Armies of Liberation

Seeks a savior

Hodiedah: In an interview with Marib Press, 12 year old “Hanadi” said she was forced into marriage by her impoverished father to pay a debt. Her husband tried repeatedly to rape her, her tears were no deterrent, and he threatened to beat her. After three days, he drugged by her with sleeping pills in her juice. She woke up bruised, confused and bleeding. The child ran away and is currently in the Hodiedah CID, appealing to Human Rights Organizations to save her. A medical exam proves the child was violently raped. The father and husband were interviewed by police. The father asserts the husband promised not to engage in intercourse until she was older. The husband says he didn’t touch her.

“12 year old Hanadi launched a distress call to the Ministry of Human Rights and human rights organizations demanding urgent intervention and to direct the security agencies to arrest the looter of her childhood and to investigate him and refer him to the judiciary.”

The issue is where is she going to go live. And its questionable if either the father or husband will be charged with a crime. There is no law in Yemen designating a minimum marriage age. Without publicity, she might have to go back. If she does not return to her husband, the father’s debt is still in force because she was basically sold like a slave. Children are frequently used as chattel. At least half of all marriages in Yemen occur before 16. Unsurprisingly, Yemen’s youthful female revolutionaries are quite determined to overthrow the system.

The Republican Guard had been preparing and repositioning for the offensive over the last days. The tribesmen fortified their positions. A spokesman for the al Ahmars said they are sticking to the ceasefire agreement. Update: Defense Ministry denies the short lived clashes even occurred in Sanaa. Six protesting lack of electricity were shot dead in Hodiedah. Two killed in Aden after military accidentally opens fire.

Yemen Post: Two huge explosions were heard and clashes started in Hasaba zone of the capital Sana’a between tribes and republican guards, numerous eyewitnesses said. Residents in Hasabah said that hundreds of gunshots were heard starting at 5pm in the area and have been spreading to the neighborhoods of Mazda, Giraf, and Airport road of the capital. (Read on …)

The former governor of Ibb mediated a truce to the four months of clashes between the Houthis and tribes loyal to Islah. News Yemen Ah, an English article at the Yemen Post:

Clashes in the northern Jawf province ended on yesterday after Sheikh Ali Qaisi, a prominent Yemeni tribal leader, succeeded in reaching a ceasefire agreement between the Houthi fighters and Islah Islamist party fighters.

At least 110 people were killed over the last month in Jawf clashes. Islah party still controls the majority of the areas in Jawf provinces, while Houthis are trying to expand in the province. The fighting in Jawf started in late May and was non-stop until this week.

Islah party supporters control the military bases the government left behind after being pressured by pro revolution youth to leave the province.

Al-Hudaidah, an armed group broke into Hais post office and rob 16 Million Yemeni Ryals: NYR

US Embassy in Sana’a Disappointed at Fabrications in Governmental Media: Ting Wu, the economic officer at the US embassy in Sana’a expressed the embassy’s disappointment at governmental media outlets for sending fabricated news sourcing the US embassy in Sana’a as saying that the United States believes that President Saleh must return to Yemen in order for Yemen to resolve the political and economic crisis. YP

Late update: Saleh: late night in Sanaa and Taiz, over two hours of heavy gunfire so far from pro-Saleh forces shooting in air at news of his return or good health. Simultaneous in Dhamar, Hadramout. In Aden, govt cars seen shooting live rounds (more celebration?) Over 20 wounded in Sanaa arrive at the field hospital. According to friends in Saudi Arabia, theres no report airing about Saleh’s good health and return, and Mareb Press just retracted the report that Saleh wanted to return in 24 hours. However “celebratory” gunfire continuing for hours already. The RG is going to be cranky tomorrow.

Sanaa: Ali Mohsen meets US, EU ambassadors; forces intercept two attacks on Acting President Hadi’s compound. Reports also disbursed protesters demanding a transition council, near Hadis compound, dozens injured. Vid, al Khaiwani arguing with Askar Zoail, Ali Mohsen’s extremist office manager who incited soldiers with sermons on jihad against the Houthis at a mosque in the fifth Saada war. Al Khaiwani was later nearly kidnapped. Later video indicates Zoali’s forces shooting into the air. See below for Mohsen’s role in Abyan fighting.

JMP: did not meet with Hadi, expect to meet within two days; seek Hadi’s formal declaration that Saleh’s reign is over, threaten to unilaterally create transitional council with protesters.

