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Yemen’s Presidential Palace Attacked - Peter Lemkin - 03-06-2011
I don't know if others here have been following events in Yemen, as I have. There are two contradictory theories at this point:
1] That one of the Tribal leaders who has been fighting Yemeni Army troops in Sanaa was behind this attack.
2] That the President himself was behind the attack, to make it possible for him to rationalize an all out attack on the protesters and the above tribal leader.
The first reports of the President having been killed [then said to be injured], now seem to both be false, as he is said about to make a public statement within the hour. Stay tuned. Along with Bahrain, Syria and Libya, Yemen is on the edge of Civil War....I guess Libya is well over the 'edge'...
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Yemen's presidential palace was attacked Friday and senior government officials wounded, as fighting in the country's capital continues to intensify.
Mohammed Albasha, the Washington spokesperson for Yemen's embassy, said the extent of the injuries among the parliamentarians are unclear but discounted earlier reports that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh was fatally wounded in the shelling.
"The presidential palace was attacked earlier today and senior officials were injured, but the president was not killed. That's all we know for now," Albasha said in an interview with the Toronto Star.
A Sanaa television station run by the country's opposition forces had originally reported that Saleh had died in the attack. Local reports state that the country's prime minister and deputy prime minister were among the injured.
Striking the government enclave will likely escalate the fighting which has reportedly already claimed more than 200 in the last two weeks. Flights to Sanaa airport were suspended his week stranding passengers trying to flee the country.
Abdu al-Janadi, Yemen's deputy information minister, told Reuters that Saleh will hold a press conference later Friday.
Yemen’s Presidential Palace Attacked - Magda Hassan - 03-06-2011
I've been trying to but I hadn't caught up with this.
Yemen’s Presidential Palace Attacked - Peter Lemkin - 03-06-2011
While I disagree with some of what the author writes in the article below [he neglects the democratic four-month old peaceful protesters who have been in the streets every day and dying like flies.....but it sets the stage on some other points. Both Saleh and the USA have played up the Yemeni Al Quida - which does exist, but is thought to number less than a few hundred!!! What angers the USA is the leader is someone with an American passport and speaks English perfectly and runs a very saavy website! Yup! He's a dictator Saleh is, but he's OUR dictator...we bought him fair and square!
YEMEN: Obama's Fourth War Looming?
by Boris Volkhonsky
Global Research, May 26, 2011
On Wednesday, the US State Department ordered that all "non-essential" US diplomats and family members are to leave Yemen immediately. It also issued a warning to Americans to abstain from travelling to Yemen.
It all happened in the wake of a fierce three-day clash between tribal fighters and government forces. Reports say that up to 72 people died during the fighting.
Yemen is just another stage of the so-called "Arab Spring" that has already toppled governments in a number of Arabic countries and forced NATO to launch a war against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
But the situation in Yemen, in a way, is specific.
What is common with all the other cases is the fact that the national leader President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been in the topmost position for several decades (33 years, to be precise).
What is common with some of the cases is the fact that he, seeing the miserable examples of Egypt and Tunisia, stands firm in his desire to hold on to power.
What is different, though, is the nature of the opposition.
In most previous cases, the opposition was (or, pretended to be) democratic. In Yemen, the opposition is comprised of tribal leaders who do not even conceal their radical Islamist nature.
It is also worth noting that in the previous several years, it was Yemen that turned into the real base for Al Qaeda after the fighting in Afghanistan drew some of it out of that country. "Yemeni Al Qaeda" [Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula] has become the most dreaded branch of the international terrorist network.
While fighting in Yemen escalates, President Saleh stays firm in his defiance of all demands that he should step down.
A plan has been devised by the Gulf Co-operation Council calling on him to step down within a month and hand over power to a unity government. The plan also guarantees him immunity from prosecution.
On Wednesday, after talks with British Premier David Cameron, the US President Barack Obama also called on Saleh to step down immediately.
But an official representative of the Yemeni president quoted him as saying, "I will not leave power and I will not leave Yemen."
Now, what, in this context, may the US State Department mean in ordering diplomats and their family members to leave the country?
On the one hand it can be a purely precautionary measure aimed at saving American lives.
But the nature of Obama's foreign policy of the last months has shown that he is ready to pursue a strong-arm approach to whatever "matters of American interest" happen wherever in the world, notwithstanding state borders and other nations' sovereignty.
