Wednesday, November 11, 2009 SANA: Yemeni Shia Houthi fighters have released recent footage of clashes with the Saudi military at the two countries' joint border. The video shows the seizure of Saudi army vehicles by the fighters. It also shows Saudi soldiers fleeing the scene of battles as Houthi fighters open fire on them. The Saudi Arabian air force launched a deadly offensive against Houthis eight days ago, accusing the Shia resistance fighters of killing two Saudi soldiers on the border. While Riyadh says that its offensive targeted Houthi positions on 'Saudi territory', the fighters say Yemeni villages, far from the battlefield, were being bombarded. The Houthis say they've captured an unspecified number of Saudi troops inside the Yemeni territory in response to Saudi attacks on their positions and villages. They have also posted footage of a man they identified as one of several Saudi soldiers in their custody. The video showed a man in military uniform with facial wounds and an apparent leg injury receiving medical attention. It identified him as Staff Sergeant Ahmad Abdullah al-Omari. Houthi fighters accuse Riyadh of supporting the Yemeni government in launching attacks against them. The Yemeni government accuses Houthi fighters of seeking to reinstate the imamate rule, which ended in a 1962 coup. The Houthis, however, say they are defending themselves against religious oppression as well as social, economic and political 'discrimination' against them in the country.
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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