so how do you reconcile a gcc military operation to support a gcc talks? the houthis don't have much at steak in that do they? >> well -- >> it's the war with all of the countries that are running the initiative. >> well it is gcc, but it's a u.n.-lead process. the initiative came about as the result of gcc proposals, but the process itself is a u.n.-lead process. >> reporter: [ inaudible ] since you are supporting this military operation? >> saudi arabia is in the lead -- they are the coalition, and we are providing some particular support to them. but it's a saudi-lead operation. yes, go ahead? >> reporter: can i just follow up on -- so you are just telling saudi arabia that you don't want it to be open-ended? there's no drawing of lines or deadlines? >> i'm not going to characterize publicly the diplomatic discussions -- >> but it does sound like you have giving them a green light to go on as long as they would like -- >> i wouldn't take it that way. >> reporter: well how should we interpret that? telling them you don't want it to be open ended is very

we have are put fort the gcc -- we have put forth the gcc initiative and worked on the national dialogue in yemen in order to have a peaceful transition to a new yemen. >> now the saud state news agency has released a joint statement by saudi arabia, qatar, the uae kuwait and bahrain. it reads the military operations in yemen will continue in order to achieve its objectives. >>> the crisis in yemen has been many months in the making. houthi rebels overtook the capital sa nsa in -- sanaa in september. the situation deteriorated in december when the houthis rejected a draft proposal, forced hadi to resign in what is called a coup. escaped to the southern port city of aden, rejected the houthis and maintained he was the legitimate president of yemen. backed an intervention to stop houthi fighters. omar al sala is here in the nud roox withnewsroom with us. what objectives are there? >> i think mainly to degrade and weaken the houthis their weapons. when the houthis overtook sanaa in september of last year they took control of almost all the military bases in the capital and they took all the

of logistical and intelligence support of gcc. we are establishing a joint planning cell with saudi arabia to coordinate u.s. military and intelligence support and antonio if we have another minute i'll continue. at the same time the united states continues to closely monitor terrorist threats posed by al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and will continue to take action as necessary to disrupt continuing imminent threats to the united states and its citizens. antonio, that is a separate issue, al qaeda operating in a different area than houthis. continuing, return to negotiations as part of the political dialogue. the international community has spoken clearly through the u.n. security council and another fora that the violent takeover of yemen is not acceptable. the united states is coordinating providing support logistic support to saudi arabia in these air strikes. limited to air strikes. saudi arabia says it has ten gulf countries in support of this effort that's make, we know that jeecht and egypt and other countries have volun

a lot of those were on the target list of the gcc countries and i think the main goal is to degrade those forces and to prevent the houthis and their allies from advancing and taking more territory. >> and at some point get back to the negotiating table. >> absolutely. i think there's no military solution to the yemeni crisis. i think what this is all about is to try and pressure the houthis and put them back on the negotiating table. they have been on the negotiating table to be very frank. however, they seem to be following a certain path and they seem to be following a plan. on the one hand they are negotiating with all they're political rivals. on the other hand, they are pursuing and expanding their control on more territory within yemen. >> omar, thank you. now, ali al ahmed is the director of gulf affairs he says the u.s. is making a mistake by supporting this action by saudi arabia. >> the saudi reasons for invading yemen is not to slid tie the government, hadi was forced upon the yemenis through an election that was illegitimate because he was the only candidate. this is not abou

gcc. there is a question of the legality of any such intervention in yemen. >> that won't be an obstacle after president hadi asked for it. it's not that the gulf nations won't intervene. they're dealing with a president who is legally the president of a country and from that end the gcc are trying to push forward in trying to force the houthies back from power even if it means using force. but again if negotiations do not succeed with both sides gcc, yemen and the houthies as well all will fall because it will be a long-term war happening in syria and right now no one is winning in syria. >> thank you. now karim wade, son of the former president has been found guilty of corruption and sentenced six years in prison. he has been ordered to pay $230 million in fines. the court rule he illegally acquired companies and real state while serving in his father's government. >> reporter: karim wade was one of the most dominant ministers under his father's rule. his father was president from 2000 t

or through the gcc. it's unlikely that any gcc will deport troops to yemen. what it will look like are airstrikes. that's something that they're looking at now and will be on the table. >> how important will that be to prevent aden from falling into houthi hands. >> i think it will be very hard to tell who is on what side. you have militias fighting each other, and it's a residential area so dropping bombs in the middle of aden is dropping bombs into a very economy kateed situationcomplicateed situation. >> that's the problem you have. you have the ex-president saleh and his loyalists. and you have the houthies and alqaida as well for gcc to get involved in it this way in a situation that is already so unstable, could there be unintended consequences? >> sure, and i think we've seen that already really, in the tribal areas where tribes who are against the houthies are taking their territory have found themselves arming and ready to fight and in some cases have fought on the same side as al-qaeda. that does not necessarily mean that they are al-qaeda but they

