Armies of Liberation

Australian: LONG before he was arrested in Yemen this week, Marek Samulski was suspected by intelligence services of keeping bad company. (Read on …)

Lawrence Wright is the author of The Looming Towers. This excellent article in the New Yorker focuses on the failure of the CIA to coordinate with the FBI in the USS Cole investigation, which lead to a failure to uncover the plans for 9/11.

Outside the scope of the article is the fact that all the Yemenis mentioned (and a dozen not mentioned) are free in Yemen including those convicted in Yemen of the Cole bombing. The exceptions are Nasheri, “Khalled” bin Attash and others who are in Gitmo. These Yemenis were in the inner core of bin Laden’s group. Mostly everyone at the Malaysia meeting, where both the Cole and 9/11 were planned, are dead or in jail except for the Yemenis who were in Yemeni custody.

Although they are given benign descriptions in the MSM (and by the leftards) like Abu Jindal “driver” or al-Quso “failed photographer”, these are persons involved in large-scale lethal al-Qaeda attacks against the US: the embassies, the Cole and 9/11. Factoring in the passage of a few years and protestations of rehabilitiation, statistically they continue to have a high likelihood of recidivism.

New Yorker

Yemen is a status-conscious society, and, because Soufan had promoted O’Neill to “general,” his counterpart was General Ghalib Qamish, the head of Yemeni intelligence. Every night, when the Yemeni authorities did business, Soufan and O’Neill spent hours pushing for access to witnesses, evidence, and crime scenes. Initially, the Yemenis told them that, since both of the bombers were dead, there was nothing to investigate. But who gave them money? Soufan asked. Who provided the explosives? The boat? He gently prodded the Yemenis to help him.

A few days after the bombing, the Yemenis brought in two known associates of bin Laden’s for questioning. One was named Jamal Badawi; the other was Fahd al-Quso, the man who had failed to videotape the Cole attack. Both men were Yemeni citizens. Quso, who ran a guesthouse in Aden for jihadis, had turned himself in after family members were questioned. He did not admit his role in the Cole plot, but he and Badawi confessed that they had recently travelled to Afghanistan, and had met there with a one-legged jihadi named Khallad. Badawi said that he had bought a boat for Khallad, who, he explained, had wanted to go into the fishing business. The Yemenis eventually determined that this was the boat used in the Cole bombing. (Read on …)

MOSCOW, October 26 (RIA Novosti) – A missile frigate from Russia’s Baltic Fleet arrived at the port of Aden in Yemen on its way to join an international naval group fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia, the Russian Navy said.

“After water and food replenishments, the warship will carry out measures to protect shipping in the coastal waters of Somalia where sea pirates are active. In particular, the Neustrashimy frigate may escort passenger and merchant vessels,” the Russian Navy said, adding that the warship had the right to use force, including weapons, against pirates.

The Neustrashimy (Fearless) frigate is to join an international naval group, which has surrounded a Ukrainian ship, the MV Faina, after it was seized by Somali pirates on September 25. The Faina, which was carrying tanks and heavy weapons, has a crew of 17 Ukrainian nationals, two Russians, and one Lithuanian on board.

The Faina’s Russian captain died of a heart attack after the vessel was seized. The pirates holding the ship have demanded an $8 million ransom, and have threatened to kill the hostages if a military operation is launched against them.

The Neustrashimy’s armament includes SS-N-25 Switchblade anti-ship missiles, SA-N-9 Gauntlet SAM, a 100-mm gun, torpedoes and depth charges. The frigate also carries a Ka-27 ASW helicopter.

Pirates are increasingly active in the waters off Somalia, which has no effective government and no navy to police its coastline. Somali pirates have seized around 30 ships so far this year off the coast of the east African nation.

Possible Base

Sana’a, 16 Oct. (ITAR-TASS). The speaker of the Federation Council Sergey Mironov does not exclude the possibility that during the Yemeni President would bring up the issue of re-establishing Russian naval bases on Socotra Island in the Gulf of Aden during his visit to Moscow.

In answer to the question if Russia has any plans to do so, Mironov said, “I think that this theme will be discussed concretely during Ali Abdallah Saleh’s visit to Moscow”. Mironov did not discuss the length of the visit.

The speaker considers the future use of Yemeni ports by the Russian Navy as well as re-establishment of a base to be possible. “We have to proceed step by step, taking into account new vectors in the foreign and defense policies of Russia and the increase in op tempo by the Navy. I think that its possible that we will examine the issue of the use of Yemeni ports by Russian Naval ships”, he said.

Military violating truce agreements still. Yemen Times

SA’ADA, Oct.25 — Tribal sources from the Sa’ada governorate have said that the state of people, particularly those who are loyal to Houthis, is worsening due to the advent of winter and the continuous siege imposed by security authorities and tribes supporting the government in the area.

“A military checkpoint in Sa’ada governorate’s Al-Malahidh area prevented a medical unit belonging to medical humanitarian aid agency Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) from entering to Marran, Haidan and Saqain areas to offer medical aid to the affected citizens,” according to a statement issued by Houthis media center last Tuesday.

The statement said, “The Al-Malahidh checkpoints, in addition to the Al-Majram military site in the mountainous area of Marran, have recently witnessed military reinforcements”. It accused security apparatuses of practicing violations since the agreement to end the fifth war in Sa’ada.

