UK suspends direct flights from Yemen

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has ordered the suspension of direct flights from Yemen to the UK until stronger security measures are establish.

“We have agreed with Yemenia airlines — pending enhanced security — that they suspend their direct flights to the UK from Yemen with immediate effect,” Brown said in a statement on counter-terrorism to the House of Commons.

“We are working closely with the Yemeni government to agree what security measures need to be put in place before flights are resumed. Aviation security officials are in Sana’a at present looking at this,” he added.

The US and its Western allies allege that “a branch of al-Qaeda” is active in Yemen, pressing the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh to crack down on the militants.

Under such a pretext the United States has already deployed special forces in the country — a move that suggests another US military occupation in the region is in the offing.

This is while a senior Yemeni official has warned that any military intervention by the United States will not go as planned and quite to the contrary would make the terrorist network stronger.

“Any intervention or direct [military] action by the United States could strengthen the al-Qaeda network and not weaken it,” Rashed Al-Alimi, Yemen’s deputy prime minister for defense and security affairs, said earlier in January.