Armies of Liberation

The story dovetails oddly with the entirely bizarre report from Haaretz of the intercepted AQAP communications detailing schematics for making a drone using a car engine… The al Qaeda operative was arrested about 25 days ago in al Baydha, which may indicate some movement of AQAP out of Abyan. And the CDs are supposed to have details on making UAVs.

SANAA – Yemeni police have arrested a suspected Al-Qaeda member in possession of documents of propaganda of extremist network, announced the Ministry of Interior on its website Sunday.

* The suspect, 26, identified as D. Charkane, was arrested in the province of Al-Baidah (268 km southeast of Sanaa), where police seized in his car 268 CDs containing propaganda material of Al-Qaeda leaders and photos of network leader Osama bin Laden.
* Some disks show different types of UAV and information on such devices as well as satellite images of traditional houses in Yemen, the ministry added, indicating that the suspect was interrogated by security services on the papers seized on him.
* Security forces are on high alert in their hunt for supporters of the extremist network, especially since the missed attack of Christmas 2009 against the Amsterdam-Detroit flight, claimed by al-Qaeda in Yemen.

Naba

قالت الأجهزة الأمنية في اليمن أنها ضبطت مشتبه بانتمائه لتنظيم القاعدة في اليمن وبحوزته وثائق مهمة . Said security forces in Yemen said they seized suspected of belonging to al-Qaeda in Yemen and in possession of important documents.

وأضافت الأجهزة الأمنية: إن أمن محافظة البيضاء ضبط شخصا يدعى(د-ص-ا-شرقان) يبلغ من العمر 26 عاما على خلفية الاشتباه بعلاقته بالعناصر الإرهابية. The security: The security of the province of white people named set (d – r – a – Herquan) at the age of 26 years on suspicion of its relationship with terrorist elements. (Read on …)

As Yemen’s blockade on southern Yemen enters its third week, stocks of food, medicine and oil have dwindled to dangerous levels. Prices have skyrocketed and already malnourished children bear the brunt of the military action.

The blockade began 17 days ago when the Western Armored Division established new checkpoints on roads and at city entrances preventing the flow of persons and commerce including food, medicine, oil and water. The blockade has cut off Radfan, Yafea, al Dhala, al Melah, al Habeelan, al Shaib, Gahaf, Lazarik, and parts of Shabwah.

The main road between Aden and al Dahlie is closed. Al Habaleen, Lahj was indiscriminately shelled three days ago after two soldiers were killed in an ambush. Another ambush in al Melah killed one soldier, and authorities have accused renegade elements of the southern independence movement with the attacks.

Nearly one thousand have fled Radfan, al Habaleen and al Bilah seeking safety. Like the 250,000 internally displaced by the Sa’ada War, these are mostly women and children. On May 24, a pregnant woman en route to a hospital in Aden was stopped at a military checkpoint and later died in childbirth. Due to the blockade, people in need of medical treatment have not had access to doctors in nearly a month.

Reports indicate a heavy military mobilization including tanks and armored personnel carriers. As during the Saada war, a total media blackout is in place, often accomplished by the arrest of southern journalists. An American journalist was expelled from Yemen last week after visiting Yafee, a center of southern resistance.

On May 22, the 20th anniversary of Yemeni unity, President Saleh announced the pardon of southern journalists and other political prisoners. Several high profile journalists were released, but others remain imprisoned and hundreds of others arrested during protests remain jailed.

Baggash Al Aghbari has been in prison since his arrest in 1994, despite several amnesties for southerners announced over the following decade. Al Aghbari was never charged or tried but was thought to be among the activists that triggered the civil war.

The southern independence movement began as a call for equal rights in 2007. As the state imprisoned thousands and police killed hundreds during peaceful demonstrations, the movement gained supporters and its goals evolved to calls for independence.

he northern Yemeni Arab Republic and the southern Peoples Democratic Republic of Yemen unified in 1990 and fought a brief civil war in 1994. Southerners claim unity was imposed by force in violation of the UN resolutions. Northern hegemony brought institutionalized discrimination more akin to occupation than unity that reached into areas of employment, education and development. However, the massive corruption of the Saleh regime means that all citizens outside the circle of elite power are subject to retribution by the state including the judiciary, police and civil service. All Yemenis suffer from the near absence of basic services arising from chronic mismanagement and insider infighting and embezzlement.

