Armies of Liberation

Oh the Houthis “stole” 20 truckloads of weapons, and Faris failed to report it until they were well away. Lets see what happens now. No one ever goes to jail in Yemen. I had thought Faris Manna was Saleh’s partner, just like the oil smuggler Tawfiq Abdel Rahman Tawfiq Abdel Rahim. I wonder if the theft occured before or after the Defense Ministry imported a shipload of Chinese weapons destined for the rebels with forged documents. The reason Yemen keeps accusing Iran of supplying the Houthis is because without that red herring, it become clear that Yemeni officials are themselves selling weapons to the rebels. Its not just fall off, small deals and captured weapons going from the government side to the rebels. Hey, lets increase in military aid

al Arabiya: Yemen on Sunday arrested the second biggest arms dealer in the country just days after the capture of another top dealer, whose weapons depot was stolen by rebels fighting the government in the north, Al Arabiya TV reported. (Read on …)

Faris is also the brother of the governor of Sa’ada. Faris Manna was one of Yemen’s primary weapons traders for some years before he was appointed to the government mediation committee tasked with negotiating with the Houthi rebels. Apparently what he negotiated was a weapons deal.

When some aspect of the Defense Ministry imported a ship load of Chinese weapons, destined for the Houthi rebels, Faris was placed on a black list of arms dealers. Does the arrest demonstrate Western pressure having an effect or is it another ploy by the Saleh regime? I have never yet seen a high ranking Yemeni official held accountable for any crimes.

al Masdar Online: After surrounding his home in Sana’a
الأمن يعتقل رئيس لجنة الوساطة بصعدة الشيخ فارس مناع Security arrested the Chairman of the Mediation Committee Saada Sheikh Faris Manna
المصدر أونلاين- خاص Source Online – Special

علم “المصدر أونلاين” من مصادر مؤكدة إن الشيخ فارس مناع شقيق محافظ صعدة ورئيس لجنة الوساطة السابق بين السلطة والحوثيين قد اعتقل اليوم الخميس من منزلـه في أمانة العاصمـة. Aware of “online source” from confirmed sources that Sheikh Faris Manna brother of the governor of Saada, Chairman of the Mediation Committee between the Authority and the former Huthi was arrested on Thursday from his home in the capital. (Read on …)

Thats why Yemen’s single largest foreign creditor by far is Russia. IPSN

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), one of the world’s best known think tanks researching arms control and disarmament, Russia accounted for nearly 59 percent of all major weapons deliveries to Yemen during 2004-2008, followed by Ukraine at 25 percent, Italy at 10 percent, Australia’s five percent, and the United States at less than one percent. (Read on …)

Money, weapons? Why is he there? A major source of weapons in Gaza is of course Yemen. The 2006 (2007?) al Quds conference in Sana’a was like a meet and greet of a variety of “resistance movements” from around the globe and raised several million for Hamas. Check the Palestinians category for more.

Hamas praises Yemen supportive stances for Palestine issue
SANA’A, Dec. 08 (Saba) – Head of the Political Office of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) Khalid Misha’al affirmed on Tuesday concern of Hamas to continuously consult the Yemeni leadership, represented by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, with regards to a number of Palestinian and Arab issues. (Read on …)

Video here and another here. I wonder how much of that (and I know nothing of weapons) is of US origin. The Saudis are using F15s and Apaches.The rebels have alleged that some of the strikes hit civilians. The Saudis have forceably returned Yemeni civilians fleeing the violence across the border back to the war zone. One of the few humanitarian aid corridors established crosses the Saudi border into northern Yemen. SA reports nine soldiers missing after rebels report their capture.

That’s it, the little one. Its not actually a ship, now is it? It looks like a fishing boat. Not that anyone should be smuggling anything into (or out of) Yemen, but the story is overly hyped. A refresher from Radio Free Europe:

On 26 October an Iranian-crewed ship allegedly carrying weapons was seized by Yemen. This provided Yemeni authorities with an apparent direct link between the insurgents and their Iranian supporters, whom the Yemeni government referred to as “religious institutions.”… According to the Yemeni navy, the ship was intercepted in the Red Sea, west of Midi, a port in the northwestern province of Hajjah that adjoins the territory controlled by the insurgents. Confirming that five Iranians on board the ship were arrested by Yemeni security forces,

One of the Saudis recent bombing runs was quite near Midi Island. Also see this.

Yemen Tribune HAJJA, 16 Nov — Saudi fighter jets Monday night bombed a number of targets near the port of Midi in Hajja, the Islamist website, Alsahwa said quoting sources at Yemen’s coastguard in Midi. The sources said “the air strikes hit targets in Yemen’s Small Ashaq island near the Saudi Large Ashaq island,” adding “the shelling hit some areas near the island of Midi and intelligence officers from the Political Security Organization and military intelligence rushed to the scene to investigate.”

The intelligence officers were probably all running to see if their illegal contraband got hit.

281 machine guns could spell trouble, Mumbai style. The cache is linked to the 44 arrested educated Saudis who were thought to be financing the weapons purchases. What is says about AQAP is a whole other story.

Saudi Gazette

RIYADH/DUBAI – New details have emerged concerning the discovery of the weapons stash at an “istiraha” rest house near Riyadh and the arrest of 44 suspected Al-Qaeda members which were announced at the beginning of November. (Read on …)

Just as al Ailami predicted, the shipload of Chinese weapons imported by the Defense Ministry for the Houthi rebels moved next to Sudan, in theory not offloaded in Yemen. Yemen Gazette:

HODEIDA, 30 Oct — The Chinese vessel laden with weapons that was imported by tribal chieftain and arms dealer, Sheik Hadi Mothana has left the port of Hodeida back to China without off loading its cargo, the independent website, Marib Press said on Friday, adding “the Chinese ship arrived in Sudan where it off loaded oil drilling equipment it was carrying and has started sailing back to China.” Other conflicting reports said President Saleh had met with Sheik Hadi Mothana and agreed to allow the ministry of defense to buy the shipment. The ministry of defense has denied any ties to the shipment and Mothana said he has “solid evidence the government has asked for the cargo.

Hamid al Ahmar in an interview on al Jazeera made several interesting statements including that the president is guarded by 60 thousand army personnel in Sanaa, He also disclosed the name of the arms dealer (Yousef Al-Magani) that bought arms for Houthi rebels in the 4th war from Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, head of the republican guard, in a conspiracy to eliminate Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmer. Hamid also dared the president to visit Abyan or Sadaa or stay for 2 months in Aden to prove that he is still the president of the country. Publicly exposing Prince Ahmed this way gives Ali Mohsen the legitimacy to move against him without instigating a vendetta from within their tribe.

While it may seem at first glance an absurd proposition, waging a war to weaken the general running it, it provides a logical explanation for many occurences over the last five years, including why the war never seems to be won. It was Ali Mohsen’s newspaper that disclosed the Chinese shipload of weapons for the rebels that was imported by the defense ministry. One should never underestimate the level of duplicity that the Sana’a regime is capable of, or its excellence at propaganda. President Saleh IS the King of Spin.

Yemen Herald:
SANAA, 07 Nov – Tribal leader and business tycoon, Sheik Hamid Abdullah al-Ahmar late Friday accused the Republican Guards of supporting the Shiite rebels in previous wars. He said “the Yemeni army is no longer capable of ending the war in north Yemen militarily because it lost trust in the political leadership in Yemen which plays around with peoples’ lives.” Al-Ahmar who was speaking to the Doha-based al-Jazeera satellite TV channel said “the Republican Guards headed by the President’s son supported the Shiite rebels in north Yemen in order to hit the First Artillery military division led by Brigadier General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar and hence get rid of him,” adding “a rebel leader is a friend of the President’s son, Ahmad Ali Abdullah Saleh.” Ali Mohsen is President Saleh’s half brother and al-Ahmar talked about “internal conflict between the various wings inside the army about the war in Sadaa,” and called on President Saleh to visit Abyan or Sadaa “in order to prove to us that he is still the President of all of Yemen,” adding “the President no longer has a state to rule.” “The state no longer exists except in the Presidential Palace and in the capital, Sanaa which is protected by 60 thousand troops,” Al-Ahmar said, adding “dialogue is the only hope to bring Yemen out of this situation,” stressing “dialogue with everyone is still possible to resolve the current crisis in Yemen.” He accused President Saleh of “wanting to turn the country into a monarchy through his pursuit to install his son in power,” and renewed his call for the President to step down, stressing “changing the head is the door to reforming the situations in Yemen.” “If President Saleh wants the people to stand by him against monarchism, then he should first get rid of his monarchy and if he wants people to stand by him to protect the nation’s unity, then he has to prove his patriotism by lifting injustice,” he said, and criticized the management of the war in north Yemen saying “the way this war is run has humiliated the army and caused it to lose its fighting moral.”

Iran drop shipping missiles to Sudan re-spun by the regime as Eritirea, which is a nasty little country in its own right. Man, thats complicated. Ah, better in English from the Gulf News

Earlier on Monday, the independent paper Al Ahali said that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards train Al Houthi rebels in training camps in neighboring Eritrea. The paper also said that the Iranian revolutionary guards transport the weapons through the Eritrean harbour of Asab, from where it is transported to Yemen’s Midi Harbour.

More from MEMRI about Midi Island and Eritrea: (Read on …)

They’re all swooning in shock that the Yemeni Defense Ministry is selling arms to the Houthi rebels, its hysterical. Arming the rebel force for profit is a good example of a) how the extreme criminalization of the Yemeni government leads to irrational outcomes, b) the war economy perpetuating the war and c) increasing factionalization of the Yemeni government.

Yemen Today: Meanwhile, Brigadier General Ali Muhsen al-Ahmar called for investigations into the Chinese arms shipment seized in the port city of Hodeida two weeks ago. The government had said the shipment entered the country using forged documents and published a black list of arms dealers but the agent of the Chinese company in Yemen, Sheik Hadi Mothana Monday told reporters the “papers of the shipment are not forged and I have a solid proof.”

In related news, the independent website, Marib Press Monday talked about a “second black list of arms dealers,” adding “the Chinese arms shipment could expose many senior officials in the government who are involved in arming the Shiite rebels if an investigation was opened,” and quoted security officials as saying “the Shiite insurgents get their weapons from the arms depots of the ministry of defense.”

More details at the Yemen Observer: (Read on …)

No surprise there. The UN monitoring group on the arms embargo to Somalia found Yemeni markets to the chief source of illegal weapons imports, a leading factor in the ongoing instability. The ties between Al Qaeda in Yemen and al Shabaaab are not well documented, but when they were the ICU there was a lot of movement from Yemen to Somalia in support of their efforts against the TFG. The report is from Inside Somalia:

Abdillahi Omar Qawdhan, a Somaliland coast guard consultant and marine expert, told IRIN: “We have information that illegal small arms are smuggled to parts of the Somaliland coast but what we know is that small-calibre ammunition is imported to the west coast in sacks by the Yemeni boats that import fuel and other items to the west coast ports such as Cel-Sheik, Bula-Har, Bulo-Addo and Zaila. (Read on …)

The story that just keeps on giving… The arms dealers, including an MP and Shoura Council Member, who imported the mystery ship of Chinese weapons blocked the road in Marib to pressure the authorities to release the contents of the ship, which is missing.

Nearly all organized crime in Yemen is perpetuated by, or in conjunction with, top government officials, whether drug smuggling, currency counterfeiting, deisel smuggling, weapons as in this case, human or organs trafficing. It all leads back to the top of the regime which both formally and informally is populated by loyalist Sheiks and presidential relatives.

Yemen Post: The threads of the suspected ships carrying Chinese-made weapons which was said to have anchored in western Yemen have started to appear after gunmen blocked a road in Mareb province in northeast Yemen.

The gunmen, believed to be gangs employed by arms dealer in the country, in the road linking Mareb city to Safer area where one of Yemen’s important oil fields is located in Mareb province, have demanded the Defense Ministry to release the ship carrying weapons they had imported from China. (Read on …)

The following report indicating a deal between the regime and al Qaeda is from the rebels website, link here, but the Yemeni government does use al Qaeda as mercenaries. Yes the report could be push back to the trial of Yahya al Houthi, but there’s lots of details there. Al Qaeda in Yemen is a multi-pronged organization, and Wahishi’s is the most visible group at the moment, but there’s several other factions equally dangerous and well connected, operating below the radar. If there is a deal, then the Chinese ship of weapons informally imported by government officials possibly makes more sense. A kind soul helped me out with the following summary:

According to some sources confirmed that the leader of Al Qaida in Abu Dubarah. They agreed that the govt, will provide them with light weapons and the Al Qaida fighters will participate in the war against the rebels. Omar Obadah and his followers who just came back from Saudi Arabia and stated that they received some training in Afghanistan. The article mentioned that the leaders were sent to prison by the Saudi authorities. The article also mentioned that Al Qadia leaders presently at Abu Jabarah valley were part of the group who plotted escape from the political prison in Sanaa, part of the tunnel scandal.

Many sources affirm that this coalition is beneficial to both parties Yemeni govt, and al AQida leaders, and the Saudi’s as well. The Saudi embrace and supported because they consider the Hothi’s rebels in the north as infidels from their perspective. The Yemeni govt is trying to keep this coalition as secretive from the public.

What is interesting in this case is the area of abu Jabarah is located in the Ruba Alkhali valley “the deserted area between Yemen and Saudi Arabia” on the north eastern side of Yemen. In this area there are such an extensive and concentrated militia who are wanted by the Yemeni and Saudi authorities as well. (Read on …)

Updated to include dates of Iranian warships on “piracy patrols” that landed in Yemen.

Possibly the mystery of the three recent incidents of exploding Yemeni fishing boats can be explained as Iranian missile shipments. The following article asserts Iran is shipping from an African country, likely Sudan, to Yemen. A Yemeni fishing boat also exploded in a Sudanese port and Yemen’s Midi Island is a new transit point for Sudanese refugees. Once there’s a smuggling route established for weapons, the boats often also transport refugees.

However this report is taken from a Yemeni government stooge newspaper, Akhbar al Youm, which once announced that Ayatollah Sistani and I (me Jane) wrote the 2005 Amnesty International report, so there you go… It could be spin but the part that seems truest is that Yemeni government officials facilitated the shipment’s entry to Yemen. Its equally likely the Iranian missiles, if they were off loaded in Yemen, were destined for al Qaeda as the Houthi rebels. The paper is owned by President Saleh’s half brother General Ali Mohsen al Ahmar who is in a perpetual power struggle with other elements of the family. General al Ahmar is tasked with leading the war against the Houthi rebels, and as odd as it seems, a shipload of Chinese weapons was recently imported (with forged documents from the Yemeni defense ministry), thought destined for the Houthi rebels. Its a very fractured government.

Adding some weight to the story is the January 09 incident of Israel bombing an Iranian weapons shipment headed for Gaza from The Sudan, with Yemen noted as a leg of the route. So if Iran is drop shipping weapons to Sudan, from there they could go either direction. Two Iranian warships did dock in Yemen during the time frame referenced (prior to August 09), approved by Yemen’s president. A third fleet docked in September 2009.

Yemen Tribune SANAA, 15 Oct — The pro-government daily newspaper, Akhbar al-Youm Thursday quoted ‘special’ sources as saying “Iran provided the Shiite insurgents in Yemen with advanced anti-armour missiles one month before the sixth round of war erupted between the Zaydi Shiite rebels and government forces in north Yemen.” “The information we obtained revealed the missiles were shipped through the sea via an Iranian vessel that began its journey from an African port,” said Akhbar al-Youm, adding “the Iranian missiles-laden vessel docked near Yemen’s Mydi port in Hajja where smaller boats transferred the missiles to Mydi. The missiles were then moved and stored in farms near Mydi and later were transferred to the rebels through Hajja and Hodeida.” “State officials were involved in the operation and arranged for the Iranian ship to enter Yemeni water territorial,” said Akhbar al-Youm, adding “security agencies arrested several of those officials and investigation is underway.” A few weeks ago, media reports talked about ‘mysterious’ blasts in Mydi port where boats were blown up and Akhbar al-Youm said “the blasts were the result of clashes between the coastguard and individuals aboard those boats who were delivering arms to the Shiite insurgents.”

