Iranian support seen crucial for Yemen's Houthis
By Yara Bayoumy and Mohammed Ghobari
SANAA Mon Dec 15, 2014 7:09am EST
(Reuters) - Iran has supplied weapons, money and training to the Shi'ite
Houthi militia that seized Yemen's capital in September, as Tehran steps up
its regional power struggle with Saudi Arabia, Yemeni and Iranian officials
say.
Exactly how much support Iran has given the Houthis, who share a Shi'ite
ideology, has never been clear. Sunni countries in the Gulf accuse Iran of
interference via Shi'ite proxies in the region, something Tehran denies.
But Reuters has details -- from Yemeni, Western and Iranian sources -- of
Iranian military and financial support to the Houthis before and after their
takeover of Sanaa on Sept. 21.
A senior Houthi official denied there had been material and financial
support. But the assertions are still likely to reinforce Saudi, and
Western, fears that Iran is exploiting turmoil between Sunni and Shi'ite
Muslims in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain and now Yemen.
Riyadh has suspended aid to Yemen, angered by the Houthis' growing power,
while Iran publicly welcomed the Houthi victory.
A senior Yemeni security official said Iran had steadily supported the
Houthis, who have fought the central government since 2004 from their
northern stronghold of Saadah.
"Before the entrance into Sanaa, Iran started sending weapons here and gave
a lot of support with money via visits abroad," the official, who declined
to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, told Reuters.
A second senior Yemeni security official said "weapons are still coming in
by sea and there's money coming in through transfers".
SWIFT VICTORY
Iran, the first official said, saw victory would be swift in Yemen, unlike
in Iraq and Syria, and "with not too much expense".
A Western source familiar with Yemen also said the Houthis had been getting
training and money.
"It's been happening for over a year. We've seen Houthis going out to Iran
and Lebanon for military training."
"We think there is cash, some of which is channeled via Hezbollah and sacks
of cash arriving at the airport. The numbers of those going for training are
enough for us to worry about," the source said. The first Yemeni security
official said Houthi fighters had received training by Hezbollah in Lebanon.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that the Quds Force, the external arm
of the Revolutionary Guard, had a "few hundred" military personnel in Yemen
who train Houthi fighters.
He said about 100 Houthis had traveled to Iran this year for training at a
Revolutionary Guards base near the city of Qom. It was not immediately
possible to verify this claim.
The official said there were a dozen Iranian military advisers in Yemen, and
the pace of money and arms getting to the Houthis had increased since their
seizure of Sanaa.
"Everything is about the balance of power in the region. Iran wants a
powerful Shi'ite presence in the region that is why it has got involved in
Yemen as well," said the Iranian official.
Salah al-Sammad, a senior Houthi adviser to the Yemeni president, denied
Iran had provided arms but said Iranian backing was part of a shared vision
in "confronting the American project".
For its part, Saudi Arabia provided "blatant" support to allied tribal
sheikhs and parties in Yemen, he said.
SHIP SEIZED
Yemeni authorities point to the "Jihan 1" as evidence of Iran's support. The
ship was seized by Yemen in 2013, smuggling weapons from Iran to local
insurgents.
The Yemeni official showed Reuters a breakdown of the cargo, which included
Katyusha rockets M-122, heat-seeking surface-to-air missiles, RPG-7s,
Iranian-made night vision goggles and "artillery systems that track land and
navy targets 40km away".
There were also silencers, 2.66 tonnes of RDX explosives, C-4 explosives,
ammunition, bullets and electrical transistors.
A few days after the Sanaa takeover, Houthi gunmen surrounded the National
Security headquarters calling for the release from jail of eight Yemeni crew
members.
They were freed, as were two suspected Hezbollah members jailed for planning
to provide military training to the Houthis.
Iran denied any connection with the arms found on Jihan 1.
Sanaa residents still can't understand how the Houthis managed to take
control of their city.
Although the Houthis started as a small movement in north Yemen, they gained
strength by tapping into the grievances of Zaydi Shi'ites, about a third of
Yemen's population.
Their march to Sanaa was led by fighters who exploited popular discontent
over corruption and the removal of fuel subsidies. They also exploited
divisions within the army, which largely melted away at the decisive moment.
"Most of the fighting is done by local people supported by people from the
Houthis," a Houthi fighter told Reuters.
With the Houthis now in control of the capital, the airport and most of the
port of Hodeidah, there are fears of more overt support from Tehran.
(Additional reporting by
<
http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=parisa.hafezi&>
Parisa Hafezi in Ankara, Rania El Gamal and Mehrdad Balali in Dubai and
Peter Salisbury in Sanaa; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by
<
http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=giles.elgood&>
Giles Elgood)
Received on Mon Dec 15 2014 - 07:26:32 EST