Yemen’s Hidden War:
Sectarian clashes between Houthis and Salafist tribesmen have left 52,000 people displced in the past three months in Yemen’s remote northern province of Hajjah.
(special thanks to UNICEF, Yemen)
Piecing the jigsaw puzzle of cables together reveals ‘illegal’ US involvement in the war against Yemen northern rebels. 8,000 Yemenis died in operations against the Houthis in 2009.
In September 2009 US counter terrorism chief John Brennan turned down a plea from Yemen’s President Saleh for assistance in the government’s war against the Houthis on the grounds that:
“the U.S. is prohibited by law from providing military support to be used against the Houthis since the U.S. considers the group a domestic insurgency.”
Three months later the US secretly supplied weapons to help Saudi Arabia fight Yemen rebels. I’m not sure Saleh will be too chuffed by the double standards, although at least he and we now know, that as long as Saudi is involved in the next war against the Houthis (which will be Sadah war number seven) then the US will be willing to help out.
A decision which I’m sure has nothing to do with the $60 billion arms deal made between the two earlier this year.
