Armies of Liberation

A comprehensive round up, but I dont think its a full blown proxy war yet because Iran is not funneling vast amounts of money the way the Saudis are. It could become one.

Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) – Yemeni MiG-29 fighter jets roar through the skies daily above the country’s capital of Sana’a as they fly north to bomb rebel positions on the Saudi border.

They are part of Yemen’s intensified drive to crush Shiite Muslim insurgents, whom it says are backed by Iran. Iran is Saudi Arabia’s main regional rival; Yemen is a Saudi ally.

At the same time, al-Qaeda is using bases in Yemen to launch terror strikes at Saudi Arabia and at Western interests. Last month it tried to assassinate the top Saudi anti-terrorist official, Prince Muhammad bin Nayef bin Abdel Aziz, and Yemeni police detained four men with explosives and weapons outside the U.S. Embassy in Sana’a, officials said late yesterday. President Barack Obama promised to help boost Yemen’s security earlier this week.

Saudi King Abdullah may decide to intervene militarily if the conflict on his border threatens to spread to the country’s own disaffected Shiite minority in the eastern oil-producing region, said Mustafa Alani, a regional security expert at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center.

“If you have a terrorist issue and a rebellion that is unfriendly to Saudi Arabia, that is a recipe for disaster for the Saudis,” said Rochdi Younsi, head of Middle East research at the New York-based Eurasia Group.

The conflict in Yemen may also be part of a pattern of confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia as the two vie for regional pre-eminence. They already are engaged in a proxy battle for influence in Lebanon and are at odds over Iraq and possible Iranian efforts to exploit dissatisfaction among the Shiite communities in other Arab Persian Gulf states.

No Collaboration

There is no collaboration between the local Shiite Houthi rebels and the al-Qaeda militants who are operating in Yemen, said Rohan Gunaratna, head of the Singapore-based International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research. The Yemeni government is making use of radical Sunni tribesmen to fight the Shiite Houthi rebels and these Sunnis could be recruited by al- Qaeda, a Sunni group which is hostile to the Shiites, he said. (Read on …)

First Iran is making nice-nice, denying the existance of Iranian weapons (Iranian amb) and supporting Yemen’s unity and stability in a chat between the foreign ministers:

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tehran believes continuous conflicts in Yemen’s Saada province which could intensify bloodshed in the country will harm Yemen. In a phone conversation with Yemeni counterpart Abubakr al-Qirbi, Mottaki said “we have always announced our support for unity, territorial integrity, security and peace in Yemen and we are sure that Yemen’s leadership can deal with the problems through political talks and peaceful approaches.”

Mottaki also added “some parties in the region want to fuel conflicts and make problems between Yemeni government and its nation, but we believe that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and government of the country will not allow them to do so.”

Second, Press TV publishes an Iraqi MP derides accusations of Iraqi support for the Houthis:

Responding to the recent accusations, several parliamentarians said the claims were an attempt to cover up Yemen’s role in hiding Ba’athist and al-Qaeda leaders and supporting their violent activities in Iraq, the local Awan daily reported.

“The claims that Yemen has fabricated are amusing because everyone knows that Iraq does not currently have the ability to support third-party opposition in some Arab country,” Independent MP Izzat Shabandar told the paper.

“Even if Yemen’s accusations about Baghdad’s support for the opposition were true, Yemen would measure far worse than Iraq on this scale, because it is still home to the Ba’athists, elements of the former regime, al Qaeda and other extremist groups,” he added.

Yemeni officials have been throwing around accusations at Iraq, Iran and several other regional countries, accusing them of aiding the Houthi rebels that are fighting back government troops in the north.

I never understood why US officials, while condemning Syria’s role in the Iraqi insurgency, gave Yemen a total pass for the last five years. But the Iraqis are still kind of cranky about it.

This guy wasn’t in Yemen but its interesting that AQ is rejecting new recruits in Afghanistan. Fear of spies perhaps, shortage of funds? Those permitted to join were tasked with photography, highlighting the importance of the media war and propaganda. He transited Iran as many before. Arab News:

RIYADH: It was his disenchantment with the real goals of Al-Qaeda and differences with its commanders that made Fawwaz Al-Humaidi Al-Otaibi take the decision to turn himself in, Al-Watan daily reported on Thursday. (Read on …)

This is really getting messy now…

Iran to send third fleet to Gulf of Aden, TEHRAN, Aug. 30 (MNA) – Iran will dispatch the third fleet of its warships to the Gulf of Aden on Monday to protect the cargo ships against the pirates, Iranian Student News Agency reported on Sunday.

