Free Republic

Yemen closes Iran hospital, clinic in Sanaa (AFP) – 16 hours ago SANAA — Yemen said on Wednesday it has ordered the closure of the Iranian hospital and clinic in Sanaa due to what it said was Iran's support of the facilities and lack of transparency in their accounts. Both facilities are run by the Iranian Red Crescent. "The interior ministry has decided to close the Iranian clinic and hospital because of lack of transparency of their accounts and... Iranian financial support to these two institutions," said a ministry statement. Yemeni security forces had on October 13 sealed off the...

Note: The following text is a quote: IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 917-09 November 20, 2009 DOD Announces Military Commissions Actions Today, prosecutors in the Office of Military Commissions announced they intend to ask the convening authority to refer new charges under the recently-enacted Military Commissions Act of 2009 against Abd al-Rahim Hussein Muhammed Abdu al-Nashiri, in connection with the bombing of the USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen, in October 2000. The bombing resulted in the deaths of 17 sailors and injuries to many more. This announcement follows the attorney general's determination on Nov. 13, 2009, that a military...

The Yemeni-American imam who's been under renewed scrutiny after the deadly shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, preaches against alcohol, birthday parties, black magic and extramarital sex. He also supports armed struggle — jihad — against the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq, and has encouraged extremist insurgents in Pakistan and Somalia. None of that sets Anwar al Awlaki, 38, apart from other militant Sunni Muslim clerics — and even many mainstream ones — in the Middle East. Awlaki uses digital means to spread his views, however, through a blog, lectures on YouTube and Facebook pages with more than 1,000 fans....

United States Army Major Nidal Hasan told a radical cleric considered by authorities to be an al-Qaeda recruiter, "I can't wait to join you" in the afterlife, according to an American official with top secret access to 18 e-mails exchanged between Hasan and the cleric, Anwar al Awlaki, over a six month period between Dec. 2008 and June 2009.

The al-Houthi tribe is involved in local uprisings in Yemen, attempts by Al-Qaida and Iran to ignite the Middle East, and power struggles between Saudi princes. They may yet destroy Yemeni unification. "The instructions we received from the king were not to act inside another state's territory, but we will not let anyone enter our territory." This is how the Saudi deputy defense minister, Prince Khaled bin Sultan, described the battle that has been going on since last week between Saudi forces and the Yemeni Shi'ite rebels of the al-Houthi tribe. [snip] Due to the lack of supervision by the...

Saudi Arabian troops and aircraft are now enforcing a ten kilometer deep "kill zone" on the Yemen side of their Yemen border. This is the first combat operation for Saudi forces since 1991 (during the liberation of Kuwait.) This is in support of a four month war between rebel Shia tribesmen and the Yemeni armed forces. Since November 5th, Saudi fighter bombers have flown over a hundred sorties against rebel targets just across the border. Hundreds of smart bombs and missiles have been used. Saudi artillery has fired hundreds of shells at the rebels, and Saudi helicopters and infantry now...

Security Forces Pursuing Mastermind of Texas Attack Yemen Post Staff Yemeni security forces are currently pursuing cleric, Anwar Al-Aulaqi, who allegedly had links to N(i)dal Hassan who carried out the deadly attack in the port of Fort Hood army base, opposition media reported.Reports have revealed that there were links between the two men where Hassan was frequently visited a mosque in the state of Virginia, in which imam Al-Aulaqi was leading prayers. It is reported that the Yemeni authorities had arrested Al-Aulaqi in 2006, on suspicion of holding up religious militants to kidnapping foreigners, but he was released due...

SNIPPET: "Muthana is facing five counts of second-degree assault, DWI and reckless driving. He is accused of injuring six people. They are 21-year-old Dominick Nicholson, 20-year-old Tyrese Beard, 40-year-old James Pross, 50-year-old Debra Hollis, 25-year-old Luis Cruz and 49-year-old Diane Neil. All are Rochester residents." SNIPPET: "In his statement to police, he said he drank six cans of Budweiser in an hour. Then he started using swear words, cussing police and government. He said, "Ben Franklin was stupid. He should have made it so you *expletives* can't swerve the law. The Muslims will fix this country." When bail was being...

