Yemen: US Gives Help in New Assault on Al-Qaida Yemeni warplanes and troops backed by heavy artillery waged a four-front assault on al-Qaida militants Tuesday, trying to uproot their hold in the south in an offensive Yemeni officials said was for the first time being directly guided by American troops at a nearby airbase. The central U.S. role in the operation would be a significant stepping up of American-Yemeni cooperation against al-Qaida's branch here, which is accused of a string of attempted attacks against the United States. The offensive appeared to mark an increased determination to break the hold of al-Qaida in the south, where militants have controlled several towns for nearly a year, including the provincial capital of Zinjibar. Fierce battles continued overnight and early morning Tuesday inside Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province. Yemen's ill-equipped and poorly trained military has stumbled repeatedly in trying to fight al-Qaida ever since the militants seized territory during the political turmoil surrounding last year's uprising that led to the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. But since Saleh's resignation in February, his successor, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, has vowed to make the fight against al-Qaida a top priority. The effort is supported by the U.S., which considers al-Qaida's offshoot in Yemen the network's most active. Hadi's office later said the Yemeni leader briefed Brennan on the army's progress in the south, which Defense Mohammed Nasser Ahmed described as the "final decisive battle against al-Qaida." Several Yemeni military officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday that unlike previous, failed offensives against al-Qaida, this time the United States was providing direct logistical support to the Yemeni military. The officials said an airbase called al-Annad in the southern province of Lahj is serving as a command center where nearly 60 U.S. troops are helping advise the Yemenis. They also said the Americans were providing information and logistical support to Yemeni troops. The Yemeni military officials, who are familiar with the workings of the army in the south, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the highly sensitive cooperation. The U.S. Embassy in Sanaa could not be reached for comment. On Sunday, al-Qaida fighters attempted an attack from the northern gate of al-Annad airbase, close to the troops' living quarters, but were repelled. One Yemeni officer was killed in the attack, the officials said, and the Yemeni military later deployed heavy troops to protect the airbase. The Pentagon said a week ago that it had sent military trainers back to Yemen for "routine" counterterrorism cooperation with Yemeni security forces. "We have begun to reintroduce small numbers of trainers into Yemen," a Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. John Kirby, told reporters. Another American official said the arriving troops are special operations forces, who work under more secretive arrangements than conventional U.S. troops and whose expertise includes training indigenous forces. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the subject publicly.