With a peace deal concluded in February ending the northern Sa’ada War, President Ali Abdullah Saleh heightened the military presence in the south. Yemen’s conduct of the Saada war generated 250,000 internal refugees with arbitrary aerial bombing of civilian areas and a strict blockade of food, medicine and international aid.

Human Rights Watch has called for an investigation into war crimes committed during the Saada war.

Yemen’s previous violations of international law related the southern protests include mass arbitrary arrests and the murder of hundreds of peaceful protesters, rights organizations charged. As tensions mounted over the last year, some northern merchants and travelers were targets of violence in southern areas

UPDATE: Cell phone video shot today: Yemeni military armored vehicle in al Hableen ran over and killed a motorcyclist suspected of sympathies with the separatists.

The Chinese and the Dutch at least report the non-al Qaeda news. And apparently the official statement is… the motorcyclists started shooting after the armored vehicle ran him over, so they killed him. On a brighter note, regime decided late today to start pretending they opened the Aden – al Dhalie road. People’s Daily:

Two pro-separatist southern activists opened fire at an army’s vehicle after they were mistakenly hit by the vehicle. The two were then killed in the clashes in al-Melah district in the southern province of Lahj, said Kasim al-Afefi, deputy governor of Lahj.

Another three southerners were injured as well as a privately- owned shop and a car were burnt in the clashes, he added.

Meanwhile, al-Afefi said “the security committee and local council in the province reached an agreement today to re-open a main highway linking al-Dhalee-Radfan-Lahj and the southern city port of Aden after being closed for about two weeks due to riots and instability.”

Reuters

(Reuters) – An assassination on Yemeni territory of a radical Muslim cleric wanted dead or alive by U.S. authorities would be unacceptable, the Yemeni prime minister said on Sunday. (Read on …)

The Yemeni military, finished destroying Sa’ada, have turned more attention to the south, using the same tactics of collective punishment including blockade, denying the freedom of movement as well as the import of food, gas and medicine. There’s a siege for the past 16 days in Radfan, Yafea, al Dhala, al Melah, al Habeelan, al Shaib, Gahaf, Lazarik, and Shabwah. On the 18th, the military began shelling al Habeelan, Lahj following a bloody clashes.

Reports indicate a heavy military mobilization including tanks, missiles and other artillery but are difficult to confirm in the total media blackout. An American journalist was expelled from Yemen last week after visiting Yafee, a center of southern resistance. On May 24, a pregnant woman attempting to get to a hospital in Aden was stopped at a military checkpoint and later died in childbirth.

On May 22, the 20th anniversary of Yemeni unity, President Saleh announced the pardon of southern journalists and other political prisoners and several high profile journalists were released, but others remain imprisoned and hundreds of others arrested during protests remain jailed. An ambush in al Rahda, Lahj Two soldiers were ambushed killed two soldiers and wounded 11. Another ambush in al Melah killed one soldier, and authorities have accused renegade elements of the southern independence movement with the attacks.

al Qahtani was recently sanctioned by the US and then the US said he was killed in an explosion while working on a bomb. Meanwhile, al Qaeda expert Abdulelah Haider Shayer says he died in a shoot out with Saudi forces last month. Qassim al Reimi was sanctioned at the same time as al Qahtani. Related: with the Yemenis staying home, al Qaeda in Iraq has a suicide bomber shortage.

Saudi Gazette Sa’eed Bin Muhammad Al-Koudari Al-Qahtani, the elder brother of wanted terrorist Naif Al-Qahtani who has been implicated in the 2009 assassination attempt on Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs, has denied receiving official information that his brother had been killed in Yemen. Speaking to Okaz, Al-Qahtani, who describes the brother he remembers as “kind and quiet”, recalled his last contact with him. (Read on …)

Blackouts in Sanaa are occurring several times daily.

