Sheikh Khalid al Dhahab said in a later newspaper interview: “the remnants of the Saleh regime facilitated the gunmen to enter the city Radaa and the idea of formation and the establishment of the “solution and the contract” and the requirement by the “supporters of sharia law” to change the heads of districts and directors of offices services in the city of Radaa is to legitimize the rule of al-Qaeda through the establishment of Islamic emirate in Radaa, and remnants of the Saleh regime seek to make Radaa Islamic emirate.”

al Tagheer, link

9/23/11 HRF: Cables released by Wikileaks reveal that Slobodan Tesic, a Serbian arms dealer, contracted in 2009 to sell $95 million worth of sniper rifles, antiaircraft guns, and other arms and ammunition to the Yemen Ministry of Defense. As scores of unarmed protestors continue to be killed by the Yemeni government in renewed violence this week, possibly by these same weapons, Human Rights First renews its call for the United States to actively pressure the networks that enable brutal violence against civilians and grave human rights abuses.

Tesic has previously been connected with weapon sales in Liberia, Libya, Iraq, and elsewhere. He is subject to a U.N. travel ban for violating an arms embargo in Liberia. In 2002, he shipped “enough bullets to kill the entire population of Liberia,” enabling the former Liberian President Charles Taylor’s alleged war crimes. The arms dealer is also connected with weapon sales to Iraq and to terrorist regimes. Despite Tesic’s clear embargo violation and connection with atrocities, he was able to work with the Albanian Ministry of Defense to bring weapons into Libya in 2010, and contract with the Yemeni government in 2009. The influx and proliferation of weapons in the region has helped fuel significant violence against civilians and other human rights abuses.

News Yemen

The official media said he was killed at the hands of the protesters

Family of the martyr Jaradi: we were able to extract his body from the Republican and mediated by the government offered us 2 million riyals 29/10/2011

Said the old family of the martyr Mohammad Jaradi The government offered 2 million riyals for the funeral of their parents in their backs on the seventy-screen TV to accuse the band of Yemen murder.

And subjected to gunshot Jaradi in the eye during the suppression by the security forces

and opposition Blatjh of a demonstration area Iilathaoualmadi bottom.
Family and that martyr’s widow said yesterday in Sana’a NewsYemen The central security forces abducted his body during the massacre committed by the bottom, and took him to the Republican Hospital.

She added that after the massacre has been continued through the mobile phone and emails were received by a woman, as a soldier in the belief the Central Security, and did not show her that he was martyred, but after several contacts at the hospital told her that the republic.

Said his son, the martyr that the government offered 2 million riyals for the funeral of their parents in the seventy-backs on the screen space of Yemen to accuse the band with his murder, but they refused.

The wife of the martyr that the hospital administration refused to remove his body until Wednesday, after the mediation and were able to transfer to a hospital in the sciences.

The wife of the martyr was surprised what she called a slut and the official media (the space of Yemen and Saba), through its exploitation of the martyr and image display, and bring the women lamenting the murder and that of the population of the bottom.

The wife said, “We are not a resident of the bottom, and live in Tunis Street for years,” and my husband went out that day to participate in the demonstration.

She said that her husband was involved in the demonstrations demanding the departure of the benefit system since the launch of the youth revolution.

Damage not caused by shelling, four jets damaged and possible inside job, airport receiving.

National

Another military official, who also requested anonymity, said the blast on Sunday night inside the military base could be a signal of division in the air force led by Mohammed Saleh Al Ahmar, the half brother of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Mr Saleh, in power for 33 years, has refused to heed regional and international calls to step down, and his military forces have launched a brutal crackdown on protesters that has left hundreds dead and thousands more wounded.

The blast came amid reports that Mr Saleh’s forces were bringing weapons to the military base….On Sunday, thousands of Yemeni youths protested at the port in Hodiedah, where opposition party media claim the rockets were brought in to arm the jets. In a statement, the protesters condemned turning the port into a gateway for arms that will be used against the people of Yemen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15515532

Yemen has shut its international airport in the capital Sanaa after explosions were reported at an adjacent air force base.

A number of blasts were heard at the al-Daylami base, prompting flights to be rerouted from Sanaa International Airport to Aden.

Sanaa has been wracked by fighting between forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his opponents.

Tens of thousands protest regularly for an end to his 33-year rule.
Transfer of power

Residents and witnesses said at least one shell had hit the air base.

One aviation official told Agence France-Presse news agency: “There were four explosions at the air force base alongside the international airport and two fighter jets went up in flames.”

