Friday 31 August 2012

Anti-Al Qaeda cleric killed in drone attacks that killed 12 terrorists, and clerics say " aggression and violation of sovereignty" 


By Nasser Arrabyee,31/08/2012

The US drone attacks would turn Yemen to another Wazir Stan, said a group of Yemeni clerics after one of them was killed by a drone attack that targeted Al Qaeda operatives in the eastern part of the country.

The  group, calling themselves union  of the southern clerics, said in a statement sent to media on Friday  that " the drone attacks are violating the sovereignty and flagrant aggression".

A total of 8 Al Qaeda operatives were killed  when an airstrike hit two cars in the area of Al Khashaa, 40 km west of Al Kutn in the eastern province of Hudhrmout, according to the government-run media on Friday.

The local residents believe  that all the air attacks are implemented by US drones not by Yemeni fighter jets and their evidence on that is the accuracy of the attacks.

The clerics ,in their statement,  said a clerics of them was killed in one of the recent attacks when a US drone attacked and killed four Al Qaeda operatives who were in a meeting with the cleric.

 The cleric is called Salem Ahmed Ali Jaber, teacher and mosque speaker, in Al Kutn. Jaber is Salafi who studied in the main Salafi center of Saada. And he was always speaking against Al Qaeda. In his recent sermons he said Al Qaeda is against Islam.

According to local sources Al Qaeda sent on Wednesday four operatives to the cleric Jaber to blame him and while the five people were in the meeting a US drone came and killed them  all in the area of Al Khshamer in Al Kutn of the eastern province of Hudhrmout. 

The Yemeni army  in cooperation with the American drones intensified the attacks on Al Qaeda operatives who try to regroup themselves in new places after they were driven out from Zinjubar and Jaar and Azzan last june. 

Sources said that Yemeni troops are being re-deployed in areas close to  mountains of Marakish of Abyan in a clear preparation for  attacking and controlling  the newly established stronghold of Al Mahfad where Al Qaeda train their fighters.

Meanwhile the ministry of interior released Friday  a warning to check points in Abyan and Shabwah against possible attacks from Al Qaeda side. 

Saturday 18 August 2012

Suicide bomber assassinates tribal leader in Modyah



By Nasser Arrabyee,19/08/2012

A tribal leader was killed and three of his bodyguards were injured when Al Qaeda suicide bomber blew himself up near a mosque in Modyah of the southern province of Abyan, said local sources early Sunday.

Sheikh Nasser Ali Mansour, head of the People General Congress ( PGC), Saleh's party, was killed this morning and three of his bodyguards were injured when suicide bomber an explosive belt blew up him self up nearby Al Ansar mosque in the town of Mudyah, the sources said. 

Mansour was the successor of Mohammed Abu Bakr Ashal who was assassinated by Al Qaeda last year. 

On Saturday, more than 17 people were killed and 10 others injured when a group of terrorists from Al Qaeda attacked the intelligence office and and the adjacent  radio and TV building in the southern coastal city of Aden, local and official sources said Saturday.

The attack by RPGs and and machine guns came minutes  after a suicide bomber drove his car into the gate of the intelligence office and blued himself up and destroyed most of the building. The attackers came after that from two directions. one group came from the direction of the sea, the local sources said. 

The suicide attack came  days after the Saudi and Yemeni governemnt failed to convince Al Qaeda to release the Saudi diplomat Abdullah Al Khalidi who was kidnapped by Al Qaeda from his office in Aden last March. 
Last week, Al Khalidi was almost released. Al Qaeda released him to a tribal leader as a sign of good intentions. But when the two governments failed to pay the 10 million dollars ransom and to release a specific number of detainees from  Saudi and Yemeni prisons, hostage was kept. 

The suicide attack of Saturday represents a strong sign that  Al Qaeda ( AQAP, which calls itself  Ansar Al Shariah) is still having the ambitions to control the south of Yemen. Attacking such important places in Aden is expected to help Al Qaeda to raise morale and restore the places that were partly controlled by the army and tribesmen allegedly loyal to the government last months, like Jaar and Zinjubar in Abyan and Azzan in Shabwah. 

Al Qaeda returns to the heart of the south, above 17 killed in suicide attack in Aden 



By Nasser Arrabyee,18/08/2012

More than 17 people were killed and 10 others injured when a group of terrorists from Al Qaeda attacked the intelligence office and and the adjacent  radio and TV building in the southern coastal city of Aden, local and official sources said Saturday.

The attack by RPGs and and machine guns came minutes  after a suicide bomber drove his car into the gate of the intelligence office and blued himself up and destroyed most of the building. The attackers came after that from two directions. one group came from the direction of the sea, the local sources said. 