Yemen Observer: Power transmission lines linked to Sana’a were fired upon by the Abeeda tribes in Marib province on Tuesday, May 25, leading to the break down of the Gas Power Station. (Read on …)

The Southern Movement was largely peaceful and self-restrained in the face of state violence and atrocities for well over two years, despite dozens of deaths at the hand of police and hundreds of arrests. The turning point was the inclusion of ex-regime loyallist, Tariq al Fadhli. While the majority still support peaceful demonstrations, it only takes a few of these incidents to ratchet up the pressure on both sides.

Yemen Post: Three Yemeni soldiers were killed and other 11 were wounded early Saturday in two attacks by elements of the Southern Mobility, which calls for separating southern Yemen from the north.

The Ministry of Interior announced that the security forces in Lahj province are to hunt down separatist elements accused of killing 3 soldiers and wounding 11 others in two ambushes against two vehicles belonging to the army forces, reported the Ministry’s Security Media Center.

The Center said that a group of these elements ambushed a vehicle belonging to the army forces in Al-Raha area, which led to the death of 2 soldiers in their car after they came under fire from the separatist elements, and 4 others were wounded; then they were taken to hospital for treatment, the attack also resulted in injuring 7 others.

The security services in Lahj province added that a vehicle belonging to the military sector in Al-Malah Directorate was ambushed by separatist elements in Jubail Shams area, which led to the death of the soldier driving the car.

The security services stressed that all involved in both criminal attacks, which targeted members of the army forces, will not go unpunished, and the security will pursue them wherever they are to receive their just punishment.

Currently, it is notable that the Southern Mobility is witnessing increasingly confrontations, call for secession from the north.

A Yemeni software developer and activist was among this year’s batch of new TED fellows, according to a press statement by TED (http://ted.com). Walid al-Saqaf, the founder of Yemen Portal (https://yemenportal.net) and alkasir circumvention software (https://alkasir.com), along with 22 other persons from several countries around the world have been selected from over 800 candidates to take part in the renowned TEDGlobal 2010, TED’s annual conference to be held in Oxford, UK during July 12-16, 2010. Al-Saqaf is the only Arab selected this year and is the first Yemeni and among a handful of Arabs to have ever been awarded this prestigious fellowship since its inception.

Al-Saqaf developed alkasir (Arabic for ‘the circumventor’), a software solution that allows users around the world to circumvent website or URL filtering through ’split-tunneling’, which diverts traffic to a secure tunnel only if the accessed website is found to be among those verified to be blocked by the specific user’s Internet Service Provider. If a website is not blocked, alkasir allows traffic to flow directly and without tunneling. This mechanism makes circumvention more efficient and less resource-hungry. It also creates the possibility of dynamically tracking and studying filtering patterns around the world. Al-Saqaf is currently using alkasir as a research tool in a study about Internet censorship for his PhD degree in media and communication at Orebro University in Sweden. (Read on …)

Yemen Post

Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula AQAQ has revealed that the wanted terrorist suspect 53 on the list of 85 wanted terrorism suspects made public by the Saudi authorities in early last year Othman Al-Ghamdi has become a leader in the organization.

The new leader, who was released from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo bay, Cuba, four years ago, appeared in a videotape speaking about U.S. strikes in conflict and disturbed regions.

Al Umairah Al-Ghamdi entered Yemeni territory illegally to join Al-Qaeda wings like other Saudis who were released from Guantanamo bay when Al-Qaeda wanted to regroup.

In early last year, AQAP was announced in Yemen after local and Saudi wings merged. Since then, the organization has claimed responsibility for most terrorist attacks in the world; the last the suicide attack against the UK’s envoy to Yemen Tim Torlot.

The videotape also disclosed that three Qaeda leaders were killed in raids Yemeni counterterrorism forces carried out in late last year and early this year including Abdul Al-Mehdhar, in Shabwa, and Muhammad Al-Awlaki and Muhammad Saleh Al-Kazemi, in Abyan.

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH/TAIF – A fugitive Saudi Arabian man, who is on the Kingdom’s most wanted list, was named as a senior member of Al-Qaeda’s Yemen wing, according to a tape by the group shown on Al-Arabiya television Friday.