the gcc trying to find a mediated solution here. but just yesterday there was a meeting of the gcc in head saudi arabia. the yemeni foreign minister called for an arab and military intervention force to come to yemen to help support president hadi and the government, which means prop up the territory that they have in the south and parts of the country. the way that the saudi foreign minister was reported to have responded to that he said, look we would like a peaceful negotiated solution. however, if that fails, we are prepared to take necessary steps. however, what we're seeing on the ground is -- and probably the political reality at the moment is the saudis and the gcc haven't taken a decision yet to back up their words with a military force. they're not at that position yet. the concern -- i'm hearing from people inside yemen -- concern is that the military initiative on the ground is with the houthis, with iran that is backing them. while they are acting decisively the yemeni government and gcc are not. that's what we're heari

well as outside of the gcc countries. >> this is still a developing situation. there are conflictsing reports about the whereabouts -- conflicting reports about the whereabouts. nic robertson maintains that as of tuesday, hadhi is in yemen. >> we're joined by nick paton walsh. nic, now that saudi arabia has launched this military operation in yemen, what is the latest on the houthi targets that have been hit and the response from the rebels? which countries are involved and what roles are they playing? >> reporter: it is still early days here. we know that saudis say they have 100 planes and on the border 1 50,000 troops potentially involved. we know that the egyptian government said it is ready to offer political and military support, as well. it is unclear if any of that is already involved in the operation. there are plenty of conflicting reports about the scale and breadth of the gulf countries involvement wee heard a statement out -- involved. we have heard a statement theyithey i combined and under the houthi advance three yemen, calling it a dangerous ste

it is quite a unified front against these houthi fighters from the gcc, the gulf, as well as egypt.gypt historically has played an active role in yemen politics, going back decades. they've sent ground troops in there before to fight. we're hearing that the possibility of egyptian troops again could be going to yemen. we haven't heard if there are any ejipg troops there. -- egyptian troops there. if there have been air strikes by the egyptian air force. the president's office as well as the military hasn't said anything. what we're getting now is from state tv. and what they're saying is that egypt is politically and militarily supporting the efforts taking place in yemen. they said that the ground troops could be deployed if possible. also they're saying their navy could be used to battle the houthis now. egypt's navy not big in world terms, but when you talk about middle east, they do have one of the largest navies in the region. and they are the largest military in the region. they have always been strong supporters of the saudi government. saudi gets egypt a lot of money. egypt

it's the gcc countries. basically yemen is the soft underbelly of saudi arabia. the question is whether or not the leader of that country is going to be friendly to their regime and of course the last two leaders have been and the big problem now is these rebels are iranian backed and that's something they will not allow in their backyard. that's what you're seeing being addressed at this point. they're not overtly doing it but they're not doing anything to stop them. this is all related to the nuclear agreement on going with iran. >> the markets have been responding. the saudi arabia stock market as well as the dubai stock exchange. there's a lot of fear on what's happening right now. >> dubai is more exposed to international investors and head winds. as opposed to what's happening at saudi arabia they can't be involved yet. the saudi market rebounded quite quickly. it shows they're not going to get bogged down in that country too long. some were saying we might have to go in with troops but the market isn't reflecting that. >> we also have nbc's teheran corresp

>> well again, there has been a gcc initiative and u.n.-led process to address political issues in yemen. the united states has supported it. the u.n. security council has supported it. the way to address any concerns the houthis may have, they have spurned and taken continued military action which has brought us to this point. >> let's cross now to roslind jordan in washington, d.c. we'll get to u.s. policy in the region in just a moment,ros, but the spokesperson reiterating what the saudis believe they have to convince the out houthis that they can't win momentarily and then they'll get to dialogue. >> they were a part of the government of abd rabbuh mansur hadi, and they could have been more engaged. but instead they essentially according to the united states, carried out a cue and they seem to be intent upon taking over all facets of yemeni society including the country's oil fields. the u.s. is very much supporting what it says needs to be a limited campaign against the houthies. they don't believe they have active support from iran e

. >> we strongly support those who are seeking to see yemen completion of the task of the gcc initiative. >> but taking the power back from the houthis is not going to be easy. fighters still hold the prime minister and other yemeni politicians in the capital sanaa. call houthis iran's thution for hire. a separatist in the south-f whether they want to be part of yemen. among all this, the people of yemen are faced with a deteriorating political and security situation. this protest of medical staff was against their colleague and a french woman. hinges on the ability of them to talk to each other. mohamed vall, al jazeera yemen. >>> why he post office the terms of a potential nuclear dl and tom ackerman reports. >> reporter: as in previous appearances, netanyahu received a warm welcome before aipac this time netanyahu took pains to assure that his differences with obama should not misconstrue his rift. >> israel has been a bipartisan issue, israel should remain a bipartisan issue. >> nunls, anonetheless, many are describing this as a tactical mistake. they say he's choosing democrats to c

