B-52 Bombers To Be Part Of US Forces Sent To Middle East During Yemeni Crisis

The US military said on Tuesday that B-52 bombers will be part of additional forces being sent to the Middle East as thousands of Yemenis fell dead and wounded since 2015.

White House national security adviser John Bolton said on Sunday that the United States was deploying a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East.

Captain Bill Urban, a spokesman for US Central Command, said that the bomber task force would consist of B-52 bombers.

US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said four B-52s would be deployed, though that number could change. The United States has regularly maintained a bomber presence in the region, and B-1 bombers were there as recently as last month. The B-52 is a long-range, nuclear-capable bomber.

The military also confirmed that the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group had already been scheduled to go to the Middle East.

Announcing details of the force on Tuesday, the US military did not provide specific details of intelligence.

In March 2015, the US -backed –Saudi-led coalition started  a war against Yemen with the declared aim of crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement, who had taken over from the staunch Riyadh ally and fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, while also seeking to secure the Saudi border with its southern neighbor. Three years and over 600,000 dead and injured Yemeni people and  prevented the patients from travelling abroad for treatment and blocked the entry of medicine into the war-torn country, the war has yielded little to that effect.

Despite the coalition claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi bombers are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

However, Saudi Arabia relies heavily on the US in its brutal war on Yemen. Washington has deployed a commando force on the Arab kingdom’s border with Yemen to help destroy arms belonging to Yemen’s popular Houthi Ansarullah movement. Washington has also provided logistical support and aerial refueling.