US expands intelligence support for Saudi war on Yemen

The United States is increasing its intelligence support for Saudi Arabia to help Riyadh in its military aggression in Yemen, US officials say.

The expanded intelligence-sharing includes sensitive data that will assist the Saudis in their fight against Houthi revolutionaries, four US officials told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We have opened up the aperture a bit wider with what we are sharing with our Saudi partners," said one US official.

"We are helping them get a better sense of the battlefield and the state of play with the Houthi forces. We are also helping identify 'no strike' areas they should avoid," the official said.

US President Barack Obama authorized the Pentagon in late March to provide logistical and intelligence support to Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia’s air campaign against the Ansarullah revolutionaries of the Houthi movement started on March 26, without a UN mandate, in a bid to restore power to the country’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

On March 25, the embattled president fled the southern city of Aden, where he had sought to set up a rival power base to Riyadh, after Ansarullah revolutionaries advanced on Aden.

The US is also accelerating sending weapons to the Saudi regime's war of aggression against Yemen.

“We have expedited weapons deliveries, we have increased our intelligence sharing, and we have established a joint coordination planning cell in the Saudi operation center," Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Riyadh on Tuesday.

Aid groups have said the Saudi strikes have caused hundreds of civilian deaths, including women and children.

The relentless air strikes by the Saudis have largely failed to halt advances of the Houthis. Ansarullah fighters and their allies are now advancing southward while they have also stepped up the fight against al-Qaeda terrorists and secured many areas.

AHT/HRJ

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