From Yemen, Anwar Awlaki Helped Inspire Fort Dix, Toronto Plots Despite Terror Connections, E-mails with Major Hasan Did Not Raise Red Flags By RICHARD ESPOSITO, REHAB EL-BURI, and BRIAN ROSS Nov. 11, 2009 — In addition to his contacts with Major Nidal Hasan, the radical American cleric, Anwar al Awlaki, served as an inspiration for men convicted in terror plots in Toronto and Fort Dix, New Jersey, according to government officials and court records reviewed by ABCNews.com. Despite his ties to other plots, including the one against the Army post at Fort Dix, some 20 e-mails between Awlaki and Major...

Yemen said on Wednesday that it had signed a military cooperation deal with the United States although the US embassy would confirm only that talks had been held on joint counterterrorism efforts. Yemen's official Saba news agency said that the cooperation agreement was signed during talks in the capital Sanaa on Tuesday between the two countries' militaries. The news agency also quoted Brigadier General Jeffrey Smith, the commander of the US 5th Signal Command, as renewing Washington's support for Yemen's unity, security and stability. But US embassy spokeswoman Debrah Smith declined to comment on whether any agreement had been signed....

Eritrea has a deserved reputation as an arms depot for various radical and rebel groups around the world. Sri Lanka's government has accused Eritrea of providing arms to the recently defeated LTTE rebels (who fought for over two decades to partition the island nation). Now an Eritrean dissident is accusing Eritrea of supplying rebels in Yemen with weapons and ammo. Sure, it is an accusation, but the charge likely has merit. Eritrea has made noises for several years that it could close access through the Red Sea, and having allies across the water in Yemen would make that act easier....

The Saudi army imposed a tight sea blockade on northern Yemen to corner Shiite fighters in the country. According to Saudi sources, the no-go zone is 10 kilometers wide along the Yemeni border and thousands of Saudi troops were deployed for carrying out this mission. Meanwhile, Assistant Minister of Defense for Security Affairs Prince Khaled Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz said Tuesday that the Saudi forces will continue their airstrikes against the Shiite infiltrators until they move back from the Saudi frontier. “We are not going to stop the bombing until the infiltrators retreat tens of kilometers inside their border,”...

Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat- As a result of the violation of the sovereignty of Saudi territory last week by Huthist elements, the Kingdom is in the process of setting up a security fence along its boarders with Yemen. This has become an important option in view of the escalation of the activities of the Al-Qaeda organization in Yemeni territory on the one hand, and the emergence of the Huthist rebellion threat on the other. Despite information about undeclared reservations on the part of Sanaa over the building of a security fence between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, Riyadh might find itself obliged...

Jizan, Asharq Al-Awsat- Saudi security forces have regained control of a large mountainous region from the Huthi rebels who had infiltrated Saudi Arabia last week, routing them from the area. Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation, Prince Khalid Bin Sultan Bin Abdulaziz informed the Saudi Press Agency [SPA] that "The Saudi region of Jabal Dokhan is back under full and complete Saudi control." Informed sources also revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that 155 Huthi insurgents have been arrested in the past 72 hours. Limited heavy artillery fire could be heard across the Saudi/Yemeni border region on Saturday, and there were reports...

Iran's foreign minister Tuesday called on Yemen's neighbors to stay out of the conflict between Yemeni forces and Shiite Muslim rebels, while Yemen said it had seized an Iranian ship near its territorial waters. Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters in Tehran that Shiite-dominated Iran has expressed its concern for Yemen's "national unity and territorial integrity," the state-run Press TV network reported. "We strongly advise regional and neighboring states not to interfere in Yemen's internal affairs and try to restore peace and stability to the state," Mottaki said, adding, "Those who choose to fuel the flames of conflict must know that the...

