Posts Tagged ‘Yemen’

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The Houthi v. all: Saudi may have jet fighters, but the Houthi have magic

Monday, November 9th, 2009
Saudis at the gates. Well, if there were gates. Let's be kind and call the imaginary line between Saudi and Yemen a "boundary."

Saudis at the gates. Well, if there were gates. Let's be kind and call the imaginary line between Saudi and Yemen a "border."

So I have been quite remiss in updating about the fighting in Yemen. This tidbit, by way of Waq al-Waq, hopefully makes up for that somewhat. As background information, the Saudis have started to get involved in Saada in a big way, bombing and shelling Saudi/Yemeni (depending on who you ask, but likely both countries’) territory in response to cross-border actions by the Houthi rebels (who claim that Yemen was encamped in a strategic mountain just on the other side of the border, on the Saudi side) Everyone denies everything, naturally. Here’s an undoubtedly scrupulous Saudi source on recent Houthi methods:

A young infiltrator was arrested Monday while he was going through the border on his donkey posing as a refugee to join his family at the refugee camp. As he was being questioned, he pulled out a gun to fire at the troops who quickly responded by shooting him dead.

Two more infiltrators in Jarbah in Abu Aresh Governorate did not resist arrest. They were dressed in women’s clothes.

An armed infiltrator was arrested in his underwear with strange drawings on his back. He was believed to have been practising black magic on Saudi troops.

The infiltrators used animals with lamps on them to attempt to trick Saudi troops into following them.

The animals, however, were detected by infrared cameras and night vision systems. After regaining captured areas, Saudi forces scaled back their assault along the mountainous border and captured 200 or more infiltrators, a government advisor told AFP Monday.

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The backlash against the pimp of Jidda ends with the crack of a whip; Yemenis making movies

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Just as a quick update for those wondering the fate of Mazen Abdul Jawad, the Saudi who spoke openly about his escapades on an LBC program over the summer: A Saudi court has sentenced the divorced father of four to five years in prison and 1,000 lashes–for violating the Kingdom’s law against “publicizing vice.” Video of the segment here (knowledge of Arabic helps … but you can get the gist, I think, from the visuals):

In other visual media news, the Yemen Embassy is participating in the Arabian Sights: Contemporary Arab Cinema (starting tonight in D.C., dear readers), with the very first Yemeni-produced movie, according to the press releases/the amazing trailer:

“Yemen’s first locally produced film, An intriguing and compelling plot, An exploration to the price of terrorism”

I’m not exactly sure what the plot will be, but based on the trailer, if you know what Allahu Akbar means, you can get by without knowing Arabic. I’m also left wondering; does first locally-produced film really just mean first government-funded propaganda feature-length propaganda piece? Interesting timing, with the Yemeni government confirming yesterday that “hundreds” of soldiers have been wounded and killed in the fighting against the Houthi in the northern region of Sa’ada.

(HT: BT for the Jawad update.)

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If you want to understand what’s going down in Yemen

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
Sadah governate in Yemen, where the sixth war in the province is currently unfolding.

The Sa'dah Governate in Yemen, where the sixth war in the province is currently unfolding.

Read Gregory D. Johnsen’s most recent post on Waq al-Waq. He has just returned from Yemen, and the complexity of the situation is a bit overwhelming (and the media coverage of the conflict, a bit underwhelming. Let’s blame the media blackout/crackdown). Forgive me for the long excerpt, but I don’t want to excise and accidentally distort the nuance of his  analysis:

My early thoughts - it is just as dangerous as it is tempting to spout off on issues that are still unfolding - is that the government is attempting to strike hard against the Huthis in an attempt to bring them to their news and force them to negotiate from a position of weakness. I don’t believe there is a military solution to this conflict. That is, I don’t think the Yemeni government can make this problem go away by killing people and destroying things in and around Sa’dah.

