Region

ADEN — Shiite militia in Yemen seized the airport in a key central city Sunday as deteriorating security prompted Washington to evacuate personnel and the UN Security Council to call an emergency session.

The Security Council was to meet later Sunday after President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi called for "urgent intervention" amid mounting unrest, including suicide bombings claimed by the Deash terror group that killed 142 people in the capital Sanaa on Friday.

Impoverished but strategic Yemen has descended into chaos in recent months, with the Shiite militia, known as Houthis, seizing control of Sanaa and forcing Hadi to flee to the main southern city of Aden.

The Arabian Peninsula country is increasingly divided between a north controlled by the Houthis, who are allegedly backed by Iran, and a south dominated by Hadi's allies.

On Sunday the Houthis and their allies seized the airport in Taez, which is just 180 kilometres north of Aden on the road to Sanaa and seen as a strategic entry point to Hadi's refuge.

Security sources told AFP some 300 men, including Houthi fighters dressed in military uniforms and allied forces, had deployed at the airport and reinforcements were arriving from Sanaa by air and land.

The forces allied with the Houthis included members of the former central security force, a unit seen as loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Saleh was forced from power in early 2012 after a year-long popular uprising and has been accused of working with the Houthis to restore his influence. 

Protester killed 

Security sources said Houthi militiamen were also patrolling parts of Taez and had set up checkpoints in Raheda, some 80 kilometres south of the city on the road to Aden.

A military source said troops loyal to Hadi and southern paramilitary forces had meanwhile deployed in Lahj province north of Aden, in anticipation of a possible Houthi advance.

Houthi militiamen killed one protester in Taez when they opened fire to disperse thousands of people demanding that the rebels withdraw, activists said.

Elsewhere, six tribesmen were killed in Qania, in Marib province, in a clash with Houthis advancing towards the eastern province, a tribal source said. The source claimed that 30 militiamen were killed.

AFP could not verify the death tolls with an independent source.

Hadi, backed by Western and Gulf states as Yemen's legitimate ruler, has struggled to reassert his authority since escaping house arrest in Sanaa last month and fleeing to Aden.

In a letter to the Security Council, he said the Houthis and their allies "not only threaten peace in Yemen but regional and international peace and security".

He called for "urgent intervention by all available means to stop this aggression that is aimed at undermining the legitimate authority, the fragmentation of Yemen and its peace and stability”.

Hadi has been trying to cement his power base in Aden which he declared the temporary capital after he retracted a resignation tendered under Houthi pressure. 

Iranian influence 

On Thursday, his forces overran the special forces base in Aden after its commander rejected Hadi's decision to remove him.

On Saturday he pledged to fight Iranian influence in Yemen, accusing the Houthis of importing Tehran's ideology.

Hadi said he would ensure that "the Yemeni republic flag will fly on the Marran mountain in [the Houthis' northern stronghold] Saada, instead of the Iranian flag.”

Yemen is increasingly divided along sectarian lines, with the Shiite militia facing resistance from Sunni tribesmen and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the powerful branch of the global jihadist network.

The Houthis were targeted on Friday by Daesh, which claimed responsibility for a series of devastating suicide bombings at mosques in Sanaa.

Yemen has long been a key US ally in the fight against Islamic extremism, allowing Washington to carry out drone strikes on AQAP on its territory.

But in statement on Saturday, Washington said it was evacuating its remaining personnel.

"Due to the deteriorating security situation in Yemen, the US government has temporarily relocated its remaining personnel out of Yemen," State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said.

Washington would "continue to actively monitor terrorist threats emanating from Yemen and have capabilities postured in the area to address them", Rathke said.

BEIRUT — Islamist rebels in Syria captured four crew members Sunday when a regime helicopter crashed in the northwest province of Idlib, a monitor said, while a fifth serviceman was killed.

“A regime helicopter was forced to land in the region of Jabal Al Zawiya in the northwest, which is a bastion of (Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate) Al Nusra Front,” Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.

