Arab Coalition Seize Iranian Boat Carrying Weapons

14 Sailors Arrested

The Saudi/UAE-led coalition announced today the capture of an Iranian dhow carrying weapons last Saturday near Oman’s southeastern coast of Salalah, seizing a number of rockets and missiles, anti-tank missiles, armor-piercing shells, and weapon guidance systems. 14 sailors aboard the ship were also arrested. The boat was registered under an Iranian citizen’s name for fishing purposes. (Al Arabiya, 30 September)

“The type of weapons that were recovered on Saturday confirms Iran’s desire and intention to interfere in the war in Yemen,” said Saudi Brig. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, the coalition’s spokesman. (Al Hadath, 30 September)

There were no immediate comments from the Iranians. Iran has in the past tried to ship weapons directly to the Houthis in Yemen, but was prevented by coalition forces from entering Yemeni ports. If the details of today’s report are accurate, it shows Iran is shipping arms to Oman for possible land transfer to Yemen.

Photo credit: An Iranian shipping dhow seized near Omani coast of Salalah (Al Arabiyah) 
  

Saudi Jet Fighters Bar Iran’s Cargo Plane from Entering Yemen’s Airspace

An Iranian cargo plane planning to land at a Yemeni airport was barred by Saudi jet fighters from entering Yemen’s airspace on Thursday. Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency said the plane was carrying “humanitarian aids.” The Saudis could have suspected that the civilian cargo plane was carrying arms for the Huthis. Iran has in the past regularly used civilian cargo plane to carry arms to Iraq and Syria.

Iran began air operation between Tehran and Sanaa in early March of this year after the Huthis had taken over the capital. Mahan Air was the first airline landing at Sanaa international airport and maintained daily flights until the Saudi-led coalition began its air campaign nearly a month ago. This was the first attempt by an Iranian carrier to enter Yemen after the Saudi announced that they had halted the air campaign and instead would use air assets only against specific military targets.

Fars did not disclose which airliner and what type of equipment were involved in today’s disrupted attempt. The plane returned to Tehran safely.

File photo: Mahan Air Cargo Boeing 747-3B3M, with registration EP-MNE (cn 23480/641), identified in a 2012 U.S. report as overflying Iraq on resupply mission to Syria (UskowiOnIran, 25 March 2013 – Photo:Farzad Farajpour/Airlines.net)    

U.S. Calls on Iran to Stop Sending Arms to Yemen

The State Department said today it is “deeply concerned” about Iran’s support for Huthi insurgents in Yemen.

“Iran provides financial support, weapons, training and intelligence to Houthis,” said Gerald Feierstein, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. “If the Iranians are serious about peace plan (for Yemen), in the first instance they should stop sending weapons to the Huthis.” (The Hill, 15 April)

Feierstein said the U.S. would be looking at ways to ensure UNSC arms embargo on Iran is enforced, and will track an Iranian ship near Yemen.

“We will be keeping a careful eye on it (the Iranian vessel). We also have significant forces in the area, and we’ll be tracking,” Feierstein added.

File photo: Port of Aden, Yemen (portofaden.net)

IRGC Officers Reportedly Captured in Yemen - UPDATE

Reuters reported today that a local militia spokesman in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden says that their fighters have captured two IRGC officers, one a full colonel and another a captain. Local anti-Huthi militiamen say the officers were captured during heavy fighting on Friday evening in two different districts in Aden. They say the officers belong to IRGC’s Quds Force and were working as military advisers to the Huthi fighters.

“(The Iranian officers) have been put in a safe place and we will turn them over to Decisive Storm (Saudi-led coalition) to deal with them,” said the militia spokesman. (Reuters, 11 April)

The militiamen did not provide any evidence, like the photos of the captured officers, to back up their claim.

Heavy Saudi-led airstrikes and ground combat between opposing armed militias continued in Aden on Saturday. The war, which started when the Huthis (AnsarAllah) insurgents captured the capital Sanaa and began their march toward Aden, with Saudi-led coalition launching the Operation Decisive Storm to stop their advance, threatens to turn Yemen into a failed state and spread sectarian conflict in the region.

If the news of the capture of the Quds Force by anti-Huthi militia were conformed, it would deepen tensions between Tehran and Riyadh. Iran has denied the presence of its officers and military advisers in Yemen, but the Saudis accuse the Iranians of supporting the Huthi in their military takeover of the country.

The Huthis, or AnsarAllah, insurgents are predominantly followers of Zaydi Shia, a religious sect that emerged in the eighth century out of Shia Islam, and today constitute about 40 percent of Yemen’s population, where the Sunnis are in majority.

UPDATE: Iranian foreign ministry “strongly rejected” the Reuters report that two IRGC officers have been captured in Aden. The foreign ministry added that Iran has “no boots on the ground” in Yemen, Fars News Agency reported on Saturday. The foreign ministry did not say if the Iranians have any military advisers on the ground. The anti-Huthi fighters claimed they have captured two Quds Force advisers in Aden, but have not yet provided any evidence for their claim.

