Houthis: Final position on national dialogue not yet determined

May 11, 2012

An official spokesperson from the office of Abdulmalik Al-Houthi has stated that the group has not determined its final position in relation to the national dialogue.

 “However, we assure all Yemenis that our attitude will take defending the revolution and its goals and achievements into consideration,” he added.

More definite was the stated Houthi stance towards western powers. The spokesperson made it clear that the Houthis wouldn’t accept any dialogue held under western supervision.

The Houthis’ attitude is in line with that of leaders in the Southern Movement, who themselves have refused to join the national dialogue. Their condition for participation in the dialogue is for it to be held under the watch of the United Nations and not under Saudi Arabian and American supervision.

The Consultative Meeting for Revolutionary Forces – held in Sa’ada governorate – closed sessions which ran from March 3-5. Following the closing of the last meeting, participants issued a release confirming the necessity of continuing the revolution until all goals had been achieved. The release stressed that acts of revolution represented the only way to prepare Yemen’s freedom squares for effective participation in the national dialogue.

 “The real reference for this dialogue must be revolutionary legitimacy rather than the GCC initiative, and any kind of western interference is fully rejected,” stated the release.

Al-Qaeda leader killed in airstrike in Yemen

By Fatik al-Rodaini

SANA'A, May 10, 2012- Ansar al-Sharia, a terror group linked to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula denied on Thursday the death of Qassem al-Raemi, senior al-Qaeda commander in an American strike, confirming at the same time the news of the death of Khaldon al-Seid, another al-Qaeda leader in the American strike.

The group said on a statement posted on the Internet that five al-Qaeda militants were killed, along with Khaldoon al-Seid on Thursday in Yemen's southern province of Abyan.

''Qassem al-Raemi is alive, and he is supervisor the battles against the American and their allied,'' the statement read.

Earlier Thursday, airstrikes and mortar fire killed at least 17 al-Qaeda militants in Yemeni city of Zinjibar, in southern Yemen, where fierce clashes have been continued for more than a month by the Yemeni troops backed by tribesmen and Ansar al-Sharia.  

Security officials in Yemen said Thursday's airstrikes struck the town of Jaar and northeast of Zinjibar, areas used as a base by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The first pre-dawn strike killed five militants, including a senior member of the terror network. Two more insurgents were killed in the second airstrike, including al-Qaeda's deputy commander for Lawder, a nearby town controlled by the group last year until its residents drove the militants out.

The United States has been using drones to strike al-Qaeda in Yemen. Yemeni officials said one of the raids was carried out by a drone but provided no details on the other. There was no comment from Washington on whether it was behind the raids.

Later Thursday, Yemen's Defense Ministry said ten al-Qaeda militants were killed in Zinjibar city of the southern province of Abyan.

The ministry website reported that five other al-Qaeda militants were seriously wounded in artillery shelling targeted their hideout within the province.

"The shells have also destroyed two vehicles of al-Qaeda, killing all passengers in it,'' the ministry reported.

On Monday, American officials revealed they thwarted a plot to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner with an explosive underwear device similar to one crafted for the Christmas 2009 attempt to down a Detroit-bound plane.

U.S. media reports say the man sent by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula to carry out the plot was actually a double agent who had infiltrated the terror group. Saudi officials worked with the CIA to deliver the sophisticated new bomb to the U.S. government for analysis.

The operative also provided information that led to a reported drone strike Sunday that killed al-Qaeda leader Fahd al-Quso in Yemen.

He was wanted for his role in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole off the Yemeni coast. Seventeen U.S. sailors died in the blast.

Double agent in bomb plot held U.K. passport

May 10, 2012

WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) -- The double agent who revealed the latest al-Qaida bomb plot was a Saudi-born man who held a British passport, CNN reported Thursday.

Details continued to emerge about the man who was sent to Yemen by the Saudi counterintelligence agency to infiltrate al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. A source told the U.S. broadcaster the mole was born in Saudi Arabia but had been raised in Europe and had been sympathetic to Islamic fundamentalists.