So, this might well be a last warning to the ruling regime in Yemen, which, if not heard by President Saleh can mean anything, including a direct American military involvement. In this context, the precaution is quite justifiable.
Of course, Saleh can partly rely on the supposition that the US would not want to start a fourth war. More so, after the NATO coalition clearly surpassed the limits set up for a military operation in Libya by the UN Security Council, most of the SC members will be clearly unwilling to give a "go-ahead" to a new operation. Also, seeing that Gaddafi, who stands firm, is now in a better position than, for example, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, he might be willing to follow that example up to the end.
But even if there is no fourth American war in the Middle East, the Obama administration is sure to mount political pressure on the Yemeni leader. But that, in turn, poses another question: who benefits?
Yes, Saleh is a dictator, like most of his colleagues in the Arabic world. But is the option of the opposition coming to power much better?
When Gaddafi said that the Libyan opposition is linked to Al Qaeda, his words could be taken for pure propaganda. But in the Yemeni case such links are not so difficult to find. And would Obama like, while fighting against the Taliban in Afghanistan, to receive another regime of the same sort (or, even worse) in Yemen?
Yemen’s Presidential Palace Attacked - Peter Lemkin - 03-06-2011
Yemeni al-Qaeda leader escapes US drone attack
A still image from video released by the SITE Intelligence Group on November 8, 2010 shows Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi in a video lecture. Picture: AFP
ADEN, YEMEN
Sunday, May 8, 2011
US-YEMENI cleric and terror suspect Anwar al-Awlaqi narrowly escaped a US drone attack three days after American commandos killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, a tribal source said yesterday.
Thursday's strike in Yemen's Shabwa province, a stronghold of al-Qaeda, is the first reported American targeting of other key figures in the terror network after a stealthy commando raid killed bin Laden inside Pakistan on Monday.
A source from Awlaqi's tribe in Shabwa province east of Sanaa told AFP the cleric was travelling with a Saudi al-Qaeda member when they were targeted by a US drone strike.
The car was slightly damaged but the two men escaped unharmed.
"Their car had minor damage, but they were able to proceed in another car," said the source who is linked to the local administration in the region where Awlaqi's tribe has considerable influence.
The drone attack hit another car in which two local al-Qaeda members, both brothers, were travelling. It killed them and wounded a third.
It was not immediately clear if Awlaqi was targeted following information the US had said it gathered from Osama bin Laden's million-dollar villa near the Pakistan capital Islamabad.
Awlaqi, an American citizen who remains at large in Yemen, is suspected of being a leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and of instigating a string of attacks against the United States.
Thursday's targeting was also the first known attempt to get him since Yemeni forces tried to kill him in an air raid in December 2009 in Shabwa, but failed despite killing 34 others.
The US has also accused Awlaqi of having links with Major Nidal Hasan who is suspected of shooting dead 13 people at Fort Hood military base in Texas in November 2009.
The Yemeni defence ministry has confirmed the killing of two brothers on Thursday, but did not elaborate on the circumstances of their deaths. Security sources identified them as Abdullah and Mubarak al-Harad.
Witnesses said they saw a missile fired by an aircraft hit the two brothers, who died instantly.
The Washington Post reported in November that President Barack Obama's administration had deployed unmanned Predator drones in Yemen to hunt for Al-Qaeda operatives.
Yemen has come under intense pressure to crack down on AQAP since a Christmas 2009 attempt to blow up a US airliner that was claimed by the group.
AFP
Yemen’s Presidential Palace Attacked - Peter Lemkin - 03-06-2011
President Saleh did not appear, as promised, but did a radio broadcast where you could here his labored breathing - indicating that he was slightly injured or worse. I think the end is near for less than chaos in the Arab world's poorest nation and a very odd one, that has strong ties to US Intel and Military.
Yemen’s Presidential Palace Attacked - Ed Jewett - 04-06-2011
http://therearenosunglasses.wordpress.com/2011/06/03/yemen-president-saleh-killed-opposition-tv-says/
SANAA | Fri Jun 3, 2011 8:38am EDT
(Reuters) Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed on Friday after an attack on the presidential palace, Suhail, a TV station run by the country's opposition, reported.
The presidential palace was hit by shells earlier on Friday during fighting between Saleh's forces and a powerful tribal federation.