I was concerned at the time the fishing boats were exploding about a coordinated maritime al Qaeda attack on the NATO fleet in the Gulf of Aden, that is the Yemeni signature, but this convoluted story is much more apt to be likely.

Update: Parliament questions al Alimi who says maybe the ship went to Somalia and the weapons will be smuggled to Yemen from there.

Original Post: Actually it makes as much sense one way or the other, whether the shipment from Faris Manna (and the Defense Ministry) ultimately goes to the rebels or al Qaeda. I wrote in 2005 that Yemen was a primary weapons supplier to jihaddi groups all over the region- from Saudi to Gaza and lots of places in Africa. Later the Yemeni government promised (!!) to stop using brokers to buy and sell weapons. It was a big announcement, warmly welcomed by the US. But like nearly every and all announcements by the Yemeni regime, it lacked substance.

Following up on our earlier post, about Sa’ada mediator Faris Manna importing a shipload of Chinese weapons with forged documements from Yemen’s Defense Ministry: they can’t find the ship. Its in the port, left the port or never entered the port, one of those.

Yemen Post The debate over a suspected ship carrying Chinese-made weapons anchored in the port of Hodeida province in western Yemen heated up on Wednesday, with Parliament setting a deadline of next Monday for the government to submit a comprehensive report on the ship. (Read on …)

And they probably resold them all in Somalia by now. How soon until the weapons depot storing them explodes again?

Yemen Observer Security authorities confiscated 3,619 weapons from several governorates in the first half of October. (Read on …)

And its a darned good question. Follow up to the story: Yemen appoints weapons smuggler as governmental peace negotiator and gets mad when he sells the rebels a ship load of Chinese arms using “forged” documents from the Defense Ministry.

Sahwa Net – Over 29 MPs demanded in a parliamentary session held on Sunday to summon the defense minister Mohamad Nasser Mohammad to ask him about a Chinese ship loaded with weapons held in Hodeida airport. (ed- Earlier reports said it sailed away but apparently its still there.)

A Russian TV channel said that the ship belongs to Faris Mana’a, brother of Saada governor. (Read on …)

A ship seized in Yemen’s port of Hodeidah was importing weapons from China for the Houthi rebels with “false documents” from the Defense Ministry. Are things really that lax that any yo-yo can show up and buy a shipload of weapons with a forged document? Perhaps all weapon sales to Yemen should be scrutinized for similar fraud.

Is the Yemeni administration so corrupt that aspects of the military are selling weapons to their adversaries in the midst of a war? Undoubtedly. The military is so corrupt that sometimes al Qaeda trains inside military camps (less obvious from the air) and military commanders oversee logistics for would be jihaddists. There’s an al Qaeda safe house in President Saleh’s village with a bus that runs to a nearby training camp.

The cargo was not confiscated, and the ship left the port likely bound for buyers in Somalia. The sequence of events led MP’s to wonder who was behind the shipment (hidden hands behind the state is the phrase) and if it was possible that the government appointed mediator was also the rebels’ supplier. Ya think?

The recent “blacklisting” of President Saleh’s ally, weapons dealer and government mediator, Faris Manna makes a little more sense now as a fit of pique, but the war economy is well entrenched. The perpetrators of organized criminal activity in Yemen often operate under official cover. For more on Yemen’s weapons smuggling, see my category proliferation.

YO: Security authorities sabotaged an attempt by arms dealers to enter a large amount of ammunition imported from China, through forged official documents. The dealers are being investigated in preparation for trial. The deal was done through forged documents on behalf of the Yemeni Ministry of Defense and it included a large amount of old manufactured ammunition, said security sources.

The GPC’s al Motamar reports: Official sources last Monday affirmed that concerned authorities in Yemen foiled an attempt of entering a shipment of munitions some weapon merchants to import from China with forged official documents , pointing out that security investigations were conducted with eh involved persons prior to stand trial.

(Read on …)

I mentioned in my last article, Faris Manna is a main weapons dealer in Yemen. He is also the brother of the governor of Sa’ada. While it may seem odd that Faris Manna is also the head of the Yemeni govt committee in the Sa’ada War mediations, the biggest criminals in Yemen are normally very well connected. Likely he has sold weapons to rebels (a more plausible story than they were shipped from Iran) and gains his credibility there. The war economy benefits a variety of influential persons from sheiks and lawmakers to soldiers, smugglers and arms dealers.

In this case, one aspect of the Yemeni “government” is either punishing him for failing at mediation or authentically trying to enforce weapons controls on imports. Instead of forbidding citizens to trade with him, a better strategy would be to subject him to legal sanctions, but he’s too well connected for that to happen, as are the other top drug, weapons, deisel and human smugglers. Tariq Abdel Rahman, the country’s oil distributor and Saleh’s partner in oil smuggling, owes billions to the state.

Yemen Post
Chief mediator between government, Houthi on top of arms dealers’ blacklist

Authorities in Yemen have circulated a blacklist of arms dealers, with head of the commission mediating between the government and the Houthi rebels in Saada on top of the blacklisted. The authorities have warned against trading in weapons and dealing with Faris Mana’a, the head of the commission, and other arms dealers in Saada.

More from the Yemen Tribune:

SANAA, 05 Oct — The government Sunday circulated a black list of key Yemeni arms dealers. At the top of the list came Faris Mana who is heading a state-sponsored committee to negotiate peace with Shiite insurgents in northern Yemen. Mana is a major weapons trafficker and other names in the list included: Abdullah Bin Ma’ili, Jarman Muhammad Jarman, Ahmad Awad Abu-Maska, Hussein Ahmad al-Hathili, Abdullah Mubarak al-Saqeer, and Ali Daeallah al-Sawadi. Most of these men are tribal sheiks and authorities Sunday issued a stern warning against importing, dealing and trading with arms and ammunitions, stressing “such acts are unlawful, harm the nation’s security and violators will be held accountable.”

Meanwhile, the ruling party official weekly newspaper, Al-Mithaq, Sunday said authorities have thwarted an attempt by arms dealers to bring Chinese-made weapons into the country using fake official documents, adding “those involved are being interrogated and will be tried soon.” The paper said influential mediators tried to convince authorities to let the arms shipment into Yemen but failed.

Fake documents again…

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 …)

Update: Possibly a more accurate quote, or a different translation anyway, from UPI: “We, in the political leadership and government, turned to the comprehensive development and achieved great results in all provinces including Sadah,” he said. “Now, they forced us to build barricades and fortifications instead of schools.”

How astoundingly stupid, not to mention all the side issues and implications.

AP: Yemen’s president is pledging to wipe out Shiites rebels in a northern province and says he will use government funds to upgrade the military’s weaponry to crush the uprising.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh says the Shiite rebellion in Saada province is like a “cancer” that must be “uprooted.”

Saleh spoke to hundreds of military school graduates on Wednesday in the country’s capital, San’a. He says the rebellion forced the government “to buy new weapons and build new fortified army positions instead of spending money on building schools.”

The authorities claim to have killed 100 rebels and arrested 300 since the offensive began a week ago. The rebels have denied the figures and say the government has killed civilians in Saada.

Among all the charges and counter-charges related to the last week of bloody fighting between the Yemeni military and the Houthis rebels is the allegation of the military’s use of White Phoshorus against the civilian population. Allegations have been made since 2005 that the military deployed two types of chemicals in the war- a gas and another that clung to and burned the skin. Among the many photos in my inbox of dead people, body parts, bloody kids and corpses are two that may be relevent to the topic.

Sa'ada War August 16, 2009

The following photo shows a war casualty covered in white stuff, I have no idea what it is or means, but its graphic, so don’t click if you don’t have to.

(Read on …)

There seems to be several carloads of weapons floating around Yemen this week.

almotamar.net – Security sources confirmed Tuesday to almotamar.net that security apparatuses in Jaar district, governorate of Abyan in Yemen on Monday captured a car loaded with weapons intended to be transported to the terrorists led by a terrorist called Tahir Tammah.

The security sources mentioned that security men at Batis checkpoint in Jaar district seized the car loaded with weapons and explosives and was carrying a group of sabotage elements that in interrogation have confessed that the weapons and explosives shipment was meant to be delivered to the terrorist who leads them Tahir Tammah, indicating that the arrested elements have been sent to concerned authorities.

Yemeni is a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention. The draft law is a bit late for the people in Sa’ada some would say. SABA

Yemen bans chemical, biological arms

SANA’A, July 07 (Saba)- The cabinet approved in its Tuesday meeting a draft law concern works of the National Committee to Ban Chemical, Biological and Poisonous Arms.

The cabinet directed concern officials to complete necessary measures to issue the draft law, which was presented by Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (Read on …)

Where do you think they are reselling the confiscated weapons? Any restrictions on the major weapons dealers and importers yet, no? The black market is a major aspect of the Yemeni economy.

SANAA, Yemen, July 16 (UPI) — Yemen’s Interior Ministry says nearly 293,000 unregistered weapons have been seized since a ban on carrying weapons was instituted in August 2007.

The official Yemeni news agency SABA said the weapons were seized in the capitals of Yemen’s governorates and at security cordon areas.

Deputy Interior Minister Saleh al-Zawari activated the weapon-carrying ban in the governorates of Abyan, Baidha’a, Hadramout, Ibb, Lahj, Mahrah, Mahweet, Abyan, Ibb, Raymah and Taiz.

Zawari said the ban, which he insists will remain in place, has resulted in a decline in the number of land disputes and revenge crimes in Yemen, as well as an overall drop in the country’s crime rates, SABA reported.

Untrue: dont make me dig up dates. I dont mean the 2002 scuds either.

WSJ A diplomat at the Yemeni Embassy in Washington said Yemen’s former government purchased Scud missiles from North Korea in the 1990s, but said there is no more military cooperation with Pyongyang.

A compilation post, a bit more detail on this in an article I wrote for the Yemen Times in December. The VOA article is very good:

VOA: UN Warns of Ties Between Lawless Groups in Somalia and Yemen

For years, criminals have used ports in the Arab world’s poorest country, Yemen, as staging areas for trafficking humans, drugs, and weapons. There are growing fears that criminal groups in Yemen and pirate gangs in Somalia are moving closer together, further complicating international efforts to stabilize the region. (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

Russia is Yemen’s biggest creditor by far.

Yemen Post

President Saleh’s recent visit to Russia raised a great deal of media fuss and this fuss was associated with the nature of the visit. The official media mentioned that Saleh’s visit was meant for canceling Yemen’s debts as well as the economic cooperation, while the international media revealed that Yemen signed weapons deals at billions of US Dollars. This was later affirmed by the official media as they revealed that the country signed a four-billion dollar weapons deal, the biggest deal ever. (Read on …)

Again? Did this happen last month or is it a new confrontation between the Coast Guard and the Border Guard? Its a current article, so maybe its a second occurence.

Sahwa Net – Confrontations have erupted between border guards and coast guards in Lohia district ,Hodaida, as coast guards conducted check campaign on boats suspected that they were carried with smuggled commodities.

Local sources said clashes broke out when border guards prevented coast guards from checking fishing boats in Lohia .

The source explained that border guards harbored smugglers , pointing out that trafficking is carried out regularly as border guards protect smugglers.

Yemen Post has more: (Read on …)

The US and counter-piracy coalition noticed the substantial support for Somalia piracy coming from Yemen. And it is substantial, including weapons, diesel, use of territorial waters, phone service, ship coordinates etc. Earlier the UN monitoring group noted the nexus of piracy, human smuggling from Somalia to Yemen and the weapons smuggling from Yemen to Somalia on the return trip. The US Admiral is careful to make the point that the support is coming from private individuals, when actually all substantial criminal networks in Yemen are tied to the highest levels of the Yemeni regime. The US hopes for Yemeni governmental support in diminishing logistical aid to the pirates.

The Economist notes the enmeshing of criminal gangs and Mukallah’s importance in particular: It is said that pirates from Somalia and Yemen have now teamed up with smuggling gangs elsewhere in Africa to conduct illicit trade through Yemeni ports such as Mukalla and Belhaf with coalition force having only occasional success, piracy is plainly spreading more widely across the Indian Ocean.

Good. We noted that Mukallah port was an important entry point for drugs and exit point for weapons in 2005: One regionally destabilizing regime activity is drug smuggling. A variety of illegal drugs are smuggled via the Indian Ocean into the southern Yemeni governate of Hadramawt. The drugs are then transported inland to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States under the supervision of a close relative of the president who is also responsible for the governmental security apparatus, a well informed former regime official reported.

The 10 tons of hashish was coming in through Mukallah. I noted in the Yemen Times that Makallah is not under the authority of the Coast Guard yet:

Increased activity by the Yemeni Coast Guard between Aden and al Mukalla impacted arms shipments from ports in the patrolled areas. However, the monitoring group found that the lack of regular patrols in al Mukalla “means that arms traffic continues unabated.” The group recommended capacity building programs for the Coast Guard and direct naval interdiction.

Yemen’s coast line extends 1906 km. The Coast Guard, created in 2003, is working towards taking control of Mocha and al Mukalla from the military. The Republican Guard and Central Security forces have authority at ports where the Coast Guard has limited presence.

The Republican Guard is under the direction of Prince Ahmed and the Central Security is under Yahya Saleh, the “close presidential relative” referenced in the 2005 article above. The US says the logistical support for the pirates is undertaken by private individuals. ,

Reuters The international community should work with Yemen to stop its people supplying Somali pirates who are disrupting lucrative international shipping routes, a senior U.S. admiral said on Monday. Somali pirates, who have disrupted lucrative international shipping trade, are getting fuel and engine parts from individuals in Yemen, Admiral Mark Fitzgerald, a Nato commander and the top U.S naval officer for Africa, told Reuters….”The fuel for instance, is coming from Yemen, a lot of the logistic supplies, things like motor boat engines (too)… And so we just need work with the government there to start tightening up controls,” Fitzgerald said.

“Its (support) not from the Yemen government, its from people in Yemen,” Fitzgerald said on the sidelines of an African naval conference in Cape Town, without giving further details.

JPost: The Grad-model Katyusha rockets that were fired into Beersheba on Wednesday were manufactured in China and smuggled into Gaza after the Sinai border wall was blown up by Hamas in January, defense officials said…

The four rockets that hit Beersheba this week were filled with metal balls that can scatter up to 100 meters from the impact site, officials said. These rockets have also been fired into Ashkelon and Ashdod.

The three countries that manufacture Grad-model Katyushas are China, Russia and Bulgaria. Defense officials told The Jerusalem Post the rockets were smuggled into Gaza in the 12 days after Hamas blew a hole in the border wall between Gaza and Egypt on January 23.

“Huge quantities of weaponry were smuggled into Gaza then from above ground, including the Grad rockets,” an official said, adding that even after the border wall was sealed, Hamas continued to smuggle the long-range rockets into Gaza via tunnels under the Philadelphi Corridor.

From China, the rockets make several stops before reaching Gaza. In many cases, officials said, they are bought by Iran or Hizbullah and then transferred to Sinai.

In some instances, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) has learned of weapons that came from Yemen and Eritrea, were moved to Sudan, then north to Egypt, and finally smuggled into Gaza.

ISRIA

Yemen, US discuss ports security
Minister of Transport Khalid al-Wazir discussed here on Monday with Deputy Chief of U.S. Mission to Yemen Angie Bryan coordinating efforts between the two countries in field of ports’ security.

The meeting dealt with exchanging visits between the two friendly countries and how the Yemeni part could availing from the American experiences in fields of maritime transport and ports security.

Good! After they finish discussing weapons smuggling to Somalia, maybe they can ask Saleh’s nephew to shut down that dock that recieves the drugs.