Protesters: demand transitional council immediately in mass demo, “In Sana’a, a spokesman for the youth-led protesters in the change square outside Sana’a University said, after thousands of people marched Street 60th, they had given a 24-hour deadline for the concerned political parties to form a transitional council otherwise the revolutionaries will do that.”

Taiz: still tense, sporadic clashes on the outskirts of town. The Al Qaeda district is the name of the suburb, not a AQAP hideout. Three killed Maweah and Thikra

Ibb : YP: Government forces clashed with armed tribesmen in Qaeda district, Ibb province, 30 miles off Taiz province. According to the tribesmen, the goal of the tribes is to get rid of all government forces attacking the people. “Security forces are now using this lawless time in the country to loot and attack civilians. We will not allow our people to be attacked and will ensure that they are safe from any attacks from pro govt thugs,” said a tribal fighter.

Hodiedah: roads leading in blocked by pro-Saleh thugs.

Saudi Arabia, “Yemen’s neighbor and the biggest GCC country, said after a June 6 Cabinet meeting chaired by King Abdullah that the proposal is still viable, and called on Saleh to accept it. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, will also send Yemen 3 million barrels of oil to alleviate fuel shortages, Yemen’s state news agency Saba reported yesterday.” ( SFgate)

Saada: Mass protests in favor of the end of the regime and against all plots on the rev.

UNICEF: Yemen facing humanitarian disaster.

State Department briefing; must read

AQAP: a decent analysis at Foreign Affairs of relation between tribes and AQAP and prospect in the post-rev phase.

Zinjibar: reduced to “hell” with fighting among unclear sides: < <"There is a cat-and-mouse game going on in the streets now between the army and armed men. I can't tell who's who among them any more,"... The fighting has reduced Zinjibar, once home to more than 50,000 people, to a ghost town without power or running water.>> Most residents of Zinjibar fled to Aden where many are sheltering in public buildings. The Central Security forces of Yahya are attacking the refugees as they flee.

The armed parties appear to be the national military, local tribesmen, local militants (both Saleh’s and Mohsen’s) and the defected army but I’m checking. Update: Gah!!! Armed members of the southern movement also maintaining security on some roads, and for sure they would be described by the regime as al Qaeda. If this is true, southerners carrying arms and creating their own security checkpoints outside local villages in various governorates, its new. (I deleted the areas where they are deployed or the regime will start bombing them.) It needs to be double checked. But being rebuffed after asking to coordinate security with the international community leaves few options. However as security fails, its likely the Southern Movement will reject new deployments by either Saleh’s forces or Mohsen’s forces. The only possibility is Aliwi who has a better reputation in the south than Hadi (as unlike Hadi he didnt attack civilians in the 1986 civil war, according to local lore.) And Mohsen is Mohsen.

Abyan: Local direct reports indicate military airplanes dropped two bombs today recently. Vid here of warplanes that bombed Abyan City, per local sources.

Another says the attack was on tribesmen who took up arms in the face of military assaults. “Ms. Novak – Greetings – I would like to clarify what is happening today in the province of pilgrimage in southern Yemen as a witness elders – the army is firing different weapons on the housing Almutnyen and Batalli tribes touched by the bombing respond and of these forces and drops dead from both sides.” Still no names on the militants leaders, but likely remnants of the localized jihaddist group AAIA operating under another new name. Upon asking, it seems that most discussions on southern forums regarding Zinjibar are operating on the assumption (as am I) that Khaledabul Nabi* is leading the jihaddists in Abyan but no eye witness confirmation. Ja’ar and Zinjibar are close enough. In 2009, Nabi was fighting on the side of Saleh in the battle of Ja’ar, another jihaddist proxy war.

Update, Southern Yemen: Ali Mohsen’s forces are in Abyan, see YT article Rebel soldiers engage militants, but are described below as “gunmen” so these could be the jihaddists as well. Majority of Mohsen’s soldiers are either graduates of Iman Univ or loyal to Zindani, per local buzz. The defected military issued a statement though that they were going to intervene in Abyan as military, and that may be what is triggering an armed (defensive) response by the southern movement if there is indeed an armed response. When the article below talks about forces loyal to Islah, it sounds like they mean armed militants loyal to Mohsen and Zindani. Maybe this is what Nuba meant by an invasion of Zindanis forces.

So Abyan could be a proxy war between Saleh and Mohsen with both sides using militants and military men and equipment. and the southerners who take defensive positions attacked by both. Now I really have a headache. Saada source comments, “That’s exactly whats happening with al Jawf,” and likely why the Houthis are fighting there, as a defensive measure.

