Things are really heating up in Yemen. It's quickly becoming a failed country. It's a world headquarters for drugs.. especially hashish from Afghanistan. Yemen blames IRAN, saying IRAN has eased the way for heroin and hashish to enter Yemeni regional waters.
Years ago the southern area of Yemen tried to secede from Yemen. Even though they lost that attempt, recently there's talk again of succession. Human Rights Watch have condemned Yemeni security forces for abuses in this part of the country. According to the Yemen government, south Yemen has terrorist camps.
Then we have the northern area of Yemen. Since last August, the 5 yr conflict between the Houthis and Sana'a (Yemen captital) has intensified. The Houthis accuse Sana'a of being too close to Saudi Arabia. (Saudis have bombed the area). Sana'a accuse the Houthis of support from IRAN. The Houthis say the Yemen government is corrupt, that the son of President Ali Abdallah Saleh is a member of al-Qaeda and that members of the government Republican Gurard are members of al-Qaeda. In contrast, the Yemen government say the Houthis are the ones with al-Qaeda connections and that there are al-Qaeda training camps in their area. Because of this conflict, THOUSANDS of people caught up in the cross fire, have been killed or displaced.
So - we have the Yemen government, which is accused of being corrupt, in the capitol city of Sana'a, supported by: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco and Jordan. These countries are in turn supported by US aid and US military training. It's no surprise then on Thursday, US airplanes attacked 2 suspected al-Qaeda bases in Yemen. According to the US government, one of the bases "was plotting an attack against US assets."(1)
US assets, assets, assets.. Turns out there are MANY "assets" in Yemen... Too many to list here, but look at this web site: List of American businesses in Yemen
So - we have the US attacking Yemen to protect American "assets." To protect these "assets," it was reported that 63 Yemeni civilians were killed. Among this number killed were 28 innocent children. Almost 90 people were injured. (2)
Saudi jets bomb Yemeni Houthis (Nov 5, 2009)
Yemen calls on US to continue support against Houthis
Human Rights Watch condemns Yemen security force 'abuses" in south
(1) United States attacks Yemen
(2) US air raids kill 63 civilians in Yemen
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