| Submit your comments on this article |
| Arabia |
| US 'sends special forces to Yemen' amid crisis |
| 2009-12-15 |
| US special forces have reportedly been sent to Yemen to train its army, as the Yemeni military backed by the Saudi Arabian army has been fighting local Houthi fighters in the north of the country. The development comes amid fears that foreign military intervention in the country has put Yemeni civilians in dire condition. American officials told The Daily Telegraph on Sunday that US forces have been sent to Yemen to prevent the country from turning into a "reserve base" for al-Qaeda. The move to strengthen Yemen's army comes at a time that the country's army is not fighting with al-Qaeda militants, which are based in the southern parts of the country. The conflict in northern Yemen began in 2004 between Sana'a and Houthi fighters. The conflict intensified in August 2009 when the Yemeni army launched Operation Scorched Earth in an attempt to crush the Shia fighters in the northern province of Sa'ada. The government claims that the fighters, who are named after their leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi, seek to restore the Shia Zaidi imamate system, which was overthrown in a 1962 coup The Houthis reject the claim and accuse the Yemeni government of violation of their civil rights, political, economic and religious marginalization as well as large-scale corruption. Saudi intervention The Saudi air force has further complicated the conflict by launching its own operations against Shia resistance fighters. Saudi fighter jets are reportedly using phosphorus bombs against the Houthi fighters. Houthi fighters on Sunday said that Saudi forces launched a major cross-border airstrike on Yemen, leaving at least 70 civilians dead and more than 100 others injured in the northern district of Razeh. As Sana'a does not allow independent media into the conflict zone, there are no clear estimates available as to how many people have been killed in the Shia province of Sa'adah since the beginning of the conflict. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #11 Couldn't we just bomb them back to the Stone Age? Oh, wait - they're already there.... |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-12-15 20:08 |
| #10 Personally I'd be happy to see Yemen decend into Somalia like anarchy if it wasn't a risk to closing the passage through Suez. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2009-12-15 19:21 |
| #9 Very plausible this. |
| Posted by: newc 2009-12-15 12:03 |
| #8 Having an advisor team there is good news if true. We must take the fight to our enemy, where ever he is. We know with some certainty that AQ has move operations there. If we leave it to the soddies or the Yemmenes then we will have made the same decision we made allowing AQ to grow in Afghanistan and the Sudan. All politics aside we must hunt and kill AQ no matter what country they find refuge in. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2009-12-15 11:37 |
| #7 Moronic, if true. Let the Sauds clean up their own back yard. |
| Posted by: mojo 2009-12-15 11:12 |
| #6 As accurate as the MSM. They just don't have the decision logic branch that says, Does this involve a decision of Obama. If yes, ignore. If no, be creative, blame [random: neo-cons, Rush, Sarah, Fox]. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-12-15 09:08 |
| #5 It's Iran media, folks. Are you suggesting they're less accurate than the MSM? |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-12-15 07:05 |
| #4 (1) It's Iran media, folks. (2) It's Iran media, folks. (3) Iran's also supplying, training etc. the Houthis. |
| Posted by: lotp 2009-12-15 06:33 |
| #3 Can I call them, or what? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-12-15 06:00 |
| #2 Having Special Operations teams in Yemen and military advisors assisting the Saudi Air Force would actually fit the Washington goal of being all things to all Mooslims while at the same time, destroying our military. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-12-15 04:20 |
| #1 Can anyone tell me how true this is? I notice it's from the .ir domain. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-12-15 01:28 |