"Yemen fighting revives civil war fears" October 18, 2011|By Hamza Hendawi, Associated Press
SANA, Yemen - Fighting between troops loyal to Yemen’s embattled leader and rival forces yesterday killed at least 18 people, including eight supporters of an influential tribal chief who defected to the opposition in March.
The predawn fighting, the worst in the capital Sana in weeks, has revived fears of civil war in the strategically located nation on the southern corner of the Arabian Peninsula.
Mortars, rockets, and heavy machine-guns were used in the hourslong battle in the northern sector of the city close to the international airport.
A series of blasts shook the city for hours, forcing residents in many parts to take shelter in basements. The fighting continued throughout the night, briefly stopped for the dawn prayers and then resumed. It ceased by sunrise.
Many of the city’s stores were closed in anticipation of renewed fighting, but the day passed without any major violence. However, traffic was lighter than usual and residents hurried home before sunset.
The fighting has deepened fears that Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest nation, is headed for civil war, a grim prospect for the nation’s conflict-fatigued 23 million people.
Firearms have traditionally been readily available in Yemen, where owning a rifle is a rite of passage for most young males.
Many Yemenis also have military experience from serving in the army and fighting in the nation’s many domestic wars.
With central authority ranging from weak to nonexistent outside Sana, it is not uncommon for tribesmen to have heavy machine-guns, antiaircraft guns, mortars, and rocket-propelled grenades.
Saleh is accused by many Yemenis of pushing the country into civil war by tenaciously clinging to power in the face of eight months of massive protests across the country, the defection to the opposition of key tribal and military allies, and mounting international pressure on him to step down.
He has so far balked at a US-backed plan proposed by Saudi Arabia and its five smaller allies in the Gulf Cooperation Council to hand over power to his deputy and step down in exchange for immunity.
Major General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, commander of the renegade division, warned of the danger of civil war yesterday in a statement in which he called on the international community to force Saleh out of office.
“The madness of this man, his obsession with power, his thirst for revenge, and his irresponsible behavior show that he wants to ignite a ruinous civil war that will add to the instability of the region,’’ said Ahmar, a one-time Saleh ally.
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"12 killed, 70 hurt in Yemen protests" October 19, 2011|Associated Press
SANA, Yemen - Government forces opened fire yesterday on protesters in Sana, killing 12 and injuring more than 70, a medical official said, a day after the capital witnessed its worst fighting in weeks.
Mohammed al-Qubati, director of a field hospital at the main protest site in Sana dubbed “Change Square,’’ said more than 70 protesters were injured in demonstrations demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Sana, led by shirtless young men with the words “Leave … you butcher’’ scrawled across their chests, referring to Saleh.
Soldiers from the Republican Guard, a loyalist unit led by Saleh’s son Ahmed, arrested four female protesters who were ahead of the main demonstration, said activist Habib al-Uraiqi.
Abdel-Rahman Berman of Yemen’s National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms, or HOOD, said Saleh’s forces used live ammunition and harsh tear gas.
Berman said the HOOD team monitoring the situation charged that government forces and thugs abducted female protesters and some wounded demonstrators in a “shameful and criminal way.’’
Similar demonstrations were held in other parts of Yemen, including the southern cities of Aden and Taiz, protest organizers said.
The protesters called for Saleh to be put on trial for killing demonstrators and urged the international community and the United Nations Security Council to help topple him.
Yes, isn't it interesting that unlike Khadafy or Assad he will be coming to AmeriKa so we can take care of him.
Yesterday, key members of the Security Council began considering a British-drafted resolution that would call for an immediate cease-fire in Yemen.
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"Gunmen open fire on Yemeni protesters; Boy killed, a dozen hurt in two attacks" November 11, 2011|By Jamal Al-Jashini, Associated Press
SANA, Yemen- Gunmen in civilian clothes opened fire on antigovernment protesters in Yemen’s capital, and tanks shelled residential neighborhoods in another major city, killing a 13-year-old boy and leaving at least a dozen people wounded yesterday, witnesses and a medical official said.