So far the Army and the IRGC have sent two fleets of warships to the Gulf of Aden to protect Iranian oil tankers and trade vessels. The third fleet of the Navy will leave Bandar Abbas port at 8:00 local time on Monday.

Shortly after its first fleet of warships returned home in July, Iran dispatched a second group of warships to the region that came back to the country on Aug. 28.

(Hat tip, Eagle Speak, the place to go for maritime news.)

Meanwhile back in Sana’a, Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi warned Sunday the Iranian government of negative impact on the Yemeni-Iranian relations in case the Iranian media outlets continued in adopting stands of sabotage elements in Saada through publishing lies and fomenting against Yemen, waving in this regard of Yemen’s taking of hard decisions.

Update: United States Actions To Counter Piracy Off the Horn of Africa , Fact Sheet, 9/1/09

IN 2005, the Saleh regime accused Shiite individuals in Bahrain along with Kuwait with supporting the rebels. Later, during the next round, they accused Libya (which had some truth) and Iran. Qatar mediated the last official cease fire. Saudi Arabia has serious concerns of course, and Egypt is willing to act as a mediator currently. Iraqi MP’s said Iraq should host the rebels headquarters in retaliation for Yemen hosting wanted Iraqi Baathists. The US and some western allies are worried that the war is a distraction from Yemeni efforts against al Qaeda. Currently Iran and Yemen are having a media war over the Iranian media coverage of the war.

To the extent the Saleh regime keeps calling the rebels “Satanic”, as it has for years, and imposing sectarian overtones on a essentially political conflict, Sana’a risks stimulating ever wider fractures both in Yemeni society and the region.

the Media Line: Deadly clashes in Yemen between government forces and a radical Shi’ite group are fueling tensions throughout the Gulf region.

A member of the Bahraini ruling Sunni coalition is accusing Al-Wefaq, the largest opposition Shi’ite party, of supporting the Al-Houthi rebels in northern Yemen.

MP Sheikh Jassem A-Sa’idi, an independent MP from the coalition bloc, talked of “suspicious movements” Al-Wefaq was making towards the Al-Houthi rebels. A-Sa’idi argued overtures to the Al-Houthis could have a “dangerous” impact on official relations between Bahrain and Yemen.

“I have proof to confirm that prominent Al-Houthi figures from the highest ranks visited Bahrain and met exclusively with MPs from Al-Wefaq,” A-Sa’idi told the London-based A-Sharq Al-Awsat, added that the political meeting had preceded the latest round of fighting which began on August 11.

“This is a big lie,” MP Jalal Fairooz, from the Al-Wefaq party told The Media Line. “[A-Sa’idi] is very well known in Bahrain for explosive words which are groundless and have no reality.”

Egypt willing to mediate… from al Sahwa

Egypt and other Arab states would intervene to end the conflict between the Yemeni government and al-Houthi rebels in Saada, high-profile sources have revealed.

The sources disclosed that al-Houthi rebels demanded the Arab League to visit Saada, but the league refused the request and confirmed that the Yemeni government has the decision on this issue.

Earlier reports of finding 100 bodies strewn along the roads have been officially withdrawn, SABA: Yemen denies killing of 100 al-Houthi rebels in Harf Sufyan

SANA’A, Aug. 24 (Saba) – Well-informed sources denied on Monday the killing of 100 subversive elements of the al-Houthi rebel group at Harf Sufyan area in the northern Yemeni province of Amran.

The sources added that the security forces have patrolled Harf Sufyan area and neighboring areas and did not find any bodies.

“The local authorities and armed forces are concentrating to secure roads and evacuate them from the al-Houthi rebels as the al-Houthi followers are continuing attacking the troops, people, prosperities and displaced people”, the sources said.

Reports had claimed that more than 100 al-Houthi rebels, including two of their leaders were killed lately during a combing operation in Harf Sufyan.

While we’re on the subject of denials, Yemen denies Iranian claims of Saudi military support:

26 September net: An official source has denied allegations reported on Sunday by Iran TV channel, called alalam (www.alalam.ir) about there Saudi-Yemeni agreement on establishing joint military operations against the subversive elements of al-Houthis.

The source said it is regrettable to see that alalam TV channel site and other similar media means have recruited themselves to be the rusty trumpet of al-Houthi subversive elements and repeating such slanders and lies which are unfounded.

The source reported that the Iran’s stories had “no credibility, noting this puts Iran in a suspicious position that raises many questions about the possible ulterior motives it pursues in reporting such information.”

