. Ukraine
- Ukraine had already 1,650 troops in Iraq and the government said, on December
25, 2004, that it intends to send 150 aviators and 6 helicopters additional
in February 2004.
- On January 11, 2005, the Ukrainian Parliament voted for an immediate withdrawal
of their soldiers from Iraq. However the vote is non-biding. This comes two
days after eight Ukrainian soldiers died in an explosion in an ammunition
dump. It is believed that it was an accident, but some military sources are
also talking of terrorist actions.
- Ukraine's new defence minister said on Thursday February 24, 2005, his country
would pull out all of its 1,650 troops in Iraq by the end of the year. Last
week, Hrytsenko said about 700 of Ukraine's 1,650-strong contingent serving
in a Polish-led multinational division would probably leave Iraq by the end
of April.
- Ukraine plans to start bringing its 1,600 troops home from Iraq this month
and complete the withdrawal by October 15, President Viktor Yushchenko said
on Wednesday March 2, 2005. The first group would leave Iraq on March 15 and
instructors and civilian specialists would gradually replace servicemen.
- Ukraine withdrew 150 service personnel from Iraq on March 13, 2005, starting
a gradual pullout that will be completed by October.
- On March 18, 2005, it was known that Poland, Ukraine, and Portugal are pulling
back their troops, and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced
that the 3,200 Italian soldiers stationed in Iraq would begin withdrawing
in September. The Italian forces are based at Nasiriyah.
- President Viktor Yushchenko has signed on March 22, 2005, a plan for withdrawing
the country's troops from Iraq. The head of Ukraine's National Security and
Defence Council, Petro Poroshenko, said the order details the phased pullout,
which began last week with the return of 137 soldiers. The withdrawal will
be complete by the end of the year. The withdrawal of Ukraine's more than
1,600 troops from Iraq was one of Mr. Yushchenko's campaign pledges during
last year's presidential elections. Eighteen Ukrainian troops have been killed
in Iraq. Many Ukrainians have opposed the mission.
- During her visit in Kiev, Ukraine, on December 7, 2005, US Secretary of
State, Condoleezza Rice, repeated that cruel and degrading interrogation methods
of prisoners are forbidden for all US personal at home and abroad. The problem
is that after Abu Ghraib and knowing what goes on still at Guantanamo Bay,
nobody outside the US believes her.
- Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko visited his troops in Iraq on December
26, 2005. The 867 remaining Ukrainian soldiers are due to be brought home
this week.
. United Arab Emirate
On November 16, 2005, former president Clinton told an audience in the United
Arab Emirates that the invasion of Iraq had been a mistake.
. United Nations
- On March 27, 2003, Mark Malloch Brown, administrator of the UN development
programme, said that the UN would refuse to play a subservient role or act
as a subcontractor to the USA in the reconstruction of Iraq. At least somebody
has the courage to tell the Americans what should be said: "if you want
to go alone, do it, but do not expect the others to cover up for you".
- On December 27, 2003, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan made it clear
that the UN will not intervene directly in Iraq before the scope of its eventual
intervention is clarified, and the security in the country is improved. The
intervention of the UN is requested by the Europeans in general and the EU
more precisely, the US appointed Iraqi Governing Council and, in general,
by most critics of the US-led intervention in Iraq.
- On December 29, 2003, Syria asked the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution
declaring the Middle East a nuclear weapon-free zone. As Israel has such weapons
the USA would veto such a move.
- On January 15, 2004, Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN envoy to Afghanistan who is
leaving Kabul after two years there asked the international community to increase
the size of the peacekeeping force deployed mainly in and around Kabul. According
to him the lack of security could prevent implementing election in June, this
date being already unrealistic.
- A two-members UN security team arrived in Baghdad on January 24, 2004 to
study the possible return of foreign UN staff. Another security team should
arrive if the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, decides to send experts to
Iraq to evaluate the possibility to hold elections before July 1.
- At the United Nations on Friday November 20, 2015, member states backed unanimously a motion calling for action against IS a week after 130 people were killed in Paris, the worst such attack on French soil claimed by the jihadist group based in Syria and Iraq.
- Refugee organizations and the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) have slammed the “deplorable” trend among European states toward seizing refugees’ cash and valuables on arrival. Some southern states in Germany have joined Switzerland in confiscating money and possessions from asylum seekers to help pay for state aid. Similar proposals are also being debated by the Danish parliament. Cash holdings and valuables can be secured [by the authorities] if they are over 750 euros and if the person has an outstanding bill, or is expected to have one the Bavarian interior minister said. The Baden-Württemberg region confiscates cash and valuables over 350 euros. Refugees have lost their homes, their jobs and almost everything they possess. It is hard to believe that anybody will want to seize from them the few assets that they have managed to salvage UNHCR said. This appears to be a race by European countries trying to make themselves as unattractive as possible to refugees. This is based on the wrong assumption that refugees are coming to Europe because of economic benefits. Refugees are fleeing for their lives and will not be dissuaded by these measures.
- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon slammed the Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting in Yemen for killing and maiming children by adding it to an annual blacklist of states and armed groups that violate children’s rights during conflict. The coalition was responsible for 60 percent of child deaths and injuries last year, killing 510 and wounding 667, according to Ban’s report released on Thursday June 2, 2016, which also said the coalition carried out half the attacks on schools and hospitals.
. Vatican
- A statement from the Vatican published on September 15, 2006, has failed to quell criticism of Pope Benedict XVI from Muslim leaders, after a speech touching on the concept of holy war. Speaking in Germany, the Pope quoted a 14th Century Christian emperor who said the Prophet Muhammad had brought the world only "evil and inhuman" things. The Vatican said the Pope had not intended to offend Muslims.
- Criticism is mounting on Saturday 16, 2006, from religious and political leaders in the Muslim world following remarks by Pope Benedict XVI about Islam. Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, spoke of "sinister tendencies to associate terror with Islam" which gave rise to an "alienation with the West". Pope Benedict, who is back in Italy, is said to be upset at the way in which his remarks have been interpreted. Correspondents say his visit to mainly Muslim Turkey in November is in doubt.
- Pope Benedict XVI has apologised in person on Sunday September 17, 2006, for causing offence to Muslims in a speech in Bavaria last week. He said the medieval text, which he quoted, did not express in any way his personal opinion, adding the speech was an invitation to respectful dialogue. Some Muslim leaders said his statement was sufficient to defuse the row, but others said it did not go far enough.
- Pope Benedict XVI's statement of regret for comments he made last week on Islam has been welcomed by some Muslim groups but has failed to end the anger. There were further protests on September 18, 2006, in Indonesia and Iran and one influential cleric called for a day of anger.
- Pope Benedict XVI on September 25, 2006, has expressed "total and profound respect" for Muslims, as he attempts to defuse a row between Islam and the Catholic Church. He made the remarks in a meeting with envoys from the Muslim world, weeks after a speech in Germany prompted an angry reaction by some Muslims. Iraq's ambassador said it was time to move on from the row and build bridges. But the Indonesian envoy said he was surprised that there was no direct dialogue at the meeting. In the space of just half an hour, the pontiff made a brief speech to envoys before greeting them individually, but there was no general discussion. Muslim leaders had been demanding an unequivocal apology from the Pope for his words.
- Iraq, the Vatican said on June 4, 2007, will be one of the matters Pope
Benedict plans to discuss with President Bush who visits the Vatican after
attending the G-8 summit in Germany. It will be the first time the two will
be face-to-face since Benedict was elected pope in 2005. Benedict has praised
the president's stances on abortion and stem cell research, but says, "Some
problems remain." The pope has spoken out against the war, most recently
saying, "Nothing positive comes from Iraq."
- A Muslim scholar involved in high-level dialogue with the Vatican denounced
the Pope's baptism on Saturday March 22, 2008, of a prominent Italian Muslim
convert, Mr Allam. Aref Ali Nayed, the head of Jordan's Royal Islamic Strategic
Studies Centre, called the baptism of journalist Magdi Allam a deliberate
and provocative act. The Pope traditionally baptises adult converts to Catholicism
on Easter eve.
- On Thursday February 18, 2016, the Pope has questioned US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's Christianity over his call to build a border wall with Mexico. Pope Francis said: a person who thinks only about building walls... and not of building bridges, is not Christian. Calling himself a "proud Christian", Mr Trump blamed Mexico for the Pope's remarks, calling them "disgraceful". Mr Trump has alleged that Mexico sends "rapists" and criminals to the US. Pope Francis made the comments at the end of a six-day trip to Mexico.
. Uzbekistan
- Thousands of protesters have reappeared on the streets of Andijan in Uzbekistan
despite heavy bloodshed on Friday May 13, 2005. President Islam Karimov blamed
the violence on Islamic extremist "criminals". He said about 10
soldiers, and "many others", were killed. However, witnesses said
troops opened fire on unarmed civilians. Some said they had seen at least
200 bodies.
- The violence erupted after days of peaceful protest in the eastern city
of Andijan, against the imprisonment of 23 local business leaders accused
of Islamic extremism. A mob seized arms from a local garrison, before raiding
the prison where the men were held. They set them free, along with thousands
of other inmates. They also took control of administrative buildings in the
city and took government workers hostage. Before dusk, troops moved in and
opened fire on the crowds in the city square.
. Yemen
- On October 6, 2002, a French oil tanker, the Limburg, burst into flame off
the Yemeni coast. It was not clear immediately if it was due to an accident
or, as the ship's owners said, if it was another al-Qaida act of terrorism.
A few days later French and American experts said that the damage was due
to an explosion caused by a small boat full of explosive ramming the tanker
and killing a Bulgarian crewmember.
- On November 4, 2002 a CIA-unmanned plane launched a missile that killed
6 al-Qaida suspects driving in a car in northwestern Yemen. Abu Ali Al-Harithi,
once a bin Laden's bodyguard and now a high al-Qaida leader, was possibly
in it. He is suspected to have had a major role in the October 2000 bombing
of the USS Cole in Aden that killed 17 sailors. It must be noted that he was
only a suspect, and the other 5 people dead were at best his bodyguards. Among
the other five victims there was also an American citizen, Ahmed Hijazi -whose
real name was Kamal Dervish- who is assumed to have some links with an al-Qaida
cell in Buffalo, New York. President Bush complained that Sharon, the prime
minister of Israel, used rockets to kill Palestinians, and now the Americans
do the same. There is really no logic in the US policy.
- On December 20, 2002, the Yemeni security forces battled with suspected
al-Qaida members in a building in the port city of al-Mukalla. Two policemen
died and four were wounded. Two suspected al-Qaida members escaped.
- On December 30, 2002, three American missionaries were killed in Jibla and
another was wounded. The gunman, a Yemeni student called Abed Abdul Razak
Kamel said that he did it to "cleanse his religion and get closer to
God". The Southern Baptist Church is running a local hospital, and some
of the missionaries had been in Yemen for more than 20 years.
- On May 14, 2003, a bomb wounded four people, including a judge, in the courthouse
at Jibla where a terrorist, Abed Razak Kamel, was condemned to death one week
before for killing three American missionaries. The local police later arrested
three men. Kamel was first believed to be a member of al-Qaida, but the inquiry
showed that he had no connection with this organisation.
- On November 16, 2003, the Yemenis released 92 militant prisoners, some linked
to al-Qaida. According to government officials these men have repented and
promised to follow the law.
- On November 25, 2003, in the capital, San'aa, the local police arrested
a senior al-Qaida member. He surrendered without fighting.
- The trial of six men involved in the attack on the USS Cole in Aden harbour
in October 12, 2000, finally began in Yemen on July 7, 2004. The ship was
being refuelled when two suicide bombers detonated a huge mount of explosives
blasting a 12 metre hole in its hull, and killing 17 American sailors.
- On August 28, 2004, a Yemeni court sentenced 15 men on terror charges, including
the bombing of the French Limburg tanker. They were also accused of planning
to kill the US ambassador to Yemen. One of the defendants was sentenced to
death while the other defendants received jail terms of up to 10 years. The
militants were also found guilty of detonating explosives at embassies.
- On September 10, 2004, Yemen said its forces have killed rebel Shia cleric
Hussein al-Houthi with a number of his aides. Sheikh Houthi and his men had
been hiding in caves in a mountainous area close to the border with Saudi
Arabia.
- On September 29, 2004, a Yemeni court sentenced two men to death over the
bomb attack on the USS Cole. Suspected ringleader Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri,
who is currently in US custody, and Jamal Mohammed al-Badawi, were both given
the death penalty. Four others were given between five and 10 years in jail
for the attack, blamed on Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
- More than 600 rebels have been freed in Yemen on March 4, 2006, under an
amnesty. The 627 followers of Shia cleric Hussein al-Houthi were captured
during and following the rebellion he led over several months in 2004. The
rebels are from the Zaidi sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam. Yemen is a mainly
Sunni country. The rebels signed a covenant of loyalty and good conduct as
a condition for their release, the government said.
- A gunman has opened fire outside the US embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on December 5, 2006, before being shot by security forces and arrested. No embassy staff were injured in the incident outside the well-fortified and heavily guarded compound. The suspect was taken to hospital and will be interrogated.
- On April 6, 2007, unidentified attackers firebombed a mosque in northern Yemen, injuring about 30 people. Yemeni security forces have arrested a man apparently responsible for the attack. Two assailants burst into the mosque during Friday prayers, spraying worshippers with petrol before setting them alight. At least six people appear to have suffered serious burns and were taken to hospital in the capital, Sanaa. Others were treated in local hospitals.
- At least nine people have been killed after a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden car into a tourist convoy in Yemen on July 3, 2007. Seven Spanish tourists and at least two Yemenis died in the blast at the Queen of Sheba temple in Marib. About seven others were injured in the attack. Yemen faced continuing unrest in recent years, which the government often blames on al-Qaida operatives.
- On October 26, 2007, we were told that a Yemeni man convicted of plotting and taking part in the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 is to be freed from jail. Jamal al-Badawi will be kept under effective house arrest after pledging allegiance to Yemen's president. Badawi was sentenced to death in 2004 for his role in the bombing, but escaped from jail early in 2006. He handed himself in two weeks ago. The US, which lost 17 sailors in the attack on the Cole, has criticised the decision not to send him back to jail.
- On March 14, 2008, a Yemeni man has described being held for nearly three years in secret CIA prisons, or "black sites", around the world and accused the US of torture. Khaled al-Maqtari told Amnesty International he was held in isolation for more than 28 months without charge or access to any legal representation. He said he first became a US "ghost detainee" at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq after being arrested there in 2004.
- On March 14, 2008, a Yemeni man has described being held for nearly three years in secret CIA prisons, or "black sites", around the world and accused the US of torture. Khaled al-Maqtari told Amnesty International he was held in isolation for more than 28 months without charge or access to any legal representation. He said he first became a US "ghost detainee" at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq after being arrested there in 2004.
- Tanks have been deployed in parts of southern Yemen on April 2, 2008, after rioting by youths. Demonstrators blocked a road and burned tyres, and dozens of people, including lawmakers, were arrested. The youths complain that promises to give them places in the army have not been fulfilled. The city of al-Dalea is reported to have been worst hit by the violence, with riot police firing into the air and tanks used to barricade streets. Witnesses said the security crackdown had left many towns deserted. Protesters responded to the deployment of security forces by using armed men briefly to cut the main road between the capital, Sanaa, and the port of Aden.
- A bomb attack in Yemen is reported to have killed three policemen and wounded four civilians on April 16, 2008. The bomb exploded as they were parking their car in the city of Maareb.
- A member of Yemen's governing party has been shot dead on April 18, 2008,
in the north-western province of Saada in the north of the country. Gunmen
opened fire on a car carrying the MP, Saleh Hendi, and several of his bodyguards.
- Two explosions heard in the capital Sanaa on April 30, 2008, were caused by shells, fired by unidentified attackers. The shells landed in a parking area, near a customs office and the Italian embassy, without causing casualties. It was the third rocket or mortar attack in Sanaa in the past few weeks.
- At least 15 people have been killed and 55 hurt in a bombing at a mosque
in north Yemen on May 2, 2008. The blast occurred as Friday prayers ended
at the Ben Salman mosquein Saada city. The bomb was hidden in a car or a motorcycle.
- At least eight people have been killed on May 31, 2008, after a gunman opened
fire on worshippers at a mosque. Many others were reported to have been injured
in the attack in Amran province, north of the capital, Sanaa. The gunman was
arrested and taken for questioning.
- At least five people have been killed in an explosion in the province of Saada, north-western Yemen, on July 5, 2008. It is not yet known what caused the explosion, which happened at a post office.
- A double car bomb attack on the US embassy in Sanaa killed at least 16 people on September 17, 2008. The bombers targeted the main security gate as staff was arriving for work, but they failed to breach the compound's walls. The militants were dressed as policemen, also exchanged gunfire with guards during the assault. Six members of the Yemeni security forces, six attackers, and four bystanders were killed in the attack.
- Three German citizens kidnapped by Yemeni tribesmen have been freed on December 19, 2008. The hostages, an aid worker and her visiting parents, were taken to the house of a senior local official in al-Dhala province in southern Yemen.
- A suicide bomber again attacked a South Korean delegation visiting Yemen on Wednesday March 18, 2009. No one apart from the bomber was harmed in this attack. He walked between two cars in the Korean convoy as it was driving back to the airport in Sanaa and detonated an explosives belt. Four Korean tourists and their local guide were killed in Sunday's attack in the city of Shibam in Hadramut.
- Four members of the security forces were killed in clashes with al-Qaida-linked militants on Saturday March 28, 2009, when 300 troops with 30 armoured vehicles stormed the town of Gaar in Abyan province to wrest it from veterans of the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. The raid has been launched after a member of the security forces was gunned down on Friday.