SAN'A, Yemen – A radical American imam who communicated with the Fort Hood shooting suspect and called him a hero was once arrested in Yemen on suspicion of giving religious approval to militants to conduct kidnappings. Yemeni authorities are now hunting for Anwar al-Awlaki to determine whether he has al-Qaida ties.

Saudi Arabia said on Friday that it had launched air strikes against Yemeni rebels to "neutralise" infiltrators who had crossed the frontier and killed a Saudi border guard. The air strikes from southern Jizan province were to "neutralise the firing by intruders" and to clear areas where they had encroached on Saudi territory, the government said in a statement on the official SPA news agency. Earlier, a government advisor said Saudi F-15 and Tornado jets had begun bombing the positions of the Zaidi rebels inside Yemeni territory on Wednesday in response to a rebel attack on a border post a...

Thursday, Nov. 5, A substantial Saudi armored infantry force and tank column crossed the border into Yemen to do battle with Iran-backed Houthi rebels the day after they killed a Saudi border guard. Saudi air force F-15 and Tornado jets have been bombing Yemeni rebel positions near the border with the southern Saudi Jizan province since Wednesday. The Yemeni Houthi rebels are the second Iranian ally to be attacked after Israel's Cast Lead operation against the Palestinian Hamas in Gaza earlier this year, DEBKAfile's military sources report. "This is not a hit-and-run, this is a sustained action" to clean out...

SAN'A, Yemen – Saudi Arabia has launched a large military incursion across the border into northern Yemen, using fighter jets and artillery bombardments to try to end a Shiite rebellion inside its troubled southern neighbor, Arab diplomats and the rebels said Thursday. The northern rebels, known as Hawthis, have been battling Yemeni government forces intensively over the past few months in the latest flare-up of a sporadic conflict that has lasted five years. The Hawthis are based in northern Saada province, which borders Saudi Arabia. "Saudi jets dropped bombs on a crowded areas including local market in the northern province...

SNIPPET: "Yemeni Shi'ite Cleric and Houthi Disciple 'Issam Al-'Imad: Our Leader Houthi is Close to Khamenei; We Are Influenced Religiously and Ideologically By Iran" SNIPPET: "On September 28, 2009, the Iranian website ayandenews.com, which is affiliated with former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezai, published an interview with cleric 'Issam Al-'Imad, who is a disciple of Hussein Al-Houthi, leader of the Houthi rebels in Yemen. [1] Al-'Imad, who was born 1968 in Yemen, received his religious education in Saudi Arabia, but after studying Shi'ite Islam left Wahhabism to become a Twelver Shi'ite. Since1989 he has been pursuing advanced Islamic studies in the...

History will record that 2,500 years of Jewish life in Yemen is now over. As The Wall Street Journal reported October 31, the US State Department has completed a clandestine operation which brought 60 of the country's remaining Jews to America. The newspaper quoted Yeshiva University's Hayim Tawil, a Yemeni Jewry expert, as issuing the certificate of death: "This is the end of the Jewish Diaspora of Yemen. That's it." As Israelis and Jews we earnestly appreciate the efforts of the Obama administration on behalf of our Yemeni brethren. THE RESCUE illuminates an often overlooked aspect of the 60-year-plus Arab-Israel...

In his new suburban American home, Shaker Yakub, a Yemeni Jew, folded a large scarf in half, wrapped it around his head and tucked in his spiraling side curls. "This is how I passed for a Muslim," said the 59-year-old father of seven, improvising a turban that hid his black skullcap. The ploy enabled Mr. Yakub and half a dozen members of his family to slip undetected out of their native town of Raida, Yemen, and travel to the capital 50 miles to the south. There, they met U.S. State Department officials conducting a clandestine operation to bring some of...

