...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
's Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the
Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is
God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the JewsThey like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
rebels to release all U.S. Embassy local staffers that they had detained, following the death of one of them after seven months in captivity.
The Iran-backed Houthis seized the headquarters of the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa last October. They detained dozens of former staffers, many of whom were later released but at least 11 remained in the rebels' custody.
Yemen, the Arab world's poorest nation, has been fractured by a brutal civil war since 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, forcing the internationally recognized government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition entered the war a year later to try and restore the government to power. Washington shut down its embassy in 2015.
In a tweet, the embassy, now operating outside of Yemen, said it was mourning Abdulhameed al-Ajami, a retired employee of the U.S. Agency for International Development, describing him as "an innocent grandfather" and "a proud Yemeni" dedicated to educating children in his country.
"We extend our condolences to his loved ones and call on the Houthis to end this injustice and release every single current and former U.S. Embassy employee now," it said.
On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department issued a statement confirming al-Ajami's death but did not mention any details on the time or the circumstances of his death.
"The United States has been unceasing in its diplomatic efforts to secure the release of our Yemeni staff in Sana'a. We demand the Houthis release detained current and former U.S. employees," front man Ned Price said.
The Houthis never charged al-Ajami or any of the other captives or brought them to trial.
The former USAID worker was already suffering from moderate kidney failure at the time of his detention and his condition worsened in recent weeks but he had no access to medication or medical help, according to an international aid worker. The aid worker spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the detentions with the media.
The war in Yemen has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises and over the years turned into a regional proxy war between Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century...and Iran. More than 150,000 people have been killed, including over 14,500 civilians.
The fighting has stalemated and the warring sides agreed to a two-month cease-fire, which expires next week. The United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
is now pushing to extend the truce.
Occasional violence has persisted, however, On Thursday, at least five non-combatants were killed in the southern port city of Aden when a man dropped a hand grenade in a crowded market. The blast also maimed at least 20 people.