SANA, yemen — Yemeni warplanes and troops backed by heavy artillery waged a four-front assault Tuesday against the strongholds of al-Qaeda militants in the south, with U.S. troops for the first time helping direct the attack from a nearby air base-turned-command center.
Yemeni military officials said dozens of U.S. troops were operating from al-Annad air base, about 45 miles from the main battle zones, coordinating assaults and airstrikes and providing information to Yemeni forces.
The officials said it was the most direct American role in the country’s expanding campaign against al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen, which has been blamed for directing a string of unsuccessful bomb plots on U.S. soil from its hideouts at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
The offensive is the most concerted yet aiming to uproot militants who have held a swath of territory, including the provincial capital. One Yemeni official said the defense minister and an American general, whom he did not identify, were jointly overseeing the assault.
In a crescent-shaped assault on Zinjibar, Yemeni troops pushed into the center of the city, though they did not outright control it, one official said. Military helicopters flew over the city for the first time in an indication that militants had lost their heavy weaponry capable of shooting down the helicopters, the official said.
The U.S. Embassy in Sana could not be reached for comment.
Al-Qaeda made its land grab last year during the uprising against then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh, once a U.S. ally, stepped down in February under a gulf-mediated deal.
