Armies of Liberation

Al Qaeda declared war on all Yemenis in a recent statement: any one with a government job or walking past anything western deserves to die, the statement said. The death squads have killed dozens of police and soldiers.

SANA’A, Aug. 20 (Saba) – Two soldiers were killed in an attack of al-Qaeda on Thursday in Apian governorate, a security source said on Friday. The source told the ruling party-run almotamar.net that the some affiliates of al-Qaeda have carried a sudden attack with machine guns on a number of security men in a public souk and escaped. The attack has left, in addition to the two killed, a wounded soldier. The security authorities have tightened security measures in the governorate and begun hunting the attackers.

ID’s

SANA’A, Aug. 20 (Saba) - The security services in Abyan governorate managed to find out the identities of the perpetrators involved in killing 36-year-old Sergeant Sultan Abd-al-Karim al-Shar’abi, a security source in Al-Mahfid Security Department has said. The Interior Ministry said that the investigations revealed the involvement of three persons in setting an ambush for al-Shar’abi on 13 August.

The three perpetrators are: Abdullah Muhammad Abdullah (27), Yaslam Ali Hadi Laksar (35) and Salim Ali Hadi Laksar (22). They are all from al-Mahfid District. The Ministry showed that the three perpetrators are at large, but a search operation is underway to arrest them.

Update:

(Reuters) - Twelve Yemeni soldiers have died in two days of clashes with gunmen suspected of being al Qaeda militants, a local official said, the latest in a string of attacks on security personnel in south Yemen since June. (Read on …)

Yemen Post:

The quiet situation in Harf Sufyan district after the bloody battles last July draws numerous unanswered questions. The battles killed dozens from both sides and had 228 soldiers held hostage. Observers believe that the Qatari mediation helped to calm down the situation, while local analysts believe that local mediations were the main and only reason behind the end of fighting in Harf Sufyan. Houthis not only control Sa’ada governorate, but also control the strategic military site of Al-Zaala which oversees the main road linking the capital Sana’a with Saada city. (Read on …)

Apparently Saed al Shehri and the brothers sat around chewing qat and predicting the future and dreaming of destruction and kamikaze attacks.

August 18, 2010 — Brookings: Al Qaeda is warning its supporters and sympathizers to prepare for a new war in the Middle East, which it says will pit Israel against Iran. Al Qaeda’s franchise in Yemen, the self-styled al Qaeda in the Arabian Pennisula (AQAP), issued an audio message this month with a lecture by its second-in-command Saeed al Shehri in which he tells jihadists in the Middle East that “what is expected is for the war to begin by the Jews against Iran.” Israel will stage air strikes on Iran’s nuclear installations to start. Shehri expects the Iranian Shia regime to try to take advantage of an Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities to seize the holy cities of Mecca and Medina by blaming Saudi Arabia for helping Israel attack. In turn, the Israelis will seize territory in the Levant to establish “the greater state of Israel.” The Sunni Arab population of the Middle East will be caught between the “Jews in the Middle East and Iran in the Peninsula.” (Read on …)

Yemen Times

HODEIDA, August 18 — Dialysis patients in Hodeida have been waiting since last Sunday without treatment due to lack of materials in the governmental Center for Nephrology and Urology in the city.

On Sunday, women and men waited outside the center for treatment, although the materials required for dialysis had run out. (Read on …)

Limburg defendant survives hellfire attack

Bombs a ship and tried to down a helicopter, sentenced to death in 2004, escapes Feb 2006, surrenders Aug 2006 and released, survives Arhab airstrike and captured again August 2010

Original post: In 2006, 23 high value al Qaeda prisoners escaped the Political Security jail in the capital Sana’a, aided by some government officials. Supposedly they used a spoon to dig the tunnel but actually used a drill according to other prisoners in the jail at the time. Some escapees were later killed by security forces. All the rest surrendered and were then released on loose house arrest. The only two who remain on the lam are Nasir al Wahishi and al Qasim al Reimi, currently the leaders of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

At the time, the releases were condoned by some as the way things are done in Yemen. Now the state is labeling them as dangerous al Qaeda (and any convicted murder and friend of Fawaz al Reibi certainly is) which the security forces managed to catch to the glee of the US. Its a total crock. Either they called him up and asked nicely to go to jail for a few weeks or worse yet, the previously surrendered, convicted al Qaeda murderer was actually plotting attacks. Today’s news from AFP :

SANAA — Yemeni security forces have arrested a suspected Al-Qaeda militant who was sentenced to death for attacking a French ship and was among 23 prison escapees in 2006, a security official said on Thursday. Huzam Majali, who is considered a leading figure of Al-Qaeda in the area of Arhab, north of the capital, was arrested on Wednesday. “He surrendered after a successful raid by the anti-terrorism forces on a house he was hiding in,” the official said.

