CNN: Yemen's President, Cabinet resign

[visionary]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/22/world/yemen-violence/index.html

Yemen's President, Cabinet resign

 

Yemen's President resigned Thursday night shortly after his Prime Minister and the Cabinet stepped down -- seismic changes in the country's political scene that come just one day after the government and Houthi rebels struck a tentative peace deal meant to end days of turmoil.

 

The resignations of Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi and other officials are the latest fallout from the Houthis' move in recent days to gain power in the capital, which included kidnapping Hadi's chief of staff on Saturday and taking over the presidential palace on Tuesday.

 

The chaos in Yemen is cause for concern far beyond the country's borders. For the United States and its allies, Yemen's government has been a key ally in the fight against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen-based group linked to attacks such as the recent slaughter at French magazine Charlie Hebdo.

 

The Cabinet and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah resigned before Hadi did on Thursday night, with Bahah telling Hadi in a letter that they essentially wanted to wash their hands of "destructive political chaos," an apparent reference to the deal that was to give Houthis more power.

 

"(We resigned) so that we are not made party to what is going on and what will happen," Bahah wrote in the letter, which Yemeni Information Minister Nadia Sakkaf posted on Twitter.

 

Hadi's resignation followed soon afterward. It wasn't immediately clear who would succeed Hadi.

 

The Houthis' latest push to power picked up steam on Saturday.

 

The Houthi rebels -- Shiite Muslims who have long felt marginalized in the majority Sunni country -- kidnapped presidential Chief of Staff Ahmed bin Mubarak in the capital, Sanaa, on Saturday. The rebels then took over the presidential palace Tuesday, prompting talk of a coup.

 

Also seeing reports that South Yemen or at least areas of it have declared independence.

Seems serious enough to get it's own thread for the moment.

 

 

 

Talking about it on CNN now.

[twa]

resign or die works usually

 

wonder if this will impact our drone strike authorization?

 

in other news 550 Iranian officers killed.....proxy wars are fun

[Renegade7]

More like we knew who to ask permission from in the event we felt we had time to do that. I fully expect that if Yemen starts to go south the number of drone strikes will go up, not down, whether that country likes it or not.

[twa]

starts to go South? 

[Slateman]

starts to go South?

For real

[Burgold]

starts to go South? 

Yemen has been a disaster for its people and others for a long, long time.

 

Reports say that we're pulling more diplomatic staff out.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/23/us-yemen-security-usa-embassy-exclusive-idUSKBN0KW00120150123

[visionary]

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/yemen-ambassador-matthew-tueller-114544.html

Assignment: Yemen

 

Al Qaeda wants to kill him. Insurgents who chant “Death to America!” have toppled the government. A civil war rages around him. Most of his colleagues have left, and a top U.S. senator says he should go, too.

 

But Matthew H. Tueller has so far hung on in what might be the world’s most dangerous diplomatic job: U.S. Ambassador to Yemen.

 

“As long as he can operate there, he will want to,” said Ryan Crocker, a former top U.S. diplomat who served with Tueller in Iraq and Kuwait. “He personifies one of my mantras for service in the Middle East: Don’t panic.”

Many people would. The collapse of Yemen’s government only compounds the danger in a country that is becoming a terrorist-infested failed state.

 

Yemen is home to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula — a terrorist group with links to several high-profile plots, including this month’s massacre at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris. America’s envoy to Yemen has long been one of its favorite targets. The group offered to pay anyone who killed Tueller’s predecessor as ambassador a bounty of $160,000 in gold. Photos posted on social media depict Tueller’s image tinted blood red with an X across it. In November, AQAP claimed that a bomb meant to kill Tueller outside a meeting was discovered minutes before he emerged.

 

Adding to the danger is political chaos after Yemen’s president, prime minister and cabinet officials stepped down on Thursday, following the seizure of the presidential palace by Houthi insurgents hostile to the United States. As recently as last fall, President Barack Obama hailed America’s partnership with Yemen’s government against AQAP as a counterterrorism success story.

 

So much for that. Al Qaeda has exploited the current mayhem, stepping up its local attacks—including a Jan. 7 car bomb in central Sanaa that killed dozens of police recruits. On Tuesday, unidentified gunmen fired on a U.S. diplomatic vehicle stopped at a checkpoint near the embassy; no one was harmed.