UPDATE: An image circulated in social media on Saturday night is reported as one of the two Iranians captured in Aden.

File photo: AnsraAllah (Huthi) insurgents in Sanaa, Yemen. 26 March 2015 (Reuters)

Yemen Update: Hadi’s Government Requests Military Intervention by GCC

A Country Contested

 

- Yemeni government of President Hadi that was overthrown by the Ansar Allah (Huthi) insurgents in Sanaa, and was holed up in Aden, earlier today appealed to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations for help to protect the country’s sovereignty, Al Jazeera reported.

- Riyadh Yaseen, newly appointed by President Hadi as the country’s foreign minister, has asked for military intervention from the GCC and the imposition of a no-fly zone by the UN.

- “We’ve had enough, we can’t watch them occupying airports and cities, destroying Yemeni infrastructure,” Yaseen told Al Jazeera on Monday. “We can’t allow Iran to take over our country.”

- Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal said his country would “take necessary measures if needed” to protect Yemen’s sovereignty after receiving the request from the Yemeni government.

- “We are against Iran’s intervention in Yemen. It is actually an act of aggression,” said Al Faisal. “We are keen on protecting Yemen’s sovereignty, the legitimacy of Yemen represented by President Hadi.” (Al Jazeera, 23 March)

- UN Special Advisor on Yemen, Jamal Benomar, said later in the day that talks between the Yemeni parties would take place in Doha, Qatar, to end the conflict. The parties have in agreed to the talks, but no date or agenda have yet been set.

- Iran, the main supporter of the Huthis, has not yet reacted to the UN announcement that the Yemeni parties will hold talks in Doha.

- The Huthis, who took control of Sanaa by force in February, overran the country’s third largest city, Taiz, on Sunday and are posed to march toward Aden, where the Hadi’s government is now based.

Maps credit: 
Top: BBC
Bottom: Al Jazeera

Iran’s Mahan Air Launches Flights to Sanaa

Iran’s Mahan Air on Sunday launched its first flight from Tehran to Sanaa under an agreement signed on Saturday between Iran and the Huthi-controlled Yemeni government in Sanaa, the Iranian media reported. Iran has provided the Huthis with material support during their successful takeover of the Yemeni capital. Direct Mahan flight to Sanaa would facilitate the transfer of arms and equipment to the Huthis.

File photo: Mahan Air (saba.net)

Houthi security at Yemeni Air Force base in Sana’a

Above: recent photo of a Yemeni Air Force Mikoyan MiG-29 multirole fighter of 9th Squadron, following a reported runway overshoot at Sana'a International Airport (OYSN) due to drag chute failure.

Perhaps the more interesting detail is this photograph's evidence of pro-Iran Houthi militamen seen performing security duties at the Yemeni Air Force base section of Sana'a International Airport.

Both the Yemeni Air Force and Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force operate Mikoyan MiG-29 multirole fighter aircraft.

On a somewhat related note, during the past week this photo emerged of pro-Iran Houthi militamen in possession of Yemeni military 2K12 Kub (NATO: SA-6 "Gainful") mobile surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems.

Both Yemen and Iran's militaries operate the 2K12 Kub SAM system.

Recently, Iranian and Houthi leaders have made public statements to the effect that Yemen under the control of Ansarallah has joined the Iran-led "Axis of Resistence."

U.S. Closes Embassy in Sanaa - UPDATE

British, French Also Close Embassies

The United States is closing its embassy in Yemen because of unstable and tenuous nature of the security situation in the country. (Reuters, 10 February)

In September, Houthi militias captured the capital city of Sanaa and last month they occupied the presidential palace, driving President Abd Rabbu Mansur Hadi and his government to resign. On Friday, the Huthis imposed a presidential council to replace Hadi and dissolved the Yemeni parliament.

Yemen now risks descending into a civil war, pitting regional, tribal and sectarian rivals against each other. Between 1967-1990, the southern and eastern provinces were independent of Sanaa, ruled by the pro-Soviet People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, or South Yemen, with Aden as its capital. They united with North Yemen in 1990, but seceded from it in 1994 after complaining that the northerners did not abide by unity provisions. North Yemen then occupied the south after a bloody civil war. With recent developments in Sanaa, especially with dismissal of Hadi as the country’s president (Hadi is a southerner), there is an increasing risk of another full-blown civil war if the south seceded from the Huthi-controlled North.

Regionally, the recent developments could intensify tensions between Iran, which backs the Huthis, and Saudi Arabia, which opposes the armed Shia group.

For the Islamic Republic, this is the first attempt at a regime change in the region, with its allied group overtly taking charge of the government by force.

UPDATE: The staff of the embassy had been getting rid of documents and weapons in the past few days before abandoning the building, Reuters reports.

UPDATE II: Employees at the British, French and German embassies had also been destroying and ready to close their missions in Sanaa. British and French embassies were reported closed on Wednesday.

