Al Jazeera is reporting that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has brokered a one-week ceasefire in Yemen and there are rumors that President Salih has been taken to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment. For pictures of the mosque which was hit yesrerday by the rocket, click here.
Category Archives: Yemen
Yemenia suspends service
Reports this morning indicate that the national airline Yemenia has suspended service due to a pilot’s strike in response to the insecurity in Yemen. Yesterday the main Yemeni office in Sanaa was engulfed in fire. The situation in Yemen continues to worsen each day.
The al-Ahmar Family: Who’s who
Sadiq al-Ahmar and Ali Abdullah Salih before the shelling started
by Gregory Johnsen, Waq al-Waq, June 3
The news is coming fast and furious out of Sanaa. Not much is known for certain and it will likely be a while before we have all the details, but here is the broad outline:
Today, following Friday Prayers, forces loyal to President Salih opened shelling directed in the general direction of Hamid al-Ahmar’s house in the wealthy Sanaa suburb of Hadda.
Making things more complicated is the fact that Ali Muhsin, the defected general and head of the 1st Armored Division, is Hamid’s next door neighbor. And given how inaccurate Yemeni troops can be at lobbying shells towards a target it is unclear which one of the two enemies of Salih they were aiming at. Maybe both.
Shortly after that two shells hit the mosque inside the presidential palace, reportedly wounding a number of top officials – although the information at this point is mostly contradictory rumors, so I’ll hold off speculating on the identities of the injured.
What I would like to do, instead, is to give a quick run down of the al-Ahmar family, particularly the four eldest. Continue reading The al-Ahmar Family: Who’s who
Ali Abdullah Salih wounded
Reports just coming out of Yemen indicate that President Ali Abdullah Salih was wounded today in an attack on his compound in Sanaa. After the attack he was apparently treated for injuries. He later issued an audio statement which can be heard here. Both the Prime Minister and the Speaker of Parliament were said to have been injured. The attack happened with major demonstrations after a funeral for those recently killed in violence. More details are available at the BBC and Al Jazeera. For more details in Arabic, click here.
map showing areas of conflict in Sanaa
With Marechaux in Yemen
The news out of Yemen continues to be dismal. There are reports of several thousand Hashid tribesmen arriving at the gates of Sanaa. The day-to-day nightmare continues. Such ugliness in such a beautiful country. The scenes of blood-soaked bodies are available on several Arabic websites, but our thoughts must also be with those who live. Here are two pictures from the superb French photographers, Pascal and Marie Maréchaux.
Yemen behind the Protests
With all the scenes of angry crowds protesting President Salih’s 32-year reign, it is useful to remember who the Yemeni people are. Here is a delightful montage online.
How to protest peacefully
Protests in Sanaa on Friday; if only everyone could follow the dove
The past few days has witnessed a turn to violence in the ongoing protests in Yemen. An altercation between President Salih’s forces and the major Hashid tribal family of al-Ahmar left scores dead and threatened to accelerate into a civil war. It appears that Salih would like nothing better as once again he could find an excuse to hold on to power. But as the young Husayn al-Ahmar said yesterday:
ØµØ§Ù„Ø Ù‚Ø§Ù„ اليمن ليست مصر ولا ليبياوأناأقول له إن صنعاء ليست طرابلس ومهلة الضمانات انتهت.
“Salih said that Yemen isn’t Egypt nor Libya, but I say to him that Sanaa is not Tripoli and the time for making a decision about guarantees has passed.”
Sadiq al-Ahmar, left; Husayn al-Ahmar, right
Crisis Hopping
As someone who has a long standing interest in the peoples and cultures of the region geographically maligned as the “Middle East,” I am beyond being overwhelmed by the daily turn of events. To see the streets of Yemen turned into bloody confrontation after three months of amazingly peaceful protests is so sad. I had always wondered if Ali Abdullah Salih was really trying to be a father-of-his-country figure (despite the widespread corruption and nepotism) or if it was mainly his inability to be a brutal dictator in the Ben Ali mode that ruled the day. His recent flirtation with leaving office, only to back down each time, suggests that he has no intention of leaving and is looking for any way to prolong his rule. The Al Qaeda on the doorsteps alibi has not fooled anyone, including the U.S. terrorism money machine. So it seems his latest insane step, right out of a really bad thriller movie, is to foment civil strife. Today’s news about his attempt to alienate the leader of the Hashid confederacy has indeed plunged the capital into street fighting. One thing is clear: Ali Abdullah Salih loves Ali Abdullah Salih and the country he has ruled over for over three decades be damned.
Then there is Syria, where Bashar al-Asad, once thought to be a rather weak version of his towering (at least in all the statues strewn about the former Umayyad enclave) father, has decided to be the old-fashioned Stalinesque strongman. Not content to believe that the mere 96.7% of the votes in his last presidential referendum meant anything other than the normal one-man-rule politics, he is apparently trying to get rid of anyone who opposes him by whatever mean means work. To protest in Syria, as in Libya, means to risk life and limb. Continue reading Crisis Hopping