Armies of Liberation

Pop quiz: Q: What was the characteristic response of the Saleh regime to power sharing demands following unity in 1990 that precipitated the 1994 civil war? A: Assassinations. Hundreds of southern political leaders were assassinated, often by veterans of the Afghan jihad who were allied with Saleh.

Five protesters wounded in Sanaa by an explosive device thrown from a car with police plates.

War planes bomb Arhab, five dead. Three houses, a mosque and many farms damaged. Clashes in Nehm, 20 km south of Arhab, eight wounded.

The Yemen Post reports Hamid Al-Qushaibi of the 310th escaped a car-bomb assassination attempt in Amran province but al Sahwa reports Major Ismail al-Ghurbani, commander of the 310th Armored Brigade of the 1st Armored Division was shot dead in an assassination in Amran

A truce between Islah and the Houthis in al Jawf will go into effect 8/17 when the JMP declares the national council; Fares Manna, UN sanctioned weapons dealer and long time associate of Saleh, will be replaced as governor by Sheikh Hussein Al-Thaneen from the Islah Party.

One person was killed and three wounded Sunday evening when a suicide car bomber detonated at a gathering of Houthis near the health center in al Jawf, News Yemen reported. The Houthis blamed the US, saying “The process shows the intense action and malicious plots by the Americans and the targeting of Yemen in general and the northern areas in particular.” Mareb Press reports dozens of injuries. Interior Ministery says 14 dead and the hallmarks of al Qaeda.

16 suspected al Qaeda were killed Sunday as clashes in the province take place in seven areas. The tribesmen (like the commander of the 25th Mechanized) say that the government is arming the al Qaeda militants and providing other support.

Yemen Post: Local tribesmen in Abyan province, fighting with government against militants, are accusing the government of helping al-Qaeda fighters stay strong by attacking tribal posts and arming the militants.

According to tribal sources in Abyan, at least 19 tribesmen have been killed by government attacks.

A senior Yemeni Defense Ministry official denies that the toll is that high, but did not deny that government raids did kill tribal fighters in accidental attacks.

Over the last month, tribes have succeeded to retake more than 60 percent of the province from the hands of suspected al-Qaeda militants after the government failed to show progress in its fight against the militants since May.

At least 1600 tribesmen are fighting al-Qaeda militants in the province.

More than 15 al-Qaeda fighters were arrested on Thursday by the tribesmen as their push to cleanse the province from the militants nears the final steps.

Update: Sultan al Barakani says Hamid al Ahmar is the prime suspect in the bombing on the presidential palace because the sims cards used in mobile phones belonged to SabaFone.

The buzz is they were helped to escaped, after earlier reports by Sarah Phillips that 70 al Qaeda were released by the regime in March. They did this during the Saada War in 2008 and in other instances, released prisoners on condition they fight for the state.

The National reports Abdulaziz Yahya Alabdi, the murderer of the Jewish rabbi Masha Yaesh Nahari in 2008, is among the escapees. The escape occurred on 4/17.

About thirty prisoners sentenced to death escaped from Amran central prison 50 km north of Sana’a last Friday after killing three prison guards. (Read on …)

PR from Abdul Malik al Houthi

Yemen – Saada, 15 / 3 / 2011

A belief in the importance of the current stage, and a sense of its seriousness, and find out how great the responsibility of the Yemeni people, continue to sons (Saada) to fill in the squares, demonstrations and marches to express them on their interaction neighborhood and the conscious, and full solidarity with the Yemeni people proud, (Read on …)

statement via email

To all the free sons of the Yemeni people to everyone eager himself to freedom, pride and dignity: We emphasize that we are sons of the province of Saada, Amran, Al Jawf both as an integral part of this people We affirm our support and solidarity with members of the Yemeni people to overthrow the corrupt regime, and we stress the following:

* Moved that this move is within the broad popular marches and this is the cohesion and harmony with the position of people in all governorates of Yemen. (Read on …)

Two killed, 11 wounded in Amran, police claim when security opened fire on protesters near the police station. An early statement on the Houthi website said many were killed in a bombing but the later statement from the Houthis clarified two. Saada was carpet bombed during the six Saada wars, beginning in 2005. Civilian areas including villages and cities were destroyed and thousands were arbitrarily arrested. A strong case exists against President Saleh for war crimes and crimes against humanity from the conduct of the military over the last several years, including blocking food and medicine to the entire region in a deliberate attempt at starving the people into submission. Update: witnesses report the security was shooting machine guns into the crowd and the “bomb” was shot from a tank not by air. HOOD is saying two killed. Additional fatalities were reported when protesters returning home were accosted at a security checkpoint. Ah English:

Harf Sofyan, Yemen (CNN) – Security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters in northern Yemen on Friday morning, killing two people and injuring nine others, witnesses said.

The forces fired into the protesters in Harf Sufyan city to try and disperse them, witnesses said. Three army planes flying over the crowd also attacked the protesters, witnesses said.

