DAR AL ISLAM: SHIITE MOSLEMS CHASE JEWS OUT OF THEIR HOMES IN YEMEN

YEMEN: JEWS CHASED FROM THEIR HOMES BY SHIITE REBELS

Sanaa, 3 May (AKI) - A group of armed Shiite rebels led by the Yemeni imam Abdel Malik al-Houthi are chasing members of the small Jewish community in the province of Sada, in north Yemen, from their homes and forcing them to leave the region. According to a report on the Arabic newspaper al-Zaman, the armed group, which the government of Yemen believes to be financed by Iran, forced a group of 45 Yemeni Jews, who have lived for hundreds of years in the village of Salim in the province of Sada to move to the capital Sanaa for security reasons.

The Islamic rebels have been engaged for some years in a violent conflict with the Yemen military. Their aim is to bring about the fall of the government in Sanaa in order to install an Islamic state.

The small community of Jews was forced to flee from their homes after the rebel movement warned them to leave the area within 10 days.

Jews are a small minority in the mostly Muslim country. Most of Yemen's Jews were transferred to Israel in 1949-1950 following the 1948 Muslim riots against the Jewish community in Aden that killed 82 people. Currently there are some 300 people who make up the Jewish community in Yemen.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the current conflict with the Shiite rebels. According to the authorities in Sanaa, Tehran is behind this armed group and is seeking to destabilise the region.


Pertinent Links:

1) YEMEN: JEWS CHASED FROM THEIR HOMES BY SHIITE REBELS