In their quest to quell the Houthi rebellion in northern Yemen, (its not a civil war but may become one), the Saudis continue indiscriminately bombing deep inside Yemeni territory. Following months of bombing by the Yemeni airforce, the latest bombing raid by Saudi warplanes in Yemen occurred at noon yesterday [...]
Its so brutal. Click here for first hand testimony from tortured prisoners.
Amnesty International
PUBLIC STATEMENT
27 November 2009
Index: MDE 31/017/2009
Yemen: Government should announce commitment to tackle ‘widespread’ torture
Amnesty International today urged the Yemeni government to publicly announce its commitment to implementing the recommendations [...]
As the holiday of Eid al-Adha approaches, our thoughts are with tens of
thousands of displaced people in northern
Yemen who will not be able to celebrate Eid
in their own homes.
The United Nations World Food Programme and
partners such as Islamic Relief and the
[...]
SANAA, Nov 28 (Reuters) – Yemeni forces and Shi’ite rebels waged pitched battles on the outskirts of Saada on Saturday after regular troops thwarted an attempt by the insurgents to enter the northern city, a Yemeni military official said.
The army stopped the rebel advance on Friday and [...]
BBC: Assets (of Dubai World) include DP World, which caused a storm when trying to take over six US ports (and operates Aden Port.)
DPI corporate page here. Kuwait had a better bid than Dubai for Aden Port, but Dubai World got the contract, which was [...]
The video is of the assassination of a security chief who al Qaeda claimed was complicit in the death of al Harithy in 2002. What a crazy world, the poor guy. At least they didn’t behead him, the way these murderers do in other parts of the world. Its interesting [...]
Video here and another here. I wonder how much of that (and I know nothing of weapons) is of US origin. The Saudis are using F15s and Apaches.The rebels have alleged that some of the strikes hit civilians. The Saudis have forceably returned Yemeni civilians fleeing [...]
What follows is the Arab Sisters Forum press release on the escalating attacks on Amal Basha, head of the organization. She was repeatedly threatened, had a liquid sprayed in her face on the street, the headquarters was broken into and trashed, and the brakes on her [...]
Tribes fighting each other don’t fight the state. The fighting moved into villages with medium weapons, killing people and destroying houses. One study found 90% of tribal wars revolved around water.
Yemen Post: At least six more people have been killed and dozens hurt since clashes erupted between tribes [...]
The unusual thing here is the two police killed. The Yemeni government has been killing its citizens during Southern protests since 2007. Hundreds are in jail including several journalists and opposition politicians. Scores have been killed during the demonstrations. The LNG that is coming on line is in the south [...]
للنشر الفوري
الكويت: يجب إخلاء سبيل الناشط المسجون
رئيس الوزراء يُسكِت انتقاد السياسات الحكومية بتهمة التشهير
(مدينة الكويت، 24 نوفمبر/تشرين الثاني 2009) – قالت هيومن رايتس ووتش اليوم إن على النائب العام الكويتي أن يأمر فوراً بالإفراج عن محمد عبد القادر الجاسم، المحامي والناشط الحقوقي ومن المنتقدين الهامين للحكومة.
تم اعتقال الجاسم في [...]
Another via email:
بيـــــــان صحــــفي
تتواصل لقاءات الدكتور موفق الربيعي الامين العام لتيار الوسط مع المواطنين حيث التقى نخبة من الوجهاء والمثقفين من ابناء مناطق (ابي غريب والعامرية والسيدية والدورة والغزالية والشرطة الخامسة) واكد خلال اللقاء على ضرورة العمل الجاد والمتواصل لحث الناخبين بالذهاب الى صناديق الاقتراع واختيار ممثليهم .
[...]
I got this article via email, and while Yemen is my first priority, I really should try to highlight more the other countries and their human rights and civil rights abuses.
توَّعدُ الرئيس الإيراني أحمدي نجاد المشكوكُ في شرعيةِ انتخابه، المُحتجينَ على حكومته بـ ” كسرِ أرجلهم “، خلالَ [...]
This is unbelievable. Maybe if we all say it slowly: There is no military solution. The Yemen Times details reports of Somalis fighting alongside the Hotuhis and picks up reports in the Saudi media of yet another player, Jordan, on the side of the Saudis:
Saudi media sources revealed [...]
