Yemen Interior Ministry: 300 al Qaeda fighters killed since May

September 1, 2011

Sanaa, Yemen (CNN) -- Clashes between al Qaeda fighters and government troops since May in southern Yemen have killed 300 militants, the country's Interior Ministry said Thursday.

A total of 183 government troops have died in the fighting, according to security officials in Abyan province, an al Qaeda stronghold.

Yemeni troops also have retaken numerous villages previously in the hands of militants, a government spokesman said.

"The numbers of killed terrorists is a sign that the government is taking the matter seriously and will continue to fight them until the country is cleansed from them," according to spokesman Abdu Ganadi.

In February, Yemen Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi said al Qaeda fighters in Yemen only numbered a couple of hundred.

But some questioned the government figures.

"If we take in consideration what the foreign minister said earlier in the year and what the Interior Ministry announced ... there aren't supposed to be any more al Qaeda militants in Yemen," said Ali al-Jaradi, a political analyst and expert in al Qaeda affairs.

"If 300 were killed in Abyan then who is fighting our troops?"

The government defended its numbers, saying they are not exaggerated.

"The ministry is not under pressure to raise the number of those killed as has no reason to give false information on the militants death toll," Mohammed al-Maweri, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said.

Abyan province was taken over by a extremist militant group called Ansar al-Sharia in late May, which has since then been in control of most districts of the southern Yemen province.

The group also announced its desire to takeover Yemen's business capital, Aden, which borders Abyan. If successful, it would create a crescent shaped Islamic emirate.

The group has links to al Qeada, according to the Interior Ministry.

This comes as a local security official in Lahj province said that more than 100 al Qaeda militants have entered the province, coming from neighboring Abyan.

Residents of Lahj fear that the government is planning to evacuate its thousands of troops like it did in Abyan and force the province to fall in the hands of militants.

"Why is the government allowing them to enter Lahj," said Khaldoon Mansoor, who lives in Howtah, the capital of Lahj. "It knows they are coming in the province and yet doing nothing to stop them while they are in small numbers."

More than 90,000 residents of Abyan were evacuated after developments in May and are now living in shelters in neighboring Aden and Lahj provinces.

In January, young protesters took to the streets of the capital, Sanaa, demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Fears of an all-out civil war have spiked in recent months as government forces and people alleged to be Hashed tribesmen slugged it out in the capital.

Saleh, who has been confronted with widespread anti-government sentiment and militant activity, has been urged to accept a political transition plan that will lead to his departure. He is currently in Saudi Arabia, undergoing treatment for severe burns suffered in a June 3 attack on his palace.

Yemen forces 'advancing on militants in Zinjibar'

ADEN, September 1, 201, (AFP) — Yemeni army units on Thursday advanced towards Zinjibar, the southern Abyan provincial capital which fell to insurgents linked to Al-Qaeda in late May, a military official told AFP.
"Units of the 201st and 119th brigades advanced towards Zinjibar on two fronts and have managed to link up with the 25th mechanised brigade," which has been encircled since militants captured the city, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The military recaptured Al-Wahda stadium seven kilometres (four miles) east of Zinjibar, then advanced to the outskirts of the Hosn Shaddad neighbourhood adjacent to the 25th mechanised brigade, he said.
"They linked up with the besieged soldiers of the brigade," he added.
Other military units backed by tanks, were about five kilometres from Zinjibar after capturing the village of Al-Kud from insurgents over the past two days, he said, adding that there were reports of heavy fighting.
Gunmen claiming to be from the group Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law), a Qaeda-linked organisation, captured Zinjibar on May 29. They besieged the base of the 25th mechanised brigade, and managed to take temporary control of other Abyan villages.
In their new progress towards Zinjibar, the armed forces have come up against stiff resistance from insurgents, according to a local official, who said the extremists had taken heavy losses in fighting on Wednesday.
"Al Qaeda lost 30 men yesterday in the fighting south of Zinjibar," Mohsen Saeed Salem, a local official, told AFP.
Among the insurgents killed was "Yasher Alban, an Al-Qaeda leader from Lahij," the neighbouring province to Abyan, he added.
A source close to the militants told AFP that between 15 and 20 insurgents had been killed.
The bodies of four soldiers killed in fighting the previous day near Zinjibar were transported to the military hospital in the main southern city of Aden, a medic told AFP.

U.S. Counterterror Chief: Al Qaeda Now on the Ropes

September 01, 2011| Associated Press

On a steady slide. On the ropes. Taking shots to the body and head.

That's how White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan described Al Qaeda on Wednesday as he offered the first on-record confirmation that Al Qaeda's latest second-in-command was killed last week in Pakistan -- roughly four months after Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden there.

