Standoff over Yemen Scud missiles

The commander of Yemen's Republican Guards has refused orders from the president to hand long-range missiles over to the Defence Ministry, political sources said, raising the risk of a showdown between the country's two most powerful figures.

The standoff between Brigadier General Ahmed Saleh, son of ousted former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, and President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi could delay an overhaul of armed forces that split last year during a mass uprising, worsening disorder.

Restoring security in Yemen is a priority for the United States and Gulf allies because al Qaeda militants are entrenched in parts of the country, posing a potential threat to top oil exporter Saudi Arabia next door and nearby shipping lanes.

“Brigadier General Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh rejected the president's instructions to hand over Scud missile formations in the possession of the Republican Guards to the Defence Ministry,” a presidential palace source told Reuters.

“This has caused a crisis between the two sides.”

A second presidential palace source confirmed this information and added: “The president was so angry at the rejection of his orders and threatened to revoke the immunity given to the former president and expose corruption worth billions of rials in the armed forces.”

The Republican Guards, the best equipped wing of the Yemeni armed forces, have been seen as crucial to containing al Qaeda.

Hadi, elected in February for a two-year interim period with a mandate to restructure the military, has been gradually trying to loosen the Saleh family's grip on the armed forces in a country where the former president's legacy still looms large.

Protesters storm US Embassy in Yemen

Chanting "death to America," hundreds of protesters angered by an anti-Islam film stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Yemen's capital and burned the American flag on Thursday, the latest in a series of attacks on American diplomatic missions in the Middle East.The protesters breached the usually tight security around the embassy and reached the compound grounds but did not enter the main building housing the offices. Once inside the compound, they brought down the U.S. flag, burned it and replaced it with a black banner bearing Islam's declaration of faith — "There is no God but Allah."
Before storming the grounds, demonstrators removed the embassy's sign on the outer wall, set tires ablaze and pelted the compound with rocks.
It was similar to an attack on the U.S. Embassy in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Tuesday night. A mob of Libyans also attacked the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday, killing American Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
In Egypt, protesters were clashing with police near the U.S. Embassy in the capital Cairo for the third day in a row.

US govt sued for drone deaths in Yemen

The family members of US citizens killed during drone strikes in Yemen have sued top Pentagon and CIA officials.

In Al-Aulaqi v. Panetta, civil libertarians and grieving families seek justice for the death of overseas terror suspects both US citizens killed during a drone strike in Yemen.

The case alleges that on 30 September, 2011, Anwar who was placed on a special kill list by the US was killed during a drone strike along with Samir Khan. Two weeks later Anwar’s teenage son was killed in a strike 200 miles away.