WASHINGTON
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter confirmed Wednesday that the U.S. is resupplying arms and equipment to a Saudi coalition striking Houthi rebels in Yemen, following conflicting remarks from the State Department.
"We're providing them with some logistics information and we're providing them with some resupply of equipment and munitions," Carter said during a press conference in Tokyo with his Japanese counterpart Gen Nakatani.
Carter’s comments supported those of Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken who said Tuesday that the U.S. was providing intelligence and weapons to the coalition.
But at a press conference Tuesday, Blinken’s own department seemed to be unsure about the measure when State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Blinken’s remarks might not be "accurate."
On Wednesday, Harf told reporters that her comments were “wrong.”
“I was wrong yesterday,” she said. “We are working to deliver some preexisting orders for military equipment more quickly, obviously, given the ongoing situation, to the UAE and to the Saudis, and continue to provide logistical and intelligence support as we said.”
Saudi Arabia, alongside several Arab allies, are conducting airstrikes against Houthi rebels who took control of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa in September and have since sought to expand their control throughout the country.
In February, they placed Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour under house arrest before he managed to flee to southern Yemen and then to Saudi Arabia.
Predominantly Sunni Gulf states resorted to military intervention at the request of Hadi when the Houthis appeared poised for a complete takeover of Yemen.
Shortly before the Saudi intervention late last month, the U.S. withdrew special forces from the country where they had been conducting counterterrorism operations on the Yemeni al-Qaeda-affiliated group known as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP.
Commenting on al-Qaeda’s Yemen-based affiliate, Carter said the ongoing fighting has allowed the militants to make advances in the country.
“Well, you see them making gains on the ground there as they try to take territory, seize territory,” the defense chief told reporters. “Obviously we hope that order is restored to Yemen, not only for that reason but because there's a lot of suffering going on in Yemen as these fluid battles and these different groups go back and forth,” he added.