The suicide attack came  days after the Saudi and Yemeni governemnt failed to convince Al Qaeda to release the Saudi diplomat Abdullah Al Khalidi who was kidnapped by Al Qaeda from his office in Aden last March. 
Last week, Al Khalidi was almost released. Al Qaeda released him to a tribal leader as a sign of good intentions. But when the two governments failed to pay the 10 million dollars ransom and to release a specific number of detainees from  Saudi and Yemeni prisons, hostage was kept. 

The suicide attack of Saturday represents a strong sign that  Al Qaeda ( AQAP, which calls itself  Ansar Al Shariah) is still having the ambitions to control the south of Yemen. Attacking such important places in Aden is expected to help Al Qaeda to raise morale and restore the places that were partly controlled by the army and tribesmen allegedly loyal to the government last months, like Jaar and Zinjubar in Abyan and Azzan in Shabwah. 

Saturday 11 August 2012

Al Qaeda released Saudi diplomat for ransom and release of detainees

By Nasser Arrabyee,12/08/2012

Al Qaeda released a Saudi diplomat after about five months of abduction for ransom and releasing prisoners from Saudi and Yemeni prisons, said sources familiar with the negations on Sunday. 

The Saudi diplomat Abdullah Al Khalidi was handed from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to the tribal mediator Mohammed Ali Al Mansab late Saturday, the sources said. 

The tribal leader Al Mansab is supposed to hand the diplomat Al Khalidi to Jallal Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, son of President Hadi who was involved in the negations, on Sunday, the sources said. 

The ransom given to AQAP was 10 million US dollars in addition to the five women who were released from Saudi prisons on July 23, 2012. About detainees were released from Yemeni prisons earlier this month. 

Al Qaeda  kidnapped Al Khalidi on March 28, 2012 , from Aden and demanded ransom and the release of 8 women from Saudi prisons and  release of all Yemeni detainees in Yemeni prisons.

The sources expected that President Hadi would take Al Khalidi with him tomorrow Monday to Saudi Arabia where he is invited to  attend an Islamic conference and meet the Saudi leadership who sponsored the transition deal that solved the Yemeni crisis. 

Meanwhile, two tribes from Lawdar in the southern province of Abyan, accused the ex-jihadist Tarik Al Fadhli and and 20 other names from the same province of destroying their town Lawdar. 
The tribesmen from the two tribes, Al Awadhel and Al Nakheen, demanded the authorities to arrest the those as saboteurs and put them on trial.

The tribesman men warned the families and relatives of those 20 men from providing any shelter or any kind of support. 

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Six terrorists killed with Al Marebi by drone

By Nasser Arrabyee,07/08/2012

Six Arab terrorists were killed with one of the most dangerous Al Qaeda leader Osamah Al Marebi by a US drone attack in Kayfa, Radaa of Al Baidha province south east of Yemen, said a security official statement on Tuesday.

The six terrorists were identified as Abu Jafar Al Eraqi, Bahraini, Abu Al Baraa Al Shiruri, Saudi, Abu Musab and Abu Hafsa, Egyptians, Abu Hafsa Al Tunisi, Tunisian, and Ibrahim Al Sakhi, Yemeni. 

Bold decisions despite drones and suicide bombers race 

By Nasser Arrabyee,07/08/2012

The Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi has taken the long-waited step to strengthen his fist on a split army  as an upper commander. 

He has reduced the influence of the two military commanders who divided the army into two main and hostile-to each-other groups since March last year. 

The two commanders themselves remain in their positions but their powers will become less and less  until they become like any two commanders in the army that is being restructured and reunified. 

President Hadi took two decisions on Monday August 6th, 2012, to take military powers from these two commanders. Hadi took three brigades (about 5000 soldiers each) from the republican guards, and one  brigade from the first armored division  to form what is called " the presidential protection". These units will completely independent from the two commanders. 

The second decision was to take four brigades from the republican guards and four from the first armored devision and put them under other commanders in two different regions.   Which means these brigades  will be no longer under the two commanders who will  lose more than 60 per cent of their forces after this decision. 

The two decisions came  to reduce the military powers of the defected  general Ali Muhsen, commander of the first armored division,  and  the  elder son of the former President Ali abbdullah Saleh ( Ahmed), commander of the republican guards,   who both  formed the most powerful military centers during the  political crisis. 

Obviously, it  was extremely difficult for  President  Hadi to sack Ahmed and Muhsen who made an equilibrium of forces (equilibrium of fear)  during the crisis. After Hadi was elected as President in February this year, he needed this equilibrium to protect himself as a new president from any possible military coup.
President Hadi's bold decisions came to continue implementation of a Saudi-sponsored and US-backed deal that solved the Yemeni political crisis on a basis of consensus ruling between Saleh's party and opposition parties. 

