Armies of Liberation

All the reporting about Dammaj is skewed one way or another. The article below is from Yemen Fox, an outlet of Gen. Ali Mohsen al Ahmar, and says the Houthis looted the relief convoys. The Houthis have an opposite story–the relief convoys were smuggling weapons into the school. It is sadly ironic that one of Ali Abdullah Saleh’s war crimes is the denial of international aid to the citizens in Houthi held areas of Saada for years, and now one of the main humanitarian issues regarding the current clashes is the lack of food in the school.

However the numbers of foreign students killed in the fighting are undisputed as is the fact that the siege is not completely lifted, impacting the women and children at the school. Only France and Russia called the school regarding the identity of the dead, although Sheik al Hajoree’s phone number is widely published on the web (usually in the context of refuting those who say they are collecting money for the school.)

Yemen Fox: Human Rights Information Center in Sana’a and Office of Media Coordination for beleaguered people of Dammaj condemned continuous violations by Houthis in Sa’adah against relief convoys for Dammaj Area.

“Despite the announcement of Houthis to lift blockade from Dammaj according to reconciliation convention sponsored by Sheik Hussein al-Ahmar, Houthis still denied access of relief convoys to Dammaj Area,” said Human Rights Information Center in Sana’a and Office of Media Coordination for beleaguered people of Dammaj in press release Sunday morning in Sana’a.

During the press release, Women’s Committee of Solidarity with the children and women of Dammaj was declared headed by Rasheeda al-Qaily, Member of Council of Peaceful Revolution Forces.

Human Rights Information Center in Sana’a and Office of Media Coordination for beleaguered people of Dammaj asserted that Houthis confiscated two relief convoys of Dammaj since the announcement of reconciliation convention, sponsored by Hussein al-Ahmar, one of which organized by Women’s Committee of Solidarity with the children and women of Dammaj estimated at more than YR 5 million.

Delegated member to accompany the relief convoy which started from the Change Square in Sana’a, Abdul-Malek al-Shaibani, said in the press conference that the convoy started from Sana’a on Friday 22 December after the announcement of the convention sponsored by Sheik Hussein al-Ahmar.

Shaibani added that Houthis held back the convoy in al-Amsheea from Harf Sufian side, adding that Houthis confiscated cell phones, copies of the Holy Quran, Janbyas and money of the committee accompanying the convoy. He pointed out that Houthis conveyed him to Al Amar Area and arrested him in a school used as prison for them.

“They emptied the load of the convoy and stole it,” said Shaibani, pointing out that the prison where he was arrested there was of other detainees who Houthis had arrested due to rejection to pay Zakat to Houthis.

Shaibani asserted that Houthis investigated him and accused him of transferring military supply to Dammaj, pointing out that focus of the investigation was concentrated on asking him about his doctrine. He said that they insulted the Companions of the Prophet in front of him in an attempt to provoke him.

During the press conference, the total number of dead foreigners fell in Dammaj was revealed. Wounded foreigners were 41 while dead foreigners reached 32 people. They dead were 5 Indonesians, 5 Algerians, 4 Russians, 4 French, 4 Libyans, 2 of the Sudan, one Iraqi, 2 Americans, an Ethiopian, an Indian, a British, a Malaysian and a Somali.

The committee which organized the conference condemned the ignorance of embassies of states of those dead foreigners from following their citizens who died in Dammaj, pointing out that only French and Russian embassies had contacted Dammaj Center to inquire about the identities of their killed people.

The committee said that dead of Yemenis of Dammaj people during clashes with Houthis reached 41 people including 6 children and two women one of whom was old. The number of wounded of children and women reached 25 wounded including 6 children and 19 women.

Then the update from the Yemen Times has the Houthis accusing Saudi Arabia of instigating sectarianism, a run down on the fighting in Hajjah and battling accusations of state collusion: “The Houthis released a statement on Wednesday evening accusing Saleh’s 101st Brigade of handing military sites to pro-Salafi tribes in Kittaf. For his part, Al-Yamani denied the Houthis’ accusations and said they are baseless, insisting that the 101st Brigade, led by general Fadl Hasan, is neutral.”

Update 3: vid

Update 2: More from the Yemen Post:

One Salafi student was killed in clashes between the Shia Houthi Movement and the extreme Sunni Salafi movement in the northern Yemen Sa’ada province.

