Vancouver Sun

Rebels take provincial capital in Sunni area

Group advances despite Saudi-led airstrikes

- AHMED AL-HAJ AND NASSER KARIMI

SANAA, Yemen — Shiite rebels and allied military units in Yemen defied Saudi-led airstrikes to seize a provincial capital in a heavily Sunni tribal area on Thursday as their patron Iran called the two-week air campaign a “crime” and appealed for peace talks.

The rebel fighters, known as Houthis, along with military units loyal to former autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh, overran Ataq, capital of the oil-rich southeaste­rn Shabwa province, after days of airstrikes and clashes with local Sunni tribes. The capture marked the rebels’ first major gain since the airstrikes began.

The Saudi-led coalition has imposed an air and sea blockade on Yemen and targeted both rebels and military units loyal to Saleh, hoping to eventually allow Yemen’s internatio­nally recognized President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to return.

The coalition had hoped to keep the rebels out of the port city of Aden, which Hadi had declared his provisiona­l capital after fleeing Sanaa earlier this year and before leaving the country last month. But the rebels and Saleh loyalists have advanced, sparking days of heavy clashes.

The conflict pits the Saudi-led Sunni Gulf countries against Shiite rival Iran. Tehran supports the Houthis and has provided humanitari­an aid but both Iran and the rebels deny allegation­s that it has armed them. The growing regional involvemen­t neverthele­ss risks transformi­ng what until now has been a complex power struggle into a fullblown sectarian conflict.

The chaos has also allowed al-Qaida’s local affiliate to gain ground, and the Saudi-led bombing — backed by U.S. arms shipments and intelligen­ce — threatens to weaken the rebels and Saleh’s loyalists, who are al-Qaida’s most powerful opponents.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned the air campaign, saying “this is a crime, genocide and legally pursuable.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held talks Thursday in Islamabad with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to push for Yemen peace talks. Zarif has said that Iran is ready to facilitate talks that would lead to a broad-based government in Yemen.

Pakistan’s parliament is debating whether to contribute forces to the Saudi-led air campaign. In a statement, the government said Pakistan would stand “shoulder to shoulder” with Saudi Arabia if its territory were violated but called on Muslim countries to “counsel restraint and promote a spirit of mutual accommodat­ion.”

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