InfoAnda - As violence rises, U.S., allies pulled into Yemen |

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

LightSquared eyes ex-Nextel head for CEO job: source | | 1 March 2012
Iraq parliament gives Maliki govt stamp of approval | 22 December 2010
Six held over UN hostel attack: Afghan intelligence | 1 November 2009

Nokia, HTC win European patent ruling | | 26 April 2012

Forum Views () Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : As violence rises, U.S., allies pulled into Yemen |

Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Home Business Business Home Economy Technology Media Small Business Legal Deals Earnings Social Pulse Business Video The Freeland File Markets Markets Home U.S. Markets European Markets Asian Markets Global Market Data Indices M&A Stocks Bonds Currencies Commodities Futures Funds peHUB World World Home U.S. Brazil China Euro Zone Japan Mexico Russia India Insight World Video Reuters Investigates Decoder Politics Politics Home Election 2012 Tales from the Trail Political Punchlines Supreme Court Politics Video Tech Technology Home MediaFile Science Tech Video Tech Tonic Social Pulse Opinion Opinion Home Chrystia Freeland John Lloyd Felix Salmon Jack Shafer David Rohde Bernd Debusmann Nader Mousavizadeh Lucy P. Marcus David Cay Johnston Bethany McLean Edward Hadas Hugo Dixon Ian Bremmer Lawrence Summers Susan Glasser The Great Debate Steven Brill Jack & Suzy Welch Frederick Kempe Christopher Papagianis Breakingviews Equities Credit Private Equity M&A Macro & Markets Politics Breakingviews Video Money Money Home Tax Break Lipper Awards 2012 Global Investing MuniLand Unstructured Finance Linda Stern Mark Miller John Wasik James Saft Analyst Research Alerts Watchlist Portfolio Stock Screener Fund Screener Personal Finance Video Money Clip Investing 201 Life Health Sports Arts Faithworld Business Traveler Entertainment Oddly Enough Lifestyle Video Pictures Pictures Home Reuters Photographers Full Focus Video Reuters TV Reuters News Article Comments (0) Full Focus Editor's choice Our best photos from the last 24 hours. See more Images of May Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Miley Cyrus engaged to Australian actor Hemsworth 12:14pm EDT Stocks rally on central bank hopes, euro rises 4:58pm EDT EU, Germany exploring Spanish rescue, no request yet | 5:19pm EDT Wisconsin result could inspire further attacks on unions | 3:28pm EDT Untreatable gonorrhoea spreading around world: WHO 9:45am EDT Discussed 353 NY mayor blasts sugar ban critics: ”That’s a lot of soda” 277 Louisiana’s bold bid to privatize schools 274 Florida to continue voter purge in defiance of warning Watched Iran hopes to seal nuclear agreement 1:01pm EDT Could it be "Game Over" for consoles? Tue, Jun 5 2012 A look at the UK’s most beautiful face Thu, May 10 2012 Pictures Reuters Photojournalism Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption Enterprise in NY The Enterprise shuttle floats by Manhattan. Slideshow D-Day: A look back Images from the Allied landings at Normandy. Slideshow As violence rises, U.S., allies pulled into Yemen Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Thousands of Yemenis caught up in fighting: ICRC 11:07am EDT Top al Qaeda strategist killed in Pakistan 9:27am EDT Northern rebels agree to join talks on Yemen's future Tue, Jun 5 2012 Bomb hits Shi'ite site in Baghdad, 26 killed Mon, Jun 4 2012 Yemeni militants say they release 27 soldiers Fri, Jun 1 2012 Analysis & Opinion Caught in the middle: Wachtell and the BofA/Merrill merger mess Let’s end the empty talk about Syria Related Topics World » Yemen » By Peter Apps, Political Risk Correspondent LONDON | Wed Jun 6, 2012 3:39pm EDT LONDON (Reuters)- U.S. policymakers might talk down "boots on the ground" in Yemen but with military advisers and contractors deployed and aid funding rising, Washington and its allies are already being drawn ever deeper into the country. Western security and intelligence officials have long seen Yemen as central to their fight against Islamist militancy, viewing local franchise Al Qaeda on the Arabic Peninsula (AQAP) as the most dangerous single foreign group plotting attacks against the West. U.S. officials say the group was behind a thwarted airline attack plot last month, the latest of several such schemes. But with a new Yemeni government seen providing the best chance in years to stabilize the chaotic country, there are growing signs of a wider strategy. U.S. and foreign involvement is increasing, moving beyond the long-running but now also intensifying campaign of drone strikes. Special forces advisers are now training Yemen's military, while financial and humanitarian aid from Western and Gulf states has increased sharply. At last week's "Friends of Yemen" meeting in Riyadh, foreign powers pledged some $4 billion to the country. Britain said the country was at a "critical moment". The Pentagon will not discuss exact numbers, but says the number of armed forces personnel in the country remains very small and that they are simply ramping up numbers to the levels seen before last year's uprising. But many others believe that involvement will continue to quietly creep up. When U.S. and other intelligence operatives or contractors -- often funded themselves by foreign or US aid -- are included, some experts estimate the number of foreign military-style personnel in Yemen could run to the low hundreds. Last month, the U.S. said three civilian contractors helping train the Yemeni coast guard were caught up in an attack by AQAP, escaping with minor injuries. "The United States will continue to intensify its focus on the threats coming from Yemen, while enabling its allies in the region to fight Al Qaeda on the ground," said Juan Zarate, a former deputy national security adviser for countering terrorism under George W. Bush and now senior adviser at the Washington DC-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies. "Yemen represents the soft underbelly of the Arabian Gulf, with Al Qaeda rooted in a country with deep economic and resource constraints and ongoing political, demographic, and social upheaval." The aim, foreign powers say, is to help the Yemeni government stand on its own feet and avoid the country becoming a Somalia-style failed state. That means not just ousting AQAP from territory it seized last year in southern Yemen but also tackling a separate northern Shi'ite tribal revolt. There is also an urgent need to address other longer-term problems including widespread corruption and growing food and water shortages. Earlier this month, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters there was "no prospect" of "boots on the ground" in Yemen. Certainly, with a presidential election a mere five months away and public fatigue with long-running wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, there is little enthusiasm for a major conventional military campaign. Instead, Yemen looks set to be the scene of the kind of largely clandestine, barely publicly discussed U.S. intervention that many believe will be the model for conflicts in the years to come. "After Iraq and Afghanistan, there is a realization that