Yemen and Updates

'US aided' deadly Yemen raids: Residents of Abyan said that there was no al-Qaeda training camp in the area and that the raids had destroyed several homes. Abbas al-Assal, a local human rights activist who was at the scene, said 64 people were killed, including 23 children and 17 women.

Yemen Opposition Says Govt Attacks Killed Civilians: "In a dangerous precedent, ... the Sanaa regime committed a brutal massacre against our people," exiled southern leader Ali Salem al-Beidh said in a statement, calling for an investigation by the United Nations, and by Arab and Muslim countries.

'They' always say 'innocent' civilians' were killed. though I am shocked by this news.

Did Obama order the attacks at the request of the Yemen government?

Full Video of Alleged Air Strike Aftermath in Yemen

Kingdom Trying to Find if Saudis Were Among Dead in Yemeni Operations

Yemen Finds Four al-Qaeda Suspects in Hospital

This strike may very well cause more Al-Qaeda groups to emerge. The UN or the Arab league have to deal with it, not the US though for this just puts fuel into the fire.

Yemen is currently engaged in multiple conflicts in different regions of the country, including the Shi’ites in the north, the separatist movement in the formerly Communist South Yemen, and the al-Qaeda forces which the US targeted in last week’s American air strikes.

The enemy hides among the innocent. It is like raiding a bank in which the tellers are held hostage. Sometimes, the hostages are killed in the process of ending the seige and apprehending the bad guys. Life isn't perfect, though technology minimizes the innocent killed. Good shooting.

In addition, the people among whom the bad guys are hiding are often supporters of the bad guys. The children are the only innocent ones in the process.

U.S. Launches Missile Strike on Al Qaeda in Yemen

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December 18, 2009 U.S. Launched Missile Strikes on Al Qaeda in Yemen, Sources Say

FOXNews.com

The politically sensitive strikes Thursday signal an escalation of the Obama administration's fight against the terrorist organization

The U.S. has launched two missile strikes against Al Qaeda targets in Yemen, two U.S. officials told Fox News, signaling an escalation of the Obama administration's fight against the terrorist organization.
The politically sensitive strikes Thursday, first reported by ABC News, supplement efforts already under way by the government of Yemen to go after Al Qaeda in the country, the officials told Fox News, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the operation.
Such an operation is particularly sensitive in Yemen. "It's very difficult for Yemen to ask the U.S. for help given the nature of their population and its views about the West," one official said. "And the U.S. doesn't want to compromise their ability to ask for help."
The United States has faced similar concerns in Pakistan, where reports of U.S. drone attacks on militants are common -- but never acknowledged publicly by the U.S. or by Pakistan.
In the new attacks, cruise missiles on Obama's orders hit a suspected Al Qaeda training camp north of Sanaa, the capital, and another site, where terrorists were thought to be plotting an attack on the U.S., ABC News reported, citing unnamed administration officials.
A Yemeni official contacted by ABC News insisted that the attacks were carried out by Yemen, not the United States. Yemeni forces also reportedly have targeted Al Qaeda in raids conducted at three locations. __________________
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Despite U.S. Help, Yemen Faces Growing Al-Qaeda Threat -- Time Magazine

With Yemen apparently on the verge of becoming the world's next failed state and a regional base for al-Qaeda, a series of U.S.-assisted air and ground assaults that shook pockets of Yemen last week might have seemed like a positive development in the troubled country's otherwise downward spiral. But the dramatic action, which appears to have resulted in a number of civilian casualties, may not right the situation at all. "The U.S. has been growing very concerned about al-Qaeda in recent years, but it seems as though the U.S. is coming rather late to the party," says Princeton University Yemen expert Gregory Johnsen, who contends last week's attacks would ultimately prove counterproductive.

Read more ....