 

Amid it all, the veteran Middle East diplomat — a Utah native fluent in Arabic who has what friends call an unflappable demeanor — carries on from inside a walled compound that has been attacked repeatedly and breached once in recent years. On Thursday, the State Department ordered the evacuation of several embassy employees, leaving Tueller working alongside a skeleton crew protected by a contingent of combat-ready U.S. Marines.

[visionary]

http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_268782/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=K25E46F4

US drone kills 3, first strike since Yemen leader resigned

 

Tribal leaders and security officials in Yemen say the U.S. has carried out its first drone strike in the country since its president resigned.

 

They say the strike Monday on a vehicle in an area called Hareib, located between the provinces of Marib and Shabwa, killed three suspected al-Qaida militants.

 

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.

 

The strike is the first this year. It also is the first since Shiite Houthi in control of the capital, Sanaa, put embattled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his Cabinet under house arrest.

 

Hadi, a U.S. ally, later tendered his resignation, though parliament has yet to accept it.

[twa]

Sad state of affairs

 

http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/11/middleeast/yemen-unrest/

[visionary]

Sad state of affairs

 

http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/11/middleeast/yemen-unrest/

Yikes, hadn't seen that yet.

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/15/us-yemen-crisis-un-idUSKBN0LJ14E20150215?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter

U.N. council demands Houthis withdraw, end Yemen violence

 

The United Nations Security Council on Sunday demanded Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen withdraw from government institutions, called for an end to foreign interference and threatened "further steps" if the violence does not stop.

 

The United Nations has warned that Yemen is collapsing. Shi'ite Muslim Houthi fighters have sidelined the central government after seizing the capital Sanaa in September and expanding across Yemen, which borders oil giant Saudi Arabia.

 

Al Qaeda and other Sunni Muslim militants have since stepped up attacks. Yemen is home to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, one of the global network's most active arms, which has carried out attacks abroad.

 

The 15-nation Security Council unanimously adopted a British- and Jordanian-drafted resolution on the crisis on Sunday.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, a six-nation bloc comprising energy-rich Gulf states, had urged the Security Council to adopt a resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which allows decisions to be enforced with economic sanctions or force. The approved U.N. resolution is not under Chapter 7.

 

The council declared its readiness to take "further steps" if the resolution is not implemented by parties in Yemen. In November, the council imposed sanctions on Yemen's former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and two Houthi leaders.

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/25/us-yemen-security-special-forces-idUSKBN0LT0B120150225

Houthi militiamen storm two military bases in Yemen

 

Fighters from the Shi'ite Muslim Houthi militia took over a special forces base in the capital and a coast guard station on the Red Sea on Wednesday, military sources said, in a sign the group was consolidating its dominant position.

 

The clashes at the Sanaa base started late on Tuesday when the Houthis shelled the camp with heavy weapons. Fighting lasted around six hours, soldiers from the camp said, and at least 10 people were killed.

 

The troops had been trained and equipped by the United States as an elite counterterrorism unit during the rule of ex-president Ali Abullah Saleh, who was ousted by Arab Spring protests in 2011, military sources told Reuters.

 

The Coast Guard post in the port city of Hodeidah was seized after moderate gunfire and military sources did not immediately confirm any casualties.

 

Houthi militiamen took control of Sanaa in September, eventually leading President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee to the southern port city of Aden this week where he is seeking to set up a rival power center with loyalist army units and tribes.

 

But the Houthis still have some of the military's most powerful units on their side throughout most of Yemen's north.

 

Tens of thousands of protesters marched in Sanaa on Wednesday to denounce Houthi rule. Security forces loyal to the group dispersed some of the crowds with tear gas and gunshots fired into the air.

[visionary]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/reports-suicide-bombers-strike-rebel-linked-mosque-in-yemen/2015/03/20/bd36caba-cef4-11e4-a2a7-9517a3a70506_story.html

Suicide bombers strike rebel-linked mosques in Yemen

 

Suicide bombers in Yemen attacked two mosques linked to powerful Shiite rebels Friday, possibly killing more than 100 and wounding scores of others in a further sign that the country is collapsing into sectarian chaos.

 

The attacks come a day after intense clashes in the southern city of Aden and an attempted assault on an oil-rich province by the Houthis.

 

Media reports in Yemen said the bombers targeted mosques used mainly by supporters of the Houthis, who have captured vast territory in a military assault that many Yemenis fear is turning the country into a proxy battleground for regional powers. Shiite Iran has boosted support for the Houthis, while Sunni Saudi Arabia backs their enemies.

