Armies of Liberation

al Teef: جين نوفاك
في أغسطس/آب 25، أَسرَ ثوّارَ الحوثي زعيم القاعدة حسين التيس في المحافظةِ الجوف لليمن. التيس رئيسُ مجموعةِ القاعدةَ النشيط في محافظةِ. إنّ المجموعةَ يُعْتَقَد بأنَّه تُخبرُ الجنرالَ علي محسن الةأحمر، أخ غير الشّقيق الرئيسَ وقائدَ الحروبِ الستّة صعدة ضدّ ثوّارِ الحوثي في أقصىِ شمال صعدة . إنّ إستعمالَ الجهاديين كمرتزقة (Read on …)

ADEN, Sep 23, 2010 (AFP) – Thousands of supporters of Yemen’s Southern Movement demonstrated on Thursday ahead of a key meeting of the “Friends of Yemen” donors group in New York, local officials and witnesses said.
Prostestors in several cities, including the restive Loder, carried flags of former South Yemen and anti-North placards, the officials told AFP. Tribal sources estimated that 8,000 people, most of them carrying firearms, took part in the demonstration in Loder, shouting slogans against Yemeni unity.

Last month, Loder was the scene of fierce clashes between Yemeni forces and alleged Al-Qaeda militants as Sanaa charged that members of the Southern Movement fought alongside Al-Qaeda. A Southern Movement source told AFP his supporters “carried arms after the Yemeni army, which has been imposing a blockade on Loder since August, threatened to crush the demonstration.” (Read on …)

We have this news posted earlier but not in original English. News Yemen which also attended the session reported Badr al Hassani said he was paid by the PSO to train al Qaeda in Marib in hand to hand combat. Once at a conference, I met some securocrat contractor who said emphatically that the corruption in the security forces and collusion with al Qaeda doesn’t go as high as the head of the PSO, Ghalib al Qamish. I almost spit my coffee on the floor. That was 2008.

SANA’A, Sept. 20 — The trial of two Yemenis, a German, and an Iraqi accused of damaging foreign interests and attacking military targets in Yemen started on Monday at the Specialized Criminal Court in Sana’a.

Badr Al-Hassani, 22, Rami Hens, 16, Abdullah Al-Rawi, 16, and Saddam Al-Raimi, 22, stood accused of “participating in criminal acts, damaging foreign interests in the country, damaging military establishments, facing the state in the Marib governorate, training with weapons, forming secrets cells and being ready to commit suicide operations.” (Read on …)

Its important to recall that indiscriminate state violence is the primary reason for the increase in the number of al Houthi fighters from 400 in 2004 to 7000 in 2009, and for the swelling of the Southern Movement over the past three years. If Yemen deploys the same counter-insurgency methods against al Qaeda that it used against the Houthis and the Southerners, then it may result in an equally dramatic uptick.

al Tagheer
قتلى Dead مصابون Wounded

جنود Soldiers 6 8

عناصر القاعدة Al-Qaeda 3 About 10 (not confirmed)

مدنيين Civilians 5 10

About 10,000 displaced

Its a perfect opportunity to round up southern activists as well: “The Yemeni security forces, started today on 22 September in city of Aden, a campaign of raids and arrests of activists of the peaceful revolution in the South. (Read on …)

This guy could single-handedly change the face of the Middle East. “Free access to information is essential for human development and hence, people should be liberated from fear of repercussions due to their opinions.”

Yemen Times Walid Al-Saqaf is probably one of the most international Yemeni media people striving for change in Yemen and worldwide. As of late, his mission has been to study and combat Internet censorship in Yemen and around the world. He has already partially achieved this by creating a web crawler – Yemenportal.net – to aggregate news on Yemen in one place. He followed this by creating a piece of software he named alkasir (which can be translated as ‘the circumventor’) that evades Internet censorship of political websites in Yemen and many other countries, and is available to download for free. (Read on …)

Twenty-eight arrested al Qaeda are being interrogated to determine their identities. Dropping paratroopers behind them is a new skill. It sounds like this assault actually had a plan in advance.

ISA: Yemen’s security forces arrested 28 suspects of resurgent al-Qaida militancy on Wednesday in areas surrounding Hota town of the southeast Shabwa province where a massive military offensive is taking place, Defense Ministry said.

