ااFour soldiers killed in ambush

By Nasser Arrabyee- Correspondent

Sana'a- Four security men were killed and another was injured in an ambush made by gunmen in Abyan, south of Yemen, said local sources Tuesday.

" About 10 saboteurs and outlaws fired this morning on the police patrol in Al Aein area along the road between Lawdar and Modya, Abyan province, killing four and injuring one ," said the local tribal Sheikh of the area , Al Khadher Al Barsha


Meanwhile, a prominent leader of the southern secessionist movement the tribal sheikh and former Jihadist Tarik Al Fadhli was told Tuesday to leave Yemen within three days maximum.

The vice speaker of the Parliament, Mohammed Al Shaddadi conveyed Tuesday an oral message to my brother Tarik, that he must leave the country within three days maximum," said Nasser Al Fadhli, brother of the secessionist leader.


The message also told him not to open tents for receiving condolences around his house and not to raise the flag of the south.

Tarik Al Fadhli said he would not leave the country to any other place and he would continue struggling for "liberating the south" and that he will never leave until he is dead as a martyr, said his brother.


"We are not from Somalia we'll die in our lands, and we'll never leave , but in our coffins," added Nasser Al Fadhli.

Last Thursday, July 23rd, 18 people were killed and more than 30 other injured (statistics of a local human rights group) when security forces clashed with armed supporters of Al Fadhil who were making an unit-unity rally around his palace in Zinjubar, Abyan province, south of the country.

Yemen arrested 30 kidnappers, 56 more still at large

By Nasser Arrabyee –Correspondent

Sana'a- A total of 30 men accused of kidnapping western tourists and Yemeni persons were arrested, and most of them were already put on trial, said the Yemeni Ministry of Interior Monday.

The Ministry said in a statement posted in its website, that 56 other men accused of kidnapping are still at large. The hunt down will continue until they are arrested and brought to justice, said the statement. The names and pictures of the 56 accused will be circulated soon, it added.

Hundreds of western and Yemeni people were kidnapped over the last 15 years in about 220 kidnapping incidents.

Kidnappers often used the hostages to pressure the government for development projects, or releasing jailed relatives, or for ransom.

All hostages were released safe and sound except for two kidnappings: one in the south of Yemen in 1999 when three western tourists were killed in a failed rescue operation.

The second in Sa'ada, northern Yemen in June 12th, 2009, when two German nurses and a South Korean nurse were found dead two days after they had been kidnapped along with six other people. The fate of the remaining six hostages, a British man and a five-member German family, is still unknown until now.

Al Jazeera reporters received death threats

By Nasser Arrabyee, 26/07/2009

Sana'a- The reporters of Al Jazeera Satellite channel in Yemen were threatened to be killed if they did not stop covering the protests in the south of the country, said director of the San'a-based office Sunday.

Murad Hashem, director of the office, said he received a telephone call at 10:30 am telling him to stop covering what's happening in the south.

"Your death has become very close, we swear, we'll come over to your house," said the caller from a ground line, number 311635. The caller identified himself as " a good doer".

Hashem said he and his colleagues would continue doing their duties in covering everything happening in Yemen. He sent letters to the Minister of Interior and Syndicate of Yemeni Journalists to take their responsibilities for protecting him and his colleagues.


Murad Hashem and his colleagues received many similar threats especially for the covering of the south protests.
Earlier this month, an MP from the ruling party called for closing the office of AlJazeera in Yemen.

Some 800,000 Somalis in Yemen

By Nasser Arrabyee, 26/07/2009

Sana'a- The Yemeni government appealed Sunday to the International Community to take its responsibility towards the continuous flow of Somalis to the impoverished Yemen.

There are about 800,000 Somali immigrants in the country, an official statement said.


With its limited resources, Yemen alone will not be able to face such continuous flow of immigrants, said the statement which was issued by the Ministry Interior.

More than 1000 Somali immigrants including women and children arrived in Thubab coast in Taiz province, south west of the country, since the beginning of July, said the statement.

The unrest and latest rising violence in Somalia increased the number of immigrants who seek a safe haven in Yemen, the statement added.

Three killed in South Yemen protests

By Nasser Arrabyee 25/07/2009

Three people were killed and four others injured in Al Dhale'a and Abyan, south Yemen where anti-unity protesters are rising, security sources said Saturday.

Armed protestors calling for disunity between south and north fired at patrolling security vehicles in Al Dhale'a killing a man and a soldier and injuring four others including three soldiers, security sources said.

The security sources also said that three gun men attacked the 45-year old shop owner, Mohammed Abdullah Qasem and shot him to death while working in his grocery in Al Joul, between Khanfar and Zenjobar in Abyan province.

The victim is from Taiz in the north and the attackers were southerners loyal to the former Jihadist and tribal chief Tarik Al Fadhli, said the security sources.

Hundreds of angry demonstrators chanting anti-unity slogan, and carrying flags of the former southern State also gathered in Al Habeelain, Lahj province, where three northerners from one family were killed earlier this month by gunmen who are still at large until now.

