"Yemen, an impoverished nation adjacent to one of the world’s key oil transport routes"
Latest related: Slow Saturday Special: The Yemen Yodel
"Yemen rebels, officials both claiming success; Recent offensive has rocked nation" by Los Angeles Times | September 17, 2009
SANA, Yemen - Rebels in Yemen’s northwest Saada province and government-controlled media issued contradictory claims of success in combat yesterday amid a five-week-old army offensive that has roiled this Arabian peninsula nation.
The insurgents, who call themselves Houthis, have taken control of the districts of Maheed and Sheeda, and the town of Hassamah and captured a number of Yemeni soldiers, according to a spokesman for the organization.
Saba, the government news agency, did not mention Houthi advances and claimed the army caused the insurgents “huge losses in lives and equipment.’’ The pan-Arab news channel Al-Jazeera quoted government officials as saying “dozens’’ of rebels had been killed or wounded in recent days. The competing claims could not be reconciled readily because the fighting is being waged in remote areas.
The Houthis, members of the Zaidi offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, have been fighting against the central government on and off in a five-year war. The conflict has claimed thousands of lives in Yemen, an impoverished nation adjacent to one of the world’s key oil transport routes.
That's not "Al-CIA-Duh." Then what is with the latest related, MSM?
The conflict has taken on sectarian and geopolitical overtones.
You saw why above.
The government has accused Shi’ite-ruled Iran of supporting the Zaidis, while neighboring Saudi Arabia supports the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is a Zaidi but has the support of key Sunni leaders.
--more--"
So HOW do we figure out WHAT is going on?
We turn to blogs:
"'Dozens killed and wounded' as Yemen ceasefire cracks: army
A Yemeni military source says dozens of people have been killed or wounded in clashes between Shi'ite rebels and the army after a ceasefire broke down after just four hours. "The armed forces and rebels engaged in violent clashes overnight which continued until dawn on Saturday in Malaheez and Hafr Sufyan" in Saada province, the source said."
"Unfortunately, the US has been propping up yet another tin-pot dictator in that country for years with financial support. He's "our thug", as was Noriega in Panama, as was the Shaw of Iran, etc., We may well be about to reap what we have sown by continuing to support this guy. When peaceful revolution is impossible, violent revolution is inevitable." -- Wake the Flock Up
"YEMEN: Humanitarian situation worsens after short-lived truce
Conditions for thousands of displaced families in northern Yemen continue to deteriorate as a 4 September truce between government troops and Shia rebels to allow relief items in lasted only four hours. Journalists have not been able to get accurate information on what is happening in the volatile city due to government-imposed media restrictions, including the disruption of mobile and Internet networks and blocking of roads leading to the city, Mahecic said."
"As reported in:
http://www.worldpress.org/Mideast/3387.cfm
"On July 17, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh celebrated the 31st anniversary of his ascension to power. The Sana'a regime, perverted by corruption, is largely unable to provide public services, including water, electricity, security, medical care and education. A third of Yemenis—7 million people—are malnourished. Police and military units act as enforcers for corrupt officials. The judiciary dispenses political retribution. Torture in Yemeni jails is systemic and brutal.
"U.S. military aid intended for border security may wind up fueling atrocities. The Yemeni military bombed cities and villages heavily in the northern Sa'ada province while countering a rebellion that began in 2004. The Sa'ada War, dubbed "Yemen's Darfur," forced nearly 200,000 citizens to flee their homes. The government blocked food, aid and medicine to 700,000 Sa'ada residents in "an act that appears to constitute an illegal collective punishment," Human Rights Watch found. Officials explained the deliberate starvation was meant to pressure villagers to turn over rebel fighters."
What the US government hasn't learned in its long and sordid history of interventionism, is that when you continue to support a dictator, there will be a flashpoint where the people will no longer sit still for it.
So now, this government may be militarily propping up a dictator, generally hated by his own people, to insure the flow of oil from the Gulf, just as we did with the Shah of Iran.
(You do, of course, remember just how brilliantly that worked out) -- Wake the Flock Up
Sept 17:
Witness in a refugee camp in northern Yemen are reporting today that the Yemeni military has launched a series of air strikes against the camp. Local officials confirmed the strike, and one ambulance driver reported that dozens were killed and over 100 wounded in the attacks.
"So let me get this straight: the Saleh government, which the US has committed to upholding and supporting with millions of our taxpayer dollars....is bombing refugee camps?!?!
Wow, that's got to be winning the hearts and minds of his people!"-- Wake the Flock Up
"Proxy war feared in Yemen Iran, Saudi Arabia
Fierce battles between government troops and Shiite rebels in the northern mountains of Yemen are fuelling fears of regional instability and a possible proxy war between Shiite-dominated Iran and Sunni-led Saudi Arabia. In an effort to forestall Yemen's collapse, the United States has equipped and trained local security forces, while Saudi Arabia and Iran are waging proxy ideological battles by backing different elements in Yemen.
Does anyone at the US State Department have any remote recollection of just how brilliantly well that kind of tactic went when we were propping up the Shaw of Iran?
Apparently, not.
When peaceful revolution is impossible, violent revolution is inevitable." -- Wake the Flock Up
Yeah, you see why we in AmeriKa have heard next-to-nothing about this.
Update:
SAN’A, Yemen - Yemen offered a conditional cease-fire yesterday to the Shi’ite rebels it is battling in the north, after international concern over a deadly airstrike against civilians displaced from the war zones. Within hours, however, both sides released statements accusing the other of breaking the cease-fire. According to the statements, clashes resumed in the front-line town of Harf Sufyan.--more--"
"As reported in:
http://armiesofliberation.com/archives/2009/07/28/aid-wont-fix-the-crisis-in-yemen/
"On his anniversary, Saleh published an essay calling for dialog and tolerance. The same week, 18 protesters were killed by police, a journalist sentenced to jail and an opposition party prevented from holding its conference. A four-year rebellion in the north and a two-year uprising in the south threaten to engulf the nation in violence. Known al Qaeda operatives roam the capital freely, and teenage suicide bombers routinely target elderly tourists."
"Yemen’s donors believe stabilizing President Saleh’s regime will thwart the devolution of Yemen into a failed state and an al Qaeda safe haven. U.S. aid proposed for 2010 is at the highest levels in years. The Department of Defense allocated $66 million in military aid, mostly for patrol boats and armored pick-ups. Congress’ Foreign Operation Appropriation bill includes an additional $15 million in military aid and $40 million in development and economic aid."
So, armed with your tax dollars, the federal government is propping up another tin-pot dictator, with absolutely no regard for the welfare of his people, in order to "stabilize" the regime.
A short memo to the US State Department: isn't this approach identical to what we were doing Iran, by propping up up the Shah financially and militarily?
And you do remember just how wonderfully that worked out, right?"-- Wake the Flock Up
Sept 11:
"US May Be Sucked Into Yemeni Civil War
As the Yemeni government continues to reject calls for talks to end the conflict in the nation’s Shi’ite dominated north, rising numbers of displaced are creating a humanitarian crisis which and the conflict seems set to be long enough to force Yemen to seek international help. Analysts say that as the conflict continues to escalate the US risks being sucked into the nation’s civil war, if for no other reason than to prevent Yemen from becoming another failed state."