Pentagon officials cannot track the whereabouts of $500 million worth of military equipment the U.S. donated to Yemen since 2007 – raising alarms that the hardware may have ended up with al-Qaeda or Iranian-backed rebels.
U.S. officials said Tuesday that increasing instability in Yemen has made it impossible to keep tabs on donated equipment that includes small arms, ammunition, patrol boats and night-vision goggles, according to The Washington Post.
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“We have to assume it’s completely compromised and gone,” a legislative aide on Capitol Hill, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Post.
In January, Yemen’s government was overtaken by Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels. The rebels are increasingly taking over military bases.
Since then, the U.S. closed its embassy in Yemen and the Defense Department has stopped delivering equipment to the country, including a shipment of $125 million worth of military products scheduled to be delivered earlier this year.
This is the equipment no one can find, The Post reports:
- 1,250,000 rounds of ammunition
- 200 Glock 9 mm pistols
- 200 M-4 rifles
- 4 Huey II helicopters
- 2 Cessna 208 transport and surveillance aircraft
- 2 coastal patrol boats
- 1 CN-235 transport and surveillance aircraft
- 4 hand-launched Raven drones
- 160 Humvees
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