Yemen vows to crush rebellion

SANAA (AFP/Reuters) - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh pledged on Wednesday to crush a Shia rebellion in the north as the army pressed an offensive launched in Saada province nine days ago.
A government spokesman, meanwhile, said Shia rebels are receiving financial support from abroad, strongly implying Iranian involvement in an armed rebellion that has flared up in recent weeks.
The armed forces ... are continuing their heroic acts. We are determined to destroy this group and we mean what we say, he said at a military academy celebration.
We will uproot this cancer that exists in Saada province.
Saleh spoke as the army pressed on with its all-out offensive, dubbed Operation Scorched Earth, against Zaidi Shia rebels, also known as Huthis, in the rugged mountainous region, local officials said.
Fighting began in Saada province itself, on the border with Saudi Arabia, and has since spread to Amran province to the south, where officials said fierce clashes were again taking place on Wednesday in the Harf Sufyan area.
They have pushed us to use force. We will buy all the weapons needed to hit them wherever they are, Saleh said, accusing the rebels of being a deviant group.
The Interior Ministry also named 55 rebel leaders as wanted on charges of armed rebellion, abduction and execution of civilians, destruction of property and attacks on government forces. Yemen has implicitly accused Iran of backing the rebels and denouncing Iranian media coverage of the war.
The manner in which (Iranian) media, such as Al-Alam and Al-Kawthar televisions and Tehran Radio report the events reveal the party which is backing the acts of sabotage, Information Minister Hasan Ahmed al-Lawzi said on Tuesday.
There are foreign parties that are giving financial and political support to elements of rebellion and destruction in Saada, the Ministry of Defences online newspaper September 26 quoted Hasan Ahmad al-Lawzi, Information Minister and government spokesman, as saying.
For proof of this, Lawzi said, one need only look at the coverage of media outlets such as al-Alam, Irans state-run Arabic-language television station. Lawzi suggested religious sympathies were a factor in the rebels foreign backing.
Iran is predominantly Shia.
There are religious authorities that are trying to interfere in the affairs of our country. These authorities are giving financial and political support to acts of terrorism and destruction which are aimed at the heart of the security and stability of Yemen and especially Saada, Lawzi said.
Yemens Foreign Minister had met an ambassador to caution against the continuation of such interference and meddling in Yemens domestic affairs, Lawzi said, according to the website, without naming the envoys country.
Yemen has in the past accused unspecified Iranian entities of backing its Shia rebels, but Tehran has denied any Iranian links to the conflict.