America pours new funding into Yemen aid for arms
Gulf Today - 21 July, 2012 The Pentagon is pouring new funding into Yemen for weapons and aircraft to help bolster the embattled country’s counterterrorism forces, amid growing concerns about Iranian spying and meddling there.
After freezing military aid to Yemen for the past year, as the country was wracked by internal chaos, the Defence Department has now agreed to deliver more than $ 112 million worth of equipment and military training this year.
The assistance includes $ 75 million approved last month, and another $ 37.4 million this month.
In documents delivered to Congress, the Pentagon said the latest funding will be used to buy two new twin-engine transport planes, inflatable boats, communications equipment and a variety of guns and ammunition.
The $ 75 million was targeted for counterterrorism improvements, including small drones, weapons, military construction and training. A car bomb on Thursday killed the police chief of Yemen’s southern city of Aden when he was on his way to office, a police official said, accusing Al Qaeda of carrying out the attack.
Colonel Abdullah Al Mouzai, the head of the police in Aden, “was killed when a device placed in his car exploded,” the police official said. |