CNN said his British passport made him attractive to al-Qaida because it allowed him to travel to the United States without obtaining a visa.

The source said after the man was accepted for training as a suicide bomber he contacted Saudi intelligence from Yemen and they informed U.S. intelligence about the planned operation to blow up a U.S.-bound jetliner.

The double agent and another informant were spirited out of Yemen along with the underwear-type explosive device being analyzed by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies. CNN said the device used PETN, the same explosive that has been used in previous al-Qaida attempts to down airplanes.

Huge explosion rocks the Yemeni capital

By Fatik al-Rodaini

SANA'A, May 10, 2012- A huge explosion rocked on Thursday evening the Yemeni capital, Sana'a near the headquarters of American embassy and the National Security.

Witnesses said that black smoke was seen coming from nearby the area of national security Shawb district eastern of the capital, Sana'a.

Sporadic clashes were heard within the area. No more details were reported.

Several local news websites reported that al-Qaeda militants targeted the American embassy.

Government officials could not be immediately reached to confirm or deny the news.

Yemen airstrikes, raids kill 17 al-Qaida militants

May 10, 2012

Associated Press

SANAA, Yemen – Two airstrikes Thursday in south Yemen killed seven al-Qaida militants, including two top operatives, officials said. Yemeni soldiers, meanwhile, shelled a gathering of al-Qaida fighters elsewhere in the south, killing 10 militants.

The attacks could be another setback for al-Qaida, coming just days after details emerged about a Saudi mole within the network who reportedly provided information allowing the CIA to target a key leader of Yemen's terror branch.

Thursday's airstrikes hit in the town of Jaar and northeast of Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan, Yemeni security officials said.

The United States has usually used drones to strike al-Qaida in Yemen. Yemeni officials said one of the raids was carried out by a drone but provided no details on the other.

There was no immediate word from Washington on whether it was behind the airstrikes. The two areas hit are part of large swaths of territory in the south that have been held by al-Qaida for a year.

The U.S. and Yemen have resumed cooperation in the fight against al-Qaida, which has taken advantage of Yemen's political turmoil to capture territory and plot attacks against American targets. Cooperation was suspended nearly a year ago during the popular uprising against the authoritarian regime of former leader Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The first, pre-dawn strike Thursday killed five militants, hitting a house on the western outskirts of Jaar where they were staying and completely leveling the structure.

One of those killed was a senior member of the terror network in charge of armament, known by his moniker al-Galadi, Yemeni officials said. The man is originally from another province, Marib, and his family arrived later in the day in Jaar for his burial, the officials said.nThe other four militants killed were not immediately identified.

The second airstrike hit in Shaqra, northeast of Zinjbar, killing two militants, the Yemeni officials said. They said one of those killed was al-Qaida's second-in-command for Lawder, a town further north that was controlled by the group last year until its residents drove the militants out. The militants have since been trying to stage a comeback in Lawder.

The Yemeni officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Later Thursday, Yemeni soldiers shelled a gathering of militants outside Zinjibar, killing 10 fighters, the Defense Ministry said.

Yemen has been a source of serious concern to Washington because it was the launching pad for two foiled al-Qaida attacks on U.S. territory that were potentially disastrous: the Christmas 2009 attempt to down an American airliner over Detroit with an underwear bomb and the sending of printer cartridges packed with explosives to Chicago-area synagogues in 2010.

The Associated Press this week disclosed that the CIA thwarted a plot by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb described as an improvement on the 2009 underwear bomb because of the absence of metal which could have made it undetectable by conventional airport scanners.

The would-be bomber was actually a double-agent working for Saudi Arabia's security services. Saudi officials worked with the CIA to deliver the sophisticated new bomb directly to the U.S. government.

Before he was whisked to safety, the spy reportedly provided intelligence that helped the CIA kill al-Qaida's senior operations leader in Yemen, Fahd al-Quso, who died in a drone strike last weekend.