Yemen said it was seeking to arrest 55 suspected Shi'ite rebel leaders as fighting continued on Tuesday, a day after the government said it was close to ending the armed rebellion after weeks of conflict, Reuters reported.
The resurgence of fighting against the Houthi rebels, that has flared intermittently since 2004, has compounded problems faced by Yemen which is already grappling secessionist violence in the south and a growing threat from al Qaeda militancy.
Yemen's interior ministry has asked the country's attorney general to issue arrest warrants for 55 suspected rebels, among them Badr al-Din Amir al-Din al-Houthi, the "spiritual leader of the Houthi rebels", according to official news agency Saba.
On Monday, Saba quoted a defence ministry official as saying the end of the rebellion was imminent after the success of an offensive launched last week by the Arab country's armed forces.
But a local official told Reuters fierce fighting continued on Tuesday in the mountainous northern province of Saada, the rebels' stronghold. An attempt by rebels to enter the provincial capital was rebuffed by Yemeni troops, the official said.
Yemeni forces have used air strikes, tanks and artillery in the offensive described by officials as a determined attempt to crush the revolt, led by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.
The rebels, adherents of the Zaydi branch of Shi'ite Islam -- a strongly tribal minority in mostly Sunni Muslim Yemen -- oppose Yemen's close ties with the United States and say they are defending their villages against government oppression.
Officials say the northern rebels have displaced around 17,000 families from their homes in Saada.
Fifteen Yemeni Red Crescent workers kidnapped last week have been released, the International Red Cross said on Monday.
The governor of Saada province, where Houthi has his headquarters, said last week rebels were behind the kidnapping of the Red Crescent doctors, nurses, officials and administrators from a refugee camp.
The rebels denied holding any civilians.
In July 2008, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said four years of intermittent fighting against the rebels had ended and dialogue should replace combat.
Yemen's foreign minister Abubakr al-Qirbi told Reuters in an interview on Monday rebels had taken Saleh's declaration as a sign of government weakness and said they had ignored all invitations to renew dialogue and join reconstruction efforts.
Last week, the rebels rejected a truce offer from the government.
...