Armies of Liberation

Following bombing of villages and corpse mutilation in Arhab, the split among the ruling elite solidifies

YP

The alliance of the Yemeni pro-revolution tribes was declared on Saturday in Change Square outside Sana’a University in the capital Sana’a, at a time when fears about the future of Yemen are growing. (Read on …)

A Yemeni summarizes, “The Yemeni air force is assisting Ansar Al Shariyah (or AlQaidah) fighters in Abyan by attacking the Tribesmen who are fighting Ansar AlShariyah, and the Army is claiming that the Tribesmen didn’t coordinate with the army about their positions? This could be just another proof that the militia who took over Zinjibar are nothing more than employees with The Yemeni regime using them in times of need.”

The 25th Mechanized Brigade is the unit that was surrounded without reinforcements or resupply for weeks and was ordered by the head of the military’s southern command to surrender to AQAP twice. However with the help of local tribesmen (and the retired southern military), they have largely driven AQAP from Zinjibar. The tribesmen and military battling al Qaeda suffered serious losses when they were bombed by the Yemeni Air Force. Two officers, four soldiers and nine tribesmen were killed, and 18 soldiers wounded in the Air Force’s bombing which they claim was a mistake. Salehs army also blocked the road, preventing the ad hoc force from pursuing the militants driven out of Zinjibar.

The commander of the 25th Mechanized earlier said in an interview that that withdrawing army forces left behind a substantial stockpile of weapons. He alleged a conspiracy to empower AQAP based on the actions of the Defense Ministry and Southern Commander, who by some reports was also instrumental in the suicide car bombing in Aden that killed nine soldiers.

How many of hundreds of times is the US going to be suckered by the Salehs before the light bulb finally comes on? Its gotten to the point the US should bomb the four Hueys recently delivered before they are used in a civilian massacre, and maybe take out the rest of the air force as well: all the Air Force is doing is killing civilians, bombing villages and providing air cover for al Qaeda.

The following is a google translation of al Masdar’s report. (Read on …)

Guest post: Will the U.S Support the Southern Movement to Combat Terrorism? written by Ayad al-Shaibi

Talks about “terrorism and Al Qaeda” in Yemen or what has become known as “Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” is still closely linked with the regime of the Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, from the perspective of many observers, analysts and Arab and Western intelligence departments. This link is not reinforced by the “loose” concept promoted by the media of the exhausted Yemeni regime’s forces under the banner of “fighting terrorism.” (Read on …)

The conflict in Arhab, Sanaa began after the Taiz massacre in May when the tribesmen locked down the Republican Guard base near Nehm to prevent further civilian slaughter. The Salehs responded by shelling villages and its been ongoing ever since. The state’s bombing of villages in Arhab is occurring at the same time as long term, near continual bombing in Radfan, ongoing clashes in al Jawf between the Houthis and Islahis, a long stretch of violence in Zinjibar, Abyan and increasing violence in Taiz including indiscriminate bombing. Violence against protesters in the squares is common, and ten were injured in Hodeidah yesterday.

These escalating cycles of violence across the country bear the same characteristics as the Saada War and the targeting of the Southern Movement: indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas, blatant propaganda along with increased attacks on journalists, and collective punishment including denial of medical treatment. For more on the earlier conflicts, and how the state’s random violence bolstered the insurgencies, see my Sept.2010 article at Gloria.

SANA, Yemen (AP) — Fighting between Yemeni soldiers and armed tribesmen in a mountainous region north of Sana, the capital, killed at least 40 people on Thursday, a military official said.

The clashes in the Arhab region were part of a wider collapse in security across Yemen since the outbreak of an uprising six months ago that seeks to topple President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Armed tribesmen are battling security forces in Arhab, the southern city of Taiz and elsewhere, while militants believed to be linked to Al Qaeda have overrun towns in the country’s south.

The fighting on Thursday began when tribesmen attacked a base belonging to the Republican Guard, said Sheik Hamid Assem of the Arhab tribe. The military responded by shelling and bombing tribal positions, Mr. Assem said. A military official in Arhab said 17 soldiers had been killed in the fighting and that troops had seen the bodies of at least 23 dead tribesmen.