the gcc backed president is now powerless. the gcc ambassadors also left the country.re will be talks but any talks the houthis will not accept being just a member of these talks, but rather a decision maker, and this is what the political factions will refuse, and this could spark the link of a new [ inaudible ] between the iran and yemen situation. >> let's go to aden now and talk to a human right's activist. conflicting reports about what is going on in aden what are you seeing and hearing? >> thank you for having me. yeah, very confusing situation we're in right now. we do know that president hadi has [ inaudible ] compound. we just don't know exactly where. there have been reports of hearing of gun shootings increasing, which is [ inaudible ] ten, 15 minutes away from the presidential palace. we just don't know who is fighting who, and we cannot confirm if there are houthi troops on the ground. >> earlier one of our guests said the houthis had actually entered aden given the president's security forces or have they fled? >> right. it's very conflicting situation r

it's more interesting if you look at the fact that the gcc allies egypt sending warships they have come out and said we're going to secure the entire arabian arabian peninsula without the backing of the united states. they're doing this on their own and it's a huge psychological shift from what we have seen in the past from saudi arabia. >> now, karen caught up with david harding at last night's investment choice awards in london and asked how the lower oil price was impacting his portfolio. >> we're still short oil and still long dollar. i wouldn't say that constitutes a forecast. it doesn't. when the markets turn we usually lose money but what we do has worked over the last 20 years very well. you mentioned the bull markets in bonds which was terrific for us. the bare market in oil was also terrific for us because as a big future's trader we were short. that doesn't mean we have that because we had been long in the previous five years and we lost lot of money i can assure you. we paid our dues. by the time the market goes from 100 to 50 in a straight line you have to be pretty bad not

but it's more of a concern of the saudis and gcc at large. >> we will put your point of the americans selling the yemenis out, they may disagree with that interpretation, but thank you for your views on that subject. >> thank you. >> air crash investigators still don't know have a clue of caused the crash on tuesday. the leaders of france, germany and spain have flown in to show their support. the day's development, the cockpit recorder, badly damaged showing the severity of the impact. the device is now in paris and they say they've been angle to able to recover some information from it. the data recorder is still missing. >> brought together by tragedy the leaders of france, germany and spain arrive in this small town in the alps. they've come to pay their respects to the vickers of the plane crash and to get the latest on the investigation. their presence underlines the international disaster. >> we need to understand what happened. we must do so. we owe this to the families of the victims and the countries involved. >> all day long helicopters have been ferrying searchers to and f

i think the gcc countries are naturally predisposed to helping protect another gcc country. country. the relationships between the saudi's and egyptians and others are driving their participation. i would remind you you are very well aware of this but the night that we flew into syria for the 1st time we had five sunni arab led nations fly in that formation with us which is unprecedented. we continue to see them offer support in terms of material support and they have offered to train and equip forces but throughout they have remained in terms of flying strikes against syria so they have participated. as they begin to focus naturally because of resources we will probably see less of an effort in syria. >> you indicated that you thought in response to earlier questioning that isil was our most pressing challenges but iran was our greatest long-term challenge a possible a possible explanation for the force of the action against human all of these nations believe iran is the more pressing challenge and don't think of isil as the pressing challenge. >> i i can attest to the fact

the source also said that the stability of saudi arabia and the gcc countries is a high national joerian interest and that jordan supports the legitimate government in yemen formed and that includes all of the different parties in yemen. >>> u.s. secretary of state john kerry has been speaking with gulf ministers to discuss the military operation in yemen. he is in the swiss city where he has been meeting with iranian counterpart over the nuclear program. our diplomatic editor is there, and joins us live. are these talks being overshadowed by the fighting going on in yemen, james? >> reporter: in some ways yes, in some ways no. in terms of the full round table talks and there were two and a half hours of them here no it's not on the agenda the situation in yemen. they have been very strict throughout the long series of talks not to bring in the wider regional issues but on the sidelines, yes, you have an u.s. delegation, an iranian delegation living in the same hotel. so i am sure some talks have some up. they said we believe there is urgent need for dialogue without external interfer

he has assured gcc leaders that washington will not ignore their concerns while it pursues an agreementith iran. kerry flew to the meeting following three days of talks with his iranian counterpart in switzerland. first we go to jacky rowland who is in the swiss city where those nuclear talks took place. jacky no deal yet with iran but john kerry very keen to reassure the gulf countries about any potential deal. why is that? >> reporter: it's because they are concerned that any deal would leave iran with part of its nuclear infrastructure, and they are also concerned about the limited duration of a deal. they are worried about what would happen after the period of the accord was over. would iran then be in a position to start enriching uranium? would in fact this accord this deal possibly give iran a grace period that would even be to its advantages. these countries in the gulf are concerned about anything that could increase iran's position in the power balance within the region. the secretary of state has been seeking to say that wouldn't be the case any deal that would make it more u

