Keeping an eye on Yemen. Much going on as of late.It appears the Houthi's are expanding their defences in Yemen. No doubt for very good reasons.I have noticed a simplistic narrative is emerging- Hadi- ousted by Houthis- LIE. Hadi and his western backed government stepped down.Houthis backed by Saleh- not substantiatedHouthis backed by Iran- not substantiatedWe do know that Saleh was ousted and a very western friendly government was installed in Yemen, led by Hadi. We do know that Hadi and his government steppped down. Beyond those known facts, lie many unverfied claims.Over the weekend the Houthi's moved to take a major city containing a military airport
"Houthi miltia fighters took over the central city of Taiz" also "took over the city's military airport without a struggle from local authorities late on Saturday
Hadi calls for a GCC no fly zoneThe quitter- Hadi- Internationally recognized stooge
"Yemen’s internationally-recognized government on Sunday called on the UN and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to impose a no-fly zone over parts of the country after the third largest city of Taiz fell to Houthi rebels."
Yemen’s newly-appointed Foreign Minister Riyadh Yassin said: “We have addressed both the GCC and the UN for the need of [imposing] a no-fly zone and banning the use of warplanes at the airports controlled by the Houthis.”
The fall of airport in Taiz, Yassin maintained, would facilitate the Houthi takeover of other airports following the same tactic.
Not elected, just internationally recognized. Why the government of quitters is recognized is beyond me! And a newly appointed foreign minister? Who appointed him? How can a government that stepped down, appoint any new ministers or have international recognition? Really demonstrates the level of western backed corruption. Did the Houthis 'take over' the airport? Really? If they are in power now, thanks to the quitter Hadi government, wouldn't they be able to access and use the airports anyway? Of course they would! Implying the Houthis forcefully 'took over' the airport is pure spin, garbage and nonsense!Anti- Houthi protestors? Paid provocateurs? Loss of Yemen as base hampers US terrorism fight?How to interpret that headline? Loss of Yemen hampers US ability to terrorize? Could be.Hadi militiamen?The media is full of imagery of Hadi militias (western backed too!) and 'anti- houthi protestors" Should this suggest to us that the media is embedded with these western backed fighters? That's how I see it! We have all seen this type of stuff on multiple occasions. Libya. Syria. Corporate, war mongering media, always in bed with the western backed fighters, presenting them as heroic and wanting justice etc.,
The evacuation of 125 U.S. Special Operations advisers from Yemen in the past two days.... Even after the withdrawal of U.S. troops, the CIA will still maintain some covert Yemeni agents in the country. Armed drones will carry out some airstrikes from bases in nearby Saudi Arabia or Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, as was done most recently on Feb. 20. Spy satellites will still lurk overhead, and eavesdropping planes will try to suck up electronic communications.
Administration officials say that in many trouble spots they rely on allies — such as the French in West Africa to counter extremists like Boko Haram — rather than deploying large numbers of U.S. troops.
The United States has worked around obstacles like Yemen’s turmoil before, notably in Pakistan and Somalia, where the CIA and the Pentagon in the past decade stitched together local spy networks that provided information for drone strikes and occasional commando raids on al-Qaida militants. But that approach has always been considered an imperfect substitute to having U.S. forces on the ground, training and advising military and security allies.
“I don’t even think it’s accurate to think of Yemen as a single country anymore,” said Gregory D. Johnsen, a Yemen specialist and writer at large at BuzzFeed. “At best it has dissolved a series of power blocs that are less and less able to influence change across the country.”
Yemen, destabilized, weak and eternally squabbling- One beneficiary to that has already come to mind What did the Houthi leadership have to say this week end about the situation in Yemen?
Rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi, in a televised address on Sunday, accused the country’s internationally recognized leader, President Abdurabuh Mansur Hadi, of collaborating with Sunni militants from al-Qaeda and Islamic State, and being a “puppet” for foreign forces. He urged Yemen’s tribes to send fighters and money to support the Houthis.