What the article says is that a governmental field team monitoring prices discovered nine gun shops, and notified authorities. There’s probably a lot more than nine in the capital. (And it is not certain they will be closed.) The markets are still open around the country because many (most?) of the large gun shops are partially owned by the “influential people”.

Its hard to say what exactly happened to the 200,000 weapons confiscated by the regime since July 2007. We know repetitive explosions at ammo dumps supposedly took thousands off the market, but its an incredible story. The main problem with the gun ban is that is does not control the supply of weapons into the country, which is managed by major dealers partnered with high regime officials. Like Faris Manna who is reported to be partners with Field Marshal Saleh. Other weapons “drop off” from military stocks. Gun smuggling to both Somalia and Saudi Arabia is widespread and regionally destabilizing.

That being said, the gun ban has reduced deaths and injuries substantially.

9 stores found selling weapons and munitions in Sana’a
SABA
SANA’A, Jan. 07 (Saba) – Governmental field committees entrusted with monitoring prices have found 9 stores in Sana’a selling weapons and ammunitions.

A report by the committees noted that while on a mission to monitor prices at stores throughout the capital, they found nine shops in the Arhab district selling light rifles, pistols and grenades as
well as munitions.

The committees urged security authorities to immediately take necessary measures and close the stores as the trade of weapons affect national security.

Yemen the main source of illegal arms to Somalia: UN
———————————————-

Jane Novak for the Yemen Times

SANA’A, Dec. 27— A UN investigation found Yemen is the primary source of arms and ammunition to Somalia which has been under an arms embargo since 1992. The panel of independent experts monitoring the embargo also reported arms smuggling from Yemen intersects with acts of piracy and human trafficking. The findings were presented in a December 10 report to the UN Security Council.

The report notes commercial weapons imports from Yemen supply Somali retail markets as well as opposition and criminal groups. The Yemeni government’s inability to stem the large scale arms trafficking is “a key obstacle to the restoration of peace and security to Somalia,” the panel found. The UN Security Council extended the monitoring group’s mandate for another year.

Yemen plans to refute the charges. SABA news agency dubbed the report “misleading” and noted that “smuggling weapons is sometimes associated with the arriving of displaced Somalis.” A Foreign Ministry statement said that one million Somali refugees in Yemen create an economic burden that “sometimes leads to social, security and health repercussions.” Nearly 50,000 Somali refugees made the maritime crossing to Yemen in 2008, authorities reported.

In prior years, about 30,000 Somalis migrated annually.

The UN report ties together weapons smuggling, human trafficking and piracy, noting some small boats used in acts of piracy also “move refugees and economic migrants from Somalia to Yemen, bringing arms and ammunition on the return journey,” Piracy in the waters between Yemen and Somalia spiked dramatically with over 100 pirate attacks and over 40 vessels captured by pirates this year. The authorities in Puntland and Somaliland told the UN monitoring group that “maritime traffic from Yemen, across the Gulf of Aden, remains their largest single source of arms.” Weapons purchased in Yemen are also smuggled to insurgent groups in Ethiopia, the investigation found. One intercepted shipment included 101 anti-tank mines, 100 hand grenades, 170 rocket-propelled grenade-7 rounds, and 170 boxes of 7.62 mm ammunition.

Increased activity by the Yemeni Coast Guard between Aden and al Mukalla impacted arms shipments from ports in the patrolled areas. However, the monitoring group found that the lack of regular patrols in al Mukalla “means that arms traffic continues unabated.” The group recommended capacity building programs for the Coast Guard and direct naval interdiction.

Yemen’s coast line extends 1906 km. The Coast Guard, created in 2003, is working towards taking control of Mocha and al Mukalla from the military. The Republican Guard and Central Security forces have authority at ports where the Coast Guard has limited presence. The Coast Guard has nine operational ships in a fleet of 15, and only two with deep water capacity.

Inadequate funding is an obstacle to increased capacity, Coast Guard Commander Ali Ahmed Ras’ee said in May.

The US provides some operational and training support and in 2004 donated seven patrol boats. With Italian financing, the Italian firm SELEX is implementing a coastal radar system that will eventually cover 450km of coast line including hot spots for piracy and smuggling.

Responding to the UN report, the Foreign Ministry said, “Yemen reiterates its readiness to cooperate with the UN and all regional concerned parties to fight piracy and all forms of weapon smuggling, the issues resulted due to the situation in Somalia where there is not a central government.”

Yemen has the second most heavily armed citizenry per capita after the United States. In August 2007, authorities implemented a ban against carrying weapons in cities and have confiscated over 150,000 weapons since the program began. Over 200 weapons shops were also closed.

Weapons smuggling from Yemen to Saudi Arabia is also a concern. In July, Saudi Arabia announced that in a three month period, border guards confiscated over a ton of explosives and a large number of arms including 13 rocket-propelled grenades, 99 sticks of dynamite, 100 fuses, 12 detonators, more than 100 guns and 15,000 cartridges.

The UN monitoring group on the 1992 arms embargo on Somalia finds “Yemen remains the most important source of commercial arms transfers to Somalia.”

One shipment for the ONLF in Ethiopia contained 101 anti-tank mines, 100 hand grenades, 170 rocket-propelled grenade-7 rounds, and 170 boxes of 7.62 mm ammunition, each containing 440 rounds. The mines were packed in rice sacks from a company in Sana’a. The same boats that bring the migrants bring back weapons and are involved in piracy.

143. Not surprisingly, there appears to be an intersection between piracy and other
criminal activities, such as arms trafficking and human trafficking, both of which
involve the movement of small craft across the Gulf of Aden. One sub-group of the
Puntland network, based in the Bari region, allegedly uses the same boats employed
for piracy to move refugees and economic migrants from Somalia to Yemen,
bringing arms and ammunition on the return journey.

Of course, commercial weapons trafficing in Yemen is often sponsored by those in official positions. The purported largest weapons dealers (for example, Faris Manna, Regent Street, Sana’a) are said to be partners with some very top officials (Salah & family). This is part of the reason the military budget is so high. Not only is this hooked in with piracy and refugee smuggling but also drug and oil smuggling. Its John Gotti with an air force.

Report text below the fold: (Read on …)

March 09, WI

Beyond small arms, Israeli intelligence estimates that some 250 tons of explosives, 80 tons of fertilizer, 4000 rocket-propelled grenades, and 1800 rockets were transported from Egypt to Gaza from September 2005 to December 2008…According to Israeli assessments, the arms-smuggling network is directed by Hamas offices in Damascus and aided by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which provides the majority of the weaponry. The arms travel overland to Egypt, through a variety of routes that cross Yemen, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and South Africa and eventually meet in Sudan, where they are moved to Egypt’s Sinai desert. After the materiel enters the Sinai, it is transferred into Gaza via tunnels underneath the “Philadelphia Corridor,” the Gaza-Egypt border that runs through the city of Rafah. Less frequently, arms are moved to Gaza via the Mediterranean Sea: the weapons are deposited in waterproof barrels submerged below the surface and tied to buoys eventually retrieved by fishermen.

That’s hysterical! Kim Jung Il says Yemen’s example of the domination of South Yemen is the one he wants to follow in the re-unification of North and South Korea. When the one of the most totalitarian regimes on earth praises you as an example, things aren’t going well. But probably the Yemeni delegation is just buying more missiles.

Yemen’s unity an example to follow: WPK
Monday, 01-December-2008
Almotamar.net – Talks have been held in the Korean capital Pyong Yang on Sunday between the General People’s Congress GPC, the ruling party in Yemen and the Workers Party of Korea in which the two parties discussed different issues related to developing relation between the two parties, exchange of viewpoints in political aspects and stands towards international issues in the way guaranteeing peace and security for all world peoples.

The visiting delegation of the GPC, led by Abdullah Ahmed Ghanim, reviewed in the meeting the political and developmental life in Yemen and conveyed greetings of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the GPC leadership to the Korean President Kim Jung Il and the Korean people, confirming Yemen’s support for the efforts exerted for unification of the Korean nation.

The Korean party expressed their appreciation of Yemen’s support, government and people, for efforts aimed at realisation of reunification of Korea, considering Yemen’s unity an example to follow suite.

The GPC delegation chaired by Head of the Political Office , the member of the General Committee Abdullah Ghanim and membership of the Head of the Information Office Tareq al-Shamy and Mujib al-Anisi , Deputy Head of the Political Office had left for the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea last Tuesday.

Do they really have money for more weapons purchases? The rationalization of the government budget is not going well I see. Its about 7% of GDP on military and less than 2% on health care. (And even what is spent on health care is largely stolen and sold. )

Yemen, China discuss security cooperation

[11 November 2008]

SANA’A, Nov.11 (Saba) – Yemen and China held Tuesday talks on the aspects of security cooperation between the Interior Ministry and the Chinese company Chin Shida specialized in the exportation of military and security products.

Deputy Interior Minister Saleh al-Zawari affirmed here with assistant director of the Chinese company the importance of developing the bilateral cooperation between the two countries in areas of security cooperation.

Update: from the Yemen Times:

In Yemen, the Chinese firms started their businesses in 1956 with the construction of Sana’a-Hodeida Highway. And, during the time period (1979 – 1995), nearly 12 Chinese construction contractors implemented projects in Yemen. In the final days of 1995, China signed contracts with Yemeni firms for a total value of $ 800 million, and currently there are more than 16 giant firms in Yemen.

from Russia, Yemen Post

Yemen announced that it will postpone the regional summit for fighting piracy, which was planned to be held in Sana’a next week. Participating countries were expected to sign a memorandum of understanding for mutual cooperation between them in fighting piracy.

From his part, Minster of Transportation, Khalid Al-Wazir, told media outlets that the postponing came in response to the Regional Center for Combating Piracy request, adding that the summit will be held later this year.

Al-Wazir assured that Yemen will establish a center in Sana’a for monitoring ships in collaboration with 20 countries and International Maritime Organization.

In the meantime, seven military ships from six different countries have headed to Bab Al-Mandab Strait and Gulf of Aden in a mission to fight Somali pirates, and to protect trade ships and fisheries from pirates operations, whose attacks have risen over the last few months, especially in the international waters between Yemen and Somalia.

This comes within the country’s efforts to restrict piracy activities targeting ships off Yemen’s coasts, especially in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.

Piracy activities have long been a headache for international navigation in the Gulf of Aden, which is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and connects Asia and Europe.

A Yemeni official who preferred not to reveal himself, told a Chinese agency that president Saleh’s visit to regional countries came as the result of the Yemeni government’s worry for business ships that pass by the Gulf of Aden.

The sudden movement by regional countries came after pirate’s hijacked a Ukrainian ship that was believed to be carrying seven tankers. Further, pirates warned that they would explode the ship if procedures were taken against them.

Sources who asked to be left anonymous mentioned to the Yemen Post that the tanks that were on the Ukrainian ship were on their way to Yemen, and were part of the military agreement signed between Russia and Yemen.

Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Mrs. Sergey Meronof said last Friday while visiting Yemen that her country intends to send more military ships soon to free the Ukrainian ship if needed.

Increased Russian Naval Presence, Increased Use of Yemen’s Ports for Military and other Goals

Russia could resume naval presence in Yemen

SANA, October 16 (RIA Novosti) - The speaker of Russia’s upper house of parliament said on Thursday that Russia could resume a naval presence in Yemen.

Authorities in the Middle East country are calling on Moscow to help fight piracy and possible terrorist threats. The U.S.S.R. had a major naval base in the former socialist state of South Yemen, which merged with North Yemen in 1990 to form the present-day Yemen.

Speaking to journalists in Sana, the capital of Yemen, Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov said the new direction of Russia’s foreign and defense policies and an increase in its naval missions would be taken into consideration when making a decision on the request.

“It’s possible that the aspects of using Yemen ports not only for visits by Russian warships, but also for more strategic goals will be considered,” he said. (Read on …)

Most of the arms dealers were released after signing a pledge

Almotamar.net – Interior Minister General Mutahar Rashad al-Misri revealed that security authorities on Tuesday seized 3 million and 700 thousand intoxicating pills and managed during the first half of this year 18 tons of drugs, saying it was a quantity enough to destroy the entire youth of the Arab homeland.

Minister al-Misri also said the security authorities also managed to capture the terrorist cell that was sending threatening messages to some embassies in Yemen. In addition, security authorities were able to carry out the campaign of prohibiting weapons and the closure of 230 shops for selling arms and munitions. They detained 270 arms dealers in a number of governorates.

AFP

RIYADH (AFP) — Saudi border guards have seized almost a tonne of explosives and large quantities of arms and drugs on Yemen’s border over the past three months, making hundreds of arrests, Okaz newspaper said on Saturday.

The paper, quoting the guards, said 13 hand- and rocket-propelled grenades, 99 sticks of dynamite, 100 fuses, 12 detonators, more than 100 guns and 15,000 cartridges figured in the seizures.

Okaz praised security guards for their vigilance which had prevented the weapons and drugs from falling into the hands of “terrorists and other elements seeking to destabilise” the Saudi kingdom.

As many as 800 suspected arms and drugs dealers were arrested over the same period, along with 83 illegal immigrants, the report said.

Some 1,600 kilograms (2,640 pounds) of hashish, two million amphetamine pills and 280 bottles of alcohol, which is banned in the ultra-conservative Muslim country, were also seized.

Interior Ministry releases detained weapon dealers
Saturday, 12-July-2008
Almotamar.net – Yemen’s Ministry of Interior on Saturday released all merchants of weapon it has arrested in its campaign carried out by security authorities for closing own shops trading with weapons. The shops included in the campaign amounted to 234 until the end of last week.
Security sources said instructions of the Interior Ministry decided to keep weapons shops closed and continue the seizure of the weapons it captured in the campaign that covered all governorates of Yemen until to decide what to do about them later.

The Security Information Centre at the Ministry of interior sad that Ministry released weapons merchants after they submitted written pledges of not practicing again this type of activity that is violating the law and their pledge to report to security authorities whenever they are requested.

al-Motamar

Capture of 11 persons wanted by security, foiling a shipment of weapons for rebels
Saturday, 14-June-2008
Almotamar.net – It has been learned on Saturday that security authorities arrested Friday four persons of those on a list of wanted by security in the capital and the governorate of Sana’a. Meanwhile, security authorities were able to abort transportation of quantities of arms to the insurgents before reaching them. Thus the number of the caught persons wanted by security rose to eleven. Security men announced Friday they had 7 other wanted persons for security cases, among them two of the most dangerous elements of insurgent al-Houthi arrested in Marib governorate.

Information centre of the Interior Ministry mentioned that security authorities in Sabeen district, in the capital have captured Mohammed Ahmed al-Dailami, 24, who is on the wanted list and caught in Bani Hushaish area, Sana’a governorate, Abdullah Mohammed al-Qaili, Ahmed Yahya Uthman al-Wazir and Abdullah Ali Saleh al-Bahr on charge of their affiliation to insurgency and sabotage and all of them were sent to for facing security measures.

Security authorities on Thursday caught vehicle carrying ammunition consisting of different calibers of bullets and arrested the three persons who were in the vehicle. Primary investigations disclosed that the amount of ammunition was bound to elements of insurgency.

In Shabwa governorate security men caught another vehicle carrying three persons and in their possession one-hundred cases machine-gun ammunition in addition to 10 pieces of weapons of which they claimed they had bought at he black-market in Albaidha governorate.

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 …)

Yemen, Syria discuss preparations for joint committee meetings

SANA’A, March 23 (Saba) – Prime Minister Ali Mujawar and Syrian ambassador to Yemen Abdul Ghafor Sabouni discussed on Sunday topics related to the upcoming meetings of the Yemeni-Syrian committee to be held here in May co-chairing by the two countries’ premiers.

Mujawar underlined importance of the good preparation for the meetings by the two sides.

The upcoming meetings should focus on the activation of mechanisms of following up what have been realized by the two sides regularly, Mujawar said.

