Sdiver
03-25-2015, 18:03
I'll bet they're just going after the ammo and equipment we left behind.
(CNN)—Saudi Arabia has launched military operations in Yemen, the Saudi ambassador to the United States told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.
Adel Al-Jubeir said the operation consisted of airstrikes on more than one city.
"We are determined to protect the legitimate government of Yemen," he said.
Earlier Wednesday, rebel forces captured parts of the port city of Aden and a nearby Yemeni air base recently evacuated by U.S. forces, officials in the country said, with one rebel spokesman claiming that Yemen's president fled Aden as his opponents advanced.
The rebels late Wednesday morning captured al-Anad air base, an installation that the last Yemen-based contingent of U.S. special operations forces evacuated over the weekend because of the deteriorating security situation in the country, said Mohammed AbdulSalam, a spokesman for the Houthi rebels.
The rebel forces -- Houthis and some allies in the Yemeni military -- then advanced on Aden, the nearby port city where President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi had taken refuge for weeks.
There were conflicting reports Wednesday about Hadi's whereabouts. But one Houthi spokesman, Mohammed AlBukhaiti, said Hadi left Aden on Wednesday with a Saudi diplomatic team as the rebels approached the port city.
"We don't know the whereabouts of the President at this hour," Jamal Benomar, the U.N. envoy to Yemen, told CNN on Wednesday.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters she thinks "it's pretty clear (Hadi) left voluntarily," without saying where Hadi had gone. She clarified that circumstances in Yemen caused him to leave, but that rebels did not expel him.
The rebels' advance illustrated the growing power the Houthis have enjoyed since taking over the capital, Sanaa, in January, and illustrated a further collapse of a government that had been a key U.S. ally in the fight against then Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
For years, Yemen had allowed U.S. drones and special operations forces to stalk AQAP in the country. Now, that arrangement is in tatters, along with any semblance of peace in the Middle Eastern nation.
Underscoring rebels' increasing strength, Houthi-commanded Yemeni air force jets on Wednesday dropped bombs on or fired missiles at the presidential palace in Aden for the third time in a week, causing minimal damage and injuring no one, two Hadi aides said.
The airstrikes happened before reports of Hadi's departure from Aden emerged. Hadi had been staying at the Aden palace since last month, when he fled the capital, Sanaa, after a Houthi takeover there.
The United States "strongly condemn(s) the recent offensive military actions taken in Yemen that have targeted President Hadi," Psaki told reporters Wednesday.
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/25/middleeast/yemen-unrest/index.html
(CNN)—Saudi Arabia has launched military operations in Yemen, the Saudi ambassador to the United States told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.
Adel Al-Jubeir said the operation consisted of airstrikes on more than one city.
"We are determined to protect the legitimate government of Yemen," he said.
Earlier Wednesday, rebel forces captured parts of the port city of Aden and a nearby Yemeni air base recently evacuated by U.S. forces, officials in the country said, with one rebel spokesman claiming that Yemen's president fled Aden as his opponents advanced.
The rebels late Wednesday morning captured al-Anad air base, an installation that the last Yemen-based contingent of U.S. special operations forces evacuated over the weekend because of the deteriorating security situation in the country, said Mohammed AbdulSalam, a spokesman for the Houthi rebels.
The rebel forces -- Houthis and some allies in the Yemeni military -- then advanced on Aden, the nearby port city where President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi had taken refuge for weeks.
There were conflicting reports Wednesday about Hadi's whereabouts. But one Houthi spokesman, Mohammed AlBukhaiti, said Hadi left Aden on Wednesday with a Saudi diplomatic team as the rebels approached the port city.
"We don't know the whereabouts of the President at this hour," Jamal Benomar, the U.N. envoy to Yemen, told CNN on Wednesday.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters she thinks "it's pretty clear (Hadi) left voluntarily," without saying where Hadi had gone. She clarified that circumstances in Yemen caused him to leave, but that rebels did not expel him.
The rebels' advance illustrated the growing power the Houthis have enjoyed since taking over the capital, Sanaa, in January, and illustrated a further collapse of a government that had been a key U.S. ally in the fight against then Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
For years, Yemen had allowed U.S. drones and special operations forces to stalk AQAP in the country. Now, that arrangement is in tatters, along with any semblance of peace in the Middle Eastern nation.
Underscoring rebels' increasing strength, Houthi-commanded Yemeni air force jets on Wednesday dropped bombs on or fired missiles at the presidential palace in Aden for the third time in a week, causing minimal damage and injuring no one, two Hadi aides said.
The airstrikes happened before reports of Hadi's departure from Aden emerged. Hadi had been staying at the Aden palace since last month, when he fled the capital, Sanaa, after a Houthi takeover there.
The United States "strongly condemn(s) the recent offensive military actions taken in Yemen that have targeted President Hadi," Psaki told reporters Wednesday.
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/25/middleeast/yemen-unrest/index.html