Obama Denies Reports Anti-Terror Operations Have Ceased in Yemen

"With regard to Yemen, my top priority has and always will be to make sure that our people on the ground in Yemen are safe. That's something that we've been emphasizing for the last several months and it builds on the work that we have done -- have been doing over the last several years. It is a dangerous country in the dangerous part of the world.
 
Our second priority is to maintain our counter-terrorism pressure on al Qaeda in Yemen and we have been doing that. And I saw some news reports that suggested somehow that counter-terrorism acclivity had been suspended. That is not accurate. We continue to go after high value targets inside of Yemen and we will continue to maintain the pressure that's required to keep the American people safe. 

We are concerned about what has always been a fragile central government and the forces inside of Yemen that are constantly threatening to break a path between north-south, between Houthi and Sunni inside of Yemen, and this is one more sequence in what has been an ongoing turbulent process inside of Yemen. 

What we are advising not just the various fractions inside of Yemen but also working with our partners like the Gulf countries who have impact and influence inside of Yemen is that at this point what's needed is to respect their constitutional process that can resolve some of these differences peacefully, and assure that all the groups inside of Yemen are resorting to political rather than military means to resolve these differences.

But, I guess the point truly is, Yemen has never been a perfect democracy or an island of stability."