In an Associated Press interview, Brennan said the death of Atiyah Abd al-Rahman in Pakistan's tribal areas last week was a "huge blow" to the group, damaging the network and keeping Al Qaeda's leadership too busy trying to hide to plot new attacks. Al-Rahman reportedly was hit by a CIA drone strike.

In a wide-ranging interview, Brennan credited aggressive U.S. action against militants across the region as the main reason U.S. intelligence has detected no active terror plots before the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The former CIA officer described that as proof that the White House has found the right formula to fight Al Qaeda, by pairing U.S. intelligence and counterterrorist forces with host nations from Pakistan to Iraq to Yemen, fighting beside them or sometimes through them. The goal is to keep Al Qaeda off balance, unable to replace the seasoned terrorists the U.S. campaign is taking out.

"If they're worrying about their security ... they're going to have less time to plot and plan," Brennan said of the militants. "They're going to be constantly looking over their shoulder or up in the air or wherever, and it really has disrupted their operational cadence and ability to carry out attacks."

He pointed to the killing of al-Rahman as an example of how U.S. pressure is degrading the network.

"There's no longer a management grooming program there. They don't stay in place long enough," Brennan said.

Al-Rahman had barely assumed a leadership position since bin Laden's death pushed his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, into the top spot. Brennan described al-Rahman as a "workaholic" and an "operational mastermind" who kept Al Qaeda's nodes from Yemen to Europe connected.

"Taking him out of commission is huge," Brennan said. "There's not another bin Laden out there. I don't know if there's another Atiyah Abd al-Rahman out there."

Brennan said the key to keeping another al-Rahman from rising is to keep constant pressure on all locations where Al Qaeda operates, working through host countries to target operatives who "are flowing sometimes back and forth" among Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and other parts of Africa.

Brennan brushed off some of the major crises in those relationships of late, from Pakistan's strident objections to drone strikes as a continued affront to its sovereignty in the wake of the bin Laden raid, to the revolts across the Mideast that swept from power U.S. counterterror allies in places like Egypt.

He said the relationship with Pakistan is improving.

And he described the Arab revolts as a "speed bump" that only temporarily disrupted cooperation. He said U.S. contacts in Egypt have been able to recover quickly following longtime leader Hosni Mubarak's ouster earlier this year. The counterterrorism relationship with Tunisia, where the so-called Arab Spring movement began, also remains strong, he said.

Brennan said the uprising in Yemen, however, had kept Yemeni forces engaged in a fight for political survival, and had slowed down the fight against arguably the most dangerous bin Laden affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. AQAP, as the affiliate is known, has worked with the rebel tribes to grab large swaths of territory in the south.

The unrest has forced the U.S. to draw down the hundred-plus military and intelligence personnel it had working with Yemeni counterterrorism forces. Those Yemeni forces, led by ailing Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh's sons, have been reluctant to leave the capital unguarded, even when a brigade of conventional Yemeni troops became trapped by Al Qaeda in the Abyan region.

U.S. forces had to air-drop food and water to the embattled unit, which was threatening to surrender. Brennan said the U.S. has since persuaded the Yemenis to send enough forces their way to free them, and he has urged the country's vice president to send more troops into the fight.

"This political tumult is ... leading them to be focused on their positioning for internal political purposes as opposed to doing all they can against AQAP," he said.

Saleh is still recovering in Saudi Arabia, with some 70 percent of his body burned and a lung pierced from an assassination attempt in June, as he was praying in his palace compound.

While Brennan says Saudi Arabia would allow Saleh to return from his temporary medical exile, he repeated the White House's earlier calls for Saleh to stay away and let new elections take place.

"I've told him that I do not believe it's in his interests, Yemen's interests or our interests ... to go back to Yemen," Brennan said.

He called Yemen a "tinderbox" that could erupt into a civil war that Al Qaeda would take advantage of.

US raids kill al-Qaeda fighters' in Yemen

Yemeni officials say up to 30 suspects dead following a drone attack in the southern Abyan province.
01 Sep 2011
Yemeni military and medical officials say at least 30 al-Qaeda suspects have been killed in US air attacks and clashes with Yemeni soldiers in the southern province of Abyan.
A military official confirmed on Thursday the deaths of the al-Qaeda-linked fighters, but refused to comment on whether there was any US involvement.
The air raids freed a Yemeni military unit besieged in Abyan for several weeks by al-Qaeda groups.
A medical official said four Yemeni military officers were also killed in clashes on Wednesday and Thursday.
The official said Yemeni troops had pushed back al-Qaeda groups from an area about 8km outside the southern city of Zinjibar.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the press.
Yemen has repeatedly said its forces are making gains against groups who are suspected of ties to al Qaeda and have taken over two large cities in Abyan, a flashpoint province.
But the army has yet to regain control since the region was plunged into almost daily violence some months ago, bloodshed that has driven away some 90,000 residents.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh's government has lost control of some parts of the south amid rising political turmoil, as mass protests demanding an end to his 33-year rule.
The US and neighbouring oil giant Saudi Arabia fear that spreading chaos in Yemen is giving the branch of al-Qaeda entrenched there more room to operate.
Saleh's opponents accuse his government of exaggerating the al-Qaeda threat in Yemen and even encouraging armed groups in order to pressure Riyadh and Washington to back his continued rule.
Saleh is still recovering in Saudi Arabia from severe wounds during a June bomb attack but has vowed to return to Yemen, a course of action Washington has advised him not to pursue.

