Armies of Liberation

Of course, performing “jihad” (a/k/a/ murder) in Iraq is legal in Yemen. The Yemeni judical system doesn’t even take into account if the returning “jihaddists” killed innocent Iraqi civilians or Iraqi police. So murder abroad carries no legal sanction in Yemen no matter who gets killed even kids.

I’m not posting the link to the following but it reminds me of the article by the Iraqi journalist who was on a Yemenia flight to Syria. He wrote there were a over a dozen jihaddists on the flight openly talking about going to fight in Iraq. That was after the National Security took over jursidiction of the airports from the Political Security in November 2006.

Al-Furqan media, the mouthpiece of the ISI has now released a new 41-minute video featuring a number of istishahadah (martyrdom attacks) carried out by foreign mujahideen in Iraq. The video is the third of a series called “Knights of Martyrdom.”

A major part of the video has been dedicated to a spectacular attack that destroyed the Badosh bridge, Northern Mosul, in May 2007. The attack was carried out by a Yemeni mujahideen going by the name Abu Huzeifa. He drove his explosives-packed truck past the security post at the entrance of the bridge, and detonated it about 150 meters further. The explosion was massive, causing the bridge to collapse. According to al Qaeda foreign mujahideens’ records released earlier this year by CTC, Abu Huzeifa was an arm-dealer from the city of Taez in Yemen. He arrived in Iraq via Syria, and registered as a martyrdom seeker on entering the country. He was 28 years old when he carried out the attack.

This from the CTC is also interesting. Its information from captured documents about assorted foreign fighters in Iraq. You’ll notice some patterns. I’m surpirsed they published so much personal information. There’s a lot more Yemenis listed at the link, this is just a sample. Its really sad that all these young guys get brainwashed into thinking their greatest contribution in life and to the world is to kill themselves.

Name: Raffat Abd Allah Al Amoudi
Alias: Abu-Azzam
Address: Yemen- Aden
Telephone:
Birth Date: 1982
Arrival Date: //
Contribution: //
Sake keeping: passport/ Identification/ Watch
Coordinator: Abu Mussab
Where do you know the coordinator from: Through a brother came back from Iraq
How did you arrive to Syria? Airplane
Stages of arrival to Iraq: Egypt, Syria

Document Summary: This document contains personal information of three individuals, one fighter and two suicide bombers. The first was Hamad ‘Abdallah al-Mutayri, also known as Abu-Hajar, a suicide bomber from Saudi. The second was Sami Ahsan al-Jufi, also known as Abu-Asid al-Jufi, a fighter from Yemen. And the third was al-Mutawakkil ‘Ala-Allah Mahdi, also known as Abu-al-Fida’, a suicide bomber from Yemen.
(Page 1 of 1)
Name: Hamad ‘Abdallah al-Mutayri
Alias: Alu Hajar [TC: they misspelled it, instead of Abu-Hajar]
Country: Saudi Arabia
Telephone: House/ 009664545217
Facilitator: —————
Occupation: Suicide bomber
Deposits: Passport
Donations: A watch/ 400 USD
Name: Sami Ahsan al-Jufi
Alias: Abu-Asid al-Jufi
Country: Yemen/ San’a’
Telephone: His brother/ 00967733821512- House/ 00967274750
Facilitator: ‘Abd-al-Hay
Occupation: Fighter
Deposits: Passport/ Identification card
Donations: A watch
Name: al-Mutawakkil ‘Ala-Allah Mahdi
Alias: Abu-al-Fida’
Country: Yemen/ San’a’
Telephone: House/ 009671544144
Facilitator: al-Haram al-Jurbani/ Salim al-Dulaymi
Occupation: Suicide bomber
Deposits: Passport
Donations: 240 USD
[End of Translation]

(Read on …)

Good topic. FYI I didn’t write this article and Jane’s is not me. Jane’s Intelligence Digest is published by Janes Information Group, which produces independent publications on the defense, security, transport and law enforcement sectors. Jane’s Information Group and associated publications like Janes Defense Weekly are in no way associated with the British military or the US Pentagon and are not published by any government. (D’oh, the regime idjits misunderstooded.)

An important point raised by this article is the collusion between criminal elements in Iraq and in Yemen, and the extent to which the smuggling pipelines of all sorts are within the domain of officials in the Yemeni adminstration. There are well established transportation routes between Yemen and Iraq upon which persons and contraband pass both ways.

In the last three years, Yemen has become a centre for trafficking Iraqi women.

In Yemen, this has focused on transhipment; the women are brought to Yemen and then sold to clients in other countries, mainly the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries.

A number of factors have contributed to Yemen’s development as a centre for human trafficking. Yemen is relatively close to the GCC countries and the Yemeni police are either unwilling or unable to stop or impede the traffickers.

Trafficking not only exacts a terrible cost in human terms but also contributes to the continued instability of Iraq. The amount of money being generated through the sale of these women is substantial. While most of the money generated through the trafficking operation remains in Yemen, some of the money is returned to Iraq where it helps fund additional criminal activity.

Given the continued instability in Iraq and the lack of enforcement in Yemen, it seems certain that even more women will be sold into sexual slavery this year.

RFERL

Meanwhile, a Yemeni state security court of appeals this week reduced a jail term for a national convicted of trying to go to Iraq for jihad. Bashir Muhammad Nu’man was sentenced last week to five years in prison for using a forged passport to travel to Syria with the intention of joining Al-Qaeda. The appeals court reduced the sentence to two years in prison for Nu’man, who was said to have been arrested in Syria and extradited to Yemen in February 2007, reportedly without offering any explanation….

Some neighboring states have taken the initiative to secure their borders with Iraq. Indeed, it does not appear that Arab foreign fighters have had any success in crossing the Kuwaiti, Saudi, or Jordanian borders into Iraq.