“Four of the crew were captured and a fifth man was killed by armed men in a neighbouring village,” he said.

Pictures provided by the observatory showed groups of men gathering around a damaged helicopter lying on its side on a rocky hilltop.

Syrian state television confirmed that a military helicopter had crashed in Idlib, saying it was due to a technical failure and that search efforts to locate the crew were ongoing.

Abdel Rahman said two of the servicemen were being held by Al Nusra Front, while the other two were captured by an unknown Islamist group.

At least one more crew member was believed to be on the run, he said.

Regime helicopters are often used to drop crudely constructed barrel bombs on rebel-held areas.

RABAT — Morocco said Sunday it dismantled a "terrorist cell" and seized weapons earmarked for a string of assassinations in a nationwide operation targeting supporters of Daesh terror group.

The announcement follows last Wednesday's attack on the national museum in the capital of fellow North African state Tunisia, claimed by Daesh, that killed 20 foreign tourists and a policeman.

The interior ministry said the operation was carried out by a newly formed judicial investigations agency but did not specify the timing or the number of arrests.

Raids were carried out in several cities including Agadir in southwest Morocco, Marrakesh in the south, Boujaad in the centre, Tangiers in the north, Ain Harouda near Casablanca and in the Western Sahara.

"Firearms and a large amount of ammunition" to be used "to assassinate political, military and civilian figures", were seized near Agadir, the ministry said, quoted by the official MAP news agency.

It said members of the dismantled network had pledged allegiance to Daesh and vowed to target the Moroccan security forces and send recruits to fight in Syria and Iraq.

WASHINGTON — The United States is confident it can prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons even if the Islamic republic pulls out of talks, CIA Director John Brennan said in remarks broadcast Sunday.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Brennan said America has multiple measures at its disposal to ensure Iran doesn't become a nuclear power.

"There are a number of things that the United States has available to it to prevent Iran from getting a bomb," the director of the Central Intelligence Agency said.

Iran and six world powers are in negotiations to clinch a landmark deal that would have the country scale back its disputed nuclear programme in return for relief from sanctions.

"President Obama has made it very clear that we are going to prevent Iran from having that type of nuclear weapon that they were ... going on the track to obtain," Brennan added.

"So, if they decide to go down that route, they know that they will do so at their peril."

In response to a question about America's track record in monitoring Iran's nuclear programme, Brennan acknowledged that US intelligence had historically been less than ideal on the issue.

"I think we've gone to school on some of those developments over the last decade or so," he said.

"We can now have a better plan and opportunity to verify some of the things that they are saying they are going to do and not do."

Asked about reports of an underground nuclear site near Tehran, Brennan said: "I am confident that we have a good understanding of what the Iranian nuclear programme entails."

When asked if he was concerned about the possibility of a regional arms race, Brennan said partners in the Gulf, including Saudi Arabia, are confident the United States can act as a regional security guarantor.

"We are going to keep close communication, I'm confident the Saudis will be a responsible partner and player in the region," Brennan said.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM/PARIS — Top Israeli envoys were sent to confer with French officials on Sunday about preventing what Israel considers an unfavourable nuclear deal with Iran after tensions surfaced between France and the United States over negotiation strategy.

Though France has demanded more stringent restrictions than other Western delegations during talks with Iran, one French diplomat played down Israel's sway in Paris, saying that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had overplayed his hand in a March 3 speech to the US Congress.

France, the United States and four other world powers suspended negotiations with Iran in Switzerland on Friday and are to reconvene next week to try to break the deadlock over sensitive atomic research and lifting of sanctions before a March 31 deadline for a framework deal.

Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz, however, told Israel Radio that he is flying to Paris at short notice and may also hold meetings with other European nations to re-state his country's concerns.

"This is an effort to prevent a [nuclear] deal that is bad and full of loopholes, or at least ... to succeed in closing or amending some of these loopholes," said Steinitz, who is being accompanied by Israeli National Security Adviser Joseph Cohen.