Meanwhile, the deputy chairman of Saleh's party Abdul Kareem Al Eryani was elected Monday as a chairman of the 25- member preparatory   committee of the dialogue that will be held next November. The woman lawyer Rakia Humaidan, from the Socialist party was elected as first vice president, and secretary general of Nasserite party Sultan Al Atwani was elected a second vice president. The human right activist, Amal Basha was elected as a spokesperson.   

Ahmed Awadh was elected a reporter. The 25 members of the preparatory committee represented all different groups that will be involved in the dialogue, that is supposed to come out with an agreement on a new constitution according to which presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in 2014. 
  


US Drones  kill 6  Al Qaeda operatives, suicide bomber kills and injures 95


The war between the US-backed government and Al Qaeda continued.  A US drone killed a leader of Al Qaeda and his friend while riding their motorcycle early Tuesday August 7, 2012 in Kaifa area, Rada'a of Al Baidha province south east of the country. 

The security forces identified the killed leader as Usamah Al Marebi and his friend was not identified. This was the first drone attack on motorcycle since Al Qaeda urged its members to use motorcycles to avoid the air strikes two months ago. 

And on Monday, a US drone   killed four Al Qaeda operatives while driving in their car in the area of Qutan west of Sayoun town in Hudhrmout, east of Yemen. The four operatives were driving their car, model 87 land cruiser, which was completely destroyed. 

Eleven terrorists  mostly foreigners were arrested on Monday in Jaar of the southern province of Abyan after a suicide bomber killed and injured about 90 people. 

A young man in his 20s infiltrated on Sunday night into a big tribal gathering for expressing condolences and blew himself up killing at least 50 and injuring 40 people.

The suicide bombing was in the house of Abdul Latif Al Sayed, the chairman of the anti-Al Qaeda popular committees. Al Sayed defected from Al Qaeda before it was driven out from Jaar last May.  Al Sayed survived but three of his brothers were killed.

Al Qaeda has been trying to re-take the town of Jaar over the last two weeks. 

Sunday 5 August 2012

Drone kills 4 Al Qaeda operatives, suicide bomber kills and injures 95

By Nasser Arrabyee,05/08/2012

A US drone killed 4 Al Qaeda operatives while driving in their car in the area of Qutan west of Sayoun town in Hudhrmout, east of Yemen, said security sources and local resident on Sunday.

Four dead bodies were found completely burnt with the completely  destroyed car, land cruiser, model 87. It was very difficult identify who were killed, but local residents said they were Al Qaeda leading members.

The death toll raised to 55 in the suicide bombing that took place in condolences gathering in Jaar at night Saturday. More than 40 people were injured most of them seriously, according to medical sources.

The suicide bombing was in the house of Abdul Latif Al Sayed, the chairman of the anti-Al Qaeda popular committees. Al Sayed defected from Al Qaeda before it was driven out from Jaar last May.  Al Sayed survived but two of his brothers were killed.
 
earlier in the day, the sources said  50 people were killed and injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a tribal gathering for paying tributes in a house in Jaar in the southern province of Abyan, local sources said early Sunday.

Abdul Latif Al Sayed, the chairman of the anti-Al Qaeda popular committees in Abyan survived, the sources said. 

The house where suicide bombing took place belongs to Al Sayed and it is located in Batis area at the outskirts of Jaar.

Several  clashes took place between Al Qaeda and popular committees and five people were killed last Thursday. 

Al Qaeda has been trying to re-take the town of Jaar over the last two weeks. 

Meanwhile, four Al Qaeda operatives were killed  by a drone attack in Al Qutan area in Sayoun of the eastern province of Hudhrmout, said security sources early Sunday. 

Saturday 4 August 2012

Drone kills 4 Al Qaeda operatives, suicide bomber kills about 50 

By Nasser Arrabyee,05/08/2012

About 50 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a tribal gathering for paying tributes in a house in Jaar in the southern province of Abyan, local sources said early Sunday.

Abdul Latif Al Sayed, the chairman of the anti-Al Qaeda popular committees in Abyan survived, the sources said. 

The house where suicide bombing took place belongs to Al Sayed and it is located in Batis area at the outskirts of Jaar.

Several  clashes took place between Al Qaeda and popular committees and five people were killed last Thursday. 

Al Qaeda has been trying to re-take the town of Jaar over the last two weeks. 

Meanwhile, four Al Qaeda operatives were killed  by a drone attack in Al Qutan area in Sayoun of the eastern province of Hudhrmout, said security sources early Sunday. 