large, troop-heavy interventions are not the way forward," says Christopher Steinitz, an analyst specializing in Yemen at the Centre for Naval Analysis, part of U.S. government funded think tank CNA. "What you're seeing here is a very different strategy using drones, advisers and local Yemeni forces." Signs of success are mixed at best. While Yemeni security forces backed by foreign air strikes have advanced against AQAP strongholds, a brutal suicide attack against security forces in the capital Sanaa last month killed more than 100. "The attack in the capital last week was certainly not a good sign," says Gabriel Koehler-Derrick, an expert on Al Qaeda and Yemen at the Combating Terrorism Centre at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. "It's about creating a perception that the government cannot protect its own." LONG SHOT STRATEGY The departure of embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh late last year and his replacement with former deputy Abd-Rabbu Hadi Mansour, western states hope, will improve the government's legitimacy both at home and abroad. It also opened the door to the kind of support that would have been unthinkable while Saleh faced down a popular "Arab Spring"-inspired uprising and was accused of heavy-handed tactics and abuses. During last year's uprising, Saleh's government also pulled much of Yemen's elite military - including key counterterrorism units - out of remote provincial areas to reinforce the capital. With the protests largely over, such units can now return to the battle bolstered by U.S. training and weapons for use against AQAP or the ethnic Shi'ite rebels along the border with Saudi Arabia fighting the predominantly Sunni government. But much still depends on the Yemeni authorities themselves. Not everyone believes that they can prove equal to the task. "U.S. resources are limited these days," says Hayat Alvi, lecturer in Middle Eastern studies at the U.S. Naval War College. "As long as the Yemeni military remains cooperative with the U.S., it might be able to prevent it from descending into failed state status, but that's still a long shot." Keeping U.S. military support largely unseen, some Yemen experts say, may be key to its success. With their periodic civilian "collateral damage", U.S. drone strikes are already unpopular within Yemen. The public deployment of U.S. troops in combatant roles would produce an even greater alienation. But perhaps just as important as winning the battle against militancy, some Yemen experts say, is wider political reform to avoid a slide back into wider instability and infighting. In what was seen as a barely veiled warning to former President Saleh and other prominent figures, the White House in May issued a far reaching executive order giving the U.S. Treasury the power to seize US assets of anyone "obstructing" the Yemeni political transition. PART OF WIDER REGIONAL FACE-OFF? That, many Yemen experts believe, could be enough to persuade Saleh and former allies both inside and outside government to avoid trying to exacerbate the situation for their own ends. Saleh himself had been supposed to leave Yemen under the U.S.-negotiated political deal, but has so far failed to do so. For the Yemeni government, however, former Saleh loyalists and Al Qaeda militants are just two threats amongst many. For Yemen and its Saudi neighbors in particular, the northern uprising is seen as at least as much of a concern. Allegations it might in part be backed by Iran have attracted some U.S. attention, but conclusive evidence has proved largely elusive. Experts say there is little or no sign of AQAP involvement in the northern revolt, with the largely Sunni militant group periodically attacking Shi'ite leaders in some of their bloodiest attacks so far. "If Tehran were involved (in the northern uprising) ... that would be an issue for the U.S. government (but) it still wouldn't be nearly as important as the counterterrorism picture," said CNA's Steinitz. AQAP's bomb makers are seen as among some of the most sophisticated in the world, responsible for several unsuccessful attempted "underwear bombings" of airliners and working on developing undetectable devices. Online preachers are also believed to have radicalized individuals in the U.S. and elsewhere. Some wonder whether AQAP's decision to seize territory and confront the Yemeni government in conventional fighting might prove a mistake. Letters seized from Osama bin Laden's compound after his killing last year show him advising directly against such an approach, warning it might fail to deliver on the expectations of local populations. It also, security experts say, makes the militant forces much easier to attack from both ground and air. But whether the campaign against AQAP succeeds or fails, some including US Naval War College expert Alvi warn that a "myopic" focus on counterterrorism may be blinding it to other issues. In particular, she suspects that in Yemen as elsewhere, the U.S. is being quietly drawn into growing region-wide struggle between ethnic Sunni and Shi' ite forces itself fuelled by growing confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Saudi's Yemen policy, she believes, is focused primarily not on Al Qaeda but on crushing the northern Yemeni rebellion. That comes as Riyadh battles its own Shi'ite uprising in eastern Saudi and attempts to shore up Bahrain's Sunni rulers. Whether it wants to be or not, Washington is seen being dragged into the same agenda. "They are locked in a sectarian competition... and this will go on for a long time, if not forever," Alvi says. "Anything Shi'ite is interpreted as Iranian supported in the eyes of the Saudis... this is also the inspiration for Gulf states to be so outspoken against the Assad regime in Syria, not because of the goodness of their hearts but because of Assad's good relations with Iran." Whatever the wider reality, however, some warn anyone hoping for rapid change in Yemen could be sadly disappointed. "Yemen is Yemen. It will sometimes improve, sometimes deteriorate but it's unlikely to break out of the pattern it's been in for the past decade," said CNA's Steinitz. "I don't think anyone in the U.S. government has unrealistic expectations about this." (Reporting By Peter Apps, Editing by Ralph Boulton) (This has been corrected to remove reference to hundreds of military advisers in paragraph 1, adds Pentagon comment and other background paragraphs 5-7) World Yemen Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above. Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Back to top Reuters.com Business Markets World Politics Technology Opinion Money Pictures Videos Site Index Legal Bankruptcy Law California Legal New York Legal Securities Law Support & Contact Support Corrections Connect with Reuters Twitter Facebook LinkedIn RSS Podcast Newsletters Mobile About Privacy Policy Terms of Use AdChoices Copyright Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance Our next generation legal research platform Our global tax workstation Thomsonreuters.com About Thomson Reuters Investor Relations Careers Contact Us Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

