Why America’s Yemen policy is failing

News that the United States has suspended operations at its embassy in Yemenand reports that Houthi rebels have seized U.S. Marines’ weaponshave laid bare the failure of U.S. policy in the country.

The Houthis — a Shiite insurgent group backed by Iran — are now the key power brokers in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital. They have also extended their presence far south of their historical northern stronghold, advances that prompted Yemen’s entire executive branch to resign on January 22, following a successful siege of the presidential compound.

In the process, the Houthis have destroyed Yemen’s legal government, thrown out its draft constitution, infiltrated its intelligence services and security forces, and demanded that all sides in Yemen’s complex and acrimonious socio-political-economic system play by their rules. Meanwhile, their military expansion is beginning to fuel sectarian Sunni support for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, which is recruiting and expanding its operations.

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CNN