skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I think we're going in the wrong direction, here.. From MSNBC..
The Obama administration has intensified the American covert war in Yemen, exploiting a growing power vacuum in the country to strike at militant suspects with armed drones and fighter jets, according to American officials.
The acceleration of the American campaign in recent weeks comes amid a violent conflict in Yemen that has left the government in Sana, a United States ally, struggling to cling to power. Yemeni troops that had been battling militants linked to Al Qaeda in the south have been pulled back to the capital, and American officials see the strikes as one of the few options to keep the militants from consolidating power.
On Friday, American jets killed Abu Ali al-Harithi, a midlevel Qaeda operative, and several other militant suspects in a strike in southern Yemen. According to witnesses, four civilians were also killed in the airstrike. Weeks earlier, drone aircraft fired missiles aimed at Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric who the United States government has tried to kill for more than a year. Mr. Awlaki survived.
So Much For Libyan Rebel Oil Exports: Gaddafi Forces Destroy Last Fuel Tanks Under Rebel Control; NATO Land Offensive Now Unavoidable
And so the badly thought out experiment to supply Libyan rebels with a central bank, to be used to fund an "alternative" fuel industry comes to a prompt and fiery end. Reuters reports that "Libyan government forces destroyed four fuel storage tanks and set several others ablaze in rebel-held Misrata, dealing a blow to the port city's ability to withstand a government siege, rebels said on Saturday." Not surprisingly this fits in perfectly with the assumption first postulated by Zero Hedge that Gaddafi will destroy his entire oil infrastructure before letting it fall into "enemy" hands. This likely marks the end of the Libyan rebellion and will force NATO to launch a land offensive or suffer a crushing blow to its already shaky reputation as globocop, especially now that the US is in theory at least, out of the air campaign against Gaddafi. Which means that the boots on the ground are soon coming.
..
And while NATO ponders how to best break to the world that it has failed in Phase 1 of the Libyan offensive, it appears that 1.6 million of barrels of oil will be out of the supply system for a long time. Furthermore, with developments in Syria and Yemen getting worse by the day, we are confident that geopolitical worries will once again trump margin hikes, and crude will promptly return in the triple digits within a week.
Tunisia warns Libya over shelling of border town
Tunisia warned Libya that it considered the shelling of a border town Saturday "extremely dangerous" and said it would take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty.
Close to 100 shells or mortar rounds fell on or near the Tunisian border town of Dehiba Saturday, causing no injuries but doing damage to one house, a Reuters witness said. The shelling sent residents scurrying for safety.
The town has been hit repeatedly by stray shells in recent weeks as forces loyal to Libya's Muammar Gaddafi battle rebels for control of the Dehiba-Wazzin border crossing.
Just because the news isn't covering Libya anymore doesn't mean the Libyan rebels themselves aren't forgetting their countrymen, because they are..
Anti-government protesters may have been hit with nerve gas, doctors say.. This marks a Huge uptick of evil from the Saleh regime to Yemeni Anti-Government protesters. Gaddafi hasn't even gassed his people.. Yet.. From The Australian. Excerpts:
DOCTORS from the scene of violent anti-government protests in Yemen's capital said that what was thought to be tear gas fired by government forces on demonstrators may have been nerve gas, which is forbidden under international law.
Military personnel opened fire on Tuesday night and used what was originally assumed to be tear gas to disperse a group of demonstrators who were trying to bring additional tents into the protest area outside Sanaa University.
And:
Earlier reports indicated that the gas used was tear gas, but doctors who have been treating the wounded refuted that claim today.
"The material in this gas makes people convulse for hours. It paralyses them. They couldn't move at all. We tried to give them oxygen but it didn't work," said Amaar Nujaim, a field doctor who works for Islamic Relief.
"We are seeing symptoms in the patient's nerves, not in their respiratory systems. I'm 90 per cent sure its nerve gas and not tear gas that was used," said Sami Zaid, a doctor at the Science and Technology Hospital in Sanaa.
Mohammad Al-Sheikh, a pathologist at the same hospital, said that some of the victims had lost their muscular control and were forced to wear diapers.
Yeah; That's nice.. And the rest of the country seems to be collectively gearing up for a fight.. From the Chicago Tribune. Excerpts:
"This is the moment. We cannot go back from here," said protester Wael Sakkif, pointing to the blood on the pavement. "This is all Yemen's blood."
The unrest followed a large riot in the nation's largest prison as inmates added their voices to demands for Saleh's removal, news reports and human rights groups said.
Prisoners set mattresses and blankets on fire Monday and marched into the central courtyard of the facility in Sana, the capital. Police used tear gas and fired live ammunition to disperse them. Twenty-five inmates were injured, said Amal Basha, chairwoman of the Sisters Arab Forum, a rights group.
And:
Protesters and opposition figures say the government is trumping up internal threats to gain domestic and international support for Saleh, a key U.S. ally in the battle against Islamic Islamist militants. The Yemeni government has long fought an armed separatist movement, a rebel insurgency and the growth of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an Al Qaeda offshoot based in Yemen's tribal areas.
And:
.. negotiations collapsed late last week, and there has been "a total breakdown of talks" between opposition leaders and Saleh, said Aidroos Naqeeb, head of the Yemeni Socialist Party.
The number of police vehicles, soldiers and trucks armed with water cannons deployed in Sana increased this week.
A government news release stated that the increased security measures were in response to "multiple terror attacks on security and army personnel" last weekend, but tension at the anti-Saleh camp increased anyway.
"It looks like the government is getting ready for a fight," one protester said.
The use of nerve gas, IF true, is a major escalation as to what Saleh (And the rulers of the next country to fall, and the next..) is capable of, what will be utilized, and how far he'll go, all for the sake of retaining power. Saleh has shown his hand. What will happen next?
Posts
