As Yemen Deteriorates, US Pulls Last Troops

Another sign of the chaos in Yemen: The US is pulling its last troops from the country. CNN reports that about 100 special ops forces were evacuating the Al Anad airbase as militants affiliated with al-Qaeda cement their gains in the country. Those militants recently took control of the nearby city of al-Houta, notes AP. The Islamic State, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for yesterday's deadly suicide bombings at a pair of mosques, suggesting that a power struggle between the two groups might follow.

According to the New York Times, officials in the West "fear that a security vacuum resembling Somalia’s would draw even more jihadists to ungoverned territory in Yemen, where they would have the space and time to plot attacks against the West." Previously, the US closed its embassy, Yemen's American-backed president was deposed by Shiite Houthi rebels, and US officials lost track of $500 million in weapons. (More Yemen stories.)