He also stressed necessity of finalizing the procedures pertaining to the joint maritime transport project due to its importance to promote the trade exchange between the two brotherly countries.

For his part, Sabouni said the arrangements for the meetings are going well, pointing out the meetings would deal with several topics topped by the issue of promoting the trade exchange and investment between both countries.

40 year old guy teaching three teen-agers how to use a hand grenade in Sana’a blows himself up, killing one of the teen agrers and wounding two others.

Saba describes it as a friendly Qat session.

26 September Net

SANA’A, (26 September Net0 – A hand grenade exploded in Sana’a on Friday, killing at least two people and wound two others.

Security sources in the capital Sana’a said to 26 September Net that the first victim Foa’ad Saleh Al-Bahloli, the bomb’s owner, aged 40, had taught Ibrahim Hasan Al-Masmari, the second victim, aged 18, how to separate, install and use the bomb in one of Qaa Al-Alifi’s maqi’ils (divan for qat chewing) in the capital Sana’a.

The sources added that the two injured others, Salah Hasan Abdullah, aged 20, and Yousif Hamoud, aged 15, who were among the attendees in the maqi’il, had been wounded on the left shoulders as a result of the bomb’s shatters and be hospitalized to Al-Jumhori hospital.

????

(Excuse me if I think something may be up here. The recent weapons to Somalia were delivered by government aircraft. I get a little skeptical at claims of outright altruism.)

26 Sept
Yemeni plane have been arrived to Chad before last hours carrying aids and relief materials, while another plane will head to Sudan during coming few hours carrying relief materials and aids for the affected by the current events as a result of war erupted between the two countries.

The two planes included foodstuff, medical materials, clothes, etc. as expression of Yemeni people’s feelings towards the refugees in those areas to mitigate their suffers as a result of armed clashes sparked between the two countries.

Just missing the antiquities Yemen Observer:

Yemen and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) security forces seized a large amount of drugs at the Arabian Sea on its way to be smuggled to the KSA on a boat coming from Pakistan last Tuesday, said security sources.

Security sources said that the joint security operations in the two countries resulted after numerous sailors were apprehended in possession of contraband.

In the beginning of February, Yemen and Saudi joint forces arrested a major international gang involved in producing counterfeit money, and drug dealing. Sources told the Sep 26 website that the members of the gang are from Yemen, Saudi, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Kenya, and that members of the gang were arrested In Sana’a, Aden, and Jeddah, possessing large amounts of drugs and counterfeit money. They were able to phish approximately million Saudi Rial into banks. (Read on …)

Yemen Times

SANA’A, March 2 — Two men, Abdi Othman Soli, 28, a Danish citizen of Somali origin, and Abdullah Awadh Al-Masri, 37, a Yemeni national, were found not guilty this week of smuggling weapons to Somalia in 2006. However, the court gave Al-Masri a three-year prison sentence for other charges such as working with and providing shelter for Al-Qaeda operatives and illegal weapons trading.

Among other accusations, the two suspects were tried for smuggling anti-aircraft weapons and sniper rifles into Somalia for the Islamic Court, which was waging a coup at the time. Although Soli confessed to the charges, the court ignored his confession, according to the office of the Attorney General.

Besides Soli and Al-Masri, 12 other men, including four Yemenis and eight Western nationals, were arrested at the same time.

At the time of their arrest, Rashad Al-Alimi, Yemen’s Interior Minister, refused to transfer the men to the Guantanamo Bay prison facility and insisted on keeping the suspects in Yemen for trial.

Since the arrest, a German national was released in November 2007 after Yemeni interrogators said he had not been involved in any illegal activities. The other suspects, including three Australians, one British national, one Danish national and one Somali national, stayed in Yemen until they were extradited to their respective countries. (Read on …)

Yes the weapons are still coming in. To tamp down on weapons prevalence requires control of the importation of the weapons and second, an effective police force.

The sale of guns in Yemen continues despite government efforts to close down weapons markets. There are an estimated 60 million guns in the country, which has a population of 18 million. It is traditional for Yemenis to keep a gun at home.

Everything from pistols and rifles to rocket-propelled grenades can be found at the Sanaa arms market. The most popular weapon is the “Russian Ali”. Most of the arms come from Russia and China, according to gun shop owners.

There are no records of who is buying weapons in Yemen as no license is required to own one. Guns are part of the tribal culture and are commonly used to resolve disputes, often causing injury and death. Statistics show that more than 23,000 people were injured or killed by guns between 2004 and 2006 in Yemen.

This video short looks at the effect guns are having on the local population as well as the deaths and injuries caused by them.

from IRIN

I think this is the sixth depot that exploded in the last several years, maybe the fifth. At least three held arms caches.

Sunday, 27-January-2008
almotamar.net – Seven persons got injured in explosion of explosives depot at Souq al-Rabou area in Thamar, three of them seriously injured. Director of criminal investigations in the governorate said security authorities are investigating into causes of the incident.

The explosion happened at 11 o’clock before noon of Sunday in a depot using explosives for breaking rocks.

Al-Sahwa

Hodaida’s security operations chief subjected to assassination attempt

January 2, 2008- Security sources told Alsahwa.net that the Hodaida’s security operations chief Bashir Hadad was subjected Wednesday to an assassination attempt in his office.

Furthermore, he was harshly beaten with rifle butts and weapons by a security official along with four soldiers, according to the sources.

“The chief of security operations is currently lying at the Military Hospital to which he was transferred.” they added.

The sources explained that those who carried out the attack today on the security operations chief are the same persons who were charged with attempting to assassinate deputy of the Criminal Investigation last month.

It is noteworthy that this is the second attempt that targeted security leaders within four weeks after smuggled modern weapons which were seized last month were disappeared by security officials.

January 3, 2008

– Security sources in Hodaida province have said that 25 gunmen from Amran province stormed Hodiada’s security building on Thursday and closed down its gate in new updates of trafficked weapons case .

Officers of Hodaida security expressed surprise as the security authorities have not yet captured the suspects who had tried to assassinate the Hodaida’s security operations chief, Bashir Hadad .

Hodaida’s security operations chief Bashir Hadad was subjected Wednesday to an assassination attempt in his office. He was harshly beaten with rifle butts and weapons by a security official along with four soldiers, according to the sources.

Hadad is currently lying at the Military Hospital to which he was transferred.” they added.

Those who carried out the attack on the security operations chief are the same persons who were charged with attempting to assassinate deputy of the Criminal Investigation, Mohammad al-Maqaleh tasked with investigating of the disappearance of automatic and sophisticated weapons were in way to Saada rebels last month.

The disappearance of automatic and sophisticated weapons had taken considerable attention from the President who authorized the Interior Ministry to form a committee to investigate this serious security issue.

Sana’a, Yemen – At least four people were killed and nine others injured after a powerful explosion rocked an arms market in the northern Yemeni region of Saada Thursday, witnesses said.

Witnesses said the explosion was caused by a cannon shell mishandled by a man trying to sell it at the al-Talh arms market in Saada, some 230 kilometres north of the capital Sana’a.

Al-Talh is the largest arms market in this poor country located at the south-western tip of the Arabian peninsula. Weapons are bought and sold openly in 12 markets and about 300 light weapon shops across the country. (Read on …)

Yemen Observer

Arms-related crimes have decreased by 60 percent and arms in Yemen have decreased by 80 percent in the past two months due to the campaign to ban the carrying of arms that began on August 23, said Deputy Minister of Interior, Brigadier Mohammed Abdullah al-Qusi last week.

Al-Qusi renewed his call to all citizens to cooperate with security forces and report on any violations of this ban in all governorate capitals. He also praised other groups that are helping to enforce the ban such as the military police and other units.

“According to statistics, we see that the number of arms carried in major cities is decreasing week by week which reflects the level of awareness that citizens have reached in realizing the importance of the ban,” said al-Qusi.

Since the inception of the ban until November 1st, the number of arms confiscated has been more that 45,000. (Read on …)

News Yemen

SANA’A, NewsYemen

The officer Mohammed Ameen al-Maqaleh, head of a committee formed by the Ministry of Interior to investigate smuggling weapons to Africa escaped an assassination attempt on Wednesday official source said.

Security sources accuse an officer involved in smuggling 77 pieces of guns and Kalashnikovs of planning for the assassination attempt.

Sources said that officers and security forces could spoil the attempt, but did not give details.

Security forces spoiled smuggling weapons to an African country days ago and arrested two persons. The African country was not identified.

The assassination attempt came one day after the government ordered to refer all involved in weapons smuggling operations through coasts and land borders to the Public Prosecution and military justice.

They forgot to list the Sa’ada Wars as another instance of land mine use.

74,000 still on hand.

Yemen Times

SANA’A, Dec. 2 — An international report complained about a data clash between the number of victims and survivals from mines and explosives left behind from wars in Yemen. The ninth report concluded from the recording sector and land survey for mines that in 2000 there was a total of 4,904 victims because of mines and explosives: 2,560 dead and 2,344 injured.

“The new international report for the assembly in charge of watching over and taking care of mines and explosives, gave its appreciation to authorities in charge of removing mines, and Yemen’s commitment to clearing and dismantling hidden mines. These are the remains of the 1962-1975 war between the Royalists and Republicans, the Sept. 26th revolution against British Occupation in 1963-1967, a war known as the Armed National Battlefront from 1970-1983, and finally the Summer War in 1994.” The report noted.

The report recommended that Yemen commit to dismantling the mines by applying the fourth item, ‘the Mine Ban Treaty’ on the destruction of its stockpile of stored mines in Yemen, which amount to 74,000, recommending that Yemen destroy them by the end of March 2009. (Read on …)

By Adel Al-Malki at the Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH – Some 40 percent of the 208 terror suspects whose arrests were announced by the Ministry of Interior Wednesday were non-Saudis, a security source told the Saudi Gazette Thursday. The source also disclosed that the leader of a group of 18 people planning to smuggle eight missiles into the Kingdom to carry out terrorist operations was a Yemeni national. The Yemeni rocket expert had sneaked into the Kingdom across its southern frontier with Yemen.
Ministry of Interior spokesman Mansour Al-Turki told the Saudi Gazette that the six terror cells busted over a period of time were not linked to each other.

Chinese missles?

Kuwait Times

RIYADH: A Saudi Arabian newspaper said yesterday that suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists were allegedly able to smuggle eight Chinese-made missiles into the kingdom before they were arrested as part of a terror sweep. The daily Okaz, which is deemed close to the government, quoting unnamed officials as saying militants wanted to use the missiles to allegedly target hotels and other buildings in the kingdom.

The newspaper did not further describe the missiles. The Saudi Interior Ministry last week announced that it made its largest terror sweep to date, arresting 208 Al-Qaeda-linked militants in six separate arrests in recent months. One of the alleged terror cells was led by a non-Saudi missile expert, the ministry said. The ministry said members of that cell were planning to smuggle eight missiles into the kingdom to carry out terrorist operations, but it did not say what kind of missiles or what the targe
ts were.

Okaz reported yesterday that the missiles were already inside Saudi Arabia. The newspaper also quoted Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour Al-Turki as saying the leadership of another one of the alleged terror cells was based in another country. Al-Turki did not name the country. Last week, the Interior Ministry said authorities arrested 112 alleged members of that cell during the terror sweep. The ministry said the cell was trying to smuggle men to Iraq and Afghanistan for training, after which they woul
d be brought back to Saudi Arabia to try to carry out attacks in the kingdom. – AP

Daily Times:

The report also described the break-up of a second militant cell led by a 37-year-old Yemeni missile experts who had trained fighters in Afghanistan’s famed Al Qaeda affiliated al-Farouq training camp. “The ringleader planned to carry out operations targeting vital institutions in the kingdom and train members of his cell to launch missiles,” said the paper, adding that he planned to leave the country ahead of the operations.

In their initial announcement of the sweeps last week, the Interior Ministry said the attacks were aimed at oil installations in the country’s petroleum-rich east. ap

(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.”

Its time to go high tech.

UPI

Now Saudi Arabia, like India, is building not one, but two separate border fences on different fronts. The first is on its southern border and is intended to try and get its illegal immigration of 400,000 people a year from neighboring Yemen under control. The second, far more ambitious one, is along the Saudi border with Iraq and is an attempt to prevent Islamist extremists in Iraq, both Sunni and Shiite, from exporting their violence and doctrines back into Saudi Arabia.

However, modern barriers are not just about orders for barbed wire and concrete: They are also about night-vision enhancers and sensors, and every kind of high-tech electronic gadgetry to detect explosives, weapons, drugs and whatever else terrorist organizations and drug gangs try to get across closely monitored borders.

Thats good news.

7000 pieces of weapons seized and prevented in 20 days
Friday, 14-September-2007
almotamar.net – A security source at the interior ministry of Yemen affirmed Friday that the ongoing campaign on weapons in the capital Sana’a and provincial capitals had led to curb the acts of land illegal seizure by 80% since the beginning of the interior ministry application of its decision of preventing entrance of weapons to Sana’a and provincial capitals on 23 of last August. (Read on …)

Will re-arm the citizenry and turn them against each other, oh my, what a brilliant plan.

Yahoo News

A senior Yemeni lawmaker reportedly said he was ready to reverse recent anti-gun legislation and arm people to combat secesionists demanding the separation of north and south Yemen.

Head of the ruling General People’s Congress party Abdel Kader Bajammal, who is also a former Yemeni prime minister, told the Emirati paper Al-Khaleej:

“I will arm the people to face them (secesionists). For the sake of the state and its unity we will re-introduce weapons to confront those corrupt people.” (Read on …)

Crime Stats

YT

Major General, Al-Qawsi, the Ministry of Interior’s deputy, confirmed that the ratio of crime had declined by 35 percent during the last week of August. “1522 weapons caches have been controlled, of which 48 percent are from the capital secretariat of Sana’a,” Al-Qawsi declared.

However, the Ministry of Interior had mentioned, in its annual report on mortality, that deaths and injuries due to the use of fire-arms during the period from 2004 to 2006 stands at 23, 577. .

According to the report, an astonishing 84,72% of these incidents and crimes are caused by the spread of fire-arms between people.

Moreover, in 2004, a law had been issued to regulate carrying,, as well as possessing weapons. However, the law faced strong objection by the parliamentarians as they have a significant number of bodyguards.

http://www.almotamar.net/en/3293.htm

Amotamar.net – Yemeni civil society organisations organised Tuesday a massive demonstration in the capital to denounce the phenomenon of carrying weapons and its negative impact on development and security and stability of Yemen.

Demonstrators who walked the streets of the capital and gathered at the square near the cabinet building raised banners with slogans denouncing and refusing carrying weapons and walk with them inside the cities.

At the gathering place addresses were delivered by representatives of the General Federation of Women in Yemen, political parties and organisations and civil society organisations, demanding cooperation of all official, party and people’s efforts for curbing spread of weapons among the citizens, regulating the citizens’ possession of light weapons and banning walking in the streets with them inside the cities.

The speeches warned against the danger of this phenomenon continuation without treatment in the possibility of using it for political purposes, feeding crime tendencies and destabilization of security and stability as well as public safety.
The speeches delivered at the gathering pointed out that the figures revealed in official reports of by the interior ministry that 69% of crimes committed in Yemen are caused by spread of firearms in addition to spread of different medium weapons.

The gathering blessed the serious steps taken by the government, especially the interior ministry for banning weapons inside the Yemeni cities beginning from the 1rst of next September. They stressed the importance that those steps are a beginning for more steps in this regard. The speeches also called on the parliament to speed up passing the draft law presented by the government concerning regulating carrying and possessing weapons in the manner treating shortcomings in the present law.

On the other hand the deputy premier, the minister of interior Dr Rashad al-Alimi met with representatives of civil society organisations organising the demonstration, expressing his appreciation of the organisations initiative for organising it for the purpose of calling the attention to danger of spread of weapons. He clarified that the ministry is about to take strict measures to ban carrying weapons inside the cities and would be carried out in a timetable.

