Free Republic

A suspected U.S. drone apparently crashed in Yemen, was recovered by local police and then stolen by al Qaida, according to AFP. The plane was an MQ-1 Predator being used to support ongoing special operations missions against terrorists there. U.S. special ops troops have been in the country for quite some time, helping to train local security forces in fighting al Qaeda. Yes, drones crash quite frequently in combat zones for a variety of reasons. What’s interesting here is the Yemeni government’s inability to secure the wreckage, even when it can get its hands on it. The drone crashed in...

The U.S. administration has quietly forged ahead with a massive arms sale to Saudi Arabia despite lawmakers' worries of its affect on relations with Israel. The U.S. Department of Defense presented the sale in late October, requiring 30 days for Congress to either block or change terms of the $60 billion transaction. The sale aims to bolster Saudi Arabia's defenses from any prospect of an attack from Iran. The massive arms deal marks the single largest sale of weapons to a foreign nation in the history of the United States and supplies the Saudi Arabian kingdom with a fully modernized...

U.S. plans to sell Saudi Arabia advanced weapons systems worth $60 billion to counter Iran could turn out to be more of a problem than a panacea. The Saudis, unlike the Israelis, have always had problems absorbing high-tech Western systems since they began buying state-of-the-art war machines in the 1970s. Right now, they already have more top-line equipment than they can effectively use, such as an air force with more aircraft than it has front-line pilots or commanders able to deploy them in combat. Saudi Arabia traditionally bankrolls part of Pakistan's military purchases and in return gets experienced Pakistan pilots...

Yemen's government said Sunday it will accept a truce offer only if the rebels operating in the country's north comply with six previously laid-out conditions. The Shiite Muslim rebels, known as the Houthis, had indicated Saturday that they were open to a cease-fire and to accepting the government conditions. But they demanded an end to military operations first. The intractable stance on both sides means the conflict, which had lasted more than five years, is likely to continue. In August, Yemen laid out cease-fire terms that included removing checkpoints, ending banditry, handing over all military equipment and weapons, and releasing...

Iran has acquired surface-to-air missiles modified with chemical weapons. Western intelligence sources said Iran has acquired modified SA-2 air defense systems from North Korea. They said Pyongyang has converted the SA-2 from a surface-to-air to a surface-to-surface missile. "The North Koreans took an old clunky SAM system and turned it into a tactical non-conventional missile with excellent accuracy," an intelligence source said. The sources said Iran was believed to have acquired the converted SA-2 in 2008. The system has been deployed along the Iranian coast near Qatar in what has become escalated regional tension. The heritage SA-2, a 1950s-era Soviet...

As Yemen's beleaguered government launches a new offensive against al-Qaida, the other conflict in the troubled Arabian peninsula state takes a shocking twist: The regime and tribal rebels in the north are both using child soldiers, according to aid officials. Child soldiers have been a feature of warfare throughout history, although these days there are international laws that prohibit the use of children under 18 in conflicts. But they are difficult to enforce and are widely ignored, even though persistent failure to prevent children taking part in combat is considered a war crime by the International Criminal Court. In Yemen,...