Syria has long been considered the main access point for foreign fighters, and despite some claims that the Syrian authorities are taking steps to control that flow, it is clearly not doing enough. Likewise, Iran has been reported to be another entry point for foreign fighters, particularly for Arabs entering Iraq from Afghanistan. Until Iraq can improve security along its porous borders with Iran and Syria, the problem will remain a major impediment to Iraqi security for years to come.

Of course Saleh was in on it.

CIA website

Possible Yemeni Breaches of UN Sanctions

2001: Government of Yemen Offers to supply Military Goods to Iraq
Recovered documents refer to the Yemen Ambassador meeting with the Iraqi military to discuss a list of guaranteed military materials. According to the documents, the President of Yemen gave his blessing to support the effort to supply military goods to Iraq.

A letter from the Iraqi Defense Minister Sultan Hashem Ahmed dated 23 March 2001 speaks of a meeting with the Republic of Yemen’s Ambassador, Mr. Abid Al-Malek Saeed. The letter states that Yemen had been helping the Iraqi Armed forces through a Yemeni business-man named Mr. Shaher Abid Al Haqq.

Reference is given to a meeting held 19 February 2001, were the Yemeni side was ready to export military materials from Yemen and Ethiopia to Iraq. The letter indicates the President of Yemen, Ali Abid Allah Salah, gave his blessing to the deal and that the Iraqis were given guarantees for the spare parts. These parts were specifically drawn from the stocks of the Yemeni armed forces, air force, army aviation and included armor, trucks, and weapons.

A follow-up meeting was held on 22 March 2001, which included the Yemeni Ambassador and Mr. Al-Haqq. Al-Haqq and the Ambassador provided the Iraqi military with a list of guaranteed available military materials and prices. Al-Haqq also revealed that he had met with the President Salah who had given his blessing for these efforts and support. The letter indicates that the President Salah, “believes that the support of Iraq with the proposed exports is necessary” and he had made calls to his brother, an Air Force Commander, asking him to present everything possible to Iraq, even if he has to take supplies from the Yemeni Air Force and ask Russia and others for replacement material.

Arab billionaire’s son: ‘I didn’t kill party girl’

Source: Metro

Tuesday, March 25, 2008- The son of an Arab billionaire businessman who left Britain hours before a Norwegian friend was found dead has denied killing her.

(Read on …)

Anglo-American?

al-Motamar:

Almotamar.net - An official source revealed on Saturday that Yemeni authorities received a note from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) mentioning that American forces are detaining 16 Yemeni citizens in Iraqi prisons since the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq five years ago and that no charge has been directed to them and have not stood trial.

The source told almotamar.net that the ICRC says the situations of the prisoners are very difficult and their health condition is in a state of continuous deterioration, indicating that he met the Yemeni prisoners during one of his visits to a number of Iraqi prisons to see situations of prisoners there the beginning of this year.

According to the memo of the ICRC received by the Yemeni ministry of human rights the imprisonment of the Yemeni citizens were among storming campaigns carried out by American forces against some residential quarters in Baghdad and Basra to arrest Arab residents there. American forces justifications for arresting Arab residents in Iraq was under allegation that they were present in Iraq for resistance, indicating that the Yemeni prisoners mentioned that they were in Iraq three years before the American invasion and some of them were working in trade.

The ICRC says the prisoners in the Iraqi prisons are suffering from difficult health conditions, including the 15 Yemeni prisoners.

From Tom Joscelyn writing at the Weekly Standard about the Pentagon report issued summarzing information gleaned from Iraqi Intelligence documents captured by the US (The Institute for Defence Analyses, The Iraq Perspectives Project):

One of those documents is a provocative letter from the Iraqi embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. Dated January 17, 2003, the letter is addressed to Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its subject is listed as “Al-Qa’eda Activities.” Here is the relevant portion of the U.S. government’s translation of the document…

2- The Yemeni (Abu-Muhammad) was sent to Algeria carrying a passport with the name Saydi Ahmed Habiballah, to contact the Algerian “Salafist group for the calling of Jihad” and deliver money to them; however he was killed in an armed skirmish between Algerian security forces and the above-mentioned group. Algerian authorities were able to trace his real name and his families [sic] address in cooperation with the Yemeni embassy in Algeria. His real name is (‘Imad ‘Abdul-Wahid Rahman ‘Ulwan) from the “Ta’iz” village and he was a member of Al-Qa’eda.

A careful reading of the translated letter raises a number of questions and observations….

• Note, again, the level of granular detail source 6841 knows about the Yemeni al Qaeda member “Abu-Mohammed.” Source 6841 knows: the name on his fake passport (”Saydi Ahmed Habiballah”), his mission (to “deliver money” to an al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria), the fact that he was “killed in an armed skirmish” between Algerian authorities and al Qaeda, and that Algerian authorities were able to identify him as an al Qaeda member with Yemen’s help. Again, how does he know all of that?

• According to source 6841, “Abu Mohammed” was to deliver money to the Algerian “Salafist group for the calling of Jihad.” This is a known al Qaeda affiliate, commonly referred to as the Algerian GSPC. The GSPC grew out of an al Qaeda cadre called the “GIA,” and according to intelligence collected by the CIA, Saddam was funding that group in the early 1990’s. Moreover, according to documents discovered in Baghdad (and which were not discussed in the IPP study) Saddam’s regime was training GSPC members in Iraq from 1999 to 2002. So, Saddam’s regime had long-standing ties to the al Qaeda’s Algerian affiliate–the same group “Abu Mohammed” was sent to deliver cash to.