UPDATE III: Saudi Arabia also closed its embassy in Sanaa; 13 February.

Photo credit: A general view of the U.S. embassy compound in Sanaa; 27 January 2015 (Mohamed Al-Sayaghi/Reuters)

Is Iran now in control of Yemen's Air Force?

Above: file photo of YAF Mikoyan MiG-29SMT multirole fighters of 9th Squadron, Sana'a Intl (SAH / OYSN)

Rumors are currently swirling of effective Iranian control of the Yemeni Air Force (YAF), following news of Ansarullah forces besieging the residence of Yemeni defense minister as well as the the YAF headquarters in Sanaa. It is said YAF is in a state of mutiny, refusing to undertake air operations against AQAP

There are reports in Aden Post that Iranian crews and technicians have been sent to Sanaa International Airport, as effective safeguards of YAF air assets. There is even concern YAF Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters are to be sent to Iran for safekeeping, using Iranian crews.

An open source partial ORBAT for YAF can be reviewed HERE. There exists an extraordinary level of aircraft type service commonality among Iran's air force and army aviation branches,  and YAF.

File photo of Yemenia Ilyushin Il-76TD transport aircraft operated by YAF crews from 115th Squadron, at Sana'a International Airport.

Chaos in Yemen

Hadi Resigns - Huthis Solidify Position in Sanaa

 

Yemeni President Rabbo Mansour Hadi resigned on Thursday, deepening the chaos that now reigns in Sanaa. The Huthi insurgents who had stormed presidential palace on Tuesday are now solidifying their position as the new rulers in the country’s capital, something their leader, Abd al-Malik al-Huthi, had all but declared in a televised address earlier this week. They are now in control of government institutions, including military and security forces.

Huthis, predominantly members of the Zaydi branch of Shia Islam, are strongly backed by Iran’s Quds Force, who has provided them with military and financial aid needed to expand their insurgency against the pro-Western government of former president Hadi. It is not clear, however, if the Iranians directed or even expected the Huthi sweeping move into Sanaa in September, which took many by surprise, like ISIL’s march into Mosul last June. It appears any armed group, Shia or Sunni, with strong will power and some local support can march into a major city in the region there days and not expect any stiff resistance from the militaries and security forces! The Huthis certainly did borrow a page from ISIL book of conquest.

But the Iranians are using the Huthi victory and rapid pace of the events in Sanaa to solidify their own position in Yemen. This could be the first Islamic Republic-sponsored regime change in the region. It is also a payback time. Iran’s supreme leader had recently accused Saudi Arabia of manipulating oil markets to bleed Iran financially. Now Iran can threaten Saudi influence in the region through a Huthi-led government in Sanaa. Ironically the death of Saudi Arabia’s king Abdullah came on the heel of Hadi’s resignation. The Saudis on their part accuse the Huthis of being a proxy for Shia Iran intent to undermine Saudi security on its southern border with Yemen. But it is not clear if the Huthis can be regarded as an Iranian proxy in the same way as Shia militias in Iraq and Syria. But they now depend on Iran to solidify their position in the country’s capital.

Events in Sanaa could most likely send the country into a full-fledged civil war, threatening a Syria-like disintegration of Yemen with different sects, tribes and groups fighting each other. The Zaydis, now in power in Sanaa, constitute only a third of Yemen’s population of 24 million, which is majority Sunni Muslim, in a predominantly tribal society. The Quds Force is expected to implement its successful Syrian and Iraqi tactics in Yemen: significant arms shipment; financial assistance; deployment of advisers and senior officers; providing training and strategic planning; and transforming some 50,000-strong Huthi fighting force into semi-official Shia militia to take the lead in military and security operations in the coming civil war.

Al-Qaida in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the powerful branch of the terrorist organization, is based in Yemen, and enjoys the support of some of the tribal leaders, especially in Ma’rib, the city in the country’s heartland with its own oil and gas industry. The Huthis probably want to control the oil infrastructure of area, including the oil pipeline, to expand their hold on central and north Yemen. The AQAP and the tribes close to it will, however, most probably will put up a fight to keep their influence Ma’rib. AQAP will also use the chaos in Sanaa to advance their position in the country. The Hadi government had worked closely with the U.S. in waging an offensive against AQAP in recent years, including continuous drone attacks against their positions and leadership. With Hadi’s resignation and the Huthi takeover in Sanaa, that threat against the AQAP might now diminish.

Meanwhile, the southern Yemen, once independent under a socialist government, merging with the north in 1990, could witness a new separatist movement. In fact, the Yemeni army’s 4^th Military Regional Command, based in Aden, the former capital of South Yemen, is apparently the only military unit that is opposing the Huthi insurgency.

Photo credit: A Huthi fighter mans a checkpoint in Sanaa; 21 January 2015 (Mohamed al-Sayaghi/Reuters/Al-Minitor)