A boatload of Iranian weapons destined for Shiite Zaidi rebels battling the military has been seized in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, a local official said on Monday. The vessel, with a cargo mainly of anti-tank shells, was seized on Sunday off the village of Midi in Hajjah province adjoining Saada, the Yemeni province bordering Saudi Arabia where the fighting is fiercest, the official told AFP. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said five Iranians and an Indian have been arrested and taken to the capital Sanaa, where they are being questioned by police. Another local...

SNIPPET - QUOTE: Possibly the mystery of the three recent incidents of exploding Yemeni fishing boats can be explained as Iranian missile shipments. The following article asserts Iran is shipping from an African country, likely Sudan, to Yemen. A Yemeni fishing boat also exploded in a Sudanese port and Yemen's Midi Island is a new transit point for Sudanese refugees. Once there's a smuggling route established for weapons, the boats often also transport refugees. However this report is taken from a Yemeni government stooge newspaper, Akhbar al Youm, which once announced that Ayatollah Sistani and I (me Jane) wrote the...

Headline only

Well, this afternoon I read the criminal search warrant and affidavit and the criminal complaint filed on Tarek Mehanna today (So you wouldn't have to, my possums.) I kept Mr. Mehanna's attorney's admonishment to remember that his client was innocent until proven guilty. I also know that the government is required to prove its allegations in open court. Several things popped out at me.

TEHRAN, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki postponed a planned to visit Yemen because of concerns from the Yemeni president. Mottaki said he planned to deliver a message from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the Yemeni government in an effort to resolve lingering conflict with Shiite rebels, Iran's state-funded broadcaster Press TV reports. Yemen launched a major military offensive against al-Houthi rebels in the north of the country in early August. The government claimed it found Iranian-made weapons at depots used by al-Houthi rebels, who the government accuses of attempting to establish a caliphate in the region.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – The two al-Qaida militants killed in a recent shootout sneaked into Saudi Arabia from Yemen and were planning to carry out a massive attack, the Interior Ministry spokesman said Sunday. Four explosive belts — three of them ready to use — were found in the car used by the militants in Tuesday's shootout which suggests that at least four people were going to take part in the attack, ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Mansour al-Turki told The Associated Press.

Living With Osama bin Laden: First Wife Tells of Husband's Bid To Train His Sons As Suicide Bombers Daily Mail Reporter 12th October 2009 Osama bin Laden was a tyrant who trained his own children to be suicide bombers and murdered their pets, his first wife has revealed. In a new book about her time living with bin Laden, Najwa Ghanem has told how she gave birth to 11 of his 14 children because bin Laden said that Islam needed many warriors. And millionaire bin Laden would not allow any modern appliances in his home, even refusing his son medicine...

Two men suspected of being al-Qaeda members and a police officer have been killed in a shoot-out at a checkpoint in Saudi Arabia, officials say. Shots were fired after a female police officer approached a vehicle to check the identities of the passengers - two of whom were disguised as women. A third man was arrested and state media quoted an official as saying there were more weapons in the vehicle. The shooting happened in Jizan province on the southern border with Yemen. Interior Ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki said the suspects were wearing explosive vests and had grenades, automatic...

The Yemeni army said its forces have killed 100 Shiite rebels and wounded a further 280 in the northern Saada province. "Terrorist and destructive elements yesterday evening infiltrated (areas) between military barracks and security posts in Saada province," the military said in a statement cited by Reuters. "Our armed and security forces put a stop to them and inflicted painful and heavy blows on them during which the terrorist 'Houthi' elements lost more than 100 people and more than 280 were injured," the statement said. According to official reports which can not be confirmed, in recent weeks, hundreds of Shiite...

The Yemeni army said on Wednesday that its forces killed 29 Shiite rebels as it presses its offensive in the northern mountains. Yemeni forces killed 12 rebels in clashes on Tuesday in the Harf Sufyan district of Amran province, 70 kilometres north of the capital, the official Saba news agency quoted a commander as saying. The other rebels died in several different clashes in Saada province further north, the commander added. According to AFP, the army said it had also destroyed five lorries carrying explosives to the rebels in Saada. A police spokesman said the seized supplies included 350 bags...