The attacks came as thousands of activists marched in the capital Sana and in the central city of Taiz, calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to face trial for his government’s crackdown on protesters.
For nearly 10 months, protesters have filled streets and public squares across Yemen, calling for the ouster of Saleh, who has been in power for three decades. While Saleh’s security forces have used deadly force to suppress the protests, international diplomacy has failed to resolve the crisis.
Al Qaeda-linked militants have taken advantage of the internal turmoil to take over towns and villages in Yemen’s south. The United States considers Al Qaeda’s Yemen branch to be especially dangerous.
Pfffft!!
Related: "CIA-Duh" Takes Control of Yemen
Had enough lies yet?
Jamal bin Omar, the UN Secretary General’s special envoy to Yemen, arrived in the country yesterday to seek progress on a US-backed proposal to end the crisis. The plan was put forward by Yemen’s powerful Gulf Arab neighbors.
Under the plan, Saleh would step down and pass power to his vice president in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Saleh has agreed to the proposal three times, only to refuse to sign at the last minute.
Many Yemeni activists criticize the proposal for granting Saleh immunity and allowing him to stay on as head of the ruling party. They complain that it falls short of the democratic reforms and new government they want their uprising to achieve.
Thousands took to the streets in Sana and Taiz yesterday to call for Saleh to stand trial for his government’s deadly crackdown.
In Sana, three protesters were wounded, a medical official said.
In Taiz, Yemen’s second largest city, tanks shelled residential neighborhoods, destroying several buildings, and security forces opened fire on a protest in the city’s center, killing a 13-year-old boy and wounding nine others, a medical official said.
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"Government shelling kills 14 in Yemen" November 12, 2011|Associated Press
SANA, Yemen - Yemeni security forces fired tank and artillery shells at a restive southern city yesterday, killing 14 people, including three women and a 9-year-old boy, a medical official said.
Violence has escalated in the Arab world’s poorest country throughout a nearly nine-month popular uprising seeking to oust longtime autocratic President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
International diplomacy has failed to stop the crisis, with Saleh repeatedly refusing to sign a US-backed proposal by Yemen’s powerful Gulf neighbors that would grant him immunity from prosecution if he hands over power to his vice president.
Security across the country has broken down, and clashes between government forces and army units that have joined the uprising regularly shake cities.
In the country’s south, Al Qaeda-linked militants have taken over entire towns, raising Western fears they will have freer rein to use the area as a staging ground for international attacks.
Spread a little thin, ain't they?
Related:
"In Yemen, the administration chose to work with an objectionable government to isolate the extremists. A new CIA base on the Arabian Peninsula is the result"
Now you know why "CIA-Duh" is getting stronger.
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At this point one begins wondering where is the U.S. criticism.
"Violence continues after Yemeni ruler hands over power" November 25, 2011|By Ahmed Al-Haj and Jamal Al-Jashimi, Associated Press
SANA, Yemen - President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s agreement to step down failed to halt antigovernment demonstrations or prevent violence yesterday as supporters of the regime killed five protesters demanding that the ousted leader be put on trial for crimes ranging from corruption to bloodshed during the current uprising.
Saleh signed the US-backed power-transfer deal, brokered by neighboring countries, on Wednesday in the Saudi capital Riyadh in exchange for immunity from prosecution. It sets in motion a number of changes designed to stop the uprising that has battered Yemen’s economy and caused a nationwide security lapse that Al Qaeda-linked militants have exploited to increase operations in the country’s weakly governed provinces....
Observers note that the deal does not include a number of Yemen’s biggest power brokers, including Saleh’s relatives - who head elite security forces - powerful tribal chiefs, and military commanders who have joined the protesters.
Many of the protesters, who have camped out in a public square for months to call for sweeping democratic reforms, rejected the deal immediately, saying the opposition parties that agreed to it were compromised by their long association with Saleh.
Thousands took to the streets again yesterday in the capital Sana, the central city of Taiz, and elsewhere, protesting the deal and calling for Saleh to be tried for charges of corruption and for the killing of protesters during the uprising.