Hiding, why is he hiding when he made a deal with Yemen’s president for his release? The background:

Jamestown: Hizam Salih Ali Mujali (b. 1980): Hizam is the older brother of Arif Mujali. He is from the governorate of Sanaa. Yemeni forces arrested him along with Fawaz al-Rabay’i in late 2003. The two resisted arrested, and fired at the security forces, killing one soldier, Hamid Khasruf. Hizam, like his younger brother, Arif, was part of the 15-man cell that went on trial in 2004. Hizam was charged with attacking a Hunt Oil helicopter and for participating in the attack on the Limburg. On August 30, 2004, he was sentenced to death for killing Khasruf. This sentence was upheld by a higher court in February 2005. Both Hizam and Arif turned themselves into the government in August 2006 (al-Wasat, August 30, 2006). Their surrender was orchestrated by Sheikh Hadi Dalqim, a tribal leader from Marib, who served as a mediator between the government and the brothers. It is unclear whether Mujali’s sentence was commuted as a result of the negotiations.

Its certainly clear now.

Update: SABA the state propaganda agency:

SANA’A, Aug. 19 (Saba) – Al-Qaeda suspect Hizam Mujali has surrendered himself to the security authorities, the Defense Ministry-run 26sep.net reported on Thursday…He was also part of the infamous 2006 prison break. However, he eventually turned himself back in to the security authorities, striking a deal that would allow him to keep his freedom on the condition that he did not rejoin al Qaeda.

That condition appears to have recently been broken. The government targeted him in a raid launched in Arhab area December 2009. Although his brother Arif was captured, Hizam managed to escape.

The Defense Ministry said that security forces in Apian (Abyan) Province have captured after a manhunt operation a senior al-Qaeda suspect called Anis al-Oli. Security sources told the website arresting such suspects and many others came as a result of information have been taken from al-Qaeda leaders and elements have been arrested recently.

2010/9/23 : تحية الى جميع الأصدقاء اليمني بلدي. أريد أن أقول أن هذه ليست شريط فيديو بأنني خلقت. وقد أنشئ من قبل ناشط في الجنوب. ونشرت لي هنا للسماح بحرية التعبير وفهم أكبر لآراء الناس في جنوب. وتلك التي كنت البلهاء كتابة بأنني في حاجة إلى وصي أو أنا دفعت ، يجب فتح عقولكم وقلوبكم لإخوانكم وضعهم. لن يكون هناك الملايين يتظاهرون إذا لم يكن هناك شيء خطأ فادحا في الجنوب
شكرا لكم لزيارة موقعي ولطيفة اليوم. .
للحصول على الصفحة الرئيسية ، انقر هنا.

9/23/2010: Greetings to all my Yemeni friends. I want to say that this is not a video that I created. It was created by a southern activist. And I posted it here to allow the freedom of expression and greater understanding of southern people’s views. And to those of you idiots writing that I need a guardian or I am paid, you should open your minds and your hearts to your brothers and their situation. There would not be millions demonstrating if there was not something terribly wrong in the south. Thank you for visiting my website and have a nice day. Go get to the home page click here.

The link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Bd_FMkK7H8&feature=player_embedded

This is lovely news, and the organization certainly deserves to be honored after their tireless work on behalf of protecting children in Yemen.

Press Release: Child rights institution (IDE) in Switzerland has chosen SEYAJ organization for childhood protection as a typical organization of the month for August 2010 to honor it for its distinct role in protecting, monitoring, supporting and advocating the rights of the child in Yemen.