I will now predict the future of Taiz, Yemen. A small popular movement in Taiz emerges, striving to address legitimate grievances, for example the government’s neglect of a Dengue Fever outbreak. The security forces beat and arrest dozens at a protest, triggering more protests, which trigger more arrests. [...]
Yay. Still missing five Germans and a Brit since June 09.
Related: Germany Hearts Yemen
BERLIN, Nov. 23 (Saba) – German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle hailed Monday Yemen’s democratic approach as well as the level of distinctive relations between Yemen and Germany.
He reaffirmed, during his meeting with Foreign [...]
First, preening with bombs: the Saudi boys become men with the blood of Yemeni children. The following is a snippet from an article in Al Quds that addresses internal Saudi dynamics:
“(Political science professor at British universities and Saudi author Madawi) Al-Rasheed then indicated that the response to the infiltration [...]
Judge al Hittar’s rehab program never disputed the Takfirist, Jihad ideology, only that Saleh’s government was a legitimate target of it.
[...]This Yemeni government is entirely irrational and out of control. They are blindly targeting a broad variety of people and groups. In the latest attempt to gain submission through fear, the Arab Sisters Forum offices were broken into, and the principles are receiving threats. Ms Basha’s brakes were tampered with [...]
Thats been my impression for quite some time; the history between the Yemeni al Qaeda and AQ Central brings the threat level to a higher degree. There’s a variety of national, jihad deploying splinter groups globally, all competing for the terror leaders’ recognition and ensuing status. But AQC trusts old [...]
WFP hunger hotspots: Yemen – 20 Nov 2009
Source: United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)
20 Nov 2009
Lack of funding has kept the CP on hold since June; under the HFP EMOP, 40 percent of mothers and children will not receive nutrition assistance for six of the 12 [...]
The inability of small businesses to get a credit line is actually a huge issue, dull perhaps but consequential. It impedes the diversification and growth of the economy by region, product and ownership. As the recent tightening of credit globally stunted the world economy, in Yemen negative result of the [...]
On the average half of kids even have access to a school in walking distance, and for girls that access is even more limited by the shortage of female teachers. (Related issues include corruption in schools, the withholding of teachers pay, punative teacher transfers, and the failure to fully implement [...]
Update: The governor of Sana’a says he is still with the original group of tribal kidnappers and negotiations are underway. Yemeni officials do not have a great record of telling the truth but in this case I hope its true.
If the imprisoned tribesman is 22, then he was [...]
An excellent article:
Saudi Arabia’s Attack on Yemen by Rannie Amiri
The Saudi attack on northern Yemen is the epitome of military adventurism and opportunism. It allows them to use – for the first time – advanced weapons purchased from the United States against an ill-equipped band of rebels in [...]
Dude! Sanhan is the President’s village. Somalia, yes. But who owns that website,Saru Hamyir? I never heard of it. From the Long War Journal:
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has opened a new training camp in the South. The new camp highlights Yemen’s value to al Qaeda [...]
No, sorry. Its not just extremely tacky; its a security risk. The Yemeni gov’t was crowing when she came to the YO as a pro-government female American journalist. I recall it quite well and the older stories of another high level western official caught up in a complicated and highly [...]
All militants are not jihaddis, and all jihaddis are not al Qaeda. In fact, most Yemeni jihaddis (and there’s thousands) are not al Qaeda in the strict sense of the term. In southern Yemen, the minute al Fadhli joined the Southerners, all his militants and jihaddists became “freedom fighters.” It [...]
Excellent. Its all true and worse.
GENEVA, Nov 20 (Reuters) – The United Nations Committee against Torture called on Yemen on Friday to end the widespread torture of detainees and investigate allegations of unlawful killings by its security forces.
It voiced concern at reports of grave violations “committed in the [...]
That’s it, the little one. Its not actually a ship, now is it? It looks like a fishing boat. Not that anyone should be smuggling anything into (or out of) Yemen, but the story is overly hyped. A refresher from Radio Free Europe:
On 26 [...]