- A Dutch couple living in Yemen have been taken hostage by tribesmen seeking compensation from the Yemeni government over a shooting. The two were seized by armed men while driving in the capital, Sanaa, on Tuesday March 31, 2009, and taken to a mountainous region 55 miles to the east. They said they were being well treated. The kidnappers wanted compensation for the wounding of six tribesmen by police in an incident in 2008. Later, the leader of the al-Siraj tribe claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
- Nine foreign nationals, mostly women and children, have been kidnapped
by Shia rebels in a mountainous area of northern Yemen on Friday June 12,
2009. The group of seven Germans, including three children, a Briton and a
Korean, had been on a picnic. The foreigners, among them two nurses, had been
working at Jumhuri hospital in the region. The Huithi Zaidi rebel group denied
any part in the kidnapping.
- On Monday June 15, 2009, Germany has "strongly condemned" the
killing of two German nurses who were recently kidnapped in Yemen. The bodies
of the two women, along with that of a South Korean aid worker, have been
flown to the capital Sanaa from Saada, a remote area in northern Yemen. Yemeni
officials say they are searching for six other foreigners in the group -including
three children- who were kidnapped while picnicking on Friday. There have
been conflicting reports about what has happened to them.
- On August 24, 2009, we were told that Yemeni troops carrying out an offensive
against Shia rebels in the north of the country claim to have killed more
than 100 fighters, including two leaders. The operation, involving air strikes,
artillery and tanks, began two weeks ago, aimed at crushing the rebels and
recapturing the town of Harf Sufyan. The rebels deny their leaders, Mohsen
Saleh Gawd and Salah Jorman, have been killed and say civilians have died.
- Yemeni officials said on September 10, 2009, that 17 Shia rebels have been killed in the latest fighting in the north of the country. Four other rebels, known as Houthis, were arrested as they fled the battleground in Saada province. The government claimed to have pushed rebels back from a number of positions.
- More than 80 people have been killed in an air raid on a camp for displaced
people in northern Yemen on September 17, 2009. Many of those killed in the
raid -which took place near the border with Saudi Arabia- were women, children
and old people.
- Rebels in northern Yemen have said they shot down a Yemeni fighter jet that was attacking their strongholds on Sunday November 8, 2009. The government in Sanaa has denied the claim, saying the Sukhoi crashed because of a "technical error". It was the third Yemeni military plane to crash since the latest fighting between the army.
- Fighting in a city in northern Yemen has entered a second day as the military said on Tuesday December 8, 2009, it had the upper hand against Houthi rebels and that they would have the city of Saada under control within 24 hours, after starting the assault on Monday. Bodies can be seen in the streets as the military advances on the barricaded rebel stronghold. Several Yemeni soldiers and 15 Houthi rebels were reported killed and around 30 rebels were captured.
- Thirty-four suspected al-Qaeda militants have been killed and 17 arrested by security forces on December 17, 2009. The militants were planning multiple suicide attacks, with eight of them preparing explosive vests. The operations were carried out in Abyan province in the south and in Arhab, north of the capital Sanaa.
- At least 30 suspected al-Qaeda militants have been killed by an air strike in a remote mountainous area on December 24, 2009. The strike took place as dozens of militants gathered in Shabwa province. Two senior al-Qaeda commanders in the Arabian Peninsula could be among the dead.
- On January 1, 2010, Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, has invited important international partners to a meeting in London to discuss how to counter radicalisation in Yemen after last week's failed attack on a US-bound jet. The meeting on January 28 will be held in parallel with an international conference on Afghanistan on the same day in the UK capital.
- The US has indications on January 3, 2010 that al-Qaeda is planning an attack in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. As a result the US and UK announced their embassies in Sanaa had temporarily closed.
- The US embassy in Yemen has reopened after "successful counter-terrorism operations" by Yemeni security forces north of the capital on Monday January 4, 2010.
- Yemeni forces have arrested three suspected al-Qaeda militants who were wounded in a raid on Monday January 4, 2010. They were captured at a hospital north of the capital, Sanaa. They include Mohammed al-Hanq, a key local al-Qaeda leader.
- The leader of an al-Qaeda cell in Yemen has been killed in an exchange of fire with security forces on January 13, 2010. Abdullah Mehdar is said to have been the leader of an al-Qaeda group in the province of Shabwa. Four other members of the same cell have been arrested. In another incident, two soldiers were reportedly killed in an ambush near Ataq, the provincial capital.
- On January 20, 2010, the Yemeni air force has bombed the home of a suspected al-Qaeda leader, a week after the military said he had died. The attack on the home of Ayed al-Shabwani was met with anti-aircraft fire from his village. Al-Qaeda had denied Mr Shabwani had been killed in the 15 January attack in north Yemen.
- On January 23, 2010 Houthi rebels operating in the north of Yemen have posted a video of their leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, showing him in apparent good health.
- Shia rebels in northern Yemen said on January 31, 2010, that they will accept government conditions for a ceasefire once an army offensive against them has stopped.
- The Yemeni authorities have declared a ceasefire with rebels fighting government forces in the north. The truce started at midnight on February 11, 2010, and came after days of negotiations between the government and rebels on how to end the conflict. The leader of the rebels, known as Houthis, ordered his men to abide by the truce.
- On February 15, 2010, rebels in Yemen have handed over one Saudi soldier,
captured during cross-border fighting, as part of a ceasefire agreement. The
Houthi rebel group in northern Yemen is believed to be holding at least four
other Saudi Arabians. In November the rebels invaded Saudi Arabia after accusing
the country of aiding the Yemeni government in its six-year battle against
them. On Thursday both the Saudi and Yemeni governments agreed to a peace
deal.
- The last two Saudi soldiers thought to have been held by Yemeni rebels are dead, the rebels said on February 24, 2010. The soldiers were killed in battle and were not captured. The Houthis, Zaidi Shias from the Saada province, invaded Saudi Arabia in November last year, staying for months.
- At least two policemen have been killed in clashes with separatist rebels
in southern Yemen on March 1, 2010. A further five people were reported wounded
in fighting in Zinjibar after demonstrations against President Ali Abdullah
Saleh's government.
- On April 7, 2010, we were told that the US government has authorised operations to capture or kill the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, currently based in Yemen. The cleric, who is a US citizen, is being targeted for his involvement in planning attacks on the US. Mr Awlaki was linked to the attempted bombing of an airliner bound for the US and a shooting on a US Army base. The US has warned Yemen is becoming a safe haven for al-Qaeda. The order was made by the Obama administration earlier this year, but it has just been revealed.
- A suspected suicide bomber has carried out an attack near the convoy of
the British ambassador to Yemen in the capital, Sanaa. Ambassador Tim Torlot
is safe but one person -believed to be the attacker. The UK Foreign Office
said it had closed the embassy to the public.
- Yemeni forces have launched an operation to free two Chinese oil workers kidnapped on Sunday May 16, 2010. The two Chinese men and two Yemeni colleagues were taken by tribesmen in the eastern Shabwa region.
- On May 18, 2010, Saudi security forces have freed two German girls kidnapped in Yemen last year. The two children were part of a family of five, kidnapped along with another four people, almost 12 months ago in Yemen's northern region. Two German nurses and a South Korean were found dead shortly afterward. The girls were found in the disputed border region between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The condition of the remaining hostages is unknown.
- On May 18, 2010, a Yemeni court has sentenced six Somali pirates to death and jailed six others for the hijacking of an oil tanker. The Yemeni ship was seized by the pirates in April last year, but was recaptured by Yemeni forces. On hearing the sentence, the Somalis shouted from the dock that there had been no evidence produced, and no witnesses allowed to testify.
- A U.S.-born cleric who has encouraged Muslims to kill American soldiers called on May 23, 2010, for the killing of U.S. civilians in his first video released by a Yemeni offshoot of al-Qaida. Dressed in a white Yemeni robe and turban and with a dagger tucked into his waistband, Anwar Al-Awlaki justified civilian deaths -and encourage them- by accusing the U.S. of intentionally killing a million Muslim civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. American civilians are to blame, he said, because "the American people, in general, are taking part in this and they elected this administration and they are financing the war." Al-Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico in 1971, is believed to be hiding in his parents' native Yemen.
- Two American tourists have been kidnapped by armed tribesmen near Yemen's capital, Sanaa, on May 24, 2010. Their Yemeni driver, who was also seized, said that the attackers were demanding the release of a jailed fellow tribesman. The kidnapping of the US nationals -a man and a woman- was "not believed to be terrorism related". Yemen's tribes frequently kidnap people to gain leverage in rows with Sanaa.
- American missiles were used in a raid against al-Qaeda militants in Yemen
in which women and children died in December we were told on June 7, 2010.
Amnesty has released images taken after the raid that it says show remnants
of a US-made Tomahawk cruise missile. Cluster bombs were also apparently used
in the attack. The US has said its troops gave support for the raid, in Abyan
province but Yemeni officials have denied any US involvement.
- Gunmen attacked the headquarters of Yemen's Political Security Service in the southern city of Aden on June 19, 2010. Reports said that 10 security personnel were left dead. There were heavy exchanges of gunfire and smoke is still rising from inside. The attackers escaped with several suspected militants detained there.
- Gunmen have attacked two government offices in a co-ordinated assault in the coastal town of Zinjibar in the southern province of Abyan on July 14, 2010. A large number of gunmen arrived on motorbikes and opened fire, killing at least two policemen. Many bodies lying in the street after the attacks and the number of casualties is expected to rise. The attackers opened fire with rocket propelled grenades and machine guns, attacking the office of the agency in charge of Yemen's general security and the intelligence agency. Some of the gunmen escaped after the gunfight.
------------------------
2011 Yemeni revolution
In its early phase, protests in Yemen were initially against unemployment, economic conditions and corruption, as well as against the government's proposals to modify Yemen's constitution. The protestors' demands then escalated to calls for Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign. Mass defections from the military, as well as from Saleh's government, effectively rendered much of the country outside of the government's control, and protesters vowed to defy its authority.
A major demonstration of over 16,000 protestors took place in Sana'a, Yemen's capital, on 27 January 2011. On 2 February, Saleh announced he would not run for re-election in 2013 and that he would not pass power to his son. On 3 February, 20,000 people protested against the government in Sana'a, while others protested in Aden. In a "Friday of Anger" on 18 February, tens of thousands of Yemenis took part in anti-government demonstrations in Taiz, Sana'a and Aden. On a "Friday of No Return" on 11 March, protestors called for Saleh's ousting in Sana'a where three people were killed. More protests were held in other cities, including Al Mukalla, where one person was killed. On 18 March, protesters in Sana'a were fired upon resulting in 52 deaths and ultimately culminating in mass defections and resignations.
Starting in late April 2011, Saleh agreed to a Gulf Co-operation Council-brokered
deal only to back away hours before the scheduled signing three times. After
the third time, on 22 May, the GCC declared it was suspending its efforts
to mediate in Yemen. Saleh and several others were injured and at least five
people were killed by a 3 June bombing of the presidential compound. The next
day, Vice President Abd al-Rab Mansur al-Hadi took over as acting president
while Saleh flew to Saudi Arabia to be treated.
In early July 2011 the government rejected the opposition's demands, including
the formation of a transitional council. In response, factions of the opposition
announced the formation of their own 17-member transitional council on 16
July, though the Joint Meeting Parties said the council did not represent
them and did not match their "plan" for the country.
On 23 November 2011, Saleh signed a power-transfer agreement brokered by
the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh, under which he would transfer his
power to his Vice-President within 30 days and leave his post as president
by February 2012, in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
A presidential election was held in Yemen on 21 February 2012. With a report
claims that it has 65 percent of its turnout, Hadi won 99.8% of the vote.
Abd Rabbuh Mansur al-Hadi was taken the oath of office in Yemen's parliament
on 25 February 2012. Saleh returned home at the same day to attend Hadi's
presidency inauguration. After months of protests, Saleh had resigned from
the presidency and formally transfer power to his successor, marking the end
of his 33-year rule.
Some examples of the killing
- Late February 2011, deaths were reported in Ta'izz and Aden after security
forces attacked protesters with lethal force.
- On 18 March, 45 protesters were shot dead in Sana'a, an incident that prompted
the declaration of a state of emergency and international condemnation.
- In May 2011 about 300 Islamic militants attacked and captured the coastal
city of Zinjibar. During the takeover of the town, the militants killed five
policemen, including a high-ranking officer, and one civilian. Two more soldiers
were killed in clashes with militants in Loder.
- On day three of the fighting, military units that defected to the opposition
were hit for the first time by mortar fire killing three soldiers and wounding
10.
- On 1 June, during the 24 hours since the breakdown of the ceasefire, 47
people were killed on both sides during the heavy street fighting, including
15 tribesmen and 14 soldiers.
- On 3 June, 20111, a bombing at the presidential palace left Saleh injured
and seven other top government officials wounded. Saleh, the prime minister,
the deputy prime minister, the parliament chief, the governor of Sana'a and
a presidential aide were wounded while they were praying at a mosque inside
the palace compound. Four presidential guards and Sheikh Ali Mohsen al-Matari,
an imam at the mosque, were killed.
- On 18 September troops loyal to president Saleh opened fire on protesters
in Sanaa, killing at least 26 people and injuring hundreds.
- On 19 September snipers in nearby buildings again opened fire on Monday
at peaceful demonstrators and passers-by in the capital's Change Square, killing
at least 28 people and wounded more than 100. Additional deaths were reported
in the southwestern city of Taiz, where two people were killed and 10 were
injured by gunfire from Saleh loyalists.
- As of 1 October 2011, Human Rights Watch was able to confirm 225 deaths
and over 1000 wounded, many from firearms, since the Arab Spring protests
began in Yemen.
- According the Committee to Protect Journalists, photojournalist Jamal al-Sharaabi
from Al-Masdar was the first press fatality of the Yemeni uprising and killed
while covering a nonviolent demonstration at the Sana'a University 18 March
2011, but Reporters Without Borders reported that Mohamed Yahia Al-Malayia,
a reporter from Al-Salam, was shot at Change Square on the same day but died
later.[118] Camera operator Hassan al-Wadhaf captured his own death on camera
while assigned a protest in Sana'a on 24 September 2011.
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- Yemen Sunday July 29, 2012:
- Gunmen kidnapped an Italian diplomat in Yemen on Sunday July 29, 2012, and
some 100 armed tribesmen loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh stormed
the Interior Ministry, demanding to be enlisted in the police force. The diplomat
was near the embassy building when men came by in a car and took him by force.
He is responsible for security in the embassy. Earlier, tribesmen briefly
held interior ministry employees hostage. They freed the ministry personnel
a few hours later but continued to occupy the building. The tribesmen were
Saleh loyalists, who were promised they would be enrolled in the police force
in return for helping tackle last year's uprising. The promise has not been
fulfilled.
- Yemeni fighter jets bombed two al-Qaida hideouts in the southern province
of Abyan on Saturday. The air forces bombed two compounds belonging to the
al-Qaida militants near Mahfad town in Abyan province, while they were preparing
to launch a fresh assault at government soldiers patrolling the restive area.
- A booby-trapped parcel has killed the son of a Yemeni tribal chief in an
attack suspected to be the work of Al-Qaeda. Ali Dahab, 14, died instantly
when the parcel exploded after it was given to him to pass to his father,
Sheikh Majed, as a present. Sheikh Majed is a known opponent of Al-Qaeda,
whose militants overran his native village of Radah, in the central province
of Bayda, earlier this year, before being chased out by armed tribesmen.
- About 100 Yemeni tribesmen loyal to former president Saleh agreed on Monday July 30, 2012, to vacate the Interior Ministry after storming it the day before in a protest for jobs. A security official survived an assassination attempt when a bomb placed under his vehicle was detonated remotely in the southern port city of Aden.
- A guard at the Italian Embassy was kidnapped on Sunday July 30, 2012, in
broad daylight in the capital, Sana. The guard was an Italian citizen and
a member of the Carabinieri, Italy's paramilitary police force. Armed men
grabbed the guard close to the Italian Embassy in the diplomatic neighbourhood
of southwest Sana, and drove off with him in a car. No one immediately took
responsibility for the kidnapping.
- Policemen loyal to Yemen's ousted leader Ali Abdullah Saleh stormed the country's Interior Ministry on Tuesday July 31, 2012, setting off clashes that left at least 15 people killed and 43 wounded. The attack followed a demonstration outside the ministry in the capital Sanaa by policemen loyal to the former president. The policemen were later joined by pro-Saleh tribesmen. The demonstrators accused the current government of corruption. The policemen loyal to Saleh remained in control of the building hours after they stormed it. They also controlled nearby streets. Yemen's security forces have regained control of the interior ministry a day after fighting in the complex killed 15 people.
- Militants attacked a police station in Yemen's southern city of Jaar late on Tuesday July 31, 2012, killing two policemen and injuring three others. Two militants riding motor bikes opened fire on a police station in Jaar. The militants are believed to be members of Ansar al-Sharia, a group which swears allegiance to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The two men managed to escape on their motorbikes and there's a search for them.
- An Italian embassy security officer kidnapped by Yemeni tribesmen has been released unharmed on Thursday August 2, 2012, the same day the country's information minister survived an assassination attempt. The incidents highlight continuing instability in Yemen five months after former leader Ali Abdullah Saleh was formally replaced by his deputy under a plan designed to forestall a slide into lawlessness.
- Explosions in two marketplaces in different parts of the country killed six people on Friday August 3, 2012. In the first incident, a man on a motorcycle lobbed a bomb into a crowded vegetable market in the southern city of Taiz. The blast that followed left five people dead and seven injured. Authorities are pursuing the attacker following tips by locals. In the capital Sanaa an explosion ripped through an Internet cafe in a popular market where the herbal stimulant qat is sold, killing one man. It is not clear who was behind the attack.
