Militants Expand Offensive to Yemen's Third Largest City


Militants Expand Offensive to Yemen’s Third-Largest City
Houthi rebels brought Yemen closer to civil war on Sunday, launching an offensive on the southern city of Taiz, The Wall Street Journal reports. Militants seized the international airport, key government buildings, and surrounded the residence of the city's governor.
A senior security official in Taiz told The New York Times that the Houthis were flying troops and military equipment into the airport. According to the Journal:
The Houthis' push in Taiz puts them within easy striking distance of the southern port city of Aden, where their enemy, Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, is based, raising the specter of an increasingly violent confrontation.
Protestors took to the streets upon the Houthis arrival. "Houthi militants in military uniforms fired at us directly," Sami Al Ghobari, an anti-Houthi demonstrator, told the Journal. "They seek bloodshed, since they want to enter Taiz by force, a province they are unwanted in."
The Times reports that forces loyal to Yemen's former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, aided the Houthis in their assault on the country's third-largest city.
The State Department confirmed on Saturday that the United States has evacuated its remaining personnel from the country.
"It's hard to see how to pull back at this point," April Longley Alley, a Yemen researcher for the International Crisis Group, told the Times. "Yemen is really bracing for a nasty, protracted battle on multiple fronts."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vera Wang to design Lady Gaga’s wedding dress

Image
(Vera Wang to design Lady Gaga’s wedding dress. Photo: Shemazing) Lady Gaga , who is preparing to tie the knot with  Chicago Fire  actor,  Taylor Kinney , reportedly reached out to her fashion designer pal,  Vera Wang , to ask her to create her dream wedding dress. A source told Life & Style magazine: ‘She trusts Vera to create an elegant, flowy dress that will fit into her dream wedding!’ The designer has previously created custom-made gowns for a number of other celebrities including Khloé Kardashian ,  Alicia Keys ,   Mariah  Carey  and Nigerian singer,  Tiwa Savage . (Lady Gaga is preparing to tie the knot with ‘Chicago Fire’ actor, Taylor Kinney. Photo: AP) The couple, who got engaged last Valentine’s Day on  February 14  after four years of dating , are planning to exchange vows in a ‘relaxed beach wedding’ this summer at the 29-year old singer’s $23 million mansion in Malibu, California.
Read more

It's been 25 years since Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait

Image
A quarter century ago, after Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army successfully invaded and took over the tiny Persian Gulf nation of Kuwait, President George H.W. Bush famously drew a line in the sand against Iraqi aggression. While the United States and its allies easily ejected Iraq from Kuwait within seven months of the Aug. 2, 1990, invasion, Bush's line has continued onward in an almost Biblical fashion, accompanied by plenty of pre-modern horrors. The Gulf War begat the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which begat the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, which begat ISIS, which begat a potential future war with Iran or Syria or even what remains of Iraq. At the time, however, Bush said standing up to Hussein's Iraq was necessary to protect neighboring Saudi Arabia, a key US ally and the world's largest oil producing country, both then and now. "The sovereign independence of Saudi Arabia is a vital interest to the United States," said Bush, a Republican. O
Read more