The Twenty-Fourth Sit-In to Demand the Release of Alayyam Newspaper and Journalist Mohamed Almaqaleh and journalists Alsaglade and Rashid
On Tuesday 17/11/2009 hundreds of lawyers, politicians , journalists and relatives of kidnapped and forced hidden people, sit in the twenty-fourth protest in Freedom Square [...]
Tribesmen in Yemen have kidnapped foreigners for years in order to pressure the government for the release of family members, often held as official hostages by the state or as a result of a tribal dispute. The Yemeni government cares not a whit about kidnapped Yemenis, ergo its the foreigners [...]
Iran accusing anyone of state terrorism is rather ironic.
Kansas City: Iran’s chief of staff has warned Saudi Arabia over its military offensive against Shiite Yemeni rebels, saying it signals the start of “state terrorism” and endangers the entire region.
The official IRNA news agency Tuesday also quoted [...]
281 machine guns could spell trouble, Mumbai style. The cache is linked to the 44 arrested educated Saudis who were thought to be financing the weapons purchases. What is says about AQAP is a whole other story.
RIYADH/DUBAI – New details have emerged concerning the discovery of the [...]
I think it was Dhalie but Im going back through all the things I need to post, so it may take a bit to get to it. (Update: yes it was in Dhalie) Also truck captured and burned in Dhalie. Things are much more violent since al [...]
Ah, in typical American fashion, the contents of murderer Major Nidal Hasan’s emails to Anwar Awlaki (Yemeni-American pro-sectarian-violence blogger) are starting to trickle out.
the Blotter: United States Army Major Nidal Hasan told a radical cleric considered by authorities to be an al-Qaeda recruiter, “I can’t wait [...]
Thank you. The fisheries have been irking me for years. The numbers do not and never did add up. The diesel smuggling is much clearer, but the level of smuggling and under-reporting on the fisheries is astounding. The black market economy in Yemen is the main wheel of industry. If [...]
I’m speechless. These kids are IN the camp and theres not enough food or medicine apparently to save them. Imagine the families sheltering outside the camps without any support whatsoever. They must be starving to death even quicker. More than half of Yemeni kids are stunted from malnutrition on a [...]
The shortage of medicine for the effected civilian population has been a characteristic of the Sa’ada Wars since 2004.
Violating health facilities closed in Jawf
JAWF, Nov.16 (Saba)- Health and Population office in Jawf governorate has closed more than twenty pharmacies and a private health facility after they [...]
Yemeni journalist Abdulelah Shaea interviewed proponent of violent jihad and blogger, Yemeni-American Anwar Awlaki about his relationship with Nidal Hasan who carried out the random murder spree at Fort Hood in Texas. On behalf of the Washington Post, Shaea traveled to Anwar’s home in Shabwa governorate. (The Yemeni [...]
A nice article extolling the beauty and unique nature of Yemen, I’m quite happy to see it:
New York Times — It has been almost 800 years since Saleh Qaid Othaim’s house in the heart of the Old City was built from hand-cut stones and traditional alabaster decorations.
Yet [...]
This is very close to the model needed for Yemen. Sec State Clinton called for a major crimes tribunal in Afghanistan, and an official described Afghanistan as a “criminal mafia state”™. They should take a closer look at Yemen! Its the same paradigm.
The problem with this concept, [...]
Just as al Ailami predicted, the shipload of Chinese weapons imported by the Defense Ministry for the Houthi rebels moved next to Sudan, in theory not offloaded in Yemen. Yemen Gazette:
HODEIDA, 30 Oct — The Chinese vessel laden with weapons that was imported by tribal chieftain and arms [...]
Two more Saudi soldiers killed. Over 400 Saudi villages evacuated and reports emerge from regime of Pakistani (?) fighters with the Houthis. Abdullah al Houthi arrested inside SA, amid reports the rebels are intercepting Saudi communications. A bunch of arrests but longtime commander [...]
I see. Yemeni Chief of Staff Ahmed Ali al-Ashwal in a statement to SABA news agency said the US and Yemen concluded an agreement on enhanced intel sharing, military training and new equipment. And the news went all around the world. But it was a lie.
Deal or no deal? [...]
Yemen said on Thursday the police had arrested ten fugitives including seven Qaeda suspects. The arrested included the leader of Al-Qaeda in Abyan Sami Dayan who was held on the Yemeni-Saudi border while trying to leave Yemen.