 

Shortly after the attack in the capital Sanaa, Yemeni medical workers put the death toll at 46 and the number of wounded at 100. By late afternoon, the Houthi-run television network said there were 137 dead and nearly 350 wounded.

 

Among those killed was a Houthi spiritual leader, Murtadha al-Muhatwari, witnesses said. He was delivering a sermon at the Badr mosque when he and scores of worshippers were cut down by two suicide bombers, they said.

 

“There were two explosions that happened in the mosque: one in the front next to where I was sitting and another in the back. Both were carried out by suicide bombers,” said Abdullah Abdulkarim al-Houthi, a 50-year-old Houthi official, who sustained shrapnel wounds in his arms and legs. He was in the mosque at the time of the blasts.

 

He added that “Dr. al-Muhatwari didn’t survive.”

 

A group claiming affiliation with the Islamic State, calling itself the Sana’a Province, claimed responsibility for the attack. In a message transmitted via Twitter, it warned that the attack was the “tip of the iceberg that is coming,” according to a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group.

 

The Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the attacks in Sanaa was greeted with some skepticism among U.S. officials, who noted that the terrorist group is not known to have a significant presence in Yemen. By contrast, other groups, including al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), have had a foothold in the Yemeni capital for years and have carried out previous attacks.

 

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/0b78bdb971df4cb2b6e41433df91adc6/white-house-no-sign-islamic-state-link-yemen-attacks

White House: No sign of Islamic State link to Yemen attacks

[twa]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/25/us-yemen-security-special-forces-idUSKBN0LT0B120150225

 

 

US special forces pulled out of Yemen in response

[Boss_Hogg]

http://news.sky.com/story/1450747/british-special-forces-pull-out-of-yemen

 

British Special Forces Pull Out Of Yemen

[visionary]

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/03/saudi-iran-border-security-yemen-oman-is-houthi-zaydi.html

Saudi anguish over Iranian gains

 

Iran's allies are gaining strength on Saudi Arabia's borders, creating the worst security environment for the kingdom in decades.

 

Saudi Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Mohammed bin Nayef summoned his Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) counterparts to Riyadh over the weekend to address the rapidly deteriorating situation in Yemen, where pro-Iranian Zaydi Shiite Houthi rebels are advancing on the remnants of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi's Sunni government. Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayid, Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifah and their Qatari and Kuwaiti colleagues attended the GCC meeting and also met with King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud in his royal palace in Diriyah outside Riyadh. The king and his visitors warned that Yemen was slipping into "a dark tunnel" with bad consequences for the entire region.

 

Notably absent was Oman, Yemen's closest neighbor. The sultan had been absent from Oman for medical reasons in Munich and apparently did not choose to send a ranking representative to the GCC meeting. He has no heir appointed, which leaves decision-making difficult. Oman is also somewhat more relaxed about Iranian actions than its Gulf allies.

 

The Zaydi rebel army on March 22 seized much of Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city and the gateway to south Yemen and Aden, where Hadi is trying to rally Sunni opposition to the Houthis. The Houthis are also benefiting from increasingly overt support from forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who still has influence in the Yemeni military.

 

The Houthis ordered a general mobilization of their forces after suicide bombers attacked Shiite mosques in Sanaa last week. Houthi sources also reported they have been promised a year's supply of crude oil from Iran and a new power plant. Direct air service between Tehran and Sanaa began in February. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) experts are advising the Houthi forces.

 

The withdrawal of the remaining US military personnel from Yemen only adds to Riyadh's desperation, with Riyadh worried that Washington's priority is a nuclear deal with Tehran, not stopping Iranian subversion in the Arab world.

 

The Saudis have invited all of Yemen's factions to a meeting on political dialogue in the kingdom but few Saudi leaders have any hope for a political reversal of the Zaydi military gains. Nor do the Saudis expect the United Nations to offer more than token sanctions to punish the Zaydis. Hadi has become increasingly shrill in his comments on the Houthis, leaving little room for compromise. He has also portrayed them as Iranian puppets.

 

http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-us-intelligence-yemen-20150325-story.html#page=1

Yemeni rebels seize secret files about U.S. intelligence operations

 

Secret intelligence files held by Yemeni security forces and containing details of American intelligence operations in the country have been looted by Iran-backed militia leaders, exposing names of informants and plans for U.S.-backed counter-terrorism operations, U.S. officials say.

