Yemen: al-Qaeda, Shi’ite rebels attack

Five Yemeni soldiers were killed in in a suspected ambush by “al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” while on patrol in the Shabwa province in southern Yemen July 21. A day earlier, dozens of pro-government tribesmen were killed in clashes with Shi’ite Houthi rebels in northern Saada province, including tribal leader Sheikh Zaidan al-Maknaiee, his son and four bodyguards.

Also July 21, 66 elected deputies suspended their membership in parliament in protest of the government’s failure to lift the siege on Sheikh Sagheer Aziz’s tribesmen, holed up in northern Amran province by Houthi insurgents. Sheikh Aziz is hismself a member of parliament and represents the ruling bloc. (Arab Monitor, AlJazeera, NYT, July 22; Xinhua, July 21)

See our last post on Yemen and al-Qaeda.

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