(See their page in English here: Introduction about SEYAJ, its role in protecting childhood in Yemen and its main activities & programs will be displayed in English, French and Germany on one of the main pages of IDE web site that dedicated to highlight on the selected institutions. (Read on …)

That’s one way to look at it. Alternately millions in Yemen believe that state contracted out the attacks on the security in the south, and its all another ploy to make Saleh look like a victim of al Qaeda. After his long history of detente with al Qaeda, he has so little credibility that many doubt he is making sincere efforts. But the author of the article is correct in saying the substantial AQAP attacks all failed.

Yemen Post: With the growing number of Al-Qaeda attacks on governmental security officials, some tend to believe that this proves that Al-Qaeda is as strong as ever in Yemen. I believe the opposite. Killing security officials is not a complicated matter to plan nor does it cost a lot.

The effort for killing a government official is little, as it needs little planning and costs no more than $10 dollars! A couple of bullets, gasoline money for a motorcycle and a couple of loyal followers you are willing to do the attack free of charge are all you need.

The last major attack by Al-Qaeda in Yemen was the U.S. embassy attack two years ago. Even that attack was spoiled completely. This only proves that their presence is not what media pictures it to be. The attack on the British ambassador in Yemen is another sign of weak Al-Qaeda presence in Yemen, as the bombing took place nearly 200 meters away from the car of the British ambassador. Original Al-Qaeda attacks are much more accurate and Iraq and Afghanistan are examples of how destructive Al-Qaeda can be when it attacks. (Read on …)

The US never brought “incitement to violence” charges against American citizens and jihaddist bloggers Anwar Awlaki, Samir Khan, Jesse Morton, Zach Chessler, and Yousef al Kattab. Meanwhile former federal stooge, racist blogger Hal Turner was convicted–after 14 months and three trials–of incitement to violence for a blog post saying he believed three judges were worthy of execution for a ruling against handguns. Turner was under a gag order while the freds were leaking his file to the Star Ledger. He was denied bail and wound up sharing a cell with an Aryan Nation murder after it was known Turner was a federal rat on the skinheads. Meanwhile Awlaki’s blog was online for years and hosted in the US. While the site may have had some intel value, it was never followed up on. Condolences to the Fort Hood families.

Later the US determined Anwar was operational in AQAP. Awlaki still hasn’t been indicted for incitement to violence, even after numerous persons said they were inspired to violence by Awlaki, including the two latest in Alaska. Awlaki himself claimed the mass murderer Nidal Hassan as his student as well as the would be killer Farouk Abdulmattalab. Anwar also ruled (as if he’s an actual cleric or something) that all Americans should be killed because they pay taxes and have the opportunity to vote. This is one of the issues the ACLU is bringing up- there’s no charges against Awlaki, just a capture or kill order.

Samir Khan ran the Inshallahshahid blog openly calling for jihad against Americans. Sami went to Yemen, apparently not on the no-fly list, and hooked up with AQAP. He is now thought to be the designer of the fanatics’ latest magazine, the English language Inspire. US authorities are just now wondering if Sami is guilty of anything and convened a grand jury to contemplate the question. They are considering if there is enough evidence to support a material support charge and conspiracy to murder, but not apparently incitement to violence. Yousef al Kattab, the Revolution Muslim blog founder, is now in Tetouan, Morocco. Apparently he was also not on no-fly list.

Joey was never charged with incitement to violence, although the RM blog is among the foremost English language proponents of violence under the banner of Islam and he posted specific death threats. Jesse Morton (Younis Abduallah) is another Revolution Muslim flunky, whereabouts unknown, uncharged. Zach Chesser called for the death of the South Park creators and posted their home addresses along with a picture of Theo Van Gogh dead with a knife in his chest. Zachy wasn’t charged with incitement to violence. Zachy became a RM administrator and was only pinched when he tried to go join al Shabab–bringing his infant son as cover. The only one is custody, indicted for material support, Zach flipped in a day and began cooperating with authorities. So the post-racial Obama administration brings a clearly malicious prosecution against a racist blogger but gives a pass to all the jihaddist bloggers. The DOJ, for the first time in a long time, has an overt political agenda in many areas. This is just one instance of selective application of the law. However, others have a more optimistic view.