 

U.S. intelligence officials believe additional files were handed directly to Iranian advisors by Yemeni officials who have sided with the Houthi militias that seized control of the capital of Sana last September and later toppled the U.S.-backed president.

 

For American intelligence networks in Yemen, the damage has been severe. Until recently, U.S. forces deployed in Yemen had worked closely with President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government to track and kill Al Qaeda operatives, and President Obama hailed Yemen six months ago as a model for counter-terrorism operations.

The loss of the intelligence networks, in addition to the escalating conflict, contributed to the Obama administration’s decision to halt drone strikes in Yemen for two months, to vacate the U.S. Embassy in Sana last month and to evacuate U.S. special operations and intelligence teams from a Yemeni air base over the weekend.

 

The Houthis claimed Wednesday that they had captured that base, Anad, as new fighting broke out in and around the strategic seaport of Aden, the country’s financial hub, where Hadi had taken refuge. Over the weekend, the Houthis seized the central city of Taiz.

 

A Houthi-controlled TV channel announced a $20-million bounty for Hadi’s capture and his Aden compound was hit by airstrikes.

 

Foreign Minister Riadh Yassin said Hadi was overseeing the city’s defense from an undisclosed safe location. The Associated Press reported that he had fled the country on a boat.

 

Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, said U.S. diplomats “were in touch” with Hadi early Wednesday and that he had  “voluntarily” left his residence. She said she could not confirm if he was still in the country, calling conditions there “incredibly volatile.”

As the turmoil deepened, Yemen appeared to be descending into a civil war that could ignite a wider regional struggle. Saudi Arabia reportedly moved troops, armored vehicles and artillery to its border with Yemen, which sits alongside key shipping routes.

 

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2015/03/saudi-ambassador-announces-military-operation-yemen-150325234138956.html

Saudi and Arab allies bomb Houthi positions in Yemen

 

Saudi Arabia and a coalition of regional allies have launched a military operation in Yemen against the Houthi rebels, who drove out the US-backed Yemeni president.

 

Adel al-Jubair said on Wednesday that a coalition consisting of 10 countries, including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), had begun airstrikes at 7pm Eastern time.

The operation is to defend and support the legitimate government of Yemen

 

The airstrikes have targeted the presidential palace and the police and special forces headquarters in the capital, Sanaa, an Al Jazeera correspondent said.

Hakim Al Masmari, Yemen Post editor, said that "people are very terrified".

 

"It's [bombing] not in any particular location in Sanaa, it's throughout the capital," he said.

 

Separately, a statement issued in Riyadh in the name of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates - the GCC countries without Yemen's neighbour Oman - said they had been asked for help by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's embattled government.

 

Al-Jubair said that for the moment the action was confined to airstrikes on various targets around Yemen, but that other military assets were being mobilised and that the coalition "would do whatever it takes".

 

https://twitter.com/IraqiSecurity

BREAKING; Unconfirmed reports that a Saudi jet has been shot down over Sana'a, Yemen's capital.
9:12 PM   

 

 

Lots of reports of bombing by the Saudi coalition on former president Saleh's (and his sons's) holdings, seems to be a sense that he was linked or working with the Houthis to destabilize the country after his ouster. 

 

 

Whoa...****. Fascinating inclusions if accurate:

 

https://twitter.com/zaidbenjamin

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Morocco and Pakistan are the members of the coalition in Yemen
9:28 PM 

 

 

Surprised this isn't bigger news right now....

[twa]

natural result of the Iranian moves....gonna get more fascinating

[visionary]

https://twitter.com/shaneharris

WH: Obama has authorized "logistical and intelligence support" to Saudi/Gulf mil operations in Yemen against Houthis.
10:00 PM

 

https://twitter.com/fanazer

Saudi sources say 100 Saudi, 30 UAE, 10 Qatari & 8 Bahraini planes took part in airstrikes in Yemen tonight !
http://www.an7a.com/171530/
10:09 PM

 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/03/25/statement-nsc-spokesperson-bernadette-meehan-situation-yemen

Statement by NSC Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan on the Situation in Yemen

 

The United States strongly condemns ongoing military actions taken by the Houthis against the elected government of Yemen.  These actions have caused widespread instability and chaos that threaten the safety and well-being of all Yemeni citizens.

