The US Fails to Confirm Military Agreement with Yemen after al Qaeda calls for Govt Recruits
Update: both Pentagon and US Embassy deny deal inked; what they signed was the minutes of the meeting.
Original Post: A few days ago a leading Saudi member of Yemen’s Al Qaeda called for men to join with President Saleh’s forces in battling the Houthi rebels. It really would be a bit sticky now (or is it just me) if the US was to arm and train them.
AFP Yemen said on Wednesday that it had signed a military cooperation deal with the United States although the US embassy would confirm only that talks had been held on joint counterterrorism efforts.
Yemen’s official Saba news agency said that the cooperation agreement was signed during talks in the capital Sanaa on Tuesday between the two countries’ militaries.
The news agency also quoted Brigadier General Jeffrey Smith, the commander of the US 5th Signal Command, as renewing Washington’s support for Yemen’s unity, security and stability.
But US embassy spokeswoman Debrah Smith declined to comment on whether any agreement had been signed.
Wow, a wrong step at every turn:
Arab Monitor: As Saudi Arabia steps up military operations, US signs a deal with Sanaa
Sanaa, 11 November – Stepping up its military offensive in the northern Yemeni border area, Saudi war planes kept pounding presumed al-Houthi hideouts. In addition, since yesterday, Saudi Arabia has imposed a naval blockade along the Red Sea coast of northern Yemen, in order to prevent supplies from reaching the al-Houthi fighters.
Meanwhile the United States gave up their long standing doubts regarding the classification of the internal conflict between the Yemeni government and the al-Houthi movement in the north and decided to upgrade the Yemeni Zaidi rebels as “terrorists”. Therefore, yesterday, the US signed a military agreement with Yemen to support the government in Sanaa.
Under the deal Washington will provide the Yemeni government’s armed forces intelligence and training in the methods of “extermination of terrorism, smuggling and piracy”, as Yemen’s Chief of Staff Ahmed Ali al-Ashwal declared to the press.
Intel sharing with Yemen will be very productive for al Qaeda, formally or informally. The pirates get also intel from Yemeni sources. The smugglers are all hooked up with high Yemeni administration officials. (Chinese ship of arms, anyone?) While the Yemeni government has a legitimate right to battle the rebels, they systematically miss and hit civilians instead. What the Yemeni government is going to crack down on, with new capacity, intel and equipment, is activists, journalists and their critics, prolonging the instability.
Update: New clashes/arrests in Ja’ar and Taiz, with two entirely different back stories and a common denominator.
