U.S. Trying To Restrain Saudi Arabia On Deadly Yemen Airstrikes

Top Obama administration officials have failed for several days to persuade Saudi Arabia’s government to limit the scope of its airstrikes on cities and towns in Yemen, a campaign that authorities said killed nearly 50 people Monday in Sana, the capital.

The U.S. effort to restrain the Saudi attacks came as the Pentagon moved the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and a guided-missile destroyer into waters off Yemen. In all, nine U.S. warships are patrolling near strategic shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden and the southern Arabian Sea.

Officials said the growing armada is meant, in part, to deter Iran from shipping weapons and other supplies to the Houthi rebels and their allies battling remnants of the central government for control of Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest nation.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest would not comment Monday on the movement of the carrier, but said the administration is increasingly alarmed about Iran arming the Houthis and the growing humanitarian crisis.

“We have seen evidence that the Iranians are supplying weapons and other forms of support to the Houthis in Yemen,” he said. “That support will only contribute to greater violence in that country.”

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http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-yemen-fighting-20150420-story.html