Al Qaeda and tribesmen threaten to strike Americans

Terrorist and political threats in Yemen

By Nasser Arrabyee,18/10/2011

Al Qaeda and tribesmen threatened to retaliate for the US drone attacks recently implemented in Yemen where the 9-month long political crisis remains unsolved.

The UN Security Council is expected this  week to issue a resolution binding the conflicting  parties to stop hostilities and President Ali Abdullah Saleh to transfer the power according to an internationally backed deal brokered by the Saudi-led six nations of the Arabian Gulf.

President Saleh,however, insists that the  power must be  transferred only  through  early elections in which he is not participating nor anyone of his family members. 

Or the army will take the final decision as Saleh said earlier this week in a meeting with his military and security commanders.

Al Qaeda and tribesmen vowed to implement painful strikes against the Yemeni and American government in retaliation for recent airstrikes which killed their significant leaders including the most-wanted for CIA, the Yemeni-American extremist cleric Anwar Al Awlaki.
 
"We will retaliate, for sure,  for Anwar Al Awlaki and his son and the other Mujahideen who were killed by American planes in full cooperation with the Yemeni government," said a tribal leader from Al Awlaki's tribe in a  phone interview with the Weekly  .

The  tribal leader who spoke from Shabwa, asked not to be named because some other tribal leaders disagree with him on declaring their plans, as he said.

" If they killed Anwar, I would assure them there would be thousand Anwars, and if they kill Fahd Al Qusu, there will be thousand Fahds," said the tribal leader who is  at least ideologically  close to Al Qaeda operatives.

"There will be  retaliatory operations inside the United States," he threatened. 

The tribal leader, who is from the same tribe and same village of the slain Al Awlaki, said that 86 people from Al Awalik, name of his tribe, were killed by US drone attacks since the first drone attack of  December 17th, 2009,  on Majalah, to the last attack of October 15th, 2011 on   Azzan. 

Anwar Al Awlaki,who was accused of orchestrating at least three terrorist attacks on US, was killed on September 30th, 2011 with three other terrorists in a US drone attack in the eastern province of Al Jawf. Al Qaeda confirmed his death. 

His oldest son,Abdul Rehman, 16, was killed in the airstrike of October 15th, 2011 in Azzan.

At dawn of Saturday October15th, 2011,  eight Al Qaeda operatives were killed  in an airstrike on the  town  of Azzan in Shabwa province, a remote town which was declared earlier this year as a Taliban-style Islamic Emirate after it was  overrun by Al Qaeda militants.

Two leading members at least were among the eight who died in the attack.

They were identified as  Abu Abdul  Rehman Al Saeedi, and Ibrahim Al Bana'a.

Al Bana'a is an Egyptian who has been fighting with Al Qaeda since late 1990s. He is wanted for Yemeni , Saudi and Egyptian authorities

The airstrike was implemented on  the group who were trying to bomb a gas pipeline which is extended from Mareb province to Belhaf area in Shabwah.

The local  sources said Al Qaeda operatives   bombed part of  the gas pipe line close to the control area number 9. 


Meanwhile, kidnappers of three French people in abduction since last May threatened to kill the three hostages if their demands are not met in five days.

" I was told by the kidnappers to declare their ultimatum of five days only, if their demands are not met, then they would slaughter the three hostages," A  source  close to the kidnappers told the Weekly on Sunday October 16th, 2011.

 
The demands of the kidnappers are either money or release of detainees  in the Yemeni government's  jails, according the source  who did not give  anymore details.

When asked for more details about the details, he said " Their demands were declared many times everybody knows them."

He said the  kidnappers  asked him only   to declare the ultimatum to press before he called the Weekly.

He described the detainees to be released as  " brothers who were doing Jihad when they were arrested" .

 On September 12th, 2011, the kidnappers posted in a Yemeni website  a video showing the three hostages (two women and man), with the man  saying the French government had done little to win their release.

On the ground, dozens of Yemeni people. were killed and injured  in bloody  demonstrations   after President Saleh said earlier this  week, he would only hand power through early elections or the decision will be to the army. 

Observers view what's happening in Yemen now as a war between two factions3 within  the regime itself and not a "revolution"  within the so-called Arab Spring.

But one faction, led by defected military and tribal leaders, is obviously using the peaceful protesters who struggle for  change and better future, to defeat the other faction.

The second faction, led by President Saleh, sticks to the constitutional legitimacy which was obtained through elections recognized by the opposition and international community.

"It's a war between two powerful teams within the regime, not a revolution for change that we need," said the political analyst and politics professor at Sanaa university, Najeeb Ghallab.


The defected faction seems to  betting on more bloodshed in violent demonstrations to exercise more external and internal pressure on Saleh and his team.

"if they bet on more  bloodshed to win on us, we bet on peace and democracy to win on them," said Abdul Janadi, the deputy minister of information and the official. spokesman of the government.