Assange accuses Government of 'ratting out' Australians

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

31/08/2011

Reporter: John Stewart

WikiLeaks has released a classified US embassy cable containing an ASIO list of Australians linked to a radical Yemeni cleric.

Transcript

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has accused the Federal Government of ratting out Australians named in a classified US embassy cable.

Intelligence claims they had links to a radical Yemeni cleric.

Well the list was created by ASIO and warns that Al Qaeda operatives based in Yemen could be trying to recruit women to carry out terrorist attacks.

But a Sydney lawyer who represents four of the people on the list has told Lateline that some of the information provided to the Americans by ASIO is wrong.

John Stewart reports.

JOHN STEWART, REPORTER: Anwar al-Awlaki was born in America. About a decade ago, he joined Al Qaeda in Yemen. The radical Muslim cleric has been tied to plots against the United States and now he's one of America's most wanted.

Last night, WikiLeaks released a classified cable from the American embassy in Canberra. The cable names 23 people; they are Australians or have connections here. All are said to have past or present links to the Yemen-based al-Awlaki.

The list was compiled by ASIO and 11 were subsequently placed on a no-fly list and a further 12 put on a terrorism watchlist.

The US cable also warns that Al Qaeda is recruiting women for terrorist attacks.

Sydney lawyer Stephen Hopper represents four of the people. He says the list is old and has no new information about his clients.

STEPHEN HOPPER, LAWYER: They're very frustrated, but they just roll their eyes and think, "Oh, yet again." You know, "When are they going to get over it?"

JOHN STEWART: The 23 Australians named by ASIO include Sydney sheikh Abdel Zodd, Sydney woman and long-time ASIO target Rabiah Hutchinson and Melanie Brown, the Australian wife of convicted terrorist associate Willie Brigitte.

Rabiah Hutchinson's lawyer, Stephen Hopper, says his client has never met al-Awlaki and that ASIO's information about his client is wrong.

STEPHEN HOPPER: Ms Hutchinson could never have been connected to al-Awlaki. She was in detention in Iran for two years before she surrendered to the Australian Embassy. At that stage her passport was cancelled and she hasn't left Australia.

JOHN STEWART: In 2008, Rabiah Hutchinson was interviewed by the ABC. Ms Hutchinson said she knew that she was regarded with suspicion by non-Muslims.

RABIAH HUITCHINSON, NO FLY LIST (2008): I would defend Islam with my life, so that makes me a filthy, dirty, subhuman terrorist that deserves anything that anybody and everybody wants to do to them.

JOHN STEWART: Ms Hutchinson has been referred to as the Grande Dame of Terror, a title she rejects. She's still unable to leave Australia after the Government refused to renew her passport.

Two of Ms Hutchinson's sons are also among the 23 people on the list.

Terrorism expert Clive Williams says that in recent years American authorities have been increasingly concerned about Al Qaeda in Yemen and al-Awlaki's influence as a key terrorist leader.

CLIVE WILLIAMS, TERRORISM EXPORT, MACQUARIE UNI: I think they see him as more dangerous than Dr Al-Zawahiri these days. He's really become the propagandist for Al Qaeda and for extremist ideology more generally. And he is certainly more of a worry, I think, for the Americans in particular than anybody else at this stage.

JOHN STEWART: Another of Stephen Hopper's clients, Sydney woman Shyloh Giddens, is also on the list. Ms Giddens was arrested in Yemen last year and deported to Australia after her passport was cancelled on advice from ASIO.

STEPHEN HOPPER: Shyloh may have met a number of persons of interest. What I can say about that is that it's completely benign.

JOHN STEWART: Last night, the federal Attorney-General broke the Government's longstanding position not to comment on material published by WikiLeaks and condemned the release of the uncensored cable, saying, "On occasions in the past, WikiLeaks has decided to redact identifying features where security operations or safety could be put at risk. This has not occurred in this case. ... The publication of any information that could compromise Australia's national security or inhibit the ability of intelligence agencies to monitor potential threats is incredibly irresponsible."