Note: The following text is a quote: Major Executive Speeches Robert S. Mueller, III Director Federal Bureau of Investigation International Association of Chiefs of Police Annual Conference Denver, Colorado October 5, 2009 Good morning. As always, it is good to be here. I have been coming to the IACP since 2001. Year after year, I look out at all of you, and I ask myself the same question. Could I handle the challenges you face, day after day? Could I do the jobs you do with the same success? And the answer is no, for one simple reason: I could...

Note: Photos included. Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center Geopolitically strategic Yemen has become a focus of local Iranian-Saudi Arabian strife. The Yemeni government accuses Iran of supporting Zaydi-Shi’ite (Houthi) rebels in the northern part of the country with weapons, money and propaganda. Subverting local Shi’ite populations in the Middle East is a frequent Iranian modus operandi.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three detainees held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been sent to Ireland and Yemen, the Justice Department said on Saturday, the latest transfers as President Barack Obama tries to close the facility by January. Yemeni Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed was sent to his home country, while two other detainees were sent to Ireland, the U.S. government said, adding it would not identify the two at the request of the government of Ireland. There are still some 223 detainees at the prison. Some are expected to be transferred abroad while others could...

A 12-year-old Yemeni child-bride died after struggling for three days in labor to give birth, a local human rights organization said. Fawziya Abdullah Youssef died of severe bleeding on Friday while giving birth to a stillborn in the al-Zahra district hospital of Hodeida province, 140 miles west of the capital San'a. Child marriages are widespread in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, where tribal customs dominate society. More than a quarter of the country's females marry before age 15, according to a recent report by the Social Affairs Ministry. Youssef was only 11 when her father married her to a...

War On Terror: Charges against the mastermind behind the bombing of the USS Cole are dismissed. He will be retried, but not by a military commission that would have given him the death penalty he deserves.Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell announced on Thursday that Susan Crawford, the convening authority for military tribunals at Guantanamo, has made the decision to withdraw charges against Abd al-Rahim Hussain Mohammed al-Nashiri. This is the Saudi man believed to be the architect of the bombing of the guided missile destroyer USS Cole, killing 17 American sailors, as it sat in the Yemeni port of Aden. The...

Renewed fighting in northern Yemen between government and rebel forces is feeding fears that a Middle Eastern proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran is spreading to the ungoverned spaces of the southern Arabian peninsula. But western analysts are staring boggle-eyed at quite a different spectre: the prospect that the biggest beneficiaries of Yemeni weakness will be the fanatical jihadis of al-Qaida. UN agencies raised the alarm last week after 55,000 people, mostly women and children, fled clashes in and around Sa'ada city in northern Yemen between the forces of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's Sunni-led government and the Zaydi Shia...

Child-bride, 12, dies in Yemen after struggling to give birth for THREE days DAILY MAIL REPORTER 13th September 2009 A 12-year-old Yemeni child-bride died after struggling for three days in labour to give birth, a local human rights organisation said. Fawziya Abdullah Youssef died of severe bleeding on Friday while giving birth to a stillborn in the al-Zahra district hospital of Hodeida province, 140 miles west of the capital San'a. Child marriages are widespread in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, where tribal customs dominate society. More than a quarter of the country's females marry before age 15, according to...

A 12-year-old child bride has died after struggling to give birth to a baby for three days, a human rights organisation in Yemen has said. Fawziya Abdullah Youssef suffered severe bleeding while giving birth to a stillborn infant in Hodeida province, 140 miles (223km) west of the capital San'a, on Friday. She was only 11 when her father married her to a 24-year-old man who works as a farmer in Saudi Arabia, according to Ahmed al Quraishi from the Siyaj organisation, which promotes the rights of children in Yemen. He said he stumbled upon Fawziya in the al Zahra district...