 

The United States has been in close contact with President Hadi and our regional partners.  In response to the deteriorating security situation, Saudi Arabia, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members, and others will undertake military action to defend Saudi Arabia’s border and to protect Yemen’s legitimate government.  As announced by GCC members earlier tonight, they are taking this action at the request of Yemeni President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

 

The United States coordinates closely with Saudi Arabia and our GCC partners on issues related to their security and our shared interests.  In support of GCC actions to defend against Houthi violence, President Obama has authorized the provision of logistical and intelligence support to GCC-led military operations.  While U.S. forces are not taking direct military action in Yemen in support of this effort, we are establishing a Joint Planning Cell with Saudi Arabia to coordinate U.S. military and intelligence support.

 

At the same time, the United States continues to closely monitor terrorist threats posed by al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula and will continue to take action as necessary to disrupt continuing, imminent threats to the United States and our citizens.

 

We strongly urge the Houthis to halt immediately their destabilizing military actions and return to negotiations as part of the political dialogue.  The international community has spoken clearly through the UN Security Council and in other fora that the violent takeover of Yemen by an armed faction is unacceptable and that a legitimate political transition – long sought by the Yemeni people – can be accomplished only through political negotiations and a consensus agreement among all of the parties.

 

 

 

 

 

And a couple more articles on the current situation:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/world/middleeast/al-anad-air-base-houthis-yemen.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

Saudi Arabia Begins Air Assault in Yemen

 

Saudi Arabia announced on Wednesday night that it had begun a military campaign in Yemen, the beginning of what a Saudi official said was an offensive to restore a Yemeni government that had collapsed after rebel forces took control of large swaths of the country.

 

The air campaign began as the internal conflict in Yemen showed signs of degenerating into a proxy war between regional powers. The Saudi announcement came during a rare news conference in Washington by Adel al-Jubeir, the kingdom’s ambassador to the United States.

 

Mr. Jubeir said that the Saudis were part of a coalition of about 10 nations determined to blunt the advance of Shiite Houthi rebels, who have overrun Yemen’s capital and forced the American-backed government to flee the war-racked country.

 

http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/03/25/saudi-warplanes-hammer-yemen-as-rebels-near-complete-takeover-houthis/?utm_content=bufferdc73c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Saudi Warplanes Hammer Yemen as Rebels Near Complete Takeover

 

Saudi Arabia has launched airstrikes into neighboring Yemen to try to blunt the advances of the Iranian-backed militia that holds sway over the country’s capital and is closing in on one of the last government-held cities. The questions Riyadh will have to answer in the days ahead are how far to push the fight — and how much risk it will be willing to accept as it fights a well-armed and well-trained enemy.

 

Saudi Arabia has been watching Yemen’s steady disintegration with mounting alarm for weeks, but a stunning sequence of events Wednesday finally spurred the kingdom to mount a high-stakes military push into its impoverished neighbor. Over the course of a tense 24 hours, Yemen’s president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, fled the country by boat as Houthi forces bombed targets near his hideout in Aden, the southern port city where he had taken refuge after fleeing the capital of Sanaa. Yemen’s foreign minister — a senior representative of a government that now exists in name alone — begged Arab nations to attack his own country. Late Wednesday night, Saudi Arabia heeded the call.

 

Speaking to reporters in Washington Wednesday night, Saudi Ambassador to the United States Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir said the strikes were carried out with the support of other Arab states in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to protect the legitimate government of Yemen and “prevent the radical Houthi movement from taking over the country.”

 

He said Riyadh is “extremely pleased and extremely appreciative” of the support received from the United States, but noted that Washington is not participating in military operations against the Houthis.

[visionary]

More details:

 

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/03/26/uk-yemen-security-houthi-reaction-idUKKBN0MM03S20150326

Houthi official says Yemen strikes will set off 'wide war'

 

A senior leader of Yemen's Houthi movement said on Thursday that Saudi air strikes amounted to an aggression against his country and warned they would set off a "wide war" in the region.

 

"The Yemeni people are a free people and they will confront the aggressors. I will remind you that the Saudi government and the Gulf governments will regret this aggression," Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthis Ansarullah politburo, told the Doha-based al Jazeera television.

 

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar said they had decided to act to protect Yemen against what they called aggression by the Iranian-backed Houhti militia, according to a joint statement by the five Gulf Arab countries.

