Free Republic

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said there is “no question” that al-Qaeda is on the run, even though U.S. outposts remain closed due to terror threats throughout the world. “We do stand by that,” Carney said on Tuesday when asked if he stands by his previous comments that al-Qaeda has been weakened despite the recent threat, according to the pool report. “There's no question that core al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan has been severely diminished,” he said. …

Yemeni officials have suggested al-Qaida threats to multiple potential targets in their country in recent days, including foreign installations and government offices in the capital of Sanaa as well as to the strategic Bab al-Mandeb straits at the entrance to the Red Sea in the southern Arabian Peninsula. It is not clear if these reports are the same as the intelligence that led to the temporary shutdowns of 19 U.S. diplomatic posts across the Muslim world, reportedly instigated by an intercepted message between al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri and his deputy in Yemen about plans for a major terrorist attack. The...

“America’s actions are legal” claimed President Obama in a speech on drones earlier this year. It was the latest in a string of attempts made by his administration to justify covert strikes carried out by the U.S. overseas—in countries including the Arab peninsula’s poorest nation, Yemen. But back in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, it appears the country’s civil society disagrees. Members of Yemen’s National Dialogue Conference (NDC) —a U.S.-supported initiative which will map out Yemen’s post-Arab Spring future—overwhelmingly voted to criminalize drone strikes in Yemen. The Yemeni people have spoken. Now Presidents Hadi and Obama must listen—for their own sake, as...

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A suspected U.S. drone killed four alleged al-Qaida members in Yemen on Tuesday, as the U.S. and British embassies evacuated staff amid reports of a threatened attack by al-Qaida that has triggered temporary shutdowns of 19 American diplomatic posts across the Muslim world. Yemeni officials have suggested al-Qaida threats to multiple potential targets in the Arabian Peninsula country in recent days, including foreign installations and government offices in the capital Sanaa as well as to the strategic Bab al-Mandeb straits at the entrance to the Red Sea to the south. It is not clear if these...

The State Department on Tuesday ordered most embassy personnel out of Yemen and urged all U.S. citizens currently in that country to leave over the Al Qaeda threat that triggered the shutdown of 19 American diplomatic posts this week. The U.S. Air Force already has flown State Department personnel out of the capital of Sanaa as part of the broad evacuation effort. "The U.S. Department of Defense continues to have personnel on the ground in Yemen to support the U.S. State Department and monitor the security situation," Pentagon spokesman George Little said. The rapid-fire developments on Tuesday came as two...

A statement issued Tuesday says the department has ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel from Yemen "due to the continued potential for terrorist attacks." The travel warning says U.S. citizens currently in Yemen should depart and calls the security threat level in Yemen "extremely high." A U.S. intelligence official and a Mideast diplomat told The Associated Press that the current shutdown was instigated by an intercepted secret message between al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri and his deputy in Yemen about plans for a major terror attack. Britain's Foreign Office says it has evacuated all staff from its embassy in...

A pair of suspected U.S. drone strikes killed four al Qaeda militants in Yemen as the United States maintained a heightened security alert in the country and urged all Americans to leave immediately. Security sources told CNN about the strikes but didn't offer additional details. A Yemeni official said four drone strikes have been carried out in the past 10 days. None of those killed on Tuesday were among the 25 names on the country's most-wanted list, security officials said. It is unclear whether the strikes were related to the added security alert in the country after U.S. officials intercepted...

The United States told its citizens in Yemen on Tuesday to leave immediately and ordered the evacuation of non-essential U.S. government staff because of the threat of terrorist attacks. The State Department announcement was the latest warning since Washington issued a worldwide travel alert on Friday that prompted the closure of several Western embassies in Yemen and U.S. missions across the Middle East and Africa. Based on intelligence including intercepted communication between al Qaeda leaders, Washington has warned of possible attacks in the region. Some officials pinpointed Yemen, home to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the...

The State Department on Tuesday ordered non-essential personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Yemen to leave the country following the threat by al-Qaida that has triggered temporary shutdowns of 19 American diplomatic posts across the Middle East and Africa. The department said in a travel warning that it had ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel from Yemen "due to the continued potential for terrorist attacks" and said U.S. citizens in Yemen should leave immediately because of an "extremely high" security threat level. "As staff levels at the Embassy are restricted, our ability to assist U.S. citizens in an...