The tape also confirmed the deaths of three leaders killed in December and January during Yemeni air raids.
Among those killed were Abdullah Al-Muhdar, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Yemen’s Shabwa province, Mohammed Amir Al-Awlaki, and Mohammed Saleh Al-Kazimi.

Othman Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, the 31-year-old man named as a leading Al-Qaeda operative Friday, had spent four years in Guantanamo after he was captured in Afghanistan. He was released in 2006.

Meanwhile, the mother of one of the wanted terrorists named on the Ministry of Interior’s 2009 list of 85 has said that Othman Al-Ghamdi “kidnapped” her son. (Read on …)

The activists visited a prison to conduct a human rights investigation in 2008, and the criminal court now finds this as cause for a security investigation.

Yemen Criminal Court made 5 activists under censorship of National Security, human rights organizations condemn

Solidarity release with MP Ahmed Saif Hashed & activists Basim Alhajj, Nabeel Abdulhafeez, Saddam Alashmori and Ali Aldailami

Release adopted by Yemen human rights organizations (YHROs): Attaghyir for Defending Rights and Freedoms, Yemeni Organization for Defending Democratic Rights and Freedoms, Yemen Observatory for Human Rights, Center of Training and Protection Journalists Freedoms, Arab Sisters Forum for Human Rights and Women Journalists without Chains.

The YHROs, In the context of massive violations crackdown exercised by the Yemeni authorities against human rights activists, journalists and politicians, the Criminal Court (State Security Court) listed in its indictment in case No. 117, 2009, a number of human rights activists and asking the National Security to ” investigate and collect information about them, edit records of collecting evidences, and transfer the outcomes to it”, being allegedly have been named within the statements attributed to other human rights activists, who were arrested on the background of Sada’a War and accused of collaborating in intelligence with Iran and armed criminal actions. The activists listed by the Court’s indictment are Ahmed Saif Hashed, Member of Parliament, Basim Alhajj and Nabeel Abdulhafeez, activists in Yemen Observatory for Human Rights, Saddam Alashmori, journalist and Ali Aldailami, Head of Yemeni Organization for Defending Democratic Rights and Freedoms.

The criminal Court has been considered the participation of the abovementioned activists in a visit conducted on, March 2008, to Hajja Prison for investigating on the conditions of prisoners, as a justification to be investigated by the National security.

The YHROs condemn the recommendations of the Criminal Court to the National Security that expose the mentioned activists to remain under open eye, meanwhile it warns that was a prelude to take any illegal action against their safety, whether by abduction, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance or other acts that were constantly exercised by the security apparatuses against human rights activists.

It also assures the public opinion inside and outside of Yemen that such action targeting to destroy and hinder human rights activists to play role in defending the just issues, counter-war and oversight on prisons in Yemen.

- It is known that the charged detainees on the ground of Sada’a war were illegally arrested without court orders, jailed in prisons out of law and deprived of their rights as defendants and all of that was due to their activity in following up and defending the issues of their arrested relatives.

- Rather than, the activists’ visits, referred to in the Court indictment, to the Hajja and Dhamar prisons were authorized by the Deputy Attorney General, It is fundamental right of human rights organizations to observe and control the situation of human rights.

- The neglecting of the parliamentary immunity of Ahmed Saif Hashed by the Court clearly demonstrates its disrespect of the most basic principles of the Constitution and the law that prohibit censorship before and after any work or activity made by parliamentarians being a part of their functions.

- The YHROs demand the supreme authorities to stop their illegal actions including censorship and restrictions on human rights activists; meanwhile, it confirms to public opinion that the aggressive policy towards the activists and human rights defenders will not discourage them for their role to protect victims of repressive policies and security breaches against Human Rights. Furthermore, it invites international organizations for solidarity with mentioned human rights activists for their own safety and continuation their role in defending human rights in Yemen.

