SAN‘A, Yemen | Saudi warplanes and artillery bombarded a Shiite rebel stronghold in northern Yemen on Saturday for a third straight day, according to the rebel fighters, and Yemen’s president vowed to wipe out the insurrection.
The sporadic five-year conflict between Yemen’s weak central government and rebels in the north of the impoverished country escalated last week when military forces from neighboring Saudi Arabia began shelling and bombing rebel positions.
The two nations are cooperating and sharing intelligence. Saudi officials have been increasingly worried that extremism and instability in Yemen could spill over to their country.
Publicly, Saudi officials say their military action has been limited to areas inside its own borders, aiming at fighters who have crossed into its territory. But Yemeni rebels, military officials and Arab diplomats say the Saudi air and artillery strikes began to hit deep inside northern Yemen on Thursday.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen said there will be no letup “until we bring this tyrannical, traitorous and mercenary group to an end.”
The northern rebels, known as Hawthis, say the needs of their communities are ignored by a Yemeni government that is increasingly allied with hard-line Sunni fundamentalists, who consider Shiites heretics.
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