Suicide bomber arrested in military camp 

Al Qaeda operative killed another injured in failed bombing 

By Nasser Arrabyee,04/08/2012


A suicide bomber was arrested inside the mosque of the 21 mechanized brigade in the southern province of Shabwah, said military sources on Saturday.

The sources said the man, believed to be from Al Qaeda, entered the camp from the main gate, which means someone from inside might have helped him.

The man was arrested before he blew himself up inside the mosque.

To this regard, the security forces in Aden arrested two men who were following in their car the convoy of the commander of the southern region Nasser Abdu Rabu Al Taheri, said security sources in Aden.

The sources said that the arrest of the two men and their car came after the security had noticed the same car following the convoy of Al Taheri more than one time. The sources said the men are believed to be Al Qaeda members.


Meanwhile, one Al Qaeda operative was killed and another was injured when a bomb went off in their room while preparing it to implement terrorist acts, said security sources Saturday.

Hussein Mohammed Ahmed Al Saifi,30, was killed and Murad Ali Nasser Al Shaheri was injured when their bomb exploded in their room in Al Qadesyah area, Shumailah, south of the capital Sanaa.

In the room, separate room, the security forces found explosives and wires and devices used for bombings and a computer set.

The two men are Al Qaeda members and were planning to carry out terrorist acts in Sanaa against security and military officials, the sources said. 

Al Qaeda operative killed another injured in failed bombing 

By Nasser Arrabyee,04/08/2012

One Al Qaeda operative was killed and another was injured when a bomb went off in their room while preparing it to implement terrorist acts, said security sources Saturday.

Hussein Mohammed Ahmed Al Saifi,30, was killed and Murad Ali Nasser Al Shaheri was injured when their bomb exploded in their room in Al Qadesyah area, Shumailah, south of the capital Sanaa.

In the room, separate room, the security forces found explosives and wires and devices used for bombings and a computer set.

The two men are Al Qaeda members and were planning to carry out terrorist acts in Sanaa against security and military officials, the sources said. 

Thursday 2 August 2012

Former president  Saleh  calls for making coming dialogue a success 

By Nasser Arrabyee,02/08/2012


The former President Ali Abdullah Saleh called on leaders and members of his party and its allies  to do their best for making the coming national dialogue a success.

In a Ramadan night meeting held  in his house in Sanaa, Saleh said the success of the coming  national comprehensive dialogue will end all  kind of conflicts that tore Yemen for about two years.  

The national dialogue is scheduled to start next November. The  25-member technical committee for preparing for the dialogue is to hold its first meeting on Saturday August 4th, 2012.

Head of the People's General Congress (PGC), Saleh said that his party is now rebuilding itself and its allies  and visions  according to the new  political and economic developments. 

Among the leaders who attended the Ramadan night meeting on Tuesday, Abdul Kareem Al Eryani, deputy chairman of PGC, Sultan Al Barakani,assistant secretary general, Abdul Rehman Al Aqwa'a, assistant secretary general, Aref Al Zooka, assistant secretary general, Ali Mujawar , former  prime minister, and Kasem Sallam, from  the National Alliance, , a number of political parties that ally with Saleh's party. 

The spokesman of PGC and its allies, Abdu Al Janadi said on Wednesday in a press conference that PGC made a plan to recruit about 4 million new members during the coming two years. 

Since he handed the power to his deputy Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi after non-competitive elections agreed on by all parties last February, Saleh focused on his party and its new  political allies. 

Last week Saleh received  in his office two prominent politicians who were supporting the  protests of 2011 against Saleh, regime. 

Saleh's meeting with these two politicians caused a lot of controversy among opponents of Saleh. The two politicians were Mohammed Al Mutawakel, assistant secretary general of the popular forces party, one of the five parties of the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) that was against Saleh during the crisis of 2011. 

The second politician who met Saleh was Ali Saif Hassan, the chairman of the political development forum, a local NGO. 

Both Hassan and Al Mutawakel ignored the criticisms  and defended themselves  saying Saleh is the head of the party that has 50 per cent of the government, and as long as we talk about dialogue, we must talk to PGC and its President. 

Saleh also made another controversial thing last week by sending a congratulation letter to his elder son Ahmed who is the commander the republican guards on his 40th birth day. 

Saleh said in his letter which was published by media, " You have your own personality, your own way of life, your own options, your own friends, your own future."
 
Saleh wanted to says to his son in the congratulation letter, that he has nothing to do with him and his history. " The only thing that connects you with me is the link of  blood and fatherhood," Saleh said to his son.

"So you must be a sincere soldier to your nation," Saleh said in his controversial congratulation letter to his son on his 40th birth day.