Not less than 33 people have been killed in a central Yemen fighting in the past two days between the Shi’ite Muslim Houthi fighters who were trying to expand their control and the Sunni tribes allied with al Qaeda, residents of the area have said on Wednesday. Reuters was there:
Residents said tribesmen and allied Ansar al-Sharia militants in the Qifa area, home to powerful Sunni tribes in al-Baydah province, had captured several hilltops, including al-Thaaleb (foxes) mountain overlooking an al Qaeda stronghold that had been seized by the Houthis.
Yemeni military sources said a U.S. drone had killed seven suspected al Qaeda militants in southern Yemen while they were on their way to carry out an attack.
Yemen, a U.S. ally which shares a long border with the world’s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has been engulfed in political turmoil since mass protests ousted its veteran president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, in 2011.
The Houthis, who captured the Yemeni capital Sanaa almost without a fight in September and forced the government to resign, are continuing to expand across the country despite the formation of a new government bringing in supporters of the group and representatives of southern Yemeni separatists.