The suspects were being interrogated by security authorities to question their identities and connection with the al-Qaida fighters besieged by government troops in Hota town, the ministry’ s news website quoted security director of Shabwa, Ahmad al- Magdashi, as saying. (Read on …)

Dowries for women with American citizenship range now from $30K to $75K. The reason being that the newlywed husband can gain a visa to emigrate to the US. It is considered fraud and illegal in the US for an American citizen to marry someone just to enable their spouse to get a green card. The rest of the article deals with the hardship the women endure, while their fathers profit well. I checked to see if the article means riyals, but no, in Yemen they are saying its dollars. Many Yemeni-Americans come from Ibb.

al Masdar The marriage of nationality” (Citizen) is spreading in the province of the “father” – which has the largest Yemeni community in America – and I mean to marry a Yemeni who have the U.S. citizenship, the fact of carrying a U.S. citizen can give her husband, “Visa” to immigrate to America.
ولقلة الفتيات الحاصلات على الجنسية الأميركية، وزيادة الطلب عليهن، ارتفعت المهور بشكلٍ ملفت، حتى أصبحت المرأة -بمعنى أو بآخر- سلعةً تجارية خاضعة لقوانين البيع والشراء، وعلى الطريقة الأميركية؛ السوق المفتوح. Girls and a few crops to U.S. citizenship, and increased demand for them, the higher the dowry dramatically, to become women – in the sense or another – a commodity subject to the laws of buying and selling, and the American way; the open market. إذ وصل المهر في بعض حالاته إلى 75 ألف دولار أميركي، بيدَ أنه في أدنى مستوياته لا يقلّ عن ثلاثين ألف دولار أميركي، وأصبحت المرأة تنكح لجوازها الأميركي، دون النظر إلى جمالها أو حسبها أو دينها، ودون الرجوع إليها. Dowry, as it reached in some cases is 75 thousand U.S. dollars, but it at the lowest levels of not less than thirty thousand U.S. dollars, and women are married to American permissible, without regard to her beauty, lineage, religion, and without reference.

Update: Yemen Observer (quasi-governmental) says the two al Qaeda members, al Tais and al Ahdal, were “studying” at Dammaj: The men of whom al-Qaeda is demanding the release are Hussein al-Tais and Mash-Hoor al-Ahdal. These men were studying at Dar al-Hadith, the Wahabi religious center known for having a number of students with al-Qaeda sympathies, in Damaj area of Sa’ada province. Then the part of the AQAP statement referencing Dammaj makes more sense. But its quite odd for al Qaeda to publicly tie themselves to Dammaj. So then Hussain al Tais is a link between Dammaj, abu Jubarah, AQAP and General Ali Mohsen al Ahmar. All I need is al Zindani for a full house.

Original Post: I agree with the following article that concerns about incarcerated al Qaeda operative Hussain al Tais’s health are groundless because he is so close to the authority. At the same time the fate of Officer Ali Hosam Mohammed Saleh is worrisome because al Qaeda previously released an execution vid (sick dogs they are) of another security officer. Also its fascinating the AQAP is now claiming the right to retaliate for harassment of Dar al Hadieth (Dammaj) students. And the media previously reported that Ammar al Waeli is in Saada. But what does al Waeli have to do with this case? I think the article is saying that al Waeli and al Tais were accused in the media after the kidnapping of the Germans. And al Waeli belongs to the al Tais al Qaeda gang, which as the article notes, is often given tasks by the authorities. Maybe Ammar has Deputy Hosam at abu Jabarah. Ammar is pretty high ranking and an old timer. Its good the Mawheet tribes issued their threat/request to AQAP, because the state isn’t doing anything for Hosam. Earlier posts on this topic were updated here and here. SITE translation below the fold.