The vast majority of the protesters were Houthi rebels, according to Mohammed Abdulsalam, a spokesman for the group

Council of the Alliance of Marib and Al-Jawf tribes denounces the massacre of Aden and salutes Tai’z youth, the station of change and train engine of freedom: Mareb Press.

To recap, both Saleh’s allies and opposition are experiencing fractures. The pillars of the regime are peeling away and causing some polarization of the public. Hussain al Ahmar from Amran is promising Hasid tribal protection for the protesters in Sanaa. The tribes in Marib and al Jawf are throwing in with the democracy movement. al Zindani is calling for replacing the regime with a national unity government and for the people to go peacefully to the streets. Two youth different groups were calling for nationwide protests on the 24th and 25th, but I think its going to happen tomorrow whether they are ready or not. The JMP however has not revised its position to advocate the fall of the Saleh regime, only change and reform. (Read on …)

That’s truly and utterly despicable. A militant (former air force pilot) in Amran killed rabbi Mahsa al Naheri on December 18, 2008 in broad daylight after threats to convert or leave. After a public outcry and strong efforts by Yemeni civil society, the murderer was sentenced to death. This kidnapping is intended to pressure the murder victim’s family to accept the penalty of a fine instead. Earlier on the rabbi’s cold blooded murder can be found here and here and here. Its rather clear who kidnapped the child, so one would expect the state to take action to find him or to pressure his kidnappers to release him.

Yemen Post: A Yemeni Jewish child was kidnapped from Reda district in Amran province on Saturday, informed source told media outlets. Yameen Ameran Al-Nahari, 8 years, disappeared while the Jewish community was practicing their religious rituals on the weekend.

Sources said that the kidnapping of the child targeted to pressure the Jewish community to forgive Abdul-Aziz Al-Abdi, who shot dead a Jewish fellow citizen, Mashaa Yehiya bin Yaeesh Al-Nahari, and accept his fine in which he will pay 5.5 million riyals. Lately, a Yemeni court upheld a death sentence on a Muslim man after being accused of killing a Jewish citizen.

There’s over 300,000 displaced in Sa’ada by the Yemeni military’s (and Saudi) attacks and bombing, and AQAP is declaring war because the Houthis forced people to move??? Is al Qaeda’s Saed Shihri trying to be stupid or does it just come naturally? Like many, AQAP is out of touch with the moment.

Well thats convenient timing for Saleh. a) The Yemeni military cant re-start the war at the moment but the terrorists can, b) It certainly shows the international community that they neeeeeeeeed Saleh, c) Nothing like a good crisis to distract the people’s hostility toward the state, d) With the Houthis in control of large swaths of those areas, the officially facilitated smuggling operations into Saudi are impacted and profits diminished, e) How can you buy weapons (and resell them on the black market) for a war that’s over? f) Saudi funds rise and fall in relation to perceived threats.

SANAA, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) — Leader of al-Qaida militants in Yemen declared “holy war” against the Houthi-led northern Shiite rebels, in an audio message posted on the internet by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) on Friday.

“To our Sunni fellows in northern Yemeni provinces of Saada, Al- Jouf and Amran, we (AQAP) announced jihad (holy war) against Iranian-backed Houthi Shiite advocates,” Saeed Ali al-Shihri, deputy leader of the Yemen-based AQAP.

“The jihad against northern Shiites has been declared since the implementation of the AQAP’s twin martyred car bombing attacks against convoys of the Shiite rebels’ followers in northern provinces of Al-Jouf and Saada on Nov. 24 and Nov. 26 of the last year,” he said.

In the 17-minute audiotape, the Saudi fugitive al-Shihri justified his group’s war against the Shiite rebels by claiming that the sectarian-motivated Houthi rebels attacked and displaced many Sunni families in the north.

Last December, the Sunni-devoted AQAP claimed responsibility for twin suicide car bombings against convoys of the Shiite rebels ‘ followers in northern provinces of Al-Jouf and Saada on Nov. 24 and Nov. 26, 2010, which left over than 90 Shiite followers dead, including the group’s Shiite spiritual leader Bader al-Deen al- Houthi.

OK maybe they are just idiots:

Opinions: An Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leader warned Sunni Muslims of a rising “Christian-Shiite alliance” against them in an audio message released on jihadist forums late on Friday.

Abu Sufyan al-Azdi called the participation of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Iran’s former foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki at a conference on terrorism in Yemen “is the biggest proof of the Christian-Shiite alliance.”

“America and Iran became one alliance against the Sunni people in the area,” added the Saudi AQAP leader, who was formerly imprisoned for six years at the US detention centre inGuantanamo, in a 16-minute audio message.

Azdi was referring to the annual Manama Dialogue, held in December by the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies and billed as the “most important regional security meeting in the Middle East.”

The AQAP chief also warned Sunnis in Yemen that they risked being massacred at the hands of northern Shiite Zaidi rebels, also known as Huthis, and urged them not to be caught unprepared.

“Sunnis, be careful from the massacres… that happened in Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen to happen to you while you are unarmed… prepare yourselves before it is too late… buy weapons… protect your religion, your lives and your honour.”