SANAA – Fuel subsidies and tax evasion are the biggest strains on Yemen’s finances and need to be dealt with swiftly to allow the impoverished country to turn its economy around, the Yemeni finance minister said. (Read on …)

A war against children, fought by children on both sides.

the Naitonal Annual study also finds young soldiers fighting on both sides
(Read on …)

Short version: Al Quso attended the al Qaeda summit in Malaysia in January 2000 that planned both the USS Cole attack and 9/11. Other attendees included Nawaf Alhazmi, Khalid Almihdhar, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Khallad bin Attash, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, Hambali. Yazid Sufaat, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh. Al Quso was part of the conspiracy that targeted the USS Cole in October 2000 in the port of Aden. On day of the attack, al Quso was supposed to video the attack, which killed 17 US service members and wounded 49. He told investigators that he overslept. He was jailed in 2002, escaped prison in 2003 and indicted on 50 counts of terror related charges in US Federal court. He was returned to jail in 2004. In 2007, al Quso was given a early release by the Yemeni government within a larger pattern of al Qaeda releases, defended by many as “co-optation” by the Saleh regime, when it is the Saleh regime itself that has been co-opted. Here in 2010, al Quso makes an AQAP video threatening the US.

The danger of al Quso in particular is that he is trusted by bin Laden, has operational experience, international connections and already blew up a US warship, so we could expect his next plan to be even bigger. On the other hand, my take on Al Qaeda in Yemen’s strategy is that they are trying to suck the US troops into Yemen. And their media strategy reflects that. And that would generate substantial opposition in the heavily armed country from many with no affiliation or sympathy to al Qaeda.

Memri: On May 26, 2010, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released a 55-minute video containing new statements by Fahd Al-Quso, a senior Al-Qaeda operative who is under U.S. indictment for his alleged role in the USS Cole bombing. This is the first time that Al-Quso, whom Yemen released from prison in 2007, has appeared in an AQAP production. The new release is also the origin of the footage of Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab that was leaked to ABC. In addition, the video contains statements by Othman Al-Ghamdi, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee whom the video now refers to as an AQAP commander, as well as Qasim Al-Rimi, AQAP’s chief military commander. The video is dated Rabi’ I 1431, i.e. February-March 2010. The video praises the Yemeni tribes and mentions the tribal affiliations of the various AQAP operatives it eulogizes. A number of them are from the ‘Awalik, Anwar Al-Awlaki’s tribe. Fahd Al-Quso, himself from the ‘Awalik, specifically mentions Anwar Al-Awlaki.

For a comprehensive overview of the bombing, see my earlier report The USS Cole bombing, a seven year perspective. Excerpt below:

(Read on …)

CPJ

New York, May 25, 2010—The Sana’a appeal court in Yemen should overturn suspended jail sentences given to an editor and four reporters, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The sentences come just a few days after local media reported that President Ali Abdullah Saleh pardoned all journalists being tried or convicted of press offenses to mark the 20th anniversary of Yemen’s unification. (Read on …)

Update: BBC: The militant, named as Mohammed Said bin Jardan, was injured but escaped. Three of Mr Shabwani’s bodyguards were also killed in the bombing, security sources told reporters. The Yemen army had meant to bomb the farm but hit the deputy governor’s car instead, Reuters reported. Who the heck is going to surrender now, when the last guy got ambushed? They meant to bomb the farm but hit the official’s car instead? That’s the story?

Another version from the YP:

Deputy Marib Governor, Secretary General of the Local Council, Jabir Al-Shabwani has been killed in an airstrike while he was leading a mediation to convince Al-Qaeda members to hand themselves in to the authorities. Three others including his uncle and two escorts were killed and two others were injured.

The airstrike targeted two cars in Al-Hadba’a district, one of which was carrying Al-Shabwani and his relatives, according to independent sources.Fury prevailed in the province in northeast Yemen after the news of Al-Shabwani’s death, with sources expecting clashes may erupt between his tribe and the army.

The state is calling it (another) misdirected airstrike.

(Read on …)

A tribal group kidnapped an American couple visiting Yemen, ABC News reports. The couple’s Yemeni driver, Ali al-Arashi, was also taken hostage. In a phone call to AFP, al Arashi said, “They are calling for the release of a fellow tribesman held by authorities in Sanaa,” he said. The tribesman is being detained over a land dispute. In the absence of a functional judiciary system, and in response to state hostage taking, Yemeni tribes have a long history of taking foreign hostages to press their demands from the state. No tribal hostages have been hurt in over one hundred of foreigner kidnappings in the last two decades.