The weapons ban inthe capital and closing the shops wont have much effect on the weapons trade without clamping down on the imports which often wind up diverted to the black market.

Ceshenovitny

Czech companies have imported weapons worth 0.5 million euros to Nigeria, AI says, pointing to extra-court executions, torture and looting taking place in Nigeria where civilians are killed, for instance, during regular road checks.

AI says that the exports of Czech arms to Columbia reached 438,000 euros and 581,000 euros to Venezuela. Arms exports to Vietnam reached 2.7 million euros and to Jemen 3 million euros last year.

Almotamar.net – The Yemen interior ministry on Thursday announced it will from today morning prevent carrying firearms inside the capital, indicating it will set stores at entrances of the capital and provincial capitals of governorates for keeping guns and give their owners receipts for them.

The ministry added it will beginning of next month carry out a decision preventing carrying licensed firearms, confirming that security authorities would arrest anyone carrying weapons in violation of the announcement and confiscate his gun.

An announcement issued by the interior ministry, a copy of it received by almotamar.net, mentioned that it is categorically prevented carrying weapons inside the capital and provincial capitals of governorates. The statement attributed that decision to increase of crimes and incidents resulting from the use of guns and to the negative impact which carrying firearms cause to development and investment as well as to tourism. It added that the aim is to protect the citizens life and achieve general security and safety for the citizen, social peace.

The statement mentioned that bodyguards of senior officials of the state and members of parliament and Shoura and local council will be allowed to carry only guns in an invisible way.

The interior ministry asked all political, security, military and administrative leaderships to commit to carrying out the decision, calling upon political parties and organisations and citizens to cooperate in implementation of the decision and report on any violations.

Missiles? Where does one get missiles for export?

YemenTimes al-Wahadi

- Border guards foil attempt to smuggle consignment of weapons from Yemen into Saudi Arabia

According to the weekly newspaper, Media reports said on Monday that Saudi border guards at the Najran region on the Saudi-Yemeni border foiled an attempt to smuggle a consignment of weapons to the Kingdom. “The would-be smugglers, along with the consignment of weapons, fled back to Yemen,” the weekly paper quoted a Saudi official as saying.

The Saudi Okadh paper reported that Assistant Commander of Border Guards positioned in Najran said the consignment contains 16 missiles, 16 armored covers, five anti-tank mines and 3,000 bullets of heavy machineguns. The military official added that the rear border guards and patrols recorded the suspicious movements of unidentified individuals and found quantities of explosives and ammunition hidden beneath rocks. The official went on to say that the traffickers fled the scene toward Yemen after they were prevented from trafficking the consignment into the Saudi territory.

Jamil al-Jadabi Almotamar.net – Reliable sources at the ministry of interior have affirmed Tuesday the closure last week of one of the largest market for selling and buying weapons in Yemen.

In a statement to almotamar.net the sources made it clear that a security campaign has closed down Jahana market, 40km to the east of the capital Sana’a weeks after the government announcement of defining 6 months for the plan of gathering weapons in implementation of the cabinet decision in late April of this year stipulating closure of shops selling weapons, ammunition and explosives.

Sana’a is trying to collect specifically heavy and medium weapons in dependence on a strategy based on compensating their owners with sums of money for a period of six months after which there will be imposing ban on them and confiscating them in case they are found after termination of the period. The government has allocated for this file billions of riyals in a bid to end the phenomenon of weapons trade and limit the phenomenon of carrying weapons that is much spread among Yemeni citizens particularly at the areas of tribes.

The interior ministries of defence and interior have recently displayed stores of heavy and medium weapons collected from citizens as part of the government campaign in this regard. The interior ministry plan for collecting weapons is aimed at collecting heavy and medium weapons and it has drawn up a plan for regulating the process of owning and carrying personal weapons.

Sana’a, NewsYemen

The members of Shoura Council have demanded that the draft law of organizing weapons carrying prepared by the Defense and Security Council Committee at the council should be reviewed describing it as “meaningless”.

The members criticized at Tuesday’s session the repeated negligent shootings do occur in the capital Sana’a and called for replacing the military guards of the state’s institutions with civil guards.

Abdullah Ghanim hailed the report of the committee but said its recommendations are “meaningless”.

Ghanim pointed in his speech to a hidden difference between those who have personal interests from impeding the weapons law to be enacted. (Read on …)

I hope the weapons depot doesn’t explode, again.

Yemen Observer

About 1,000 mobile rockets and other weapons have been collected from Yemeni citizens by security authorities and destroyed by the government, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Rashad al-Alimi on Tuesday. The Yemeni government’s plan to collect heavy-duty and medium-sized weapons from citizens began in earnest earlier this year. Al-Alimi, who spoke to the Shura council, said that the weapons were destroyed under the supervision of international experts. “Those weapons in hands of citizens gave the Yemeni government and the international community much anxiety, because it was created a dangerous situation for the airlines,” he said.

“We are continuing to collect the weapons, and we have anther plan to limit the carrying of personal guns in the main cities, and it will reach the other areas soon,” he added. Some dramatic seizures were made this week. Security authorities in al-Mahara governorate in eastern Yemen discovered weapons stockpiles on Wednesday, after security forces raided a cave where they found more than 158 mortar rounds. Colonel Ahmed Saleh, Director of Criminal Investigation in the province, said that the security forces uncovered the weapons cache after the arrest of a gang of 11 people who were stealing bullets and hiding them.

“After we got the weapons, we followed-up on the rest of the gang members, and are still conducting investigations on the case,” Saleh said. “The preliminary investigations indicated that this gang aimed to sell these bullets for financial gain only, and that they are not tied to any violent organized group,” he said. The rest of the gang members are expected to be apprehended in the next 48 hours, he said Wednesday. Authorities think that there may be six or seven more men involved, in addition to the 11 already in custody. Some of these men may be soldiers, he said.

Colonel Mubarak Hussein, security director in al-Mahara, said that the gang had stolen the bullets from arms stores belonging to the security forces. “They purpose of this collecting of bullets was merely to sell them, and none of the gang members carried out armed actions against any state or against citizens,” he said. “Investigations are under way to resolve the rest of the details of the case,” he said. A recent report submitted to the Parliament by the Ministry of the Interior shows that weapons-related crimes have been increasing in Yemen.

“The crime rate is increasing wherever more weapons are carried,” the report said. According to the report, there were around 32,000 crimes from 2004 to 2006. Weapons were involved in more than 77 percent of them. In that same time period, there were 23,577 deaths and injuries in Yemen that involved weapons. Some 85 percent of those died because of guns. According to the report of the Interior Ministry, in the last three years, security agencies have seized numerous firearms. These weapons included 13,106 rifles, 3,115 handguns, 251 bombs, and 204 other weapons. They have also seized 41,573 bullets. The Ministries of Defense and the Interior recently began collecting medium-sized and heavy-duty weapons from the citizens.

In the context of the campaign, the ministry has collected rockets, ammunition, tanks, antiaircraft missiles, explosives, detonators, and anti-personnel mines. When the government seizes these weapons from people, they compensate them for them from the state treasury. They will continued to pay for arms turned in in the next six months. After that, they will begin to take weapons from citizens by force. The government as already spent billions of riyals on this effort to eliminate arms trade, and on the reduction of the possession and carrying of arms deployed in the parts of Yemen most beset by violence, particularly the tribal areas. Large parts of these tribal areas are still outside the scope of government control.

Al-Motamar

Almotamar.net – A security source said Sunday that police forces had seized 100 pieces of weapons in a new campaign of capturing unlicensed weapons began Sunday in fie Yemeni governorates.

The source told almotamar.net the campaign includes the governorates of Sana’a, Aden, Taiz, Hadramout and Hudeida. The seized weapons, found with citizens in the first day of the campaign, included Kalashnikov and other types of weapon pieces and that campaign is carried out by patrols of central security forces and emergency police.

It is worth mentioning that the government had presented the weapons law to the parliament in 2001 but a large-scale deliberation is until now going on inside the parliament and outside it about the law and its discussion has been suspended. The weapons law was coined the beginning of the nineties bearing No, 42 for the year 1992.

750 motars

Almotamar.net – Security authorities in Maharah governorate seized Sunday about 600 mortar gun 81 caliber shells just three day after detection of other 158 projectiles hidden inside a mountain cave in the governorate situated east of Yemen.

A high ranking security official told almotamar.net the shells were seized in Zumah district in a deserted unpopulated area before being transferred to the desert. He added that selling and buying operation was done by those involved in dealing with them.

The official also affirmed that seven persons were detained over their involvement in the operation.

Deputy Premier, minister of interior Dr Rashad al-Alimi said on 7 of this month at a meeting of the shoura council that committees had been set up that will carry out in the coming six months the process of counting and documenting weapon and ammunition assets of the armed forces and security as well as their serial numbers. The minister said the information will be included in database so that it will be easy to follow up those weapons and ammunition in case they were leaked in illegal ways.

Al-Sahwa

June 23, 2007 –The Yemeni authorities have arrested 4 soldiers in al-Safra district, Saada, under charges of smuggling weapons from a military camp in Saion, Hadramout province.

They said that the security officials followed up the suspects to Marib governorate and found that they had 4 vehicles carrying weapons.

The local sources also said that Saada province witnessed calmness in the wake of the agreements reached between the government and the al-Houthi rebels under a Qatri mediation.

YO

The Customs Authority suffered an embarrassment this week in Aden at a demonstration of two brand-new X-ray machines intended to improve security at Yemen’s ports. When a gun was passed through one of the machines, it was not in fact detected. While some officials said that the pricey machines were flawed, customs officials contend that the blame lies with untrained employees, who simply did not know how to use the machines. The machine in Aden is one of eight such machines Yemen has imported with a loan of $23 million. They are intended to scan containers coming into the ports, in search of smuggled weapons or other illegal things.

Some official reports cited technical flaws in these sets imported by the Yemen government to monitor the land and sea entry points. But the problem is not with the machines, said Dr. Lutf Barakat, the Deputy Chairman of the Customs Authority. There are just not qualified staff who know how to use them, he said. But just after everybody left the failed demonstration of the machines, the problem was checked out, and those responsible found out that the problem is because of the lack of the ability of the staff, said Barakat. “These sets are okay and of the highest quality, just as the same ones in the international and regional ports, such as Dubai and Jeddah,” said Barakat. “The problem is the staff who work on these sets,” he said.

“These sets demand a highly qualified staff with so much experience, so the mistakes that happened are due to the inability to run these sets well,” said Barakat. As a result, the Customs Authority has sent some employees to the company that produced these sets in China to receive training in how to run these sets, he said. Of the eight sets, two of them are mobile, and will move from place to place. The rest will be distributed to all ports (land or sea) including Aden, the free zone of Aden, Hodeidah, Mukalla, and the land ports in al-Wadeiah, Shahan, and al-Bog’a. Also, the Customs Authority contracted a Swiss company to examine these sets, and also to train the employees on how to use and maintain them.

The government has not yet signed documents to officially take ownership of the machines, which were launched in spite of this because of the National Day of Yemen, he said. “The reason that the sets cannot detect the container that contained the guns is because it was not the same container that passed in front of the sets; it was the mistake of the employee who gets wrong the passing of the right container,” said Mohammed al-Mahfadi, the head of the office of the Customs Authority.

“Besides, they were not big guns—only a manual pistol,” he said. While some employees are being trained on the machines in China, others will be trained by a Swiss company in Sana’a next month. The Customs Authority is expected to pay the Swiss company $49,000 to train the workers. The sets are set and are ready for work in Aden and the Free Area, said a source in Aden.

The Londoner is also wanted in the United States on charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction there and in Yemen. What?

AFP: A British court on Friday sentenced seven accomplices of a convicted “dirty bomb” plotter to jail terms ranging from 15 to 26 years, for planning acts which could have killed thousands of people.

Home Secretary John Reid welcomed the sentences, saying the group’s main goal had been one of “mass murder, mass panic and utter devastation.”

The prison terms were handed down in Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London after the seven were found guilty of a plot to carry out attacks in Britain and the United States using explosive-packed limousines and a “dirty” radiation bomb. (Read on …)

This is third one that just you know exploded.

Dhalie is the scene of current protests, reportedly 20,000 people marched in the recent days.

Almotamar.net – An official source at the Yemeni Ministry of Defence announced that an explosion happened Sunday evening in a small weapons depot in al-Jarbaa camp, the governorate of Dhalie. The explosion did not cause any casualties.

The source said the cause of the blast was an electric spark caused by thunder lightning accompanied heavy rainfalls on the city of Dhalie. He renewed his confirmation that no casualties happened at the place of the explosion.

Al-Sahwa

June 11, 2007- Local sources in al-Dhalie province have affirmed to Alsahwa.net that a number of blasts rocked the centre of al-Dhalie city and some neighbor villages on Monday.

The sources said that these blasts occupied in a rocket store belonging to al-Jarba camp.

Local eyewitnesses asserted that they heard thunderous explosions and saw fire inside the camp.

Other sources said that several rockets were randomly fired into various directions outside the camp.

It is worth reclaiming that a similar blast had occupied lately of the last month at a weapon store in the Capital, Sana’a.

Otay, some rocks fell on the storage depot causing an explosion which destroyed the weapons the regime had so proudly displayed to reporters in touting its weapons buy back program. So now we dont have to worry about all those RPG’s, anti-tank missles, bombs and other large and medium weapons being exported, smuggled or re-sold on the black market.

The Gulf States had funded the weapons buy back program.

So the “influential persons” make money when they buy weapons for the military or elsewhere, when they sell them to dealers or the public, when they buy them back from the dealers or the public, and when they resell them again after they are reported destroyed. The same persons can handle a transaction on the same weapon four times. Now thats what I call effective marketing.

SANAA, May 31 (Reuters) – Explosions at a military depot in Yemen on Thursday were caused by a landslide, a Web site run by the defence ministry said. No casualties were reported.

“The explosions at a camp east of the capital Sanaa resulted from rocks falling on old ammunition in a storage facility at the camp located on a slope,” the site, www.26sep.net, quoted a defence official as saying. “It was caused by rain.”

“So far there are no casualties,” said the official.

Fire trucks and police cars rushed to the area. Hundreds of people watched from rooftops as smoke billowed from the depot.

Earlier this week, officials took reporters to the depot to display bombs, artillery, anti-aircraft guns and other weapons bought or seized from civilians as part of a crackdown in the Arab country where arms are openly carried.

Yemen’s cabinet launched a campaign last month to shut down shops selling guns without a licence. It said millions of dollars would be spent buying up weapons from tribesmen.

Which warehouse? Bombs or guns? Its really not funny. I would guess bombs. There was another explosion at a depot in Aden last year. That one was caused by the sun.

The ministry informed the journalists about three warehouses of weapons in the suburbs of the Sana’a containing tens of thousands of weapons of various kinds. The first weapons warehouse contained tank missiles and machine guns, while the second warehouse had different kinds of artillery shells, explosives and mines. The officials at the warehouses refused to reveal any details to reporters on the prices of these weapons that have been collected, just saying that their task is confined to the storage of such weapons.

The Minister of Interior Rashad al-Alimi said that the cost of these weapons exceeds tens of billions, and that these weapons were collected in an effort to implement the decision to collect the country’s weapons that was approved by the government last April.

“The explosions occurred at an old ammunition dump at the foot of Noqom mountain, a few kilometres (miles)” southeast of the capital, the official said, adding that there were no casualties.

Good news. Now that they are all collected, what happens to the weapons next?

YT

Pressmen and representatives of several local and international media had an opportunity to access three storage facilities filled with a wide range of arms and weapons which were bought from the public in various parts of the country as a part of an arms-reduction strategy carried out by the Yemeni government. The Interior Ministry has arranged a media tour to the three arm stores in a rare opportunity to attend a showcase of the various types of weapons which were in the hands of regular civilians, tribal sheikhs and clans from around the country. Tens of thousands arm pieces with different types including rare brands made including the latest guns made in the U.S. UK, Europe and China were bought” an Interior Ministry representative, who requested not to be identified, said. (Read on …)

Thats good.