From War and Peace in the ME: “Bell Pottinger, the British public relations firm, is working for the government of Yemen, the company’s chairman Lord Bell confirmed to Robert Booth.” While they are not working directly for Saleh, but some new mystery division of the Yemeni government, the stated goal is to obtain a favorable transition including immunity for Saleh’s many war crimes both before and after the revolution began. How do you spin bombing a refugee camp? And then bombing a hospital? Denying food to tens of thousands and then openly stating that its a tactic to pressure the residents to expel rebels? Saada War 6 is enough to convict Saleh not to mention 1-5, the violence against southerners, thousands of isolated crimes and the hundreds of deaths since February.

The PR firm is carrying out communications work for an unnamed special entity that has been created within the Yemen government to ensure a transition to newly elected government.

It is unclear which part of the government the firm, but the goal of the communications campaign appears to be in line with a proposal by the Saudi-led Gulf Co-operation Council for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to stand down in return immunity from prosecution. (Read on …)

Abdelmajid Al Zindani responds to an article critiquing his recent statement about the illegitimacy of democracy and the requirement of an Islamic state. There’s quite an open and vigorous defense by many intellectuals and activists in many papers and websites of the protesters goal of a civil state, and they counter al Zindani point by point. Many protesters are thoroughly scornful of al Zindani (who has been Saleh’s stooge for quite some time and be still be so, if the timing of his outbursts is any indication.)

al Masdar: Newspaper published the first article of Dr. Mohamed El-titled ” Al-Azhar and al-Zindani and civil state “and restored some of the newspapers and news sites publish the article was an effort in which the tiles on the readers, as well as its market a number of fallacies in order to distort the position of Sheikh Majid Bin Aziz Zindani chairman of the scholars of Yemen and Tbesara of public opinion and clarification for the reader confirms the office of Sheikh Zindani as follows: (Read on …)

A Yemeni activist thanks the UN for sending an envoy. While it is a satirical note, the tribal Saleh regime employs collective punishment as a pressure point against its enemies on a regular basis.

Your Excellency, Mr. Ban-ki Moon,

In the name of the Yemeni people, we would like to express our appreciation to you in person for closely and regularly following up the situation in Yemen through visits made by the different UN missions. We are particularly grateful to the relatively long visits such as the one currently taking place by your envoy, and the one by the UN human rights mission earlier this month. These visits bring along significant improvement in the quality of the livelihoods of the average people. We suddenly have electricity for 12-15 hours per day ( instead of 2 hours only), the piles of garbage mounting for weeks in the different streets are cleaned up, the long lines of cars waiting for gas are cleared up (though the need left unfulfilled), and the gun fire in each city is silenced!

For that we are urging Your Excellency to give orders to your missions to remain longer if not forever! Of course, we would still be left with problems of gas availability, food prices rocketing to the sky complicating the malnutrition crisis in the country, and the rise of a hunger epidemic. In this regard, you may as well include us in the current Horn of Africa Crisis! Our “drought”, however, is not caused by an indirect intervention of man in nature, but rather a very direct and intentional one. The Saleh regime, intends to starve us in an attempt to have us give up our dream of freedom. They refuse to understand that we have chosen to live free or to die with our human dignity; the same dignity that UN charters and declarations have often spoken of. We shall compromise no more Sir, and we invite your envoys to come and witness that.

In peace (salam)

Ammar wants new toys? There was never a legitimate ransom demand from al Qaeda in Yemen in the past. Its interesting the regime knows the hostages are in good health. But then again, Saleh’s network has many conduits to “al Qaeda.” The French workers were kidnapped after France made a statement urging Saleh to leave the throne immediately.

News 24: Sanaa – Three French aid workers who were kidnapped in southeastern Yemen are held by al-Qaeda members who are seeking a $12m ransom for their release, tribal sources said on Wednesday.
(Read on …)