Khalid Abdul Nabi in Saada?
Truth, lies, spin and counter-spin, with the telephone lines cut, and the journalists prohibited, there’s no clear picture of what is going on in Saadah.
But (former) AAIA leader Nabi in Saada? Naw, can’t be, last we heard, he was a peaceful farmer:
The official who refused to be identified told Asharq Al Awsat, “The Aden Abyan Army does not exist. Khalid Abdul Nabi had given himself up in the past, President Saleh pardoned him and he is now living as an ordinary citizen and has a farm.”
He’s got to be somebody’s buddy. According to the U.S. State Department’s 2004 Patterns of Terrorism report, “In October 2003, despite repeated statements that [Aden Abyan Islamic Army] leader Khalid Abd al-Nabi was dead, Yemeni officials revealed that he was not killed in the confrontations … Instead, al-Nabi surrendered to the Yemeni authorities, was released from custody, and is not facing charges for any of his activities.”
Is this (currently fighting in Saada) an example of what Aden Abyan Islamic Army leader Ahmed Haidrah Abubakr, a/k/a Abulashaath, meant when he said , “we know that we were imprisoned again only to be used against those opposing the regime.”
Then there’s the “foreign gangs that escaped Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Somalia and Iraq” (along with the exiled Iraqi Baathists) that Yahya al-Houthi said are currently militarily engaging the Houthis in Saada. Well, the Somalis needed something to do now that the ICU was defeated…
The regime has denied it has deployed “fighters” in Saddah.
Some of the last group of government mediators were arrested after they criticized some regime actions and policies. The regime is heighting the tension by accusing the opposition parties of supporting the rebels instead of enlisting the parties’ support. The official media is framing the conflict is sectarian terms and vilifying a broad range of (Shiite Zaidi) moderate society with hate speech.
What a bloody ugly mess.
Update: “Today hundreds of Jihadists from Abyan and Aden been sent to join war in Saddah .”
Foreign and domestic jihaddists and Iraqi Baathists and Wahabbi Yemeni General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar fighting against the Death to American chanting Shiite Houthis who may or may not be receiving support from Iran, oh wait, this week its Libya. Some of the regular units of the Yemeni military, who are primarily (Shiite) Zaidi, are refusing to fight. It must be bad.
The regime denies bombing at all, and civilian areas in particular, but reports persist.
Cue the crickets.
Update: Apparently yes, the terrorists are going to Saada (again):
YT: In related news, media sources reported that extremist groups from Aden-Abyan Army, whose number wasn’t defined, have headed to Sa’ada governorate to join military units in their war against Al-Houthi rebels. This was timed with the official military’s mobilizing address, which calls for fighting Al-Houthis.
Shoura.net quoted local sources in Abyan as saying that Salafi groups were transferred from Abyan to Sa’ada last Monday to fight with government forces.
The same sources also revealed that groups belonging to Hittat Jihadists, headed by Khalid Abdunabi – coincidentally, groups which fought the army within past years – also have joined army forces after being prompted by an inciting address against Shi’ites in Abyan’s mosques.
Sources referred to last Friday’s sermon in Zingibar’s Al-Toumisi Mosque, wherein the preacher called Shi’ite followers “disbelievers,” along with those who support Hezbollah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Adopting a blasphemous address against Shi’ites, many government institutions, armed forces and security leaderships, together with the local authority in Sa’ada, last Friday called upon all citizens there – whom they described as nationalists – to fight Al-Houthis.
Additionally, the Ministry of Endowments officially announced that it has distributed more than 300 preachers throughout all Yemeni governorates, including Sa’ada, to eliminate the Houthi sedition. Their sermons focus on blaspheming the 12th Shi’ite and warn about their risks. Minister of Endowments Hamoud Obad accused unnamed Shi’ite nations and institutions of supporting Houthis, noting that Yemen is being subjected to a vast conspiracy.
Abyan’s Forum for Reconciliation and Toleration last Tuesday denounced what it called the authority’s racial and inciting address against major components of civil society.