- A suicide bomber struck on Sundau August 5, 2012, in Yemen's southern city
of Jaar overnight, killing at least 45 people and wounding dozens more. The
bomber appeared to have been targeting the head of a group of tribal fighters
that sided with the Yemeni army during an offensive that drove al Qaeda-linked
militants from their strongholds in the southern province of Abyan.
- Yemen, Tuesday August 7, 2012:
- U.S. drones killed 10 al-Qaida militants -one believed to be a top bomb-maker-
in separate strikes targeting moving vehicles.
- The first attack hit two vehicles carrying seven passengers in the southern
town of Radda killing them all. One was Abdullah Awad al-Masri, also known
as Abou Osama al-Maribi, whom it described him as one of the "most dangerous
elements" of al-Qaida in the militant stronghold of Bayda province and
the man in charge of a bomb-making lab. The dead also included a Bahraini,
a Saudi, two Egyptians, and one Tunisian.
- Further east, another U.S. drone targeted a second vehicle carrying three
al-Qaida militants in the Zoukaika region of Hadramawt.
- Meanwhile, Yemeni troops killed two al-Qaida militants and arrested eight
others, including non-Yemenis, after storming houses used as hideouts in the
town of Jaar.
- Yemen Wednesday August 8, 2012:
- Yemen has foiled a plot by an al Qaeda-linked cell to carry out attacks
inside the capital Sanaa and seized 40 belts packed with explosives.
- Seven militants had also been detained in the southern town of Jaar, where
a suicide bomber killed 45 tribal fighters earlier this week and threatened
further attacks on a bigger scale. The seven men arrested separately in Jaar
included a Somali national and a militant leader known as Abu Musaab who was
responsible for al Qaeda's finances.
- Yemeni troops killed two al-Qaida militants in the town of Jaar.
- On Friday August 10, 2012 a senior Yemeni military officer was killed when a bomb planted in his car exploded in the southeastern city of Mukalla in an attack blamed on al Qaeda. Brigadier Omar Barasheed, dean of the Command and General Staff College, died in hospital from injuries incurred in the bombing. His bodyguard was killed and a civilian was wounded.
- Yemen Saturday August 11, 2012:
- Yemeni militia have killed an Al Qaeda prisoner who tried to escape.
- A local militant leader managed to flee as militia found an explosives laboratory.
Militiamen searching a house in Jaar discovered a bomb-making factory and
seized a number of explosives belts. Al Qaeda's leader in Zinjibar, the nearby
capital of Abyan province, managed to escape from the house. The man was identified
as Jalal Belaidi, alias Abu Hamza.
- Two soldiers were killed and three wounded in an ambush. Meanwhile, the
two soldiers were killed and three others hurt when gunmen ambushed their
vehicle in the eastern province of Hadramawt on the road to neighbouring Marib
province.
- Al Qaeda-linked militants released a Saudi Arabian diplomat they kidnapped
in southern Yemen. His release was secured after tribal mediation efforts.
Abdallah al-Khalidi, the Saudi deputy consul in the Yemeni port city of Aden,
was abducted in March.
- Hundreds of Republican Guards loyal to Yemen's former president attacked
the Defence Ministry building near the centre of the capital city of Sanaa
on Tuesday August 14, 2012. Four people were killed and nine others injured
in the attack. The Interior Ministry deployed 240 members of the central security
forces to reinforce security at the Defence Ministry. Nearby banks have been
shut down amid fears that the gunmen could storm them. At least 15 people
were injured in the clashes. Violence continued into the afternoon between
Defence Ministry security officers and hundreds of Republican Guard forces
as heavy explosions were heard throughout Sanaa. The clashes inched closer
toward the centre of the capital. But the violence had quieted down by day's
end.
- Clashes erupted in Yemen's capital on Tuesday August 14, 2012, between the new government's forces and soldiers loyal to the former regime, highlighting the divisions and volatility in the country six months after a populist uprising ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Elite Republican Guard soldiers under the command of Saleh's son surrounded the Defence Ministry. Government troops quickly moved to protect the building, located in the capital's centre. The sounds of gunfire and large blasts punctuated the bustling downtown for nearly an hour before the Republican Guard troops were pushed back. At least three people were killed.
- A Yemeni secessionist leader was detained on Wednesday August 15, 2012, when his plane from Britain landed at Aden airport. A group of armed men boarded the plane when it landed and arrested Ahmed Abdullah al-Hassani. The identity of the armed men was unclear but Yahia suggested they belonged to Yemeni security services. There was no immediate comment from Yemen government officials.
- Sixty-two officers and soldiers loyal to ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh's son were charged with resisting authorities and mutiny after trying to storm the Ministry of Defence, we were told on Thursday August 16, 2012. The 62 will be referred to a military tribunal for joining a force of 200 in the sudden attack on the Ministry two days earlier, where they fired automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades at Ministry guards. The ensuing firefight left one attacker, two ministry guards and two civilians dead.
- Two Yemeni soldiers were killed when their military vehicle hit a roadside bomb planted by al-Qaida suspects in the southern province of Abyan on Wednesday August 15, 2012. The military vehicle was passing along the main road in the coastal town of Shakra in Abyan province when it drove over a road- side bomb which exploded with a huge blast. The blast was followed by gunshots from unknown attackers believed to belong to al-Qaida.
- Suspected Al Qaeda militants attacked a Yemeni intelligence headquarters Saturday August 18, 2012, killing 14 people in a bold assault in the country's main southern city of Aden. Militants attacked the intelligence building from two sides, firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. The assault left 11 soldiers and three intelligence officers dead, and six people wounded.
- The death toll of an al-Qaeda suspected attack on a Yemeni intelligence headquarters rose to 21 on Saturday August 18, 2012. A suicide bomber blew himself up in the country's south, killing a leading member of a civilian militia that has fought alongside government troops to drive out al-Qaida militants from their southern strongholds.
- Yemen, Monday August 20, 2012:
- A gunman opened fire on worshippers marking the end of the Muslim holy month
of Ramadan in southern Yemen, killing nine. The gunman targeted men praying
outside a crowded mosque in al-Dhale. Nine people were killed and another
10 wounded. The gunman was arrested at the scene.
- In a separate attack, a suicide bomber with suspected links to Al Qaeda
blew himself up in the southern Abyan province, killing three and wounding
two.
- A suicide bomber blew himself up in the country's south, killing a leading
member of a civilian militia that has fought alongside government troops to
drive out al-Qaida militants from their southern strongholds.
- A group of gunmen attacked Tuesday August 21, 2012, two military checkpoints in southern Yemen, triggering a fierce fire fight with army forces that lasted several hours in the province of Lahj. Several gunmen launched an armed attack with assault rifles and home-made grenades on two key military checkpoints in Lahj's suburbs; there were no immediate reports of casualties among the soldiers. The attacks have been repelled. All armoured army brigades stationed around and in Lahj province are on high alert. The assailants are believed to belong to the Yemen-based al-Qaida offshoot. Meanwhile, militants of the al-Qaida terrorist group bombed early on Tuesday a gas pipeline feeding the country's only liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal. A string of high-level assassinations struck Yemen's southern regions over the past few months, targeting intelligence and security figures who hunt al-Qaida militants, after government troops drove dozens of terrorists from their main strongholds in Abyan province.
- On Tuesday August 21, 2012, unidentified attackers blew up a pipeline pumping liquefied gas to Yemen's southern Balhaf export terminal, causing a complete halt in operations. Unknown gunmen blew up the gas pipeline... at Station 5, in the village of Zahira, in the Shabwa province. The 320-kilometre pipeline linking Marib province to Balhaf, in Yemen's mostly lawless south, has been repeatedly sabotaged by Al Qaeda militants.
- Yemen's Transport Minister Waed Abdullah Bathib survived an assassination attempt on Saturday August 25, 2012, when shots were fired at his car. Nobody was hurt in the attack in the southern city of Aden. The shots were fired from another car. It was not clear who was behind the attack in the Khormaksar district of the city or how many gunmen were involved. Bathib is a member of the Yemen Socialist Party, the former ruling party of South Yemen, of which Aden was the capital, before its unification with the north in 1990.
- Unknown gunmen shot dead a south Yemen separatist on Sunday August 26,
2012, when they fired at a protest camp in the port city of Aden. The attack
took place while security forces arrested two Al-Qaeda suspects, eight days
after a deadly attack on the intelligence headquarters in the city. Two suspected
Al-Qaeda militants were arrested in a raid on a house where they were hiding.
- An advisor to Yemen's president said he survived an apparent assassination attempt on Monday August 27, 2012, when armed men opened fire on a car carrying him in Sanaa. The car stopped at a road block thinking it was a checkpoint, but then armed man tried to storm the car. When the driver sped off they opened fire.
- Two militants were killed when a missile launched from a drone aircraft hit their vehicle on Tuesday August 28, 2012. The air strike targeted two vehicles travelling in the desert between Marib and Hadramawt provinces in eastern Yemen, killing two men in one of them.
- An air strike has hit a vehicle carrying suspected militants as it travelled down an inner city road in eastern Yemen, killing five. The attack Wednesday August 29, 2012, targeted the vehicle in Hadramawt in eastern Yemen. The U.S. has used drones in the past to go after al-Qaida members in Yemen.
- Eight Islamist militants were killed by a U.S. drone strike on Friday August 31, 2012, in a remote part of Hadramout, the third such strike in the eastern Yemeni province this week. The men were heavily armed, carrying machine-guns and explosives.
- A Yemeni intelligence officer was killed on Thursday August 30, 2012, by a gunman shooting from a motorbike. The attack took place in the Habra district of the capital Sanaa.
- A U.S. drone strike has killed a top al-Qaida militant wanted for allegedly masterminding a 2002 attack on a French oil tanker. We were told on Sunday September 2, 2012, that Khaled Batis, wanted in connection with the attack on the Limburg off the coast of Yemen that killed one person, was among five militants riding a vehicle struck by a drone Friday in the southern city of Hadramawt.
- An air strike in central Yemen on Sunday September 2, 2012, killed 10 suspected Al-Qaeda extremists and three women companions, but a militant leader escaped unharmed. The raid that targeted two vehicles in the Radaa area "killed five of the guards of Abdulraouf al-Dahab and three women,” but a rocket missed the car of Dahab, who is a local Al-Qaeda leader. The attack took place on the road between the village of Hama and Dahab's village of Manasseh.
- Ten civilians including a 10-year-old girl were killed in a Yemeni government air strike that had apparently missed its intended target, a car carrying Islamist militants, we were told on Monday September 3, 2012. The missile attack in a mountainous area in the centre of the country on Sunday prompted angry protests by relatives of the victims.
- A U.S. drone strike has killed a top al-Qaida militant wanted for allegedly masterminding a 2002 attack on a French oil tanker. Khaled Batis, wanted in connection with the attack on the Limburg off the coast of Yemen that killed one person, was among five militants riding a vehicle struck by a drone in the southern city of Hadramawt. In the other incident, Yemeni fighter planes mistakenly hit vehicles carrying civilians travelling south of the capital Sunday, killing 14. The air strikes in Radda in the province of Bayda were based on faulty intelligence that the passengers were al-Qaida members. Missiles fired from the warplanes hit two vehicles carrying local residents returning to their villages. The dead included three women and three children.
- International donors pledged $6.4 billion in aid to Yemen on Tuesday September 4, 2012, meeting the state's immediate need for financial support as it struggles towards becoming a democracy against the backdrop of a humanitarian and security crisis. The poorest Arab country was driven to the brink of bankruptcy by a year-long uprising that in February pushed long-time president Ali Abdullah Saleh from power and allowed al Qaeda to build its presence in lawless tribal regions. Yemeni officials said they needed $4.7 billion in aid by the end of a formal transition period in February 2014, as the country attempts to balance a massive gap in its budget and rebuild its economy. Western delegates to the donor conference said they were satisfied with the amount of aid pledged, which they thought likely to be increased at a follow-up meeting in New York during the U.N. General Assembly this month.
- Unidentified gunmen shot dead a Yemeni officer in the capital in a "terrorist" attack late on Wednesday September 5, 2012, the third assassination targeting senior officers in two weeks. Colonel Yahya Saleh al-Khalidi, director of the office of the head of Duleimi air base in Sanaa, was shot dead by "criminal elements. Gunmen targeted Khalidi as he left his house and was heading to work, it added.
- The commander of a tribal militia fighting Islamists in southern Yemen has survived an assassination attempt by gunmen suspected of belonging to al Qaeda. Abdul Latif al-Sayed, a commander with the Popular Committees which in June helped the government to oust an Islamist group from the towns of Zinjibar, Azzan and Shaqra after a year-long occupation, was ambushed on a road in Abyan Province on Friday September 7, 2012.
- Four suspected Islamist militants have been killed in a gunfight with Yemen's army and allied tribal fighters on Saturday September 8, 2012. Up to 50 militant fighters were battling government forces and their tribal allies in mountains near the town of Jaar, which the army recaptured in June after a 15 month occupation by Ansar al-Sharia.
- Clashes in southern Yemen have killed five Al Qaeda militants and one pro-government tribal fighter we were told on Saturday September 8, 2012. The fighting took place around the town of Shoqra in Abyan province. The military also raided homes in the area looking for suspected Al Qaeda fighters. Two tribal fighters and two soldiers were wounded.
- A Saudi national freed by U.S. authorities from detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who then became second-in-command of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, was killed in Yemen. Said al-Shehri was killed on Monday September 10, 2012, along with six other militants. Another Saudi and an Iraqi national were among the others killed. Shehri was one of the most important al Qaeda-linked militants to be released from the Guantanamo detention facility, where he was taken in January 2002 after being handed over by Pakistan to U.S. authorities. A former officer in Saudi Arabia's internal security force, Shehri allegedly joined al Qaeda and helped to facilitate the movements of Saudi militants seeking to travel to Afghanistan via Iran. Shehri was "assessed to be a HIGH risk" prisoner because "he is likely to pose a threat to the U.S., its interests and allies."
- Yemen's main Maarib oil pipeline has been blown up for a second time in less than a week while repairs were being carried out to fix damage from Tuesday's attack by tribesmen, we were told on Sunday Septeber 9, 2012. The Maarib pipeline used to take around 110,000 barrels a day (bpd) of light crude to the Ras Isa export terminal on the Red Sea coast until a spate of attacks in 2011.
- Yemen's defence minister escaped a car bomb on his motorcade on Tuesday September 11, 2012, that killed at least 12 other people. The blast happened as Major General Muhammad Nasir Ahmad's motorcade left the prime minister's office in Sanaa after a cabinet meeting. Seven security guards and five civilians were killed and 12 other people were wounded. The minister was unhurt. Tuesday's attack was the fourth assassination attempt against the defence minister.
- Chanting "death to America" and "death to Israel," hundreds of protesters angered by an anti-Islam film stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Yemen's capital and burned the American flag on Thursday September 13, 2012. The string of assaults this week, in Yemen, Egypt and the storming of a U.S. consulate in Libya that killed four Americans, point to an increased boldness among Islamists who have become more powerful since last year's wave of revolts toppled authoritarian leaders.
- Three Yemeni security personnel were killed on Sunday September 16, 2012, in a roadside bomb attack apparently targeting a senior official in the southeastern city of al-Mukalla.
- Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda have stepped up a campaign of attacks against security forces and government facilities. The attack was aimed at Colonel Abdulwahhab al-Wali, commander of the paramilitary Central Security forces in Hadramout province, who survived. Two of Wali's guards were killed and four others were wounded, it said.
- A platoon of U.S. Marines sent to Yemen are on a temporary deployment and their only role will be to protect the U.S. Embassy after it was stormed by demonstrators. The deployment of foreign troops is a politically sensitive issue for Arab governments who fear such a move could provoke a backlash from Islamist militants. The Pentagon on Friday September 14, 2012, said it had sent a platoon of Marines to Yemen after demonstrators stormed the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa in protest over an anti-Muslim film made in the United States. A Yemeni official confirmed about 50 Marines had arrived.
- A Yemeni Salafist was killed and several others were injured on Friday September 14, 2012, in clashes with Shiite Zaidi rebels in the country's north. The clashes erupted in the city of Rada in Amran governorate, where Salafists and tribesmen tried to prevent a Zaidi protest against administrative appointments in their regions. The two sides, armed with rocket-propelled grenades, brought in reinforcements and the situation was very tense in the city, witnesses said.
- Yemen defence ministry announced on September 10 it killed Saeed al-Shihri, deputy leader of Yemen based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in an operation” believed to have been conducted by a U.S. drone attack. On September 21, 2012, local sources from Abyan said al-Shihri is still alive. Another Abyan source, known to be an al-Qaeda affiliate, said al-Shihri is still alive. Both two sources spoke on anonymity conditions citing personal concerns.
- Twelve people were killed in renewed clashes between Salafist and Zaidi sects in northern Yemen on Saturday September 22, 2012, the second straight day of bloodshed. They died in fierce fighting in the streets of Reda in Amran province. Witnesses said Zaidi rebels shelled a mosque in Reda on Saturday morning and also blew up a Koranic school. The confrontations first broke out as Salafists and tribesmen tried to prevent a Zaidi protest against administrative appointments in their regions. The two sides, armed with rocket-propelled grenades, brought in reinforcements and the situation was tense in the city, witnesses said
- Twelve fighters were killed in northern Yemen on Saturday September 22, 2012, in ongoing clashes between Shiite tribesmen allied with the country's former leader and ultraconservative Sunnis. Tensions have long existed between Salafi Islamists, who are Sunni Muslims, and former Hawthi rebels, who are Shiite Muslims. Nearly 200 people died in fighting late last year between the two sides in northern Saada province.