so that's -- that's what we want to see is a return to the gcc initiative which would include presidenti as the legitimate president, but in which the houthis also would play a role. >> let's get some analysis from al jazeera's alan fisher with us in washington, d.c. what did you make of what we heard there alan? >> well i think he is reenforcing the point that it's important what happens in the skies above yemen actually results in a political settlement, and the saudis believe the best way of doing that is by convincing the houthis that militarily they won't win. everything seemed to be very rushed on wednesday into the early hours of thursday in yemen when the operation was launched. it is understood that the houthis were on the verge of taking the city of aden and that's when they put their plan into action and said we go now, and that is when the operation was launched. the u.s. will continue to provide intelligence and logistical support. the saudi ambassador has said he is very pleased with the support the u.s. has given, particularly politically, but it would appear that the sau

now can the gcc gulf corporation council in saudi arabia jet up from sirte into yemen. i doubt it. they have not fought a war for a long, long time. er it's not as if there is a ready-made force. even if they were going to do that, which i think would an bad idea, even if they do that, that's going to take some time. >> you make a good point about egypt, this possibility of sending in ground troops. and based on the history you say it's a valid point. do you think its just a threat from egypt or is there sincerity? >> i'm not buying it. you're right to put your finger on all of these. egypt's main effort is domestic not foreign. they've had a military coup turmoil and a lot of people who supported that military coup. there were people who voted for morsi and are are against the military coup. they don't have a lot of experience fighting, in the 1960s they were involved in the yemeni civil war and it went very bad for them. they lost thousands of troops and ended. using chemical weapons. that was back in the 1960s. what we're concerned about is they're concerned with is shifting val

, but we stress that riyadh is opening its door to all from yemen to meet under the umbrella of the gcc within the state's legitimacy reject the coup against it and stop threats from other countries. >> gulf states are nervous about the rise of iran, they feel iran's influence is creeping closer. by support of the houthis in the south. air strikes are now hitting positions just on the other side of that border joined by artillery from the saudi saudi side. fighter jets struck multiple targets, including command and control centers and weapons depo. dep depots. at the start of the military campaign urged arab leaders to stop their strikes. >> continuing dialogue is the best option to solve the problem and not the military strikes. i hope arab leaders don't bet on a losing horse. you've tried that horse for four years. i call on you to take dialogue and have mercy on the people of yemen from these barbaric strikes. >> that could fall on deaf ears. saleh is accused of taking the part of the houthis the outcome could affect yemen's political landscape. omar al saleh al jazeera. >> saudi ara

and i think, so the gcc countries are naturally predisposed to helping protect another gcc country.and then there's the relationships between the saudis and the egyptians and others are really what's driving their participation there. i would remind you, i know you are wel@ ]i e)rák ut the night we flew into syria for the first time we had five sunni arab-led nations fly in formation with us which is really unprecedented. we continue to see them offer support in terms of material support. they have offered to train and equip forces. throughout, they have remained with us in terms of flying strikes against syria. they have continued to participate in that now. as they begin to focus on the yemen problem, naturally because of resources, we'll probably see less of an effort in syria. >> you indicated you thought in response to earlier questioning that you thought that isil was our most pressing challenge but iran was our greatest long-term challenge. as a possible explanation for the force of the action against yemen, is that all of these nations believe that iran is the more pressing

decision but we stress that riyadh is opening its doors to meet meet under the ud the umbrella of the gcc rejecting the coup against it and stop threats against regional countries. >> reporter: the saudis, along with other sunni gulf and arab states are nervous about the rise of iran. they feel the iran's influence is creeping closer. support for the houthis in the south, air strikes are now hitting positions just on the other side of that border, joined by artillery from the saudi side. fighter jets on saturday struck multiple houthi targets including command and control centers and weapons depot. the coalition says its strikes were precise. yemen's president ali abdalla saleh said. >> translator: i hope arab leaders don't bet on a losing horse. you've tried that horse for four years. i call upon you to have dialogue and elections i urge you to have mercy on the people of yemen from these barbaric strikes. >> saleh is accused of fighting with the houthis. the outcometo could change yemen's political landscape and tip the balance of regional powers. omar al saleh. al jazeera. >>> a coalit

push these people towards dialogue table as expected, i any now withi think now we've got to see the gcc. unfortunately, they have been a little bit cut because of their hesitancy in taking a measure like that. >> so you think that they were taken by surprise by the speed of which the houthis could move, is that what you're suggesting? >> also, by the international reports. when they say that everybody has agreed to talk in doha, and then when indicators are pointing we're going back to the dialogue. no we're not. we've been saying all this time that ali abdullah saleh is a master of mischief. he's causing chaos. they will never allow stability. they are a minority, even if they represent the whole of the demography still they're a minority. >> president hadi, if it turns out he has gone, the state department said he has left his compound but they cannot confirm where he is, if he has left the country where does that leave the people who supported him? do they still rally around-- >> there is still a lot of resistence in many pockets everywhere. the whole situation will not be stable. ye

