Yemeni troops battle Shiite rebels in Yemeni capital

SANAA, Yemen (WLS) -- Yemen has been violent and volatile for decades, but never as much as tonight.

There is a three-way conflict underway there, between the U.S.-backed government, a well-armed rebel group that is on the verge of a coup and Al Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula, the world's most dangerous terror group.

Gun fire and bomb blasts in the distance and plumes of smoke across Yemen's capital punctuate an uncertain moment in a unsteady country.

Government troops are trying to hold off militants known as "houthis" who are loyal to this man: rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, 33, and head of a fighting group said to be backed by Iran.

His Shiite organization opposes AQAP - Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula-the terrorist group that claims responsibility for this month's rampage in Paris.

The houthi's don't oppose Al Qaeda on moral grounds. Saturday houthi gunmen are suspected of having kidnapped the chief of staff to Yemen's president.

The differences between these fighting factions are political and religious.

And in a nation that is already sharply anti-American, it leaves the U.S. Cornered. Here at the U.S. Embassy, a popular target of angry protests, state department officials are already piecing together an evacuation plan, if necessary.

Whoever ends up in power, an unhinged Yemen makes Al Qaeda even more lethal.

It was this group, AQAP, that plotted to blow up a cargo jet over Chicago four and a half years ago, packing explosives inside computer printer cartridges and addressing them to Chicago synagogues. The devices intercepted before they could do any damage.

And with its slick magazine "Inspire," AQAP is on a worldwide recruiting mission of young Muslim men, attempting to radicalize them for jihadist attacks in Chicago or wherever they happen to live.

Investigators believe the Boston Marathon bombing suspects were motivated by terrorists in Yemen; along with the fort hood shooter, Major Nidal Hasan. That is the greatest threat from a country such as Yemen in chaos. Terrorists thrive on commotion and confusion.