Armies of Liberation

Yemen Times

Jamal Al-Sanabani, Deputy President of the Yemeni Laborers Union spoke to Ali Saeed from the Yemen Times about the nature of union work and the challenges that unions face. (Read on …)

Yemen Post:

Eighteen people were killed in clashes between two tribes in Amran governorate, northern Yemen, in the two days past.
Local sources in Amran said that the clashes were renewed lately between Harf Sufian and Al-Osaimat tribes after the failure of a number of local mediation efforts to put an end to the clashes.
Over 74 people, including women and children, have been killed in the conflict which remains ongoing using various weapons.
The conflict between Harf Sufian and Al-Osaimat tribes has erupted since November 2008, according to local sheikhs.
The tribes belong to powerful rival tribal coalitions, the Bakil and the Hashid.The conflict has its roots in the early 20th century with disagreements over land known as al-Sawad, bordering al-Osaimat and Harf Sufian areas.

YEMEN- Omer Salim Bawazir (AbuAlharith), 37, is among the handful of Hadramout’s scholars who has dialogued with some of the homegrown terrorists. Raised and educated in Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Bawazir proudly states that he was a student of prominent Saudi scholars like Bin Authaimian and Al-Jabreen. He is an imam of AlKhair mosque in Mukalla and the head of Rawabi Al-Khair for Development. (Read on …)

Of course the government blames the Houthis and the Houthis deny it. These are civilians killed after the last ceasefire, not during the five rounds of war. Normally the rebels target soldiers, while the Yemeni government has engaged in collective punishment targeting the civilian population, not to mention prolonged bombing campaigns in cities and villages.

( From the Yemen Times: Last Tuesday, four people were killed and a fifth one injured from the same family following a random bombardment launched by military units belonging to the First Armored Division. The attack was launched against citizens’ houses in Hasama villages believed to be loyal to the Houthis.)

Arab News SANAA: At least 338 civilians have been killed and more than 200 injured since the skirmishes between government forces and Shiite rebels renewed in the northwestern Yemeni province of Saada in 12 months ago, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday. (Read on …)

Yes thats true.

Reuters: Hassan Abu Taleb of the Al Ahram Centre for Strategic and Political Studies in Cairo said that despite Saudi fears, its puritanical brand of Sunni Islam had played a key role in creating a fertile environment for al Qaeda in Yemen.

“Over the last 20 years Yemen has been a launchpad for al Qaeda elements and some tribes in the centre of the country have blood and close links with al Qaeda elements,” he said.

“Yemeni judges now go to Saudi Arabia for training and come back filled with Wahhabi thoughts,” he added, referring to the austere Saudi school of Islam.

Boucek also said that though there was no unified Saudi policy to boost Sunni fundamentalism — known as Salafism — in its southern neighbour, Saudi Arabia played a role.

“The importation of Salafi extremists, funding of scientific institutes, return of Yemenis from Saudi, and the radicalisation process going on in younger Yemenis have all been problematic and have changed the ideological environment,” he said.

There seems to be several carloads of weapons floating around Yemen this week.

almotamar.net – Security sources confirmed Tuesday to almotamar.net that security apparatuses in Jaar district, governorate of Abyan in Yemen on Monday captured a car loaded with weapons intended to be transported to the terrorists led by a terrorist called Tahir Tammah.

The security sources mentioned that security men at Batis checkpoint in Jaar district seized the car loaded with weapons and explosives and was carrying a group of sabotage elements that in interrogation have confessed that the weapons and explosives shipment was meant to be delivered to the terrorist who leads them Tahir Tammah, indicating that the arrested elements have been sent to concerned authorities.

The Yemen Observer is usually more nuanced than the other stooge papers in spreading the regime’s propaganda, but this is the last line of the following article: All know that there is no political prisoner in Yemen and that those behind bars are those who committed acts and practices violating the law.

Anyway the YO article says the JMP formally announced the suspension of dialog with the GPC. (The JMP spokesperson Naif al-Qanis was later threatened with death in a car “accident” if he didn’t resign his post.)

Yemen may have seen its last election under the Saleh regime.

YEMEN – The Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) decided to officially suspend their dialogue with the General People’s Congress (GPC) until their demands are met, the war in Sa’adah is stopped, and all confrontations and conflicts in southern and eastern governorates are settled, said the JMP spokesperson. (Read on …)

Another significant criminal enterprise in Yemen, currency counterfeiting rings often overlap with drug and antiquities smuggling. This story is from the Yemen Observer:

Thirty traffickers of various counterfeit currencies have been detained since the beginning of July 2009 in different Yemeni cities, said a security source at the Ministry of the Interior. (Read on …)