Al Eshteraki, website of the Yemeni Socialist Party: وقال البلاغ أن الحسام كان “يدير شبكات تجسس منذ 20 عاماً، وقام بترويع الناس ومداهمة بيوت الآمنين وخطف بعض طلبة العلم من دار الحديث بدماج وتغييبهم في سجون الأمن السياسي ظلما وعدوانا”.، وهو ما يجعل التهديد بإعدامه تهديد جدي كما عملت القاعدة مع رجال امن اخرين وقامت بتصوير ذلك بشرائط فديو وبطريقة اجرامية بشعة The authors (of the al Qaeda statement) state that Hussam had been “running spy networks 20 years ago, and has intimidated the people and raid homes of innocent people and the kidnapping of some students from Dar Al-Hadith Bdmaj and Ngyibhm in political security prisons unjustly and aggressively.”, Which makes the threat of being executed a serious threat as al Qaeda has worked with security men others, and has filmed bands Video heinous crime and in a manner…وقال المصدر ان الخبر لااساس له من الصحة “وان التيس وأمثاله معروفين لدى السلطة والمهام التي يكلفون بها بين الفترة والأخرى ” The source said that the news of his health groundless “and that the goat (al Tais) and his ilk are known to the Authority and the tasks assigned to them from time to time”

وكان اسم حسين التيس وعمار الوائلي قد تم تبادلهما في وسائل الإعلام لأول مرة بعد اختطاف الأطباء الألمان بصعدة قبل أن تعلن السلطة ان التيس سلم نفسه مع آخرين لأجهزة الأمن في سياق الحوار الذي تجريه الدولة مع من تسميهم بالمغرر بهم من عناصر القاعدة The goat’s (al Tais) name was Hussein, Ammar Waili were exchanged in the media for the first time after the abduction of German doctors Saada before announcing the power to ram him with others to the same security in the context of its dialogue with the State of Bamorr designated by their al-Qaeda members

(Read on …)

True.

Spectator Perhaps Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert would have offered comedic reassurance. But then again why would they risk the enmity of Anwar al-Alwaki when they can make fun of the Tea Party and Christianity with the knowledge that no one will call for the streets to be filled with their blood. Besides, Stewart wasn’t exactly a profile in courage during the South Park controversy.

I also wonder if Norris had wrapped herself in the First Amendment whether the White House would have supported her. After all, President Obama cited the First Amendment in support of the construction of the Ground Zero Mosque. Yet you would be wise not to hold your breath for the President’s support. Let us recall that in October 2009 the Obama Administration co-sponsored a resolution with Egypt before the UN Human Rights Council that would make criticism of Islam a violation of international law.

Update: News Yemen reporting he is not arrested but in protective custody according to security. Ali Salem al Beidh says the attack on Houta is a propaganda move in advance of the Friends of Yemen meeting.

YO: Approximately 9,000 civilians are fleeing the al-Huta area of Maifa’ah district in Shabwa province following recent clashes between alleged al-Qaeda affiliates and government troops, Colonel Mansur Hadi, Security Director of Maifa’ah district told the Yemen Observer…Members of al-Qaeda have recently moved from Lawdar district, Abyan province and Abeida district, Marib province to the al-Huta area of Shabwa, targeting both civilians and security there, said Hadi. He estimated that there are about 50 to 60 al-Qaeda members there. Hadi dismissed the contention that the Southern Movement is collaborating with al-Qaeda in Shabwa.

(Read on …)

And I don’t even think they are reducing the subsidies. In either event, the economic problem is 92% corruption. Yemen Post

For the third time in 2010, the government has increased the prices of oil derivatives and the increase this time was by 11 per cent. (Read on …)

ah, English: Yemen Observer: A Yemeni journalist was officially charged on Sunday of providing media support for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), lawyers said on Sunday. “The journalist Abdul Elah Haidar Shaea was accused of planning sabotage and criminal acts that threaten the security and stability of the nation, and providing media support for Al Qaeda,” said Abdul Rahman Barman, one of his lawyers, after they attended the first investigation session in the prosecution office of the State Security Court in Sana’a. Barman said the charges lack hard evidence. “It seems the charges were based on the interviews made by Shaea with the Al Qaeda leaders,” he said.
(Read on …)

Update: And members of the Commission as announced by the President consisting of “Sheikh Abdel Majid al-Zindani, Judge Ahmed Mohammed al-Shami, Mohammed Ismail, Urban, and Hussein Mohammed Hadar, and Ali Baruiz, Ahmed Bamwalim, Mohammed Ali Marei, Abdul Malik minister, Omar Bin Hafeez, Nasser al-Shaibani, Abdullah Bahermz “.