From the 92 page summary of the 2000 page report summarizing the 600,000 documents, Iraqi Intelligence discovers a terror group in Bahrain that is an arm of bin Laden threatening Kuwait under direction from leadership in Yemen.

page 3 (inventory held at the Iraqi embassy from a memo dated July 2002)

Sana’a [Yemen] - Missile launcher, missile, plastic explosives and explosive charges

page 33
A directive (Extract 24) from the Director for International Intelligence in the IIS to an Iraqi operative in Bahrain orders him to investigate a particular terrorist group there, The Army of Muhammad.
Extract 24.
[July 2001]
We have learned of a group calling themselves The Army of Muhammad… has threatened Kuwaiti authorities and plans to attack American and Western interests …We need detailed information about this group, their activities, their objectives, and their most distinguished leaders. We need to know [to] whom they belong to and with whom they are connected. Give this subject your utmost attentIOn….
.
The agent reports (Extract 25) that The Army of Muhammad is working with Osama bin Laden.
Extract 25.
[9 July 200 1]

Information available to us is that the group is under the wings of bin Laden. They receive their directions from Yemen. Their objectives are the same as bIll Laden…

Coincidentally, the Aden Abyan Islamic Army is known as the Army of Mohammed. The Australian Terrorist Organization Listing:

Islamic Army of Aden
Listed in Australia 11 April 2003 and re-listed 11 April 2005 and 31 March 2007

(Also known as the Aden Abyan Islamic Army, Islamic Army of Aden Abayan, Aden Islamic Army, Muhammed’s Army, Army of Mohammed, Jaish Adan al Islami)

Current status of the Islamic Army of Aden

(Read on …)

LAT:

BAGHDAD — Young, lonely and struggling to make a mark.

The U.S. military Sunday presented a profile of foreign fighters, who are blamed for about 90% of the suicide bombings that have claimed thousands of lives in Iraq. It was based on interrogations of 48 men captured by U.S.-led forces here in the last four months, Navy Rear Adm. Gregory Smith told reporters at a briefing inside Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone.

Smith said most militants were single men in their late teens and early 20s recruited by Al Qaeda in Iraq, a largely homegrown Sunni Arab militant group that the U.S. military says is led by foreigners. They typically come from large, lower-income families in which they struggled to be noticed.

(Read on …)

Is this is the guy who was going to Iraq with five others and got turned around in Syria and headed to Lebanon where he was captured with Fatah Al-Islam? Or is it another one with the same story? He gets five years for document fraud. Most jihaddis traveling to Iraq with false passports get three years. Let see how long he stays in for, if he goes to jail at all. So the payment is in Saudi funds, that says something. But al-Motamar in one article says 400 and in the next says 4000 SR. News Yemen says 4000 SR.

almotamar.net - The Specialised Criminal Court approved Tuesday fixing the date of next Saturday to pronounce verdict against the defendant accused of being affiliated to al-Jihad group.

In the first sitting for trial of the defendant held Tuesday the accusation statement was read out and included that the accused had forged a passport and personated his brother Sanad and used that to travel to Iraq and mislead authorities at the airports of Sana’a, Cairo and Damascus.

Judicial sources disclosed to almotamar.net the arrest of the accused Bashir Raweh Nouman in late of Muharam month of Hegira year in Syria while he was leaving for a camp of Fatah al-Islam of al-Qaeda organisation for training there and pointed out his being handed over to Yemen after he was arrested in the Syrian city of Hims.

In his reply to the court question he said he received 400 Saudi riyals from a person called Khalil who had asked him to go to Iraq for Jihad and coordination for him with other persons to receive him at airports.

In another case the Specialised First Instance Criminal Court in Sana’a condemned the defendant Tawfiq Abdullah Yahya al-Maswari of highway robbery that resulted in killing and sentenced him to death.

Five year sentence

almotamar.net - The Specialised Criminal Court in Yemen on Saturday condemned defendant Bashir Mohammed Raweh of his affiliation with the Jihad Group and al-Qaeda organisation and that is in its second sitting of his trial.

The Judge Muhsin Alwan, chairman of the court decided to give the defendant five-year sentence staring from the date of his arrest.

Representative of prosecution had in the sitting of last Tuesday read the indictment which included that Raweh had forged a passport, impersonation of his brother Sanad and using it in travelling to Iraq as well as misleading authorities at the airports of Sana’a, Cairo and Damascus.

In reply to a question by the court the defendant said he received a sum of 4000 Saudi riyals from a person called Khalil who told him to go to Iraq for jihad and coordination with other persons to receive him at the airport.

Judicial sources revealed to almotamar.net that the defendant Bashir Raweh Nouman was arrested in Syria late of the Hegira month Muharam last year while he was leaving for a training camp of Fatah al-Islam, affiliate of al-Qaeda organisation before he was handed over to Yemen.

February 2, 2008 - Yemeni court convicted on Saturday Bashir Mohammad Noaman of connection to al-Qaeda in Yemen and counterfeiting official documents and a passport in order to travel to fight American forces in Iraq.

In the hearing session headed by the judge Mohasen al-Wan, the court issued a sentence of 5 years in prison against him.

The defendant admitted for the first time that he forged passports and misled authorities in Sana’a, Cairo and Damascus airports.

He further acknowledged that he received 4000 Saudi rials from the so-called Khalil who coordinated to receive him in an airport in Syria.

The Syrian authorities had extradited Noaman, 28, to Yemen after it arrested him in February 2007 while he was trying to go to Lebanon to join a training camp of al-Qaeda there.

New York Times:

BAGHDAD — As jubilant Iraqi soldiers celebrated Army Day by dancing and chanting anti-insurgent slogans inside a downtown office building here on Sunday, a suicide bomber tried to shove his way through the gate.

When four Iraqi soldiers moved to block the bomber from entering, he detonated his explosive vest, killing at least the four soldiers and wounding at least six people, according to the Iraqi police and military officials. There were differing accounts of the death toll, with some saying as many as 11 had been killed, but they could not be confirmed.