More News On Yemen's Civil War

U.S. Cruise Missiles Hit Al Qaeda In Yemen -- Strategy Page
Saudi air strike kills Yemen rebels as US drawn into fight -- Christian Science Monitor
Report: U.S. helping Yemen vs. al-Qaida -- UPI
Mullen worried Yemen becoming terrorist 'haven' -- AP
Mullen Applauds Air Strike Against Suspected Al Qaeda in Yemen -- FOX News/AP
Did U.S. help Yemen bomb al-Qaida? -- The Examiner
Yemen rebels say Saudi air raids kill 54 -- Reuters
Fighting with Yemen rebels has left 73 Saudis dead -- Toronto Star
73 Saudis killed in fight against Yemeni rebels -- AFP
Yemen: Pentagon's War On The Arabian Peninsula -- OpEdNews
Could Yemen Become the Next Afghanistan? -- Atlantic Blog
ANALYSIS - Saudis face long war with rebels on Yemen border -- Reuters

Al-Qaeda vows revenge for those killed in Yemeni strike: TV

US drones wipe out top al Qaeda leaders in Yemenfrom DEBKAfile

DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources report that the air strike in eastern Yemen Thursday, Dec. 24, which left more than 30 dead, was in fact a US drone attack which wiped out a large part of al Qaeda's leadership in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

Among them were two high-ranking Yemen al Qaeda operatives Saud al Qahtani, Mohammed Amir, al Qaeda's commander in Saudi Arabia, Saad Shahani, and Anwar al Awkali, the American imam who preached to US. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the gunman who murdered 13 US military personnel at Ford Hood, Texas last month.

American Anwar al-Awkali preached to Ford Hood killer, 9/11 hijackers

An unnamed Yemeni official Thursday, Dec. 24 reported the death of Anwar al Awkali, imam of the mosque frequented by US. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the gunman who murdered 13 US military personnel at the Ford Hood, Texas last month. Hasan is also said to have been in email correspondence with Awkali who praised him for killing Americans for more than a year.

Awkali was imam of the Dar al-Hijrah mosque, attended also by three of the 9/11 hijackers.

The Yemen state news agency claimed the same air strike killed at least 30 al Qaeda fighters at a meeting Thursday in the eastern province of Shabwa to plan revenge for the Yemen government's Dec. 17 raids in the capital Sanaa and the southern province of Abyan, in which 34 jihadis were killed and 17 arrested.

DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources advise caution in accepting both Yemen reports before they are reliably confirmed. The raids last week later have been attributed not to the Yemeni air force as claimed but more likely a US seaborne strike either by drone or cruise missile. The White House did not deny reports that those strikes were ordered by President Barack Obama in person.

If cruise missiles were used, it would be the first time since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. .

Our military sources add that the Yemeni authorities are highlighting successes, real or inflated, against al Qaeda to divert attention from their serious reverses in the campaign to quell the Iran-backed Houthi separatist rebellion in the North, notwithstanding Saudi military intervention, US assistance and, as DEBKAfile now reports, the recent arrival of a Moroccan commando unit. [/q]

Yemeni Air Strike Kills 30, Targets Home Of Cleric Linked To Ft. Hood Attack -- Washington Post

SANAA, YEMEN -- Yemeni forces killed at least 30 suspected militants in an air strike early Thursday morning on an alleged al-Qaeda hide-out in southeastern Yemen, the second such assault in the past week, according to Yemeni security and government sources.

The strike appeared to target the home of Anwar al-Aulaqi, the extremist Yemeni-American preacher linked to the suspected gunman in the Fort Hood army base attack in November.

Read more ....

More News On Yemen

Dozens killed in Yemen air strike on al-Qaeda suspects -- BBC
Report: Dozens of militants killed in Yemen air strike -- CNN
Yemen Says Warplanes Raided al-Qaida Meeting, Killing 30 -- Voice of America
34 suspected Al-Qaeda'killed in Yemen air strike' -- AFP
Factbox: Who is Anwar al-Awlaki? -- National Post
FACTBOX - Yemen targets deadly al Qaeda wing -- Reuters

A Day After Yemen Assault, No Word on Fate of Cleric Tied to Fort Hood Suspect - Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post. A day after Yemeni forces, backed by the United States, launched an airstrike on a meeting of suspected al-Qaeda leaders, it remained unclear whether an extremist Yemeni American cleric linked to the suspect in the Fort Hood shootings was among those killed in the assault. Yemeni defense sources had said Thursday that they thought Anwar al-Aulaqi was among those killed in the attack in southeastern Yemen, according to 26sep.net, a Web site linked to Yemen's military. But a Yemeni official said Friday that there was no confirmation that Aulaqi and two top al-Qaeda leaders were killed or injured. The pre-dawn strike killed at least 30 suspected militants and was the second such assault in the past week. Aulaqi, a U.S. citizen and radical Internet preacher who exchanged e-mails with Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people last month at Fort Hood, Tex., was thought to have attended the meeting, according to U.S. and Yemeni officials. U.S. officials say they think Aulaqi was probably killed.

