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Sana'a: Al Houthi rebel supporters have been celebrating their victory over troops by firing shots in the air and decorating homes with lights, local sources in Sa'ada said on Tuesday.
"People have been expressing their joy here in Haidan and Sakain after the withdrawal of troops from these areas. A group of Al Houthi supporters were cleaning ... the house of the slain rebel leader Hussain Badr Al Deen Al Houthi," said a statement issued by the office of the rebels' leader Abdul Malik Al Houthi.
The house has been under the control of the army since Hussain Al Houthi was killed in September 2004.
While a great deal of comfort is evident among the people in Yemen in general and Sa'ada in particular by the announcement of the end of the war, the rebels and their supporters try to picture this end as a victory to claim over the troops.
"The troops have withdrawn from almost all areas and Al Houthi supporters living in these areas have replaced them," said Al Houthi's statement, which was e-mailed on Tuesday to journalists.
"Calm has prevailed over most of the areas in Sa'ada except for very few clashes which were under control," said the statement.
The end of the sporadic four-year long war is still ambiguous since last Thursday when President Ali Abdullah Saleh surprised all by unilaterally declaring the end of the rebellion war.
About 12,000 Yemenis from both sides have been killed over the four years, according to some independent estimates. The cost of the war was also estimated at about two billion dollars.
All previous mediators have failed to end the war peacefully. The new factor is that the mediation took place with the tribal leaders in Sa'ada who had complained in the past about being ignored by the government.
According to local sources in Sa'ada, these tribal leaders, seemingly trusted by both sides, have been recruiting about 20,000 men from all over Sa'ada to become soldiers, so as to prevent any armed rebellion in the future.
"This time is completely different from the past, this time the two parties have confidence in each other because of the local mediation," Yahya Al Mukhtafi from Sa'ada told Gulf News.
"The heavy ... weapons of Al Houthis have been handed over to the authorities. The troops have been withdrawing from the first day of negotiations, and this is the biggest guarantee for the two parties," said Al Mukhtafi who is close to the Al Houthi family.
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