Saudi Arabia building up military near Yemen border - U.S. officials

[Valin]

Reuters:

Mark Hosenball, Phil Stewart and Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON Tue Mar 24, 2015

 

(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is moving heavy military equipment including artillery to areas near its border with Yemen, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, raising the risk that the Middle East’s top oil power will be drawn into the worsening Yemeni conflict.

 

The buildup follows a southward advance by Iranian-backed Houthi Shi'ite militants who took control of the capital Sanaa in September and seized the central city of Taiz at the weekend as they move closer to the new southern base of U.S.-supported President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

 

The slide toward war in Yemen has made the country a crucial front in Saudi Arabia's region-wide rivalry with Iran, which Riyadh accuses of sowing sectarian strife through its support for the Houthis.

 

The conflict risks spiraling into a proxy war with Shi'ite Iran backing the Houthis, whose leaders adhere to the Zaydi sect of Shi'ite Islam, and Saudi Arabia and the other regional Sunni Muslim monarchies backing Hadi.

 

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On A Related Note

 

Yemen's Houthi militia close in on president's Aden base

 

(Reuters) - Houthi militia forces in Yemen backed by allied army units seized an air base on Wednesday and appeared poised to capture the southern port of Aden from defenders loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, local residents said.

 

After taking al-Anad air base, the Houthis and their military allies, supported by heavy armour, advanced to within 20 km (12 miles) of Aden, where Hadi has been holed up since fleeing the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa last month.

 

Soldiers at Aden's Jabal al-Hadeed barracks fired into the air to prevent residents from entering the base and arming themselves, witnesses said, suggesting that Hadi's control over the city was fraying.

 

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