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Arabia
Yemen army tightens the noose on Al Qaeda in south Yemen
2012-06-04
The Yemeni army geared up for a push to try to take a southern coastal town from al Qaeda-linked fighters on Monday, residents said, part of a U.S.-backed offensive in a country Washington sees as a frontline of its war against the Islamist militants.
Soldiers versus terrorists? Soldiers usually win, even if they aren't the best soldiers in the world.
The United States and its Gulf allies are alarmed by the deteriorating security in Yemen, where al Qaeda's Arabian Peninsula wing (AQAP) took advantage of a split in the military during an uprising against then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh and seized territory in the south province of Abyan last year.

Shi'ite rebels known as Houthis also exploited the political upheaval and carved out their own state within a state in the rugged northern province of Saada, on the border with Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter.

The United States, which helped engineer Saleh's replacement by his deputy in February, is backing an offensive in the south and has stepped up its campaign of drone strike assassinations of alleged al Qaeda members it says plot attacks from Yemen.

It has also sent dozens of military trainers and stepped up aid to Yemen where it wants President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to reunify the military and focus it against AQAP.
Posted by:tipper

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