JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): Now to the chaos in Yemen, which seems to be growing with each passing hour, with questions of who’s in control.
The last vestiges of Yemen’s government crumbled as Shiite Houthi rebels advanced on Aden. The pro-American president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, had taken refuge there, but the Houthis offered $100,000 for his capture, and local officials said he fled on a boat.
Hadi’s foreign minister, speaking from Egypt, disputed that report.
RIAD YASSIN, Foreign Minister, Yemen (through interpreter): Until now, Aden is still standing. The president is still in Aden, and he is trying as hard as possible to withstand.
JUDY WOODRUFF: In Washington, the State Department said only that Hadi has left the presidential palace.
JEN PSAKI, State Department Spokeswoman: He is no longer at his residence, which you have seen in reporting, but we can certainly confirm. I’m not in a position to confirm any additional details from here about his location.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The Houthi advance was aided by fighters loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was ousted in 2011. The rebels now control the capital, Sanaa, and have spread south and west. Their advance, with Iran’s apparent support, prompted Saudi Arabia to station forces along its border with Yemen.
“Victory to the revolution,” they cried. “Victory to the south.”
As the rebels cheered today, Hadi’s aides formally asked the Sunni Arab states to come to his aid.
SUMMARY: In Yemen, Houthi Shiite rebels now control the capital, have spread south and west, and are making an advance on Aden, driving out President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Who will rise to power and how does the turmoil affect the region? Leslie Campbell of the National Democratic Institute joins Judy Woodruff to offer analysis.
SUMMARY: In Yemen’s capital Sanaa, people awoke overnight to explosions as Saudi jets bombarded military targets. The goal of the operation, which killed at least 18 civilians, was to drive out Shiite Houthi rebels who have taken over much of the country. Iran, key supporter of the Houthis, denounced the strikes. Judy Woodruff reports.
GWEN IFILL (NewsHour): The brutal tactics of Islamic State radicals reached a grisly new extreme today. The group put out a video showing a captured Jordanian pilot being burned alive.
In Washington, the visiting king of Jordan rearranged his schedule to meet with President Obama this evening, while, back home, his people absorbed the shock.
The pilot’s father was attending a tribal meeting with other relatives in Jordan’s capital when the video surfaced. He checked his cell phone, hung his head, and left. Then, a government spokesman confirmed the news publicly.
MOHAMMED AL-MOMANI, Jordanian Government Spokesman (through interpreter): We are deeply saddened. And we pay our deepest respects to Jordan’s martyr, Muath al-Kaseasbeh. We now all know in Jordan, beyond any doubt, how barbaric the Islamic State group is.
GWEN IFILL: The 26-year-old lieutenant fell into Islamic State hands in December, after his plane crashed in Syria on a bombing mission.
Last week, the militants threatened to kill him, unless Jordan released Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi woman convicted in a 2005 bombing plot. The Jordanians demanded proof the pilot was still alive, which they never got. State TV in Amman reported today that he was actually killed a month ago.
The news came as King Abdullah was in Washington. And officials said he was cutting the visit short. Before he left, he sent a message home.
KING ABDULLAH II, Jordan (through interpreter): In these difficult moment, it is the duty of all Jordanian citizens to stand united, to show the strength of this people in fighting this group. This will only give us more strength and resistance.
GWEN IFILL: President Obama condemned the brutal killing and the Islamic State killers.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: It’s just one more indication of the viciousness and barbarity of this organization. And it, I think, will redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of a global coalition to make sure that they are degraded and ultimately defeated.
GWEN IFILL: The hostage drama has sparked protests against Jordan’s support for the coalition. But the Jordanian military vowed today to seek revenge.
Part of that revenge may also include the execution of the woman the Islamic State wanted released. Citing unnamed officials, Reuters and AFP have reported that Sajida al-Rishawi will be executed before dawn on Wednesday.
SUMMARY: For Jordanians wishing for the freedom of a pilot captured by the Islamic State, hope turned to despair and outrage when the militant group released a video of the man being burned alive. Gwen Ifill talks to Rod Nordland of The New York Times and Jordan’s former Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher about Jordan’s reaction and why the Islamic State is employing these tactics.
SUMMARY: The death of a pilot at the hands of the Islamic State has revved up rhetoric from Jordan on defeating the militants. Judy Woodruff takes stock of the international coalition’s strengths, weaknesses and future options with Janine Davidson of the Council on Foreign Relations and retired Col. Derek Harvey of the University of South Florida.
SUMMARY: The Islamic State's killing of a Jordanian military pilot triggered condemnation across the Middle East, as well as vows to strike back and redouble the fight. The pilot’s father called for revenge by executing prisoners and protesters joined in with that demand. Judy Woodruff reports.
SUMMARY: This past week was filled with more events tied to the Islamic State, including a video released showing the killing of a Jordanian pilot it had held captive since December and the group's claim that an American woman it had also been holding captive was killed in a Jordanian air strike. On Sunday, U.S. leaders called the Islamic militant group "better organized than al Qaeda" that should be taken "very seriously." Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies joins Alison Stewart from Washington.
SUMMARY: The second largest refugee camp in the world, home to 120,000 people, is in Jordan, flocked to by Syrians displaced by the civil war. Lindsey Hilsum of Independent Television News spends a day in the camp known as Zaatari, where residents cope with difficult conditions and feel little hope for returning home in the near future.
MARGARET WARNER (Newshour): The last working day of President Obama's Middle East trip saw an unexpected breakthrough on an issue that has hampered U.S. efforts to contain the conflict in Syria, a long-simmering dispute between Israel and Turkey.
On the Ben Gurion Airport tarmac before leaving Israel, the president facilitated an ice-breaking phone call between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan. Despite shared concerns about the Syria conflict and other eruptions in the region, they haven't been speaking for nearly three years.
Mr. Netanyahu apologized today for the death of nine Turkish activists during a 2010 Israeli commando raid on an aid ship bound for blockaded Gaza. That had brought a sudden halt to what had been security cooperation between the two countries. Today, Erdogan and Netanyahu agreed to normalize relations again. The president spoke of the call and the importance of that relationship this evening in Amman, Jordan.
SUMMARY: President Obama traveled to Amman, Jordan, the first Arab country he has visited since the Arab Spring uprising two years ago. In a joint press conference with King Abdullah, Mr. Obama pledged to help Jordan with the growing Syrian refugee crisis. Judy Woodruff talks to Margaret Warner, reporting from Amman.
SUMMARY: The civil war in Syria has causes thousands of refugees to flood into Jordan every night. Jonathan Miller of Independent Television News reports from one of the secret crossing points between the two countries, located on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Daraa.
I am Retired U.S. Navy (22yrs) and a Vietnam Veteran. After my Navy retirement I was in the computer related industry, now retired. In 2000 I was a registered Republican and voted for George W. Bush. Six months of having Bush in the Whitehouse forced me to re-evaluate my political stance. I had always thought of myself as a Moderate Republican, but was a Republican by "default" NOT because of close examination of the GOP. Due to what has happened in America since 2000, I now consider myself a progressive, and registered as a Non-Affiliated voter.
*Anti-First Amendment policies that attempt to turn America into a theocracy by enshrining ANY religious belief as law.
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