Officials in Israel, which is not a party to the negotiations but feels especially threatened by the possibility of a nuclear-armed Iran, have long described France as the negotiating power with views closest to Israel's.

Steinitz credited France with including curbs on Iran's mid-level enrichment of uranium to 20 per cent fissile purity in the preliminary nuclear deal agreed in November 2013. "The French helped us a great deal," he said.

Frayed ties

At one point during the latest negotiations French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius phoned his team to ensure that it made no more concessions, officials at the talks said last week. And on Saturday Fabius said France wants an agreement that would guarantee that Iran could not produce a nuclear weapon.

Iran, meanwhile, says that its nuclear programme is for peaceful needs only.

Israel's ties to its main ally, the United States, have frayed over Netanyahu's lobbying against the prospective Iran deal. Many of US President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats boycotted Netanyahu's March 3 speech in Congress, which had been arranged by Republicans.

One senior French diplomat said that Netanyahu's speech, in which he reiterated his demand for a total rollback of Iranian nuclear technologies, had diminished Israel's clout. Paris is also unhappy with long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

"Israel has marginalised itself. In November 2013 we were working with them and they played the game. They didn't take unrealistic positions," the diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

"But here they have gone too far. We told them to play their part so they could influence a final accord, but they have taken unrealistic positions."

US officials have privately bristled at France's outspoken criticism of the negotiating process and its demands for more stringent restrictions on Iran. Officials have expressed concerns that France might block a deal at the United Nations.

France's envoy to Washington, Gerard Araud, has been particularly vocal, tweeting that the setting of a March 31 deadline for a framework deal was "a bad tactic" and "counterproductive".

The target date for a full agreement is June 30 and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has played down the importance of the end-of-March deadline, saying that the priority is to seal a comprehensive deal by July.

TUNIS — Tunisia is hunting a third suspect in the massacre of tourists at its national museum, President Beji Caid Essebsi said on Sunday, after admitting security failures at the Bardo.

"Definitely there were three," Essebsi told France media iTele television and Europe 1 radio.

"Two were killed, but there is one who is now on the run," he said. "In any case, he will not get very far."

Wednesday's attack on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis killed 20 foreign tourists and a policeman, and was the first assault claimed by the Daesh group in the North African country.

It came as Tunisia — the birthplace of the Arab Spring that held its first free elections last year — struggles with rising Islamist extremism.

On Saturday, authorities released CCTV footage showing two black-clad gunmen with automatic weapons walking unimpeded though a large lobby in the Bardo, just after noon.

The grainy footage then shows the gunmen passing an unidentified male. They point an automatic weapon at him briefly before allowing him to flee as they make their way up a staircase.

After rampaging through the museum for several hours, the two gunmen were killed in an assault by security forces.

The interior ministry said on Saturday it had issued an arrest warrant for Maher Ben Moudli Kaidi, a Tunisian suspect described as a "dangerous terrorist element". 

Guards having coffee  

More than 10 other people believed to be directly, or indirectly, linked to the carnage were also arrested, the ministry's spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said, without naming them.

Officials have admitted that guards tasked with protecting the museum and the nearby parliament were having coffee at the time of the assault.

Essebsi acknowledged that more could have been done to prevent the attack, which raised fears for tourism which represents 8 per cent of Tunisia's gross domestic product.

Museum curator Moncef Ben Moussa told AFP on Sunday the Bardo would reopen on Tuesday and that all of its the artefacts were "intact".

Tourism is also a key foreign currency earner for Tunisia's embattled economy.

Essebsi admitted "there were failures" in the country's security mechanism, in an interview with French weekly Paris Match.

"The police and intelligence were not systematic enough to ensure the safety of the museum," he said.

But he also insisted his security forces were quick to respond after the attack and to prevent further deaths.

"We were there 10 minutes later," he told iTele and Europe 1.

