More violence in Yemen

Yesterday, I posted "Down but not out - Hadi battles on" - some thoughts on the challenging start to Hadi's presidency, but also a recognition of his perseverance thus far.

Today, when looking through the news pages searching for a new post, I read the following BBC headline:

Yemen unrest: eleven killed in army checkpoint attack

The BBC's article was one of the earliest to appear on the web. The early reports state that the eleven killed consist of eight Yemeni soldiers and three "militants". As with all other attacks on Yemeni militants, authorities from Sana'a assume the militants are part of Yemen's branch of al-Qaeda.

Where this latest attack differs is the location. Whereas most of the current violence in Yemen is centered in the South of the country, today's violence occurred circa 300 kms east of Sana'a.

Whilst I complemented Hadi's relatively stoic response to his turbulent first few months in office, I do think he needs to take a more proactive and strategic response to tackling the now almost daily attacks on his ground forces. I fear that such a strategic response may be disabled by the lack of funds at his disposal. Perhaps Hadi needs to think about drafting in some foreign support. Saudi Arabia already meddles regularly in Yemeni affairs. Considering both Riyadh and Sana'a share the same enemy in the form of al-Qaeda, perhaps they should consider joining forces.