OP: The JMP already discounted and disowned them as part of the dialog. Saleh is stressing the importance of grounding the discussion in religious legitimacy. Meanwhile the scholars position has been that opposition to Saleh is illegitimate under Islamic law. Al Masiri, the Salafi head of the Dar al Hadieth institute in Marib, said as much on TV during a rally during the 2006 presidential campaign

President receives dialog reference scholars committee SANA’A, Sep. 21 (Saba) – President Ali Abdullah Saleh met here on Tuesday with the scholars committee formed early in September as a reference for the national issues, including the national dialog. (Read on …)

White House press release:

Statement by National Security Council Spokesman Mike Hammer on the visit of Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security John Brennan to Yemen (Read on …)

Update: Yemen ambassador to Moscow says they withdrew from the match and forfeited. How stupid this is.

Lahj net

Argument Net:
اتخذ وزير الشباب والرياضة الاستاذ حمود عباد قرارا يقضي باقالة اتحاد لعبة الشطرنج وشطب جميع اللاعبين المشاركين في اولمبياد العالم للشطرنج المقام حاليا في بلاروسيا بعد لقاءات جمعت لاعبين يمنيين بلاعبين اسرائيلين. Taken and the Minister of Youth and Sports Mr Hamoud slaves of a decision to dismiss the Union of the game of chess and write off all the players participating in the World Chess Olympics currently taking place in Belarus after the interviews collected for the players Yemeni players Israelis. (Read on …)

Update: Mohammed Albasha, a spokesman for the Yemen Embassy in Washington, said the operation was in response to a recent attempted attack on a liquefied natural gas pipeline line. He said the military had surrounded the area and was cutting off access in and out of the town. “Most likely they’ll enter the area in the next 24 hours,” Albasha said. He said the operation has nothing to do with al-Awlaki. “His hometown is hundreds of miles away,” Albasha said. The website that reported the story first is a government clone of a southern opposition webiste. (Read on …)

Update: Click here for the report August 27 on the kidnapping of Ali Hosam by the al Tais family which references their living in Abu Jubarah, extremist affiliations, military commissions and the similarities to the Germans’ kidnapping.

Original: A more coherent summary:

In August, the Houthi rebels captured al Qaeda leader Hussain al Tais in the al Jawf province of Yemen. Al Tais is head of the al Qaeda group active in the Sa’ada province. The group is long thought to report to General Ali Mohsen al Ahmar, the president’s half brother and commander of the six wars against the (Zaidi Shiite) Houthi rebels in the northernmost Sa’ada province. The use of jihaddists as mercenaries by various branches of the military and intelligence is common in Yemen.

Upon capture, the rebels transferred al Tais to the Political Security office in Sa’ada. Yesterday al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) issued a statement indicating the terror group had kidnapped the deputy head of intelligence in Sa’ada, Ali Hosam Mohammed Saleh AQAP has demanded the release of al Tais in exchange for Hosam with a 48 hour deadline that expires Wednesday.

The al Tais al Qaeda group in Sa’ada is suspected to be behind the kidnapping of nine westerners in June 2009 in Sa’ada. Three young nurses were murdered immediately. Two toddlers were released into Saudi custody in May 2010. An infant boy, his German parents and a British man remain unaccounted for in Yemen. The nine were kidnapped near the area of the Political Security, and while Yemen immediately accused the Houthi rebels, the operation bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda. The Houthi rebels have never attacked civilians or Westerners.

Today 200 of the al Tais clan demonstrated in the capital Sanaa for the release of Hussain al Tais. With the clock ticking, the ability of German intelligence to interrogate al Tais about the remaining hostages is questionable. The fact that AQAP is agitating for a known affiliate of General Al Ahmar should put to rest questions on the degree of enmeshment between the al Qaeda terror group in Yemen and some elements of the state.

In related news, al Qaeda member Badr al Hassani, on trial for an attempted assassination of UK ambassador Tim Torlot, said yesterday in court that the head of the Yemeni Political Security Organization (PSO) had paid him to train al Qaeda terrorists in hand to hand combat in Marib province. Al Hassani demanded Ghalib al Qamish, the head of the PSO, be summoned to the trial to testify on his behalf.