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange hit back at the Australian Government, saying "Australian Attorney-General Robert McClelland bemoans having his department being publicly caught out ratting out 23 Australians to the US embassy without due process. ... If Mr McClelland is unhappy about being caught out, perhaps he should consider cancelling my Australian passport again. It has not, after all, proven terribly useful to me in the last 267 days of detention without charge. Or, perhaps he could do us all a favour, cancel his own passport and deport himself?"

Today the Sydney sheikh Abdel Zodd said he had no contact with al-Awlaki and had never been to Yemen.

There is no evidence that anyone placed on the list by as ASIO has been planning a terrorist attack.

John Stewart, Lateline.

Is Yemen losing its last Jews?

With less than 300 left, Yemen’s head rabbi urges Yemen’s last Jews not to abandon their troubled country completely.

Annasofie Flamand

August 30, 2011 As the uprising in Yemen continues and clashes between government forces and militants in the south show no sign of abating, some Yemeni Jews are considering fleeing the violence.

According to the Yemen Post twelve Jews have already left the country and according to the paper eight more are planning to leave shortly fearing “they could be a target in a lawless state.”

While the numbers of Jews that have left or are considering leaving are relatively small, the overall remaining Jewish community in Yemen has shrunk from around 60,000 in the 1940s to around only 300 people today.

Head Rabbi of the Jewish community in Yemen, Yahya Yousef, told GlobalPost that Jews in Yemen do not face any problems or specific threats to their lives. “We are not afraid of any threats,” he said. “We do not get threatened. Yemenis respect us. We have no fears from being attacked by Yemenis. They are our brothers.”

However, while the Rabbi plays down any potential risks, there have been attacks on Yemen’s Jews in the past. Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered extra security be given to Jews after an attack on a Jew in 2009 and offered all the country’s Jews free accommodation in the capital Sanaa.

When the Jewish state of Israel was founded a large wave of around 50,000 Jews fled Yemen between 1947-50 in Operation Magic Carpet after Arab Muslim rioters attacked Jews in Aden killing 82 Jews and destroying hundreds of homes and businesses.

While the government under Saleh has been careful in dealing with the Jewish community, tens of Jews have left Yemen in the past two years leaving only a few hundred Jews in Yemen.

According to Rabbi Yousef the latest exodus of Jews left Yemen illegally. We are against such actions by the Jews who left Yemen," he said.

The 12 Jews who recently left Yemen had been planning to go to London, but are still in Egypt where they are having problems with their papers, according to Yemen Post.

Rabbi Yousef said Yemen’s Jews belong in Yemen. “The Yemeni government has treated Yemeni Jews with love and care. We are safe and we do not consider ourselves different from any other Yemenis. We live in peace and love our country,” he said.

“We are not involved in the Arab Spring or any political matters. We prefer to live far from politics and have been doing so for a long time. We are Yemeni and all the rights given to Yemenis are also given to us.”

Yemen's Saleh says 'corrupt' exploiting protests

August 31, 2011, AFP

SANAA — Ailing Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh accused his opponents of being corrupt and arms dealers who are exploiting youthful protesters demanding his ouster, in a televised address.

"Those who went to the University Square to support the youth revolution that demands the ouster of the regime... have fed on corruption, and are dealers of arms and land," Saleh said in the address aired late Tuesday on state television as he received well-wishers at his residence in Riyadh.

The veteran leader has been in the Saudi capital since early June for treatment after he was wounded in a bomb attack on his Sanaa compound.

"Our people know them well. They were a burden on the political system which was always blamed for protecting those corrupt... who are now (demonstrating) at the University Square," Sanaa's epicentre for anti-regime demonstrations, he said.

"Let them go away... corrupt, liars and deceivers. We do not mention names, but our people know them very well," he added, in an apparent reference to the leaders of the opposition and tribal chiefs who have backed protests that began late January calling on him to quit after 32 years in office.

Saleh wore gloves and a headgear, just as he did in all his appearances after the attack, which could be covering unhealed wounds or scars. He refrained from the customary handshakes with visitors.

In an earlier address on Tuesday on the occasion of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr feast, which marks the end of the fasting month, Saleh called for a mechanism to implement a Gulf plan aimed at a peaceful transition of power.

He told his ruling General People's Congress party to "make contact with the (opposition) Common Forum to develop a mechanism for implementing the Gulf plan without delay," Saba state news agency reported.

The Gulf plan proposes that Saleh would transfer power to the vice president within 30 days in exchange for a promise of immunity from prosecution.

Saleh vowed earlier in August to return "soon" to his impoverished country.