Al Jawf/ Marib: Battles reported and continue over last months between Houthis and “Islahis” in conjunction with Mohsen’s forces, with back up from pro-Saleh forces according to news and local sources. Explains positioning of large amounts of troops there. Both the Mohsen forces and Saleh forces, militants and military, are fighting the Houthis in rotation. These developments bring into question both Mohsen’s alleged reformation and his commitment to the youth rev goals. Maybe he is just out to finally wipe out the Houthis and the Southerners. Clarification: There’s no troops on the al jawf/Saada border. Troops and militias of both Saleh (Republican Guards and militias) and Mohsen’s army and militias are on the border of Aljawf/Mareb and also inside both Aljawf and Mareb. There’s quite a number of troops in Saada but they are non-combative.

Yaf3press: Lapin: genocide and the destruction of cities, “Zanzibar and Jaar .. and forces loyal to the Reform Party (ed-Islah) and Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar involved in control of southern Yemen. (Read on …)

Sahwa Net – Forces of the Central Security stormed on Saturday Hodeidah University using live ammunition and toxic gases on protesting students, leaving dozens of students wounded and suffocated.

The Central Security also attacked the correspondent of Sahwa Net, Abdul-Hafeez Al-Hatami who was seriously wounded and taken into hospital. Al-Hatami said he was assaulted while he was covering the attacks against students, pointing out that he was enforcedly taken into a military vehicle following the attack.

Eye witnesses affirmed that forces of Central Security arrested dozens of students and they have been taken into unknown places.

The elite Republican Guard are the same units that previously received US training, funding and intel as part of efforts to stand up a credible counter-terror force. Thats so bad. As Wikileaks revealed, they had previously been diverted to fight in the Saada Wars against the Houthi rebels and citizens in Saddah. Update: Two in Taiz. Local sources indicate they were teachers and the wounded were students.

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A Yemeni opposition activist says security forces backed by army units opened fire on some of tens of thousands of protesters demanding the ouster of Yemen’s longtime president, killing two.

One protester was killed in the western port of Hodeida, and a second was killed in the southern city of Taiz when elite Republican Guard forces tried to disperse the protests by opening fire in the air, according to Nouh al-Wafi, a young Yemeni activist.

In the southern city of Aden, thousands marched against President Ali Abdullah Saleh and demanded the release of detained protesters.

There seems to be a few fake announcements coming out of the south. But the following JMP statement is real enough, a tad late, not issued in English and lacks a contact number etc. Below the fold, JMP calls for international community to take action to stop the blood shed and the US takes a less than clear position.

Yemen Post: Any government after the current regime in Yemen will be a strong ally of the international community in the war against terrorism and Al-Qaeda, spokesmen for the Joint Meeting Parties, the opposition coalition, said on Monday. The statement comes amid U.S. warnings of Al-Qaeda in Yemen amid the escalating unrest, but as the U.S. is now suggesting that Saleh stand down.

Muhammad Qahtan said the coming regime will be better than the Saleh regime which exploited the issue of Al-Qaeda and the war against terrorism to deceive the world and use the anti-terror funds for personal interests.

” Meanwhile, we welcome the interest of the GCC countries in Yemen’s stability and security as well as their support to the choice of the Yemeni people, who have been staging protests and sit-ins to call for the ouster of President Saleh. The efforts of the U.S and EU envoys to Yemen to prevent further deterioration of the country amid the current crisis are also welcome,” he said. (Read on …)

Well over 100 protesters were injured in Taiz today, ambushed shot and gassed under the stewardship of the newly transferred Gen Qairan. US Ambassador Feierstein said on Sunday that General Qairan’s removal from Aden would be a sign of good faith from Saleh regime* and chided the Yemeni public for having no faith in Saleh’s recent round of promises. I wonder how long it is going to take for him to come to the inescapable conclusion that Saleh is a compulsive liar and not reformable. The US wanted Qiran out of Aden, so Saleh sent him to attack civilians in Taiz. Is that some kind of sick joke? There’s 140 in the field hospital in Taiz, gassed and shot, including 16 girls who tried to stand their ground. This is video of the school girls talking about getting kicked out of school for joining the protests.

*The exact quote from Feierstein was, “We think that it would be useful to remove some of the senior security officials who have been involved in some of these violent or forced confrontations with demonstrators, particularly in Aden.”

