Saudi Arabia says fully committed to combating terror, backing int’l strategy to eradicate it

Saudi deputy interior minister denies Saudi air forces took part in Yemen battles

Yemen’s Saleh asserts Houthis will be vanquished, says war imposed on nation

Obama: U.S. to stay in Afghanistan, fight against Al-Qaeda going on

Saudi Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz said his country is fully committed to all international agreements guaranteeing world security and peace and is playing an active role towards countries harmed by all kinds of disasters.

Prince Ahmed, who doubles as vice chairman of the Saudi Arabian Civil Defense Council, was speaking in an address before an international meeting on crisis management, held at the approval of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and under the auspices of Second Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz.

Prince Ahmed underlined the importance of crisis management, which he considered as a “science that requires intensive research and studies and exchange of expertise among all nations”.

“Saudi Arabia has contributed to many humanitarian fields, whether through offering relief aid or financial assistance to disaster-stricken nations or through an active role in reconstruction and commitment to international pacts that would guarantee world peace and security,” he said.

During a press conference after the meeting, Prince Ahmed also said that the Saudi security authorities are spotting any responses to the audio message that Al-Qaeda Organization tried to use to carry out its operations in Saudi Arabia, adding Saeed al-Shahri, who sent the audio message asking for fund-raising for Al-Qaeda, is one of the Saudis on a list of 85 wanted persons Riyadh is tracking down.

Prince Ahmed has discredited reports that spoke of the Saudi air forces’ participation in military operations led by the Yemeni army against the Houthi rebels.

However, he said there is an announced security cooperation and coordination between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. “There is good cooperation with the Yemeni government and we seek more cooperation with the aim of wielding control on domestic affairs there.”

He termed as “fake” accusations that the Saudi air forces sided with Yemen in military operations against Houthis.

“The Yemeni government had denied this before. Saudi Arabia is always stretching a helping hand to the brothers for all the just causes but it never interferes in their internal affairs,” he said.

Prince Ahmed also stressed the strong security cooperation binding Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, which, he said, aims to achieve the interests of both countries and combat crime in general and terror in particular.

He, however, denied that Islamabad has handed over any persons involved in the bungled attempt on the life of Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs.

In Sana’a, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said the war with the Houthi rebels will never stop, adding war was imposed on his country.

“We will continue the battle for five or six years. We will not backtrack, we will not stop”, Saleh said at a celebration to mark the anniversary of the 1962 revolution that overthrew the Zaydi Shiite imamate and established the republic.

“If the rebels abided by the six points [of the truce], we do not want war. It is a war that was imposed on us”, he said to crowds shouting “No” and urging him to continue the war.

Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands of civilians have fled their homes since August 11 when the government began its “Scorched Earth” offensive against the Zaydi rebels, also known as Houthis.

The government has offered the rebels a truce but is demanding they “respect the cease-fire and the opening of roads, evacuate their positions and free captured civilians and soldiers”.

Two separate cease-fires have lasted only a few hours before fighting erupted again.

“It is a vicious war, a guerrilla war. We are facing a war of rebellion and destruction. If it were a systematic war, the matter would have been settled”, Saleh said.

He called on political groups in Yemen to stand united to “support the army in its war against the rebels” whom the government say want to restore the Zaydi Shiite imamate.

The imamate is a form of clerical rule that was overthrown with Egyptian support in a republican coup in 1962 that sparked eight years of civil war.

The government accuses the rebels of being backed by Iran.

The rebels deny the charge and allege Sana’a has brought in foreign warplanes to support the army.

The UN has warned that food supplies are running out at its camps for displaced people. It estimates 55,000 people have fled their homes since the latest fighting erupted in August.

“The continuation of hostilities, the failure of the truce and the closure of roads has prevented humanitarian agencies from coming to the aid of the displaced”, UN spokeswoman Laure Chedraoui said.

“Foodstuffs for tens of thousands of refugees... are being depleted,” she said.

Saleh said the government was committed to providing aid and support to the displaced people and called on international aid agencies to continue their assistance to the civilians.

“We have earmarked tens of millions [of rials] to repair the harm that resulted from this current war”, he said in his speech.

The government accuses the rebels of hindering the work of aid agencies by blocking essential roads and taking civilians as human shields.

The Zaydis, whose faith is an offshoot of Shiite Islam, are a minority in mainly Sunnite Yemen but form the majority community in the North. President Saleh is himself a Zaydi.

Abdul-Malek al-Houthi, leader of Zaydi Shiite rebels who have battled government troops in northern Yemen for the past two months, said he is ready for a “dialogue” proposed by opposition leaders.

“We are ready for dialogue, to respond positively to all national initiatives and to stand alongside all honorable people wanting to save the country from corruption and injustice,” Houthi said in a statement.

Last month an opposition alliance urged Sana’a to halt Operation Scorched Earth, launched against the rebels on August 11, and to promote development in Yemen’s south in order to preserve the unity of the impoverished country.

Houthi did not specifically mention the possibility of dialogue with the government, which accuses the rebels of being supported by Iran, a charge the Zaydis deny.

But rebel spokesman Mohamed Abdessalam said: “We are ready for dialogue with all political parties in Yemen including the government.” His group would accept “Yemeni or Arab” mediation aimed at a ceasefire.

“We have no objection to neutral mediation,” Abdessalam said, while stressing that it is up to the “government to decide to continue or to halt the war.”

“We will respond to all aggression with the resources we have available,” he said.