“The suicide bomber was very young,” said an Iraqi police officer who declined to be identified because he was not allowed to speak to the news media. “We found his severed head, and we found a Yemeni identification card near the rest of his body.”

A military officer with the 11th Iraqi Army Division who also spoke on condition of anonymity praised the four soldiers’ sacrifice. “If they had allowed him to enter the building, even more people would have been killed,” the officer said.

The Iraqi authorities said they suspected that the bomber was sent by Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a mostly homegrown insurgent group that American intelligence agencies say has foreign leadership. Many of the group’s suicide bombers have been recruited abroad and smuggled into Iraq from neighboring countries.

(CNN) — More than 200 Saudi and foreign militants have been arrested over their alleged involvement in plots that included assassinations and an attack on an oil facility, Saudi officials say.

The arrests took place over the past few months but were kept secret so as not to jeopardize ongoing investigations, a Ministry of the Interior official said Wednesday.

The 208 militants were alleged to be plotting an attack on an oil facility in the Eastern Province, where much of the nation’s oil industry is based, and had set a date for the attack.

Another militant cell is alleged to have planned to assassinate Saudi religious figures and security officials, while a separate cell allegedly planned to smuggle eight shoulder-fired rockets into the kingdom from Yemen for terrorist operations.

The official said 112 of those arrested were “linked in with elements stationed abroad who facilitate the exit and travel of those to conflict zones” such as Iraq.

U.S. military officials have said that Saudis make up the largest contingent of foreign fighters in Iraq, while a Saudi counterterrorism official noted that fighters returning from Iraq to Saudi Arabia represent a “troubling” phenomenon.

Thirty-two individuals — Saudis and non-Saudis — were arrested for allegedly providing financial support to other militants; 16 others were arrested for alleged involvement in the publication of a militant newsletter called Sada Alrafidain.

According to the Saudi counter-terrorism official, the number of arrests is the largest ever announced by the ministry.

The Saudi official said the Saudi government released the information before the Hajj pilgrimage season, when 2 million pilgrims travel to the holy sites of Mecca and Medina, in order “to alert the public of the ongoing threat to security in the kingdom.”

According to one list, the third largest source of foreign fighters, not to mention facilitiating Saudis.

Guardian

Around 60% of all foreign militants who entered Iraq to fight over the past year came from Saudi Arabia and Libya, according to files seized by American forces at a desert camp.
The files listed the nationalities and biographical details of more than 700 fighters who crossed into Iraq from August last year, around half of whom came to the country to be suicide bombers, the New York Times reported today.

In all, 305, or 41%, of the fighters listed were from Saudi Arabia. Another 137, or 18%, came from Libya. Both countries are officially US allies in anti-terrorism efforts.

In contrast, 56 Syrians were listed and no Lebanese. Previously, US officials estimated that around a fifth of all foreign fighters in Iraq came from these two countries.

US officials have also long complained about Iranian interference in the affairs of its neighbour, accusing Tehran of shipping weapons for militants over the border. However, any assistance does not appear to extend to people, the paper said, reporting that, of around 25,000 suspected militants in US custody in Iraq, 11 were Iranian. No Iranians were listed among the fighters whose details were found.

The information came from files and computers seized in September when US forces raided a camp in the desert near Sinjar, a small town in north-west Iraq, close to the Syrian border. It was believed the camp was the base for an insurgent cell responsible for smuggling the vast majority of foreign fighters into Iraq.

The files also gave details of 68 Yemeni nationals, the third-biggest source. There were 64 fighters from Algeria, 50 from Morocco, 38 from Tunisia, 14 from Jordan, six from Turkey and two each from Egypt and France.

According to the newspaper, US officials believe the raid stemmed the flow of foreign militants into Iraq, which dropped to around 40 in October, down from a peak of more than 100 a month in the first half of this year.

Last month there were 16 suicide bombings in Iraq, sharply down from a peak of 59 in March. According to the report, the US military believes 90% of such attacks are carried out by foreigners.

Morrissey:

The Guardian waits until the end of the article to list the third-highest contributor to the terrorists in Iraq: Yemen. This has more significance than readers might conclude, given its position in the story. The ethnic Yemenis, not the Saudis, have been the biggest problem in the war on terror, and the Saudis have the same problem with them as we do.

One of the terror-war factoids that one hears repeatedly is that the majority of the 9/11 terrorists came from Saudi Arabia. What most people don’t know is that the majority of those were ethnic Yemenis from disputed territory between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, which the Saudis now control. The territory generates terrorists against the Sauds as much or more than against the Iraqis or the US, as al-Qaeda exploits the dispute to amplify hatred against the Saudis. That fits perfectly into the plans of Osama bin Laden, who wants to see the Saudi royal family overthrown and a new caliphate put in its place — headed by Osama.

Osama sends these terrorists into Iraq for seasoning. At first, it seemed to work, as AQI became ascendant in the West. These Yemenis could then present a threat to the Saudis from the north, in Iraq, and the south, in the disputed region once they returned. The collapse of AQI in Iraq means that these Yemenis have nowhere to go, and that the few who return will bring news of AQ’s collapse against the West.

Al-Tajamo tallied over 1800 Yemenis (by hometown) who travelled to Iraq for Jihad, with the majority having gone in 2006.

Council on Foreign Relations, a US think tank:

Foreign Fighters
The most heated and enduring question about AQI (al-Qaeda in Iraq) is the origin and allegiance of its fighters. Few doubt the group includes a foreign element, but debate on the numbers and countries of origin has persisted since the U.S.-launched invasion of Iraq. President Bush has said the group is connected to al-Qaeda leadership based in Pakistan’s tribal areas, and he used this argument as a central reason to overthrow Saddam Hussein. In July 2007 he reiterated (NYT) this during a speech to military personnel in South Carolina. That same month, Brig. Gen. Bergner, then the U.S. military’s chief spokesman in Iraq, said AQI was responsible for 80 percent to 90 percent of the country’s suicide bombings, many carried out by foreigners. RFE/RL’s Ridolfo is less certain on the precise numbers of foreign fighters but says they do appear to comprise a significant portion of the group’s members. As many as 60 percent cross the border into Iraq from Saudi Arabia, she adds.

