Posted on 01/28/2013 10:53:56 PM PST by Seizethecarp
The authorities in Yemen have seized a boat in their territorial waters filled with a large quantity of explosives, weapons and money, according to American officials briefed on the interdiction. The officials said Monday that there were indications that Iran was smuggling the military contraband to insurgents inside Yemen, although they declined to provide details.
The captured weapons included surface-to-air missiles used to shoot down civilian and military aircraft, C4 military-grade explosives, 122-millimeter shells, rocket-propelled grenades and bomb-making equipment, including electronic circuits, remote triggers and other hand-held explosives, the statement said.
If the weapons turn out to include the Iranian-made Misagh-2 surface-to-air missile, as cited in the reports from Yemen, it would reflect a significant increase in lethality for the insurgents.
For years, Yemen has accused Iran of supporting the Houthi rebels, who fought an intermittent guerrilla war against the Yemeni government from 2004 to 2010. Those accusations including claims of intercepted weapons shipments often lacked evidence and, up until about a year ago, routinely were dismissed as propaganda.
But after the uprising in Yemen in 2011, the Houthi movement expanded from its base in the northwest now a de facto Houthi statelet across the country. It has benefited from widespread dissatisfaction with both Yemens government and the local equivalent of the Muslim Brotherhood, known as Islah.
By last spring, American military and intelligence officials described what they viewed as a widening effort to extend Iranian influence across the greater Middle East. Iranian smugglers backed by the Quds Force, an elite international operations unit within Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, had begun shipping AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenades and other arms to replace older weapons used by the rebels, American officials said last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“By last spring, American military and intelligence officials described what they viewed as a widening effort to extend Iranian influence across the greater Middle East.”
But Barry is “pivoting” to Asia/Pacific...
I guess this wasn’t the “SS Loveboat” was it?
Oh, it was the “Arab Spring” out of Tehran. Just camel coats and gloves, Republican Guard love and kisses.
Quickly , return the boat to Libya,..
an alledgedly American Commander-in-chief is looking for his missing munitions !
I wonder what a Federal audit would show ...? /sarc
The US is obviously NOT going to do anything about Iran. Time for 'SOMEONE' to smack Iran and damn hard.
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And... what does it matter?
Our nation is in an ongoing nightmare!
There was an earlier report (Reuters?) posted in FRs about a Yemen naval boat and a US destroyer involved in the seizure of the same stuff.
Any body care to speculate as to what’s going on and why NYT is not reporting US involvement ?
Most of the weapons were probably labeled “Made in America-Buy Union”.
NYT downplayed the US Navy involvement by moving the mention of the ship involved to the end of the article.
NYT is supporting Barry’s “lead from behind” framing of news stories so as not to inflame tender Muslim sentiments so close to the “holy Places,” Mecca and Medina.
The USA has never made 122mm shells. That’s a Soviet caliber.
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