Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Drone attacks cause political strain in Yemen
SANAA: As Yemen struggles to shake off ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s legacy, the United States has intensified drone strikes on Al-Qaeda-linked militants, although some Yemeni officials fear this may only fuel instability. This week alone, US officials said they had seized a bomb that was to have been used by Yemen-based militants to attack an airliner, two Al-Qaeda men were killed in an apparently related drone strike, and Islamist fighters killed at least 32 Yemeni soldiers when they assaulted an army post in the south.
Saleh’s former deputy, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who replaced him as president under an internationally-backed, but still shaky, political transition deal, faces a tough dilemma. He must meet the challenge from emboldened Islamist militants who have exploited more than a year of mayhem to seize and hold towns for the first time, and cannot afford to alienate the United States, one of Yemen’s main allies, as it combats what it views as Al-Qaeda’s potentially deadliest wing.
Yet US drone attacks, which have often killed civilians in the past, are resented by Yemenis, even the many who abhor Al-Qaeda. Suspicions that feuding generals and politicians, from Saleh down, are not averse to using the militants to advance their own ends also complicate efforts to combat them. The violence has spiraled since Hadi took power in February vowing to fight Al-Qaeda’s foothold in Yemen, a desperately poor, water-stressed country mired in multiple conflicts exacerbated by decades of corruption and misrule. “The real war against Al-Qaeda has yet to begin and it will not succeed until we eradicate the militants from every town,” Hadi said on Saturday. “Terrorist groups should surrender their weapons and relinquish ideology that counters Islamic virtue.”
The Al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sharia group said Monday’s storming of an army position was their retort to Hadi’s remarks. A US official familiar with counter-terrorism activities in Yemen said drone strikes and other operations had increased after the turmoil of Saleh’s final months in office – when internal strife distracted Yemeni security forces and cooperation with a once-valued ally disintegrated. “We pulled back on targeting for a while but (US operations) have got some new momentum now,” the official said, adding that it had also become easier to get personnel and equipment into Yemen for the covert struggle against Al-Qaeda.
Saleh’s former deputy, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who replaced him as president under an internationally-backed, but still shaky, political transition deal, faces a tough dilemma. He must meet the challenge from emboldened Islamist militants who have exploited more than a year of mayhem to seize and hold towns for the first time, and cannot afford to alienate the United States, one of Yemen’s main allies, as it combats what it views as Al-Qaeda’s potentially deadliest wing.
Yet US drone attacks, which have often killed civilians in the past, are resented by Yemenis, even the many who abhor Al-Qaeda. Suspicions that feuding generals and politicians, from Saleh down, are not averse to using the militants to advance their own ends also complicate efforts to combat them. The violence has spiraled since Hadi took power in February vowing to fight Al-Qaeda’s foothold in Yemen, a desperately poor, water-stressed country mired in multiple conflicts exacerbated by decades of corruption and misrule. “The real war against Al-Qaeda has yet to begin and it will not succeed until we eradicate the militants from every town,” Hadi said on Saturday. “Terrorist groups should surrender their weapons and relinquish ideology that counters Islamic virtue.”
The Al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sharia group said Monday’s storming of an army position was their retort to Hadi’s remarks. A US official familiar with counter-terrorism activities in Yemen said drone strikes and other operations had increased after the turmoil of Saleh’s final months in office – when internal strife distracted Yemeni security forces and cooperation with a once-valued ally disintegrated. “We pulled back on targeting for a while but (US operations) have got some new momentum now,” the official said, adding that it had also become easier to get personnel and equipment into Yemen for the covert struggle against Al-Qaeda.
Read more: http://news.kuwaittimes.net/2012/05/09/us-drone-attacks-cause-political-strain-in-yemen-insurgency-drone-strikes-hamper-transition/