Washington: US officials are holding discussions with representatives of the Al Houthi rebel militia in Yemen who have forced the resignation of the country’s president, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday.
But the discussions with the Al Houthi militiamen do not amount to an agreement to share intelligence on Al Qaida in Yemen, Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters.
“Given the political uncertainty, it’s fair to say that US government officials are in communication with various parties in Yemen about what is a very fluid and complex political situation,” Kirby said.
“It is also accurate to say that the Al Houthis, as participants in ... these events, will certainly have reason to want to speak to international partners and the international community about their intentions and about how this process is going to unfold,” he said.
“The US government is participating in those discussions.”
But asked if the Americans and Al Houthis were sharing intelligence on the movements of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Kirby said: “There’s no intelligence sharing regimen with the Al Houthis. There’s no formal agreement to do that, and you need those kinds of formal agreements in order to be able to do that.”
Washington has vowed to keep up its fight against AQAP despite the turmoil gripping Yemen, where President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi has stepped down after the militia seized the presidential palace.
The United States conducted a drone strike on Monday, killing three suspected Al Qaida militants, a tribal source said.
Washington has long relied on Yemen’s government to help it target Al Qaida extremists and a small contingent of US special forces is deployed to the country to help its army battle AQAP, which US intelligence officials view as the most dangerous branch of the network.
But US officials are worried that the counter-terrorism and intelligence operations in Yemen will be jeopardised by the upheaval unfolding in Sana’a.
Michael Vickers, undersecretary of defence for intelligence, said last week at an Atlantic Council event that it was unclear if the aim of the Al Houthi militia “is to take over the state as much as it is to exercise influence and refashion it in a way that they think is more aligned with their interests.”