The Yemen Post updates the battlefield configuration of the Sa’ada war and contrasts official sources which say the Yemeni military is engaged in “mopping up” operations after a substantial victory which uncovered stores of Iranian weapons . Contacts with Saudi officials, dissing the Lebanese Shiite Council and proxy tribal wars are other interesting topics. During the second war (2005), the Shiite establishments of Iran and Iraq issued a joint statement, signatories included Ayatollah Sistani, calling the Sa’ada conflict a state jihad and noting “a pact of evil” extending from Baghdad to Sana’a.

The Yemen Post : Following fierce clashes between Houthi followers and army forces, informed sources revealed that armed forces restored Al-Husamah, a strategic area in Al-Malahedh district on the Yemeni-Saudi borders.

The army, according to local sources, is losing control of most Sa’ada districts with Houthis recently taking over Shadha and Razeh districts.
(Read on …)

The Iranian state media has been reporting some of the Houthis’ allegations, like Saudi military assistance. The following are a few of the furious scribblings at the Yemeni state-run newpaper, Al Motamar objecting to Iran’s slant on the coverage of the Sa’ada War. Al Lawzi accused Iran of funding the rebels.

Claws of Sabotage: The Iranian Alalam TV channel and pro-Iran forums have unmasked anew the ugly face of sabotage mouthpieces outside the Yemeni frontiers, a matter that dictates on the Yemeni media, with its different affiliations, a national duty to face the Iranian machine of deception and their backing up of sabotage elements in Saada province.

more from al Lawzi

Al Motamar: The official spokesman for the Yemeni gove3rnment , the Minister of Information Hassan al-Lawzi declared Tuesday there are outside institutions offering financial and political support for elements of insurgency and sabotage in Saada province. Al-Lawzi clarified that this question is disclosed by some media instruments such as Al-Alam and Al-Kawthar TV Channels and Tehran radio. He said these side are committing crimes through their interference in the Yemeni affair and “we have our own calculations with them and the states responsible for them.”

(Read on …)

TEHRAN, July 6 (Bernama) — Iran has sent two more warships to the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden to protect merchant vessels, the official IRNA news agency reported, citing an English-language satellite channel Press TV as reporting Monday. (Read on …)

They were found to be outside Yemeni territorial waters when captured by international forces, that seems to be it. The drug smugglers are going to be deported. This was a huge bust and Yemen has promised to destroy the drugs.

Penal court in Yemen cancels death and imprisonment verdicts against Iranians
Wednesday, 24-June-2009
Almotamar.net - Specialised Appeals Court in Yemen on Wednesday cancelled the first instance sentence against 13 Iranian national as it is not specialty of Yemeni judiciary.
The appeals verdict stipulated the destruction of drugs seized with the defendants, confiscation of their boat and deportation of the defendants. (Read on …)

Wow. What are the Iranians going to be delivering? All the Yemeni accusations that Iran was supporting the Shiite rebellion must be resolved. I’m joking, that was posturing.

PressTV Tehran and Sana’a have agreed to confront piracy off the coast of Yemen and the Gulf of Aden, says the Iranian foreign minister.

“Yemen has agreed to permit Iranian warships to dock at Yemen’s port (of Aden) to provide security to Iranian commercial ships in the region,” IRINN quoted Manouchehr Mottaki as saying.

The deal was reached during a meeting between Mottaki and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sana’a. The agreement came a month after Iran announced that six Iranian vessels were joining the international efforts against piracy off the coast of Somalia.

“Six warships and support vessels have been dispatched to the Gulf of Aden region and international waters,” said commander of the Iranian Navy Real-Admiral Habibollah Sayyari…Iran’s first deployment came after Somali pirates hijacked the Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship, Delight, operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) in the Gulf of Aden in November, 2008.

The latest incident involving an Iranian ship came in March when pirates attacked an Iranian vessel for what they called “illegal fishing” in the northern semi-autonomous region of Puntland.

Related: Prime Minister flies to Syria to firm up transportation agreements

SANA’A, June 27 (Saba) – Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Mujawar will leave today for Syria on an official visit during which he will head the Yemeni side in the 9th meeting of the Yemeni-Syrian Supreme Committee.

The two-day session, which will start on Sunday, would be held in Syrian capital, Damascus. Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Etri will head his country’s side.

The meeting will focus on finding ways to strengthen Yemeni-Syrian economic cooperation and deal with six documents including one on transport cooperation between the two countries.

Iran supports Yemeni unity and Yemen supports Iranian nukes. However, Iranian support for the Sa’ada rebels and al Qaeda in Yemen, drug smuggling etc. was not in the press release.

Yemen Strongly Supports Iran’s N. Program

TEHRAN (FNA)- Yemen’s Parliament Speaker Yahya al-Rae’i announced on Thursday that his country strongly supports Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.

