Yemeni rebels turnover captured Saudi soldier as long-running war calms down

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Yemeni rebels release Saudi soldier

SAN’A, Yemen — Northern rebels in Yemen handed over a captured Saudi soldier captured to Yemeni government mediators, the latest sign that a six-year-old conflict is calming down.

The Saudi Press Agency quoted Saudi ambassador to Yemen Ali al-Hamdan as saying the soldier was brought from the northern province of Saada, the rebel stronghold, to the embassy in San’a by helicopter. He will be sent back to Saudi Arabia later, the ambassador said.

A Yemeni official said the soldier was handed over to a committee which supervises a cease-fire reached last week between Yemeni government and the Shiite rebels, known as Hawthis. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The northern rebels have been fighting Yemen’s weak government sporadically for years. After two Saudi soldiers were killed in a cross-border raid in November, Saudi forces joined the conflict. They unleashed airstrikes and artillery barrages on the rebels and at least 133 Saudi soldiers died in the fighting.

The Saudis on Saturday gave the rebels 48 hours to hand over five missing soldiers after last month declaring their battle with the Hawthis to be over.

The long-running rebellion, which began when the northern tribesmen took up arms complaining of neglect and sectarian discrimination, flared anew last year and has displaced more than a quarter million people.

The U.S. and other countries have pressured Yemen to resolve the conflict so that it can concentrate on the emergence of an offshoot of al-Qaida in Yemen that is suspected of masterminding a failed airline bombing in the U.S. on Christmas.

“The United States welcomes the cease-fire in the conflict between the government of Yemen and the Hawthi rebels,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement Monday. “We have significantly increased assistance to address the political, economic and security challenges that Yemen faces.”

Clinton, who was visiting neighboring Saudi Arabia on Monday, also expressed concern over the humanitarian situation in Yemen’s desperately poor north after months of fierce fighting.

On Monday, the official Yemeni news agency also reported that 13 soldiers were killed and another wounded in a helicopter crash in Saada province where the rebellion is taking place.

The agency quoted an unnamed official saying Sunday’s crash at Saada airport was due to a technical fault.

It said the plane crashed into a military vehicle with three soldiers on board shortly after taking off from the military airport carrying seven wounded soldiers and its crew of four soldiers.