 

They acted after the Houthis, backed by Yemeni army troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, advanced on Aden, threatening the southern city where President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi is based.

 

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/03/26/uk-yemen-security-egypt-idUKKBN0MM03E20150326

Egypt providing military support for Gulf Arab operation in Yemen - state news agency

 

Egypt is providing political and military support for an operation launched by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies against Houthi fighters in Yemen, the state news agency said on Thursday.

 

It quoted the foreign ministry as saying coordination was under way with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries over preparations in taking part with an Egyptian air, naval and ground force if necessary.

 

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/03/26/uk-yemen-security-consultations-idUKKBN0MM05420150326

Saudis consulted U.S. at 'high levels' ahead of Yemen strikes - U.S. official

 

Saudi Arabia consulted with the United States at "high levels" before launching air strikes against Houthi fighters in Yemen, and President Barack Obama was aware of the plan, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.

 

 

https://twitter.com/ammar82

Almost all of pro-Saleh forces got bombed tonight: Rockets Brigade, Special Forces Command, Raimat Homaid camp. Saudis do hate Saleh!
9:20 PM

 

New round of strikes on Sanaa now. Call for morning prayers is mixing with bombing sounds.
9:52 PM

 

Strikes included: Main airbase, runway, 2nd Air Force brigade, and Radars atop the highest mount in the Arabian peninsula near Sanaa.
10:22 PM

 

 

https://twitter.com/zaidbenjamin

Jordan are sending 6 fighter jets, 3 from Sudan & 6 from Morocco to take part in the Saudi-led coalition - Al-Arabiyah
11:30 PM

 

https://twitter.com/MahirZeynalov

Saudi is contributing 100 warplanes, 150,000 troops to Yemen operation. Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Sudan will contribute in ground offensive.

12:02 AM

[visionary]

https://twitter.com/SultanAlQassemi

Saudi Defence Minister warned ex-Yemeni president Saleh's son that his forces will be "obliterated" if they continue advancing on Aden - CNN
11:49 PM

 

https://twitter.com/AFP

BREAKING: Egypt confirms it will participate in Yemen offensive

1:44 AM

 

BREAKING: Pro-government forces retake international airport in Yemen's Aden: security source

1:55 AM

[PeterMP]

Are we getting closer to a real Sunni-Shia war in the Middle East?

[visionary]

Joint Arab military force..wow.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0MM2GB20150326?irpc=932

Saw something about turkey offering to help too, which would be interesting since they hate Egypt.

President Hadi is in Saudi arabia now. (Don't have time to post more news now and this phone makes it hard enough already.)

[visionary]

http://news.yahoo.com/saudi-led-coalition-launches-fresh-strikes-yemen-officials-173855003.html;_ylt=AwrBEiLqRBRVAisACIPQtDMD

Saudi strikes Yemen rebels as Iran warns of 'dangerous step'

 

Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition bombed Huthi Shiite rebels Thursday in support of Yemen's embattled president, who headed to an Arab summit to garner support as Iran warned the intervention was "dangerous".

 

Powerful explosions rocked Sanaa soon after rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi criticised the intervention as "unjustified" and called for supporters to confront the "criminal oppressive aggression".

 

President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi arrived in Riyadh, with officials saying he was on his way to Egypt to take part in a two-day Arab League summit starting Saturday.

 

That was the first confirmation of Hadi's whereabouts since the rebels began advancing this week on the main southern city of Aden, where the president had been holed up since fleeing the rebel-controlled capital last month.

 

Their advance raised Saudi fears the Shiite rebels would seize control of the whole of its Sunni-majority neighbour and take it into the orbit of Shiite Iran.

 

The White House voiced concerns about "reports of Iranian flow of arms into Yemen" as the Saudi-led coalition declared its first wave of strikes "successful" and vowed to prevent supplies reaching the rebels.

On the eve of the Egypt summit, Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi also declared full support for the strikes following a "coup".

 

But Iran reacted furiously, condemning the intervention as "a dangerous step" that violated "international responsibilities and national sovereignty".

 

President Hassan Rouhani said it amounted to "military aggression" and "condemned all military intervention in the internal affairs of independent nations".

 

After hitting targets overnight in Sanaa and elsewhere, the coalition launched fresh strikes late Thursday, hitting a rebel-held base in third city Taez and the airport and an arms depot in the Huthis' northern stronghold.