GPB: One of the jihadi world’s most famous bloggers could be brought up on U.S. terrorism charges soon, NPR has learned. A federal grand jury in Charlotte, N.C., convened to consider evidence against Samir Khan, a 24-year-old North Carolina man who is thought to be the editor of Inspire, a new al-Qaida online magazine….Sources close to the case tell NPR the grand jury convened Tuesday to see if there was evidence enough to charge Khan with terrorism offenses. Among the charges people close to the case said the grand jury is considering: material support to a terrorist organization and conspiracy to commit murder overseas. The FBI, for its part, declined to confirm or deny there is an investigation. And the grand jury is unlikely to come out with any decision in the case for weeks. Grand jury deliberations are secret until indictments are announced….Intelligence officials now say they believe Khan’s al-Qaida patron was Anwar al-Awlaki, the same U.S.-born radical cleric linked to the Fort Hood shootings and the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day. They say he invited Khan to Yemen and Khan packed his bags and went.

At the same time journalist for the state propaganda agency SABA and “al Qaeda expert” Abdulelah Haider Shaer was arrested, political cartoonist Kamal Sharef’s house was raided and he was dragged off to an unknown location and is currently held incommunicado. Topics covered by Sharef include womens’ rights, corruption, bigotry,and child brides and other progressive commentary on social issues.

News Yemen: Security authorities arrested on Monday cartoonist Kamal honor of his home in the capital Sana’a, and confiscated his personal belongings including a laptop computer ..
وقال شقيق شرف لـ(نيوزيمن) أن مسلحين بلباس مدني وعسكري قاموا وقت الإفطار باقتحام منزلهم واعتقال شقيقه، وآخرين قاموا بمحاصرة منزلهم ، ومن ثم قاموا بتكتيف شقيقه ، اقتادوه إلى جهة مجهولة، بناءً على مذكرة حد قولهم باعتقاله. The brother’s honor (NewsYemen) Gunmen in civilian clothing and military as they break into their home breakfast and the arrest of his brother, and others who surrounded their house, and then they Petktev his brother, took him to an unknown destination, according to a warrant for his arrest they said. (Read on …)

Walid Sharafuddin is a political prisoner in Yemen whose wife was beaten during a peaceful protest in his favor, story here with photos. The following is a plea for the release of Walid in the spirit of Ramadan.

That’s more good news. The first issue they should discuss is access routes for the urgently needed humanitarian aid. Qatar has done some good work for years on the issue. The situation needs impartial monitors on the ground. (No, I am not calling for foreign intervention, just saying that both sides have very loose command and control.) From the Yemen Post:

Yemen and Qatar agreed the government and the Houthi Group will send delegations to Doha in the coming days to sign a minutes over the 2007 Doha-brokered peace deal between the two sides, informed sources said on Monday.

The move was agreed during the short visit of Qatar’s Prime Minister Hamad bin Jasim Al Thani to Sana’a. (Read on …)

They were hoping for some dates and sweets but there’s no food deliveries since June due to various conflicts and road closures. The widows and children are begging for food.

AMRAN, 17 August 2010 (IRIN) – Thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the northern Yemeni governorate of Amran, including 1,800 in the governorate’s only IDP camp, Khaiwan, have been hit by food aid delivery delays, according to aid workers. (Read on …)

Hassan Baoum, a leader of one of the factions of the southern movement, was abroad receiving medical treatment for many months. He was previously jailed (and denied medical treatment in prison) and the fact that he returned to Yemen upon his recovery says a lot. Now it would be nice if they let Al-Ayyam’s Mr. Bashraheel go abroad for urgently needed treatment. More on Baoum’s return at Mukalla Online. Update: Bashraheel is currently in KSA receiving treatment, one good piece of news anyway.

Yermen Times: SANA’A, August 11 — About 395,000 Yemenis seeking jobs opportunities failed to infiltrate the Saudi border over the last two years, according to report published in Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper last week.

