Yemen crisis prompts CIA to build base to target al-Qaeda

The United States is building a secret CIA air base in the Persian Gulf region to target al-Qaeda terrorists in Yemen, in case anti-American factions win the country's current power struggle.

The White House has already increased the numbers of CIA officers in Yemen, in anticipation of that possibility. And it has stepped up the schedule to construct the base, from two years to a rushed eight months.

The current campaign in Yemen is run by a US military counter-terrorism unit, the Joint Special Operations Command, with the CIA providing intelligence support. JSOC forces have been allowed by the Yemeni government of Ali Abdullah Saleh to conduct limited strikes there since 2009. Saleh loyalists have recently allowed expanded strikes by US armed drones and even war planes against al-Qaeda targets who are taking advantage of civil unrest to grab power and territory in the country.

CIA director Leon Panetta said last week that agency officers were working in Yemen together with JSOC, as well as other areas where al-Qaeda is active. But the CIA would not confirm the White House decision to build the CIA base, any location for it or any order to expand the agency's operations in Yemen.

The new base suggests a long-term American commitment to fighting al-Qaeda in the region, along the lines of the model used in Pakistan, where CIA drones hunt militants with tacit, though not public, Pakistani government approval.

The Obama administration has been working for months in concert with the mediation efforts of Yemen's Gulf neighbours and the European Union to persuade Saleh to transfer power. Saleh was evacuated for emergency medical treatment in Saudi Arabia after being injured more than a week ago. Experts believe he was hit by explosive devices planted in the presidential mosque, while the Yemenis say he was struck in a rocket attack.

Since 2009, Yemen has allowed JSOC to employ a mixture of armed and unarmed drones, ship-fired missiles, small special operations teams working with Yemenis and bombing runs, Yemeni and US officials say. But permission was on a case-by-case basis, depending on the mood of the mercurial Yemeni president.

American special operations forces based just outside Yemen are taking aim almost daily at a greater array of targets flushed into view by the current unrest. American forces are also taking advantage of the fact that more al-Qaeda operatives are exposing themselves as they move from their hideouts across the country to command troops challenging the government.

That has led to the arrest of al-Qaeda operatives by Yemeni forces, guided by US intelligence intercepts, and those operatives are talking under joint interrogation, providing key information on al-Qaeda operations and locations, US officials said.

That in turn led to the best opportunity in more than a year to hit American-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in early May. Three attempts failed, prompting talk among intelligence agencies that CIA-led strikes might net better results, as opposed to US-military commanded efforts. But the CIA has neither the drones nor the personnel to take the lead in the operation at present, officials said.