In three instances kidnap victims were harmed in Yemen. The first occurred in 1998, when the al Qaeda linked Aden Abyan Islamic Army kidnapped 16 westerners, and four were killed in a botched rescue attempt. In 2000, a Norwegian diplomat was killed in crossfire with extremists. In June 2009, nine westerners were kidnapped in the war torn Sa’ada province with the likely perpetrators al Qaeda or drug smugglers. Three nurses were killed immediately. Earlier this month Saudi forces rescued two of the German children in Yemeni territory. The fate of their parents, younger brother and a British engineer kidnapped at the same time is unknown.

Another communication supposedly from the Houthi rebels exposes an al Qaeda in Yemen training manual sent to terrorists in Gaza about how to build a small plane for a terror attack. This story line is among the most bizarre coming out of Yemen, and that’s saying a lot, but there are specifics and it does highlight a new tactic that may be deployed. Several of the AQIY Sada al Malahim magazine issues spoke about defending Gaza. But while Wahishi and al Reimi and al Qaeda in Yemen do pose a threat, there are several other al Qaeda groupings and individuals operating in Yemen, associated with external cells, that are not media hounds like AQIY and operate under the radar. Its also true that the Houthi rebels ideology is diametrically opposed to al Qaeda, and Jewish people lived in Sa’ada alongside the Zaidis for centuries without incident. Wahabbi extremists were responsible for the recent targeting of Yemen’s Jews and the murder of the Rabbi.

Haaretz: Yemen Al-Qaida training Gaza groups to attack Israel

Documents sent to Haaretz by Shi’ite separatists in Yemen that opposes Al-Qaida points to regular, direct contact between Al-Qaida and Gaza Strip supporters.

The Yemen-based arm of Al-Qaida recently sent members of the organization in the Gaza Strip a training manual with instructions for building a light aircraft and using it against Israeli targets near the border with the Strip. The plane is powered by a car engine and can be used to launch explosives into Israel.

Documents sent to Haaretz by a group of Shi’ite separatists in Yemen that opposes Al-Qaida points to regular, direct contact between the Al-Qaida organization in that country and supporters in the Gaza Strip. Some of the latter are active in Al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad, which has carried out terror attacks against resorts in Sinai.

The Shi’ite rebels who passed the latest communication, and several previous ones, to Haaretz, are demanding Yemeni government recognition of their civil rights. They are keen to distinguish themselves from Al-Qaida. (Read on …)

Al Ansi, Saleh’s assistant since 1989, promises the hunting will continue.

Manhunt for al-Awlaki will continue in Yemen
[23/May/2010] Saba
SANA’A, May 23 (Saba) – Yemen will continue the manhunt for Anwar al-Awlaki, a most wanted terrorist, until he is arrested or he surrenders, head of the National Security System has said.

We can’t arrest someone based on just accusations but after the authorities found out the man was involved in terrorism, the search for him was expanded, Ahmed al-Anesi, who is also director of the Presidency Office, said. (Read on …)

The Yemeni Organisation for Defending Human Rights, Democracy and Freedom would like to thank the Committee for the opportunity to make this statement on the continuous violations of the Yemeni government of its obligations under the Convention against Torture. At this point, I would like to remind the Committee of the Yemeni government’s commitments to the Human Rights Council during its UPR review in September 2009 when it assured the Council that the people of Yemen would be protected against torture, forced disappearances and solitary imprisonment. (Read on …)

MEMRI

Saudi Daily Reports: American-Yemeni Imam Al-Awlaki Seen In Southern Yemen

The Saudi ‘Okaz daily on May 18th reported that Fareed Abu Bakr Al-Awlaki, a tribal source, has said that American-Yemeni imam Anwar Al-Awlaki was seen a few days ago in the Al-Saeed directorate, in Shabwa province in southern Yemen. (Read on …)