Armies of Liberation

I certainly hope so. Their magazine is so lame anyway. All the other internet is censored, why not al Qaeda? Updates below.

Newsweek: Brooklyn ‘Computer Wiz’ Accused of Conspiring With Al Qaeda Affiliate in Yemen, Mark Hosenball

A New York-born man described by a law-enforcement official as a computer expert is at the center of the latest investigation into Americans who have tried and, in some but not all cases, succeeded in hooking up with Al Qaeda elements based overseas. Wesam el-Hanafi, a 34-year-old Brooklyn, N.Y., native, is one of two men indicted by Federal authorities in Manhattan on Friday on charges of conspiring to provide material support, including computer expertise, to Al Qaeda—more specifically to Yemen-based elements of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a spinoff of the now Pakistan-based terror network founded by Osama bin Laden. (Read on …)

The material support was computer systems modernization and technical advice. The indictment is here. The time frame is November 2007 through March 2010. Hasanoff received $50K in Nov. 2007. Hanafy traveled to Yemen in Feb of 2008. In March 2008 through May 2008, Hanafy ran a software program that enabled secure internet communication with al Qaeda.

CBS Two United States citizens residing in Brooklyn, N.Y., have been charged with trying to aid Al Qaeda terrorists. According to the indictment obtained by CBS News, the men, Wesam El-Hanafi, 33, and Sabirhan Hasanoff, 34, are charged with one count of “conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.”

The charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

Also according to the indictment, “the defendants would and did agree to provide al Qaeda with, among other things, computer advice and assistance, services, and currency, knowing that al Qaeda had engaged and was engaging in terrorist activity[.]”
(Read on …)

Nationally, one third of Yemenis are malnourished and half the kids are stunted from chronic hunger. The refugee population of a quarter million are teetering near starvation already, and the cut in food rations will mean many more deaths from starvation. The US pledged about $5 million in humanitarian aid, and $50 million in military aid. France 200,000 Euros. The other donors, including Saudi Arabia, zippo. The UN will also be cutting food aid to other recipients in Yemen including Somali refugees, girls in schools and children under 5.

(AlertNet) The U.N. food aid agency says a lack of funds is forcing it to cut rations for people driven from their homes by fighting in northern Yemen, endangering a fragile ceasefire between rebels and the government.

From May, the World Food Programme (WFP) will reduce food assistance for 270,000 displaced people by half until donors provide more money or the funds run out altogether, the organisation’s Yemen director Gian Carlo Cirri said on Friday.

“WFP is really concerned about the negative impact this cut is likely to have on the ceasefire in the north and about the overall stability in the country this severe shortage of food aid might (affect),” he told AlertNet.

Yemen Times

Dr. Mohamed Jubran, professor of economics, to the Yemen Times:
Money laundering is responsible for the devaluation of the Yemeni riyal

He is often quoted by local newspapers and television channels on economic issues, and is well-known among economic reporters and business editors. He used to be a member of the Islah party, but now only focuses on the economy.

In his sitting room at the week-end, he finishes writing up a research paper on his laptop and scans a study about the economy of Yemen. This is Dr. Mohamed Jubran, professor of economics at Sana’a University and he is the person who always finds the courage to speak his mind on any activity related to the economy, business or banking. (Read on …)

Rashid Al Masiri says all the financiers, planners and equipment suppliers of the terror plot have been arrested, a major achievement for the security forces.

News Yemen: Interior Minister Mutahar Rashad al-Masri has said that the security authorities have captured masterminds behind terrorist attack on UK diplomat last Monday.

In his speech at the annual meeting of senior security commanders, al-Masri said: “The key planners who planned and funded the terrorist attack on the UK ambassador to Yemen have been captured.”

He did not name the arrested terrorists but said that the capture of terrorists in a short period of time was a great achievement by Yemeni security. Al-Masri said his ministry gives the development of security services more attention.

(Read on …)

The father called the PSO in Taiz to report him missing. Yemen Observer

Ali Noman al-Selwi, the father of the suicide bomber who targeted the convoy of the British ambassador to Yemen, told Yemen Observer that his son went to a religious institute with some al-Qaeda suspects.

“ My son, Othman, completed studying Quran at Ibn al-Ameer institute in the secondary years and then was imprisoned along with a few groups of his colleagues studing Quran, too,” said al-Selwi. (Read on …)

Dammaj??? Why would the Houthis want to hold a rally in Dammaj? A ceremony for the families of the war dead. (I guess Dammaj wasn’t bombed during the war, and the Yemeni and Saudi air forces only made terrible bombing “mistakes” on pro-rebel villages.) The article aptly describes Dammaj as a pro-government stronghold. It also among the main Salafi strongholds in Yemen and includes the world renounced Dammaj Islamic Institute, headquarters of the Dar al Hadieth chain of schools. Dammaj has faced allegations for years of recruiting some or maybe a few of its students for al Qaeda.

Seven were killed in the clash between the rebels and the “pro-government tribal fighters.” Much of Yemen’s pro-government tribal fighters were trained or include known al Qaeda figures. For example, Ammar al Waeli is there now, although the government says he is dead. In the fifth war, 2005, it was Khalid Abdul Nabi who, oddly enough, the government reported as dead in 2004. This is really an odd development.

Update: It was in the context of a week long series of rallies to highlight the thousands of orphans and widows who need support.

WaPo: SANAA (Reuters) – A gunfight between Yemeni Shi’ite rebels and pro-government fighters killed seven people in the deadliest clash since a February truce calmed a northern war, officials said Thursday.

The clash broke out after dozens of armed rebels descended on a village — said to be a pro-government stronghold — for a rally in support of families of rebels killed in the war that raged on and off since 2004, a local official said.

The tribal fighters, who fought alongside the state in the war, tried to stop the rebel rally, and a melee erupted.

“The Houthis wanted to hold a rally in Damaj but the locals prevented them. They engaged in a quarrel, which escalated to an armed clash in which three tribesmen and four Houthis were killed,” a local official said, referring to the rebels by the clan name of their leader, Abdel Malek al-Houthi. A rebel official confirmed a clash had occurred.

Families in Yemen are big and often include extended family, so 200 families could easily be 2000 people. A flood in Hadramout in 2008 displaced over 20,000 and relief and reconstruction efforts were a disaster. These poor people in Hodeidah are calling for help from the government that may never come.

Yemen Post Torrential rain has submerged tens of houses in the district of Zabeed in Yemen’s western province of Hodeida.

About 200 families are now homeless after the main valley in the district flooded on their homes taking away all properties inside.

Most of the displaced are children, elderly and women of the poor families in the area, according to some locals. They have called on the authorities to intervene and help them.