These developments came after at least 10 people were killed and 20 others injured last Thursday in clashes between security men and armed supporters of Tarik Al Fadhli who calls for separation of the south from the north.

Al Fadhli was a leading Jihadist in Afghanistan with Osama bin Laden in 1980s, and a prominent fighter with President Saleh's forces against the southern secessionists in 1994, before he switched sides with the latter early this year.

Bloody days in Yemen

By Nasser Arrabyee/23/07/2009

At least 10 people were killed and 20 injured when angry demonstrators calling for separation clashed with the security forces in Abyan south of Yemen, said officials and local sources Thursday.

The Yemeni government said the demonstrators were trying to storm the government's local prison to liberate tens of detainees by force.

"When the security forces tried to stop them from attacking the main office of the central security, they started to fire RPG on the office and firing bullets randomly killing 8 and injuring 18 others including six security men," said Ahmed Al Maisari, governor of Abyan province.

He added that the demonstrators set fire to a police car and damaged some governmental buildings and some neighboring private houses.

However, representatives of the demonstrators said the security forces fired randomly at them while gathering in a rally calling for separating the south from the north and establish an independent state.

Tarik Al Fadhli, a wealthy tribal chief and former Jihadist, was speaking to thousands of disgruntled southerners who gathered around his luxurious palace in Abyan to demand independence and release of some separation activists who were arrested earlier this month.


"When we finished the rally at about 9:30 am, the security forces fired at us randomly killing 11 and injuring a lot of others," Said Nasser Al Fadhli, brother of Tarik. He mentioned the names of seven dead people including two guards of his brothers' palace.

He denied that they were intending to storm the prison and liberate the detainees by force.

"The confrontation would happen there (in the prison) if we were to go to the prison," he said.

Tribesmen from Mareb and Al Jawf appealed to President Ali Abdullah Saleh to stop repercussions of this incident, which, they said, threatens the national unity.

Local sources who attended the rally said, Tarik Al Fadhli, who was one of President Saleh's advisors until early this year, told the angry demonstrators to go to liberate the detainees by force if the authorities did not release them when the rally was over.

The rally was held around Al Fadhl's palace which is close to the government's offices including the prison where the detainees were held.

The local sources added, after listening to anti-unity speeches calling for "separation and liberating the south from the occupation of the northerners", the armed and angry demonstrators started to move towards the prison to liberate the detainees. They clashed with the security men who were heavily deployed around the palace.

Yemeni Jewish girl married Muslim, sister married Israeli

By Nasser Arrabyee/16/07/2009

A Yemeni Jewish girl was wed to an Israeli citizen after her older sister converted to Islam and got married to a Muslim without the consent of her parents, sources close to the family said Thursday.

Saeed bin Saeed Al Naeti married off his 18-year old daughter Barakha to Mousa Shaghdari, a Yemeni Jewish who left Yemen for Israel in 1994. The condition of the father was that the Shaghdari should leave Yemen with his bride as soon as possible, the sources said.

The couple Mousa and Barakha is expected to leave Yemen for Israel next week, the sources said.

The older daughter of Saeed, Leyah, 20, was wed on the same day, Thursday July 16th, to her Muslim bridegroom, Abdul Rahman Al Huthaifi in Kharef, Amran province.

On June 29th, 2009, Leyah was wed from Kharef to her Jewish bridegroom Haron Salem, one of about 66 Jews who have been living in a luxurious compound in the capital Sana'a since they were expelled from Sa'ada by Al Houthi rebels in 2005.

About five days after the wedding, the Jewish bride escaped from her bridegroom's house in the compound, called the tourist city, to a chief of the tribesmen of Arhab in the northern outskirt of the Sana'a.

She was in love with her Muslim neighbor, but her parents did not like him to marry their daughter, a relative said.

On Wednesday July 15, the Jewish bride announced her conversion to Islam in Arhab district in front of a number tribal Shiekhs who took "the required" procedures for the new marriage and "cancellation" of the first marriage.

The first marriage was nullified by a court verdict after she converted to Islam.

"The new wedding was distinguished in terms of the number of cars accompanying the bride and the number of bullets that were fired to air," said Abdullah Nasser who attended the wedding.

The rabbi Yahya Mousa, who arranged the first marriage to one of his relatives, said the new marriage violated the rules of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity and all religions.

Commenting on her conversion to Islam, the rabbi said her Islam is not Islam; this is the Islam of love. "The real Islam is the love of the religion," He said.

"We are wronged, we are underdogs. But we hope President Ali Abdullah Saleh will stand with us and do justice to us," He said in a telephone call with Yemen Observer.


The father of the bride, Saeed Bin Saeed Al Naeti, said," We are tens of Jews among millions of tribesmen, if they want even to kill us, they will do that easily, no State will protect us and no one will stand with us,"


He said he does not know if his daughter was in love with Al Huthaifi whose house is only 2 km far. But he does not agree that Jews marry Muslims or vice versa.

The rabbi Mousa said the Jews are preparing to stage a sit-in in front of the Presidential Palace next Sunday to demand protection of the Jews. Only about 320 Jews are left in Yemen and more specifically in the capital Sana'a and Amran province.