YT

• Sana’a authorities find large quantities of arms and explosives belonging to Al-Qaeda elements

The security authorities found large quantities of arms, grenades and explosives in a Sana’a house, the YUCP-affiliated weekly reported. It quoted security officials as saying that National Security personnel seized the arms, including explosives, hand grenades and missiles after they raided the house located in Al-Khafiji area, east of Sana’a. According to the newspaper, the National Security recruits arrested the house owner, but the investigations revealed that the arms belong to a tenant, who is now hunted by the police.

The security sources weighed that the seized arms belong to Al-Qaeda Organization operatives in Yemen, pointing out that the raid and arrest operations were conducted after thorough intelligence detections, which continued up for one month.

The rebuttal is in response to an article by al-Estraki saying that sources reported that the use of non-traditional weapons had been approved in a meeting by President Saleh and Ali Mohsen three weeks ago. What al-Houthi said was that chemical gas had been given out to Ali Mohsen’s military unit number 15.

A military source : Yahya Al-Huthi’s allegations about chemical weapons are baseless.
Sunday 20 May 2007

26 Septemper News

SANA’A. 20,May (26sep.net) An official military source scoffed from the information reported by some media attributed to the justice-fugitive terrorist, Yahya Al-Huthi who,claimed that the military troops intended to use chemical weapons to attack the terrorist elements in some areas of Saada.

The source told “26sep.net” that information is completely false and unfounded.

He pointed out that the promotion of such false information comes in the context of the lies and fabrications which have been misguided by the terrorist, Yahya Al-Huthi who represents a media trumpet for his terrorist followers in Saada in order to bring defame and abuse for military and security forces and Yemen in general.

almotamar.net – Deputy premier, the minister of interior Dr Rashad al-Alimi said Monday his ministry is to create an office and two telephone lines to receive any possible complaints from investors so that to solve their problems. This comes a part of the serious steps the Yemeni government is carrying out for providing the convenient environment for investment.

In a statement published by Al-Siyassiyah daily today Dr al-Alimi said his ministry has three projects to be implemented in the upcoming period. They are the closing down of all weapon selling shops, limiting the number of senior state officials bodyguards and gathering all heavy and medium weapons in the next six months and this is the project that supports the government trends towards providing security and stability in Yemen.

The minister also said the ministry will supervise the process of selling personal weapons of the citizens and issuing special permits.

According to the regime, the solution to the Sa’ada war is not negotiating with Abdelmalik or accepting his offer of a cease fire, but to pressure Libya to stop funding weapons purchases for the Houthis through Yemeni weapons brokers. Now we all know who the weapons brokers are, the fact that they are so autonomous and powerful that the Yemeni government (having profited all these years) cannot itself force an end to the flow of weapons is troubling. Its an sub-mafia within the larger mafia, affiliated with the state although not responsive to it. And yes the Houthis do seem to have an awful lot of weapons which in turn requires an awful lot of money.

Sana’a, NewsYemen

The Permanent Committee of the ruing General People’s Congress party, has stated that “the stand towards events in Saada is the priority in any political dialogue with any other party or organization.”

Fighting terrorists in Saada is a historical and national responsibility of Yemeni people to defeat the enemies of unification and to keep the democratic development project, said the statement.

The statement said that “a foreign support for rebels in Saada, encouraged by an internal bodies, increase escalation in Saada and extend the sedition in Yemeni community just for accounts with some regional and international parties,”

Yemen has recalled its ambassador to Libya in protest at what it claims is Tripoli’s backing for a deadly uprising by the Zaidi minority in the northern mountains, a government website said Friday.

Media means of the GPC said that tribesmen in Sa’ada demanded from the government to cut off relations with Libya and close its embassy in Sana’a over alleged support for “the armed rebellion in Saada”.

The decision to summon ambassador Hussein Ali Hassan comes amid “growing calls” on the Yemeni government to cut diplomatic ties with Libya, said a report on Al-Motamar.net, the official website of the ruling General People’s Congress.

Head of media circle of the GPC, Tariq al-Shami, said that the government summoned the Iranian ambassador of Iran as well. But he said the Iranian diplomat was summoned for talks not to cut off relations with Tehran.

These developments come one day after a short visit by Emir of Qatar to Yemen for talks with president Saleh on different issues.

Informed sources told NewsYemen that even though the goal of the visit was not the mediation between the state and al-Houthis in Saada, Hamad and Saleh have already talked on the issue especially after a contact between Yahya al-Houthi and Qatari parties in which al-Houthi confirmed the readiness of his brother Abdul-Malik al-Houthi to hold a new pact with the government to ceasefire.

Government sources say that al-Houthi is unable to stop war and see that the solution is “to pressure Libya to stop supplying rebels with funds and weapons through weapons brokers have relations with Libya and al-Houthi. (Read on …)

The US speaks after three years. All wars end in peace, that’s true. The underlying problem is the arms trade, also true. The solution in order to be durable has to ensure minority rights, true again. Inequitable treatment under the law is a source of conflict all over Yemen and is a function of politics and often corruption rather than sectarianism, regionalism or tribalism.

SA’ADA, May 2 — An informed tribal source reports that armed confrontations continue in 12 Sa’ada districts, causing immense loss of life and property. The same individual noted that Houthi fighters do not remain in the same place for long, but rather attack the Yemeni army at a particular site and then move on to another.

Clashes also continue nonstop in Dhahian, located very near Sa’ada city, with the Yemeni army and Houthi loyalists exchanging fire using both light and heavy weaponry from time to time. (Read on …)

Updated: quarter of a billion in financial support

AM: The president said the total American annual assistance to Yemen is to amount to $254 million and it will have positive reflections with regard to consolidating the partnership and cooperation relations existing between the two countries at various political, economic security levels as well as efforts of fighting terror.”

On his return to Sana’a on Thursday wrapping up a successful state visit to the United States of America the president added ” We are satisfied regarding results of the talks we held in Washington and president Bush and American officials confirmed in our discussions with them their commitment to stand by Yemen and support it in its efforts exerted in areas of democracy, development, reforms and fighting terror and it was agreed to offer a sum of $35 million from the Challenge of the Millennium Fund at the threshold stage to be raised to $100 million annually in addition to an amount of $59 million to support the military and security establishment in addition to other assistance.”

26S : In this regard, President Saleh said that the Millennium Challenge Corporation agreed to grant Yemen USD 94 million, $35 million to civil sector and $59 million to support the security and military sector in Yemen,” said president Saleh in a statement to Saba upon arrival.

Sana’a, NewsYemen

The charge d’ affairs of US embassy in Sana’a said that the invitation of president George W. Bush to president Saleh aims to “offer appreciation for achievements and changes that reinstated the eligibility of Yemen to participate in the Millennium Challenge Corporation and to encourage Yemen to go ahead in this direction”.

Nabil Khori said Saleh will discuss changes in Yemen with several US officials in Washington including the House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. (Read on …)

SANA’A, April 23 (26sep.net)- Deputy premier and Interior Minister Rashad al-Alimi said that his ministry would set up an office and two phone lines to receive and resolve investors’ complaints according to measures prepared by the government to find a superior environment for investment.

He said that Interior Ministry would implement three plans in near future including closing weapons markets across the country according to a resolution the cabinet would approve in its meeting on Tuesday.

Al-Alimi said that the second plan would be limiting the number of bodyguards of senior officials and identifying their moves and uniforms.

“The third plan includes launching a campaign to collect heavy and medium weapons from local markets in the following six months to guarantee security and stability in the country”, said al-Alimi.

Al-Alimi noted that the ministry would supervise collecting small weapons, paying compensations and issuing licenses.

Some 650 foreign and Gulf investors attended on Sunday the conference of Exploring Investment Opportunities in Yemen organized by the Yemeni government and the secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to find investment opportunities in Yemen.

We knew this was coming:

almotamar.net – A source at the ministry of defence denied Wednesday that the ministry has planted mines in some parts of Saada governorate as some newspapers and electronic sites have reported. He ridiculed those clams of he said they were groundless. He made it clear that the terrorist elements are the ones planting mines and have been destabilizing security and stability and halted development in the governorate and its districts.

The defence ministry also warned terrorist elements from being reckless to plant mines on roads and areas of grazing where they would cause future disaster to innocent inhabitants of the governorate.

The source added that the ministry of defence and also the ministry of interior have destroyed all their mines and bought large quantities of landmines sold in markets and destroyed them completely under overseeing of UN delegates and the national programme for demining out of its keenness on life of citizens from those weapons.

SANAA, 11 April 2007 (IRIN) – The humanitarian situation in Yemen’s northern province of Saada is worsening with reports that the army is laying anti-personnel mines in the area, say sources with access to the region.

According to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity at the Saudi-built al-Salaam Hospital in Saada city, at least 60 people have been admitted to the hospital in recent weeks with injuries caused by landmine explosions. It is not clear, however, what type of mines government forces have been deploying in the region.

For the past few weeks, the army has been flying several sorties a day in attacks against suspected hideouts of anti-government fighters loyal to radical Shia leader Hussein al-Houthi. There have been hundreds of casualties on both sides and thousands of people have been displaced from their homes, say residents and local NGOs. (Read on …)

So the Houthis aims are solely domestic according to Yemen’s National Defense Council. During the meeting, the NDC decided its new strategy to thwart the rebellion is more tribesmen and jihaddists.

SANA’A. 10.April. President Ali Abdullah Saleh chaired the National Defense Council (NDC) meeting on Tuesday and discussed a number of issues and topics included in its agenda.

The meeting dedicated to issues related to the enhancement of defense and security capabilities and the implementation level of modernization programs in addition to the way of implementing the security plan in the country.

The also dealt with reports of security committee on the latest developments in Sa’adah province in the light of armed and security forces confrontation for the criminal acts of the law breaker and terrorist elements who are committing criminal acts against people, security and military individuals as well as the private and public intuitions.

The NDC reviewed the investigations results and serious confession of some elements who were arrested.

The confessions revealed the truth and the real goals behind their terrorists acts, the first of them is the rebellion against republican system and reviving the Imamate rule.

The confessions also revealed that the motto “Death for America … Death for Israel” is only a pretext to cover their real goals for carrying weapons against the constitutional institutions and committing crimes by killing citizens and individuals of military and security forces.

The NDC praised the national role and excellent performance of armed and security forces and their confrontation for the terrorist elements acts.

It also praised the national spirit of citizens in Sa’adah province and the other provinces for their support to their brothers in armed and security forces.

SABA

Also the NDC admits the Houthis weapons were bought in local markets, and embarks on a weapons buy back program which seems doomed to failure unless the powerful persons who are importing the weapons cease the lucrative venture.

SANA’A, April,12 — In its last meeting which presided over by The President of the Republic Ali Abdullah Saleh, the National Defence Council ratified a plan, which presented by Dr. Rashid Alalimi, vice prime minister and minister of interior, to collect heavy , mid weapons, and explosives

The 26 September Newspaper quoted witnessed sources that the plan included many steps. First, determining arm markets and the places of arm spread in the light of the result of the previous committee which ordered the collecting of those weapons. Second, determining the kind of arms which come under no possession. Third, determining the compensation for each piece according to its sort, standard, manufacture, and present situation . Fourth, starting the implementation of the plan and finding the necessary bases to its success such as funds for compensations, commissions to superintend the field and secure the collection, and import-storing centers.

The Newspaper adds that implementing the plan to collect heavy and mid weapons will be accompanied by a wide press campaign in different means of information i.e. readable, audible, and visible, so as to identify the risk of this phenomenon as well as the negative sides which affect the citizens who buy or carry those pieces. Also, calling all citizens to cooperate with the commission in their weapon collection according to the law which prevent arm possession.

Sources in the interior Ministry affirmed that the plan will be presented to the Cabinet to ratify it at first, second to approve a budget, and third to assign commissions to count, collect, and pay compensations according to the plan. In addition, an official have said that the repel weaponry comes from the biggest arm market , Souq al-Talh which is located only 30 km from the provincial city of Sada, 240 km from the capital Sana’a. He, also, added that there are around 12 arm markets and about 300 light weapon shops spreading across Yemen. It is worth mentioning that in 2005, the government of Yemen Embarked on a scheme to collect heavy weapons, which reach 9 million pieces according to a survey by the UN in 2003, from tribal communities or arm traders, spending a round 44 million dollars to buy back weapons. However, this effort was floundered as a result of inadequate funding.

Brits on weapsons smuggling

Arab Monitor, Italy

Yemenite government disseminates antipersonnel landmines

Sanaa, 3 April – Almost completely neglected by world media, the historical conflict between the Yemenite government and the Zaidites in the Saada region seems to turn into a war of extermination. With the help of branches from the Hashid tribe, to which the Yemenite President and leading power-holders in Sanaa themselves belong, a series of heavy military assaults have been waged in an attempt to overrun and penetrate the city of Dhahian, killing dozens of people.

Despite the fact that Yemen had signed an international treaty banning antipersonnal landmines, in the last few days the Yemenite armed forces have disseminated such landmines on their own territory, causing the death of great numbers of their own citizens, militant fighters on either side and civilians alike. During the so-called civil war of 1994, organized to uproot the Socialists’ stronghold on Wadi Hadramut and Aden, the old conflict with the Zaidites of northwestern Yemen, dating back to the civil war in 1964, had been put on hold.

Part of the problem is Yemen’s military leadership is based on lineage, not talent, experience or training. Thus they are, in an utterly retarded way, mining areas where their own troops are going. How stupid is that. And how devestatingly cruel to the civilians. Its depraved indifference. Its against international law, but so was the chlorine in 2005.

almotamar.net – Military police in the governorate of Thamar confiscated Tuesday quantities of dynamites found inside a local factory for making gunpowder in the town of Rasaba, the district of Jahran

Security source told almotamar.net today the police made provisional seizure of the confiscated contents of the factory in addition to dynamites and arrested a worker happened to be in the factory during the storming operation.

The source also said the military police are hunting for the owner of the factory to arrest.

Maybe that’s where the five containers of gunpowder went.

26 Septemper News:

SANA’A, April 1, (26sep.net) – Security apparatus in Dhamar governorate said that it carried out two days ago investigations with three people arrested on a board of car (Hilux) outside of security point loaded with 6000 blasting caps and ten plastic explosives

In exclusive statement to “26sep.net”, a security source in Dhamar governorate said that three people have been monitoring since a long period till last Friday police patrols were managed to track them in a valley outside of Al-Falak checkpoint, east of Dhamar city, when they were coming from Radaa city towards Dhamar on a traveling vehicle (Hilux) loaded with explosives.

The source pointed out the security apparatus is being investigated with three people suspected of having links with some merchants of arms and explosives in more regions in Yemen.

The source added that the security is being tracked others under pending trial.

According to the source, one of those arrestees had previously been arrested on charge of trafficking in arms and explosives, while the other two persons have been serving him as arms brokers.

Almotamar.net – Security authorities in the governorate of Thamar, central Yemen, captured 6 thousand capsules of explosives and around ten coils of plastic explosive materials.

A security source made it clear to almotamar.net the quantity of explosives was seized Saturday at a security checkpoint loaded in a Hilux truck, pointing out that the driver of the vehicle and two persons with him in the car have been arrested.

The source added that the security men there at the checkpoint of Bab Alfalak have noticed the car leaving the road towards agricultural lands before their being captured. He added that the security men found on board the truck six cardboard boxes each one contains about six thousand explosive capsules and ten coils of plastic explosives each one is about 250 meters. The source refused to declare on indications of investigations with the accused of possessing explosives. .

YT

The catastrophic confrontations between the Yemeni army and Houthi loyalists are ongoing in numerous areas of Sa’ada, with reports of the army implanting antipersonnel mines in many areas as the number of victims rises to hundreds involving both warring sides.

