Controls on airports, government offices and embassies. U.S. and British embassies have been evacuated. Possible attacks on ports and liquid gas plants. Sana'a criticizes the U.S. for forcing embassy staff to flee. People in the United States, critical of Obama: Al Qaeda threat attempt to cover up Snowden scandal.

Sana'a (AsiaNews) - Yemeni security forces are on high alert for possible attacks by Al Qaeda. Troops and tanks surround the government offices, the airport of the capital, and foreign embassies. The United States and Britain have evacuated their embassies and advised their nationals to leave the country, after the alarm raised days ago, which led to the closure of diplomatic missions in more than 20 Islamic countries.

Yemen is the base of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqpa) and in the month of June has suffered several losses in military interventions by the local army and U.S. forces. According to U.S. intelligence sources, the militant organization is restructuring and upgrading, and in recent days several al-Qaeda leaders have arrived in Sana'a. The White House and the State Department speak of interceptions between the head of Al Qaeda, the Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri and some local leaders who, for the New York Times, are Yemeni Aqpa leaders.

The Sana'a government spokesman said that in the past 48 hours the army has foiled several attacks. There were plans to take control of two ports in the south and a possible attack on a gas liquid plant in Shabua. Nevertheless, the Yemeni government has criticized the U.S. decision to empty the embassy and evacuate personal and countrymen, saying that "the evacuation of embassy staff plays into the hands of extremists."

High profile personalities at home in the US level even harsher criticism toward the White House choice to close more than 20 embassies in the Islamic world. The suspicion is that the threat of Al Qaeda is being used to cover the scandal revealed by Edward Snowden, according to whom the phones and emails of hundreds of millions of Americans are under control by the NSA (National Security Agency).

After the warning given by the U.S. and backed by President Barack Obama, many leaders of Congress, Republicans and Democrats, have praised NSA, without which the country "would be less safe" and "the nation at risk."

Patrick Martin, writing for the Information Clearing House, defines the alert for embassies and American tourists "a campaign of fear," and points out some contradictions of the U.S. administration, wondering why Al Qaeda is an enemy in Yemen and in the other 20 states but in Syria the U.S. cooperates with fundamentalists linked to Al Qaeda against Assad and supported fundamentalist guerrillas in Libya.

Asia Times columnist, Pepe Escobar, points out instead that the U.S. administration, has not included Pakistan and Indonesia in the list of embassies to evacuate, two hotbeds of Islamic terrorism

 

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