- A suicide bomber failed on Saturday September 22, 2012, in an assassination attempt on a former Islamist in Yemen who helped drive al Qaeda militants out of a southern region this year. Abdul-Latif al-Sayed had just got into a parked car with three others after dining in a restaurant in the southern port city of Aden when the bomber struck. The bomber died in the explosion and the four victims were in hospital with serious injuries.
- Gunmen have killed a senior intelligence officer in a drive-by shooting as he emerged from his office in the capital. The killing Monday September 24, 2012, carries the hallmark of al-Qaida in Yemen. Colonel Abdullah al-Ashwal is the most senior official to be assassinated in the capital Sanaa.
- Six people were killed and 16 others wounded as a hand grenade exploded by accident in a local market of southern Yemen on Wednesday September 26, 2012. The grenade exploded in Rabat market, in the Lahj province town of Rasd. A witness said the person carrying the grenade pulled its pin by mistake while trying to take money out of his bag.
- Yemen's president offered dialogue to Islamist militants including al Qaeda on Wednesday September 26, 2012, but said they must agree first to put down weapons and reject support from abroad. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and other Sunni Muslim militant groups including Ansar al-Sharia gained ground last year during a popular uprising that forced out veteran autocratic president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had been seen by Washington as its best ally in containing militants. Since replacing Saleh in February, President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has waged an army offensive to oust such groups from areas of Abyan province in south Yemen while the United States has stepped up a campaign of missile strikes on them.
- Three children died on Thursday September 27, 2012, in an explosion in front of a courthouse in a remote province of Yemen. A family was walking past the building in al-Qatn in the Hadramout province of east Yemen, when one of them stepped on the bomb. The three who died were aged from 10 to 16 years
- A suicide bomber killed himself and a bystander in south Yemen on Saturday September 29, 2012, in an attempt to assassinate a government official who had targeted al Qaeda militants.
- Unidentified gunmen shot dead a high-ranking military intelligence officer in Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Sunday September 30, 2012. The masked assailants, who were on a motorcycle, shot and killed Ahmed al-Barakani, a colonel in the domestic military intelligence agency in Aden's neighbourhood of Tawahi before fleeing the area. The incident happened when about two gunmen opened fire on the officer's vehicle while he was getting out of the intelligence compound in Tawahi.
- Security forces on Tuesday October 2, 2012, stormed a house used by al Qaeda to make bombs. Three militants and two soldiers were killed when army and security forces raided the house in the southern province of Aden at dawn, prompting clashes that went on for almost two hours. A large amount of various explosives was found in most of the rooms, in addition to booby-trapped gas cylinders and cars ready to be used in suicide attacks and weapons including a rocket and explosive belts.
- Yemen's Defence Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed escaped an assassination attempt Tuesday October 2, 2012, near his home located in the capital city of Sana'a.
A car bomb was discovered near Ahmed's house and was removed before it could explode. This was the seventh occasion when militants, suspected of belonging to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), targeted the defence minister since the interim Yemeni government came into existence last December.
- On Monday October 1, 2012, we were told that that the Yemeni officers, who have been abducted by a Syrian armed group, were there according to an official scholarship to study at Al- Assad Military Academy in Aleppo, and not as the armed group claimed that they were sent to support the al-Assad regime. They were on their way back to Yemen after they have completed their studies for a master's degree at Al- Assad Academy when they were kidnapped at the beginning of September in Idlib area as they travelled from Aleppo to Damascus to get their flight home.
- Suspected al-Qaida militants ambushed a Yemeni army post in the southern province of Lahj before dawn Wednesday October 3, 2012; two soldiers were killed and three injured. The attack occurred Hableen when four gunmen opened fire on an army checkpoint. The death toll is expected to rise because some of those injured were in critical condition. On Tuesday, security forces stormed a house in Aden's Mansoura neighbourhood to arrest some wanted terrorists, but the armed group started shooting at the security troops, sparking a short gun battle that left four al-Qaida suspects killed at the scene.
- Two bombs went off at the gate of the local council headquarters in Yemen's southern city of Ma'ala, wounding two soldiers, we were told on Thursday October 4, 2012. The attackers, whose affiliation was not immediately clear, fled the scene and security forces defused a third bomb found at the building.
- A drone air strike blasted two cars carrying suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen in the southern Yemeni province of Shabwa on Thursday October 4, 2012, killing five of them. Among those killed were Saad bin Ateq -emir of the southern town of Azzan which was an Al-Qaeda stronghold until the army recaptured it in June, and Musaed al-Hadathi. An Egyptian was also among those killed. Two wounded people were brought to the hospital, one of them Yemeni and the second Egyptian. The drone fired four missiles at the two cars as they travelled through the town of Saeed in Shabwa, the ancestral homeland of Anwar al-Awlaqi, the US-born Islamic cleric and Al-Qaeda leader who was killed in a suspected US drone strike in September last year. Gunmen suspected to have links with Al-Qaeda had earlier arrived in four vehicles and "set up a checkpoint on the road linking Saeed and Ataq," Shabwa's provincial capital.
- Yemeni security forces foiled a plan by militants linked to al Qaeda to bomb an air base jointly used with the United States to carry out attacks against the group, we were told on Saturday October 6, 2012. A car packed with explosives was discovered by authorities near the gate of Al Anad air base in Yemen's southern province of Lahj. The Al Anad air base is used jointly with U.S. forces to launch attacks against al Qaeda militants across Yemen, mainly using U.S.-controlled drones.
- Yemeni troops shot dead a gunman and wounded another after they attacked an army checkpoint in the southern Lahj province. The army late on Saturday October 6, 2012, shot dead Abdulmajid Mabrouk and wounded Basil al-Baghdadi, identified as an activist in the separatist Southern Movement, at a checkpoint in Huta, the capital of Lahj.
- Tribesmen from the Subayha tribe intercepted several trucks on the coastal road between the provinces of Lahj and Aden on Monday October 8, 2012, and kidnapped eight people, among them two Syrians and two Saudis. The kidnappers are demanding that the authorities release several prisoners, including a leader in the Southern Movement, Bajash al-Aghbari, and a local official in the main southern city of Aden, Yaser al-Uzaibi.
- Al Qaeda militants have beheaded three Yemeni men in the provincial city of Maarib after accusing them of spying on their operations we were told on Tuesday October 9, 2012. The headless bodies of the three men who formerly cooperated with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) were found at dawn dumped in the streets of the provincial capital east of Sanaa. The men had been accused of planting tracking devices and providing Yemeni and U.S. intelligence with information which led to the killing of several al Qaeda members.
- A masked gunman assassinated a Yemeni security official who worked for the U.S. Embassy in a drive-by shooting Thursday October 11, 2012, near his home in the capital. An elite team of some 50 Marines that was sent to Sanaa to bolster security at the U.S. Embassy after a September 13 attack by protesters was scheduled to leave later Thursday and it was not clear if the attack would affect those plans.
- Yemeni tribesmen freed four Syrian and four Yemeni truck drivers on Saturday October 13, 2012, five days after they were abducted in an attempt to pressure the government to release jailed kinsmen. The Sabbeiha tribesmen had seized the eight truck drivers as they passed through the province of Lahej in south Yemen while travelling from Aden to Hodayda on the Red Sea coast. The captors were demanding the release of 13 tribesmen arrested after clashes with security forces over land disputes; the government will look into releasing the men.
- Yemen Monday October 15, 2012:
- Two masked men on a motorcycle shot dead an Iraqi military adviser to Yemen's army on Tuesday October 16, 2012. Iraqi Brigadier General Khaled al-Hashemi, who works as a consultant at the Ministry of Defence, was gunned down near the foreign intelligence service building in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
- One al Qaeda militant and three tribesmen allied to the army were killed in an attack on a military checkpoint in southern Yemen on Tuesday October 16, 2012. A vehicle carrying armed al Qaeda militants attacked an army checkpoint in the southern province of Abyan. Another vehicle then approached the checkpoint and exploded in an apparent suicide bombing, killing its driver and the three tribesmen.
- A drone fired on a group of people preparing to attack Yemeni troops on Thursday October 18, 2012, killing at least nine, including a man identified as a leader of the local branch of Al Qaeda. The strike took place less than a mile from a Yemeni brigade position in the southern province of Abyan. Troops from the brigade found and defused an explosive belt that was wrapped around the waist of one of the dead, identified as Nader al-Shaddadi, one of the top leaders of Al Qaeda in the region. Residents said that they had identified four other bodies but that the remaining four dead were not known to them.
- Al-Qaeda militants set off an explosives-laden car inside an army base in southern Yemen at dawn on Friday October 19, 2012, killing at least 15 soldiers and wounding 29 others. Eight Qaeda militants were also killed in the attack. The militants drove through several checkpoints before entering the base of the Yemeni army's 115th brigade in Abyan province, where a drone raid killed at least seven Al-Qaeda members the day before. Four members of Al-Qaeda with explosive belts and travelling in a military vehicle managed to pass through several army checkpoints to reach the camp at Shaqra. Two soldiers were killed at the entrance of the base by the assailants who then continued their journey to the camp where three of the four occupants got out of their vehicle, while the driver blew himself up. In all 15 soldiers were killed and 29 others wounded. The army killed the three militants who got out of the vehicle, including one who managed to escape briefly. Four other militants who stormed the base following the explosion were also killed.
- Government forces have stormed two hospitals in Aden at least five times this year, and on one occasion dragged a seriously wounded patient from intensive care after removing drainage tubes. The raids have forced one hospital to suspend its operations and others to turn patients away in fear of violence we were told on Sunday October 21, 2012.
- A top member of Al-Qaeda network in Yemen has died of wounds suffered in a drone strike carried out earlier this month in the eastern province of Shabwa, we were told on Saturday October 20, 2012. Adel al-Abab, also known as Abu al-Zubair, and who was said to have been the sharia (Islamic law) chief in the Al-Qaeda Yemen branch, died hours after he was targeted by a drone in the village of Saeed in Shabwa. The drone strike was carried out earlier in October. Several militants including an Egyptian member of the jihadist organisation were killed in it.
- An air strike targeting a vehicle travelling through the country’s east has killed at least four suspected militants on Sunday October 21, 2012, outside the city of Marib. The strike was carried out by a U.S. drone.
- An accidental blast at an army ammunitions depot stocked with mines and explosives killed six soldiers on Monday October 22, 2012. The blast occurred in an explosives warehouse at an army base in the southern port city of Aden, "killing six soldiers and wounding others. The warehouse is stocked with large quantities of mines and explosives that were recovered after Al-Qaeda's retreat from their strongholds in the southern Abyan province in June.
- Suspected U.S. drone strikes have killed at least seven al-Qaida-linked militants in the country's south. Three strikes targeted a gathering of militants on a farm outside the town of Jaar. The strikes early Thursday October 25, 2012, followed tips from locals of an imminent al-Qaida attack on the town.
- Masked gunmen shot dead a counter-terrorism official south of Sanaa on Wednesday October 24, 2012. Ali al-Yamani was shot by two motorcycle gunmen in Damar province where he was leading counter-terrorism efforts. The gunmen who fled were suspected of being linked to al Qaeda. Another assassination attempt on the mayor of Sanaa, Abdulkader Ali Hilal failed earlier Thursday. Hilal was inspecting preparations for the Muslim festivities of Eid when a man on a motorbike attempted to shoot him. The gunman, alongside the driver of the motorbike, were both captured and Hilal escaped unharmed.
- An air strike has targeted al-Qaida militants in a house in northern Yemen, killing three people, two of them said to be Saudis. The Sunday air strike was carried out by a U.S. drone. Those killed were in the courtyard of a house owned by a wanted al-Qaida militant from another Yemeni province.
- A gas pipeline feeding Yemen's only liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal was blown up again on Tuesday October 30, 2012. Yemen LNG confirms the sabotage of the 38 inch gas pipeline that links the block 18 to the Balhaf terminal on the Gulf of Aden.
- More than 10 people were killed Saturday November 3, 2012, night in two separate ambushes on Houthi followers during a Shiite religious celebration in northern Yemen.
- A gunman shot dead a Yemeni security officer near the interior ministry in the centre of the capital Sanaa on Wednesday November 7, 2012, blaming al Qaeda. The gunman drove away on a motorbike driven by a second man.
- Less than 24 hours from the re-election of President Obama, news of a new drone strike hit Yemen. The strike was in the al-Sarin village in Sanhan and killed three men and injured others, including a boy.
- Suspected al-Qaida militants blew up an oil pipeline in Yemeni southeastern province of Shabwa early Thursday November 8, 2012. The al-Qaida assailants sabotaged the pipeline carrying oil from Shabwa province to the maritime export terminal of Belhaf on the Arabian Sea, causing a huge blast in the region. The blast targeted the frequently-attacked pipeline in Mafraq al-Sa'id district in restive Shabwa province, the official said. Army troops in charge of guarding oil fields in Shabwa have been deployed, as engineers began to assess the damage.
- Two aides to a tribal chief of (Tareq al-Fadhli) with alleged Al-Qaeda links were killed in a clash with pro-army militiamen in the troubled southern province of Abyan on Saturday November 10, 2012. Another man was wounded" when the militiamen fired on Fadhli's house in Abyan's capital Zinjibar.
- Yemeni tribal chief Tareq al-Fadhli, in the spotlight for his alleged ties to Al-Qaeda, has been placed under house arrest in the port city of Aden. The announcement came late Saturday November 10, 2012, just hours after two of Fadhli's aides were killed in clashes with pro-army militiamen who have been surrounding his home in the southern province of Abyan since last week. Fadhli has been transferred with his family to Aden under the protection of the army.
- A Yemeni military plane crashed early Wednesday November 21, 2012, during training over the capital, Sanaa, killing all 10 people on board. The Russian-made Antonov aircraft plunged from the sky and crashed into an empty market in al-Hassaba district at the heart of the Yemeni capital, destroying several shops. The pilot tried to make an emergency landing after one of the plane’s engines failed, but instead, the plane crashed and caught fire. The victims included the pilots and crew members. Ambulances and fire engines rushed to the crash site.
- Yemeni troops battled tribesmen who blew up the country's main oil export pipeline again on Wednesday November 21, 2012, and are preventing it from being fixed. The pipeline was already out of operation when it was attacked on Wednesday, because engineers have been unable to fix it since it was blown up in two places on November 12.
- At least four people have been killed on Sunday November 25, 2012, after a rocket-propelled grenade was fired into a crowd during a religious gathering. 10 others were injured outside a celebration hall in the capital Sanaa. The attack happened as an important day for Shi-ite Muslims, the holy day of Ashura, was being observed.
- Gunmen opened fire on the car of a Saudi Arabian army officer working with his embassy’s military section on Wednesday November 28, 2012, killing him and his Yemeni bodyguard. The Saudi officer, who had diplomatic status, was travelling to the embassy when he was shot by gunmen wearing army uniforms in another car.
- The United States is supplying the government of Yemen with a fleet of spy planes to prosecute its war against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula we were told on Wednesday November 28, 2012.
- Medical officials said a Yemeni man set himself on fire outside the Cabinet building in the capital Sanaa. Abdel-Hakim Hamoud Qasim is in critical condition after Tuesday November 27, 2012’s self-immolation. Abdel-Hakim was protesting a complaint he had filed to the Ministry of Petroleum against Canadian oil and gas company Nexen, which he worked for as a driver for 16 years until 2006. Abdel-Hakim was severely injured on the job in Yemen and only paid $3,000 after the accident. The company could not be immediately reached for comment.
- Yemeni security forces on Thursday November 29, 2012, detained a high-level commander of the Yemen-based al-Qaida wing in the southern province of Abyan. The captured al-Qaida leader conducted roadside bombings against security forces and was responsible for moving explosive devices into the neighbouring southern province of Aden.
- A top Yemeni army commander, in charge of a southern region where the strategic Al-Anad air base is located, escaped an assassination attempt on Sunday December 2, 2012, in Lahj province. Gunmen travelling in a vehicle fired several rounds towards General Mahmud al-Sobaihi's car near intelligence headquarters in Huta, the capital of Lahj; the officer escaped "unharmed." The general's bodyguards hunted down the assailants and arrested one, who was wounded in the clashes. A civilian was also wounded in the fire exchange. Sobaihi commands Al-Anad region, the site of a strategic air base used by US soldiers in the southern Lahj province.
- Two tribesmen have been killed in intense government shelling east of the capital against locals suspected of attacks on a main oil pipeline and power lines. The army’s offensive in Marib province Sunday December 2, 2012, was aimed at intimidating militants who attacked a crude oil pipeline just half an hour after repairs to it were completed a day earlier, the official said.
- Villagers in Jalila, north of Daleh, obstructed an army vehicle in protest at the setting up of a new military base on a hill overlooking the village on Tuesday December 4, 2012; gunmen opened fire at the tyres of the vehicle. Army reinforcement clashed with the gunmen. Two soldiers were killed in the gunfight, while two local gunmen and a girl were also killed, medics said.
- On Thursday December 6, 2012, unidentified armed men blew up an oil pipeline in southern Yemen which is used to deliver crude oil to export terminals in the Gulf of Aden. As a result of the sabotage all fuel transfers have been suspended
- Yemeni guards foiled an attempted prison break by 25 Al-Qaeda convicts on Friday December 7, 2012, some of them some considered as high risk. The guards from Aden central prison foiled an escape attempt with the discovery of an eight metre long tunnel dug by the 25 detainees. Another two metres and the tunnel would have reached a market near the prison" in the Mansura district of Yemen's main southern city.
- A senior Yemeni army official was killed on Saturday December 8, 2012, in an ambush by suspected al Qaeda members, while the army battled tribesmen who blew up the country's main oil export pipeline. The chief-of-staff for Yemen's central military region in turbulent Maarib province, home to a large portion of the impoverished country's oil, died when gunmen fired on his vehicle. The attackers were probably militants linked to al Qaeda.