“We strongly announce our full support for Iran’s peaceful nuclear program,” Yahya al-Rae’i said in a meeting with Ali Larijani, Iran’ Majlis speaker, who arrived in Sanaa on Wednesday night.

He also said the Islamic world is proud of Iran’s scientific progresses, MNA reported. Al-Rae”i said, “We don’t forget Iran’s support for the unification of the two Yemens.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s achievements in scientific, military…fields are considered as Islamic states’ achievements and they are proud of it.” The top Yemeni parliamentarian also praised Iran’s position towards Palestine and Lebanon.

A funky little story about the Marib gas power station project, but not so odd following the scandal surrounding nuclear project and the later Latin Node. No mention of exactly where the 60 mill is at the moment.

Sahwa Net – An Iranian company ( the Persian ) have reimbursed the Yemeni Electricity and Energy Ministry $ 60 million for violating the agreement terms signed with Yemen’s ministry , according to well-informed sources. The sources said that the Iranian firm bought transformers with bad quality, violating the agreement of Marib Gas Power Station Project.

More at the Yemen Post: apparently it was well known that the Iranian firm substituted an Indian generator instead of the agreed upon Sieman’s. (Read on …)

I believe Libya more than Iran on funding the Houthis and Iran more than Libya on funding and facilitiating AQAP but thats just me. The idiots haven’t figured out that they are pawns in a much bigger game and never considered that they are being two timed by their own side. Its an amazingly complicated tangle of alliances going on over their heads.

Al Hayat: Al-Awfi is still “lost” despite his recantation and the fact that he handed himself in. As proof, he did not apologize for his “terrorist” acts and intentions. This is important because a confession is different, to the mentality of these men, from an apology. His admiration of the actions and intentions of his former colleagues and his Sheikh, Osama Bin-Laden, also casts doubts about the sincerity of his recantation of their course and ideology. (Read on …)

Iran trys to make everyone a Shiite…

Saleh: Yemen achieved positive successes in chasing terrorists al Motamar
Saturday, 28-March-2009
Almotamar.net, Saba – President Ali Abdullah Saleh has expected the Arab summit, to be held on 29-30 March in Qatar’s capital, Doha, will go after previous summits without effective decisions, urging Arab leaders to put an end to their rift. (Read on …)

A finger in every pot. The Israelis have been saying for years that weapons from Yemen, smuggled with the awareness of authorities, are a source of weapons for Hamas. Yemen is also the major supplier of weapons to Somalia including Shabab and other jihaddi groups in the region.

JP: The latest reports of an alleged IAF strike on a Hamas arms convoy in Sudan draw attention to an arms network running from Iran, via the Persian Gulf and Yemen to Sudan, Egypt, and Hamas-ruled Gaza. The existence of this network has been noted by analysts in the past. It forms part of a larger, overt, close relationship maintained by both Iran and Hamas with the regime of Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum.

Sahwa Net – Israeli security sources have said that Mossad could have intelligences that the arms recently destroyed in Sudan were transferred from Iran to Yemen and from Yemen to Sudan later , according to al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper .

A convoy of trucks in Sudan which were believed to be carrying arms were bombed by Israeli warplanes in January

Thats funny, even some of the jihaddis can’t wrap their heads around al Qaeda and Iran. (Also very funny was the reaction at Muslm.net and Hanein when someone swapped out some beheading photos with bikini girls: “Raise the supervisors! I have pictures of prostitutes in the Muslim !!!!!!!” A gruesome photo spread of sawing off a human head is good to look at, but outrage and hysteria ensued at a picture of a female.They concluded they were being attacked by Zionists. After a couple of hours of lamenting and frantically beseeching for the moderator, both threads were deleted.) Anyway, a more traditional analysis of the forum from Jamestown:

A discussion in jihadi internet forums triggered by a posting entitled “Is there a secret cooperation between Iran and al-Qaeda?” raised suspicions over possible clandestine connections between Shiite Iran and al-Qaeda, the self-declared enemy of Shi’ism (muslm.net, February 18, 2008). (Read on …)

From last wek, a conclusion, the 11 Iranian durg smugglers’ trial is over and they will be deported, Yemen is impounding the hash and the boat. These are the ones who tried the OJ defense, the marines planted the hash…

The hashish of course will be properly disposed of by government authorities.

SABA
Yemen expels 11 Iranians and one Pakistan linked alleged drug trafficking

[26 January 2009]

SANA’A, Jan. 26 (Saba)- The state security court has decided to expel 11 Iranians and a Pakistani accused of alleged drug trafficking to their home due to they were being arrested in international waters.