They chanted “No immunity for the killer’’ and vowed to continue their protests.
Security forces and government supporters opened fire on Sana’s main protest camp yesterday, killing five protesters with live ammunition, said Gameela Abdullah, a medic at the local field hospital.
A video posted online by activists showed men in long robes and Arab head scarves firing assault rifles at protesters, who scrambled for cover.
“We’ll keep fighting until Saleh is tried for all the crimes he has committed against the people in his capacity as the head of the armed forces,’’ said activist Bushra al-Maqtari in Taiz, which has seen some of the most violent crackdowns on antiregime protesters. Hundreds of demonstrators have been killed nationwide since January.
Abdullah Obal, a leader in the coalition that signed the deal, said the opposition intended to meet with protest leaders to address their demands.
“The agreement does not cancel the youths’ demands or go against them,’’ he said. “It is their right to protest.’’
Some doubt that the deal marks the end of political life for Saleh, who has proved to be a wily politician and suggested in remarks after the signing ceremony that he could play a future political role in the country, along with his ruling party. He had agreed to sign the deal three times before, only to back away at the last minute.
Saleh had clung to power despite nearly 10 months of huge street protests.
“The signature is not what is important,’’ Saleh said after signing the agreement. “What is important is good intentions and dedication to serious, loyal work at true participation to rebuild what has been destroyed by the crisis during the last 10 months.’’
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"Forces clash, protests continue in Yemen" by Jamal Al-Jashini and Ahmed Al-Haj | Associated Press, November 26, 2011
SANA, Yemen - Heavy fighting between rival army units shook Yemen’s capital yesterday, killing two soldiers in what could signal the start of a power struggle just days after President Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to end his 33-year rule.
The clashes pitted Central Security forces commanded by Saleh’s nephew, Colonel Yehia Saleh, against troops from the First Armored Division, headed by General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who defected and joined the protesters in March. The crackle of automatic weapons and the heavy thud of mortars echoed across the city.
Many of the protesters who have braved months of lethal government crackdowns to demonstrate for democratic reforms have rejected the deal. Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in cities across the country to denounce the agreement and call for Saleh to be put on trial for crimes ranging from corruption to lethal crackdowns on protests.
And AmeriKa is going to give him shelter?
In the fighting between the army units, one soldier from each side was killed before the fighting stopped around dawn, a security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
And AmeriKa is going to give him shelter?
In the fighting between the army units, one soldier from each side was killed before the fighting stopped around dawn, a security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
The two units have clashed in the past, but yesterday’s fighting was the first showdown since Saleh signed a US-backed proposal Wednesday in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Under the agreement, which was brokered by several Persian Gulf states, Saleh agreed to pass power to Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi within 30 days, after a new government sworn in by the vice president passes a law protecting Saleh and his associates from prosecution.
Hadi is also to call for early presidential elections to be held within 90 days.
Also yesterday, opposition parties that signed the Gulf deal selected Mohammed Basindwa as prime minister, said opposition leader Abdullah Obal. Under the deal’s terms, the vice president is expected to charge him in the next few days with forming a national unity government.
Basindwa, though an independent, has held numerous positions in Saleh’s government, including foreign and information minister.
If the Gulf deal holds, Saleh would be the fourth dictator pushed from power this year by the Arab Spring uprisings. But the agreement does not guarantee far-reaching political changes like those brought about by uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. It does not ban Saleh from returning to Yemen, so he won’t be exiled like Tunisian strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. And it protects Saleh from prosecution, so he will not be put on trial like Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak.
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"Yemeni troops shell city, killing 3" December 03, 2011|Associated Press
SANA, Yemen - Yemeni government troops have shelled residential areas in the restive southern city of Taiz for a fourth straight day, killing three people yesterday, residents said.
They said the latest shelling came from army tanks positioned on mountains and hills around Taiz, Yemen’s second-largest city and a hotbed of opposition to longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The city has been shelled by the military responding to hit-and-run attacks by tribesmen, and the latest bout has been going on since Tuesday.