(Reporting by Mohamed Sudam; Editing by Jon Herskovitz)
vodpod film at the link
Yemen’s Presidential Palace Attacked - Peter Lemkin - 04-06-2011
Ed Jewett Wrote:http://therearenosunglasses.wordpress.com/2011/06/03/yemen-president-saleh-killed-opposition-tv-says/
SANAA | Fri Jun 3, 2011 8:38am EDT
(Reuters) Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed on Friday after an attack on the presidential palace, Suhail, a TV station run by the country's opposition, reported.
The presidential palace was hit by shells earlier on Friday during fighting between Saleh's forces and a powerful tribal federation.
(Reporting by Mohamed Sudam; Editing by Jon Herskovitz)
vodpod film at the link
While I certainly can NOT confirm, it seems to me what we have is a psyop war that may involve only Yemeni's or may involve others [ahem]. Saleh did give a radio [voice only] speech a few hours later, after the attack. I heard both his voice [in Arabic, which I do not know] and the translation. To my ear it sounded similar to his voice, I'd heard before - but no one in Yemen [that I've heard of] challenged that it was his voice [though easy to fake, I admit]. His voice was very labored and Al Jazeera and others claimed that that was likely some proof that he had been injured [would also explain why no TV appearance]. Of course, his death would also necessitate something similar. Again, don't know, but strongly suspect, had he been killed or even alive but put out of action, it wouldn't have been possible to keep it a secret; even his army now and bodyguards are full of disaffected soldiers - many who have switched sides to the 'opposition' [which has multiple hydra heads].
Yemen’s Presidential Palace Attacked - Peter Lemkin - 04-06-2011
President Saleh says he is "well and in good health" after surviving an attack on his presidential palace [Al Jazeera]
Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president, says he is "well and in good health" after suffering injuries in an attack on his presidential palace in the capital, Sanaa.
In an audio address delivered on state television late on Friday night, Saleh said the strike, where "seven officers were martyred", was by an "outlaw gang" - the opposition Hashed tribe led by powerful Sadiq al-Ahmar.
Shells hit a mosque in the presidential palace compound where officials, including Saleh, were praying.
At least three guards and Sheikh Ali Mohsen al-Matari, an imam at the presidential compound's mosque, died and "several other officials and officers" were wounded, Yemen's state news agency SABA said.
The president was taken to the defence ministry hospital to be treated for his minor injuries, officials said.
"I salute our armed forces and the security forces for standing up firmly to confront this challenge by an outlaw gang that has nothing to do with the so-called youth revolution," Saleh said in his late night audio address.
The president, who has faced nationwide protests against his 33-year rule since January, was scheduled to address the nation earlier in the day. His appearance was postponed for several hours until his audio speech on Friday night.
Initial reports of the palace attack hinted at Saleh's possible death, to which the Yemeni state television said - as an assurance to the public - that the president was "well".
Abdu Al Jandi, the deputy minister of information, has said, "There is nothing that affects his health," while mentioning that a probe on Friday's violence at the palace has been launched.
The blame game
Authorities blamed the shelling on dissident tribesmen loyal to Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar who have been locked in fierce clashes with government forces in Sanaa since Tuesday.
"The prime minister, head of the parliament and several other officials who attended the Friday prayers in the mosque at the presidential palace were wounded in the attack," Tareq al-Shami, spokesman for the ruling General People's Congress, told the AFP news agency.
"The Ahmar (tribe) have crossed all red lines," he added.
Abdul Ghani Al-Iryani, an independent political analyst in Sanaa, told Al Jazeera that it was "quite reasonable to assume" that al-Ahmar's fighters were behind the palace hit.
"[The tribesmen] probably wanted him to know that [Saleh] can no longer attack them with impunity, and that they can reach him as he can reach them," Al-Iryani said, of the attack's possible message.
But al-Ahmar's office denied responsibility and instead blamed Saleh for the attack, calling it part of his effort to help justify a government escalation of street fighting in the capital.
Tribal home 'shelled'
Friday's attack came soon after Yemeni troops, who have deployed heavy weaponry in their battle against the tribesmen, sent a shell crashing into the home of Sheikh Hamid al-Ahmar, a leader of the biggest opposition party and brother of Sheikh Sadiq.
For more on Yemen, visit our Spotlight page
Three shells also struck near the university campus in the city centre where opponents of Saleh have been holding a sit-in for four months demanding his exit.