. >> this is what a gcc force would look like. member states bahrain qatar saudi arabia, are yawz uae. united arab emirates. threaten houthi informs against entering their territory. and adding more might to the fight could force yemen into sectarian war with foreign powers backing opposite sides. speaking in riyadh. countries in the region would take necessary steps. >> translator: we are keen on protecting yemen's sovereignty. led by president hadi alone. we are ready to respond to any request by the president. >> charlie angela al jazeera. >> in libya field commander with the armed group assured a council of benghazi, one of the main rebel commanders who fought former president moammar gadhafi's forces in the 2011 revolution. a fighter has been reportedly shot down over the city of zintan not recognized by the u.n. in the international community. it's not clear who or what brought the aircraft down. libyan media has reported that one pilot has been captured and another killed. after the 2011 revolution that ousted moammar gadha

>> again there, has been a gcc and u.s. process to address political issues in yemen. the united states has supported it, the international community has supported it. the u.n. security council has supported it. the way to address any concerns the houthis may have is through that u.n.-led process. it is that which they have spurned and taken continued military action, which has brought us to this point. >> foreign ministers will travel to switzerland on sunday according to russia after a telephone conversation between u.s. secretary of state john kerry and his russian counter part. british foreign secretary philip hammond said that he's hopeful that world powers can strike the right deal. >>> german prosecutors say they found a doctor's note excuseing a pilot from work on the day that he flew a plane into the mountain. that brings suspicions that he was hiding an illness when he crashed the plane killing 150. >> a president pays his respects. [ bells ringing. >> as more information emerge about the co-pilot of the crashed plane the head of state joined hundreds of peop

why does the gcc have a negative stanchion when it comes to the popular revolution?> the houthis have launched exercises near the border with saudi arabia and been strengthening ties with iran which is seen as a driving force behind the rebels. on thursday they agreed to expand and develop yemen's streetegic seaport. developments like this yemen's ousted president is trying to rebuild his power base from the eastern city of aden. the elected parliament has been thrown out. many mps are being held by the houthis. the u.n. is calling for their release. >> we are asking them, you know to play a positive role first by releasing the ministers who are still under house arrest. second, you know, by safeguarding the human rights of the yemenis. >> as more meetings on the country's future continue both inside and outside their country, thousands of yemenis took to the streets demanding the restoration of democracy. al jazeera. the u.n. says it needs another $29,000,000,000 to help syrians caught up in the conflict. the war is entering its 5th year. the u.n. says there are mil

. >> reporter: this is what a gcc force could look like. originally set up to respond to military forces from bahrain qatar and united arab emirates it is a force 100,000 strong. here tribal forces gather in shabwa province to threaten houthi forces entering their territory. could force yemen into sectarian war with foreign powers backing opposite sides. speaking in riyadh, saudi arabia arabia'ssaudiarabia'ssaudiarabia's patent andsaudi arabiaarabia's prime minister: >> they have the union many others who have come up strongly for president hadi. >> either way for the people caught in the middle, each day of fighting deepens the suffering in this impoverished country. charlie angela, al jazeera. >> the german chancellor angela merkel has told her greek counterpart city's that she wants greece to grow and be released from high unemployment. powrn has pledged to provide $2.1 billion to help ease greece's humanitarian crisis. crisis will give no money without reforms. this is something he will have to consider. >> our goal should be to make ne

>>reporter: this is what a gcc force could look like originally set up to respond to military aggression against member states bah rain kuwait qatar, saudi arabia, and the united united united arab emirates. but yemen could be forced into sectarian war with foreign powers backing opposite sides. speaking in rhiyad saudi's foreign minister said he hoped the conflict could be peacefully resolved but if not they would take action. >> the legitimacy of yemen represented by president hadi alone. we hope the crisis will be resolved quickly and are ready to respond to any demand at the president's request. >>reporter: either way, each day of fighting deepens the suffering in this poor country. >>> the greek prime minister has met the chancellor of germany for more talks on a greek bailout extension. in his first official visit to berlin he warned his country will not be able to meet debt payments without new help but the chancellor remained form there would be no new money without greek reform. >>reporter: he was received with the usual pomp and circumstance. once inside he spoke of the need to

intelligence he has mentioned, and he was also at the british parliament, he said that it would prove that the gcc have got to intervene. this was a week ago. it seemed that things were going that way but i think they are a little bit late. with the president stage as comeback, especially it was the houthi's lines towards the saudi arabia where they could be around that corner between saudi and yemen. >> thank you for your thoughts on the subject. thank you. >> iraqi forces have restarted to take the city of tikrit from the islamic state in iraq and the levant. this time with the help of airstrikes. iraq asked u.s. air support for its stalled operation to recapture saddam hussein's hometown. iraqi forces and shia fighters backed by iran have been trying to push isil out of tikrit for the past three weeks. >> let's get more now from tom ackerman. tell us more about the scale of this operation. >> well, u.s. officials have been very sparse in their description of the scope of the operation saying that american air support for both in terms of both surveillance for advise and assist operations and op

