Middle East, Yemen | featured news

Chanting "death to America," hundreds of protesters angered by an anti-Islam film stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Yemen's capital and burned the American flag on Thursday, the latest in a series of attacks on American diplomatic missions in the Middle East.

A militant who fought alongside Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan and is now the leader of a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda in South Yemen has struck a deal with the United States and Saudi Arabia to send 5,000 Al-Qaeda fighters into Syria according to reports out of the Middle East.

The acknowledgment that United States military forces have taken “direct action” in those countries opens the window further into the president’s secret war on terrorists.

Yemen's army recaptured the last al Qaeda stronghold in Abyan province on Friday, officials and residents said, and victory appeared close for their offensive to drive Islamist militants from towns they seized more than a year ago.

A government warplane mistakenly bombed an army position in southern Yemen, killing at least 30 soldiers and wounding many more, military and medical officials said Sunday.

The United States is assembling a series of secret drone bases for an aggressive campaign against al-Qaida-linked groups in Somalia and Yemen, the Washingon Post reports.

Fighting erupted across much of Sanaa and the death toll for the worst violence in months rose to nearly 50 in two days of clashes.

Yemen's Defense Ministry said the military had killed 21 al Qaeda "terrorists" on Saturday in the southern Abyan province, whose capital, Zinjibar was seized by Islamist militants last month.

Nearly 100,000 Yemenis protested Friday in a main square of the capital demanding that the wounded president, currently outside the country, be removed from power.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s burns may require months to heal, an official said, pointing to an extended absence.