Yemen fighting grows into regional conflict

Sectarian fighting escalated dramatically in Yemen Thursday, as an unfolding civil war began to look more like a regional conflict between Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and Shiite power Iran.
A Saudi-led coalition of Arab countries conducted airstrikes against Shiite rebels fighting the U.S.-backed regime of Yemen's President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi. He fled to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, as the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels advanced on his stronghold in Aden.
Jordan and other Sunni Arab countries said they were participating in the coalition, called Decisive Storm.
Egypt also entered the fray, saying it is prepared to launch a ground offensive in the region to counter the Houthis.
Iran called the attacks on the Houthis a "dangerous step."
The United States, which considered Hadi's Sunni regime a critical ally in its fight against terrorism, is not participating in the airstrikes. But the Pentagon said it is assisting in communication, logistics and planning support.

U.S.-Iranian tensions also surfaced in the growing sectarian conflict in Iraq, although both have a common enemy in the Islamic State, which seized parts of the country last year.
A U.S.-led coalition launched airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Tikrit, Iraq, on Wednesday after an Iraqi offensive to oust the Sunni militants had stalled. The Pentagon said it joined the effort only after the Iraqi government agreed to remove Iranian-backed Shiite militias that are fighting alongside government troops.
"I hope we never coordinate or cooperate with Shia militias," Gen. Lloyd Austin, the head of U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
He said removing them from the Tikrit operation was a condition for providing the airstrikes and surveillance support. The United States has continued to provide air strikes in other parts of the country.
The Tikrit operation underscores U.S. reluctance to get dragged into a sectarian conflict between Iraq's Shiite-led government and the Islamic State, which holds majority Sunni areas.
For several weeks Shiite militias had taken the lead in liberating Tikrit with support from Iranian advisers, rockets and artillery.
Spokesmen for several Shiite militia claimed they withdrew from the operation on their own to protest the American role in the offensive, the Associated Press reported.Other militias said they had not withdrawn.
Unable to muster a robust army force to oust the Islamic State militants earlier this month from Tikrit, a Sunni city, the Iraqi military turned to Shiite militiamen backed by Iran to lead the attack.
After initial successes, the offensive bogged down, as the attacking forces had trouble ejecting several hundred Islamic State extremists holed up in the city and currently outnumbered by as much as 25 to 1.
Fighting in urban terrain is among the most complicated type of warfare, requiring trained soldiers, precision weapons and specialized tactics to prevent mass civilian casualties.
The militants defending the city used improvised explosives to slow the movement of Iraq's forces and built elaborate defenses.
Austin said the militias lacked precision weapons and an effective plan to take Tikrit.