In other news, the new governor in Aden promised not to use bullets in countering protesters: The security forces in Aden will not use live bullets in demonstrations following four protesters were killed in clashes with police, the newly appointed governor of Aden Ahmed al-Qa’tabi said on Wednesday in a news conference. “We have agreed with the security committee not to use live bullets…. after four persons were killed last Saturday in clashes happened in Dar Saad district of Aden”, he added.

Clashes at Marib check point kill three AQ Nasser Arrabyee reports and:

Meanwhile, two Al Qaeda operatives were arrested in a check point in the central province of Taiz where big anti-regime protests started about 40 days ago. The two men were identified by the security officials in a statement, as Khalid Saeed Ba Tarfi, alias Abu Mekdad Al Kanadi, and Ahmed Omar Abdul Jalil, alias, Al Lahji. They were described as dangerous operatives.

Ba Tarfi was known as one of the spokesmen of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP) and he is the local Emir of AQAP in the southern province of Abyan. Ba Tarfi succeeded Jamil Al Ambari, who was killed in an air strike on March 14th, 2010, in Mudiyah of Abyan province.

Alternate spelling from al Motamar: “Khalid Saeed Batarfi surnamed Abu Miqdad and called Emir of Abyan, and the second terrorist is Ahmed Omar Abdul Jalil al-Khadhmi with a surname of Amer Obel.” This could be a real capture or something for the benefit of the US, that latter more likely statistically.

In Sanaa, police opened fire and used tear gas against protesters, wounding four. Estimates are 150 people were wounded on Wednesday when security forces tried to break up a demo in Hodeidah.

Saleh released southern prisoner al Ghabari after 16 years in prison in Sanaa.

Now that the foreign journos are gone, heat ratchets up on the locals: “Journalist Fouad Rashid of the YJS Hadramout branch called on the International Federation of Journalists, the Organization of the international press and the Arab Journalists Union to intervene to stop the regime’s orders compelling broke into his house and arrest and terrorize his family, noting that it is in the public square city of Mukalla, which would not leave under any reason.”

Short vid of Saudis unloading military equipment in Aden.

“Saleh does not [need] to dialogue with anyone to start applying the rule of law.” Truly excellent analysis of overall picture from Abdulghani al Iryani, very well worth a full read: “This current regime chose to host every violent extremist that came down the road from the period since the early 1980s onwards. And so we are paying the price. Al-Iman University, a major ideological centre for violent extremists, is being supported by the regime. And it just started new branches in Omran and Hadramout with government support.”

Good write up of Zindani’s double game includes Zindani’s early history and current deals with Saleh.

Captured Brit in Libya says he is member of LIFG, “Speaking through an interpreter, Mr Aboaoba said he moved from Yemen to Britain in 2005 and travelled to Libya late last year.”
Gaddaffi using for propaganda purposes.

World Threats: Mohammad al-Zawahiri, the brother of al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was released Thursday from Egyptian prison after more than ten years of incarceration. Extradited from the Yemen in 1999, he had been held on charges of conspiring against the government in relation to the assassination of former Egypt’s former President Anwar Sadat.

In Dhalie, al Masdar reports the usual Thursday marches for the prisoners and an independent state. Although the former presidents and southern officials abroad announced a joining to the protest movement, from what I have seen and learned, there are very few in the south of Yemen whose position (the demand for an independent state) has changed since the outbreak of protests in Sanaa and Taiz. Its a major issue in that northerners are widely unaware on the depth of the southerners sentiment, their sense of separate identity, and determination to continue their struggle. Northerners who discuss it, often do it with derision.

Thousands of supporters of the movement in the southern regions of Dali and Lahj and Shabwa southern Yemen on Thursday and called on the detainee, which falls on Thursday of each week.

The demonstrators chanted slogans calling for disengagement and re-southern part independent state on what it was before 1990. Photos and raise thousands of former Yemeni Vice President Ali Salem al-Beidh, and photographs of detainees at the disposal of the southern movement and the flag of the south earlier.

The leaders of the southern movement announced its accession to the protests in Yemen to demand the toppling of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, but other militant leaders refused, saying that her case is the issue of “occupation” of the South.

vid Crater Aden, for the freedom of Baoum and a separate state:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R730tEL8mhQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xql39fyLs8w

SANAA (Reuters) – At least 120 were wounded as police and government loyalists tried to break up a rally in western Yemen demanding an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 32-year rule, a doctor said on Wednesday.

“They attacked the protesters and wounded around 120 people,” a doctor treating protesters in the Red Sea city of Hudaida said. “They were using tear gas, rubber bullets, live fire and daggers.

State says army personnel who joined protests are retired:

SANA’A, March 15 (Saba) – A military source has announced that the servicemen who have joined the sit-ins at the Sana’a University’s gate and other places are army ex-servicemen. Some of these servicemen are either retirees or expelled from the service because of infractions of the law. The source said these personnel are not in the army, noting they are wearing military uniforms to show they are still from the army.

Saudi unloads 100 armored vehicles and 300 Saudi Royal Guard in Aden port, greeted by US mil attache Bill Mooney? al Wahdawi I’ll put that on the list of things that am really hoping is incorrect.

$1.1mil Canadian military exports went to Yemen http://bit.ly/fmSjYQ 2007-2009

The latest is Ms. Afrah Nasser as profiled by Global Voices Online: Yemeni blogger, Afrah Nasser, lives near the anti-government protest area in the capital Sana’a and has been uploading photos and posts calling for revolution. Nasser is also a journalist at the Yemen Observer Newspaper. She received the following life-threatening message on Facebook on March 13 and decided to post it on her blog the next day, “so the entire world reads it“.

the old governors were reassigned to the Shura council.

New governors swear constitutional oath
[05/مارس/2011]
SANA’A,March 05(Saba) – The newly appointed governors and the Shura Council’s member took on Saturday the constitutional oath before President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The newly appointed governors are Aden Governor Ahmed Mohamed Qatabi, Hodeidah Governor Akram Abdullah Atyah, Abyan Governor Saleh Hussein al-Zawari, Hadramout Governor Khalid Saeed al-Deni and Jawf Govenror Yahya Mohamed Ghobar.

Furthermore, the newly appointed member of the Shoura Council Salem al-Khanbashi also sworn the constitutional oath before the President.

President Saleh held a meeting with the new governors and urged them to double their efforts in this posts, directing them to work to address the citizens’ problems and issues in their

Yemen Post

President Ali Abduallh Saleh dismissed on Tuesday governors of five provinces in Yemen’s southern and eastern provinces.
New decrees were issued appointing three of them members in Shura Council, and appointing the two others vices of two ministries. (Read on …)

(Its Day 12 if you don’t count the six year war in the north and the nearly four years of protests in South Yemen.)

Update: Sanaa, reports are two killed and somewhere between 10 and 26 injured after Ali Saleh’s deniable proxies open fire on protesters on Tuesday evening at Sanaa University. New national death toll is 13. Video here of rock throwing and gunfire. via email: “Our sources said that the promise of today’s attack was Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, the eldest son of President and Ammar Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, President of the National Security Service.” The National Security was set up in 2002 because the PSO is both corrupt and infiltrated by AQ; in statistical studies, the National Security is responsible for most of the attacks on journalists whether by beating, kidnapping, death threats, torture etc. The National Security reports to Ali Saleh directly.

- Iranian vessel seized in Yemen: The Yemeni Defense Ministry reported that the Iranian vessel and its crew of 13 people have been arrested in the Aden Gulf as it was illegally sailing in the Yemeni waters. Happened before many times. Yemen govt will likely say Iran smuggling weapons to Houthis but much more likely Sudan. A few days ago, an Egyptian fishing vessel was captured.

- Yemeni youth demand Sheikhs who receive monthly stipend from Libya denounce violence against Libyan people. There is a LOT of Qadaffi’s money floating around Yemen through direct monthly payments and via his charitable fund. Daughter came in oh 2006 or so and spread oodles.

- Sanaa protesters find weapons, torch car (Tuesday) News Yemen: ten injured by rent-a-thugs at Sanna Univ, CNN: Student protesters in Sanaa, Yemen, overturned a car and set it on fire Tuesday after discovering weapons inside apparently brought to a demonstration by government loyalists, a protester said…The sit-in at Sanaa University is one of at least five protests going on Tuesday in Yemen. There were others in Aden and Taiz, and in the provinces of Ibb and Lahj.

- Dhalie teachers protest broken up by tear gas, batons and live fire News Yemen & reports, journo harrassed, Teachers have had periodic strikes to demand the implementation of the 2005 Wages Strategy. HOOD one serious injury, 16 wounded total, one LC member arrested. (Tuesday)

- People beaten in Hodeidah (Monday?)

- Protests in Hadramout, Yemen Post: About 5,000 anti-government protesters gathered in eastern Yemen calling for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime. Demonstrators marched on Tuesday in the eastern town of Al-Shiher, chanting “Down, down with Saleh.”

- Shoot-out in Marib with al Qaeda (Monday) ( SABA) Marib province have arrested the al-Qaeda leader Abdullah Maodhah ,while he was heading for Shabwa province with a group of terrorists. Governor of Mareb Naji al-Zayidi said that three soldiers were killed in a fire exchange between policemen and gunmen came to support Maodhah. The accident caused the killing of two civilians and one injured, in addition to wounding six soldiers

- Security intimidates, shoots protesters in Taiz (Sunday) Youtube vid here: military car drives into crowd, shooting. Vid gunshot victim here. Video of Liberty Square in Taiz, February 22, 2011.

- Clerics back Saleh, mixed messages from al Zindani, JMP and Hamid al Ahmar, great article, overview of groupings & positions Nassar Arabyee, worth full read, here’s part:

Nasser Arrabyee The association of the Yemeni clerics held an exceptional meeting on Monday February 21st, 2011, and said in a statement President Saleh should remove all corrupts around him and take “serious steps” for reforms.

One of the most influential Yemeni cleric said the opposition must take to streets only if President Saleh has not accepted their conditions for a guaranteed peaceful transfer of power.

“A national unity government must be formed, with the most important ministries shared between the opposition and the ruling party, to prepare for elections within six month,” said Sheik Abdul Majid Al Zandani, a leader in the largest Islamist opposition party, and chairman of the religious university of Al Eyman.

first message: soldiers beating demonstrators from civil society activists and students of the University of Sana’a
Loss of connectivity Tawakkol Kerman (head of WYWC)
Samia Aghbari get transported to the hospital
Loss of contact with the lawyer, Khaled al-Ansi (HOOD)
MP Ahmed Saif Hashed beaten, electrocuted and burned some of his clothes

more: I heard from some witnesses that Samia al-Aghbari, a journalist and a human rights activist, has been seriously injured and put to hospiatal. (####) told me that he saw the security beating her.

Update: She was surrounded by a crowd of thugs (security in plain clothes) and beaten until she fell and her head hit the floor. That’s what I’m getting. It also appears the Yemeni security forces are TASERING activists, bastards. Khaled has been released. Samia is still in the hospital 11:20 am EST. The constant challenge over the last six years that I’ve been covering Yemen has always been not cursing.

Update: They took CNN’s videos, bad move. And Saleh canceled his trip to the US.

Sanaa, Yemen (CNN) – Hundreds of anti-government protesters marched toward a presidential palace in Yemen on Sunday, calling for regime change in the Middle Eastern country.

Some of them chanted, “First Mubarak, now Ali,” referring to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Hosni Mubarak, who recently resigned as president of Egypt after nearly 30 years in power.

Security forces put up a barbed wire barricade and blocked the protesters’ path about two miles from the palace. At that point, the situation intensified as protesters turned away and attempted to reach the palace through side streets.

Clashes between protesters and police were reported by witnesses.

According to Tawakkol Karman, a prominent Yemeni rights activist and president of Women Journalists Without Chains, anti-riot police then “went into the crowd of protesters with batons and tasers,” attempting to disperse them. Karman said she and other protesters were hit with sticks and that at least 12 people were arrested.

One of those arrested, human rights lawyer Khaled Al-Anesi, has since been released.

The CNN crew at the scene was surrounded by security officers, who seized the journalists’ videotapes. (Read on …)

‎Al Iman is headed by Sheik Abdulmagid al Zindani, a specially listed terrorist and political ally of President Saleh. Anwar al Awlaki was a teacher at al Iman and is a member of AQAP which claimed the suicide attack in a written statement. The Houthis have denied that Badr al Din was killed in the attack and say he died of natural causes the next day. Update: Below the fold is an article from from Naba that I’ve been meaning to post since last week about the arrest of six al Iman students in Taiz (who trained in at a mosque in Hodeidah) for terror related charges including a plot to attack the governor of Taiz and vital installations. One member of the cell was killed 10/25/10 aboard a motorcycle when his bomb exploded prematurely.

‎”Aden Times – Special Monday 06/12/2010 Announced local sources Yemen on Monday implicated members of the University of Islamic Faith and administered by Sheikh Abdul Majeed al Zindani-a prominent cleric in Yemen- in the assassination of the spiritual leader Badr Eddin al, who had already announced Houthis his death in November 24 (November) last year. The Yemeni police detained a number of employees of the Islamic University, which take from the capital of Yemen, Sana’a based on suspicion of carrying out the assassination of those. (Read on …)

Very similar to al Jasheen in Ibb and another village in Taiz, Hodeida is suffering violent anarchy resulting from the abdication of the state to its tribal proxies. In the case of al Jasheen, Parliament convened committees twice and there were attempted official field visits. The residents have been camped out in Sana’a protesting and demanding the state enforce the law, to no avail. Also below the fold, the YOHR report on the private prions in Hodieda. On a related note, there is a “strange epidemic” in Hodeida al Barakish reports, spreading quickly. Symptoms include high fever, severe pain in the joints, and some patients develop acute diarrhea.

Powerful Sheikh kills two people and enforce boycott on village 3/10/2010 – Sahwa Net

Sahwa Net- People of Kazaba village of Hodeida governorate have appealed the Attorney-General, President of Yemen, Prime Minister, Speaker of Parliament and all Human Rights groups to intervene and save their lives from a powerful sheikh who surrounds their village with 40 gunmen. In a statement, they said that the sheikh’s gang killed two of them and wounded five others who were taken to a hospital in the capital Sana’a, pointing out that they could not go out from their homes or practice their works. (Read on …)

HODEIDAH, Yemen, Sept. 9 (UPI) — The death toll from flooding in western Yemen has climbed to 56, an official says. Heavy rainfall in the Hodeidah province in western Yemen along the Red Sea resulted in two newly confirmed deaths, Yemen’s SABA news agency said. It did not name its medical source.

The latest victims include a child and his pregnant mother, the report said. Flooding in Yemen’s al-Jarrahi district recently killed 11 people, SABA said.

Yemen Times

HODEIDA, August 18 — Dialysis patients in Hodeida have been waiting since last Sunday without treatment due to lack of materials in the governmental Center for Nephrology and Urology in the city.

On Sunday, women and men waited outside the center for treatment, although the materials required for dialysis had run out. (Read on …)

Random guys, wanted al Qaeda, and/or security forces

News YemenTwo wanted, allegedly al-Qaeda suspects, were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in the province of Hodeidah, west of Yemen early Sunday.

The three men refused to stop at a checkpoint in Hodeidah and started gunshot with security forces, who killed two and arrested the third one, official sources told News Yemen, but declined to identify the three men as al-Qaeda suspects. Reuters quoted a security as claming that the three men are suspected al-Qaeda members.

AlSahwa Net quoted security sources as saying that one of the three suspects, identified as Qais al-Jabobi, was carrying an ID of the National Security and the two others were carrying IDs of the Central Security.

Update: Or maybe they were random al Qaeda with ID from the National Security:

Yemen Post: Two wanted people were killed and an officer was injured on Sunday in an exchange of gunfire between three fugitives and police in western Yemen.

Security sources said that the fugitives whom the Interior Ministry alerted the security authorities about their car as wanted a week ago clashed with police at Alshamalia checkpoint in Hodeida province.

Before the incident, the three convinced other checkpoints they were national security officials using forged IDs, according to the Alsahwa website. But when the checkpoint was alerted about them, they could not pass and then started firing at police, forcing police to return fire.

As a result, two of them were killed identified as Qais Al-Jabobi, holding a national security ID, and Majed Saleh, a central security soldier. The third was arrested and is now being investigated to know the motives of the shooting.

Jane Novak, Yemen Times: The announcement that al Qaeda in Yemen’s (AQIY) leadership escaped to Somalia in recent weeks is not the end of Yemen’s terrorism woes, but may instead signal the Yemeni al Qaeda group is taking a leading regional role among al Qaeda factions from Saudi Arabia to Somalia and beyond.

The flight of al Qaeda’s leadership is at best a temporary move and at worst may be an indication of continuing collusion between Yemeni President Saleh and terrorists seeking to harm the US.

Al Qaeda in Yemen dubbed itself “Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” in January 2009 after it integrated Saudi al Qaeda figures driven to Yemen by the kingdom’s harsh counter-terror measures. Last month Saudi Arabia announced the arrest of over 100 al Qaeda operatives including 51 Yemenis. Explosive belts were seized. Saudi authorities reported the group had been planning attacks on oil and security targets inside the kingdom on orders from leaders in Yemen, indicating the group’s continued focus on and capacity within Saudi Arabia. Al Qaeda’s movement from Yemen to Somalia is much different than its earlier shift from Saudi Arabia to Yemen.