But at the same time a tough government campaign in Sa’dah is something that is being watched quite closely by members of the Southern Movement. I have long argued, as many already know, that in my view there is a hierarchy of security crises in Yemen with the threat of Southern secession foremost in the government’s mind followed by the threat from the Huthis and then al-Qaeda.

The government is using the war in the north as a not so subtle and not so coded message to the South, essentially saying: this is what the endgame looks like if you continue on the path that you are on. There are certain red lines that the Yemeni government has and as it feels itself pushed more and more it is reacting, but instead of lashing out against the Southern movement it is sending a loud and deadly warning shot across the bow.

This then allows the Yemeni government to both warn the Southern Movement and hopefully (at least in the government’s calculation dissuade them from more serious demonstrations and violence) while at the same time cracking down on the Huthis, who have gained a bit too much power and too many positions since the July 17, 2008 cease fire was announced.

I have my doubts as to the potential for success of such a strategy, but that is a rough sketch of what I see the government attempting to do at the moment.

Read on for some fascinating history and analysis of the Houthis themseleves.

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Troubled times for a Yemeni minority remnant (not the Houthi)

Monday, August 24th, 2009
The mass exodus of Yemeni Jews in 1949, a.k.a. "Operation Magic Carpet"

The mass exodus of Yemeni Jews in 1949, a.k.a. "Operation Magic Carpet"

Reuters is reporting that 3 Jewish families are leaving Yemen for Israel, where about 200-300 Jews total live among the nation’s 23 million Muslims.

Rabbi Yahya Yusuf Musa, 31, told Reuters the three families were from Raida, a town about 70 km (45 miles) north of the capital Sanaa, where a Jew was killed in December by a Muslim compatriot who has been sentenced to death for the crime.

Sixteen Yemeni Jews from Raidah moved to Israel in June, including relatives of the victim, Mashaa Yaeesh al-Nahari.

According to the rabbi, who is now living in Sanaa along with 66 other Jewish Yemenis after threats by one of the other prominent Yemeni minorities, the Shi’a Houthi in the north are to blame:

“The Houthis kicked us out,” Musa said, recounting attacks on property, theft of religious books and other abuses. “They gave us 10 days to leave, or they would kidnap and kill us.”

If the allegations are true, it would give credence to the government’s arguments for cracking down on the Houthi, whose periodic insurgency exploded recently.

It’s important to note the government’s role in this saga:

Evacuated to Saada city and then flown by helicopter to Sanaa, the Jews of Al Salem now live in government-supplied housing with a small monthly stipend and food rations.

The government accuses rebels, led by Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, of seeking to restore Islamic rule by the Zaydi imamate which was overthrown in 1962. Zaydis, which belong to a branch of Shi’ism, are a minority in mainly Sunni Muslim Yemen.

Is the government playing its small minority’s woes for politics? It’s very opaque from here. The rabbi’s allegations are eerily similar to the government’s claims about the Houthi in general. I don’t want to draw any unwarranted conclusions without more info, but the government has been pretty extensively involved so far:

Musa said President Ali Abdullah Saleh had looked after the Jews from Al Salem, but said his promise to transfer them from Amran province, where Raida is located, had not worked out.

“Their concern and fears increased day by day. This forced them to leave the country because they had no other option.”

Saleh’s government is publicly supportive of the remaining Jews, as is the main Islamist opposition party, Islah.

“The Yemeni Jews are citizens. They should have their own life as Yemenis,” said Mohammed al-Sadi, the party’s assistant secretary-general. “I prefer for them to stay in Yemen, not move to another country, because they are part of this society.”

The 200-300 embattled Yemeni Jews were once members of a much larger community:

Israel organised the departure of about 50,000 Jews, the bulk of a once-vibrant minority famed for its craftsmen, to the newly created Jewish state in 1949.

Just as an interesting aside about comparative coverage, Haaretz’s republication emphasized in the headline that the Yemeni Jews were subject to “Islamist fervor.” The original Reuter’s headline emphasizes the small and shrinking nature of the Yemeni Jewish population.