Update: Sahwa Net- Qawkban tribes of al-Mahweet province said it would retaliate al-Qaeda in case its fellow member Ali al-Hostam, the deputy head of intelligence in Saada is harmed by al-Qaeda, appealing President Ali Abdullah Saleh to save his life. (text below) Also, the German ambassador met yesterday with President Saleh. The state media reported the meeting was to praise Yemeni unity. Also see my earlier article on an interview with Hassan Zaid about the training camp in Abu Jubara dtd 3/29/10.

Original: The Chinese do very well reporting on Yemen, oddly enough. Al Ahdel, is this a relative of Mohammed Hamdi al Ahdel, the financier of the USS Cole bombing? Or his lesser cousins, Mohammed bin Mohammed al Ahdel and Mohammed Ahmed al Ahdel who, along with Cole bombers Fahd al Quso and Jamal al Badawi, escaped Aden jail in 2003? I think AQAP hung themselves with this one just by claiming Hussain al Tais, a long time known affiliate of General al Ahmar. Its funny the only actual al Qaeda in jail in Yemen was captured by the Houthis, except for the issue of the remaining German hostages.

People’s Daily: The Yemen-based al-Qaida wing set 48 hours for Sanaa government to swap two al-Qaida detainees for a senior intelligence official it captured late last month in the northern troubled province of Saada. (Read on …)

The al Tais al Qaeda group functions as General Ali Mohsen’s al Ahmar’s mercenaries in the Saada War. I have written about them extensively. They have official passports, transit the border with Saudi Arabia easily and many have military positions. They are big in the honey business. Al Qaeda has been active in the Sa’ada War since 2004. Everyone knows this, including the US, but they got a pass as “militants” not necessarily connected to the main Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. This was an entirely incorrect assessment. Additionally, the headquarters of the Dar al Hadieth network is in Dammaj, Sa’ada as well as the Abu Jabarah training camp, which houses about 500 jihaddists on a rotating basis. Last I checked on Abu Jubarah, there’s no women or children there, just terrorists training. The Sa’ada region has been closed to journalists and international agencies since 2004.

Bottom line: the Houthis captured General Ali Mohsen’s boy, Hussain al Tais, and AQAP is agitating for his release by kidnapping a Yemeni official. The primary and pressing issue at this moment though is to interrogate Hussain al Tais about the location of the German and British al Qaeda hostages.

Reuters: SANAA (Reuters) – The Yemeni wing of al Qaeda has claimed the August kidnapping of a senior intelligence official in the northern province of Saada and demanded the release of two imprisoned militants. (Read on …)

Update: And they weren’t even charged with the attack on Torlot.”Four alleged Al-Qaeda militants, including a German and an Iraqi, appeared before a Sanaa court on Monday charged with planning attacks on foreign, government and military targets. No mention was made in the charge sheet however of the defendants’ alleged involvement in a suicide attack targeting the British ambassador’s convoy in Sanaa in April.”

I have to say it: I have been reporting this for five years. And there’s some who acknowledge corruption in the security but think it doesn’t go as high as Ghalib al Qamish, head of the Yemeni political intelligence organization (PSO). Yes it does. And it has for a decade, longer. And it does today. A billion dollars in funding will enhance not diminish al Qaeda. Anyway I added the News Yemen article below, apparently Badr al Hassani wants Ghalib al Qamish to testify on his behalf that he was working for the state when he was training al Qaeda. Oh and John Brennan is in town. Someone should read him a newspaper.

Aden Press: In the first public admission and an official accused of belonging to al-Qaeda and the indoor court specializes in Sana’a the role played by the Yemeni regime of helping Al Qaeda for logistical support to keep this terrorist organization at the disposal of the Sanaa regime to exercise through which the policy of blackmail destructive to obtain international support or threaten these seducer their security and regional and global peace at risk, as the transfer site, “News Yemen” Badr Al-Hassani, admitted his role before the Court in words attributed to him, but he said, explaining rationale for coming to Marib to train young people at martial arts: “Before coming, coordination with Ghalib hay – Chairman of the PSO Yemeni “intelligence” – which gave him the amount of 50 thousand riyals to go, and returned two days later, he was well in touch with the political security officer Abdullah Alocwal. (Read on …)