Media sources said army and volunteers waged 10 consecutive defensives last Thursday and Friday to penetrate Dhahian city; however, their attempts failed due to severe resistance by Houthis and their supporters. The battles left dozens killed or injured on both sides.

Al-Ayyam daily newspaper reported that the number of those who have fallen just in Dhahian over the past 20 days is close to the number of victims from the first Sa’ada war, noting that clashes continue there now. The paper further maintained that the 20-day battle in Dhahian represents the pivotal point in the war, as it has lasted for a longer time.

“Last Thursday witnessed ferocious fighting between both sides and turned into a guerilla war. Army forces managed to release more than 120 tribal supporters besieged by Houthis for many days,” the paper reported.

The same source added that the Yemeni army has implanted antipersonnel mines on many fronts, causing death and injury among dozens of Houthis, civilian citizens, military and security personnel and tribal volunteers.

Further, 18 Houthis were killed by antipersonnel mines last Thursday in Al-Hamra area near Azan Mountain situated between Nashour and Al-Talh.

According to observers, the Yemeni army is committing grave violations by using antipersonnel mines, which are banned by international treaties because they leave behind hundreds of handicapped among both civilians and fighters. This is occurring despite the fact that Yemen approved the international treaty banning use of such mines.

Other sources mentioned fierce confrontations in Sahar district’s Bani Muath after the Yemeni army waged intense offensives to take the fortified Sudan Mountain, where Houthis have been positioned since the war began.

The source added that battles are ongoing in various areas of Bani Salem, Al-Beidha, Al-Ruzamat, Wadi Nashour, Anq Al-Ghazal, Dhahr Al-Hanash Mountains in Al-Safara’a district and Al-And area near Sa’ada city. Similarly, clashes are occurring in Al-Barakat and Akbarah in Bani Muath, as well as Wadi Rahaban Mountain overlooking Sa’ada city.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni army still is attacking with mortars and tanks Houthi sites in Wadi Dammaj, Al-Ammar, Bani Muath, Al-Salem, Baqem, Kittaf, Haydan and other districts. Unconfirmed reports mention the unintentional attack of Red Crescent camps in Khamas, Takhiah and Al-Mass’ebah areas.

The confrontations have caused hundreds of residents in Al-Salem and Kittaf to evacuate their homes, with more than 18 homes destroyed in Bani Muath alone.

Sa’ada Governor Yahya Al-Shami asserted that the Yemeni army has completely besieged Dhahian, noting that additional forces have been mobilized to the area to reinforce existing forces in order to force Houthis to surrender themselves and their arms and cease their acts against the state.

26 September.net quoted Al-Shami as saying that the Yemeni army has managed to clear Houthis from Bani Muath, Al-Talh and Wald Masoud areas, indicating that many residents have returned to their homes in those areas while others remain in camps set up for them.

He added that army and security personnel are preparing to enter Al-Naq’ah, the last Houthi stronghold. He further pointed out that a team will be formed to estimate damages in Sa’ada governorate, while many charitable societies and civil society organizations are supplying relief and foodstuffs for displaced residents.

Noman comments on wars

Yemeni Socialist Party Secretary-General Yassin Sa’eed Noman commented that Yemen has experienced continuous small wars since 1994, with larger wars being the source for smaller ones, including the Sa’ada war.

“When war was waged upon Hussein Al-Houthi in 2004, the state justified it by saying that he had participated with secessionists in their conspiracy against unity in 1994. Similarly, when we speak about the futility of war and internal conflicts, they say we’re favoring them [Houthis] for joining us in the 1994 war,” Noman asserted.

Al-Qirbi on foreign support for Houthis

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi has denied that his visit to Iran has given Houthis the right to appeal to the Iranians, noting that both Yemen and Iran have agreed that Sa’ada is an internal issue and they reject using violence and power to achieve political goals, especially under a multiparty system.

Al-Qirbi also told Al-Waset weekly newspaper, “We should distinguish between official Iranian support and support coming from Shi’ite centers.” He affirmed that material support does come from such centers, but not from the Iranian government. However, he insinuated that both the official Iranian media and those affiliated with such Shi’ite religious centers have shown sympathy toward Houthis.

The foreign minister also indicated that Yahya Al-Houthi is the one who hinted at the existence of Libyan support, as he said following his visit to Libya that the nation sympathizes with and supports them. However, Libyan officials denied Al-Houthi’s allegations during their visit to Yemen.

Al-Qirbi maintained that the Libyan Embassy has asked to visit the Sulfi Dammaj Institute to meet those Libyans now living in Yemen and married to Yemeni women. He added that Libya has asked to repatriate them, pointing out that Yemen doesn’t oppose such a meeting with them; however, it should be according to diplomatic norms.

Furthermore, the minister denied any involvement of Saudi Arabia in the issue, saying, “It’s untrue that Saudi Arabia is supporting Houthis. This is clear from Houthi statements, in which they accuse Saudi Arabia of backing the Yemeni government!”

Al-Qirbi concluded that the Syrians’ visit to Sana’a didn’t address the Sa’ada issue under an Iranian request, as alleged, noting that such talks were confined to the Arab summit, unifying Arab stances and rejecting Israeli blackmailing.

He further added that Yemen doesn’t play around with regional conflicts, but rather warns against such dangerous play: “We believe those who play around with sectarian or racial issues will be burned by their fire. We all should spare the area from such conflicts,” Al-Qirbi urged.

What are the government’s goals? Oped at the YT:

If the ongoing war in Sa’ada had clear and specific goals, we would have known when it ends and where and what the criteria of victory and defeat are. Two days ahead of the breakout of Sa’ada third war, President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced in a televised address a list of conditions for Abdulmalik Al-Houthi to abide by. If Al-Houthi doesn’t abide by the laid conditions, he will be held accountable for any consequences, according to Saleh who said “We must not be blamed after giving this warning.” The conditions include the surrender of heavy and light arms, evicting mountains, forming a political party according to the law and constitution and applying the General Amnesty.

Three days after the third war erupted, Abdulmalik Al-Houthi welcomed all the conditions listed by President Saleh stipulating that rebels stop entrenching on the tops of mountains and form a political party according to the Law of Political Parties and Organizations. Leader of the rebellion reconfirmed his acceptance of the conditions in a statement issued on 24 of last February, but the war didn’t end. Instead, the war expanded geographically and socially and in terms of increasing the death toll and the use of different types of weapons in the fighting. The matter means that the announced conditions aren’t’ the clear goals sought by the war, nor were they the goals drawn since the very beginning because they changed in the line with the developments of the battleground and according to the regional and international developments, which are indirectly related with the war.

As the war goals keep on changing everyday, the question raised to President Saleh, 40 days after the war broke out and after many people were killed, is that “What are the war’s goals today and what are its goals tomorrow?” Simply, the answer is that “I don’t know” and those engaged in the fighting may not know about the war’s goals, too. If there is no answer to the question, the war is bound to escalate and claim the lives of soldiers and citizens until one of the following scenarios is achieved.

The first scenario is that the death toll of soldiers and citizens increases, making it difficult for the authorities to be responsible for its consequences. Consequently, the authorities will find themselves obliged to dialogue with Al-Houthi and his followers. Such is a dangerous scenario because it doesn’t ensure reoccurrence of the war in a similar manner to what is happening at the moment.

The second of the scenarios is that when the authorities put an end to the war but after it kills thousands of citizens in Sa’ada. This is the most risky scenario because the death toll from a single area will go in favor of a local or a foreign force paving the way for overthrowing the current regime even after a while. In addition, this scenario is expected to pave the way for foreign interventions.

The third scenario is that of the intervention of a third party to help the fighting parties get rid of the war dilemma, and I prefer that it should be a local party to ensure maintaining rule of the law and order and the rights and freedoms of citizens, as well as to contribute to healing the war wounds.

Mine Clearing

AL-BIDA’A, April 02 (Saba)- The Yemeni Anti-mines Awareness Association started on Monday an awareness program in the province
to enlighten people against mines.

The 10-day program will cover 15 villages in different districts of Al-Bida’a province.

The program aims to enlighten the rural people against mines and giving them safety measures to avoid risks of mines and warning them
not to play with things might be stuck to mines.

Currently there are several local and international organizations working on clearing the mine fields in a number of southern and
central provinces of Yemen.

The last one of the eight foreigners; the other seven were released without charge. Earlier news was the seven confessed. The name below is supposed to read Fawaz Al-Rabie.

almotamar.net – The Specialised Penal Court has retained the case of defendants charged with hiding Eawaz al-Rabie and Qassim al-Raimi the escapees from the political security prison and trafficking weapons ands explosives for smuggling them to Somalia for issuing verdict on 19 April 2007.

At the beginning of the sitting chaired by Judge Najib al-Qaderi the prosecution presented the final presentation and asked to hold the case for judgment.

The first defendant Abdullah Awadh Abdullah al-Masri abstained from replying when the Judge asked him on the final presentation. The second defendant Idi Uthman Souli, having a Somali nationality answered the Judge question through a translator that he did not come to Yemen to trade with weapons but to inform about prices of weapons and whether there is possibility for him to bring his family to Yemen and asked to be allowed to call his family and return the sums of money seized with him.

The prosecution faced the first defendant al-Masri with charges of weapon smuggling and trafficking and hiding escapee prisoner from the p0o; itical security prison. It also directed to the second defendant Souli the charge of attempting to purchasing anti-aircraft weapons, snipers and personal weapons for smuggling to Somalia.

There was such a big splash when the case first hit and it dwindles down to this: the Somali wants his money back.

SANA’A, March 26 (Saba)- The Primary Special Penal Court determined 9th of April as date for issuing a sentence in case of two suspects,
a Yemeni and a Danish of Somali origin, who are accused of trying to purchase weapons then to smuggle them to Somalia.

The two suspects are also accused of hiding three prisoners who escaped from Political Security Jail.

In its Monday hearing, the court decided to close arguments after listening to the final argument on the case.

The second suspect, the Somali,confessed that his role was only to send money of four kinds of weapons to a person named Qarbab, who is
mediator between him and Islamic Court in Somalia. He also asked the court to carry out its decision to allow him to contact his family
and to get back his money that has been taken when the police arrested him on 13th October, 2006.

The first suspect, the Yemeni, remained silent and did not reply on the accusation against him during three sessions.

No frontal assaults, just bombing.

Wiki: Katyusha multiple rocket launchers are a type of rocket artillery built and fielded by the Soviet Union beginning in the Second World War. Compared to other types of artillery, multiple rocket launchers are able to deliver a devastating amount of explosives to an area target more quickly but with lower accuracy and longer reloading time. They are relatively fragile but inexpensive and easy to produce.

Global Security: The devices are easy to move and to conceal, and can be assembled on the back of a vehicle in order to make it quicker to move them to the launch site and take them away after firing. References now to the Katyusha mean not just one type of rocket, but a whole range of different artillery rockets, whether from old Soviet or other-nation stock, most frequently the 122mm rocket. The Katyusha rockets have little guidance

The Seige of Sadda

SA’ADA, March 14 — Informed tribal sources mention that the Yemeni army continues attacking Houthi areas in Sa’ada with mortars and Katyusha missiles, but without any direct offensives in order to avoid further losses among military personnel.

Instead, authorities are using civilians mobilized from the Hashed tribe and other areas to back the Yemeni army in their war against Houthis, who belong to the Bakil, Yemen’s second largest tribe.

Aleshteraki.net revealed last Sunday that thousands of underage enlistees – including hundreds aged between 15 and 16 – from across Yemen have been deployed to fight Houthis in Sa’ada, with the source assuring that the same is true for Houthis.

“Approximately 3,000 soldiers from various Yemeni areas recently enlisted and were deployed to participate in the ongoing war in Sa’ada against Houthi loyalists. Most are underage and they were given no weapons training. This violates both Yemeni and international law and is considered by some international organizations a stark violation of human and children’s rights, in addition to being listed among war crimes,” the web site reported.Continued on page 3

The Yemeni government froze national defense service many years ago, with recruitment delegated to military unit leaders, who in turn distributed them to sheikhs to improve their status in their area and give sums of money to enlistees’ families.

Media reports mentioned that during the first Sa’ada war in 2004, many army officials contacted tribal sheikhs and influential individuals, asking them to mobilize youth in their areas to join Yemeni army forces in their war against Houthi loyalists.

However, the families of those killed didn’t receive any salaries under the pretext that their relatives weren’t enlisted in the army or on martyrs’ registries. A newly-enlisted Yemeni soldier receives YR 12,000, or approximately $60.

Enlistment centers opened

Al-Wahdawi newspaper reported sources as saying that the state has opened several centers to receive those citizens willing to fight in Sa’ada and registered them among Yemeni army forces. The paper added that hundreds from Al-Ausimat, Al-Ahnoum and belonging to the Hashed and Sufian tribes frequented the four centers in preparation for deployment to support the Yemeni army on various Sa’ada fronts.

“Four centers have been established for this end in Khamer, Houth, Kharef and Harf Sufian districts to receive tribal sons from Al-Ashah, Qaflat Uther, Suwayer, Bani Sureem and Theibin,” the source noted.

Promising enlistment in the army, these centers distribute arms and munitions in return for warranting enlistees taken from among those registered, especially as many volunteers from the first batch fled with their arms after many were killed or injured during the past two weeks of battles with Houthis, the source added.

Sheikh killed

In related news, local sources in Saqeen district assure that Sheikh Mohammed Farhan Khattab and two of his escorts were killed Monday during armed confrontations with six Houthi loyalists.

According to Al-Sahwa.net, the clash between Sheikh Khattab and the six Houthis occurred Monday afternoon as the latter were onboard a vehicle filled with foodstuffs heading to Bani Aurig Mountain. Khattab asked them to disclose their identities; however, they refused and began exchanging fire, which resulted in killing the sheikh along with two of his escorts and another three who were injured.

Security sources mentioned on Tuesday that nine citizens were killed and another six, including a woman, were injured in the current week’s confrontations between security forces and Houthi supporters in Hajjah’s Washhah district. Three Houthis were injured while attempting to open up a new front in Hajjah.

Further, eight Houthi backers were killed earlier this week and another two injured; however, sources didn’t mention any injuries among army personnel.

The sources also revealed that there are many Houthi supporters in Hajjah’s Washhah and Sha’lel districts. They noted that military presence is very weak there because sheikhs and dignitaries refuse such in their areas; instead, they requested the state provide them arms and ammunition to face Houthi loyalists.

Saleh’s stance

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced on Monday that the doors to mediation and dialogue are blocked after his authorities exerted too much effort to make Houthis abandon their armed acts against the state.

“The Yemeni armed forces and security won’t allow terrorist elements to toy with Sa’ada’s security and stability,” the president said while addressing several supporting tribes in Sa’ada by telephone.

He added, “Today we speak to local authority members, sheikhs, dignitaries and social personalities about the sedition ignited by terrorist elements in some areas of this governorate.”

Saleh described Houthis as enemies of democracy, development, freedom, security and stability because they are highway robbers, noting that they chant the slogan, “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” while they kill Yemeni soldiers, officials and innocent citizens.

“Houthis want to overthrow the republican system. They harm the interests of Yemen in general and Sa’ada governorate in particular, maintaining that they want to reinstate the bygone imamate regime,” Saleh concluded.

Libyan defusing

In related news, Libyan Foreign Minister Abdurrahman Shalqm left Sana’a on Monday after a two-day visit, during which he delivered a letter to President Saleh from Libyan President Moammar Al-Gaddafi. Upon his departure, Shalqm told Saba News Agency that he was carrying a reply from the Yemeni president to his Libyan counterpart.

Media sources say the Libyan envoy was attempting to calm the tense atmosphere between Yemen and Libya, particularly after several Yemeni officials accused the Libyan government of supporting Houthis, a charge denied by Libya.