09 September 2009 JIHADIS REPORT OF SYRIAN MEDDLING IN YEMEN Not that I consider jihadis to be a reliable source on such matters, but you know what they say about broken clocks...

The Yemeni military is currently engaged in a large offensive against well-armed, Iranian-backed Zaydi Shiite militants in the north of the country, resulting in over 100,000 people leaving their homes. The Saudis are concerned about the instability spreading inside their borders, and the West as a whole should be concerned about how a militant Shiite enclave in Yemen could give Iran the capabilities to strike inside the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa and shut down traffic through the Red Sea. The militant Zaydi Shiites are often referred to as Houthis in order to specify their radical strain within the Zaydi...

Yemen has called the Iranian ambassador to protest against Tehran's support for the Houthi rebels in northern parts of the country. Yemen's Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi told the Iranian envoy that if Iran continues to back the rebels in Saada this may force Yemen to take "serious diplomatic decisions" over the Yemeni-Iranian ties. According to SABA news agency, the Yemeni minister said Iran's attitude toward the crisis in the north could harm the Yemeni-Iranian ties. He also complained about the Iranian media coverage of the conflict. In an interview with the Al-Methaq newspaper, the minister affirmed his ministry called...

SNIPPET: "RIYADH: A suicide bomber lightly wounded a senior prince largely credited for Saudi Arabia's anti-terrorism campaign when he blew himself up just before going into a gathering of well-wishers for the Muslim holy month of Ramazan, the state news agency said Friday. It was the first known assassination attempt against a member of the royal family since Saudi Arabia began its crackdown on al-Qaeda affiliated militants eight years ago following the September 11 terror attacks in the United States." SNIPPET: "It said the prince, who is the son of Interior Minister Prince Nayef, was discharged from the hospital and...

Washington: American authorities are pressuring Yemen to counter a rising internal Al Qaida threat more aggressively and improve intelligence-sharing amid growing worries that the country could become the next significant terrorist staging ground. As insurgent attacks have spiked in the embattled Middle East nation over the past year, the US has bolstered counterterrorism training there, including efforts to shore up Yemen's borders and combat terror financing and arms trafficking. Al Qaida's increased strength at organising and training new recruits in Yemen's vast ungoverned spaces has also led the US to consider boosting financial aid and sales of military equipment to...

Rochester, N.Y.) - Prosecutors say 44 tapes, secretly recorded by a government informant, prove three Rochester convenience store owners were willing to support terrorists. On April 7, 2005 a man entered the Durnan Mini Mart on Hudson Avenue looking to send $10,000 to $12,000 to Lebanon without creating any record of the transaction.

An Islamist preacher has been banned from addressing a major British fundraising event amid claims he backs attacks on UK troops and supports terrorist organisations linked to Al Qaeda. The revelation that Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemen-based preacher accused of advocating violent jihad, was due to speak via video link at Kensington town hall later this month, has raised fears public buildings are being used for extremism. A spokesman for Kensington and Chelsea council said: "Some of the views expressed by Mr al-Awlaki in the past are not appropriate for broadcast in [council] premises." The council banned al-Awlaki from speaking only...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Yemeni prisoner held since 2002 in the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay must be freed because there is no evidence he belonged to al Qaeda or was a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, a U.S. judge said in a decision published on Friday. Mohammed Adahi is one of 29 detainees who have been ordered released from Guantanamo, a controversial prison on a U.S. Navy base in Cuba that has housed suspected militants since the September 11 attacks on the United States by al Qaeda in 2001. "There is no reliable evidence in the record that (Adahi)...

SAN'A, Yemen — A delegation of U.S. senators led by John McCain and the president of Yemen discussed on Monday ways to help the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country battle the threat from al-Qaida. The state SABA news agency said the American team and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh focused on "bilateral issues and fields of joint cooperation." No details immediately emerged from the meeting, but McCain spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan confirmed earlier that the talks would include counterterrorism cooperation and Guantanamo detainees.