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 …)

Wow. That’s an interesting stat. The way it was explained to me is there is the headquarters of the Dar al Hadieth Institute in Dammaj, Saada and eight major flagship schools serving hundreds or thousands of resident students each, and hundreds of smaller outposts sprinkled all over Yemen. Recently the connection between the al Qaeda training camp at Abu Jabarah and the Dammaj Institute in Saada became clearer. The school is well funded.

Ahram: It is true that graduates of the Saudi-financed Salafi schools spread throughout the poverty-stricken country can be recruited easily by extremist groups. “Graduates of these schools are almost ready to be Al-Qaeda members,” Said Obaid, chairman of the Al-Jemhi Centre for Researches and Studies, a think tank specialised in Al-Qaeda affairs, told Al-Ahram Weekly.

Obaid mentioned in particular the first ever Dammaj Centre in Saada which was founded by the late Salafi cleric Mukbel Al-Wadi who graduated from the Saudi Wahabi schools. Nearly 4,000 schools now are offspring of Dammaj which was founded in late 1980s.

“The top leader of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, Nasser Al-Wahaishi, graduated from such a school,” said Obaid, who studied for a while in Dammaj before he became a researcher and the author of the book Al-Qaeda in Yemen. “The leader of Al-Qaeda in Mudia Jamil Al-Ambori, who was killed in a security operation last March and other prominent members are alumni.”

Update: And members of the Commission as announced by the President consisting of “Sheikh Abdel Majid al-Zindani, Judge Ahmed Mohammed al-Shami, Mohammed Ismail, Urban, and Hussein Mohammed Hadar, and Ali Baruiz, Ahmed Bamwalim, Mohammed Ali Marei, Abdul Malik minister, Omar Bin Hafeez, Nasser al-Shaibani, Abdullah Bahermz “.

OP: The JMP already discounted and disowned them as part of the dialog. Saleh is stressing the importance of grounding the discussion in religious legitimacy. Meanwhile the scholars position has been that opposition to Saleh is illegitimate under Islamic law. Al Masiri, the Salafi head of the Dar al Hadieth institute in Marib, said as much on TV during a rally during the 2006 presidential campaign

President receives dialog reference scholars committee SANA’A, Sep. 21 (Saba) – President Ali Abdullah Saleh met here on Tuesday with the scholars committee formed early in September as a reference for the national issues, including the national dialog. (Read on …)

I’m dubious and I hope its an inaccurate assessment.

Al Qaeda-trained Americans Washington Times: The FBI is working to track down several hundred American Muslims who traveled to Yemen in recent months and received training there at the hands of the al Qaeda terrorist group, according to U.S. government officials.

Intelligence reports from Yemen indicated that as many as 300 of the U.S. Islamist trainees had been given terrorist training and that many had converted to Islam while in U.S. prisons. It is not known specifically when the American al Qaeda trainees made the journey to Yemen, or — more significantly — how many of them returned to the United States, said officials familiar with U.S. counterterrorism intelligence and operations. (Read on …)

Dammaj??? Why would the Houthis want to hold a rally in Dammaj? A ceremony for the families of the war dead. (I guess Dammaj wasn’t bombed during the war, and the Yemeni and Saudi air forces only made terrible bombing “mistakes” on pro-rebel villages.) The article aptly describes Dammaj as a pro-government stronghold. It also among the main Salafi strongholds in Yemen and includes the world renounced Dammaj Islamic Institute, headquarters of the Dar al Hadieth chain of schools. Dammaj has faced allegations for years of recruiting some or maybe a few of its students for al Qaeda.

Seven were killed in the clash between the rebels and the “pro-government tribal fighters.” Much of Yemen’s pro-government tribal fighters were trained or include known al Qaeda figures. For example, Ammar al Waeli is there now, although the government says he is dead. In the fifth war, 2005, it was Khalid Abdul Nabi who, oddly enough, the government reported as dead in 2004. This is really an odd development.

Update: It was in the context of a week long series of rallies to highlight the thousands of orphans and widows who need support.

WaPo: SANAA (Reuters) – A gunfight between Yemeni Shi’ite rebels and pro-government fighters killed seven people in the deadliest clash since a February truce calmed a northern war, officials said Thursday.

The clash broke out after dozens of armed rebels descended on a village — said to be a pro-government stronghold — for a rally in support of families of rebels killed in the war that raged on and off since 2004, a local official said.

The tribal fighters, who fought alongside the state in the war, tried to stop the rebel rally, and a melee erupted.

“The Houthis wanted to hold a rally in Damaj but the locals prevented them. They engaged in a quarrel, which escalated to an armed clash in which three tribesmen and four Houthis were killed,” a local official said, referring to the rebels by the clan name of their leader, Abdel Malek al-Houthi. A rebel official confirmed a clash had occurred.

could be anything… Later reports say they are French. Random Dhamar factoids:Yahay Al-Amri, the former Governor of Sa’ada, described as a “pro-Salafi active advocate” is Governor of Dhamar (a predominantly Zeidi stronghold and learning center). Complaints have been reported by residents there of forced takeovers of Zeidi Mosques by Salafi preachers (as occurred in Sa’ada). Also the second largest Dar al-Hadith Institute is in Maber, Dhamar headed by Sheik Mohammed al-Imam al-Reimi, a former student of Sheik al-Wadi. Armed guards protect the institute which has a capacity of 1500-2000 students.

26 September Net: Police in Yemen’s central Dhamar province have arrested two Europeans while training in marksmanship. Two rifles were seized with the foreigners who were arrested at Naqil al-Mashana in Jahran district, the Interior Ministry reported on Sunday. They were both 24 years old and one with an Arab name. An investigation is underway. saba