Saudi Arabia Launches Strikes On Yemen Rebels

wyatt1 wrote:Washington offers its support as a coalition of 10 countries vows to protect the Yemeni government amid fears of a civil war.



Saudi Arabia has led airstrikes against Iranian-backed rebels who have been laying siege to a city where Yemen's president had taken refuge.
Warplanes launched an attack on the Yemeni capital Sanaa's airport and its al Dulaimi military airbase shortly after the Saudi ambassador in Washington announced the action.
The White House said it supported the operation and that Barack Obama had authorised US "logistical and intelligence support".
National Security Council spokesperson Bernadette Meehan said: "While US forces are not taking direct military action in Yemen in support of this effort, we are establishing a Joint Planning Cell with Saudi Arabia to coordinate US military and intelligence support."
Yemen's slide toward civil war has made the country a crucial front in mostly Sunni Saudi Arabia's rivalry with Shia Iran, which Riyadh accuses of stirring up sectarian strife with its support for the Houthi rebels. 
Saudi Ambassador Adel al Jubeir said the assaults had been launched in response to a direct request by Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
A total of 10 countries, including Gulf Arab allies, were involved in the strikes, he said.
A senior leader of Yemen's Houthi movement said the Saudi air strikes amounted to an aggression against his country and warned they would set off a "wide war" in the region.
Mohammed al Bukhaiti said: "The Yemeni people are a free people and they will confront the aggressors. I will remind you that the Saudi government and the Gulf governments will regret this aggression."
Fighting has spread across the Arabian peninsula country since last September when the Houthis seized Sanaa and advanced into Sunni Muslim areas.
Hadi, who supported Washington's campaign of deadly drone strikes on a powerful al Qaeda branch based in Yemen, had been holed up in Aden with his loyalist forces since he fled Sanaa in February.
Foreign Minister Riyadh Yaseen and Hadi's aides said Hadi remained in Aden, in a safe place, without elaborating.
In Washington, US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham voiced concern that the Saudi attack could mark the start of a broader Sunni-Shia regional war.
He told CNN: "This is going to be the first of many events where the Sunni Arabs push back against Iranian influence around their borders."


http://news.sky.com/story/1452789/saudi-arabia-launches-strikes-on-yemen-rebels



In that case will  Washington be supporting ISIS (Sunni)  if they become involved??

Smelly_bandit wrote:

dont you mean start supporting them again

wyatt1 wrote: