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