- A Yemeni soldier was killed and two others injured when unknown armed assailants attacked their vehicle in the Yemeni capital on Saturday December 8, 2012. The attackers were apparently trying to free inmates inside the car. In the city of Mukalla, a security officer survived an assassination attempt on Saturday when he discovered a bomb planted under his car.
- Eight Yemeni soldiers including a senior officer were killed in an ambush by militants while visiting a main oil pipeline that had been destroyed in an earlier attack. The Saturday attack in Marib province was a “terrorist ambush”. Security officials believe the militants in the attack were from al-Qaida. The militants stole six military vehicles in the ambush.
- Yemeni military planes on Monday December 10, 2012, struck at al Qaeda insurgents suspected of carrying out an ambush in which 17 army officers and soldiers were killed. The air strikes started on Sunday and killed four people but it was not immediately clear if the victims were al Qaeda fighters or not. The ambush, which took place on Saturday while an army patrol inspected a pipeline in Wadi Obaida area of oil-producing Maarib province, was one of the deadliest attacks by al Qaeda in recent months. President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi attended the funeral ceremony on Monday for the dead servicemen, who included Major-General Nasser Mahdi Farid, chief of staff for Yemen's central military region. Repairs have begun on the Maarib oil pipeline and power lines last week after the government reached a deal with tribesmen to stop attacking infrastructure.
- Masked gunmen shot dead a senior intelligence officer in southern Yemen on Tuesday December 11, 2012. Colonel Ahmed Barmadah, deputy head of the Political Security Office, the domestic intelligence service, was leaving his house in the port city of Mukalla in Hadramout province when gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on him. No one claimed responsibility for the killing but a security official said he suspected that al Qaeda militants, who are battling the U.S.-backed government, were behind it.
- At least four people were killed Wednesday December 12, 2012, during clashes between al Qaeda-linked militants and pro-government tribesmen in Maarib province. Three of the dead were Islamist militants and the fourth was a tribesman fighting on behalf of the government. The tribesman said the three militants had been hiding in a local farm used by al Qaeda-linked militants. Yemeni military planes also struck at Qaeda insurgents suspected of being behind the ambush on Tuesday.
- Six al-Qaida suspects have been killed and 12 others wounded in army attacks on militant positions around the country. Two militants were killed Friday December 14, 2012, in air strikes in southern Abyan province. The attacks came days after militants overran a military post in the area. Washington considers Yemen's al-Qaida offshoot to be the world's most dangerous branch of the terror network. The U.S. is helping the Yemeni government battle the militants. Al-Qaida has retaliated by carrying out assassinations of several senior Yemeni military officials.
- A Yemeni military court sentenced 93 members of the Republican Guard to prison terms of up to seven years for an attack on a military complex in August, we were told on Saturday December 15, 2012. The sentences, which were more lenient than expected, followed increased tensions between factions loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose son commands the Republican Guard, and the interim government led by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. On Tuesday, Brigadier General Ahmed Saleh refused orders to hand over long-range missiles to the Defence Ministry, raising fears of showdown that threatens a fragile transition agreed in February.
- Unknown assailants have blown up a section of a gas pipeline in the al-Zahira area of the southern province of Shabwa. Energy operator Yemen LNG said in a statement issued on Sunday December 16, 2012, that the explosion was carried out during the late hours of on Saturday. The attackers “placed an explosive charge at pipeline level” and caused a shutdown.
- Masked men shot dead a military intelligence officer in southern Yemen, the latest in a series of killings targeting security officials in the Arabian Peninsula state. Two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on Shaker al-Bani late on Sunday December 16, 2012, near his house in the southern city of Ghayl ba Wazir in Hadramout province. No one claimed responsibility for the killing, but the source said he suspected that al Qaeda militants, who are battling the US-backed government, were behind it.
- The military intelligence chief of Yemen's southeastern province of Hadramout has escaped an assassination bid by an improvised explosive device. Armed terrorists tried to kill Hadramout's military intelligence chief, Colonel Mohammed Hadiq, on Tuesday December18, 2012, and placed a bomb under his car. But he survived the bomb attack unharmed.
- Gunmen abducted a Finnish couple and an Austrian man in the centre of Sanaa on Friday December 21, 2012. A car stopped in Tahrir Square and militants snatched three Westerners and speeded away.
- Armed extremists killed a woman in Yemen's main southern city of Aden when they raided several homes whose owners allegedly have alcoholic drinks we were told on Friday December 21, 2012. More than 10" armed men on motorbikes stormed three houses in Aden's Memdara neighbourhood on Thursday. The owners fled except for one woman who remained in one of the apartments and the gunmen shot her dead before driving off.
- A U.S. drone airstrike killed two al-Qaida militants Monday December 24, 2012, in a southern town. One of the dead was a midlevel al-Qaida Yemeni operative who escaped a U.S. drone attack 10 years ago. The other was said to be a Jordanian. The air strike on Radda in Bayda province also critically injured three militants. Three missiles fired at motorbikes in Hadramawt province killed four more al-Qaeda militants.
- At least five militants were killed and three soldiers wounded in Yemen on Tuesday December 25, 2012, in fighting near a damaged oil pipeline east of the capital Sanaa. In a separate incident, two gunmen riding a motorbike shot dead Brigadier Fadel Mohammed Ali, an adviser to the minister of defence, outside the ministry's offices in Sanaa.
- Yemen's army Tuesday December 25, 2012, launched an offensive against tribesmen suspected of repeatedly sabotaging an oil pipeline in east Yemen, sparking clashes which left 17 people dead. The dead included 10 tribesmen and seven soldiers. Tribesmen, of whom 18 were also wounded, fought back with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns.
- Yemeni police have found the mutilated body of an officer - Lieutenant Colonel Al-Numeiri Abdo al-Oudi," who was the deputy police chief in Al-Qotn village- kidnapped last month in the eastern province of Hadramawt we were told on Thursday December 27, 2012, pointing to Al-Qaeda militants as suspects.
Oudi's body had "received several shots in the chest while his ears were cut off and his eyes gouged out". Unidentified gunmen kidnapped the police commander on November 29 as he made his way to the mosque in Al-Qotn for dawn prayers.
- A US drone strike killed at least two suspected Al Qaida militants in Shiher town, Hadramout province, a southern port town on Friday December 28, 2012. In the capital, a security officer died on Friday in one of the capital’s hospital, suffering from injuries from attacks by gunmen. Brigade Samer Al Gharbani, an officer at the recently-dissolved Republican Guard, was critically injured when armed men shot him on Monday in Dar Bani Suleem district, southern Sana’a.
- Two gunmen on a motorbike shot and killed an intelligence officer in southeastern Yemen on Saturday December 29, 2012. The officer, Mutea Baqutian, was on his way to work in Mukalla, capital of Hadramawt province, when the gunmen stopped his car and gunned him down, then fled.
- Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen is offering a bounty of gold worth $160,000 to anyone who kills Gerald M. Feierstein, the U.S. ambassador to Yemen or an American soldier in the country. The group offered 3 kilograms of gold, worth about $160,000, for killing Feierstein, and said it will pay 5 million Yemeni riyals ($23,000) for anyone who kills an American soldier. Feierstein was sworn in on September 17, 2010, as the U.S. ambassador to Yemen. Prior to his appointment, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Islamabad, Pakistan.
- At least three suspected al-Qaeda militants have been killed by a US drone strike in Yemen's south-western al-Bayda province on Sunday December 30, 2012. The men were reportedly hit as they travelled in a car in el-Manaseh village on the outskirts of Radda. One of those killed was a senior al-Qaeda operative, Saleh Mohammed al-Ameri.
- A new US drone strike on Thursday January 3, 2013, killed three Al-Qaeda suspects in the town of Rada in Yemen's central Al-Bayda province. Mukbel Abbad, brother-in-law of Tareq al-Dahab who led the Al-Qaeda fighters in a brief January 2012 raid on Rada, was killed along with two other suspects. Abbad was a "leading" Al-Qaeda figure.
- On Thursday January 3, 2013, we were told that Saudi Arabia has joined the US in prosecuting an undeclared aerial war against al-Qa'ida in Yemen by providing fighter jets to assist Washington with its covert drone strikes against terrorist targets, The Times reported yesterday. US drones are backing Yemeni forces combating militants of al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula, seen by Washington as the most active and deadliest franchise of the global jihadist network.
- Unknown gunmen kidnapped an army official at a key military checkpoint in Yemen's southeastern province of Hadramout Friday January 4, 2013. A search was underway for Colonel Hassan Abu Baker and one of his bodyguards after they were seized by masked gunmen at a key military checkpoint in Hadramout province.
- Yemen's state security court has sentenced five alleged al-Qaida militants to up to 10 years in prison for carrying out attacks against security forces and supporting the group logistically in the southern province of Abyan in 2011. The court on Sunday January 6, 2013, gave the defendants sentences ranging from four to 10 years. The court ordered the release of six others who had already spent about 18 months in detention. They were found guilty of supporting al-Qaida but not direct involvement in attacks. They will be under government monitoring after their release.
- Flows of oil through Yemen's main crude export pipeline have stopped again after it was blown up by unknown attackers on Thursday January 10, 2013. Just 10 days after flows restarted, unknown attackers blew up the pipeline again by placing a roadside bomb near the line in Serwah area in the central Maarib province.
- A pro-government tribal chief was killed by unknown gunmen in Yemen's southern province of Abyan on Thursday January 10, 2013. Four masked gunmen shot dead the elderly pro-government tribal chief, Abdulsalam Zabra, in the suburbs of Mahfad town in Abyan.- Gunmen killed the deputy security chief of Dhamar province, south of the Yemeni capital Sanaa ON Wednesday January 16, 2013 less than a month after an adviser to the minister of defence was shot dead in Sanaa. Two gunmen riding a motor bike shot Brigadier Abdulwahab al-Mushki and killed him immediately.
- On Saturday January 19, 2013, gunmen in southeast Yemen have blown up an oil pipeline that transports some 8,000 barrels per day to export terminals on the Gulf of Aden, suspending operations. The unidentified assailants "planted an explosive device under the pipeline" overnight in the village of Rudum in Shabwa province. The blast brought oil pumping to a halt. The pipeline is operated by the Korea National Oil Co (KNOC), and transfers crude from oilfields in the Iyadh region, also in Shabwa.
- Three US drone strikes killed eight people, including at least four suspected members of Al Qaeda, in the province of Marib.
- One raid late on Saturday January 19, 2013, targeted a vehicle transporting four suspected members of the extremist network in Wadi Abida. The bodies of the four dead were charred. Another raid struck a vehicle in the same area killing four passengers from Al-Haytak clan, part of the Abida tribe. A raid earlier in the evening targeted another vehicle transporting four people, but a rocket missed the car allowing the passengers enough time to flee.
- An armed group blasted an oil pipeline Saturday January 19, 2013, in the province of Shabwa. The armed group blew up the pipeline that transfers Yemen's liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the Gulf of Aden export terminal, in the area of Rudhum in Shabwa province. The huge blast, which is the latest in a series of explosions during the past few months, disrupted oil flows.
- An explosion in the province of Bayda has killed at least 13 suspected al-Qaida militants. The explosion went off in a house owned by a known al-Qaida operative, Ahmed Abdullah Deif-Allah Al-Zahab. It appeared to be an accident.
- A U.S. drone airstrike on a car east of Yemen’s capital of Sanaa on Monday January 21, 2013, killed two suspected al-Qaida militants and wounded three others, two of them seriously. On Saturday, two U.S. drone strikes killed eight people, including two known al-Qaida militants, in Marib province. The security officials said the five targeted Monday were travelling in a pickup truck when it was hit in Marib. The three wounded were travelling in the vehicle’s back bed. The two killed were identified as Ali Saleh Toaiman and Qassim Nasser Toaiman. Members of the same clan, both men were among several hundred suspected al-Qaida militants freed by authorities in April last year after several months in detention.
- A U.S. drone killed four suspected al Qaeda militants on Tuesday January 22, 2013, in a strike on their car in northern Yemen as they drove away from a militant training ground. The four men were travelling in a vehicle through the desert in the Yemeni province of al-Jawf, near the border with Saudi Arabia.
- A U.S. drone strike on a car outside the capital of Sanaa has killed at least seven suspected al-Qaida militants on Wednesday January 23, 2013. The drone attack took place near the town of Khawlan. Military officials and tribal witnesses say the car was destroyed, and burnt bodies could be seen inside the wreckage.
- Al-Qaida's No. 2 in Yemen died of wounds sustained in a U.S. drone attack last year in southern Yemen we were told on Thursday January 24, 2013. Saeed al-Shihri, a Saudi national who fought in Afghanistan and spent six years in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, was wounded in a missile attack in the southern city of Saada on October 28, 2012. Yemen had previously announced al-Shihri's death in a September 10 drone attack in the province of Hadramawt. A subsequent DNA test however proved that the body recovered was not that of al-Shihri. On October 22, al-Shihri denied his own death in audio message posted on Jihadi websites.
- Unidentified attackers blew up Yemen's main oil pipeline, forcing the country to shut down one of its most lucrative sources of income, we were told on Saturday January 26, 2013. The pipeline linking production fields in the central Maarib province to the Red Sea was attacked on Friday night.- A suicide car bomber has targeted an army checkpoint in southern Yemen, killing at least eight soldiers and wounding 10 others on Monday January 28, 2013. The attack in the town of Radda was likely a retaliatory move by al-Qaeda fighters after Yemeni forces earlier in the day shelled gunmen, who Sanaa is accusing of holding three Western hostages in the southern province of al-Bayda
- Two intelligence officers were injured by gunshot near a police station in Yemen's southeastern province of Hadramout on Tuesday January 29, 2013. The two intelligence inspectors were on their way home when a group of masked gunmen opened fire on their car.
- Two soldiers and 16 Al Qaida militants were killed on Wednesday January 30, 2013, in four raids when the Yemeni aviation targeted positions near Manaseh” in the province of Bayda in a Yemeni military offensive against the jihadists who are suspected of holding Western hostages. The army is hunting three militants accused of holding the European hostages and who have refused to surrender despite mediation efforts. The three men deny they are holding the hostages.
- Clashes on Thursday January 31, 2013, in the south between al-Qaida militants and pro-government fighters have killed 14. The fighting lasted for the past two days and left eight militants dead. It's part of a military offensive that local militiamen have joined to push al-Qaida out of the mountainous stronghold of al-Maraksha in Abyan province. Six Militia men were also killed.
- Two militants and five soldiers were killed on Thursday January 31, 2013, during a Yemeni army raid on a mountainous area where insurgents linked to al Qaeda have been holed up since they were driven out of two southern towns last year. Two suspected members of Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) were also captured in the raid. The campaign was aimed at flushing out militants who have taken refuge in caves in the area after they were driven out of Jaar and Zinjibar in a U.S.-backed Yemeni military offensive last year.
- Yemeni government forces have driven a group of Islamist insurgents linked to al Qaeda from their mountain retreat in the country's south after killing 21 militants during two days of fighting we were told on Saturday February 2, 2013. The army and pro-government militias battled militants on Thursday and Saturday near the town of Shuqra in Abyan province. Five soldiers and two militia members were also killed. Surviving militants fled the area, he added. Yemen's military and tribal militias ousted an Islamist group called Ansar al-Sharia, which is affiliated with AQAP, from the towns of Jaar and Zinjibar in Abyan province last year. The militants had imposed sharia law in the towns and raised al Qaeda flags. On Thursday the army and militias launched an attack on remnants of the Ansar al-Sharia holed up in caves in the area, killing two militants.
- The CIA is secretly using an airbase in Saudi Arabia to conduct its controversial drone assassination campaign in neighbouring Yemen we were told on Thursday February 6, 2013. Neither the Saudi government nor the country's media have responded to the reports revealing that the drones that killed the US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and his son in September 2011 and Said al-Shehri, a senior al-Qaida commander who died from his injuries last month, were launched from the unnamed base.
- An accidental blast at an ammunition depot in an army camp killed 10 civilians in Yemen’s northwestern Haja province on Thursday February 7, 2013. The rocket debris from the explosion destroyed five homes.
- Gunmen in Yemen on Friday February 8, 2013, blew up a key oil pipeline that repeatedly comes under attack in the country’s eastern Marib province, an Al Qaida stronghold. Subversive elements in Wadi Abida blew up” the 320-km pipeline that carries oil from the Safer oilfields in Marib to an export terminal on the Red Sea. Flames erupted from the pipeline that carries around 180,000 barrels per day.
- A pregnant woman was accidentally shot dead in the southern city of Aden on Saturday February 9, 2013, as protesters calling for the release of prisoners clashed with Yemeni police. The woman eight months pregnant died of her wounds after she was shot by live rounds. Clashes erupted between police forces and protesters who tried to block a road in Aden's Khor Maksar neighbourhood. The police opened fire, killing the woman.
- Security officials said on Monday February 11, 2013, two people were killed and dozens wounded in clashes between Islamists and separatists in southern Yemen, as tens of thousands protested in the capital to mark the second anniversary of the nation's uprising. Members of the Islamist Islah party and southerners calling for independence fought in Aden during a protest marking the start of the uprising that ousted long-time autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh. Security officials say both sides fired live ammunition at each other, killing a bystander and a 25 year-old separatist. Security officials also fired in the air to disperse the crowd on Sunday.
- Yemeni security authorities arrested three members of the al-Qaida terrorist group in a military operation in the mountainous area of Marakasha in Abyan province on Thursday February 14, 2013. Weapons, explosives and leaflets were seized by the security forces during the operation.
- A group of secessionist gunmen attacked the main gate of the Mansoura central jail in Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Sunday February 17, 2013. They attempted to free inmates of the pro-secession Southern Movement, but they failed. No prisoners fled during the attack. At least two police officers were wounded by gunshots. Local residents in Aden said the gunmen also stormed a military checkpoint near the central jail, and that sporadic gunfire could still be heard in the city.
