Shia rebels overrun Yemen's capital.

[ringpriest]

The government of Yemen has signed a hasty peace deal with the Houthis, an Iranian-supported rebel group that is one faction in Yemen's long-running multi-sided civil war, after Houthi forces took control of the capital of Sana'a. (The Houthi logo reads, "God is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Damn the Jews, Victory to Islam".)

A UN-brokered peace deal between Houthi rebels and Yemen's government has been signed, while the Houthis have taken control of government buildings and a state radio and TV station in the capital, Sanaa.

Sunday's agreement calls for the current government to rule in a caretaker role until a new administration is formed next month after consultations with all political parties.

Journalist Peter Salisbury said the agreement aimed to get the Houthis to leave the capital. However, a section which was not signed by the Houthis stipulated that they were to withdraw from Sanaa, Jawf and Amran within 45 days.

"The fighting didn't stop because of the deal, but because the Houthis had achieved their military aims in Sanaa."

He said clashes were ongoing in other parts of the country, including Maarib to east of the capital.

There's apparently no comment yet on the situation in Yemen from the Obama administration. In his recent speech advocating airstrikes in Iraq, Obama said, "This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years."

Houthis have previously claimed to be the target of US airstrikes, during the brief border war they fought with Saudi Arabia. They are ideologically opposed to the Sunni Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Penninsula, although both groups share enemies, including the United States and the Saudi Monarchy.

[lockedout]

The government of Yemen has signed a hasty peace deal with the Houthis, an Iranian-supported rebel group that is one faction in Yemen's long-running multi-sided civil war, after Houthi forces took control of the capital of Sana'a. (The Houthi logo reads, "God is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Damn the Jews, Victory to Islam".)



There's apparently no comment yet on the situation in Yemen from the Obama administration. In his recent speech advocating airstrikes in Iraq, Obama said, "This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years."

Houthis have previously claimed to be the target of US airstrikes, during the brief border war they fought with Saudi Arabia. They are ideologically opposed to the Sunni Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Penninsula, although both groups share enemies, including the United States and the Saudi Monarchy.

When will they realize arming these people to fight for us only to have them attack us after we train them isn't a good idea. We have a military for a reason.

[Niroshi]

When will they realize arming these people to fight for us only to have them attack us after we train them isn't a good idea. We have a military for a reason.

It's honestly a better idea than sending our own men in. While it's cold to say this, Yemeni lives don't really matter to a huge swathe of Americans. Dead American soldiers matter to people though, and that gets them out and active which isn't really what the party in power ever wants.

If the government uses local militias though then they get to sidestep the whole dead American soldier thing. The only real downside is that occasionally violence is done against Americans somewhere in the world, but in the broader sense it's not that important to the power structure. Even if somehow this boiled over and ended in another attack on the US the body count would be smaller than the number of people who die to dumb shit every year normally, and it would just serve to enrage/terrify people into doing what the ruling party wanted (again).

[Deleted]

War is fashionable again all around the world. Wonder when the Western world will follow the trend.

[habitsbreaker]

isnt this funny, the first time that i know of when the capital of country get taken by an armed group and yet not a single embassy try to leave that country

[Kalis]

War is fashionable again all around the world. Wonder when the Western world will follow the trend.

War never went out of fashion, and in the West we just realised we could make as much money by selling arms to others, as we could by fighting wars ourselves.

[Revi]

It's honestly a better idea than sending our own men in. While it's cold to say this, Yemeni lives don't really matter to a huge swathe of Americans. Dead American soldiers matter to people though, and that gets them out and active which isn't really what the party in power ever wants.

Maybe what the public prefers isn't always what is best.....

[Puremallace]

Place is turning into a complete powder keg seriously. We need to get off oil fast and I mean like within this decade.

[Deleted]

Place is turning into a complete powder keg seriously. We need to get off oil fast and I mean like within this decade.

Not gonna happen. Not in this decade, not in the next. We're gonna milk that shit dry.

[Venant]

Maybe what the public prefers isn't always what is best.....

Maybe we should go back to being isolationist. Seems like our foreign intervention only serve to benefit those who have bought the politicians in our government.

[Independent voter]

They said the First Crusade succeeded cause the Sunnis were busy killing off the Shia. Thousand years later and there's still fighting.


Yemen-Shiite-rebels-rout-Islamist-allied-general

"SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni medical officials say 200 more bodies have been retrieved from the streets of the capital, Sanaa, bringing to 340 the death toll from a week of fierce clashes between Hawthi Shiite rebels on one side and Sunni militiamen and army troops on the other.

The officials say many of the bodies were decomposed after being left for days in the streets and the heat as ambulances could not reach them amid intense fighting.

The officials spoke on Monday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.

Resident Ahmed al-Hamdani says he saw Red Crescent staff carrying away bodies from the street he lives on. He says some "were torn, with no limbs," a testimony to the intensity of the fighting."

[Niroshi]

Maybe what the public prefers isn't always what is best.....

The public must always be listened to because of the punishment they can hand out down the road. I'm basically just saying that throwing American lives into the fire in any of these countries will have a price later on when the offending political party is thrown out of office in the next election cycle. It's much easier to retain power and control when you're not getting your electorate's children killed. Because of how ethnocentric a great deal of Americans are, it's much easier to get away with what we do if we use local resources instead of our own in these countries.

I'm presenting a VERY cynical view of the way the government operates in this regard, but I feel it's closer to the truth than further from it.