The relentless barrage has forced scores to flee Taiz to the countryside, the residents said.
On Thursday, the army and tribesmen clashed, leaving 13 dead, the Defense Ministry said.
Saleh has signed a US-backed deal to step down but fighting was still raging, with near-daily protests against his rule.
Saleh signed a power transfer deal, brokered by neighboring countries, last week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to resolve Yemen’s crisis. It transfers power to his vice president and grants him immunity from prosecution.
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"Militants tunnel out of Yemeni prison" December 13, 2011|Associated Press
SANA, Yemen - A group of Al Qaeda militants escaped early yesterday from a prison in the southern port city of Aden, officials said, tunneling their way out in the second such spectacular jailbreak this year.
Or they were just let out. Smells like a CIA-Duh press cover story to me.
A prison officer said at least 10 convicts escaped through a tunnel that was up to 130 feet long. The tunnel took the inmates from under the western side of the Aden prison to near a gas station outside the prison walls.
A security official said 15 militants fled in the prison break, including 12 convicted for the killing of security officials and a bank heist.
The discrepancy in the number of escaped prisoners could not be immediately reconciled. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Yemen has seen spectacular jailbreaks before.
In 2003, 11 Al Qaeda militants convicted for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 American sailors and injured 39 others, escaped from the Aden prison.
Yeah, about the Cole.
And in June, nearly 60 suspected Al Qaeda militants tunneled their way out of a prison in the southern Mukalla city.
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And what was the first thing they did when they got out of prison?
"Qaeda-linked fighters, Yemen troops clash" December 21, 2011
SANA, Yemen - Yemeni soldiers battled Al Qaeda-linked militants outside the southern city of Zinjibar, which remains partly under the control of militants who seized it more than half a year ago. Sixteen of the fighters and four soldiers were killed, a military official said yesterday.
The overnight fighting included intensive artillery shelling from the government side and took place overnight, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, in line with the military regulations.
Yup, the monster Saleh is on our side.
Al Qaeda-linked militants have overrun swaths of territory in the area, taking advantage of the security vacuum that has developed as a result of the political unrest that continues to roil the fragile and impoverished country on the southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula.
Do you mind if I'm sick of cover-story crapola?
A deal for longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh to hand over power has failed to quiet the protests calling for his ouster that began last February.
Many of his opponents have objected to the deal because it grants him immunity from prosecution, and they would like to see him tried on charges of corruption and playing a role in the bloody crackdown on protesters.
Screw what the victims want; this is about geopolitical control and the world domination plan of the empire.
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"Yemenis rally, denounce killing of protesters" by Ahmed Al-Haj Associated Press / December 25, 2011
SANAA, Yemen—Tens of thousands of people demonstrated Sunday in Yemen's capital, protesting the deaths of protesters and demanding the resignation of the vice president for failing to bring the killers to justice.
Marching past the office of Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, the protesters denounced him as a "tool in the hands" of outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The march took place as Hadi was meeting with U.S. Ambassador Gerald Feierstein. A statement from Hadi's office said they discussed Yemen's crisis, and Hadi appealed for calm.
Hadi is heading a transitional government after Saleh agreed to transfer power following months of demonstrations and turmoil. Under the U.S.-backed plan, Saleh won immunity from prosecution, angering many of his opponents. Yielding to pressure to defuse the country's tensions, Saleh said Saturday he would leave for the United States.
The U.S. is concerned about months of turmoil in Yemen that has led to a security breakdown, because the dangerous al-Qaida branch in Yemen has taken advantage of the vacuum to expand its presence in the south of the country....
Uh-huh.
What made my printed Globe a day later:
A security official said al-Qaida-linked forces on Sunday killed an intelligence chief responsible for fighting terrorism in southern Yemen. The official said Col. Hussein el-Shabibi was shot dead by al-Qaida-linked masked gunmen while he was in his car in a market in Sheik Othman, Aden....
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Related: Yemen Set For Civil War
And here it is.
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