but also from the gcc. is it likely to have much of an affect effect on what's going on inside the country? >> no, the houthies are not going to pay any attention to that. they might feel more pressure from the regional power certainly. but anything that comes to the white house it means nothing to them. and obviously as we've seen in the last 4 hours they're pushing on, taking further territory, and they're not going to be worried about anything that the white house is saying. >> they've been taking further territory. how important is the air base. why if significant in the battle for control of aden. >> well, geographically it lies between taiz and aden. it's an important base and it would be necessary to dependent aden with radar equipment and things like that. the american forces were there since friday. they evacuated, left the country, and it was under the command of a a saleh loyalist at the time and then it was taken over and hadi had control of it, but now it seems to be back in the hands of the sa

the situation in yemen was in the hands of the gcc and we have seen the efforts that we have they have done during the last two years, trying to manage that swayings, trying to lead yemen into a peaceful transition to democracy. it's very clear that that effort has been stalled failed to some extent because of the houthi coo in yemen and saudi wants to make this an arab action instead of a gulf action. that gives them more legitimacy, more support more regional preparation and means to do this and i think they have -- i think it's a smart move on their part. >> one wonders if this is leading to some sort ofar ran realignment. who thought we would see yemenis holding pictures of a saudi king. loyalties are being redefined. >> alight is already there. in iraq, we see a chunk of iraqi people thinking iran is the savior and huge chunk of iraq people aligning with other forces. we have seen it in lebanon and syria but this is unprecedented when we compare it to what happened in these other countries, unprecedented action taken by the saudis and their allies in the gulf and now we have seen

and i think the saudis and with -- with other gcc countries, i think other arab countries like egypt would say to some extent they start feeling the heat and they had to do something especially on the absence of the united states and the united states basically just focus on the nuclear issue. and that context i see that move saudi arabia started yesterday just to respond to all of this and to say to iran stop this is enough. this is to initiate and decide who is winning and who is losing. iran lost the tikrit battle last week in ike r -- iraq, and they had to withdraw their troops. so i see that those -- >> right, but this is an interesting point here some of these countries which are fighting or resisting perhaps some of the iranian influence and the groups backed by iran are also supposed to be fighting groups like isil which also are supposed to be opposed to iranian-backed groups. can they make a push against isil when they are focusing on al-qaeda and hezbollah. >> i think the priorities are shifting. i think they now -- they feel that sectarianism is -- is becoming serious thr

so that's -- that's what we want to see is a return to the gcc initiative which would include presidentas the legitimate president, but in which the houthis also would play a role. >>> al jazeera has condemned an attack by houthi rebels in its sana'a news bureau. fighters smashed through the front door destroying security cameras and ransacking office content. in a statement al jazeera said: yemen's president has rived in egypt for an arab league summit on saturday. he has joined overheads of state. the crisis of his country will dominate discussions there along with the unrest and fighting in syria, iraq and libya. >>> i'm joined now by a senior political analyst who is live in our london studio. always good to -- good to talk to you. let's start with the ongoing saudi-lead military strikes. do you think they can achieve their objective of defeating the houthis? >> well certainly the primary on yektive for the time being, which is destroying their air defenses and military bases and some of their concentration of troops have succeeded simply because saudi arabia and its allies have air

last few minutes that john kerry has made a phone call to all the foreign ministers in the gulf, the gcc the gulf corporation council, the reinennal body. he's spoken to all their foreign ministers, including iman. he commended the work of the coalition taking action against the houthis and noted the u.s.'s support for those coalition efforts. then, as we were just discuss patty, he said that the u.s. was providing support intelligence sharing, targeting assistance and advisory and logistical support for strikes houthis. >> back to the nuclear talks willle developments in yemen affect these talks? >> i don't think they'll have any developments around the actual negotiating table because all sides have been very strict that the negotiations around the table are about iran's nuclear program. there are many other regional issues that involve iran and the west enter the very many months of these negotiations. a little earlier on, the head of iran's atomic energy agency came for a nice walk around the lake here and i managed to ask a few questions about the state have negotiations and the abo

>> well again, there has been a gcc initiative and a u.n.d process to address political issues in yemen. the united states has supported it. the international community has supported it. the u.n. security council has supported

iran and we will all need to be working on the ways in which -- and this is exactly what we're doing, gccembers will be coming here to washington to continue the dialogue we had in the region last week and i'm confident that we will -- all of us together take the steps necessary to counter what iran is doing in other ways. >> my final point is i'm not seeing the full commitment out of this administration, as a result, we're seeing the growing very dangerous influence of iran. >> senator kaine. thank you. we are now in the eighth month of a war that began on the 8th of august. there has not been an congressional authorization of the war. there has been no floor debate and i view that as highly highly challenging and disturbing in terms of the way the nation makes the most grave decision we are supposed to make. count me among many members of congress and others who believe that both the '01 and '02 authorization are not sufficient to cover this authorization. if we authorize it there is precedent after the beginning of military conflicts. but if we do not act to authorize it i think from a

