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Iranian Support Seen Crucial for Yemen's Houthis
(Reuters) Yara Bayoumy and Mohammed Ghobari - Iran has supplied weapons, money and training to the Shi'ite Houthi militia that seized Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in September, as Tehran steps up its regional power struggle with Saudi Arabia. "Before the entrance into Sanaa, Iran started sending weapons here and gave a lot of support with money via visits abroad," a senior Yemeni security official said. A second official said, "Weapons are still coming in by sea and there's money coming in through transfers." A Western source familiar with Yemen said, "It's been happening for over a year. We've seen Houthis going out to Iran and Lebanon for military training." "We think there is cash, some of which is channeled via Hizbullah and sacks of cash arriving at the airport. A senior Iranian official said the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard had a "few hundred" military personnel in Yemen who train Houthi fighters. "Iran wants a powerful Shi'ite presence in the region; that is why it has got involved in Yemen."