They face charges over involvement in subversion, targeting the national [...]
Abdelmalik al Houthi gives a two part interview in the Lebanese paper al Nahar,
Tuesday and and Wednesday. He is still maintaining the Sa’ada war is a defensive war on the rebels’ part, the Yemeni government failed to live up to every requirement of the Dahoa [...]
Update: both Pentagon and US Embassy deny deal inked; what they signed was the minutes of the meeting.
Original Post: A few days ago a leading Saudi member of Yemen’s Al Qaeda called for men to join with President Saleh’s forces in battling the Houthi rebels. It really would [...]
Higher rates than Africa and North Korea, Yemeni kids are the second most hungry child population in the world:
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Nearly 200 million children in developing countries suffer from stunted growth and health problems due to poor nutrition in their early years, the U.N. children’s foundation UNICEF [...]
Kidnapped September 18th and held incommunicado by security forces after publishing news of a military strike on a refugee camp that killed 87 civilians.
[...]Its amazing the way all these authoritarian regimes use similiar tactics to inhibit power sharing. A press release from the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights noting Mohammed Al-Maskati, its President of BYSHR, is on trial (again) for working in a civil society organization without it being registered.
6 months [...]
This is much better. Aid is flowing through Saudi Arabia for a week but swome people are still cut off.
SANAA, Yemen, Nov. 10 (UPI) – WFP said it was delivering food aid to the IDP population in the northern provinces of Yemen where fighting between government forces and Shiite [...]
Xinhuanet: – An al-Qaida-linked group in Yemen warned Tuesday the Yemeni and Saudi majority Sunnis against Shiite Iran’s dangerous plots.
In an audio recording posted on an Islamist website, Mohamed bin Abdul Rahman al-Rashid, one of the Saudi most wanted suspected terrorist, said “Shiite Iran poses [...]
What happened to Mr. Sovereignty, the President Saleh? The Saudis are shelling the North Yemen and apparently have take up residence in Yemen’s territorial waters. I guess as long as they are on his side, Saleh will let the Saudi forces fight his war and go where ever they want [...]
Yemeni-American terror advocate and penpal to murderer Nidal Hasan, Anwar Awlaki was never charged with a crime in Yemen or the US. He had one of those “Saleh” deals – he promised to refrain from all violent activity within Yemen and they let him released him from jail. Its quite [...]
Good!
News Yemen The U.S. Embassy in Sana’a has reaffirmed its support for freedom of press in Yemen.
On November 3, the U.S. Ambassador Stephen Seche met with al-Masdar Chief Editor Samir Jubran at the Embassy and discussed with him the recent ruling by the Special Court for Press [...]
For years, the fishing statistics never added up for me, and finally we have an official recognition of the issue. The figure is 40,000 tons annually or about 20% of total production, but its a rough number. That the statement was made by the Fisheries Minister and published by SABA [...]
The gas, like the oil, is in the south. With the EITI agreement about to fall flat on its face from a lack of transparency about oil sales, prices and volume, one would expect the proceeds from the LNG sales to be stolen at a similar rate. [...]
Update 6: FBI: “The investigation to date has not identified a motive…”
Update 5: Anwar’s blog down. It was hosted in the US.
Update 4: Hassan communicated with Awlaki, and others, according to US CT officials, but the messages didn’t constitute a threat and were consistent [...]
Hamid al Ahmar in an interview on al Jazeera made several interesting statements including that the president is guarded by 60 thousand army personnel in Sanaa, He also disclosed the name of the arms dealer (Yousef Al-Magani) that bought arms for Houthi rebels in the 4th war from Ahmed Ali [...]
Now that they voted themselves another two years in office, they are getting a bit more outspoken. Actually theres some members of Parliament including GPC members who see the disaster unwinding but they have little power to do anything, considering they all take their orders from Saleh. Firing the heads [...]
The Yemen Post has a write up of the attack on the three security officers. AFP reports AQAP said the attack which was “in support of our brothers in the prisons of Hadramut, Sanaa and others and in revenge for anyone who has the intention of [...]