. >> reporter: this is what a gcc force could look like and originally set up to respond to militaryssion by bahrain and kuwait and kwa shaktar and united arab emirates and it's 100,000 strong and made fighters of everyday men and here tribal forces gather in the province to threaten houthi forces against entering their territory and adding more might to the fight could force yemen in sectarian war with foreign powers backing opposite sides. speaking in ryaahd he thinks it could be peacefully resolved but if not countries of the region could take necessary steps. >> translator: we are keen on protecting yemen sovereignty, legitimacy regarded by president hadi alone and hope the crisis can be resolved peacefully and ready to respond to demand at president's response. >> reporter: people caught in the middle each day of fighting deepens the suffering in this country. >>> talks between libya factions are set to resume on thursday and special envoy is working to a unity government because despite the falks fighting continues and the field commander for malitia that backs tripoli has been

i think the gcc countries are naturally predisposed. they are really driving the participation. i would remind you, i know you are well aware of this, but the night we flew into syria for the first time we had five sunni led arab nations fly information with us, which is really unprecedented. we continue to see them offer support in terms of material support. they have offered to train and equip forces. throughout, they have remained with us in terms of flying strikes against syria. they have continued to participate as they begin to focus on the yemen problem. we will probably see less of an effort in syria. >> you indicated you thought isil was our most trusting challenge but i ran was our greatest long-term challenge. all of these nations believe iran is the more pressing challenge, and they don't think of isil as the same kind of pressing challenge they view when they look at iran. general austin: i can attest to the fact that they do see eye soul -- isil as a pressing challenge. the geography associated with this is a direct threat to their homeland. >> each of you work in

. >> reporter: this is what a gcc force could look like. it's a force 100,000 strong.ibal forces gather to threaten houthi forces against entering their territory. and adding more might to the fight could force yemen in to sectarian war with foreign powers backing opposite sides. speaking saudi's foreign minister hopes the conflict could be peacefully resolved. if not countries of the region would take necessary steps. >> translator: we are keen on protecting yemen's sovereignty. the legitimacy of recommend en represented by president hadi alone, we hope the crisis can be resolved peaceful i we are ready to respond to any demand at the president's request. >> reporter: each day of fighting deepens the suffering in this impoverished country. charlie angela, al jazerra. >>> talks twine libya's rival factions set to resume on wednesday. u.n. says they are working towards a unity government. despite the talks the fighting continues, a prominent field commander which backs the trib lee government has been killed by rival fighters. he was killed on monday by forces loyal to

to lead yemen to implementation of the national dialogue outcomes and completion of the task of the gccive. >> reporter: taking power back from the houthis is not going to be eads i their leader has accused a key political party of colluding with al qaeda. his fighters still hold the prime minister and other yemeni politicians in the capital sanaa. on the other side yemeni leaders called the houthis iran's thugs for hire. the separatists among them are dozens of factions who are unclear whether they want to be part of yemen. among all of this the people of yemen are faced with a deteriorating political and security situation. this protest by medical staff was against the kidnap of their colleague and a french woman. the hope and the resolution of the crisis hinges on the ability of those wielding power to talk to each other. mohamed, al jazerra. aden. >>> libya's internationally recognized parliament has agreed to return to u.n.-brokered peace talks with its rival government following a meet with this u.n. an say stojakovic to libya. they say they will meet for talks only if it's recogn

the gcc the united nations and all the yemeni political parties in yemen they see the houthis as a main and integral part of the political landscape in yemen and nobody can exclude them. >> omar, thank you very much for that. that's omar al saleh speaking to us on the houthi rebels' influence in yemen. >>> now, the saudi arabia january ambassador to the u.s. says that the operation military operation is not limited to any specific part in yemen. so far air strikes have targeted both sanaa and the port city of aden. now in sanaa the presidential palace, police and special forces headquarters have been bombed attacks were also launch odd sanaa's airport and nearby air base in aden, the air base was targeted. now, the current crisis in yemen can also be viewed in terms of competing regional interests. iran has been accused of backing its shia houthi proxies in their advance through yemen. teheran has also said to have supplied weapons and logistical support for the group. this has irked saudi arabia. now the saudis have supported different groups at different time in generally including th