No-one has yet said they carried out any attack and no casualties have been reported.

Flights have been diverted to Aden in the south of the country.

Clashes continue between pro- and anti-Saleh factions.

Reuters news agency quoted tribal sources as saying four people were killed by army shelling in the Arhab area, north of the capital, overnight.

The UN Security Council has called on President Saleh to step down immediately and has condemned excessive force against protesters, hundreds of whom have died since the unrest began in January.

Mr Saleh has so far failed to implement a political solution based on a plan put forward by the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), which urges him to transfer power to his deputy.

Yemen Times SANA’A, Oct 12 — In his major speech, Yemen’s embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh, on Saturday, accused defected major general Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar of aiding armed Islamists. It is believed that these Islamists are of the same consortium that took control of Abyan late last May.

This speech was Saleh’s second since his return from Saudi Arabia after three months of medical treatment for injuries he sustained during an assassination attempt at his presidential palace early last June.

During his meeting on Saturday with a number of Shoura and Parliament members President Saleh said, “since 2006 and me winning the elections and the JMP losing and the country has been in continuous turmoil. One of the lawless and defecting generals [Ali Muhsin Al-Ahmar] calls a military commander in Abyan [Mohammed Al-Somali] asking him to surrender Abyan to the revolutionaries and we will pull themselves as Al-Qaeda from the areas

“Where are the American Intelligence and the FBI? They keep pestering us day and night about Al-Qaeda? But I am still siding with the war against terrorism and its supporters,” said Saleh.

However this accusation by Saleh against the defected army which sided with the peaceful revolution demanding an end to Saleh’s 33-year rule came only one week ago when the Yemen’s air-force bombarded a military position in the center of war-torn Zunjbar belonging to the defected army. This took place whilst they advanced in the city against the armed Islamists, according to Anis Mansour, an expert on Al-Qaeda and a local journalist in Aden who has reported exclusive news on the recent development in Abyan.

Mansour claims that his sources in the military and local areas provide him with details and facts of the battles. He explained that he knows three of Al-Qaeda’s members who were killed late last August during fighting in Abyan against the army and they were identified as agents of Saleh’s regime.

“The intelligence service leader’s son in Al-Jawf was one of those who lost his life in the fighting in Abyan. It was he who was battling with the armed Islamists,” said Mansour.

“ Another son of prominent tribal leader, Sagheer Bin Azeez in Amran governorate who is loyal to president Saleh was killed while was fighting with the armed Islamists,” he said.

Further, he said, “there are local tribesmen in Abyan loyal to the Islah Party — the opposition Islamic party — who fought against Al-Qaeda recently. It is they who supplied the blockaded 25th Mechanic brigade that sided with the revolution through the provision of food during the three-month siege imposed on the military camp by the armed Islamists.

However, last July, Yemen’s air-force shelled the military position that belonged to the opposition tribal forces fighting against Al-Qaeda and killed around 40 tribesmen and wounded others, according to Mansour. Further, a teenager from Ashal tribe in Abyan whose tribe has supported the defected army against Al-Qaeda in Abyan was assassinated in September in the capital Sana’a for their position against Al-Qaeda, according to Mansour.

“The position of the Islah party [which is the most tangible opposition party to defected Al-Ahmar] is clear on the premise that Al-Qaeda is a terrorist organization. They do also believe that Al-Qaeda was made by Saleh to use it as a bargaining card to remain in the power,” Mansour said.

Three days ago, a house in the Musaimair district of Lahj governorate belonging to a tribal leader loyal to the defected general Al-Ahmar was destroyed by Saleh’s security forces. The security agents claimed that “the tribal leader is a spy for the defected general.” “In fact the military brigades who sided with the revolution are fighting fiercely and with clear determination against Al-Qaeda, but Saleh’s loyal army hinders their advances in order to prolong the battle against Al-Qaeda in Abyan. This is a merely a political tool,” he said.

Warning: ‘Islamic emirate of Ja’ar’ being established in Abyan, Yemen. emptyquarter
However, according to Mansour, the defected general Al-Ahmar has his own loyal jihadists in Abyan.

“Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar has his own terrorist group commanded by the two well-known Jihadists in Abyan: Khaled Abd Al-Nabi and Abd Alateef Al-Sayed. The two concerned fled Abyan one month after the battle between armed Islamists and army started in Abyan. Mansour elaborated, “this group is known as jihadists as well and they are moving upon orders from the general Ali Mohsen,” he said. Tareq Al-Fadli, a former Yemeni jihadist based in Abyan who fought in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union is a brother-in-law to the defected general as the latter is married to Al-Fadli’s sister. This former jihadist is closely connected to the jihadists commanded by Abd Al-Nabi. Al-Nabi is an ally of the defected general, according to Anees Mansour.

Conclusion

“There is concrete evidence that supports the opposition’s claim that Saleh’s regime has been prolonging the fighting against Al-Qaeda in Abyan. This is in order to utilize that as card for Saleh to remain in power,” said Mansour.

“Tribesmen loyal to the army against Al-Qaeda were bombarded last July, defected army teams who were advancing inside Zunjbar was air-raided on Oct 1st who were forced to move backward while they were progressing much and were about to take control of Zunjbar.,” he said.

According to Mansour that which is taking place in Abyan is well-linked to the political crisis in the capital and “when this crisis finishes in Sana’a, the Al-Qaeda-army battle in Abyan will be resolved immediately.”

Khaled Abd Al-Nabi, commander of Islamic Jihadists who are an ally to the defected general Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar has been imprisoned many times, but was released with no explanations which hints that military leaders in top positions from both the defected and Saleh’s camps are in contact with the armed Islamists.

Each party uses Al-Qaeda to achieve some political purposes.

The armed Islamists who are dominant in Abyan at the moment, and known as “The Islamic law supporters” have links with Al-Qaeda but large numbers of its members are intelligence agents. Not all are aware of the status of their fellow Islamists, according to Mansour.

Saeed Ubaid Al-Jemhi, another Yemeni expert on Al-Qaeda and author of “Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” has often told then Yemen Times that both the regime and the opposition have been playing the Al-Qaeda card to get the western support for power.”

Its just doesn’t add up as actual AQAP somehow. Maybe a splinter faction from the amorphous group in Abyan, but its too early to tell. Maybe another one of those last seen arrested in Abyan or one of the 16 AQ prison escapees sheltering in one of the presidential palaces. The 26 Sep says two policemen were injured in the suicide bombing. In addition, a car bomb was planted in an officials car and exploded, killing him, as he left the air base in Lahj; it seems obvious it was planted while he was at the base:

TASS: On Tuesday, an explosion in Yemen killed a high-ranking military commander: Amin al Shami’s car exploded after he left a military aircraft base in the province of Lahej. Two people, who accompanied him, survived. The explosion was set by the same terrorist group which set an explosion at a police station on Saturday, and attempted on the life of Yemen’s defense minister in Aden last month. (ed- the driver of the Def Min’s car said there was slumped body in the car which exploded as they drove by and the bomber was last seen when arrested in Abyan.)

AFP: ADEN — A colonel in the Yemeni air force and a police officer were killed in separate attacks in south Yemen on Tuesday, military and police officials said.

Colonel Amin al-Shami, a pilot instructor, was killed when a bomb hidden in his car exploded as he was leaving a military base in the southern Yemeni province of Lahij, a military official told AFP. Two others, both air force technicians, were wounded in the explosion…In the southern port of Aden, meanwhile, a suicide bomber killed one policeman and wounded two more, police told AFP.

“A suicide bomber on foot detonated his explosives near a parked police vehicle outside the local office of the tourism ministry, killing one officer and wounding two others,” the source said on condition of anonymity.

A resident of the Al-Tawahi district where the attack took place said the bomber was blown to pieces in the blast, which was followed by intense gunfire.

Al Tajdid News: A suicide bomber blew himself today Tuesday evening in a military point located in front of the Tourism Office in Aden, leaving one dead and three wounded.
Witnesses said the bomber blew himself up near a police car model Opel stationed outside the office of tourism Tawahi city near the intelligence headquarter of which was targeted earlier

alTeef: Witnesses for the spectrum, “Suicide bomber blows himself a point near the center of military intelligence in Aden.”

A suicide bomber on Tuesday evening by a checkpoint located near the gate of the PSO Baltwaha leaving people dead and several wounded. A violent explosion rocked the moments before the gate of the Political Security Directorate building in Aden Tawahi followed heavy fire.

Witnesses said the “network spectrum,” The suicide bomber approached a security checkpoint in front of the political security before the bomber blew himself up before, followed by heavy gunfire.

Still until the moment of writing the news shooting continued. Said one eyewitness said he saw a vehicle belonging to the police after burning and explosion.

Maybe revenge for the arrest?