The escalations between both groups started when Houthis claimed that Salafis are entering weapons inside their educational institutions in the town of Dammaj, and demanded that all military posts are emptied.
(Read on …)

The following interview with the manager of Saada Radio gives a glimpse into Saada and al Jawf including the recent clashes between the Houthis and local Islahis:

Yemen Times
Q: But, some locals in Sa’ada told us that the Houthis do not allow anyone to air an opinion against them, for instance, describing them as Twelver Shiites.

A: First of all it is misleading to say that the Houthis are Twelver Shiites. They are not. They are Zaydis.

Are you a Houthi?

No I’m not Houthi, I’m a state-employee at Sa’ada Radio. We used to be against the Houthis. I’m Zaydi and over 99 percent of the population in Sa’ada is Zaydi, but there is no group here called Twelver Shiites.

And it is not true that the Houthis prohibit others from expressing their opinions. If this were true, they would prevent the Salafists from practicing their traditions such as Taraweeh prayer [a prayer done at night during Ramadan after the Al-Esha festival], which does not exist in the Zaydi school.

But if you went to Sa’ada today, you would find the religious traditions of both Zaydis and Salafists performed in their mosques with no problems. They are not going to bring their prayers out of the mosque and argue that our Zaydi School approves of this religious practice. And not only Salafists, but Islahis practice there as well.

There is also hard-core group of Salafists called Muqbil group. They are extremists and they have their school in Damaj, Sa’ada. They carry out their traditions in complete freedom. (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.

An unfortunate counterpart to my earlier post about the Saleh regime distributing weapons. Ali Mohsen is such bad news. I have no doubt this is true. This pipeline (from al Iman to Ali Mohsen’s nearby camp) has been in place for years. I wrote about it in 2005 and people thought I was nuts but its all coming out now. A few years ago there were some Somali students who returned and perhaps are with al Shabab now. Also this journalist is among the most professional, independent and neutral in Yemen where most papers are affiliated with a party or cause and spin the news.

Nasser Arrabye; Weapon pieces were and are distributed to sincere supporters of both the largest Islamist opposition party, Islah, and Saleh’s party in the neighborhoods of Sana’a city at least, according to people who already received their weapon pieces over the last few weeks.

Furthermore, about 2,000 students from El Eman fundamentalist University, run by the extremist cleric Abdul Majid Al Zandani, have been receiving weapons and military training in the 1st armored division of the defected general Ali Muhsen, according to some students who believe that doing this is Jihad.

“Yes, we joined training courses with Ali Muhsen about one month ago, now I have my gun and I safeguard as a sentry,” Said the 20-year old student who identified himself only as Jamil.

“I’m very happy to work with a straightforward and devout man like Ali Muhsen,” said Jamil who now works as a sentry close to his university El Eman which is adjacent to 1st armored division of Ali Muhsen at the northern outskirt of the capital Sana’a.

Update: what a lot of flack I got over this post.

Al Shameri is a very interesting guy, close to Ali Mohsen al Ahmar, with a lot of connections to disparate groups. Supposedly al Shamari was carrying a half million dollars to dole it out to Yemeni students in Egypt but that’s unbelievable.

New Age: Yemen’s ambassador to Egypt was robbed by gunmen, who stole about 594,000 dollars in cash, security sources told the German Press Agency dpa on Wednesday. (Read on …)

Yemenat started an English page, excellent news. Click here for photos of the protest and other English language articles.

Yemen security arrests 8 protesters shout for Saleh overthrow,
By Abdullah Al-Qubati, for Yemenat

Sanaa- Hundreds demonstrated Saturday in Sanaa calling for the president Saleh and his regime for step down.

A security crackdown imposed blockade on entrances of the Sanaa university to prevent students stream from move to street rally. (Read on …)

The last time there were widespread protests against Saleh was the 2005 oil riots which overtook the whole country. This is different because there’s no easy way to placate the protesters (like reinstating the subsidies as occurred in 2005 after some tribesmen highjacked oil tankers). One similarity is that Al Motamar reports that university officials deny that any students attended the rallies and imply as usual that its all a JMP plot.

SANAA, Yemen January 22, 2011, NPR: Thousands of Yemeni protesters have called for the ouster of their president after 32 years in power. (Read on …)