Yemen: U.S. backs Yemeni attacks on militants in the south

This Reuters report describes clashes with Islamist militants as part of attacks to retake territory as U.S. backed. It would seem that U.S. special forces are involved in directing Yemeni forces. Perhaps intelligence is provided through drones and perhaps too some of the air attacks are by the U.S. as well. Very often descriptions will be of Yemeni air attacks when they are in fact by the U.S.

Indeed the first strikes by the U.S. in Yemen were all attributed to Yemen until photographic evidence was provided that showed unquestionably that some of the weapons were only in the U.S. arsenal. The reporter responsible for this revelation is still in a Yemeni jail at the request of the U.S. even though Yemen was about to free him!

The territory that the Yemeni government is trying to regain was taken over by Islamic militants last year while protesters including some of the opposition now sharing power were trying to depose former President Saleh. The offensive is causing a humanitarian disaster but that is just collateral damage to increasing the power of the Hadi central government supported by the GCC including Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. See this article for description of the complete humanitarian mess in Yemen.

There has been a pledge of 4 billion in aid to Yemen last month by the Gulf States and western countries but it remains to be seen how much will be delivered and get through to the people who actually need it immediately.

Over 40 per cent of Yemenis live on less than 2 dollar U.S. a day. In May aid agencies said that less than half of Yemenis have enough to eat. Not surprisingly they find nourishment in radical Islamist ideologies. For more see this article.

Yemen govt. opposes any US troops in Yemen

Even though this is from AP, its information seems suspect. There have been many reports that the US was involved in recent strikes against Al Qaeda. The denial that this is so is evidence how much the Yemeni govt. wants to disassociate itself from any agreement with the US for any sort of direct intervention by the US. However there are also no doubt special forces already at work for some time. US intervention may make the situation and the Saleh government could easily fall at which point the US might feel that it was forced to intervene using its favorite justificatory mantra that Yemen was becoming a failed state. Note that in the two cities of Aden and Sanna some long term foreign residents do not take the situation to be too problematic in terms of their security.


Yemen opposes any US troops in terror fight
By LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writer Lee Keath, Associated Press Writer
10 mins ago

SAN'A, Yemen – Yemen's foreign minister said Wednesday that his country opposes any direct intervention by U.S. or other foreign troops in the fight against al-Qaida.

Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi told The Associated Press in an interview that "there is a lot of sensitivity about foreign troops coming to Yemeni territory."

The United States has ramped up its counterterrorism aid to Yemen in an intensified campaign to uproot al-Qaida's offshoot here, which Washington warns has become a "global" threat. U.S. military personnel have already been on the ground training Yemeni security forces in the fight, and intelligence cooperation has increased.

Al-Qirbi said Yemen's government would welcome more military trainers, "but not in any other capacity."

"There is a lot of debate among them about how far they should get involved in Yemen," al-Qirbi said, referring to the United States and its allies. "I'm sure that their experiences in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan will be very useful to learn from — that direct intervention complicates things."

So far the U.S. has indicated it is not aiming to deploy ground forces in Yemen. President Barack Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, said earlier in the week, "We're not talking about that at this point at all."

But al-Qirbi's comments underscored how Washington must tread carefully as it strengthens its partnership with Yemen's fragile government, which has little control over large parts of the country outside the capital and rules over a population where Islamic conservativism and mistrust of the Unites States is widespread.

There have been media reports that U.S. cruise missile or warplanes were involved in strikes carried out last month against several al-Qaida strongholds, which Yemen says killed at least 30 militants. U.S. officials have not confirmed the reports and Yemen says U.S. help in the attacks was limited to the intelligence level.

Earlier this week, al-Qirbi insisted there is no agreement between Yemen and the United States allowing the American military to use cruise missiles, drones or warplanes in strikes on Yemeni territory, "and there is no proposal for such an agreement."

The issue is highly sensitive for the Yemenis. In 2002, the government was infuriated when U.S. officials made public that U.S. cruise missiles were used in a strike that killed a top al-Qaida figure, Abu Ali al-Harithi — believed to be the mastermind of the 2002 bombing of the USS Cole off Yemen. San'a complained that the exposure embarrassed it before the Yemeni public.

Yemen has intensified its campaign against the hundreds of al-Qaida militants that have built up strongholds in lawless regions of the impoverished mountain nation.

Security forces arrested three suspected al-Qaida militants from a cell that the U.S. has said was linked to a plot against the American or other embassies, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

The three were captured Tuesday at a hospital where they were being treated after being wounded in clashes with security forces a day earlier. In those clashes, Yemeni forces attacked a group of al-Qaida fighters moving in the mountains in the Arhab region. The troops were aiming to capture al-Qaida's suspected leader in the area, Mohammed Ahmed al-Hanaq, and a relative Nazeeh al-Hanaq, the ministry said.

They escaped, but two fighters with them were killed and several others were wounded.

No identities were given for the captured militants.

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AP correspondent Ahmed al-Haj in San'a contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

U.S. Embassy in Yemen: http://yemen.usembassy.gov/

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