Yemen

Shi'ite rebels in Yemen are receiving financial support from abroad, a government spokesman said on Aug. 18, strongly implying Iranian involvement in an armed rebellion that has flared up in recent weeks. Yemen said earlier 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. The Houthi rebels are adherents of the Zaydi branch of Shi'ite Islam – a strongly tribal minority in mostly Sunni Muslim Yemen. (Reuters)