By air or by sea?
The relative ease with which these wanted leaders exited Yemen is an indication of the weakness of Yemen’s effort in combating the group. One group of about 15 AQIY operatives including prominent leaders departed the al Mukalla port in early March, Yemeni sources reported. The exiled AQIY group issued orders from Somalia to cells in Yemen to cease activities, communication and meetings until the end of June by when they expect Yemeni security efforts to relax.

Mukallah is a primary debarkation point for illegal weapons flooding into Somalia. The UN monitoring group on the Somali arms embargo found that the lack of regular Coast Guard patrols in al Mukalla “means that arms traffic continues unabated.” The port is under the control of the Republican Guard, headed by President Saleh’s son, and the Central Security, headed by his nephew and is notorious as a drug smuggling hub as well.

Somali sources tell a different story. An al Qaeda group arrived in Somalia from Yemen via plane disguised as humanitarian workers. Somalia officials said 12 Yemeni commanders arrived in the last two weeks of March and were carrying cash to aid the al Qaeda linked al Shabab’s recruiting efforts. Somali Treasury Minister Abdirahman Omar Osman said that AQIY’s purpose in Somalia was to “assess the situation to see if al Qaeda may move its biggest military bases to southern Somalia since they are facing a lot of pressure in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

The designation of AQIY as al Qaeda Central’s forward scouts and terror tutors in Somalia indicates the predominance of the group among all regional affiliates, a function of the comfort level that the core al Qaeda has with its Yemeni affiliate.

Hybred al Qaeda
Al Qaeda in Yemen is unique among terror groups due to its enmeshment with the state. The Yemeni government portrayed al Qaeda’s exodus as an indication of its success in cracking down on the terror group, but President Saleh’s regime has a long history of appeasement and facilitation of al Qaeda. Aspects of the security, military and intelligence forces have long been co-opted by al Qaeda operatives, sympathizers and veterans.

The Yemeni al Qaeda and Al Qaeda Central, specifically bin Laden and Zawaheri, have long standing ties with President Saleh. Bin Laden notoriously advised his minions in Afghanistan to surrender, not fight, if they were captured in Yemen. Ayman al Zawaheri was reportedly in and out of Yemen through the 1990’s and again in 2001. Saleh released Khalid bin Attash from jail at the request of bin Laden in 1999, the 9/11 commission found. Attash later went on to a leading role in the terror attack on the USS Cole.

State resources comprise an essential part of al Qaeda in Yemen’s infrastructure. Conversely, the Yemeni regime has used al Qaeda as mercenaries in the Sa’ada Wars (2004-2010) and trains them in state run camps.

While President Saleh may lack both the will and capacity to combat al Qaeda, Yemeni tribes resent the intrusion of al Qaeda, their foreign ideology and norms, and have created an inhospitable environment in many areas. A study by Sarah Phillips at the Carnegie Foundation found that “Al-Qaeda’s goal of establishing an international caliphate, propensity for extreme violence against civilians, and hard-line religious ideology conflict with local norms and weaken al-Qaeda’s appeal to the Yemeni people, including the tribes.”

A new deal?
The relocation may be the fruition of an earlier offer by President Saleh bribing the group to leave Yemen. The Telegraph reported that in January 2009, Yemen offered to free all imprisoned al-Qaeda militants if the group agreed to leave the country. President Saleh also offered money to the AQIY’s leadership. Yemen released over 100 jihaddists as a good will gesture to al Qaeda and then defended the release internationally as good governance. According to a former government official, Tariq al Fadhli, the men were al Qaeda members and the move was part of the broader negotiation with al Qaeda.

The duplicity of the Yemeni government is notorious, extensive and sometime comical. Authorities announced the death, three times, of AQIY leader Qasim al Reimi although he is alive. A March report by the Yemeni weekly Attagammua indicated that Ammar al Waeli, reported killed by the authorities is fact in Saada, alive and well and recruiting for al Qaeda. Al Waeli was listed on a US 2002 seeking information bulletin, implicated in the 2007 murder of eight Spanish tourists and two Yemeni guides in Mareb and declared dead by Yemeni authorities on January 15, 2010.

This level of duplicity is long standing. In 2004, Yemen reported to the US that Aden Abyan Army leader Khalidabdul Nabi was killed in a firefight when in reality he had been captured and let go.