But not everyone agrees. Critics of the “foreign fighter” assessment maintain the bulk of AQI operatives are disenfranchised Iraqis, including Sunnis shut out from the Shiite-led government. Joost Hiltermann, deputy program director of the International Crisis Group’s Middle East Project, says AQI has “d eep pockets and has been a magnet for disaffected Iraqi youths who have lost faith in their tribal elders or former-regime commanders.” Hiltermann adds that AQI has managed to recruit inside Iraq with intimidation, money, and brutality. “By attacking populations it considers unbelievers (Shiites, Yazidis), it has succeeded in polarizing Iraqi society along sectarian lines, and to kick-start civil war in 2005.” The Washington Post reports that 2006 brought “dramatic changes” to AQI membership, shifting it from a predominantly foreign force to an “overwhelmingly Iraqi organization.”

Expert estimates on the number of foreign fighters among Iraqi insurgent groups range from a few hundred to over 3,000. Total AQI numbers have been estimated at over 10,000. Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Syria, and Yemen were among the top suppliers of non-Iraqi militants to Iraq as of September 2005, according to the most recent data from the Brookings Institution’s Iraq Index (PDF). As of August 2007 between forty to sixty foreign fighters entered Iraq each month, though U.S. military officials say foreigners still account for the majority of suicide bombers. Kenneth Katzman, a Middle East specialist at the Congressional Research Service, writes (PDF) that AQI insurgents, along with other foreign fighters, “entered Sunni-inhabited central Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, from the Kurdish controlled north” and elsewhere in the Middle East

Al-Tajamo tallied individual Yemenis who went to Iraq at about 1800.

Yemen Observer

Iaqis staying in Yemen complain that they can no longer find jobs and their children cannot go to school or university, as they are unable to obtain passports under new conditions set by the Foreign Ministry of Iraq.

Two weeks ago, the Iraqi embassy in Sana’a announced that three kinds of Iraqi passports (called H, M, and N) have become null and void, and that Iraqis in Yemen who carry these passports must apply for new ones.

(Read on …)

NY Sun

WASHINGTON – American and Iraqi intelligence analysts are hunting for bank accounts controlled by Saddam Hussein’s daughter as part of an effort to extradite her to Iraq.

The hunt for the former Iraqi regime’s cash is part of preparations and negotiations to apprehend Raghad Hussein and her mother, Sajida Khairalla Tulfa, from their residence in Jordan to face charges for financing terrorism in Iraq. On Friday, the Iraqi interior ministry announced that Interpol had posted a “red notice” advisory to police departments around the world to arrest Ms. Hussein for her role in bankrolling Iraq’s Sunni insurgency.

American diplomats are now quietly helping to facilitate the extradition of the ex-tyrant’s daughter to Baghdad, where Prime Minister Maliki’s government is preparing for a trial.

Saddam Hussein and his henchmen are believed to have looted billions of dollars from Iraq’s banks as the regime collapsed. Much of that money, which has been tracked closely by the Treasury Department since the beginning of the war, has found its way into the Baathist side of the Sunni insurgency. One of the chief beneficiaries of the regime’s lucre was Raghad Hussein, who helped fund a former Saddam deputy, Izzat Ibrahim al Duri, the ex- Baathist official who is the highest-ranking member of the regime that remains at-large. Mr. al-Duri is believed to be residing in Yemen.

See what praising the forces of resistance and hosting people like al-Dhari gets you.

Maybe they’ll find al-Douri now.

Sanaa, 14 August (AKI) - Yemeni authorities claim to have foiled a terrorist attack in the port city of Aden, south of Sanaa, hours before its execution.

Sources told the Saudi newspaper, al-Watan,Yemeni police stopped a terrorist cell which was on the point of launching an attack against political and business targets last week.

Police said they were Iraqi war veterans who had fought beside local al-Qaeda guerillas and then sent to Yemen and other countries in the region to carry out attacks.

Almost all of them had reportedly completed terrorist training for suicide attacks.

The head of the cell was said to be a Yemeni with the battle name ‘ al-Lahji ‘, whose arrest two weeks ago led to the discovery of other cell members.

Fearing other members of the group could flee abroad for similar attacks, police increased security at Aden’s airport.

An engineer was arrested and after a few days released and was going to the United Arab Emirates to work for a local company.

The Yemen military on Monday were reported to have carried out a fresh raid against a group of alleged Islamist terrorists and arrested several fugitives in the province of Abin.

Last Tuesday Yemeni police claim to have found three Islamic extremists that were Iraqi veterans during an anti-terrorism exercise.

Another raid

Sanaa, 14 August (AKI) - The Yemen military carried out a fresh raid against a group of Islamic terrorists on Monday and arrested a number of fugitives in the province of Abin, south of the capital Sanaa, according to a report on the Arabic newspaper, al-Sharq al-Awsat.

(Read on …)

Kinda late in the game, isn’t it?

Daily Times, PK

WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates leave Monday (today) on a vital Middle East mission to seek Arab support to bolster Iraq and to discuss weapons sales with allies.

Amid growing calls at home to withdraw US forces in Iraq, the duo are also expected to reaffirm US commitment to regional security against possible threats from Iran and its nuclear programme.

In addition, Washington is expected to underline concerns that some Sunni Arab nations are offering financial aid to foreign fighters fuelling the insurgency against the fragile Shiite-led, US-backed government in Baghdad.