ADEN, Oct. 10 (Saba) – The security forces in Aden province managed Monday to arrest a terrorist group in Tawahi district, a security official said.

One of the group’s members has been captured in his house, where the security forces found an integrated plant for manufacturing explosive devices in addition to RPG shells, TNT explosives, various chemical materials, batteries, electricity wires, watches, cameras, iron pieces and Jihadist publications, the source said.

The source added that the group has carried out some explosions in Aden.

On the other hand, Aden’s security arrested armed gangs stealing cars at gunpoint, the source said, adding that they a number of cars have been returned to their owners

From opposition website associated w/ AMA, Yemen Fox The resigned endowments minister judge. Hamood AL-Hetar accused officials at the National Security in Yemen of setting plans to deform the image of opposition figures who are calling for president Saleh to step aside.

He said these plans started to tarnish opposition figures images through fabricated news then accusations, ended with killing.

“I am one of the targeted figures by the National Security in Yemen, Alhatar said.

AL-Hetar- the resigned minister of endowments and opposition leader, called for forming a Neutral Committee to sum up his and all government officials properties.

“ I declared more than once my commitment of financial credit rules and my readiness to be subjected to legal accountability of any proven illegal gains , otherwise whatever proven should be taken to the public treasury .

Moreover AL-Hetar called for forming a Neutral Committee to sum up all properties of high rank officials and theirs relatives since 1978 till today, starting form the president to the lowest official and publish their properties lists to let the people know who the real corruptors are and where the country fortune is and Yemenis will be aware of corruption.

* Says cash for training and equipment cut, intelligence aid same,

* Says civil war unlikely despite “revolution of children and thieves”

* Calls potential U.N. resolution on transfer plan foreign interference

By Erika Solomon

SANAA, Oct 5 (Reuters) – The United States and other Western donors have cut counter-terrorism aid to Yemen’s army during eight months of mass protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, his nephew and leader of a key paramilitary unit said on Wednesday, in effect supporting anti-Saleh groups.

Brigadier General Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, an important power broker in the country as the head of the Central Security Forces, said U.S. President Barack Obama was influenced by political players who oppose President Saleh.

Protests against his 33-year rule are sweeping Yemen and armed groups backing the opposition are fighting government troops, threatening to drag the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state into civil war on the border of oil giant Saudi Arabia.

“With recent events, some of the aid has lessened. The intelligence aid continues but in terms of training and equipment it has decreased,” Yahya told Reuters in an interview, but he declined to give a specific figure.

The United States is believed to spend over $150 million a year in Yemen counter-terrorism aid to forces including Yahya’s Central Security Forces.

A joint Yemeni-American operation last Friday killed U.S.-born preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, al Qaeda’s English language propagandist, and that same day the White House called on Saleh to step down.

“What’s happening now is a conspiracy against democracy because they (the West) are supporting coup d’etat forces,” he said.

Sanaa was rocked by bloody battles and heavy shelling last month when an anti-Saleh march sparked days of clashes between rebel general Ali Mohsen’s troops and forces belonging to Yahya as well as Saleh’s son Ahmed. Over 100 protesters were killed.

Clashes still flare sporadically between the troops as both sides carve Sanaa into spheres of influence, digging trenches and manning checkpoints backed by armoured vehicles.

But Yahya said civil war was still unlikely: “The peaceful option is open until the last second. It all depends on the outlaw forces… They act like teenagers in politics.”

The general, dressed in a green camouflage uniform and a blue beret, brought Reuters journalists to his forces’ base inside the capital to watch his troops perform military drills as he shouted orders to soldiers not marching in unison.

He refuted Western diplomats’ accusation that Saleh and his family are resisting a Gulf-brokered transition plan, arguing that Yahya and Ahmed are afraid of losing their positions of power.

“Unfortunately the (American) president is influenced by reports without checking what the reality is. Maybe he was lied to,” Yahya said. “This is all lies … We do not have political ambitions and are not clinging to power.”

YEMEN CRISIS “INTERNAL MATTER”

The United States and Saudi Arabia are wary of rising turmoil in Yemen that has emboldened al Qaeda, which has taken control of several cities in the south in recent months, and they have pressed for Saleh to sign the Gulf deal, which he has backed out of signing three times.

Several near-deals with the opposition have been missed because the opposition wants Saleh to transfer his powers to the vice president before an election, while the government says he should only step down after a presidential poll.

