Yemen official says Iran funding Shiite rebels
Updated: Monday, November 16, 2009
12:30GMT—7:30AM/EST
Washington, 16 November (WashingtonTV)—Yemen’s counter-terrorism chief on Sunday accused Iran of funding Shiite rebels in their battle against Yemeni government forces in the north.
General Yahya Salih told Al Jazeera that it would be impossible for the rebels to wage their campaign without foreign support.
“No doubt there is Iranian support,” he told the network.
Earlier on Sunday, Iran’s Majlis [parliament] condemned Saudi Arabia’s role in the conflict against the rebels, and called on Islamic states to take action against the fight in Yemen.
Yemeni forces launched new strikes against the Shiite rebels in the north in August, and the conflict widened earlier this month, when neighboring Saudi Arabia launched air strikes against the rebels.
Yemen has previously accused Iran of supporting the rebels, but Tehran has denied the allegations, and has called for a political solution to the fighting.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki last week warned against foreign intervention in the conflict, and urged Yemen’s government to improve relations with the Yemeni people, including its Shiite minority.
Responding to those remarks, Salih said that Tehran had no right to question Yemen’s treatment of ethnic or religious minorities.
“Who has given Mr. Mottaki the right to talk about minorities,” he told Al Jazeera. “Minorities are persecuted in Iran, just recently they executed Kurd[ish] activists. He who lives in a glass house shouldn’t throw stones.”
Over the weekend, Saudi forces continued to bombard rebel positions in northern Yemen, and vowed to continue the attacks until the rebels withdraw from the Saudi-Yemeni border.
In Tehran, 250 members of Iran’s Majlis condemned the Saudi attacks, reports the state-funded Press TV network.
Majlis speaker, Ali Larijani, criticized Saudi King Abdullah for allowing “the killing of innocent Muslims in the forbidden months.”
He also accused the United States of being behind the Saudi bombings, reports AFP.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Press TV, Agence France-Presse
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