The US State Department has ordered citizens and non-emergency government staff to leave Yemen "immediately" due to security threats. --SNIP-- The BBC's Abdullah Ghorab, in Sanaa, says the Yemeni capital has been experiencing unprecedented security measures, with hundreds of armoured military vehicles deployed to secure the presidential palace, vital infrastructural buildings and Westerns embassies in the capital. Our correspondent says that a security source confirmed Yemeni intelligence services had discovered that tens of al-Qaeda members had arrived in Sanaa over the past few days from other regions in preparation for the implementation of a large plot. The source described the...

August 5, 2013 Terror Threat Intelligence Not New Agencies knew of threat to embassies, officials for months Bill Gertz Intelligence regarding al Qaeda plans to attack U.S. embassies, officials, and interests last Sunday was known for months by U.S. intelligence agencies but was used only recently to trigger the closure of embassies and issuance of public warnings of impending attacks. Al Qaeda “chatter” about coming terrorist operations, mainly against 22 U.S. embassies and consulates, and threats to attack or bomb officials in the Middle East and elsewhere was widely reported in classified intelligence reports over several months. The report said...

The Obama administration’s decision last week to close nearly two dozen diplomatic missions and issue a worldwide travel alert resulted from intercepted electronic communications in which the head of Al-Qaeda in Pakistan ordered the leader of its affiliate in Yemen to carry out an attack as early as this past Sunday, American officials told the New York Times on Monday. According to the newspaper, the intercepted conversations last week between Ayman al-Zawahiri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden as the head of the global terrorist group, and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the head of the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, revealed one...

Editor's note: Below is Thomas Joscelyn's testimony to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, on al Qaeda, the nature of the group's central command and its relationship with its affiliates, and the future challenges the West faces in battling the terror organization. Chairman Poe, Ranking Member Sherman and members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me here today to discuss the threat posed by al Qaeda. We have been asked to "examine the nature of global al Qaeda today." In particular, you asked us to answer the following questions: "What is [al...

Peter King: Plot ‘most specific I’ve seen’ By: Breanna Edwards August 2, 2013 06:07 PM EDT Chairman of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence Rep. Peter King confirmed on Friday that “something serious is being planned,” prompting the shutdown of 21 U.S. embassies across the world. “There’s very little doubt, if any, that something serious is being planned,” the New York Republican told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on a phone call in “The Situation Room.” “I’ve been getting briefed fairly regularly over the last seven or eight years at least and also pretty heavily before then and this is the most...

In warning about possible al Qaeda attacks against Americans overseas, U.S. officials may have provided too much detail about intercepted chatter and the source of the information, and that may make it more difficult to get such tips next time, former and current intelligence officials say. On Friday, the U.S. State Department issued a worldwide travel alert for Americans, citing an unspecified al Qaeda threat. The bulletin said that the highest threat levels are the Middle East and North Africa, “and possibly occurring in or emanating from the Arab Peninsula.” As a result of the threat, the United States will...

France and Germany are closing their embassies in Yemen on Sunday and Monday, which follows in the wake of the United States, which issued a global travel alert yesterday citing an al-Qaeda threat. That alert also caused the State Department to announce it would close its embassies this Sunday around the Muslim world. Interpol, meanwhile, issued a global security alert Saturday in connection with suspected al-Qaeda involvement in several recent prison escapes including those in Iraq, Libya and Pakistan. The alert calls on Interpol's 190 member countries to help determine whether these events are co-ordinated or linked.

Britain was due to close on Sunday amid heightened security fears after the US issued a global travel alert because of a threat of possible al Qaida terrorist attacks. The two-day closure, described by the Foreign Office as a "precautionary measure", came amid concerns over escalating violence in the country. snip Clashes were reported in Sana'a on Friday. Military officials said one fighter was killed and six were wounded in the unrest. The casualties were reported to be part of a rebel group of Republican Guard troops loyal to Yemen's ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh. There has been a rise...

U.S. embassies in a slew of Muslim countries will close on Sunday due to a credible and serious security threat. The embassies will close in response to "a specific threat against a U.S. embassy or consulate," according to a senior U.S. official, who called it a "concerted effort" to target an embassy or consulate in a Muslim country. "We just don't know which one," the official told ABC News. "There could be other targets, not just embassies," another U.S. official said. The threat is considered to be throughout the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. Some of the biggest...

http://www.memri.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/3923.htm

11 Year Old Yemeni Girl on Forced Marriage: I'd Rather Kill Myself