Image 01 Image 03

U.S. Embassy in Yemen set to evacuate

U.S. Embassy in Yemen set to evacuate

U.S. Navy on alert

Yemen is in chaos.

For the past two days, Shiite Houthi rebels have laid siege to the presidential palace. Now, reports claim that the rebels have seized the palace; and the status of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi remains unknown. Although the Houthi rebels are not targeting Americans—at least for the time being—U.S. officials are preparing for the possibility of a “non permissive environment,” meaning that the city of Sana’a will have descended into combat-like conditions.

Unfortunately for Americans in Yemen, evacuation isn’t simply a matter of driving to the airport and hopping a flight.

CNN explains:

If an evacuation is ordered, the first option would be to have embassy personnel drive to the commercial airport in Sanaa and fly out, the official said. But in the wake of an embassy car being fired Tuesday, the safety of the roads in the capital is now being constantly evaluated, the official said. If embassy workers did drive to the airport it is likely some sort of air cover would be provided, under the current plan.

Other detailed military planning for various options has been finalized, the official said. Those options would be used if a request for military assistance were made.

If helicopters and V-22 aircraft from the ships are sent to Sanaa, it would be a complex operation that could last for several days to fully evacuate “several hundred Americans” from the embassy, the official cautioned. “Nobody should think this would be easy.”

The Houthi rebels claim that they’re working for a more democratic Yemen, but analysts are skeptical of the group’s claims, and worry that a successful coup could lead to further radicalization.

The Houthis are an offshoot of Shiite Islam that is known as Zaydism, and they have put together a militia that has been fighting the central government on and off for the past decade.

The Houthi leader, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, 33, is considered a saint by his followers. The militia, which is widely believed to be backed by Iran, claims it is willing to work with other groups in Yemen and would like a democracy.

But the majority Sunnis feel threatened by the minority Houthis, whose rise could easily lead to increased sectarian friction in Yemen, the poorest of the 22 Arab countries.

“Yemen could become another Afghanistan — a failed state dominated by warlords and extremists, and with even fewer prospects for the young revolutionaries who just three years ago thought their nightmare had ended,” Middle East analyst Robin Wright wrote in The Wall Street Journal.

Unrest has plagued Yemen since 2004, when now-rebels revolted over perceived discrimination on the part of the majority Sunni government. In September, the rebels began to move out of their traditional strongholds in north Yemen and into new territory.

As of right now, plans are to evacuate only State Department personnel if conditions deteriorate; U.S. officials haven’t yet decided whether or not to extend evacuation orders to other Americans in Yemen.

DONATE

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.

Tags:

Comments

If helicopters and V-22 aircraft from the ships are sent to Sanaa, it would be a complex operation that could last for several days to fully evacuate “several hundred Americans” from the embassy, the official cautioned. “Nobody should think this would be easy.”

So, Barracula and the Obami are caught with their shorts around their ankles AGAIN.

Was THIS dithering due to the SOTUS…??? Or did ScamWOW need another good night’s sleep?

LMAO, wait, wait, didn’t Obumbles just recently claim Yemen as one of the success stories for his foreign policy….ROFLMAO!

    platypus in reply to Gremlin1974. | January 21, 2015 at 1:06 am

    Within the last few days, he sent 5 Yemani Gitmo prisoners to Oman IIRC. Seems fairly close to where the new action is.

    Coincidence or conspiracy? You decide.

Context question: Are any other embassies in the area needing evacuated too? If we’re the last ones out, that’s dumb.

Never saw this coming. Nope. Look, you just can’t plan when someone will publish criticism of the child molester. We’ll get those filmmakers cartoonists and bring them to justice. What? We did that? Oh, stinkburger. What difference does it make, anyhow.

Abso-freaking-lutely AMAZING what can be accomplished with this “lead from behind” strategy! Why didn’t we try this sooner? Damn this guy must be the smartest person in ANY room!

I have no problem evacuating an embassy to protect our people, however I would be much happier if we were doing so to move them out of harms way from the massive bombing that we were about to unleash.

Of course that would take a president with some actual stones, leadership ability, honest conviction, love for america……….(about 20 minutes later)…..and honor.

Will Saudi Arabis have to build a “Great Wall” on its southern border (in addition to the one planned on the northern border with Iraq) to keep out jihadist incursions? Interesting to ponder.

Well if they are building a wall it is just for show, since a good number of the jihadist come from Saudi Arabia.