Hajjah residents want trial in Khayran

The Joint Meeting Parties in Hajjah governorate on Tuesday warned of any threats to detainees’ safety in Khayran Al-Muharq. They were arrested and accused of links to Al-Qaeda. Meanwhile, authorities have initiated procedures to move the case to Sana’a for trial, a step Ibrahim Shami of the governorate’s Joint Meeting Parties considers a legal violation and an attempt to deter the issue from its real path.

Shami, head of Islah Party’s media department, voiced Hajjah residents’ resentment at transferring the case to Sana’a and appeal to President Saleh to intervene to resolve the matter in Khayran, as all state branches are available there.

The Khayran locals’ attorney Khalid Al-Mawri notes that 14-year-old Hussein Shu’ai Al-Akwa’a is among the 22 detainees. Further, nine others should be freed because they aren’t linked to Houthis.

Shi’ite accusations

Shi’ite leader Issam Ali Al-Emad, former head of the Supreme Shi’ite Council in Yemen, has denied reports published in Marib press on March 12.

He further accuses the Yemeni government of inciting sedition between Shi’ites and Sunnis by issuing statements attributed to Sunni and Shi’ite personalities to achieve U.S. policy, which he says seeks to turn the U.S.-Muslim conflict into a Sunni-Shi’ite one.

Al-Emad warned Sulfis that President Saleh is attempting to foment sedition between Yemen’s Sunnis and Sulfis, alleging that the Yemeni president is trying to reproduce the sectarian strife in Iraq and bring it to Yemen.

He added that the Yemeni government claims that Sa’ada locals are 12th Shi’ites, however, they all adhere to Zaidi doctrine.

Chlorine as a chemical weapon…..hmmmm, now why does that sound oddly familiar? Yellow gas clouds and all.

I thought it was interesting that when Saleh went to Saadah for a visit in 2006, he went directly to Suleiman cave, referenced in an article I wrote in 2005 as the location of an alleged chlorine gas attack by the Yemeni military on the Shiite rebels: (Read on …)

I think, unlike when Saleh said he will not run (and then ran), Sheik al-Ahmar may mean it. This would be a significant transition of authority, and regular transition of authority is what its all about and a good habit to get into among the the parties. Its a good example for the other parties, most of which have had the same leaderships for errrrr quite a while:

26 Sept:

The Yemeni Congregation for Reform (Islah)’s chairman and Speaker of Parliament Sheikh Abdullah bin Hussein Al Ahmar said ” I will not run myself in the next elections of Islah party which will take place this month”.

He told Saudi Arabian-owned “Al-Riyadh” newspaper, “that all the structures in the party will be formed, including leadership. Al-Ahmer stressed on the need to push the reforms in Yemen strongly by the concerned officials, saying that reformation is needed in all aspects, including political”.

Sheikh Al-Ahmar, described Al-Houthis the in the province Sa’dah, as saboteurs, and claiming them to them succumbing to state and to constitute to a political party

Update: Oh come on now, what is this?

Sheikh Abdullah bin Hussein al-Ahmar, the speaker of the Parliament and the president of the Islah party, has announced that he will not nominate himself for the upcoming elections of the Islah party. However, he said he won’t reject his party’s nomination, if it decides to nominate him.

also: Al-Ahmar also commented on the new draft law to regulate the carrying and obtaining of weapons, saying it was unnecessary because a similar law has been on the books since 1992—it has just never been applied.

Is this a new deal or the 2.3 billion dollar deal for new MIGs and repairs to the fleet from September. I think some repairs were accomplished already, so maybe its new.

Interfax:

09:43 GMT, Feb 11, 2007 Latest Headlines…

MiG expects to sign new deals on sales of MiG-29s soon – Tsivilyov
BANGALORE (India.) Feb 11 (Interfax-AVN) – Foreign buyers are
showing great interest in the new versions of the MiG-29 multi-role
fighter, and major contracts are expected to be signed with the
traditional partners of India, Algeria and Yemen, and with other
countries, in the near future, MiG First Deputy General Director and
General Designer Sergei Tsivilyov told Interfax-AVN at an air show in
Bangalore, India, on Saturday.
“We hope to deliver additional lots of MiG-29SMT fighters to
Algeria under an option signed under the basic contract,” he said.
Talks are expected to begin after the main contract has been
fulfilled. “Following the implementation of the main contract, which
provides for deliveries and training, an additional contract could be
signed,” Tsivilyov said.
Prospects are also good for supplying MiG-29s to Yemen he said.

sd la

We need something boring, so here’s Parliament:

Lies, lies, its all silly lies:

AM: The Yemen parliament demanded in its Saturday session the government to take necessary legal measures against a number of persons claiming to be a committee for mediation in the vents of Saada.

That came after it was disclosed that those elements represented part and parcel of the al-Houthi followers terrorist elements.

Sheiekh Saleh Abu Ouja, director of Haidaban district had accused those calling themselves a mediation committee of being biased to the terrorists in Yemen, explaining that the report, in which they alleged that the soldiers of the army and security have of violations, was disclosed that those elements are biased to the side of terror.

He added that the report of that committee bore silly lies and contradictions. He said the report ignored the violations and attacks perpetrated by the terrorists in Saada against army and security men.

YO: The Minister of Legal Affairs, Dr. Rashad al-Rassas, has requested that laws related to weaponry, public debt, and the international agreement for combating terror, be on the agenda for a review beginning Saturday Feb. 3, 2006. However, the members of the parliament called on the Presidency Board of the Parliament to meet with the heads of the Parliamentary Committees so as to agree to have just one agenda instead of three. (Read on …)

Anti-tank missles, where did they come from? 390 bombs?

YO

A meeting of Yemeni and Saudi security officials is to be held within three weeks to discuss measures to curb the increase of cross-border smuggling operations between the two countries, according to a source at the ministry of interior.

He said the meeting would discuss all aspects of border security, including the across-the-border smuggling of weapons and drugs, the organizing of pasturing, protection of livestock and the trespassing of individuals. It will be followed by another meeting at the level of border guard directors general in both countries. The two countries suffer from the smuggling of a variety of goods, including drugs, immigrants, and even weapons.

Smugglers also have been trafficking children to Saudi Arabia, which has created many problems for the two countries. The head of the Saudi border guards, Talal Mohsen Angawi, told the Saudi press that the largest number of smuggling operations was taking place through the Kingdom’s southern border. “Saudi border guards recently foiled the smuggling of four anti-tank missiles, one rocket propelled grenade, 390 bombs, 3,190 sticks of dynamite, and 819 kg of explosives into the Kingdom,” said Angawi.

Angawi said he had noticed a considerable rise in the smuggling of weapons, drugs, cattle and foodstuffs, though number of intruders from Iraq through the Kingdom’s northeastern border had declined considerably. “But the number of intruders through the southern border is increasing, and they include Eritreans, Somalis and other Africans,” he said.

Huh?

The arrests of Jamil Ghurab and Abdullah Al-Dhubibi were made in December. Also the impending prosecution of the five foreigners contradicts several earlier reports that seven of the eight gun-running foreigners were released due to lack of evidence. Nothing on American al-Awlaki a/k/a Abu Atiq. The Danish guy’s name is now Layth Sorans, but previously was Kenneth Sorenson a/k/a Abu Zakaria and according to the Danish Foreign Affairs Ministry, he was released 12/16/06 and given a week to leave the country. Unless he’s the undetermined European. Yemeni Abdullah Awad Al-Misri is counted as one of the five foreigners, presumably not to be confused with Yemeni Ibrahim Abdullah al-Sinhi, a/k/a Abu Dujana al-Misiki who arrested in October. Mark Samliski (Marek Samulski a/k/a Abdul Malik) is a Sydney based web designer of Polish extraction, the third Australian after the Ayub brothers. And the Somali previously noted as a central al-Qaeda figure has another name in addition to al-Ansar, its Abdu Othman Suli. The article also covers the unmolested recruitment of suicide bombers for Iraqi terrorist operations.

YT: Al-Nahar weekly newspaper said last Thursday, that Yemeni National Security Apparatus is launching hunting and raiding on supposed Al-Qaeda suspects and the operations resulted in arresting a number of suspects belonging to extreme organizations.

The paper added the National Security managed to arrest eight people in raids that included many areas in the capital after receiving information that Al-Qaeda-linked affiliates exist there.

Among the arrested people are Jamil Ghurab and Abdullah Al-Dhubibi who are described as the most wanted Al-Qaeda affiliates in Yemen.

These arrests come after threats attributed to Al-Qaeda’s wing in Yemen to implement attacks against government, tourist and foreign institutions and facilities in Yemen.

In related news, the General Prosecution referred mid-December five foreigners to State’s Security Penal Court after they were arrested over smuggling weapons to Somali Islamic Courts.

An official source told the media that five from among the eight arrested mid-October were referred to the specialized court after the General Prosecution acquitted three, including two Australians and a German for insufficient evidence.

Danish Layth Sorans, British Rasheed Abdulhaq Lascar, Yemeni Abdullah Awad Al-Misri, and (Australian) Mark Samliski and Somali Abdu Othman Suli will stand trial before the Penal Court over weapons smuggling to Somalia.

The same sources told media the prosecution referred the five suspects to the Specialized Primary Court.

A source at the prosecution announced Dec. 21, that they have finished investigating 22 terrorists accused of being linked to Al-Qaeda and planning to launch terrorist acts against local and foreign interests.

The 22-terrorist cell was hired by Fawaz Al-Rubai’I, and accused of targeting the French Tanker Limburge in Al-Mukalla Port. Security forces killed Al-Rubai’i in Sana’a’s outskirts, one month following his escape from the Political Security’s prison together with many other suspects.

According to the Ministry of Interior, the suspects are involved in the foiled attacks that targeted oil facilities in Mareb and Hadramout in mid-September.

Media sources in Sana’a mentioned more than 17 people belonging to Abyan’s Ja’ar, have been killed so far in suicide attacks in different Iraqi areas.

Al-Tagamou’ newspaper said a number of citizens in Abyan distribute leaflets under the name of Jihad Base in Mesopotamia, and also that some members of Islamic Aden Abyan Army joined Al-Qaeda’s Iraq wing and distributed such leaflets to recruit others.

The same source, attributing his news to official sources, revealed some extreme Islamic groups are planning to hit American and British interests, coinciding with the celebrations of the New Year and Eid Al-Adha.

Reacting to such information, security apparatuses took tight security measures to protect foreign embassies, hotels and companies.

To follow is a good article on the arms trade in Yemen from Asharq Alawasat. Abu Al-Feda seems to be the go to guy whenever any journalist wants al-Qaeda’s take on things.

A former leader of the Al Qaeda network in Yemen, Rashad Mohamed Saeid, otherwise known as Abu al Fedaa, who lived in Afghanistan for a number of years, told Asharq Al Awsat, “America and its allies aim to disarm the Yemeni people not because of terrorists but to get rid of their means of protection and defending themselves, thus making them submissive.”

Abu Al Fedaa indicated that Al Qaeda is not interested in acquiring or possessing weapons such as AK-47s and the like as such weapons can be found “where the battles are going on right now. The Mujahideen in Iraq, Ansar al Islam or Tawheed did not even have AK-47s, however the battles erupted and they developed their own weapons and utilized their skills to develop missiles and other things. Furthermore, Jihad movements are not concerned about weapons such as the AK-47, as they now rely on weapons that are lighter in weight and more effective and harmful to the targeted opponent; it is not difficult to produce explosive material.”

Abu Al Fedaa stressed the difficulty of the government to achieve its targets in its campaign to limit the number of arms in the country. He says, “That which is prohibited is desired. Closing down arms markets in Yemen will not solve the problem but will rather advance the trade; there is an international mafia, who is it that exports arms to Somalia? The Yemeni coastline stretches far and so too do the borders and the country has many foes. Closing down the markets will never solve the problem but will increase the prosperity of the trade because it will become a valuable profitable commodity.”

Yes, who is it that exports arms to Somalia? Full article to follow:

Sanaa, Asharq Al-Awsat- Yemeni authorities are currently seeking to restrict the spread of arms in the country, in fear of weapons falling into the hands of terrorist networks such as Al Qaeda for example. Last year, Yemeni authorities discovered that weapons belonging to the Yemeni Ministry of Defense had reached members of Al Qaeda who attacked the American consulate in Jeddah in 2005. However there are many obstacles in the way of controlling the arms trade in Yemen, for example buying and selling weapons is deep-rooted within Yemeni tradition and linked to the concepts of revenge and settling tribal conflicts. There are approximately 18 legitimate markets for the arms trade all over Yemen, the most prominent of which are Jahana and Ataleh, north of Sadah near the Saudi/Yemeni borders.

Jahana, which lies 25 kilometers east of the Yemeni capital Sanaa is a small town and is famous firstly for its ancient history, and secondly for the arms trade. Here, one can ask any passerby, regardless of age, about the arms market and would easily be pointed in the correct direction. There are shops lined up on both sides of a wide unpaved street, and immediately upon arrival, young sellers and brokers will approach you to ask whether you are buying or selling.

Asharq Al Awsat visited the Jahana market where a wide range of weapons are on display including light arms of different brands, various hand guns, machine guns, AK-47s, modified weapons, old rifles (Abu Sahan/Thompson sub-machine gun), and Al Jarmal (a popular weapon in Yemen). There are even RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenades) available and various kinds of ammunition. (Read on …)

Strict procedures to prevent the possession and trade of explosives and heavy & medium weapons

Informed sources said that strict procedures will be taken during the approaching future, in the framework of a work plan to regulate the possession of weapons and prevent the acquisition of illegal weapons.

The sources reported in a statement to “26 Sep.net” that the Supreme security committee approved on a series of strict procedures to prevent the acquisition and trafficking of heavy & medium weapons and explosives .

The sources pointed out that the procedures which approved by the Supreme security committee will be submitted to the Cabinet for discussion and ratification.

The sources added that these procedures will fix time period as an opportunity for the collection of such weapons and then apply strict and resolute procedures to prevent the possession or trafficking.

On the other hand, sources reported that the procedures and regulatory measures will be taken, especially with regard to escorts and security bodyguards of dignitaries and well known persons .

website ( 26sep.net)

Seven of the eight foreigners charged with running guns to Somalia for al-Qaeda have been released. The only one remaining in jail is a Somalia man named Al-Ansar. One would assume the American arrested in August, Anwar Al-Awlaki, is still incarerated.

IHT A Danish national detained in Yemen for allegedly trying to smuggle weapons to Somalia has been released from custody and has been given seven days to leave the Middle Eastern country, Danish officials said Saturday.

“I can confirm that a Danish citizen was released earlier today (Saturday) and the charges against him have been dropped,” Foreign Affairs Ministry official Henning Nielsen said.

He declined to identify the man, but said the 23-year-old Muslim convert had been asked to leave Yemen — where he lives with his wife and child — within a week.

“As far as we’ve been told, the reason (for his release) is that there has been a lack of evidence,” Nielsen said.

There had been earlier reports that the man had already been released from custody, but the ministry had denied them as being false.

The man was arrested in Yemen in late October along with four Australians as part of a state security campaign against members of an alleged al-Qaida cell.

The five men had been studying at the Islamist Iman University — run by Sheik Abdul-Majid al-Zindani, who is listed as an al-Qaida supporter by the United States.

Yemen is believed to be a frequent route for smuggling arms to Somali factions.

Al-Qaida has an active presence in Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, despite government efforts to fight the terror network.

Al-Qaida was blamed for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden that killed 17 American sailors and the attack on a French oil tanker that killed one person two years later.

Last time the regime discussed nuclear power, the concept was the US would assist in the endeavor.

Yemen to use nuclear energy to generate power
SANA’A, Dec.13 (Saba)-Mustafa Bahran, head of the National Committee for Nuclear Energy (NCNE) and scientific advisor of president
declared onWednesday that Yemen would carry out an electricity project by using nuclear energy by beginning of 2007. (Read on …)