Krauthammer: Yemen Will ‘Become an Ally of Iran’

Columnist Charles Krauthammer dubbed the evacuation of the US Embassy in Yemen “a devastating setback” because Yemen “is now going to become an ally of Iran” on Wednesday’s “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel.

“What just happened in Yemen is, on the one hand, it’s sort of humiliating. It wasn’t quite like the evacuation of Saigon, but it was not–it was a panicked–it was a kind of withdrawal that was done very quickly, weapons left behind, and the rebels come in and take the Marine side arms. Not exactly a pleasant scene. But the real problem is less psychological, than what’s happening on the ground, on two fronts, it’s a devastating setback. Number one, it makes access to attacking AQAP, al Qaeda in Iraq, the most active of al Qaeda cells in the world, it makes access hitting them extremely difficult. But second, and this is what’s overlooked, largely, in the analysis. Is that it is now going to become an ally of Iran, the Houthis, the ones who took over the state, are closely supported by Iran. And Iran has spoken of turning Yemen into the equivalent of Hezbollah. Hezbollah’s its way–Iran’s way of operating in Lebanon. Well, this is the way it wants to operate in Yemen…you’ve got Iran now dominating the three Arab capitals in the north. Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut, and now with Yemen in the lower left-hand corner, you’ve got a surrounding of all the pro-American states, Jordan, and the Gulf states, by Iranian clients. This is a big setback, and it scares the Gulf states to death” he stated.

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