According to the statement, new military sites have been set up in the areas bordering Marran from the Al-Malahidh area and confirmed that arrests had taken place in Sana’a and Mareb during the last two days. (Read on …)

update: no food or medicine for three days:

(ap) SANA, Yemen – Flooding caused by a tropical storm has killed 90 people and displaced 20,000 others in southern Yemen, police and the World Food Program said Monday.

The WFP, which said 20,000 people were displaced, said it has been difficult to get aid to hard-hit Hadramut province because many roads were destroyed by floodwaters after Thursday’s storm.

A police official said 90 people died and 24 farms were wrecked. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh called on Yemenis and non-governmental organizations to help flood victims by donating money and other aid.

“Efforts are too slow,” said Akeel Al-Ataf of Hadramut province’s municipal government. “We haven’t seen any food or medicine in three days, and the relief efforts are chaotic.”

Yemen Times

SANA’A, Oct. 26 — 58 have been killed, dozens of citizens are missing and over 20,000 people are homeless due to flash floods that resulted from heavy rains in the eastern areas of Yemen including Hadramout and Al-Maharah.

In a report by Minister of Interior Mutahhar Rashad Al-Masri, the death toll from the floods in Hadramout and Al-Maharah governorates was estimated at 58 and rescue teams had been able to shelter 3,000 people whose houses were destroyed.

The Ministry of Defense declared in its latest statistics published in its electronic “September mobile” service that 1,700 houses and public buildings had collapsed and that power lines, telephone wires, roads and bridges had been cut due to floods in many areas of the two governorates.

In Al-Maharah governorate, 1,318 kilometers east of Sana’a, floods caused more than 45 fishing boats to sink, an Indian ship to break down and a cut in telecommunications in the districts of Hawf, Qishin, Shahin and Saihut due to damage to optical fiber cables and the destruction of mobile phone coverage towers.

In Hadramout governorate, located some 794 kilometers east of Sana’a, eyewitnesses said that floods are threatening the historical town of Shibam, a UNESCO world heritage site, after heavy rains resulted in the collapse of archeological buildings and had eradicated features of other historical ones.

Salem Al-Khanbashi, governor of Hadramout, said in a statement to the state-run Saba News Agency that the executive authority in Hadramout had received field notifications which indicate that a number of dead bodies are floating in the flood water.

The rescue and emergency committee formed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh last Friday has declared the governorates of Hadramout and Al-Maharah devastated areas “due to the major damage that befell them.”

Hasan Al-Lawzi, Minister of Information and member of the emergency committee, told Al-Siyassiya newspaper that the committee is currently surveying human and material damage and said that “flash floods resulting from heavy rain [had] caused huge damage to roads and bridges and cut electricity and telecommunication cables in addition to the human damage.”

(Read on …)

sign agreements

almotamar.net – A session of talks between the delegation of the General People’s Congress (GPC) headed by Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs Sheikh Sultan al-Barakani and the National Leadership of the Arab Ba’th Socialist Party of Syria chaired by Assistant Secretary General Abdullah al-Ahmar was held at the headquarters of the Ba’th National Leadership Saturday morning.

The meeting reviewed organizational issues and development of relations between the GPC and the Ba’th parties as well as Arab, Islamic and international issues and importance of unifying the Arab rank as well as coordination of stands regarding all national issues particularly the Palestinian issue, the Arab Israeli conflict and occupation of Iraq.

Sheikh Sultan al-Barakani confirmed in the meeting Yemen’s government and people with their Syrian brothers and their support for the efforts Syria exerts for restoration of the occupied Arab territories in the Golan Heights , indicating the stands in support for Syria of which President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced repeatedly during his meetings with the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Al-Barakani praised wisdom of the Syrian leadership and steadfastness of the Arab people of Syria in foiling the foreign schemes that try to target Syria that were thinking that they placed Syria between pincers.

SANA’A, NewsYemen

The independent weekly newspaper al-Ghad quoted informed sources as confirming that two of six attackers carried out a suicide attack on U.S. Embassy last September could be identified through D.N.A tests.

Sources said that the Yemeni investigators could get “dangerous” information about the attackers to be announced in the coming days.

The weekly quoted a source close to al-Qaeda as denying any relationship between al-Qaeda and cell of Abu al-Ghaith al-Yamani that Yemeni authorities said has link to Israeli intelligence. The source added that the al-Qaeda Media Section is preparing to publish details and pictures about the attack on the U.S. Embassy on the al-Qaeda-run Sada al-Malahim magazine.

Source confirmed that Abu al-Ghaith and Basam al-Haidari are not known amongst Jihad youths who affiliate with al-Qaeda and that al-Qaeda could not ask for the assistance of a “mortal enemy”, means Israel.

President Saleh announced last week in a speech in Hadramout that security authorities arrested a terrorist cell with link to Israeli intelligence, but Israeli government denied Saleh’ accusation.

SANA’A, NewsYemen

The Yemeni security forces are hunting suspects in Hodeidah believed to be involved in a terrorist attack on U.S. Embassy in Sana’a last September.

Informed sources said the terrorist cell that carried out attack on the US embassy has links to al-Qaeda in neighboring Saudi Arabia and most suspects are from Hodeidah. This information does not go in line with previous official reports that most of attackers are from Hadramout.

Some members of the Hodeidah cell are among those released after promising to give up Jihadist ideas, said the source.

News Yemen