Rice and Gates will make rare joint visits to Egypt and Saudi Arabia before separate trips to other parts of the region. In Egypt, they are scheduled to meet ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman - as well as Jordan and Egypt in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh.

They will “discuss the ways in which Iraq’s neighbours can help advance the cause of security and stability in that country,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Washington is particularly concerned that its most powerful Sunni Arab ally, Saudi Arabia, is bankrolling Sunni militants and serving as a conduit for them to stoke the insurgency in Iraq.

Aside from Saudi Arabia, foreign fighters flowing into Iraq via US arch-enemy Syria come from Qatar and Yemen, among other Middle East allies, US officials said.

Guardian

The infrastructure of smuggling was set up under Saddam in the late 1990s, during the UN sanctions, when illegal oil shipments became the main method of getting cash into the country. Smuggling was an officially condoned policy.

“We use the same methods we used during Saddam,” said Ismail, a veteran smuggler. “Instead of Ba’athists and generals, it is now Shia militias and their cronies who are doing the business.”

Several oil smugglers interviewed said the easiest and least profitable oil operations involved diesel and fuel oil. The oil is obtained from Iraqi refineries through official requests from politicians or by diverting fuel shipments for factories or fishing boats.

Another oil smuggler, Hussam, said these shipments were then emptied into small makeshift tanks in the Abu al-Khasib area, the deep river that leads to the Gulf. From there the oil is taken in small quantities to oil tankers at the mouth of the Gulf on al-Faw peninsula, which take it to refineries in Yemen, the United Arab Emirates or as far as India.

Idiot, there’s no US troops in Sa’ada.

The internationalization of the conflict grows as a variety of regional players try to frame the conflict to their own advantage.

Sana’a, NewsYemen

The Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has said that Yemeni and US forces “are committing human rights violations in Saada” where confrontations between al-Houthi supporters and the army are ongoing.

Al-Sadr, who is the leader of Mahdi army in Iraq and after hiding four months ago, called the United Nations, the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Conference to intervene to stop violations in Saada which he said reached the use of “prevented weapons”.

Al-Sadr statement came after Yemen accused Iranian religious institutions of giving financial support to Shiite rebels who have been fighting government forces in northern Yemen.

We know that rebels receive funds from some Iranian religious institutions,” Interior Minister, Rashad al-Alimi told reporters Thursday.

Authorities accuse al-Houthi of trying to “invent relationship between what is happening in Iraq with events in Saada to get external support”.

Local Press, al-Tajamo:

- Yemeni militants crossing to Iraq number up to 2000

The newspaper quoted unofficial reports as saying that Yemeni militants, who cross into Iraqi to fight against the Iraqi government and the occupation forces, number up to 2000. The scores added that most of the militants come from the Yemeni south province of Abyan and Miseik area, east of the capital, and they organize their trips to the war-ravaged country illegally. Official security sources mentioned that these militants use the internet in order to attract youths aged between 18 and 37 years and train them on how to fight in Iraq.

The same sources disclosed that many of those who cross to Iraq to fight the occupation forces have been registered students at the Eman University, the biggest Islamic education institutions in Yemen.

This is the 23 who admitted fighting in Iraq, not to be confused with the 19 Zaqawi cell. Their document forgery conviction remains in place upon appeal. They said in court, “President Saleh should be proud of us.. he welcomed and received the first plane carrying Mojahedeen returning from Iraq at Al-Dailami airbase in Sana’a.” I’m sure President Saleh is proud of them. Maybe he can tell Bush that when he meets him next month in DC.

almotamar.net - The specialized appeal section on Saturday the primary sentence issued against 17 persons out of 23 convicted on charges of forgery of passports, identity cards and official memorandums.

The appeal verdict stipulated confiscation of crime equipment seized with the accused ones, namely computers, printer and forged stamps.

President of the court Saeed al-Qataa said the appeal section confirms the verdict issued against the defendants, affirming that the period of imprisonment begins from the date of arresting them.

The court of first instance had in July 2006 sentenced for three years and four months in prison 17 of the accused. The appeal penal court deemed enough to imprison 2 others for three years, acquitted two others for insufficient evidence and released the other two after considering the period they have spent in prison as enough punishment.

April 22, 2007- An appellate Yemeni court specialized in the state security confirmed on Sunday the primary sentences issued against 16 out of 23 suspects accused of al-Qaeda-related charges.

The primary court had issued a ruling of 3 years and four months against them after they were pleaded guilty of forging personal documents, travel passports to Iraq and veiling escapers who were convicted of the involvement of the USS Cole exposition in the Aden Port.

It is worth reclaiming that the suspects were arrested by Syrian and extradited to Yemen while they were in their way to travel to Iraq in order to join the Iraq insurgency.

Khaleej Times

SANAA - A Yemeni appeal court upheld Sunday sentences of 40 months jail each for 19 nationals who forged documents in attempt to get to Iraq to join the insurgency there.

Two of an original 23 men charged were acquitted while the sentences of two others were commuted last July by a lower court which ordered their release.

Most of the accused were arrested in Syria before reaching Iraq, and were each sentenced to three years and four months in prison.

They were found guilty of falsifying documents to enable them to get to Iraq, possession of arms and of helping suspects of the Al Qaeda terror network to hide.

Yemen is the ancestral homeland of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Sanaa has worked with Washington to clamp down on suspected Al Qaeda sympathisers.

Within the last week, six young men left from Aden governorate, Maalla district, Yemen, in transit to Iraq as suicide bombers, a reliable source indicated. Over the last two years, many youth in Aden have traveled to Iraq to participate in suicide bombings targeting American and Iraqi forces and civilian targets. All the men were young, many were teen-agers and most were unemployed. Subject to intense mental pressure, they had been brainwashed for an extended period of time. Many go to Syria as the first stop en route to Iraq. Sources report that influential persons in Yemen provide the training, money and passports for the suicide bombers. US officials have estimated that 90% of suicide bombers in Iraq are foreigners, and the vast majority of those are from Yemen and North Africa.