- Yemeni authorities have freed a Dutch man held captive for a week after being kidnapped by tribesmen between the towns of Hard in Hajja province and Al-Zaidiya in Hodeida province in the country's west, we were told on Sunday February 17, 2013.
- A Yemeni military plane crashed Tuesday February 19, 2013, into a residential neighbourhood in the country's capital, Sanaa, killing 10 people and injuring 17. The plane crashed during a training exercise. It hit two houses in the al-Qadissiya district; the pilot was also killed in the crash.
- Police arrested two separatist leaders in south Yemen on Wednesday February 20, 2013. Qassem Askar, a leader of the hardliner faction of the separatist Southern Movement, was arrested in Aden. Southern cleric Hussein bin Shouaib was arrested late Tuesday after he chaired a meeting urging protests in Aden, the ex-capital of the formerly independent south. The arrests come on the eve of the first anniversary Thursday of the uncontested election of President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi which ended Saleh's 33-year autocratic rule, following a year-long deadly uprising to topple the former president.
- A celebration by thousands of Yemenis marking the first anniversary of the country's presidential election was interrupted by a shootout on Thursday February 21, 2013, between government forces and disgruntled members of a southern independence movement. Two separatists were killed in the clash.
- On Thursday February 21, 2013, security forces in the Yemeni city of Aden have fired on protesters calling for southern independence, killing at least four and wounding many others. The demonstrations in the southern port city came on the first anniversary of the uncontested election of President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi. Supporters of the president are holding a rival protest in the city.
- A Yemeni security chief, Abdulwahab al-Wali, head of the central security forces, survived an assassination attempt on Saturday February 23, 2013, in the town of Mukalla in the south of the country but two of his bodyguards were wounded. In other developments three people were killed and 14 wounded in clashes between Yemeni security forces and separatists in the south. Separatist leaders have called for a day of civil disobedience in major southern towns and cities after the deaths of six people in protests on Thursday. Shops, bakeries and schools were closed in many southern cities and transport was paralyzed after roads were blocked with stones and burning tyres. Many government employees did not turn up for work.
- Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen on motorbikes killed a police officer in a drive-by shooting on Sunday February 24, 2013, in the central province of Baida. Captain Adel Wali al-Nahmi, the police chief of Dhi Naem, was assassinated and his bodyguard Adnan al-Qobati wounded in an ambush by Al-Qaeda members. The gunmen were on four motorcycles and fled after opening fire on the officer's convoy.
- A security chief, Mustafa Al-Mikhlafi, the security director of the Oseifra police station, four soldiers and a citizen were injured after gunmen attacked a security patrol in the Oseifra district in Yemen’s southern Taiz province on Monday February 25, 2013. The attackers were led by Abdu Ghanim, a wanted suspect who escaped from the provincial central prison last year.
- Relatives of, Yemenis in the Diaspora and the Yemeni physicians’ syndicate held a sit-in at the Syrian embassy in the capital Sanaa Monday February 25, 2013, to demand an immediate release of a Yemeni student who has been recently sentenced to death in Syria. Riyadh Al-Omaisi travelled to Syria with a state scholarship to study a master of medicine and, before his arrest in January, he worked as a trainee in Al-Hilal hospital in Damascus.
- A Swiss researcher, Sylvia Abrahat, kidnapped almost a year ago in Yemen was released in good health and flown to Qatar, whose government helped negotiate her release, we were told on Thursday February 27, 2013. Wearing jeans and a brown jacket with her hair pulled back in a ponytail, Abrahat appeared tired as she walked through the airport, but showed no visible signs of injury or abuse. She was seized March 13, 2012 in the port city of Hodeida where she worked as a researcher at an institute.
- Yemeni authorities on Thursday February 26, 2013, freed two separatist leaders in response to demands of southerners and an exiled figure returned from almost two decades abroad. Authorities freed Qassem Askar, a head of the hardliner faction of the separatist Southern Movement, and southern cleric Hussein bin Shouaib "based on orders by the attorney general". The two were arrested last week in the main southern city of Aden, ahead of violent protests which started on February 21 to mark one year since President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi came to power in a single-candidate election.
- Yemeni security forces shot and killed one activist and wounded at least four other people on Saturday March 2, 2013, during clashes with southern separatists who had blocked roads and attacked police. Saturday's clashes erupted in the southern port of Aden when protesters demanded the release of activists detained during fighting that killed six people on February 21, the first anniversary of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's election. The protesters, who had blocked roads and forced shops to close down, were also demanding security forces responsible for opening fire on demonstrators, be put on trial. Security forces opened fire at stone-throwing youths and armed men in the crowd.
- A suicide bomber blew up an explosives-filled vehicle at a pro-government Yemeni militia headquarters on Monday March 4, 2013, killing 12 people and wounding 17. The explosion, which rocked the city of Lawder in the southern Abyan province, came as a top intelligence official disclosed that the nation's president rejected a truce with al-Qaeda. The bombing targeted the Popular Committees, made up of civilians who back the government in its fight against al-Qaeda. It was typical of al-Qaeda's tactics.
- Unknown assailants blew up Yemen's main oil pipeline again on Tuesday March 5, 2013. The latest attackers detonated an explosives charge beneath the pipeline in Sirwah area in Maarib province. The explosion set the pipeline on fire and caused a leak. The blast stopped flows from the Maarib fields to the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea, from which crude is shipped to Yemen's main refinery in Aden. Oil sources said repair teams were being deployed to the area on Wednesday to fix the pipeline which was also bombed in February and January.
- A member of a militant group in Yemen's south says residents in the town of Jaar tried and executed a man suspected of carrying out a deadly attack for al-Qaida last year. The local militants, known as Popular Committees, fought alongside Yemen's military to kick al-Qaida out of their towns last year. Its members have come since under attack. 45-year-old Khaled Bathur was accused for an attack last August that killed more than 40 people during a funeral for a fellow Popular Committee fighter. Bathur was shot in the head, and then his body was handed over to police.
- At least two civilians have been killed in fresh clashes between Yemeni police and separatists in the troubled southern city of Aden. On Wednesday March 13, 2013, security forces reportedly opened fire on Southern Movement activists in Aden’s Mansura district, which is a stronghold of Yemen’s pro-independence movement. A security official said police and separatists exchanged fire in the Mansura district, where protesting pro-secession activists had blocked roads with rocks and burning tires. Six people were also injured in the clashes.
- A senior police officer escaped an assassination attempt in Yemen's southeastern province of Hadramout on Wednesday March 20, 2013. The police officer survived an assassination attempt when two masked gunmen riding motorbikes fired at his car in Hadramout province. The police authorities were searching for the attackers, but so far no one had been arrested.
- At least five people were killed in Yemen when a pro-government militia attacked Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants on Thursday March 21, 2013. Several people were also wounded in the fighting which broke out in the village of al-Qafr in the southern province of Abyan.
- Clashes in the south between al-Qaida and pro-government fighters have killed four. The fighting in the town of Jaar in Abyan province left two militants and two pro-government militiamen dead. Five were wounded and three al-Qaida members were captured. Meanwhile unknown gunmen fired shots Friday March 22, 2013, at the house of Transport Minister Waed Bathib in Aden and hurled a hand grenade before fleeing. The grenade exploded near the house’s wall but caused material damage only. It was not clear who was behind the attack.
- Gunmen shot dead three people in a failed attempt to assassinate a Houthi rebel leader on Saturday March 23, 2013, after he left Yemen's "national dialogue" talks aimed at ending political turmoil in the country. Abdo Abu Ras, the Houthis' representative at the negotiations, was returning by car to his hotel in the capital Sanaa when gunmen opened fire, killing three of his companions. Impoverished Yemen faces two rebellions and a separatist movement. Washington fears it may become a failed state after President Ali Abdullah Saleh was unseated last year following "Arab spring" protests.
- Clashes in the south between al-Qaida and pro-government fighters have killed four we were told on Friday March 22, 203. The fighting in the town of Jaar in Abyan province left two militants and two pro-government militiamen dead. Five were wounded and three al-Qaida members were captured. Meanwhile, unknown gunmen fired shots Friday at the house of Transport Minister Waed Bathib in Aden and hurled a hand grenade before fleeing. The grenade exploded near the house's wall but caused material damage only. It was not clear who was behind the attack. Bathib is a member of the Socialist Party that ruled former South Yemen before it was united with the north in 1990.
- Gunmen wounded a senior Yemeni government official and killed his driver when they ambushed his car in Sanaa on Monday March 25, 2013. The attack was probably an act of tribal violence. The assailants shot at the vehicle carrying Abdullah al-Fadhli, head of the State Land and Properties Department, before driving away. Fadhli was wounded but his driver died.
- An employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross was wounded Tuesday March 26, 2013, when gunmen opened fire at her car in the country's capital, Sanaa. The employee was slightly injured. The female staffer was driving her car when gunmen shot at her.- A prison guard was killed and a colleague wounded in a gun attack in the port city of Aden, we were told on Saturday March 30, 2013, as southern Yemen observed a "civil disobedience" campaign called by separatists. The overnight attack came as several district of the main southern city, including Mansura, Sheikh Othman and Crater, were brought to a virtual standstill by the protest action. The shooting took place when a police vehicle from Mansura prison arrived at the local hospital carrying a sick inmate. The assailants fled the scene. On Saturday morning, dozens of southern activists used rocks and logs to block main roads around Aden, where shops, banks and schools stayed closed.
- A passer-by was killed and three others were wounded when police opened fire to disperse protesters Aden on Saturday March 30, 2013. Police intervened to clear the roads in the flash point Crater district of the port city where dozens of southern activists had set up roadblocks as part of a “civil disobedience” campaign.- A Yemeni soldier was killed and two others wounded, along with two passers-by, during a clash between the army and southern separatists near Aden on Saturday April 6, 2013. The clash took place in the town of al-Hawat, in al-Lahej province after separatists tried to close the marketplace.
- Al-Qaida in Yemen on Monday April 8, 2013, said that its second-most senior commander has not been killed. It was the second time the group has denied Saeed al-Shihri’s death. The Saudi national, who fought in Afghanistan and spent six years in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, is “alive and in good health,” according to a senior al-Qaida cleric in Yemen and the group’s media arm, al-Malahem.. It came as nine people were killed in separate incidents of violence throughout Yemen. Also, its capital city was without electricity on Monday after militants attacked electricity cables connecting Sanaa to the province of Marib, where an oil pipeline was also blown up.
- Saudi Arabia is building a giant border fence to seal off its troubled frontier with Yemen we were told on Wednesday April 10, 2013. The 1,800km fence is set to run from the Red Sea coast in the west to the edge of Oman in the east. Security has deteriorated on the Yemeni side after its long-term president stepped down in 2012, Saudi border official Lt Col Hamed al-Ahmari said. Yemen is considered a base of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
- Two U.S. drone strikes Wednesday April 17, 2013, killed at least five suspected al-Qaida militants and destroyed the house of one of them in a mountainous area south of the capital, Sanaa. The four were killed in the first strike while riding a vehicle in the desert area of Oussab al-Ali. The second strike killed a fifth suspected jihadi, Hamed Radman. A drone bombed his house. Radman is known to security authorities as influential al-Qaida member and played a role in recruitment.
- A suspected US drone strike in western Yemen has killed five Al-Qaeda militants, including a local chief, we were told on Thursday April 18, 2013. The raid that took place late Wednesday in Dhamar province, killed Hamid Radman al-Manea, known as al-Radmi, and four of his guards. Two rockets hit the vehicle transporting the group.
- Suspected Al-Qaeda militants shot dead a Yemeni intelligence officer in Mukalla, capital of the southeastern Hadramawt province on Saturday April 20, 2013. Al-Qaeda gunmen on a motorbike opened fire on the officer Ibrahim Bameshel as he was on his way back home, killing him immediately.
- Two suspected members of al Qaeda were killed on Sunday April 21, 2013 in a U.S. drone strike on a site used for training members of the Islamist network in central Yemen's Marib province. The strike was carried out at dawn and that a cache of weapons was found at the site. No further details were available. Shoring up stability and security in Yemen is a priority for the United States and its Gulf Arab allies because of the country's location next to the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, and key shipping lanes.
- Seven people were killed in clashes between army deserters and tribesmen in south Yemen on Monday April 22, 2013. In a separate incident, two Yemeni government soldiers were killed and two were wounded in a gunfight with tribesmen who had blown up the main Maarib oil pipeline in south Yemen only two weeks after it was repaired.
- A Yemeni court has sentenced 11 alleged al-Qaida militants to up to 10 years in prison for forming armed gangs to destabilize the country and planning attacks on foreign embassies as well as army and security forces. Ahmed al-Hababi, one of the defendants, threatened to kill the judge, shouting in the courtroom, “we will teach you a lesson and we will drag you on the ground.” Two others raised al-Qaida’s flag inside the defendants’ cage in the court in Sanaa. Still others shouted “God is great” in Arabic. Also on Tuesday April 23, 2013, a court in Aden began trying nine Yemenis —one in absentia— who were arrested in January in the country’s territorial waters trying to smuggle Iranian-made weapons on a ship. The trial was adjourned until April 30.
- Shots were fired near the French embassy in Yemen on Tuesday April 23, 2013, after a car bomb attack on France's embassy in Libya wounded two French guards and caused extensive damage. Paris stepped up security around its diplomatic missions after the bombing in Libya early Tuesday.
- A suspected US drone strike in western Yemen has killed five Al-Qaeda militants, including a local chief we were told on Thursday April 25, 2013. The raid that took place late Wednesday in Dhamar province, killed Hamid Radman al-Manea, known as al-Radmi, and four of his guards. They were targeted as they headed to Radmi’s house. Two rockets hit the vehicle transporting the group.
- On Thursday April 25, 2013, a Yemeni court sentenced 11 convicted Al-Qaeda militants to up to 10 years in prison for forming armed gangs to destabilize the country and planning attacks on foreign embassies and security forces. The sentencing came as militants attacked a military camp in the central town of Radda setting off clashes that killed three soldiers and eight militants. In the court in Sanaa, Ahmed Al-Hababi, one of the defendants, threatened to kill the judge, shouting, “We will teach you a lesson and we will drag you on the ground.” Two raised an Al-Qaeda flag inside the defendants’ cage. Others shouted “God is great” in Arabic. In another trial yesterday, a court in Aden began trying nine Yemenis for smuggling Iranian-made weapons on a ship. Eight were captured in January in the country’s territorial waters and one was tried in absentia. The trial was adjourned until April 30. In another development, Yemen’s former President Ali Abdullah Saleh returned from Saudi Arabia after medical treatment.
- Five soldiers and two al-Qaida militants have been killed in fighting in the central town of Radda, and a senior intelligence officer was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in the south. The soldiers were killed Saturday April 27, 2013, when al-Qaida fighters attacked a military checkpoint in Radda. Col. Ahmed Abdel-Razaq, who was the intelligence chief in Mukalla, the capital of southern Hadramawt province, was killed Saturday by two gunmen on a motorcycle.
- The killing of a local anti Al-Qaeda cleric underscores the rising collateral damage of the unmanned drone attacks. Sheik Salem Ahmed bin Ali Jaber, a prominent cleric within his small village in Yemen, was known for preaching of the evils of the al-Qaida network, warning villagers to stay out of the group and renounce their military ideology. US military drones that had been hovering in the area took a shot at two alleged Al-Qaeda fighters last August while he was meeting with them outside of the remote village of Khashamir. Salem was called out by the local Al-Qaeda members, presumably to meet with him and intimidate him into dropping his vocal opposition to the group. Sheik Salem had spoken "about how killing people and labelling people who work with the West as infidels is wrong”.
- A group of secessionist gunmen killed one soldier in an armed attack Monday May 6, 2013, on a military post in Yemen’s southern province of al-Dhalea. The secessionist assailants fired at army troops stationed at a military post in the suburbs of al-Dhalea province, leaving one soldier killed at the scene.
- Armed tribesmen on Monday May 6, 2013, kidnapped two Egyptian engineers of a cement factory in the southern Yemeni province of Abyan. The tribesmen abducted the two Egyptians working for a local cement factory to pressure the government to release a jailed member of their tribe in Abyan province. Foreigners are frequently kidnapped in Yemen by al-Qaida militants or tribesmen who asked for ransoms or the release of their jailed fellows. Most of the kidnapped have been freed unharmed. Also, the Yemen-based al-Qaida wing, the most active terrorist network in the Middle East, is currently holding captive a Saudi diplomat and three westerners.
- Suspected militants shot and killed three senior Yemeni air force pilots travelling to an air base in the country's south on Wednesday May 8, 2013. Two gunmen on a motorcycle intercepted the pilots' vehicle in Dubba outside Al-Annad base in the southern province of Lahj. Al-Annad is Yemen's largest air base, which hosts a group of U.S. military advisers helping the authorities fight al-Qaida's local branch.
- Gunmen on a motorbike shot dead a police officer in south Yemen on Thursday May 9, 2013. One of the two gunmen opened fire at the officer, killing him instantly; the assailants fled the scene.
- Armed tribesmen briefly held two Indian employees of the international Red Cross on Wednesday May 8, 2013, in south Yemen. The Indians were released soon after.
- Yemeni kidnappers have released a Finnish couple and an Austrian man more than four months after they were seized in the capital Sanaa. The trio were freed on Wednesday May 8, 2013, after mediation by authorities in neighbouring Oman, who paid a sum of money for their release.
- Suspected Al-Qaeda militants shot dead a Yemeni intelligence officer Wednesday May 8, 2013, in the southern province of Lahj. The officer, Mohammed Ahmed Saleh Al-Koobi, was shot with a silenced weapon while he was walking through the streets of his hometown (in Lahj.
