yemen on Sunday, local tribesmen said, one day after Islamist fighters pushed them back.
Al Houthis moved into Al Manasseh area in Al Bayda province with the Yemeni army and presidential guard providing them cover with rocket fire. Tribal sources said the Ansar Al Sharia fighters withdrew to another district called Bakla, some 3 km away.
Al Houthis have advanced into central and western Yemen since they seized control of Yemeni capital Sana’a on September 21, taking on tribesmen and Al Qaida militants.
Fighting has flared up in several provinces, alarming neighbour Saudi Arabia.
The Yemeni army had so far avoided clashing with Al Houthis or to support them in their advance on Al Qaida strongholds. But President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi considers Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqap) as the main threat facing the country.
One tribal leader said Al Houthis exploited old rivalries between two wings of one of the main tribes in the area, the Al Dhahab tribe, and managed to enter the area, which had long been the main stronghold of the Ansar Al Sharia, the local wing of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqap).
Al Houthi officials made no comment about the advance but the group’s television station said Al Houthi fighters and their allies have “reached the home of the leader of the criminal gangs” in Al Manasseh, referring to Ansar Al Sharia.
A US drone on Friday struck Al Qaida targets in Al Manasseh killing at least three people, tribal sources said.
Local sources said on Sunday that Abdul Ra’ouf Al Dahab, the local leader of Ansar Al Sharia, and a number of Saudi members of the group were killed in the strike. Officials could not confirm the report.
Tribal sources on Saturday said that Al Qaida militants and their tribal allies killed dozens of Al Houthi fighters in Radda and pushed back the rebels’ advance on the town, where some 60,000 live.
They said Al Qaida fighters surrounded Al Houthis on a mountain in Radda at dawn and killed dozens of them and took 12 prisoners forcing them to retreat to Dhamar province although clashes continued in other parts of the city.
The northern-based Al Houthis established themselves as power brokers in Yemen last month by capturing Sana’a against scant resistance from the administration of Hadi, who appears not to have a full grip on the country’s fractious military.