 

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/26/america-loses-no-matter-who-wins-the-next-great-middle-east-war.html

America Loses No Matter Who Wins the Next Great Middle East War

 

It’s a potentially apocalyptic fight between some of the closest U.S. allies and the country America is desperately trying to court. Will Washington really join in?

A cataclysmic war is taking shape in Yemen, one that pits nearly all of Washington’s key allies in the Middle East against Iran and its proxies in a fight that could quickly spin out of control.

 

A Saudi-led bombing campaign already has begun and troops from Egypt and some other countries may soon intervene on the ground.

 

All of this was done, according to a Saudi source who is part of the inner circle in Riyadh, without significant American involvement.  “We have done this on our own,” this source told The Daily Beast. While the U.S. has a handful of people in a Saudi operations center, the source noted, that this coalition was pulled together and went into action without the U.S. leadership that characterized, for instance, the Desert Shield/Desert Storm operations of 1990 and 1991. The Saudis have dubbed this operation “Decisive Storm.”

 

Ten Arab countries are involved, including not only those of the Gulf, but Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and even Sudan. Turkey—which has the second biggest military in NATO, after the United States—may be the next to join. “The Iranian influence has to be challenged,” said this Saudi source.

 

But the question now, at the start of what could be the start of the next great Middle Eastern war is: How far will Washington really go back its old allies? And will it risk alienating its new negotiating partner in Tehran?

In an interview with The Daily Beast, Senator Richard Burr, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, underscored the chaotic development of events on the ground in Yemen. “We’re totally out,” he told our correspondent Tim Mak. “Yemen is going to be, in the president’s own words, a ‘model,’ [but] not of success, [instead] of absolute failure of our foreign policy.”

 

Since late last year, Tehran’s backing for the Houthi rebels has been increasingly obvious. They took control in the capital Sanaa in January, ousting President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi from his palace there and they have been closing in on his displaced government in the southern Yemen city of Aden. Hadi is now reportedly in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

 

Scott Atran, a Mideast analyst with Artis Research who has worked closely with U.S. government agencies as a consultant, tells The Daily Beast, “There was no preparation for this and no understanding that I can see within senior U.S. policy circles that the wider Sunni-Shia conflict is what it is all about.

 

The Saudis feel they are fighting for their very existence.”Indeed. From the Saudi point of view, Iran is gaining strength in Syria, where it is the embattled Assad regime’s most important ally, in Iraq, where it is propping up the mainly Shiite central government, and now in Yemen. All of these countries are on Saudi Arabia’s borders, and, what is more, to the extent that pro-Iranian Shiite forces appear to be gaining momentum, that threatens to disrupt the fragile equilibrium in the oil producing Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, which has a majority Shiite population. Partly because of fears the crucially important production from Saudi Arabia may be disrupted, oil prices rose dramatically on Thursday.

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http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/an-enduring-arab-army-is-an-improbable-necessity

An enduring Arab army is an improbable necessity

 

When Arab leaders meet in Sharm El Sheikh tomorrow, it will be an even more charged atmosphere than usual for members of the Arab League. Yemen is unravelling. The Israeli-Arab conflict continues. Syria and Iraq show no sign of becoming stable any time soon. Libya is at risk of being overrun by ISIL.

 

It’s a troubling time for the Arab world. It’s unsurprising then that increasing calls for internal Arab military interventions have led to action in Yemen.

Such calls have been heard before in recent history from Arab leaders seeking an Arab military intervention in the region.

 

Indeed, the Egyptian presidency has been openly and publicly calling for a permanent multinational Arab military force to be formed, in order to address what it sees as the challenges emanating from within the region. Yemen’s unwinding will only add to the volume of that call for a permanent force, after the situation in Libya and the wider issue of ISIL in the region continues to worsen.

 

Alongside that call, you have Riyadh also pushing for, essentially, a pan-Sunni front to confront what it perceives as the threat of Iranian influence in the region. That would be primarily Arab in nature, but might also include states such as Turkey and Pakistan – at least in the Saudi calculus. Indeed, one of the reasons behind assembling such a large number of allies in the Yemeni operation may be to simply send a message to the Iranians.

 

There are some positive notes to be expressed about the notion of a pan-Arab military force. While most conflicts in the region ought to be solved using political solutions, some also have a very clear security component. One cannot negotiate, for example, with ISIL.