The report, that was written by Saudi journalist Turki Al-Saheel, stated that “at least one Yemeni infiltrator is arrested every ‘five minutes’ in the border region.” The report said that there are dozens of would-be Yemeni infiltrators camped out along the border waiting for chance to enter into Saudi Arabia. (Read on …)

And another

ADEN, Yemen, Aug 16 (Reuters) – Suspected al Qaeda militants shot dead an intelligence officer in southern Yemen on Monday in at least the seventh attack officials have blamed on the group since June. An official in Abyan province said the officer, Abdulkarim al-Dalei, was killed in the provincial capital Zinjibar….In the capital Sanaa, security forces detained Abdulelah Shai, a journalist who is an expert on al Qaeda, his brother said on Monday. In July, Shai was briefly detained and interrogated about al Qaeda by the intelligence services. Shai, a freelance journalist, has made numerous appearances in international media as an expert on al Qaeda and is often described as having a close relationship with members of the militant group.

Reuters

SANAA Aug 14 (Reuters) – A Yemeni intelligence officer was killed by gunmen in south Yemen, a security official said on Saturday, in an attack blamed on al Qaeda.

The officer was gunned down by two men as he walked outside of his home late on Friday in the flashpoint southern province of Lahej, the official said, adding that the attackers were suspected al Qaeda operatives.

Al Qaeda in Yemen previously focused on high-impact strikes against Western and Saudi targets, but appears now to be targeting government forces in response to enhanced Yemen-U.S. security coordination in government crackdowns on the militant group.

This is the same issue that brought the 2009 Parliamentary elections to a stand still. The SCER oversees the elections and election monitors and the electoral list (which in 2006 contained more male voters than men). The JMP asserted the positions on the SCER should be split between the JMP and GPC, but the regime said judges were good candidates for the positions and nominated its list, rubber stamped by parliament. The JMP is getting hemmed in the issue of the proportional list, which it favors, by international pressure just to do something that looks like an election. YObserver:

The Supreme Commission For Elections and Referendum (SCER) endorsed on Monday the schedule for the upcoming parliamentary elections set in April, which the Yemeni opposition considered “contrary” to the agreements of the “national dialogue” that began last Saturday. (Read on …)

Really tragic numbers here.

Daily Times: A study carried out in 2010 by the US-based aid group CHF International revealed that out of Yemen’s 11 million children, five million are currently employed. Three-fifths of those do not receive an education while the remaining two million both study and work at the same time.
CHF said that 40 percent of Yemeni children are drawn into the labour market between the ages of seven and 13. (Read on …)

VOA News

Security officials in Yemen say an al-Qaida leader in the country’s north has surrendered to authorities. The officials said Juman Safian turned himself in on Saturday in the province of al-Jouf. They did not release additional details.

Yemen recently intensified its campaign against the group’s local branch, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, following a series of deadly attacks on government targets.

Earlier this month, al-Qaida threatened to target anyone who supports Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh or what it called the “crusader campaign” by the United States.

(Read on …)

Hopefully the statement indicates a real consensus, not some earlier statements, if only for the ability to move things forward. There’s no one to talk to when there’s eight groups and leaderships in the SMM. The July 17 JMP/ GPC agreement on dialog (which is stalled again) even if it reaches consensus, does nothing to address the southern issue. Some southerners consider the agreement a northern plot. The EU observers determination of the 2006 election as mostly free and fair (with massive reforms needed) neglected the boycotting southerners entirely.

Signatories of the current agreement include:
Supreme National Authority for the independence of the South:
Supreme National Council for the Liberation of South
Southern Democratic Assembly (TAJ)
Youth Union South (Ashajj)

An important statement of the components of independence

The latest developments in the political arena southern confirm beyond a shadow of
Doubt on the strength of the SPLM and the effectiveness of South peaceful struggle vital
Awareness of the project and the return of the South goes to accomplish the tasks ahead in
Forefront of independence and nation-building and the restoration of the Arab identity of the South
Based on the popular will, which has become dogma in the minds of our people
And the road to the ultimate salvation of the Yemeni occupation, despite our awareness of the seriousness of the conspiracies

Hatched against the draft independence.

The forces of South Independence Declaring its firm and principled position on the issue of
Our people in the south and the right to freedom and independence it is not concerned with any agreements
And conducted by the JMP with the occupation authority since the wake of the Yemeni
The war of summer 1994 through an agreement in February 2009 and the end of the agreement of July 17, 2010 (Read on …)