Yemen's North Hit by Bloodiest Fighting in Years - NYTimes.com - 0 views
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emeni Army fought back a major offensive by rebels in the northern city of Sadah early Sunday morning, killing dozens of insurgents,
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The battle appears to have been the boldest rebel attack yet in five weeks of renewed fighting in Yemen’s remote and mountainous Sadah Province,
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latest round of fighting, which erupted last month after a yearlong cease-fire, has been the bloodiest so far.
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eports of the death toll varied, with some news agencies saying more than 140 rebels had been killed. There was no word on whether any Yemeni soldiers died
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The Sadah conflict has displaced tens of thousands of people, international monitors say, leaving many refugees stranded without adequate food or water.
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The Yemeni government says the rebels are preventing civilians from leaving the conflict zone, and has accused them of using civilians as human shields.
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Despite their geographical isolation, the rebels have acquired an increasingly sophisticated arsenal, largely by capturing or buying government weapons.
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Yemeni government has accused the rebels of receiving unofficial support from Iran, but the Houthis deny it.
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he Houthis are Zaidis, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that is fairly common in Yemen, and the government has used radical Sunni militants as proxy forces against them.
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government has accused the Houthis of trying to restore the traditional Zaidi-led imamate that largely ruled Yemen until 1962. The Houthis deny it, saying they merely want more autonomy in Sadah and restitution for war damages.