>> i think the support is from nations that are typically follow the saudi line, these are gcc countries who air very similar feelings towards yemen. you have jordan, which is always dependent on saudi support and ground support which we saw surprising is the participation of pakistan, the pakistani forces arrived in saudi arabia just a few days ago. and the pakistani chief of staff was in saudi arabia about 10 days ago and meeting with the saudi minister of defense. so, of course, the u.s. is part of that coalition, because they are providing logistic the and intelligence and they have done that in 2009. so i think the saudis have so far been able to get that number of -- and egypt obviously too is providing support at least. i think they have been able to get that support because of these reasons. but this coalition might not end up standing especially i think in the next few days where new surprises will come if the yemenis, because people talking about this is a strike on the houthis, you know salah is not a huge and i his palace was attacked. if you go back to 29, you saw saudis bom

we've worked very closely with the gcc. we've put in place different capabilities that strengthen their ability to deal with problems. we are working with the gcc as an entity. in fact, one of the things that we did in terms of arms, the supply of arms and weapons, they can be treated as an entity for the pump of acquiring arms from the united states. so all of that will continue as long as the activities that iran is pursuing continues. let me just add two things without exaggerating. first of all, inherently, the biggest threat to stability in the region would be iran armed with a nuclear weapon. so to the extent the agreement takes that off the table, that is profoundly in the interests not only of the united states but also of countries in the region. second, i think that there are some elements in iran that are trying to approach their policies around the world in a somewhat more pragmatic fashion. not because they are necessarily good guys or like us, but because they see it as in iran's interests. to the extent that

the gcc coalition members here and you have egypt and jordan saying they will also get involved as well. we have seen air strikes on houthis militia strongholds in saana. the capital city overnight reports of heavy bombing there. the saudis say they bombed two air bases taken over in recent days by houthis militia request. this is a sheer minority believed to be backed by the iranians which saudi arabia is as you can imagine very concerned about. there are two complications here christine, i think. we have already seen al qaeda and isis capitalizing on the power vacuum in the country with deadly attacks over recent days. for example, on mosques in saana. the other consequence is what happens to the u.s./iranian talks at present. the u.s. backing president hadi as the houthi militia surged toward aden. we believe he has fled the country along with the regional diplomats based in aden. concerned about the arabian influence in the country on the state of chaos on the southern border. the great foe, iran and the influence it has there, of critical importance to the saudis. as i say in the b

countries, and this is a very blunt demonstration and what they're trying to say is they don't need the gcc or the west and they can have relations with countries like iran and russia in addition to china in order to back the economy. >> although there will be some who, of course say doesn't this move just simply prove that iran was backing them all along? >> i think iran and huthies have interests, they need friends and iran is more than willing to have a power that they're friendly with creating issues on saudi arabia's southern border. and i think you have these things coinciding. at the end of the day, do they have very friendly relations with iran? yes, absolutely. >> on that note medical aid and people, that's what we see going in today as cargo. the fear is of course that weapons and fighters will follow. >> i think when it comes down to it, it's an open question, what's going to be following in. i think you do see -- the key thing now when you look at the government delegation is heading to it. there's an aim for capacity building in the government of yemen. they have lost quite a b

and we along with the gcc ministers from the secretary spoke to today see political negotiations as theway to resolve the crisis. >> thanks for being here in the studio today. so the administration calls yemen a success story. they have continued to call it a success story, even though we have seen now a second president having to flee the country, now we have saudi arabia one of our allies helping us out there, but what does this all mean for the entire region? >> for me there's a strategic and there's a tactical question here, but one needs to look at the geo political realities of the terrain. all the gulf coiloil producers in that area have to go by the gulf of aiden over to the suez canal. so decide the oil revenues and the market driving regions why they did that we all know that iran has supported the houthi rebels, and i think that's the conglomerate, the dominating force there, having the shiite, an iranian backed -- >> the houthis are being -- it seems like we're playing both sides of the equation and by the way we're trying to do a nuclear deal as well. >> i think the preside

. >> this is what a gcc force could look like. originally set up to respond to member states bahrain qatar saudi arabia and the yawb yawr united arab emirates. adding more might to the fight could force yemen into sectarian war with for powers back opposite sides. peeking in repeekingspeekingspeaking in re riyadh,. >> we hope the conflict can be resolved peacefully and we are ready to respond to the president's request. >> caught in the middle. each day of fighting deepens the suffering in this country. charlie angela, al jazeera. >> still cooperating on security matters even though u.s. has withdrawn even the special forces that remain. >> true that that coordination would be more effective if there were u.s. personnel in the country. doesn't mean that this coordination has been eliminated but it would be more effective if u.s. personnel were allowed to remain in that country. >> also today the white house dended president obama's statement that yemen is a model for fighting terrorism even though country appears to be spiraling t

. >> this is what a gcc force could look like. originallyoriginally set up to respond to groups of 100,000 strong. but this conflict has already made fighters of every day men. here tribal forces gather in the problems to threaten houthi forces from entering their territory. adding more might to the fight could force yemen into sectarian war with rival forces peacefully resolved if not countries of the region would take necessary steps. >> they have commenced very fiercely for president hadi. the gulf organizations and political end and the union and many others who have come up strongly for president hadi. >> either way the people caught in the middle, each day of fighting deepens the suffering in this impoverished country. charlie angela, al jazeera. >> saudi foreign minister there says his country would do whatever it was asked to do by president hadi in yemen. a yemen specialist with the overseas institute does that mean sending in the troops as soon as possible? >> sending in the troops is one thing. but air strikes against t