U.S. military team deploys to Yemen to help rout al-Qaeda militants

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has deployed a small number of U.S. military personnel to Yemen as part of a larger effort to help an Arab ground force battling al-Qaeda around a key port city, the U.S. military said Friday.

The team was deployed about two weeks ago to support a coalition of the United Arab Emirates and Yemeni ground forces who have successfully driven al-Qaeda militants from Mukalla, a port city on the Gulf of Aden.

“This is strictly about routing AQAP out of Mukalla,” said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, referring to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. “We view this as short term.” He did not say how many were deployed.

The deployment is part of an effort to assist the coalition by providing planning advice, intelligence, naval interdiction and aerial refueling.

A U.S. naval force, with includes a contingent of U.S. Marines, is supporting the effort offshore from its position in the Gulf of Aden.

The development is the latest chapter in America’s ongoing efforts in a country that has spiraled into civil war and chaos since the collapse of the U.S.-backed government there more than a year ago.

An Iranian-backed rebel group, called the Houthis along with some remnants of the governments’ army, have seized control of large swaths of the country.

A Saudi-backed air and ground campaign has blunted the spread of the Houthis, but al-Qaeda linked groups have taken advantage of the chaos and spread their influence.

Only in recent months has the Saudi-led coalition begun targeting al-Qaeda, largely as a result of U.S. and international pressure, said Katherine Zimmerman, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute. Prior to that al-Qaeda had been rapidly expanding in Yemen, she said.

The United States is providing limited supported to the Saudi-led air campaign against the Houthis and has targeted al-Qaeda directly with airstrikes in Yemen. In recent weeks the U.S. military has launched four airstrikes, killing 10 militants, the Pentagon said.

The decision to help in Mukalla appears to be an effort to  seize a new opportunity to blunt al-Qaeda's expansion by helping ground forces who are pushing al-Qaeda out of areas they had controlled. Al-Qaeda has controlled Mukalla for about a year.

But Zimmerman says al-Qaeda militants appeared to have made a tactical withdrawal from the city. “AQAP has withdrawn from the city in order to preserve their forces,” she said.