Yemeni clerics call for jihad to resist foreign intervention

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116137§ionid=351020206


Yemeni clergies have issued a decree calling for jihad in case of a foreign military intervention as the prospects of an American military presence in the oil-rich nation grows stronger.

"If any party insists on aggression, or invades the country, then according to Islam, jihad (holy war) becomes obligatory," Yemen's council of clerics said in a statement signed by 150 clerics and read at a media conference on Thursday.

Northern Yemen has been the scene of a relentless military offensive by government forces, joined by the Saudi army, against Houthi fighters seeking greater rights for the country's "repressed" Shia minority.

The United States stepped into the stage late last year, reportedly using drones for pounding a number of southern provinces as part of what Washington calls a pursuit of an al-Qaeda cell operating inside the Yemeni territory.

The fetwa by Yemeni clerics comes a day after senior US Senator Carl Levin called on Washington to consider drone attacks against "al-Qaeda extremists" in Yemen.

The Democratic lawmaker from Michigan urged airstrikes, clandestine actions, and increasing US military aid to the Sana'a government as options that US President Barack Obama's administration should consider in dealing with the "threat from al-Qaeda militants" in Yemen.

On Thursday, Sana'a declared an open war with the so-called Yemeni al-Qaeda and warned citizens against hiding militants and asked them to cooperate with security forces.

"The war security forces launched against al-Qaeda elements is open whenever or wherever we find these elements," a government news website reported, quoting an unnamed security source.