They denounce US intervention in Sudan, where two million Muslims are displaced and starving in desert, and the government of Kharoum is deploying rape as a tactic of war (and this is no myth).

SANA’A, April 8 — Marking its 60th anniversary of its establishment, the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party organized a celebration on Saturday in Sana’a. The celebration was attended by ambassadors, including Syrian and Iranian Ambassadors, parties’ secretary generals and the party’s affiliates from across Yemen.

On behalf of the party’s secretary general Dr. Abdulwahab Mahamoud, Dr. Abdulrahman Saleh assistant secretary general delivered a speech in which he welcomed the attendees and recounted the history of his party and the long path it has been tracking. He also delineated his party’s attitudes of different national, Arab and Islamic issues, maintaining “The party has come from the womb of this nation and it is natural that it dedicates itself for the nation’s sake.

In his speech, assistant secretary general of General People Congress Sultan Al-Barakani commended the struggling of Ba’ath party and noted the party has kept struggling since its establishment despite all problems and challenges.

Similarly, Sultan Al-Atwani, secretary General of The Nasserite Unionist People’s Organisation, delivered a speech on behalf of the Joint Meeting Parties. Al-Atwani pointed out that Ba’ath Party was a reason for many victories achieved over the history of Arab Nation. He also stressed that Arab citizens still keep a good memories of the party’s immortal victories.

Al-Atwani also noted Ba’aths and Nasserites were the first parties to achieve a real unity in the modern history and this was between Egypt and Syria in 1958 under the name United Arab Republic; however, this unity did not last for long as “Imperialism managed to abolish this unity in 1961.

He added that Ba’ath Party was a key player in Yemen’s unity achieved in 1990, asserting such a unity should be the cornerstone for a comprehensive Arab Unity.

Hamas Movement representative in Sana’a Gamal Aisa assured Arabism and Islam are not separated and called upon Arabs and Muslims unit their efforts in order to stand against the Israeli project which does not target Palestine alone but the whole Arab World. He also noted that Israel is the real enemy of Arabs and Muslims.

“There is no option left except to unit and join our efforts for the sake of the nation, whether people, states or parties,” said Aisa.

In their released statement, the party denounced the American occupation of Iraq and its intervention in Arab issues like in Lebanon and Sudan. It also condemned the Israeli assaults against Palestinian people.

It also denounced the war escalating in Sa’ada and asked President Saleh to face and fight what they called “criminal gangs” in order to maintain the nation’s unity and stability. He also called all parties in parties in Yemen to stand against what they named as “Sa’ada sedition”.

Ba’ath Party was established in 1947 in Damascus’s Al-Rasheed Café by different Arab strugglers under the influence of Michael Aflaq and Head of National Relations Department. The party has undergone different challenges and hurdles of the course of its history. It suffered disintegration in 1964 at the hands of Syrian President Hafez Al-Asa’ad and since then the party divided into the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party based on Damascus and Ba’ath National Arab Socialist Party based on Iraq.

The party also divided in Yemen following Yemen’s Civil War that took place in 1994 and exactly in 1996 after the party’s high ranking officials let in a conflict with the former secretary general Qassim Sallam and most leaderships headed to Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party.

Despite this, Naif Al-Qanes, head of national relations department at the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party assured the two parties have in common more things than those that create differences.

He also revealed that there is a dialogue going on between Ba’athis at national and regional levels to restore their unity, maintaining that Syria has become a home for all Ba’athis after the collapse of Saddam Hussain regime in Iraq.

Training Day
How Yemen aids and abets Iraqi insurgents.
by Jane Novak
04/05/2007 12:00:00 AM

YEMEN OPERATES LARGELY under the radar as a supporter of the global jihad. Both Yemeni and U.S. officials publicly tout Yemen’s partnership with the United States in the war on terror. The U.S. embassy in Sana’a described the February 2006 escape of 23 al Qaeda operatives from a maximum security jail as “understandable in a way,” considering Yemen’s rampant corruption, weak institutions, and bureaucratic incompetence. (The escapees included several Cole bombers and an American associated with the Lackawanna, New York terror cell.) Presidential assistant Frances Townsend has described the Yemeni regime as an “inconsistent” partner in the war on terror, but Yemen has been quite consistent in its appeasement and facilitation of al Qaeda and related jihadi groups, and, as a result, has played a significant role in the destabilization of Iraq.

(Read on …)

About 90% of suicide bombers in Iraq are foreigners with the vast majority from Yemen and North Africa. 90% of these foreign fighters go to Iraq via Syria. The State Department is warning…Syria. If Syria does close the borders, where are the Yemeni suicide bombers going to go? They won’t dissappear into thin air. It might be a good idea to start focusing on the souce of the suicide bombers, those in Yemen who facilitate their indocrination, training, documents, financing and transport, and later praise their deaths and the death of US troops.

Also more chlorine attacks in Iraq by “foreign fighters.” In 2005, the Yemeni military used chlorine gas as a weapon against Shiite rebels; in 2007, Yemeni jihaddists use chlorine gas in attacks in Iraq against US troops. Predictable. What are all the Salafi jihaddis currently networking in Sa’ada going to do after the Houthi rebellion is over, attack the Socialists? I don’t think so.

World Tribune:

WASHINGTON — A U.S. State Dept. official said about 90 percent of the suicide attackers in Iraq came from Syria.

“It has to stop,” said David Satterfield, the chief State Department adviser on Iraq.
Officials said that despite numerous appeals, Syria has failed to stop the flow of Sunni suicide bombers to Iraq. They said the lion’s share of suicide bombers were foreign Arab nationals who entered Syria and made their way to Iraq.