- Yemeni police Sunday May 12, 2013, raided a house in the southern city of Aden, killing one suspected Al-Qaeda militant and arresting three. The cell was plotting attacks on vital installations. Three other suspected members of the cell were arrested and police seized dozens of explosive belts. Meanwhile in the capital Sanaa, security forces dismantled an explosive device found under a bridge in the city centre. The device was made up of seven kilos of C-3 explosives connected to a timer and placed under the bridge by an unknown person who was travelling by taxi.
- A Yemeni military plane on a training exercise exploded in midair over the country’s capital on Monday May 13, 2013, killing the pilot and slamming into a residential neighbourhood. Fragments of the plane hit buildings on the ground in Sanaa and set small fires in four houses. Three people were slightly injured. The plane was a Russian-made Sukhoi Su-22 fighter.
- Armed Yemeni tribesmen on Monday May 13, 2013, kidnapped a Swiss citizen working for the Red Cross in the southern province of Abyan. The aid worker was taken from a vehicle in the city of Jaar where he was travelling with Yemeni co-workers and there had been no demands from the tribesmen.
- Three Red Cross workers and two Egyptian technicians who were abducted by armed men in Yemen's southern province of Abyan have all been released we were told on Thursday May 16, 2013. The three staffers from the International Committee of the Red Cross had been held since Monday morning, when armed men stopped their ICRC-marked vehicle in the vicinity of Jaar, near the southern port city of Aden. The three —two international staff and a locally hired employee — were on their way back from a field trip. The two Egyptians were kidnapped a week earlier by the same tribe in an area north of Jaar. The kidnappers were demanding the release of one of their relatives who is accused in a murder case dating back more than a year ago.
- Suspected al-Qaida gunmen shot dead a Yemeni intelligence officer on Friday night May 17, 2013, in the southeastern province of Hadramout. Abdullah Rabaky, a colonel at the military intelligence agency in Hadrmout province, was gunned down when a militant on a motorcycle shot at his car.
- A U.S. drone strike killed four al-Qaida militants Saturday May 18, 2013, in a southern Yemeni province once overrun by the group. The attack took place around dawn in an area called Deyqa in Abyan province.
- An U.S. drone has killed two militants in a town in the centre of the country. The Monday May 20, 2013, attack targeted the two men as they were riding a motorbike outside Radda in Bayda province. The two men were suspected of belonging to al-Qaida, whose Yemeni branch Washington considers the terror group’s most dangerous offshoot.
- Three Red Cross workers and two Egyptian technicians who were abducted by armed men in Yemen's southern province of Abyan have all been released we were told on Thursday May 23, 2013. The three staffers from the International Committee of the Red Cross had been held since Monday when armed men stopped their ICRC-marked vehicle in the vicinity of Jaar, near the southern port city of Aden. The three —two international staff and a locally hired employee— were on their way back from a field trip. The two Egyptians were kidnapped a week earlier by the same tribe in an area north of Jaar. The kidnappers were demanding the release of one of their relatives who is accused in a murder case dating back more than a year ago. Tribal mediation facilitated the release of the abducted.
- On Thursday May 23, 2013, President Barack Obama is lifting his self-imposed ban on transferring Guantanamo Bay detainees to Yemen. Lifting the ban is a step toward Obama’s goal of closing the Navy-run prison in Cuba since nearly 100 of the 166 terrorist suspects held there are from Yemen and have had nowhere to go even if they had been cleared for transfer. Obama wouldn’t send them home and no other country was welcoming them, and their hopelessness after a decade or more of imprisonment had contributed to a hunger strike at the detention facility that helped reignite the long-stalled effort to close it. But Obama’s decision is not without risk as detainees who have been released to Yemen in the past have joined terrorist fighters.
- al-Qaida gunmen attacked a military position in a southern province leaving three militants and two soldiers dead. The Friday May 24, 2013, attack in the mountainous al-Thalib region in the militant stronghold of al-Bayda province was repulsed, and nearby army positions responded with heavy artillery shelling.
- A remotely-detonated bomb planted in a military vehicle killed a soldier and a civilian and injured six other soldiers in the Hadramaut region of eastern Yemen on Saturday evening May 25, 2013. The explosion took place in the town of al-Shehr as the vehicle drove along a main road. He added Islamist militants were suspected of the bombing.
- Gunmen on a motorbike shot dead a Special Forces commander in Yemen's eastern Hadramaut region on Sunday May 26, 2013. The attackers were believed to be al Qaeda members, the official said. They shot Captain Majed Muttair as he left his home in the city of al-Qatar.
- Gunmen abducted two South African citizens Monday May 27, 2013, in Yemen’s second largest city, Taiz. Police said a lawmaker was behind the kidnapping to pressure the government to hand over a disputed piece of land.
- Two air strikes that targeted two vehicles in south Yemen on Saturday June 1, 2013, killed seven suspected members of al-Qaeda and wounded two more. The attacks by the Yemeni air force hit the vehicles on the outskirts of the town of Mahfad in Abyan province.
- Unidentified assailants shot dead a senior Yemeni air force officer on Saturday June 1, 2013, in the eastern province of Hadramawt. The gunman sped off on the back of a motorbike after killing Colonel Yahya al-Umayssi, commander of the air force detachment at the town of Seiyun, in the inland north of the province. Both assailants were masked but the gunman removed his mask before opening fire, saying: "In the name of God, Allah is great”.
- Thousands of troops, backed by tanks and warplanes, have launched a major offensive in a southern province to rout al-Qaida militants from the area. The operation in Hadramawt began at dawn on Wednesday June 5, 2013, involving more than 10,000 troops, backed with tanks and artillery. Helicopter gunships and jet-fighters are providing air support.
- Yemeni forces killed two local Al-Qaeda leaders who were planning attacks on vital installations and arrested a third we were told on Thursday June 6, 2013. The pair was identified as as Anwar al-Sanaani and Moamer al-Nasheri. These terrorist were plotting to carry out terrorist attacks against vital installations and were involved in many recent terrorist and sabotage acts. The army seized explosive belts, bombs and computers and documents containing terrorist plots they were planning to carry out. The raid in Marib coincided with the launch on Wednesday by the Yemeni army of an all-out offensive to recapture villages from Al-Qaeda groups in the southeastern province of Hadramawt.
- An air strike believed to have been carried out by a US drone in north Yemen killed five presumed members of Al-Qaeda on Sunday June 9, 2013. The air raid targeted a vehicle in the Khab al-Shath area near al-Jawf; suspected Al-Qaeda member Hassan al-Saleh Huraydan, his brother and three others were killed.
- Yemen's soldiers arrested a local al-Qaida leader in southeastern province of Hadramout on Monday June 10, 2013. Omar Ashour, the al-Qaida leader in Ghayl Bawazir city, and his son Abdullah were arrested by security forces while they were trying to escape the city. Security forces also captured four other al-Qaida militants following short clashes with armed men in some farms of Ghayl Bawazir, which left two soldiers dead and seven others wounded.
- Attacks on power lines caused a widespread blackout that has left several provinces and the country’s capital without electricity for two days we were told on Tuesday June 11, 2013.
- A Yemeni soldier was killed in clashes Thursday June 13, 2013, with tribesmen who attacked an oil pipeline and halted the flow of crude. The soldier was in a convoy escorting a technical team to the site of the attack in the Sarwah region, between Sanaa and Marib in the country's east. The team later managed to reach the pipeline and were busy repairing it. Tribesmen at dawn attacked the 320-kilometre (200 miles) pipeline that links the Safer oil fields to the Red Sea port of Hodeida. Oil flow had completely stopped.
- Shiite rebels in Yemen known as Zaidis said on Saturday June 15, 2013, that several of their men arrested during clashes with police in Sanaa have been freed. They were freed "in an arrangement with the authorities" under which members of the group wounded in clashes last Sunday will be treated. A gunfight erupted when rebels, among a crowd demanding the release of members of their community, attacked the national security headquarters with automatic weapons and grenades. Ansarullah said 13 of its members were killed and 100 wounded while 87 more were detained. A security source confirmed "the release of seven detainees arrested several months ago for having false passports or undergoing military training in Iran". In return, Ansarullah had agreed not to boycott the national dialogue while reserving the right to protest if the authorities did not respect the "arrangement".
- A Dutch woman and her husband have been missing for a week in Yemen and are likely to have been kidnapped we were told on Saturday June 15, 2013. The woman works as a researcher in Yemen and disappeared with her husband after they left their home in Sanaa’s Hadda district, which houses many diplomatic missions.
- On Wednesday June 19, 2013, a suicide bomber has struck a market in the northern Yemen town of Saada, killing at least two other people. The man blew up a bomb-laden motorbike in the town. At least eight other people were injured in the attack. Saada is a mainly Shia city in the north of majority Sunni Yemen, and has been under the control of Houthi Shia rebels for several years.
- Yemeni tribesmen have kidnapped 11 soldiers, including two officers, and are demanding the release of a relative convicted of murder we were told on Wednesday June 19, 2013. Members of the Al Marakisha tribe, in the southern province of Abyan, kidnapped two colonels and nine soldiers, to pressure authorities to release Ahmad Al Marakisha. The man’s son insisted on his father’s release to set the captives free.
- Yemen's main oil export pipeline has been repaired and crude is again flowing to the terminal on the Red Sea after tribesman blew up a section of the link last week, we were told on Thursday June 20, 2013. The tribesmen have given an ultimatum to the government to respond to their demands by Friday evening or they will blow up the pipeline again.
- Yemeni tribesmen have freed 11 soldiers after receiving an assurance from a senior commander that he would raise their demand for the release of a clansman, we were told on Friday June 21, 2013. The soldiers, two of them officers, were released on Thursday evening after successful negotiations between Fourth Region commander General Mohammed Sobeihi and the kidnappers from the Al-Marakisha tribe. The 11 had been abducted on Tuesday and Wednesday in the southern province of Abyan. The general undertook to raise with the central government the kidnappers' demand for the release of clansman Ahmed al-Marakisha, who was arrested in 2008 and is on death row for murder.
- Yemeni tribesmen launched an attack on a pipeline, interrupting the flow of oil in the Sarwah area in Marib Province on Thursday June 27, 2013. The assault marked the second time the pipeline has been targeted in less than a fortnight. Armed members of tribes blocked the road which leads to the pipeline in an attempt to prevent technical teams from reaching the site to repair the installation.
- Tribesmen blew up Yemen’s main oil export pipeline again on Sunday June 30, 2013, and it will likely be closed for a week. Damage sustained during a previous attack on June 27 was fixed within hours, but repairs required after Sunday’s explosion will take longer.
- The United States has agreed to give Yemen warplanes –at least three- to fight al-Qaida militants amid calls by the public and international organizations for putting an end to US intervention and drone strikes in the country we were told on Saturday June 29, 2013.
- A roadside bomb in Yemen's capital Sana'a has killed three soldiers and injured two others during a security patrol. The blast early on Saturday July 6, 2013, targeted a car in Sana'a's al-Hasaba district.
- A bomb hidden in a plastic bag exploded at a checkpoint in the Yemeni capital Sanaa Saturday July 6, 2013, killing three policemen and wounding a fourth. The device was planted near a police checkpoint in the north of the capital and detonated as the policemen opened the bag to check its contents. The blast killed two of the policemen immediately and seriously wounded two others, one of whom died later.
- Two soldiers have been killed and two others wounded after a bomb placed under their car exploded at a checkpoint in the capital. Saturday July 6, 2013's explosion in Sanaa also wounded a passer-by.
- A Yemeni army commander was shot dead in eastern Yemen on Monday July 8, 2013, as he was leaving home for work. More than 70 military and security officers have been killed in southern and eastern Yemen since 2011 as Islamists exploit a power vacuum and political chaos left by a mass uprising that forced former President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.
- On Monday July 8, 2013, unknown gunmen have shot and killed a senior Yemeni army officer in the country's southeastern Hadramawt province. Colonel Ahmed al-Suhaili was heading to work in the city of Seiyun. al-Suhaili responded by shooting at the gunmen, injuring one of them before he lost his life.
- A generator exploded in a home in a village in Yemen killing 14 people, most of them members of a single family we were told on Sunday July 14, 2013. Eight women were among the dead in the blast, which flattened the two-storey house in the village of Qadam, in Al Mahwit province west of the capital. Four people were also seriously wounded in the explosion which is believed to have been triggered by a short circuit. Fuel had been stored next to the generator, which had been installed in a small room.
- Gunmen have killed two soldiers and wounded three in an ambush in a province where the military is battling al-Qaida. The soldiers were attacked Saturday July 13, 2013, while traveling in a military vehicle in Marib province, east of the capital Sanaa.
- The Yemen-based branch of al-Qaeda confirmed on Wednesday July 17, 2013, that the group’s No. 2 figure, a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner, was killed in a U.S. drone strike. The announcement, posted on militant websites, gave no date for the death of Saudi-born Saeed al-Shihri. al-Shihri had twice before been reported dead but the terror group later denied those reports. al-Shihri died of serious injuries sustained when a drone strike targeted him in last November. Al-Shihri had survived an earlier drone attack, in September 2012.
- Unknown gunmen kidnapped an Iranian embassy employee in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday July 21, 2013. The employee was snatched in the street near the embassy in the southwestern neighbourhood of Hadda. Tehran said that "one of the administrative Iranian staff members of the Iranian Embassy in Yemen has been abducted by an unknown group." Another version of the incident is that security official says gunmen have kidnapped an Iranian diplomat who was driving his car in the capital, Sanaa. The official said armed men stopped the diplomat's car early Sunday and forced him into their car before speeding away.
-A Yemeni journalist and expert on al Qaeda has been released after serving three years of a five-year sentence for aiding the Islamist militant network in Yemen we were told on Wednesday July 24, 2013. Shai is known for his expertise on Islamist militancy and his contacts with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Shai would not be allowed to travel outside Sanaa, the capital, for two years.
- Tribesmen blew up impoverished Yemen's main oil export pipeline on Thursday July 25, 2013, halting the flow of its main source of foreign currency. It should be repaired by Friday.
- A Yemeni journalist and expert on al Qaeda has been released after serving three years of a five-year sentence for aiding the Islamist militant network in Yemen we were told on Wednesday July 24, 2013. U.S. President Barack Obama had personally intervened to keep freelance journalist Abdulelah Haider Shai in jail in 2011 after reports that he was about to be released. Shai is known for his expertise on Islamist militancy and his contacts with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Shai would not be allowed to travel outside Sanaa, the capital, for two years.
- Yemeni tribesmen have kidnapped two soldiers in the southern city of Daleh to press authorities to release an arrested relative we were told on Thursday July 25, 2013. The soldiers were heading towards Al-Jarba camp overlooking Daleh late on Wednesday when they were abducted. The kidnappers are demanding the release of a relative arrested recently in Aden over criminal charges.
- Rockets fired from unmanned aircraft killed at least four suspected Islamist militants in southern Yemen late on Saturday July 27, 2013. The fighters were believed to belong to Ansar al-Sharia, the Yemeni militant group linked to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), al Qaeda's regional arm. The four were travelling in a vehicle in Yemen's southern province of Abyan when two rockets were launched from US drones.
- A suspected U.S. drone strike has killed three alleged al-Qaida militants in one of the group’s strongholds in the south of the country. The attack took place early Tuesday July 30, 2013, in the town of Saeed in Shabwa province and targeted a car carrying the suspected militants. But tribal sources from Shabwa said that one of the militants is a known Saudi member of al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen. Another suspected drone strike killed six alleged militants on Saturday.
- A US drone killed four Al-Qaeda suspects on Thursday August 1, 2013, the third such strike in five days as the Yemeni president prepared for White House talks. Yemen's US-backed campaign against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Pensinsula (AQAP) was expected to be high on the agenda of Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi's meeting with President Barack Obama later on Thursday. Washington regards AQAP, a merger of militants in Yemen and neighbouring Saudi Arabia, as the worldwide jihadist network's most active and dangerous branch. The latest drone strike came in the southeastern province of Hadramawt. The unmanned aircraft "raided an Al-Qaeda vehicle in the Wadi Ser area destroying it and killing four militants.
- Clashes erupted in the Yemeni capital when a group of soldiers who had joined a mutiny tried to storm the presidential palace. One of the mutinied troops was killed and six were wounded in the fighting. The guards at the palace repelled the attackers by shooting and firing mortars for hours on Friday August 2, 2013. The military later deployed tanks and armoured vehicles around the palace. The attackers were part of a mutinied group of Republican Guard troops, loyal to Yemen’s ousted president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
- At least two people were killed and five were wounded in clashes between soldiers once loyal to Yemen’s ousted president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and a rival army faction in the capital on Friday August 2, 2013. Hundreds of members of Yemen’s elite Republican Guard, now dissolved, gathered near the presidential palace in Sana, the capital, to demand that the Finance Ministry pay them a Ramadan bonus. Demonstrations by soldiers protesting late salary payments from the government are common in Yemen, and often end in violence. A third of Yemenis live on less than $2 a day, and unemployment is estimated at 35%, with youth joblessness at 60%. Stability in Yemen is a priority for the United States and its Persian Gulf allies, who are concerned about Al Qaeda militants operating in a country that adjoins top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and overlooks major global shipping lanes.
- On Saturday August 3, 2013, we were told that Britain –together with the USA, France, Germany and others- will close its embassy in Yemen on Sunday and Monday, following news of the US terror alert. The decision is based on the same intelligence that prompted it to close 21 U.S embassies and consulates on Sunday. The Department of State alerts U.S. citizens to the continued potential for terrorist attacks, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, and possibly occurring in or emanating from the Arabian Peninsula.
- Yemeni tribesmen blew up the main export pipeline linking eastern oilfields to the Red Sea coast, halting the flow of oil, we were told on Sunday August 4, 2013. The saboteurs attacked a section of pipeline in Wadi Abida, close to the oilfields in the eastern province of Marib. The attack interrupted the flow of oil along the 320 kilometre pipeline that links the Safer oilfields to the export terminal in Hodeida province on the coast.
