Emerging Threats... Eye of the storm? Red Sea on the boil

SANAA, Yemen, June 15 (UPI) -- The strategically important Red Sea region, a key route for global oil supplies, is showing signs of becoming a new front in the U.S.-led war against terrorism and the smoldering conflict between Iran and Israel.
Yemen, which lies at the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula, is at the center of the gathering storm in the region. So is Somalia, Yemen's neighbor on the Red Sea's western shore.
Yemen's longtime president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, a U.S. ally, is grappling with a resurgence of al-Qaida violence that threatens to re-ignite the jihadist campaign in neighboring Saudi Arabia.
Saleh's Sunni Muslim regime in Sanaa is also in danger from a 5-year-old revolt by Shiite tribesmen in the north that he seems unable to crush. Sanaa claims Iran is supporting its rebellious coreligionists. Socialists in South Yemen are increasingly threatening the 1990 union of north and south. They mounted an ill-fated secessionist war against the conservative north in 1994 and appear to be getting ready for another fight. ..more...http://www.upi.com/Emerging_Threats/2009/06/15/Eye-of-the-storm-Red-Sea-on-the-boil/UPI-99661245083117/