Published via Shoura.net, the statement assured that “Abyan’s Forum rejects using force to face public demands.” It also pointed out that it denounces the authority’s address, which describes Houthis as a terrorist group.
The Joint Meeting Parties renewed their denunciation of the new upsurge in confrontations between the army and Houthis in Sa’ada. In a statement distributed Tuesday, they also declared their complete readiness to participate in stopping the war and its sorrowful consequences.
They also called upon the Yemeni government and concerned authorities to use all legal and judicial measures to handle security issues. They further denounced politicizing such security issues, calling for treating the consequences ensuing from political conflicts and respecting citizens’ rights.
The previous article also describes ariel bombardment of residential areas and citizens fleeing to the mountains (again). Also resurgent Houthiphobia.
SANAA, 21 February (IRIN) - Residents of the northern province of Saada could soon face a humanitarian crisis as clashes between government forces and followers of the deceased radical Shia leader Hussein Badr Eddin al-Houthi have escalated over the few past days, officials have warned.
Dr Hamboush Hussein, deputy director of the Health Office in Saada, told IRIN that Saada’s hospitals were not sufficient to deal with a high number of casualties and were not equipped well enough to handle more complex cases.
“The hospitals in Saada province lack some medications and equipment in addition to specialised staff,” he said, adding that there are only two surgeons in Saada.
According to Hussein, the province has seven hospitals, with about 650 health workers. He added that the hospitals were in dire need of operating theatres and surgeons.
“The badly injured people will have to be sent to Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, or to the Saudi-run hospital in Saada, al-Saalm,” he said.
The three-year sporadic battles with al-Houthi followers have claimed the lives of 727 government forces and wounded 5,296, the government said. The al-Houthi group, currently led by the grandson of the founder, is accused by the government of inciting anti-US sentiment.
The clashes in Saada were re-ignited in late January after al-Houthi supporters threatened to kill members of a small Jewish community in Saada if they did not leave the country within 10 days.
Violence escalated after parliament on 10 February authorised the government to suppress the rebellion. The consultative Shoura council has also called on the government to settle the sedition in Saada in a way that maintains security and stability.
“By this rebellion, al-Houthi [the grandson], the terrorist, and his group want to enter the country into the kiln of conflicts in the context of a plot that aims to rip the nation apart and serve the interests of foreign parties,” Abdul-Aziz Abdul-Ghani, Shoura Council Chairman, said.
The government has now cut all communication with the province and as a result, food prices have shot up.
Hashem Hassan, a spokesman for the International Red Cross Committee (ICRC), told IRIN that about 200 people had fled their homes to escape the fighting. He said the ICRC was working closely with the Yemeni Red Crescent in Saada to offer displaced families tents, mattresses, other basic equipment and first-aid medication..
Hassan said his team faces difficulties gaining access to the most vulnerable because of the security situation.
Khalid al-Anesi, Executive Director of NGO the National Organisation for Defending Freedoms and Rights, said the clashes in Saada were impacting all areas of normal life, including education and agriculture, upon which most people depend on for their living in the province.
However, government officials have been underplaying the fighting in Saada, saying that it has not been extensive enough to warrant the region’s hospitals being put on alert.
“The war is taking place in the mountains. The rebels are fighting from their trenches in the mountains,” Salem al-Wehaishi, Deputy Governor of Saada, told IRIN.
On 16 February, the international rights organisation Amnesty International warned of a risk of grave human rights violations in Saada, calling on President Ali Abdullah Saleh to take all the necessary measures in accordance with international law to protect human rights in Saada.
“Dozens of people are reported to have been killed and at least 50 people have been detained since the clashes began at the end of January 2007,” Amnesty said.
In its letter to the president, Amnesty said it feared that continued clashes would lead to grave human rights violations, including unlawful killings by security forces, as a result of excessive use of force, in violation of international law.
With a population of some 700,000, according to a 2004 census, Saada governorate includes 15 districts stretching over 11,375 km squares.