“They [suicide bombers] see Syria as a more accommodating country through which to transit across the border to come into Iraq to perpetrate their terror,” Satterfield.

Satterfield said the U.S. intelligence community has assessed that between 85 and 90 percent of suicide bombers in Iraq entered from Syria. In an address to the Washington Institute on March 27, Satterfield said 90 percent of suicide bombers in Iraq were foreigners.

Officials said North Africans and Yemenis comprised the largest element among the foreign suicide bombers. But they said Saudi nationals have become an increasing factor in the Sunni insurgency war in Iraq.

In his address, Satterfield again warned Syria to stop the flow of would-be suicide bombers and other insurgents to Iraq. He said Iraq and the United States have sought to stem the flow of insurgents from Syria to Iraq’s Al Anbar province.

“It has to stop,” Satterfield said. “It is not in Syria’s long term interests to let this violence continue. We and the Iraqi security forces have done our best. It is a long, long border.”

Over the last month, the Bush administration has resumed high-level contacts with the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad. Officials said that during the March 10 meeting in Baghdad, the U.S. delegation accused Iran and Syria of interfering in Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was expected to attend the next meeting that included Syria in April.

“We would hope that the Syrian government understands as well that its rhetoric for a peaceful and stable Iraq has to be matched by actions,” Satterfield said.

In Iraq, foreign suicide bombers coming from Syria have increasingly used chlorine in their attacks. On Wednesday, at least 15 Iraqi and U.S. soldiers were injured when suicide bombers detonated explosives on trucks that contained chlorine in the Anbar province.

517 people killed in the last week in Iraq.

NY:

The second Yemeni group, under trial over “Jihad in Iraq”, protested to any charge against them and considered the authorities accusations as “a result of foreign pressure”.
The 23 asked the jury in a trial on Saturday to “hold the political security accountable for criminalizing Mujahideen who wanted to travel to Iraq for Jihad which is the duty of all Muslims”.
The group wondered that the Yemeni Prosecution “preserves security of US and British forces that occupy Iraq, raid houses in Iraq at night, rap women and torture prisoners.”
They accused the Prosecution of circulating misleading ideas that serves only Islam enemies, according to the group.
We are like other Muslims who hear and see what is happening in Iraq, so we have behaved according to our Islamic values and gone to Iraq to defend our religion and brothers there, said the group.

The Prosecution accuses the 23 of falsifying identifications and traveling documents to go to Iraq for fighting against US forces. They are also charged of concealing al-Qaeda escapees.

The court adjourned the verdict against the 23 group until 22 April 2007.
In June 2006, the court convicted 19 of them of falsifying official documents and identification cards and sentenced them to three years in jail since the arrest date. The group appealed against the sentence.

The 19 are appealing their sentence.

Sana’a, NewsYemen

The second Yemeni group, under trial over “Jihad in Iraq”, protested to any charge against them and considered the authorities accusations as “a result of foreign pressure”.

The 23 asked the jury in a trial on Saturday to “hold the political security accountable for criminalizing Mujahideen who wanted to travel to Iraq for Jihad which is the duty of all Muslims”.

The group wondered that the Yemeni Prosecution “preserves security of US and British forces that occupy Iraq, raid houses in Iraq at night, rap women and torture prisoners.”
They accused the Prosecution of circulating misleading ideas that serves only Islam enemies, according to the group.

We are like other Muslims who hear and see what is happening in Iraq, so we have behaved according to our Islamic values and gone to Iraq to defend our religion and brothers there, said the group.

The Prosecution accuses the 23 of falsifying identifications and traveling documents to go to Iraq for fighting against US forces. They are also charged of concealing al-Qaeda escapees.

The court adjourned the verdict against the 23 group until 22 April 2007.

In June 2006, the court convicted 19 of them of falsifying official documents and identification cards and sentenced them to three years in jail since the arrest date. The group appealed against the sentence.

Wasn’t this the group that their defense was that they were making IED’s for Iraq?

almotamar.net - Appeals section at the Special Penal Court approved Tuesday condemnation of 12 persons accused of planning for attacking American targets and kidnapping American citizens in Yemen.

The appeals decided imprisonment of the accused for different periods ranging between 2 to 6 years and confirming the primary sentence and confiscating evidence found with them.

The court condemned the 12 defendants according to the charges against them. It decided imprisonment of the first defendant Ali Mohammed Sufyan al-Ammary for six years from the date of his capture, and Al-Zubair Andulrahmann al-Mikhlafi, Mohammed and Khalid Abdulaziz Qateeni, Hassan Ali al-Hadda and Jamal Abdeh Nasser al-Qumadi for 4 years each.

The court also endorsed the primary sentence of three years against each of Hamid Mohammed Radman al-Wisabi, Badr al-Husseini, Mohammed Ali Hayder, Ibrahim Mabkhut al-Wasabi, and Ammar Ahmed Saleh al-Muradi. It also endorsed the sentence of two years imprisonment against Adnan Abdulkarim Wajihuddin and Sami Mohammed Qaid al-Shuaibi.

The accused were arrested on the 9th of last May at Shumaila market in Sana’a and with them there were seized explosive belts, weapons, explosives and plans for carrying out many terrorist operations through attacking vital installations and facilities. The accused were about to implement a criminal plot aimed at foreign nationals and western interests among them American interests before security apparatus managed to arrest them

Two to six years. Can we take bets as to whether they will a) escape b) reform or c) be pardoned

Maybe the same case or not.

This one, its 12 of 14: They only wanted to join Jihad in Iraq as they were moved by the massacres made there, he added.
The lawyer asked the court to cancel the verdict released by the first instant court. Meanwhile, suspect Mohammed Ali Haidar confessed he had forged stamps for security institutions in an effort to help other suspects travel to Iraq, stating he had to do so due to the American killings of innocent in Iraq.

Original trial, they were arrested May 9, 2004.