National Defense Briefs – February 12, 2015

W. Thomas Smith Jr.

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• The U.S., the United Kingdom, and France, closed their embassies in Yemen, Wednesday. Thursday morning, Sunni Al Qaeda fighters seized a Yemeni army base in southern Yemen. The United Nations has warned Yemen is “on the brink of civil war” between Sunni militants and Shia Houthi militants, who have seized substantial control of Yemen.

• In the wake of the U.S. embassy evacuation, reports widely disseminated stated that U.S. Marine embassy guards were directed by the U.S. State Dept.to surrender their weapons to Houthi forces.
• The official Marine Corps statement however reads: “The Marine Security Force left the American embassy in Yemen for the movement to the airfield as part of the ‘ordered departure’ with only personal weapons. All crew served weapons were destroyed at the embassy prior to movement. None of them were ‘handed over’ in any way to anyone. The destruction of weapons at the embassy and the airport was carried out in accordance with an approved destruction plan. Upon arrival at the airfield, all personal weapons were rendered inoperable in accordance with advance planning. Specifically, each bolt was removed from its weapons body and rendered inoperable by smashing with sledgehammers. The weapons bodies, minus the bolts, were then separately smashed with sledgehammers. All of these destroyed components were left at the airport — and components were scattered; no usable weapon was taken from any Marine at Sana’a airport.”
• The official USMC statement added – “To be clear: No Marine handed a weapon to a Houthi, or had one taken from him.”
• As we have reported, Houthis – Shia Islamist militants (aka Ansar Allah) – have seized control of Yemen. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (aka AQAP), arguably the most-powerful Sunni terrorist group in Yemen, is fighting against the Houthi takeover.
• U.S. counterterrorism teams reportedly remain on the ground in Yemen.

• The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Ashton B. Carter as the next secretary of defense, Thursday.
• The White House “asked Congress to formally authorize military force against the [ISIS] terrorist network,” Wednesday.
• As we have reported, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (also ISIS), the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and the Islamic State (IS). Many Arab-speaking people refer to ISIS as Daesh, an acronym for Al Dawla al-Islamiya al-Iraq al-Sham (the Arabic translation of the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham).

– W. Thomas Smith Jr. – a former U.S. Marine rifleman – is a military analyst and partner with NATIONAL DEFENSE CONSULTANTS, LLC. Visit him at http://uswriter.com.