The general said he was surprised by reports that Western diplomats may seek a resolution from the United Nations Security Council to press Yemen to reach a power transition deal, calling it foreign interference on behalf of the opposition.

“The Gulf initiative to transfer power is an internal matter — it’s not an American or a European affair. It (the deal) cannot be forced on us because the other side has a relationship with foreign governments to bring it to power.”

Yahya also showed Reuters journalists around armoured vehicles used by his riot control forces, to show pock marks in the heavy metal, camouflage exteriors and shattered windows –signs, he said, that his forces had been attacked by Mohsen’s men when they went to stop protests last month.

“Does this look like a peaceful protest to you?” he asked. He would not say whether his troops fired in response, saying only that the involvement of Mohsen’s forces confused his men.

He called the protests a “revolution of children and thieves”.

“We want to leave power democratically, through elections … the opposition needs to return to its senses, they shouldn’t be over ambitious, or they will end up with nothing.”

Yemen Post: In a recent interview with France 24, General Yehia Mohamed Saleh, who is president’s Saleh’s nephew and Head to the Central Security Forces as well as prominent businessman opened up on Yemen’s uprising.

He made clear that as long as protesters would continue to take the streets of Yemen hostage, staging sit-ins and marches, his “uncle” would never agree to step down, let alone negotiate.

As he qualified the revolution as “boring” and “senseless”, the General stressed that the GCC brokered proposal was not in keeping with the Yemeni Constitution and therefore could not be agreed upon.

He also echoed the latest regime’s theory that the Opposition was really an accomplice of al-Qaeda in Yemen, trying to use the country’s aspirations for democracy to trick them into ousting the regime and take control of the country.

When asked about the recent bout of violence which saw more than 130 people dead in the course of a week, General Yehia Saleh accused defected General Mohsen of having staged the “massacre” to the Media, trying to discredit president Saleh to the World, adding that the accusations were baseless.

With more reports of clashes today in Sana’a the capital and the recent departure of UN envoy, Jamal Benomar, closing the chapter on any hope of a political resolution to the crisis, France, the UK and now the U.S are said to be looking at pushing for a Security Council Resolution aimed at forcing Saleh out of power.

Mareb Press
CKD Chief of Staff of the Central Security Forces, the son of the brother of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Brigadier General Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, the uncle can not sign the initiative on the Gulf, with sit-ins continue to drop the claim system

He said Yahya Saleh, in an interview with AFP 24, that the initiative Gulf conflict with the Constitution of Yemen, and that it is viable, and therefore it can not be signed as were not there is an executive mechanism it, and said that «President Saleh can not accept to sign it and get out of power, only after the protesters are raising, so as not to constitute a dangerous existence, and are exploited by the opposition to create chaos, and the introduction of the country in civil war », he said.

Yahya Saleh, denied any casualties among the peaceful demonstrations to drop the claim, and accused the opposition of trading with the blood of young people to raise the balance to the foreign media, and human rights organizations, he said.

As described Yahya Saleh Revolution as a revolution, boring, and described the rebels Balhakarh, and as a group of liars, he said that counter-terrorism forces were not involved in the suppression of the demonstrations, accused the demonstrators that they took up arms to occupy the installations and government institutions, and said that the demonstrations are peaceful, and supported by what he described as extremists associated Al-Qaeda, and described Palanqlabeyen of the military, and tribesmen loyal to the forces of reaction, he said.

Yahya Saleh, accused what he described as beneficiaries in the killing of the demonstrators, said that the demonstrators are being targeted by elements of the coup, in order to Almtaj

Yemen Times: He explained that one of the dead is from the local A’lmarwan clan in Khashef of Al-Jawf called Salem Saleh Arfaj and the other one is Saleh Mohsen Al-Na’j of the Abida tribe in Mareb, 173 km northeast the capital Sana’a.

“The two people mentioned were easy to identify because we know them, but it was hard to identify the other two since they were not from our area,” he said.

He indicated that one of the killed persons of his area was a well-known Al-Qaeda member among the population.

He described the area where the strike was carried out as “a plain surrounded by five mountains in the desert.”

“The vehicle which was said to be Al-Awlaki’s car was totally torn up into pieces and another car belonging to one of the citizens whose brother was killed in this strike was smashed,” he said.

And while the local relatives of the dead person were picking up the human parts of the dead bodies, they found two national security cards – one for their kinsman and the other for the dead person of Mareb, according to the local source.

“They were really Yemen’s national security agents recruited by Amar Saleh [chief of Yemen’s intelligence service],” he said.