Essebsi also vowed that an anti-terrorism law "will be voted rapidly".

"Libya is one of our problems," he said.

Officials said the gunmen killed at the Bardo had trained in neighbouring Libya, where Daesh has militant camps and is battling local militia for control of the country's oil wealth.

Both Tunisia and Libya have seen an upsurge in Islamist extremism since separate uprisings that toppled veteran strongmen in 2011.

But Tunisia has taken pride in forming a democratic government — in marked contrast to Libya or Egypt, which has also been shaken by turmoil since its 2011 revolt.

Daesh terror group has threatened more attacks in Tunisia.

The dead tourists were four Italians, three Japanese, three French, two Spaniards, a Colombian, an Australian-Colombian, a British woman, a Belgian woman, three Poles and a Russian.

On Sunday, Essebsi laid a wreath at the museum for the victims of the massacre, who include a Tunisian policeman.

The attack in the heart of Tunis was unprecedented.

But dozens of police and military personnel have been killed in attacks blamed on Islamists, who are battling the army in the Mount Chaambi region near the Algerian border.

Tunisia's newspapers on Sunday demanded that the authorities do more to combat extremism.

"What's essential now is to really take action," French-language daily Le Quotidien wrote, including more controls at mosques "under the influence of uncontrollable religious fanatics".

Le Temps called for "urgent draconian measures" and withdrawing Tunisian citizenship from "terrorists who pledge allegiance to the enemy".

Authorities say as many as 3,000 Tunisians have gone to Iraq, Syria and Libya to join Daesh and other jihadist groups, raising fears of returning battle-hardened militants plotting attacks.

Essebsi said there are "sleeper cells" that must be identified.

Istanbul — A group of British medical students of Sudanese origin who went missing after travelling to Turkey are feared to have crossed into Syria to join Daesh terror group as doctors, reports and sources said on Sunday.

The families of the students have travelled to the Turkey-Syria border in a desperate appeal for them to return home before it is too late, a Turkish opposition MP said.

According to reports in Britain's The Guardian newspaper and the BBC, the nine young British medical students flew to Istanbul from the Sudanese capital Khartoum on March 12 and then overland towards Syria.

They have been joined by two other medics from the United States and Canada, also of Sudanese origin, the BBC said.

A Turkish MP from the Republican People's Party (CHP) Mehmet Ali Ediboglu, who represents the Hatay region bordering Syria, wrote on his Facebook page that he was helping the families in their search.

"Eleven doctors — nine British and two Sudanese — came to Turkey a week ago to join ISIS [Daesh]," he said.

"The families of the young people have been in Turkey to search for them and bring them back," he added.

"Our greatest hope is to save the doctors from ISIS and reunite them with their families."

Ediboglu said the families had travelled to the city of Gaziantep, which has been seen as a key gateway for militants travelling to Syria.

He posted photographs of the nine British citizens — five men and four women — some proudly posing in academic dress on graduation day.

Ahmed Babikir, students' dean at Khartoum's private University of Medical Sciences told AFP five students university were missing after travelling to Turkey.

"They all have British passports and are of Sudanese origin," he said.

"Their families have travelled after them to stop them from joining IS [Daesh]. We are not able to confirm they have crossed into Syria."

The British Foreign Office meanwhile said: "We are providing consular assistance to their families and we have informed the Turkish police to try and ascertain their whereabouts."

Turkey has repeatedly been accused by its Western partners of not doing enough to halt the flow of extremists aiming to join Daesh jihadists, who have captured swathes of Iraq and Syria.

It was sharply criticised over the failure to stop three British teenage girls who crossed the Turkey-Syria border to join Daesh in February.

However in the last week it has deported back to Britain a young British woman and three male British teenagers who were suspected of trying to travel to Syria.

ISTANBUL — An unprecedented rift emerged Sunday between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the government over the handling of the peace process to end the decades-long armed struggle by Kurdish militants.