Other News on Thursday, 7 June 2012
Exclusive: Drones inhumane, dead al Qaeda man's family says |
U.N. reports on Ugandan warlord's crimes against children |
Peru president says economy solid, reserves at hand |
Mexican presidency front-runner's image used to promote adultery |
Guyana oil exploration stirs up Venezuela border dispute |
As violence rises, U.S., allies pulled into Yemen |
Netflix plan seen as no big threat to content delivery firms |
Google deploying planes over cities for 3D maps |
NDS says Cisco deal on track despite allegations |
IPO whisper estimates may be heard after Facebook |
John Mayer wins second week at No. 1 on Billboard |
UK novelist Hilary Mantel numbers Cromwell's days |
John Mayer says he was humiliated by Swift song |
Syria accused of new massacre as U.N. council meets |
U.S. losing patience with Pakistan, says Panetta |
Exclusive: U.S. offers millions in bounty for top Somali militants |
UK wants safeguards if euro zone forges bank union |
France eyes layoffs clampdown as unemployment climbs |
Mexico accounting regulator says no fraud at Pemex |
Malaysia's Najib seen delaying election, boosting spending |
Karzai cuts short China trip after Afghan attacks |
China says to offer $10 billion in loans to SCO member states |
Samsung to build $1.9 billion logic chip line |
Vodafone and Telefonica to spur 4G with shared UK grid |
LinkedIn, eHarmony suffer data breaches |
China proposes strengthening Internet guidelines |
Oracle moves to the cloud, takes aim at Salesforce |
Twitter's mobile revenue surpassed Web on many days: CEO |
HTC says devices in compliance with U.S. ruling |
Samsung says Galaxy S III U.S. launch to go ahead, despite Apple suit |
Elvis Presley to be virtually resurrected |
Miss Pennsylvania resigns crown, organizers question motive |
Samberg says his SNL goodbye in short films |
Katy Perry to star in new comic book |
Miley Cyrus engaged to actor Liam Hemsworth |
Survivor tells of horror in Syrian village |
Senior Saddam aide executed in Iraq |
Bulls, suburbs and the French far right |
U.S. troops do the vampire shift to avoid Afghan sniper |
Clinton backs drones after al Qaeda figure killed |
Airstrike in south Yemen, humanitarian crisis looms |
U.S. soon to grant more waivers to Iran sanctions |
Post your pro-pope postcard to sad pontiff now |
Facebook IPO mishandling hurt investor confidence: TD Ameritrade |
Sprint's Virgin unit to sell iPhone |
Sandvine sales to be hit by project delays; shares fall |
Twitter's mobile revenue surpassed Web on many days: CEO |
Invisible women of a certain age fight back in book |
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph		BlogMeter 1.01