Local security and medical officials confirmed today that Yemeni warplanes have accidentally bombed their own army post in the Abyan Province, killing at least 30 soldiers and wounding a large number of others.
The reports floated around throughout the day, but it was unclear exactly how many of the troops were directly killed in the air strike and how many were killed by the militants in the region, which were said to have attacked the targeted post afterwards and killed many of the wounded.
Yemen’s Defense Ministry, for its part, insists the whole story is “false” and that all of the troops were actually killed by a “militant ambush.” How exactly one ambushes an entire army post in a region where heavy combat has been a constant reality for several months was unclear.
It was not immediately clear why the defense ministry was contradicting local security forces actually on the ground in Abyan, but as with many other air strikes over the past few years the story will likely change many times before an official narrative is settled upon.
Here's a better question: who was flying those Yemeni jets? Were they CIA shills by any chance?
Why is this still so complicated? The President of Yemen did for decades what former President of Egypt did: undermined his own armed forces in favor of building up his own security forces, "presidential guards" and many other "security " units, interior ministry forces, etc. etc. Just like in Egypt, regular army got cheap outdated weapons from Russia, while getting all the modern equipment from US and others. Rebellion in the south has lasted for a long time, many years before the "Arab spring" started and protest engulfed entire Yemen. In the name of "fighting terrorism" south is contiuously attacked to keep it forcibly under Sana'a rule. Army units are switching sides in the south, as well as elsewhere. The difference from Egypt is that the tribal loyalties are preventing Army from being unified and taking control from an embattled president — who is getting all kinds of help from Saudi Arabia and US.