A senior minister told Erdogan to stop interfering and making "emotional" statements but the president snapped back that he had no intention of staying out of politics.

In remarks published in pro-Erdogan newspapers Sunday, the president said a meeting between the government and pro-Kurdish lawmakers three weeks ago to announce a call for disarmament was "not appropriate".

The dispute is the most significant yet since Erdogan took the presidency in August 2014 after over a decade as premier, although analysts have noted increasing tensions between himself and hand-picked Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

"His [Erdogan's] statements like 'I did not like that' or 'I'm not happy about that' are emotional and are his own views," said Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc.

"The peace process is being carried out by the government and the government is responsible for this question," said Arinc, the official cabinet spokesman.

His remarks were seen as a stinging rebuke to Erdogan, and the independent T24 news website said the dispute had become the most serious internal crisis in the more than 12-year rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Erdogan hit back by saying late Saturday: "I consult with my people on every issue. I am the president."

The dispute stems from a government plan to create a monitoring committee to oversee the process to end the decades-long conflict with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Erdogan strongly disputes the idea, arguing that Turkey's National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) should handle the whole issue.

The president meanwhile expressed anger at a joint public appearance at the Dolmabahce Palace — the office of the prime minister in Istanbul — on February 28 by Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan and pro-Kurdish lawmakers.

Sirri Sureyya Onder, a lawmaker from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party read out a message at that meeting from jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan urging the group to lay down its arms.

"I did not find the meeting that was held there to be right. I did not think the picture of the deputy prime minister side-by-side with a parliamentary faction was appropriate," Erdogan said.

Ocalan on Saturday issued a new statement marking the traditional Kurdish New Year, calling for a congress to end the rebellion but falling short of setting a clear timetable for PKK disarmament.

TUNIS — Tunisian authorities have arrested more than 20 suspected militants following the Bardo museum attack when gunmen killed foreign tourists, leading to a nationwide security crackdown, the government said on Saturday.

Hundreds of Tunisians gathered for a mass in the cathedral in Tunis on Saturday, lighting candles to remember the victims — 20 foreign tourists and three Tunisians — in a ceremony attended by government ministers.

Outside, there was a heavy police presence along the capital's central Habib Bourguiba boulevard. But the city was calm with a music festival planning to continue with its concerts in the city centre.

Wednesday's assault — the most deadly attack involving foreigners in Tunisia since a 2002 suicide bombing in Djerba — came at a fragile moment for a country just emerging to full democracy after a popular uprising four years ago.

The government said the two gunmen had trained in jihadi camps in Libya before the attack at the museum inside the heavily secured Tunisian parliament compound. Japanese, French, Polish, Italian and Colombian visitors were among the victims.

Authorities have arrested more than 20 suspected militants, including 10 believed to be directly involved in the Bardo attack, interior ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said.

"There is a large-scale campaign against the extremists," he said.

The interior ministry also released a photograph of another suspect and asked Tunisians to help with information.

The government plans to deploy the army to major cities to improve security following the shootings.

Daesh militants have claimed responsibility for the attack, but social media accounts tied to an Al Qaeda-affiliated group in Tunisia have also published details purported to be about the operation.

Whoever was responsible, the Bardo attack illustrates how Islamist militants are turning their attention to North Africa, especially in neighbouring Libya where two rival governments battle for control allowing Daesh to gain a foothold.

The United States is increasingly worried about the growing presence of Daesh militants in Libya.

US officials said that because of its strategic position, Libya has become a springboard for would-be fighters from across North Africa wanting to link up with Daesh. They could travel from there to Syria for frontline experience.

Four years after a popular revolt toppled autocrat Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia has completed its transition to democracy with free elections, a new constitution and compromise politics between secular and Islamist parties.

But the attack threatens to hit the economy of a country that is heavily reliant on foreign tourists to its beach resorts and desert treks. Authorities have tightened security at hotels and tourist spots.

"This attack will have an impact, no doubt. But so far we have only had a small number of cancellations," Tourism Minister Salma Loumi told Reuters. "On the contrary, we are seeing support from Western countries and travel agencies."

WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama, who once famously said he would "always have Israel's back", may be rethinking that promise as aides begin weighing options in response to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's pre-election disavowal of a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.

Following Obama's warning that the United States would "reassess" its relationship with Israel, the administration is not only reconsidering the diplomatic cover it has long given Israel at the United Nations but is also looking at a range of other possibilities to put pressure on its historically close ally, US officials said.

Those could include becoming less active in protecting Israel in international forums and finding new ways to reinforce the message of US opposition to Jewish settlement expansion.

As internal discussions proceeded on Friday, the White House appeared in no rush to lower the temperature in the worst US-Israeli crisis in decades, sparked by Netanyahu's campaign declaration that there would be no Palestinian state on his watch.

The White House made clear for a second straight day that it had little faith in Netanyahu's effort to backtrack since winning Tuesday's election and insist he was in favour of a two-state solution, long a cornerstone of US Middle East policy.

There was no sign of any imminent move to turn the administration's heated rhetoric against Netanyahu into a tangible shift in policy.

As a result, some analysts questioned whether Washington was merely posturing to put the Israeli leader on the defensive at a time when an end-of-March deadline looms in US-led nuclear diplomacy with Iran that Netanyahu vehemently opposes.

"The administration is putting everything on the table except security assistance — and this will allow Netanyahu time to walk back his comments more credibly," said Daniel Kurtzer, former US ambassador to Israel. "I would also not expect any decisions before the situation with respect to the Iran negotiations becomes clearer."

US officials privately were mindful of the risk that the diplomatic storm could drive a deeper wedge between the administration and the influential US pro-Israel camp and cause problems for Obama's fellow Democrats as the 2016 presidential campaign approaches.

One US official voiced scepticism that the administration would shift its stance toward Israel in any substantive way, arguing that despite White House annoyance at Netanyahu, there would likely be too high a domestic political cost to pay for alienating pro-Israel Americans.

"I just don't believe in the reassessment," said this official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of US relations with Israel.

But Dennis Ross, Obama's former top Middle East adviser, said the White House pressure had other motives as well.

"There's an effort to apply leverage to the Israelis to get the prime minister to move on some things when he has a new government formed," Ross said, citing a US wish to see Israel release frozen Palestinian tax funds and take other goodwill gestures.

Reconsidering US shield at UN

Among the most serious risks for Israel would be a shift in Washington's posture at the United Nations.

The United States has long stood in the way of Palestinian efforts to get a UN resolution recognising its statehood, including threatening to use its veto, and has protected Israel from efforts to isolate it internationally. But European governments incensed by Netanyahu's campaign comments against Palestinian statehood, could join in another push for such a resolution.

David Makovsky, a former member of Obama's team in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that collapsed last year, said the question is: "Will the US consider avoiding a veto over the parameters to a final-status deal with the Palestinians?"

"There's no doubt that this approach will lead to a firestorm between these two governments if they go forward," said Makovsky, now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Another option under consideration cited by a US official could also be controversial. A report from the administration to Congress in coming weeks about US loan guarantees to Israel, including how much is used for settlements, could contain language critical of expanded construction on occupied land in the West Bank.

While the United States is not likely to reverse its opposition to the Palestinians joining the International Criminal Court next month, Washington could become less vocal in criticising the move. Some US lawmakers already have threatened to push for a cutoff of US aid to the Palestinian Authority if it goes ahead with its threat to seek war crimes charges against Israel for last year's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Other possibilities include Obama's cutting back on future one-on-one encounters with Netanyahu.

White House officials have left little doubt that Netanyahu's US ambassador, Ron Dermer, has been largely frozen out by parts of the administration for his role in orchestrating Netanyahu's speech to Congress this month against Obama's Iran diplomacy.