News Yemen: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today condemned the conviction of Sameer Jubran, chief editor of weekly Al-Masdar, and Muneer Al-Maweeri, Washington based journalist, for insulting the President of Yemen in an article published by Al-Masdar in 2008.
Sameer Jubran was handed a one year suspended [...]
Another fork in the road up ahead, whether or not to continue the democratic experiment. When the Parliamentary elections were “postponed” in 2009, it was clear that there may never be another election again. One root cause of the tensions in Yemen is the declaration of the last [...]
A “Guest Post” by our sometimes contributor Abu Yemen. I didnt write it, but there’s a lot there I agree with, including the disgusting Western indifference to the inhumane and nearly genocidal policies of the Saleh regime, which arises from an entirely misguided hope of counter-terror cooperation.
Yemen: The [...]
DUBAI (Reuters) – Yemen’s Shi’ite rebels have captured an unspecified number of Saudi soldiers, a rebel spokesman told Al Jazeera television on Friday, following clashes near the border between the two countries.
“We will carry out interviews with them (for the media) … they will be treated with respect,” [...]
A follow-up to our post yesterday, Yemen Rebels Invade Saudi Arabia, today the Saudi air force launched air strikes on the Saudi outpost that was taken by the Yemeni rebels. The Saudi air force also launched sustained bombing on targets inside northern Yemen, a Saudi advisor told the WaPo (links [...]
The quasi governmental Yemen Observer, reports on the destruction of numerous “rebel homes”.
YEMEN – The army destroyed Tuesday with artillery and tanks a number of houses in the old city of Sa’adah where al-Houthi rebels were positioning, military sources participating in the attack said.
Before the attack, the [...]
An interesting analysis at Carnegie focuses on security services reform in Palestine, Lebanon and Yemen. A good conclusion requires an apt intial assessment, such as:
Use of military recruitment to co-opt tribesmen and of appointments to
reward personal loyalty among offi cers—especially in the army and police
force—has [...]
What a bloody day.
Border guards kill qat smuggler HARADH, Nov. 04 (Saba) – A Yemeni qat smuggler has been shot dead by Saudi border guards while trying to smuggle qat leaves, which is banned in Saudi Arabia, across the Yemeni-Saudi border,
Interior Ministry reported on Wednesday that Yemen’s [...]
Update: Arab News: JAZAN: A Saudi border guard was killed and 11 others were injured when armed infiltrators from across the Yemeni border fired on Saudi border guards. The incident took place at Dukhan Mountain close to the Khald border post in Al-Khoba sector of Jazan province on [...]
Yemen has released hoards of jihaddists in order to use them as informers for the state, or so they say at every mass release or high profile terrorist who walks free. And there have been many. The Yemeni government insists always that they know exactly where the wanted terrorists are, [...]
Earlier, child kidnap hostage freed from tribesmen after gunfight, see update.
Redux: from The New York Times:
Gunmen ambushed a government motorcade in the eastern Yemeni province of Hadramawt on Tuesday, killing three top provincial officials and three guards in an attack that had all the hallmarks of [...]
They were only 10 years late on the first report.
Committee against Torture
The Committee against Torture this morning considered the second periodic report of Yemen on the efforts of that country to give effect to the provisions of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or [...]
Iran drop shipping missiles to Sudan re-spun by the regime as Eritirea, which is a nasty little country in its own right. Man, thats complicated. Ah, better in English from the Gulf News
Earlier on Monday, the independent paper Al Ahali said [...]
The arms themselves probably originated in Yemen, possibly imported by the Defense Ministry, but the stash is connected to the earlier arrest of the 44 well-educated Saudi intellectuals, leading to questions about the factionalization of al Qaeda or perhaps a shadow leadership.
The quasi-governmental Yemen Observer: Conflict erupted today between a group of al-Houthi rebels and Saudi border security guards, resulting in several deaths and injuries on both sides, at the area of Smoke Mountain. Trying to illegally enter Saudi Arabia, al-Houthi rebels were caught, and conflict broke out between them [...]
Article dated Oct 12, haven’t gotten to it until now.
Dawn:
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has handed over to Saudi Arabia two sons of top Yemeni Al Qaeda leader Alawi who masterminded the suicide attack on Saudi Deputy Interior Minister Prince Mohammad bin Nayef in Jeddah last month.