(HT: IB)

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John McCain & Co. get all mavericky in Yemen

Monday, August 17th, 2009
Straight reppin' the Naval Academy. (SABA)

Straight reppin' the Naval Academy. (SABA)

The AP reports that a US senatorial delegation, led by Sen. McCain, is meeting with President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen today. Think of the trip as McCain & Friends’ August vacation:

The American delegation has been on a Mideast trip since last week and has already made stops in Libya and Iraq. It also includes Senators Joseph Lieberman, Susan Collins and Lindsey Graham.

The gang’s all there! According to McCain’s spokeswoman, they’ll be getting down to business: counterrorism and the return of the remaining Yemeni Guantanamo detainees (who comprise about half of the remaining detainees).

After reading a small amount of press coverage on Yemen, it’s shocking to see how many times this one particular phrase comes up:

The country, which is the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden, has been the site of numerous high-profile, al-Qaida-linked attacks, including the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in the Gulf of Aden, which killed 17 American sailors.

“The ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden.” This sentence seems pretty much required in any piece on Yemen.

That’d be kind of like every time we run a story about Ireland, we have to read that it was “the ancestral homeland of Timothy McVeigh.”

(HT: Waq al-Waq)

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Houthi insurgents kidnap 15 Red Crescent workers (?)

Friday, August 14th, 2009
Do these men seem like kidnappers to you?

Do these men seem like kidnappers to you?

Reuters is reporting that 15 aid workers were kidnapped by the Shi’ite rebels in northern Yemen.

I’m a bit skeptical consideing the only source is the provincial governor. The government continues to assert that the Houthi are responsible for kidnapping 9 foreign workers in June, while the Houthi deny holding any foreigners.

As Brian says over at my new favorite blog, Waq al-Waq:

If true, this is very big news- it might reveal something about the June kidnappings, and would radically change perceptions of the rebellion- at least in the outside world.

One of the preconditions for a ceasefire is handing over the foreigners who were abducted in June. Brian from Waq al-Waq, once again:

I don’t know who actually believes that the al-Houthis are the hostage takers. It isn’t their MO; I don’t know what they would have to gain. But in saying this, [Yemeni President] Salih is 1) setting up a condition impossible to meet, guaranteeing that they can keep pounding the north in the face of beligerent intransigence, and, more importantly, 2) setting himself up as the protector of Westerners and subtly tying the rebels to crazy beheading Islamic militants. The war has not been good press for the regime, and here it is trying to place its narrative under a more flattering light.

So we will see if this information is a true game-changer. In the meantime, looking out for a more independent source on the story …

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More on the Yemeni military offensive against the Houthi

Thursday, August 13th, 2009
The head Houthi

The head Houthi

This is some old news, in internet time, but I’m a bit behind on my reading today.

Yemen kept up its military offensive today  against Shiite rebels in the northwest as troops, artillery and aircraft attacked a militant stronghold near the border with Saudi Arabia.

The mountainous Saada province shook with gunfire and explosions for a second day. The Sunni-led government, which claims the rebels have killed more than 330 people over the last year, said that militants had taken over schools and seized teachers. The Associated Press quoted a health official as saying that 12 people had been killed in the fighting.

I’d just like to point again to Babylon & Beyond, the brilliant LA Times blog about the Middle East, which carries the most fascinating stories. Like the tale of the pitiful Mazen Abdul Jawad, the pimp of Jidda (which a friend likened to being “the coldest point in hell”), who was arrested for discussing his sexual exploits on a Lebanese TV show, which is broadcast by satellite into his home state of Saudi Arabia–with public outcry leading to a bit of a goverment/media frenzy. And now the ministry of culture in Saudi has closed the Lebanese station’s offices in Saudi.

Anyway, back to Saudi’s neighbor to the South. This insurgency is closest to their larger northern neighbor, so that may explain the much harsher response:

The battle against the Shiite militants in the northwest is the latest flareup in a 5-year-old rebellion led by Abdul Malik Houthi. The Shiites, who want a return to clerical law, claim they are persecuted and that their region has not been developed. The government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh said the offensive was called after the insurgents violated a recent ceasefire.

A statement earlier this week by Yemen’s Supreme Security Committee said:  “The state will strike these elements . . . with an iron fist until they surrender themselves to justice.”

The other possibility is sectarian. I’m too many miles away to tell. I hear the countryside is quite beautiful. But not the kind of place where you want to go for a picnic. Not coincidentally, the Yemeni government has blamed the Houthis for the kidnapping of those 9 foreign workers, 3 of whom were killed, while the other 6 remain missing.

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The Houthi insurgency in Yemen heats up

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
Houthi insurgents, clambering around the mountains.

Houthi insurgents, clambering around the mountains.

Devoted readers will know that Yemen has not one, not two, but three major insurgent groups.

The Southern secessionists seem to have boiled over into full rebellion, but the details aren’t known because of a press crackdown; now its the turn of the Houthi clan in the northwest to make the news. (The other insurgent group is al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, possibly response for the kidnapping of 9 foreigners)

“All of these problems are coalescing and exacerbating each other in ways that are not completely knowable at this time,” said Gregory D. Johnsen, a Yemen expert who is currently in the country. “The three crises have combined, along with the economy, to make things look bleaker here than they have in a long time.”

The good news is that the right folks are starting to pay attention:

Yemen, a poor, arid country in the southern corner of the Arabian peninsula, has gained new attention in recent months from American military officials, who are concerned about Al Qaeda’s efforts to set up a regional base there. Late last month, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top United States commander in the Middle East, visited Yemen and pledged to support its counterterrorism efforts.

That was one of the reasons I wanted to write about Yemen for CAP. Now, the tough question is what do, once we’re aware of what’s going on. That’s the point where journalism falls off, I feel. It gives you the tools to be skilled at diagnosing and chronicling the problem, but leave it to the ed board to pronounce on it.

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Them in Yemen Lemon the Food-y

Friday, July 24th, 2009

The Yemenis are (still) not so happy about a semi-recent nytimes article stating that a few members of Al Qaeda seemed to be leaving Pakistan for Somalia and Yemen. Yemen’s in pretty rough shape, but it’s not quite Somalia or Afghanistan.

A Yemeni minister downplayed al Qaeda’s presence in the troubled Arabian Peninsula country, saying in comments published on Sunday reports of militants relocating there from Iraq and Afghanistan were “exaggerated.”

Yemen has been battling a wave of al Qaeda attacks, as well as a rebellion by a Shi’ite sect linked to the Houthi tribe in the north, and secessionist sentiment in the south.

Neighboring Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has said it fears instability in Yemen could allow it to become a launch pad for a revival of a 2003-2006 campaign by al Qaeda militants to destabilize the U.S.-allied ruling Al Saud family.

“Western think tanks say that al Qaeda has moved from Iraq and Afghanistan to Yemen but the truth of the matter is that this is exaggerated,” Abubakr al-Qirbi, the country’s foreign minister, said in Saudi-owned daily Asharq al-Awsat.

Western think tanks, eh? Like this one? Whoops …

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Because this is why I haven’t posted recently

Monday, July 20th, 2009

I wrote an article on Yemen for CAP. Ch-check it.

The European Union’s anti-terrorism chief warned following the kidnapping of nine foreigners by guerilla forces on June 14 that Yemen could become “another Afghanistan.”

Indeed, Yemen is both a source of and repository for instability. The country has a weakened central government, a crippled economy, a young population, and is home to multiple insurgencies plus Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. These issues are bleeding over into the surrounding region and threatening neighboring countries’ security. Its economic and security issues demand regional and international attention and cooperation, yet these same issues that threaten regional stability are also isolating Yemen and making other countries wary of engagement.

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