Yemen vows to fight rebels for "years" to come

Yemen's government is ready to fight Shiite rebels in the mountainous north for "years," the president vowed on Saturday, though he also said hostilities could end if the rebels agree a ceasefire.

"We will continue the battle for five or six years. We will not backtrack, we will not stop," Ali Abdullah Saleh said at a celebration to mark the anniversary of the 1962 revolution that ended the Zaidi Shiite imamate and established the republic.

"If the rebels abided by the six points (of the truce), we do not want war. It is a war that was imposed on us," he said to cheering crowds shouting "No" and urging him to continue the war.

Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands of civilians have fled their homes since Aug. 11 when the government began its "Scorched Earth" offensive against the Zaidi rebels, also known as Houthis.

The government offered the rebels a truce but demanded that they "respect the ceasefire and the opening of roads, evacuate their positions and free captured civilians and soldiers."

Two separate ceasefires have lasted only a few hours before fighting erupted again.

Saleh called on political groups in Yemen to stand united to "support the army in its war against the rebels" whom the government say want to restore the Zaidi Shiite imamate.

The imamate is a form of clerical rule that was overthrown in a republican coup in 1962 that sparked eight years of civil war.

The government accuses the rebels of being backed by Iran. The rebels deny the charge and allege Sanaa has brought in Saudi warplanes to support the army.

The Zaidis, whose faith is an offshoot of Shiite Islam, are a minority in mainly Sunni Yemen but form the majority community in the north. President Saleh is himself a Zaidi.

If the rebels abided by the six points (of the truce), we do not want war. It is a war that was imposed on us

Yemen president