At a hearing of the court presided by Judge Radwan al-Namer, the court listened to a report of lawyers of the defendants about the non-jurisdiction of the Yemeni judiciary to deal with their case where the defendants were caught in international waters and not in Yemen’s water.

The court decided to depart immediately the defendants and impair about 3560 Kg of hashish as well as confiscating their boat.

The defendants were seized last February in the international waters by German troops which handed over them to the Yemeni Coastguard Authorities.

Its a little funny when one dictatorship tutors another. SABA

Yemen, Syria to activate judicial cooperation ties

DAMASCUS, Jan. 21 (Saba) – Yemen ambassador to Syria Abdul Wahab Tawaf held talks on Wednesday with the Syrian Justice Minister Mohammed al-Ghafri, over mutual cooperation and coordination aspects between Yemen and Syria in legal and judicial fields and means of boosting and improving them.

The meeting also discussed means of activating cooperation agreements, protocols signed between the two countries and possibilities of exchanging experiences, in addition to qualification and training programs for judges and administrative institutions to support judicial institutions.

The US Treasury Department placed financial sanctions on Saad bin Laden, thought to be in Pakistan, and three alleged al Qaeda operatives in Iran including a Yemeni. The terrorist designation Friday froze their assets within US jurisdictions and prohibits Americans from financial dealings with the four.

Saad bin Laden, son of radical figurehead Osama bin Laden, facilitated communications between al Qaeda’s number two, Ayman Zawahiri, and the Iranian Qods Force after an al Qaeda attack on the US embassy in Sana’a last year, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Zawahiri contacted the Qods Force after his agreement to supply more fighters to Yemen to battle Shiite rebels, a US military source was quoted as saying. Zawahiri spoke to Qods Force commander Brigadier General Qassem Suleimani, the senior US military intelligence official told The Long War Journal, confirming the account in The Wall Street Journal.

“Zawahiri was concerned that the al Qaeda-manned militia fighting on the side of the government against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels might threaten Iran’s interests in Yemen,” the official said.

The Yemeni government incorporated thousands of extremists and tribesmen into its military ranks to battle the Houthi rebels in Yemen’s northern Sa’ada province. The editor of Al-Share newspaper and two journalists are on trial in the State Security and Terrorism Court for publishing reports of the Aden Abyan Islamic Army’s role training tribal militias for the government. The journalists are charged with “threatening national security, demoralizing the military and divulging state secrets.”

After the US Embassy bombing in September that killed 16 including an American, “(Yemeni President) Saleh feared his government would be the next target, but Zawahiri wanted al Qaeda prisoners released from Yemeni jails and committed al Qaeda foot soldiers to fight the Houthi rebels,” the senior US military official said.

Zawahiri was concerned about relations between al Qaeda and Iran, “so he took great care by reaching out to the Iranians” after committing more fighters to the Yemeni government.

Sana’a has struck numerous bargains with al Qaeda leadership and operatives. The 9/11 Commission reported the Tawfiq bin Attash was released from Yemeni custody in 1999 after Osama bin Laden contacted Yemeni authorities. Bin Attash later went on to have a role in the USS Cole bombing and train some of the 9/11 highjackers. In 2007, Yemen’s Foreign Minister defended the early release of al Qaeda operatives convicted in the USS Cole bombing as “normal” saying, “Everybody makes deals with anybody who cooperates, not just in Yemen, but in the United States.”

Among those in Iran the US Treasury Department designated as terrorists last week is Yemeni Ali Saleh Husain. A senior al Qaeda operative close to Osama bin Laden, Husain goes by the alias Abu Dhahak al Yemeni. He reportedly is the intermediary between al Qaeda and its affiliates Fatah al Islam in Lebanon and Jund al Islam in Gaza.

Saad bin Laden fled to Iran after September 11, 2001. He may no longer be in Iran as of September 2008, the US Treasury Department said in a statement.

The Telegraph reported in November that an intercepted letter signed by Zawahiri thanked Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for “monetary and infrastructure assistance” after the deadly attack on the US embassy and commended their “vision” in helping al Qaeda establish new bases in Yemen after the group faced increasing pressure in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Although tensions rose at the peak of the Sa’ada War, Yemen and Iran have good relations overall, as does Yemen and Syria. The Houthi rebellion was triggered by localized grievances. In a November report, Invisible Civilians, Human Rights Watch (HRW) charged that Yemen contravened international humanitarian law during the war and “severely restricted humanitarian access to tens of thousands of civilians in need”. An estimated 70,000 Zaidi civilians who fled the bombing and fighting remain out of the reach of international aid groups. HRW also found that hundreds of Hashimites were arbitrarily arrested. Imprisoned clerics were often replaced by fundamentalist preachers at mosques throughout Yemen.