Though the US has apparently already launched a handful of overt attacks into the nation, Yemen’s Deputy Prime Minister Rashed al-Aleemi cautioned today that the US should not launch a ground invasion.

“Any intervention or direct action by the United States could strengthen the al-Qaeda network and not weaken it,” Aleemi noted. At the same time he said Yemen needs help in the form of weapons and training to combat the growing al-Qaeda presence there.

The Pentagon confirmed that the US already has a “relatively modest” military force on the ground, but declined to confirm exactly what it was doing, beyond the ongoing training missions.

Yemen says it has committed thousands of troops to fighting al-Qaeda, but the nation is also fighting multiple, unrelated civil wars and seems to be increasingly stretched to the limit.

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