Yemen crisis: President Hadi flees as Houthi rebels advance

Yemen's President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi has fled his palace in Aden as Houthi rebels advance towards the city.

Gunfire could be heard around the city centre, and security forces allied to the Houthis have taken over the international airport.

The rebels have made rapid gains since seizing a key airbase only 60km (37 miles) from Aden on Wednesday morning.

Government officials deny reports that the president has fled the country, and say he remains in Aden.

The US State Department says it was in touch with President Hadi earlier in the day. It said he is no longer at the compound but could not confirm any "additional details" about his location.

The whole world is watching .....America will pay a terrible costs for allowing Obama to present such a weakness picture of us to this watching world .

We have a choice ; make changes NOW , or go down with the ship . A ship that we have all watched slowly sinking , while doing next to nothing .

Back in 2008, I was convinced (along with many FReepers, but not many others), that this creature called 0bama was a Manchurian candidate at best, and an anti-Christ at worst.

Nothing that has happened subsequently has caused me to alter this initial assessment.

He is a scourge. On those rare occasions that I can stomach watching him on television, I swear that I get the strong whiff of brimstone right off the screen.

Maybe I missed it, but I haven't heard anyone mention this: the Iranian-backed (?) rebels that are now taking over Yemen would close Israel's outlet to the Indian Ocean thru the Red Sea & therefore prevent its navy (provided that it has much of one) from attacking Iran from the south, wouldn't it?

Does Israel have a submarine base on its southern tip near the city of Eilat? There are 4 nations (3 Islamic) whose boundaries nearly join in that area, so I'm not sure if they do. IF Israel's navy does have a base there, do they carry missiles (whether they are nuclear or not)? The opening where the Red Sea & the Gulf of Aden come together is a fairly tight spot, & I wonder if the rebels in Yemen could prevent the Israeli navy from moving through it, into the Arabian Sea, & then into the Gulf of Oman to launch submarine-based missiles into Iran from the south.

If Obama threatens to shoot down Israeli planes if they fly thru Iraqi airspace (didn't he do that?), I was wondering if what I mentioned above could be Israel's only option available, other than by flying thru Saudi Arabian airspace, which doesn't sound very reliable. The Saudis might shoot the Israeli planes down on their way back home after destroying the Iranian nuclear sites.

I bet Obama has something to do w/ the Yemen situation, too.

Barry has already picked sides. He’s gone with his new best friends in Iran.

That meant, of course, going against his own country, which was ostensibly allied with the Saudi/Sunni side.

But those sorts of considerations never troubled Barry very much.

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