Violence in rise in Sanaa

By Nasser Arrabyee/31/07/2012

The political and security situation in Yemen is still bad. The capital Sanaa witnessed several incidents this week.

At  least five soldiers were killed and 30 others injured  on Tuesday July 31, at the gate of the ministry of interior in clashes between security forces and employees from the ministry who demand their rights.  

The problem started on Sunday when these employees, from the police, stormed the ministry building after their bosses refused to give them what they called "  rights".  Then, the angry employees were convinced to evacuate the building after officials including the minister of interior promised to respond to their demands.  

Last Sunday, 29 July, an Italian diplomat was kidnapped from a street in the capital Sanaa. The kidnapper was later identified by the ministry of interior as Ali Nasser Harikdan, a tribal leader from Abeidah in Mareb, where Al Qaeda is very active. The kidnapper is demanding compensation from the government for putting him  in prison.  

'Death for the enemies of Al Qaeda' wherever they are

On Saturday, Al Qaeda  failed to assassinate a tribal leader in Sanaa but succeeded to kill his son by a parcel bomb. 

After his 14-year old son was killed by a parcel bomb, he received immediately a call saying "We will kill anyone who would stand against Al Qaeda."

That was the tribal sheikh of Kaifah of Rada'a, Al Baidha province, Majid Al Dhahab, who survived an assassination attempt on Saturday 28 July, 2012.

Two armed men came to the street which is located in Aser area west of the capital Sanaa, where they found his son Ali playing with friends.

The two men , believed to be Al Qaeda operatives, handed Ali a wrapped parcel and told him it was a gift for his father from someone. 

 A bomb was inside the parcel. Ali took it and entered his house to hand it to his father, but he did not find his father. Ali opened the parcel and it exploded killing him immediately.

" Al Qaeda killed my son, Al Qaeda killed my son," Sheikh Majed said immediately after he heard the news of his son.

Shriek Majed is a cousin of Tarek Al Dhahab, Al Qaeda leader in Rada'a who was killed in February this year in clashes with tribal leaders who refused Al Qaeda and its ideology.

Sheikh Majed Al Dhahab was one of prominent tribal leaders who led a campaign against Al Qaeda last February and forced them to get out from Radaa. Sheikh Hezam Al Dhahab, brother of Tarek, was also killed in the clashes after he killed his terrorist brother Tarek. 

About 40 people were killed in the clashes including six brothers and nephews from Tarek Al Dhahab's family in February.

It's worth mentioning that Sheikh Majed Al Dhahab assassination attempt came days after a cell of five members of Al Qaeda was arrested in Sanaa.

Al Qaeda returns 

Given such a bad security situation in the capital, the remote areas should be even worse to give a chance for Al Qaeda to regroup. 

Al Qaeda has returned to the main strongholds in the south of Yemen after local tribesmen stopped fighting against them.

 The government failed to pay all the tribesmen, known as anti-Al Qaeda popular committees, to prevent the terrorists from returning to Jaar, and  Zinjubar in the southern province of Abyan.

 The popular committees played a key role to  drive Al Qaeda out of the two towns last May in cooperation with the government troops. 

Thousands of unemployed young people from the local tribes who joined the committees wanted to have regular salaries from the army as rewards for their fighting against Al Qaeda.

  "We should have salaries like the soldiers, we did better than them in the fight against Al Qaeda," said Yaslem Awadh, one of the prominent leaders of the popular committees in Zinjubar.

 The governemnt can not afford pay all these people and at the same time can not work without them. They know how to deal with Al Qaeda more than the government security and army.

Earlier this week, five people were killed and others injured in clashes between  Al Qaeda operatives and some local tribsmen in Batis area at the outskirts of Jaar. Local sources said that more 50 Al Qaeda fighters returned to Jaar earlier this month and now they are based in Batis. In Zinjubar, Al Qaeda operatives are seen every day. " We see them, but we can not do anything to them," said Mohammed Obadi ,  a local resident in Zinjubar.