Sources told Dawn that [...]
Razeh is where the Yemeni military bombed the hospital vacated by MSF. In the last military air strike, 31 were killed. A few eeks ago, 87 people were bombed in a field. Markets, mosques and villages have been flattened since the war began in August.
SADAA, 30 Oct — At [...]
The police commissioner, the PSO chief and the investigative department head for the Wadi in Hadramout were assassinated when their car was attacked and sprayed with bullets. Considering their substantial role in drug smuggling to Saudi Arabia, the murders could be crime related, in addition to political violence or a [...]
Saudi Gazette The father of Saeed Al-Shehri, the second man in the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), has warned against answering the call for funding made by his son recently in a video message broadcast on the Internet.
Speaking by phone Sunday from the family residence in [...]
Who ownes the ECY? No one is sure. The ECY used to be the EMC, tasked with military procurement, and it expanded into other fields. There’s no oversight on iss practices or review of its balance sheets. Yemen Herald
SANAA, 25 Oct — In a stormy session, members of [...]
Oh yes, Egypt, thats what this war needs, BETTER PILOTS???? There is no military solution to the Sa’ada War. Bringing in Ukrainian pilots make sense considering that the Ukranian Defense firm upgraded the Migs for several million dollars. The Saudis bankrolling the fighting to the tune of millions a week [...]
Among the latest violations by the Yemeni government was snatching Editor Mohammed al Maqaleh off the street over a month ago and continuing to hold him incommunicado. Another sorry designation, Yemen remains in last place globally on the ranking of gender equality.
Yemen Times SANA’A, Oct. 27 [...]
Rahm of TFS was kind enough to explain that the al Manhal Charity is of the hard core Wahabbi persuasion and linked to a Kuwaiti charity, Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, currently designated by the US Treasury as providing financial and material support to al [...]
from the Yemen Post
Yemen sentenced on Tuesday four subversives to death and eleven others to 5-15 years in prison, a ruling that comes within a series of verdicts against armed groups that fought the troops in support for the Houthi insurgents last year.
The group was convicted of [...]
News Yemen The European Union expressed “deep concern” Tuesday over the deteriorating security, political and economic situation across Yemen.
EU Foreign Ministers meeting in Luxembourg issued a statement underlining the Council conclusions on Yemen as follows:
1. The European Union reaffirms its support for a unified, stable, democratic and prosperous [...]
They’re all swooning in shock that the Yemeni Defense Ministry is selling arms to the Houthi rebels, its hysterical. Arming the rebel force for profit is a good example of a) how the extreme criminalization of the Yemeni government leads to irrational outcomes, b) the war economy perpetuating the war [...]
No surprise there. The UN monitoring group on the arms embargo to Somalia found Yemeni markets to the chief source of illegal weapons imports, a leading factor in the ongoing instability. The ties between Al Qaeda in Yemen and al Shabaaab are not well documented, but when they were the [...]
One Third of Yemenis Suffer from Chronic Hunger: YMS
Yemen Media and Studies Center (YMS) warns of the exacerbation of poverty in Yemen, after specialize International researches signs shown an erosion of a new segment of Yemenis below the national poverty line, reported media outlets.
The center [...]
The story that just keeps on giving… The arms dealers, including an MP and Shoura Council Member, who imported the mystery ship of Chinese weapons blocked the road in Marib to pressure the authorities to release the contents of the ship, which is missing.
Nearly all organized crime in Yemen [...]
The following report indicating a deal between the regime and al Qaeda is from the rebels website, link here, but the Yemeni government does use al Qaeda as mercenaries. Yes the report could be push back to the trial of Yahya al Houthi, but there’s lots of [...]
Update: Iran denies ship seized.
The last report we had was about a purported Iranian missile shipment from the Sudan prior to the outbreak of the sixth war. Now theres news of a new shipment, not to be confused with the ship with the Chinese weapons. Mohammed [...]
The New York Times manages to dig deeper than a lot of the analysis about the Sa’ada War and brings out an important concept: aspects of the Yemeni military are beyond Saleh’s control. Many see the unending war in Sa’ada as a strategic maneuver on Saleh’s part to [...]