After a brief lull at dawn, artillery and heavy machine-gun fire rocked the Al-Hassaba neighbourhood of northern Sanaa where Sheikh Sadiq has his base, witnesses said.
They said that during the fighting the headquarters of national airline Yemenia was burnt down and the offices of Suhail TV, a channel controlled by Sheikh Sadiq, destroyed.
There was no immediate word on casualties from the latest fighting as medics said ambulance crews were unable to access the battlegrounds.
Before the attack on the palace, protesters paraded the coffins of people it said were killed by Saleh's forces.
Heavy fighting also spread for the first time to the southern part of Sanaa, an area held by forces loyal to Saleh and possibly marking a turning point in the conflict.
Explosions were heard in the southern city of Taiz, where the United Nations has said it is investigating reports that 50 people have been killed since Sunday.
'Very concerned'
The White House expressed its concern amid the fighting on Friday. It urged "calm and restraint on all sides" in Yemen, and called for the dispute to be resolved through negotiations, Tommy Vietor, US National Security Council spokesman, said.
Vietor added that John Brennan, US president Barack Obama's top counter-terrorism adviser, had travelled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates "to discuss options with government officials on how to address Yemen's deteriorating situation".
Mark Toner, the state department's deputy spokesman, also denounced Friday's violence and made a call for an immediate ceasefire.
"We strongly condemn all these senseless acts of violence that have taken place in the last 24 hours, and call for an immediate cessation of all hostilities," Toner said.
"All parties must end these attacks and avoid any further escalation or any further casualties in the days ahead."
"Clearly the deteriorating situation in Yemen can be only addressed through a peaceful and orderly transfer of power and so we again call on president Saleh to move immediately to heed the calls of the Yemeni people," he added.
Yemen’s Presidential Palace Attacked - Ed Jewett - 04-06-2011
Conflicting reports about the fate of the President of Yemen after the bombing of the presidential headquarters in Sana'a
3
06
2011
Conflicting reports about the fate of the President of Yemen after the bombing of the presidential headquarters in Sana'a
Site Editor
Yemeni sources reported that a number of senior officials were injured in the bombing of the presidential residence in Sanaa on Friday. The sources pointed out that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Prime Minister were among the wounded. And press sources indicated that Saleh was inside the mosque during the presidential bombing and was slightly injured. In a story for later said a leader of the ruling party said that President Saleh is alive and hold a news conference shortly after. State television also announced that the Yemeni President Saleh, who was injured Friday in a fire shells at Masjid Dar Presidency "doing fine."
For its part, said sources in the opposition Yemeni President Saleh could have been killed during the escape from the presidential house. On the other hand, media reports indicated that among the wounded Yemeni Prime Minister and Vice President and Speaker of Parliament, which described his condition as serious. Were killed 4 of the Presidential Guard officers in Yemen. There has been no official confirmation from the Yemeni authorities in this regard.
The battled forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, with tribal fighters in the capital on Thursday in battles that killed dozens, while the U.S. envoy touring the region. The cause of the heavy fighting in the streets of Sanaa, which erupted after the protests demanding the fall of the benefit since January in the killing of at least 135 people during the past ten days, raising concern about the fate of Yemen, which already stands on the brink of economic disaster. The fierce fighting continued until late into the night, witnesses said that "security forces fired live bullets at the protesters." State television showed live pictures of the building Yemen Airways is on fire and threw the blame on the tribesmen in the blaze.
http://therearenosunglasses.wordpress.com/2011/06/03/conflicting-reports-about-the-fate-of-the-president-of-yemen-after-the-bombing-of-the-presidential-headquarters-in-sanaa/
Yemen’s Presidential Palace Attacked - Peter Lemkin - 04-06-2011
travel to the kingdom for medical treatment.
There were conflicting reports of Saleh's whereabouts, with sources telling Al Jazeera that the president was being treated at a hospital in Sanaa and that a Saudi aircraft was ready to take him to Saudi Arabia if needed.
Saudi sources earlier said Saleh had arrived in the country on Saturday evening, a day after he suffered injuries in an attack on his palace compound in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
Meanwhile, Reuters news agency quoted a Saudi official as saying Saleh was on his way to Saudi Arabia.
"He's on his way. He'll be arriving tonight. He's coming for medical treatment. We are the closest country and we have the capabilities," the official, who asked not to be named, said.
When asked whether Saleh was stepping down from power, he said: "He's coming for medical treatment."
The Associated Press said Saleh had accepted Abdullah's offer to travel to the country.Yemen Live Blog
Earlier on Saturday, sources said a powerful Yemeni tribal federation battling Saleh's security forces and forces loyal to him agreed to abide to a Saudi-brokered one-week truce.
Abdullah intervened shortly after Saleh's presidential palace compound in Sanaa, was hit by a rocket attack on Friday. A government official said 11 people were killed in the shelling.
The prime minister, two deputy prime ministers and the speakers of both parliamentary chambers are
being treated in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, for injuries.
Shells hit a mosque in the presidential palace compound as officials, including Saleh, were praying.
The British broadcaster BBC quoted unnamed sources as saying Saleh was suffering from a piece of shrapnel under his heart and second-degree chest and face burns.
Mohammed Iljendi, the Yemeni deputy minister of information, told Al Jazeera that Saleh had been injured but that "his health is fine and there is nothing to be concerned about".
He denied reports that Saleh had arrived in Saudi Arabia to seek medical treatment.
Saleh 'defiant'
Hisham Sharaf, minister of trade and industry, said he met Saleh on Friday night and that the president remained defiant in the face of escalating violence.
"He was in very high morale. The strike that doesn't break you makes you stronger. The strike made him more adamant that he won't hand over the country until he is sure it will be safe and clear of militias," Sharaf said.
For more on Yemen, visit our Spotlight page
In an audio address delivered on state television late on Friday night, Saleh said the attack was carried out by an "outlaw gang", referring to the Hashed tribal federation led by Sadiq al-Ahmar, a powerful dissident tribesman.
Al-Ahmar's fighters have been battling government forces in the capital since a truce crumbled on Tuesday.
Witnesses said sporadic shelling and rocketfire on Saturday rattled the al-Hasaba district of northern Sanaa where al-Ahmar has his base, forcing residents to flee. The area is suffering from water and electricity cuts.
Elsewhere in Yemen, officials said police and military units have withdrawn from the southern city of Taiz after a week of clashes with pro-reform demonstrators that left dozens dead.
"Looting and scenes of chaos are spreading after the withdrawal of security forces and the army from the city," the opposition leader, who asked not to be named, told Reuters news agency.
Tareq al-Shami, a ruling party official, confirmed the government's security forces had pulled back from the city which is about 200km south of the capital.
The UN human rights chief said her office was investigating reports that as many as 50 have been killed in Taiz since Sunday.
Al-Ahmar denial
Abdul Ghani al-Iryani, an independent political analyst in Sanaa, told Al Jazeera that it was "quite reasonable to assume" that al-Ahmar's fighters were behind the palace hit on Friday.
"[The tribesmen] probably wanted him to know that [Saleh] can no longer attack them with impunity, and that they can reach him as he can reach them," al-Iryani said.
But al-Ahmar's office denied responsibility and instead blamed Saleh for the attack, calling it part of his effort to help justify a government escalation of street fighting in the capital.
Ten people were killed and 35 others injured in southern Sanaa on Friday as Yemeni troops shelled the home of Hamid al-Ahmar, the brother of Sadiq al-Ahmar, Hamid's office said on Saturday.
Hamid, a prominent businessman, is a leader of Yemen's biggest opposition party, Al-Islah (reform).
The shelling in Hada neighbourhood also targeted the homes of Sadiq's two other brothers, Hemyar and Mizhij, and that of Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, a dissident army general.
The US has condemned Friday's violence, including the attack on the Saleh's palace, and called for him to transfer power.
"We call on all sides to cease hostilities immediately and to pursue an orderly and peaceful process of transferring political power as called for in the GCC-brokered agreement," the White House said, referring to the Gulf Co-operation Council.
Yemen's parliamentary opposition on Saturday called for an "immediate" ceasefire.
The Common Forum alliance condemned what it said was the "the dangerous twist which the clashes have taken in targeting the homes of citizens, the presidential palace, and vital installations".
The alliance of parliamentary opposition groups urged "quick action" from the international community "to save Yemen and its people from falling into [civil] war", in the statement.
Meanwhile, Germany said it had ordered the immediate closure of its embassy in Yemen "because of current developments."
"The embassy team that is still on the ground will leave the country as soon as it is possible and safe," the foreign ministry said in a statement.