An official who asked not to be named said the rebels should meet the six conditions the state has set for a ceasefire, including giving up their weapons, reopening roads and re-establishing government rule in the conflict zones.

Yemen's Parliament on Saturday voted to lift the parliamentary immunity of MP Yahya al- Houthi, brother of a Shiite rebel leader whose followers are battling the national army in the country's north-west, parliamentary sources said.

It is the third time that the House of Deputies (parliament) has stripped al-Houthi of his immunity since 2006. A short-lived Qatari- sponsored peace agreement cancelled the previous two parliamentary moves.

Yahya, the elder brother of the current leader of the Houthis rebel group Abdul-Malek al-Houthi, now lives in Germany.

He is a member of the ruling General People's Congress party, led by President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Authorities accuse Yahya of stirring up sectarian strife and sedition through his media remarks supporting his brother’s revolt.

The move is the first step in a legal process to allow prosecutors bring a lawsuit against him to the state security court.

Government troops have been battling thousands of armed rebels in rugged mountains overlooking the borders with Saudi Arabia since August 11, in the latest flare-up in the fighting that has raged on and off since mid-2004.

Houthis on Saturday called for a dialogue with the government based on an initiative drawn up by opposition parties in September.

"We have announced previously and reiterate today our readiness for dialogue and to deal positively with all the national initiatives," the group said in an emailed statement.

"Dialogue is the only solution that would take Yemen to safety," the statement said.

Authorities have recently rejected dialogue calls by the rebels, saying they have to comply with its terms for peace first.

Government officials have repeatedly insisted on the rebels' withdrawal from areas they control and their surrender to law and order as a precondition for any talks.

Two truces announced by the government since the military operation was launched in August collapsed a few hours after taking effect.

Meanwhile, around 100 rebels were killed and 280 others injured in clashes with government troops in Saada on Friday night, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The statement said the troops fought back after the rebels tried to storm military and police positions in different areas of the province.

Hundreds of insurgents, troops and civilians have been killed and around 150,000 people were forced to leave their villages during the past five weeks, according to UN estimates.

Authorities accuse the Shiite group of seeking to restore the rule of the Zaydi royal family, which was toppled by a republican revolution in 1962.

The Houthis say they are in revolt against government corruption and the Yemeni alliance with the United States.

Yemen security forces said they have killed 100 rebels and injured a further 280 in the country’s northern Saada province, where the authorities are battling a renewed Shiite revolt.

The conflict has intensified since the army began “Operation Scorched Earth” on Aug. 11, and aid agencies are warning of a humanitarian crisis in the north, where up to 150,000 people have fled their homes since Shiite tribesmen launched an insurgency in 2004.

“Terrorist and destructive elements had infiltrated (areas) between military barracks and security posts in Saada province,” the military said in a statement issued late on Friday.

“Our armed and security forces put a stop to them and inflicted painful and heavy blows on them during which the terrorist ‘Houthi’ elements lost more than 100 people and more than 280 were injured,” the statement said, referring to rebels led by Abdul-Malek al-Houthi.

Washington and Riyadh fear that fighting in northern Yemen, and frequent street clashes with separatists in the south, may create instability that al Qaeda could exploit to carry out attacks in Saudi Arabia. It has already staged a comeback in Yemen in the past two years, with attacks on government and foreign targets.

The northern Zaydi rebels say they suffer religious discrimination by Sunni fundamentalists who have gained in strength because of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s close ties to Saudi Arabia, which adheres to a puritanical form of Sunni Islam.

Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, is also facing a growing al Qaeda militancy.

Yemeni authorities have barred journalists and diplomats from traveling independently to the rugged provinces of Saada, Amran and Hajjeh, where troops and pro-government tribesmen are battling the well-armed Houthis and their tribal allies.

Arab League chief Amr Moussa said on Tuesday Arab states supported the unity of Yemen, which faces a Shiite rebellion in the north and secessionist unrest in the south.

The United States and Saudi Arabia, the world's leading oil exporter, fear that a northern war between the army and Zaydi Shiite Muslims, as well as frequent street clashes with separatists in southern Yemen, could create further instability that al Qaeda could exploit to carry out attacks.

The Sunni Islamist militant group has staged a comeback with attacks on government and foreign targets over the past two years.

"(The Arab League) affirms its support for Yemen's unity, security and stability," Moussa told reporters after meeting Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

He declined to say if the Arab League would attempt to mediate in either of the two conflicts. "Any initiative or proposal must serve stability and unity ... Comprehensive national dialogue is the way," Moussa said.

Arab countries allied to the United States, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, fear Shiite power Iran could gain influence in Yemen through the Shiite rebels. Iran has denied any involvement but urged Sana’a to end the conflict peacefully.

Hundreds took to the streets of towns in southern provinces including Radfan, Zinjibar and al-Habilayn on Tuesday, witnesses and southern news websites said.

Protesters held up banners calling for Arab states to protect the south, a formerly independent state that united with northern Yemen in 1990, pro-south Aden Press said.

Southerners complain of political and economical marginalization by the north, even though their region holds most of the poor country's oil resources.

The northern Zaydi rebels also say they suffer religious discrimination by Sunni fundamentalists who have gained in strength because of President Saleh's close ties to Saudi Arabia, which adheres to a puritanical form of Sunni Islam.

The government and the rebels have both offered ceasefires since fighting erupted in August when the government launched an operation in the north to crush them.

The fighting in the north has killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands.