Missing in Yemen: $500M in US Weapons

After rebel takeover, Pentagon unsure of military aid's fate
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 18, 2015 12:43 AM CDT
Missing in Yemen: $500M in US Weapons
Yemeni army vehicles take position on the front line of fighting with al-Qaeda rebels last year.   (AP Photo/Yemen's Defense Ministry)

With Yemen deep in turmoil and the US Embassy closed, American officials admit that they have no way of knowing what has happened to approximately $500 million in US weapons and equipment that the Pentagon has supplied to the country since 2007. "We have to assume it's completely compromised and gone," a legislative aide tells the Washington Post.

The Post notes that even if all the weapons end up in the hands of al-Qaeda rebels or the Iran-backed Houthi rebels who have taken over much of the country, gun ownership rates in the country are so high that the US weapons won't alter the balance of power. Earlier this week, the Shiite rebels who seized the capital months ago freed Yemen's prime minister and other top government ministers from house arrest, the AP reports. (More Pentagon stories.)

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