Following the sniper attacks in March, the 20, 000-man First Armoured Brigade, commanded by General Ali Mohsen, long a close comrade of Mr Saleh, joined the rebels.

ECONOMIST: Strife in Yemen

Major-General Patrick Cordingley, who commanded a British armoured brigade during the Gulf War, told a meeting in London recently that Saddam Hussein faced "inevitable consequences" if he did not allow the weapons inspectors in.

BBC: British Tornado jet in file photo

At a seminar in Abu Dhabi this week, Major-General Patrick Cordingley, a Briton who commanded a brigade in the Gulf war, maintained that Gulf security was still threatened by potentially hostile neighbours (read Iraq and Iran), ballistic missiles, lethal agents like poison gas, and internal unrest.

ECONOMIST: The Gulf