SANAA, Aug 18 (Reuters) – Shi’ite rebels in Yemen are receiving financial support from abroad, a government spokesman said on Tuesday, strongly implying Iranian involvement in an armed rebellion that has flared up in recent weeks.
Yemen said earlier on Tuesday that it wanted to arrest 55 rebel leaders and that fierce fighting was under way in northern Saada province, a rebel stronghold — a day after the government said it was close to ending the uprising.
“There are foreign parties that are giving financial and political support to elements of rebellion and destruction in Saada,” the ministry of defence’s online newspaper “September 26” quoted Hasan Ahmad al-Lawzi, information minister and government spokesman, as saying.