Yemeni Director Combats Terrorism With Propaganda - Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times. Al Qaeda is toast, roll the credits. If you can't annihilate the enemy on the battlefield, take the battle to a new dimension, complete with rousing music, saluting children, waving flags and soldiers so heroic you keep looking for pedestals beneath their boots. Good prevails in the scripts of Fadhel al-Olofi, a producer and film director for the Yemeni government, which lends him helicopters and ammo to destroy whatever bad guy haunts the imagination of a country stuck in a real-life civil war and bloodied by attacks by Islamic extremists. Olofi creates unapologetic propaganda to comfort Yemenis craving repose and a story line that doesn't end with a funeral. What's wrong with that? Enter Jamal Jubran al-Thawi, brooding journalist and critic. (Wait, let's keep him stewing in the wings a bit longer.) "The Losing Bet" is Olofi's challenge to Al Qaeda and militant networks seeking to exploit Yemen's poverty, unrest and political chaos. The 2008 hit film is a morality tale of enlightened security officials and reformed extremists bringing to heel a band of bearded men with rippling eyebrows who clasp Kalashnikovs and mutter lines such as "strike with an iron hand" and "cunning atheists." Oh, those cunning atheists. They're tourists with cameras, the target of a suicide bomber. But on Olofi's screen, at least, this young nation's good and stoic citizens will not stand for the perversion of Islam by prophets of jihad. So he kills the hardened ones and brings those less committed back to the righteous fold, the folly of their ways laid bare by wise old men.

Will Yemen Be The Conflict Story Of 2010? -- Ares/Aviation Week

Yemen has now seen on-again, off-again air raids for several weeks, launched both by the Yemeni government and Saudi Arabia. It all raises the question whether the situation, in 2010, will further escalate?

Yemen has been a center for Al-Qaeda activity for some time. The USS Cole destroyer was attacked when anchoring at the Aden port on October 12, 2000. Al-Qaeda also maintained a communications hub in the country for some time in the run-up to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S.

The environment in Yemen appears to be growing increasingly volatile.

Read more ....

More News On Yemen

Al-Qaeda plans attacks from new power base in Yemen -- Times Online
Yemen strikes gathering of al-Qaida leaders, other hideouts, claims 30 militants killed -- Canadian Press
U.S. Military Attacks al Qaeda in Yemen for Second Time -- ABC news
US reiterates support for Yemen forces after Qaeda raid -- AFP
Yemeni director combats terrorism with propaganda -- L.A. Times
Saudi rid of Yemeni infiltrators, King says -- Reuters

Officials Point to Suspect’s Claim of Qaeda Ties in Yemen

The Nigerian man charged in a failed attack on a jet told investigators that he had obtained the explosives from an expert in Yemen linked to Al Qaeda. The suspect’s father had warned the U.S. about his son.

Al Qaeda in Yemen Hold Rally & Declare War on US Days Before Attempted Plane Bombing (Video) -- Gateway Pundit

Al Qaeda members and supporters in Yemen held a massive rally 4 days ago in a remote area of the poor Muslim country. The members declared war against the US just days before the attempted plane bombing on a flight from The Netherlands to Detroit. The plot to blow up an American passenger jet over Detroit was organized and launched by al Qaeda leaders in Yemen.

Read more ....

More News on Yemen

Yemen says Houthi rebel leader may be dead -- Reuters
Top leader of rebels died and buried -- Yemen Observer
In Yemen, Saudi jets bomb civilian areas -- Press TV
Yemeni rebels 'will withdraw from Saudi if attacks end' -- AFP
Houthi Fighters Vowed to Continue their Campaign Against Sa'naa -- Hamsayeh.net
Al-Qaeda Shows Up at Yemen Protest; Warns Yemenis Not to Resist: Yemen Times, Yemen -- Moderate Voice
Al-Qaeda presence exaggerated, says Yemen -- Saudi Gazette
Yemen confirms receiving US military support -- Press TV
Yemen on the Brink -- Khaleej Times