- At least four suspected al Qaeda members were killed in a drone strike in central Yemen on Tuesday August 6, 2013. The Yemeni tribal leaders said five missiles struck a vehicle travelling in Maarib Province killing all of its occupants.
- Yemen's government said Wednesday August 7, 2013, that it thwarted an al-Qaeda plot to take over strategic ports and attack oil pipelines. More suspected U.S. drone strikes struck terrorist targets Wednesday in the country's south. The strikes killed seven suspected al-Qaeda terrorists. The embassies of the United States and Britain remained closed in Sanaa following the interception of a communication between al-Qaeda's leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabia Peninsula that suggested terror groups were planning an attack in the capital. On Wednesday, hundreds of military vehicles were positioned around the city. Tanks and troops protected embassies and government offices and the airport.
- Yemen's security forces have been placed on a state of high alert amid fears of an al-Qaeda-linked attack. In the capital, Sanaa, tanks and troops have surrounded foreign missions, government offices and the airport. Both the US, which closed 20 embassies worldwide on Sunday, and the UK have withdrawn diplomatic staff from Yemen and urged their citizens to leave. Yemen has criticised the withdrawal, saying it served the interests of extremists. The US embassy and consulate closures reportedly followed intercepted conversations between two senior al-Qaeda figures, including top leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, suggesting renewed terrorist attacks.
- The U.S. has sharply escalated its drone war in Yemen, with about 34 suspected al-Qaida militants killed in less than two weeks, including three strikes on Thursday August 8, 2013 alone in which a dozen died
- At least seven suspected militants from Saudi Arabia were among the alleged al-Qaida members killed in Yemen in a recent wave of U.S. drone strikes we were told on Friday August 9, 2013, suggesting that Saudis are increasingly crossing the border to carry funds or seek terrorist training.
- Three suspected al Qaeda militants were killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen's southern province of Lahj we were told on Saturday August 10, 2013. Two others were injured in the Askariayah district strike, one critically. A second vehicle in the same area carrying suspected militants escaped undamaged after a strike missed its target.
- Suspected al-Qaeda militants have killed five soldiers in an attack on a gas terminal in southern Yemen on Sunday August 11, 2013. They opened fire on a checkpoint near the Balhaf terminal in Shabwa province, killing the soldiers before fleeing.
- Al-Qaeda militants have killed three Yemeni soldiers in the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula on Tuesday August 13, 2013. The commander of the fourth military region, Maj. Gen. Mahmoud el-Subaihi said his forces were using tanks to surround about 70 militants who are taking cover in residential homes in the provincial capital city of Hawtah in Lahj province. Dozens of families from the impoverished city have fled due to violence in the past 24 hours.
- The British embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa has reopened on Sunday August 18, 2013, after it was closed for nearly two weeks over "increased security concerns". UK staff in Sanaa were sent home after messages between the head of al-Qaeda and the group's head in Yemen about an attack were reportedly intercepted. US embassies across the Middle East and North Africa were also closed. Yemen said the closures had played into the hands of terrorists, but Britain said safety was the top priority.
- At least 27 members of a Yemeni wedding party have died on Saturday August 17, 2013, after the vehicles they were travelling in were swept away by heavy floods. The victims, including women and children, were travelling through Wadi Nakhla in Taiz province, in the south of the Arab country. The bride survived the incident. Several other people have been killed by flash floods in Yemen over the past two days. Yemen, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is prone to flooding during the Monsoon season.
- Saudi border guards killed a Yemeni man and wounded another on Tuesday August 20, 2013, when they opened fire on a group of Yemeni tribesmen who attacked construction workers building Saudi Arabia's security fence on the border with Yemen. Saudi Arabia, wary of traffickers and militants trespassing from Yemen, has been building a security fence along its 1,800 km border with Yemen since 2003. The construction has been often halted by protesting Yemeni tribesmen, who say the fence prevents local tribes from reaching pastures for their livestock.
- The State Department says the U.S. Embassy in Yemen -one of 19 embassies and consulates closed earlier this month because of a terrorist threat- has reopened to provide limited public services. Most American employees at the U.S. Embassy in Yemen were ordered to leave the country because of the threat, which emanated from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. On August 11, the U.S. reopened 18 of the 19 embassies and consulates that were closed for about two weeks in the Middle East and Africa, but the one in Yemen remained closed. The reopening on Sunday August 18, 2013, coincided with announcements that Britain and Germany were also reopening their embassies in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.
- The intelligence chief for the southern Yemeni city of Aden and his son were gunned down in their car on Wednesday August 21, 2013, in a suspected Al Qaida hit. Colonel Ali Hadi came under fire at the wheel of his car from gunmen in another vehicle. His son died on the spot while he died of his wounds in hospital. The assailants, who fled, were believed to be Al Qaida militants.
- A suicide car bomb killed two soldiers Friday August 23, 2013, at a checkpoint in Yemen's south. Six soldiers were also wounded in the attack, with the bomber blowing up his explosives-rigged car after he was stopped at a checkpoint at the entrance to the city of Shibam, in Hadramawt province.
- On Friday August 23, 2013, Yemen made public their request to the U.S. for drone technology to boost local efforts against militants.
- On Sunday August 25, 2013, a bomb blast has struck a bus transporting air force personnel to their base in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, killing at least one person. More than 20 are reported to have been wounded. The bus was travelling on the road leading to Sanaa international airport, near the base.
- Yemeni security forces on Sunday August 25, 2013, foiled an attack by a would-be suicide bomber on an English language school once linked to the US embassy in Sanaa. The assailant was caught after he hurled a grenade that failed to explode at the Yemen-America Language Institute in west Sanaa. Security guards found the man wearing an explosives belt.
- An explosive device attached to the side of an air force bus detonated Sunday August 25, 2013 in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, killing as many as six people. The military personnel were being transported to a nearby air force base when the device was detonated.
- Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen on Thursday August 29, 2013, shot dead a Yemeni man because they believed he was a homosexual. Armed Al-Qaeda suspects on a motorbike opened fire on 29-year-old Salem Ahmed Hasan in a market in Huta, capital of the southern province of Lahj. Another four men have been killed in similar attacks on supposedly gay men in Huta this year.
- Reports from Yemen released Friday August 30, 2013, states that a U.S. drone strike has killed an Al-Qaeda leader in the southern part of the country. The strike reportedly killed Qaed al-Thahab, the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's (AQAP) branch in the southern province of Baitha. The early-morning drone strike targeted Thahab's vehicle just hours after his marriage on August 30. Five other suspected militants were killed.
- A suspected American drone strike on Friday August 30, 2013, killed three men believed to be members of Al Qaeda. One of the men, Qaid el-Zahab, was a provincial leader of the group. The men were driving in a car in a mountainous region of the central province of Bayda when they were attacked. Parts of Bayda’s capital were briefly overrun by Islamic insurgents early in 2012.
- Gunmen opened fire on the motorcade of Yemen’s prime minister on Saturday August 31, 2013, but he escaped unharmed. The gunmen were riding in a vehicle without license plates and sprayed the speeding three-car convoy with bullets. Some of the vehicles were pockmarked with bullet holes but Bassindwa escaped unharmed.
- A gun battle in the southern Yemeni province of Abyan left two suspected Al-Qaeda militants and a pro-government militiaman dead on Tuesday September 3, 2013. Fighting between Al-Qaeda militants and the Popular Resistance Committees, which back the government, took place in Batis, northwest of the city of Jaar. Tuesday's violence erupted a day after a failed attack on the chief of the Committees in Abyan, Abdullatif Sayed. A blast targeted Sayed's car, but he "escaped unharmed".
- Six suspected Al Qaeda militants and two citizens fighting them were killed in separate clashes between members of the terror group and armed residents who repelled attempts to retake their communities. The clashes took place Tuesday September 3, 2013, in the small cities of Yafaa and Lawder in southern Lahj and Abyan provinces. Yafaa residents fought suspected Al Qaeda militants after the recent assassination of a government intelligence official. Lawder residents successfully resisted Al Qaeda suspects who attacked checkpoints installed by resident popular committees supporting the Yemeni military offensive against Al Qaeda.
- Five Saudis accused of belonging to Al-Qaeda and of plotting attacks went on trial Wednesday September 4, 2013, in a Yemeni court set up for terrorism cases. The five men face charges of plotting "in association with an armed group belonging to Al-Qaeda to carry out criminal acts against members of the armed and security forces in Yemen”. They are also on trial for "forging identity documents to obtain passports that enable them to visit Sudan and then Syria," where foreign Islamists have joined rebel forces. All five defendants have pleaded innocent. The next hearing is to take place on September 11.
- Armed tribesmen bombed Yemen's main oil pipeline on Thursday September 5, 2013; one of the assailants was wounded by the explosion. The attack is the third on the country's main pipeline in Maarib province in less than a week. The pipe stopped carrying crude after the first attack on Sunday. Tribesmen often carry out such attacks to put pressure on the government to meet demands including jobs, land disputes or freeing relatives from prison.
- Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen shot dead a Yemeni intelligence officer on Friday September 6, 2013, in the southeastern city of Hadramawt, the second shooting in as many days. Two men on a motorcycle opened fire at intelligence officer Omar Mahfudh, killing him on the spot as he emerged from Al-Qatn mosque. On Thursday night retired army colonel Abdel Magid Abdullah, 70, was killed in similar circumstances by gunmen who fled on a motorcycle in Huta, capital of the southern province of Lahj.
- The militants have killed a high-level Yemeni intelligence officer working near the country's border with Saudi Arabia. Lt. Col. Omar Mahmoud was walking to his car after midday Muslim prayers on Friday September 6, 2013, when gunmen on a motorcycle shot him to death in the province of Hadramawt in the city of al-Qatn.
- A suspected Islamist militant was killed early on Saturday September 7, 2013, when a bomb he was trying to plant in the car of an intelligence officer in Sanaa exploded in his hands. No one else was hurt by the blast. The target of the attack was stationed at the Ministry of Higher Education. His predecessor had been shot dead in 2011.
- Yemen Monday September 9, 2013:
- A Sanaa court on Thursday September 12, 2013, cleared five Saudi nationals on charges of joining an Al-Qaeda plot to attack Yemen's security forces but jailed two of them for entering the country illegally. The five, arrested in June, faced charges of plotting, "in association with an armed group belonging to Al-Qaeda to carry out criminal acts against members of the security forces in Yemen." Two of the group however were sentenced to 18 months in prison each after being convicted of forging identity documents and entering Yemen illegally. The other three are to be freed.
- Yemeni authorities are investigating the death of an eight-year-old girl from internal bleeding on her wedding night and will prosecute those responsible we were told on Friday September 13, 2013, a case that has rekindled international outrage over child brides. The girl, identified as Rawan, died after intercourse that ruptured her uterus following her wedding to a man five times her age. Residents in the town of Meedi in Hajjah province in northwestern Yemen confirmed the incident. Many poor families in Yemen marry off young daughters to save on the costs of bringing up a child and earn extra money from the dowry given to a girl. Human Rights Watch previously urged Yemen's government to ban marriages of girls under the age of 18. It said nearly 14 percent of Yemeni girls were married before the age of 15 and 52 percent before the age of 18. Many Yemeni child brides-to-be are kept from school when they reach puberty.
- Security officials say on Friday September 13, 2013, that at least 60 people were killed in weeks of tribal clashes in the country's north. The clashes erupted north of Sanaa over land disputes between two tribes. The conflict intensified when Shiite Hawthis rebels backed one tribe and the al-Ahmar tribe, one of Yemen's most powerful groups, backed the other.
- On Friday September 13, 2013, anti-terrorism forces in Aden arrested two men believed to be al-Qaida militants on suspicion of killing an intelligence officer last month.
- Tribesmen bombed Yemen's main oil pipeline in the central Maarib province on Saturday September 14, 2013, the fourth attack on the pipeline in a month. The attack, which stopped oil flows from the Maarib fields to the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea, caused a fire and damage to the pipeline about 40 km from where it starts in Maarib. No casualties were reported. The pipeline was set on fire earlier this month after threats by a Yemeni tribe following a siege on its leader's house by security forces. Tribesmen often carry out such attacks to put pressure on the government to meet demands including jobs, land disputes or freeing relatives from prison.
- A Yemeni court sentenced three al Qaeda members to jail on Sunday September 15, 2013, for plotting to kill President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and target foreign diplomats, including the U.S. ambassador to Sanaa. The Sanaa court of first instance sentenced Abdullah al-Kheishani to seven years in prison, Maher al-Ramim to five years and Omar al-Najjar to one year. The public prosecution had accused Kheishani and Ramim of monitoring, planning and preparing for the assassination of Hadi outside his residence using booby-trapped vehicles.
- Gunmen killed a policeman in Yemen's main southern city of Aden. Unknown assailants on Wednesday September 18, 2013, ambushed a police patrol in Mualla (an Aden district. They hurled a homemade bomb at it and opened fire, killing a policeman. Police "freed 17 Southern Movement activists, hours after they were arrested at Al-Arood Square" in Aden, where they were preparing for the rally. The situation was tense in Aden, where security forces were heavily deployed and have set up roadblocks to prevent the rally called for by hardline factions of the Southern Movement.
- Yemen Friday September 20, 2013:
- Dozens of militants killed at least 25 police officers and soldiers in three attacks in southern Yemen on Friday September 20, 2013. The attacks occurred at dawn across southern Shabwa province and were among the worst this year. At least 26 soldiers and police were injured as well and the casualty toll was expected to rise. The show of force by the militants is a blow to efforts by the government and the U.S. to cripple al Qaeda and its affiliates across Yemen.
- Seven people were killed in clashes between Yemeni tribal gunmen and suspected al-Qaida fighters on Sunday September 22, 2013, in Marib province, east of the capital Sanaa. Al-Qaida guerrillas killed one tribesman and a later clash between the two sides killed another two tribesmen and four militants.
- An American editor and photographer who has been living in Yemen since 2011 was snatched by armed tribesmen in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a and taken to an unknown location we were told on Monday September 23, 2013. Luke Somers, 31, who has been working as an English language website editor for the media center of the National Dialogue Conference, was nabbed on one of Sana’a’s busiest streets. Somers had also been working as a stringer photographer for several international news agencies including the BBC, Al-Jazeera, and Foreign Policy.
- Al-Qaida-affiliated militants have freed 21 captive troops after the government threatened to conduct airstrikes in the area. The Tuesday September 24, 2013, release came as a result of mediation by tribal leaders from Mahfad in southern Yemen's Abyan province. The troops were kidnapped Friday when gunmen presumed to be al-Qaida assaulted security posts, killing 38 soldiers.
- A Yemeni lieutenant colonel was killed on Wednesday September 25, 2013, by a bomb planted in his car. The incident took place in al-Atiq, the capital of the southern province of Shabwa, near the city's vegetable market. The incident was Yemen's third assassination in as many days. On Tuesday a Yemeni air force officer was shot dead by gunmen in the capital Sanaa and on Monday, gunmen shot dead another colonel as he approached a busy intersection in Sanaa.
- Two roadside bombs exploded one after the other in the Yemeni capital on Thursday September 26, 2013, wounding 12 people. The twin blasts were on the busy Al-Rabat Street where the explosive devices had been hidden among piles of rubbish. No casualties were reported in the first explosion. But as pedestrians gathered in the area a second bomb went off, "wounding 12 people, four of them seriously.
- Gunmen have shot dead a Yemeni man in the south of the country because they suspected he was homosexual. One of two men on a motorbike opened fire at the man in his twenties late on Thursday September 26, 2013, outside his house in Huta, the capital of Lahij province, killing him on the spot. The attackers, presumed Islamist militants, escaped after the killing, the sixth such murder since the start of the year. For the past year, Ansar al-Sharia has imposed Islamic law on areas of Abyan where it still holds sway.
- On Friday September 27, 2013, twin roadside blasts in Sana wounded over 20 people, part of a wave of violence that has been escalating despite efforts by Yemen’s government to stem the attacks.
- Again on Friday September 27, 2013, we were told that 56 soldiers and policemen were killed and an undisclosed number were captured during attacks against military camps in Shabwa province, a known haven and stronghold for AQAP. Eight AQAP fighters are said to have been killed in the attacks. The largest attack took place at a military camp “responsible for ensuring security at oilfields in Shabwa”. AQAP fighters attacked the camp at dawn, catching the soldiers off guard, while a suicide bomber driving a car laden with explosives was able to penetrate the perimeter. Thirty-eight Yemeni soldiers were killed in the fighting and the blast. Another suicide bomber killed 10 more Yemeni soldiers in an attack at a military checkpoint in the Al Nushaima area of Shabwa. AQAP fighters are said to have captured an undisclosed number of Yemeni troops while other soldiers fled the fighting.
Two explosions on a busy street in Yemen’s capital wounded 20 people Thursday September 26, 2013. Residents were unharmed in the first blast, but as a group gathered around the site of the explosion a second blast struck, wounding 20. The explosives had been hidden underneath a pile of trash.
Gunmen shot dead a police officer in Yemen's second largest city Taez, on Monday September 30, 2013. On Saturday, gunmen severely wounded an army colonel from Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi's extended family in the restive south in an attack carried out by men on a motorbike and blamed by a security official on Al-Qaeda.
Four Yemeni soldiers were killed and more than 20 injured when suspected al Qaeda militants stormed the headquarters of the Army's 2nd Division in the southern Yemeni city of Mukalla on Monday September 30, 2013. Three dozen militants were disguised as military forces when they attacked the compound using heavy artillery during the morning hours. The militants were still in control of a building within the headquarters and they are also holding a number of troops hostage. Nearly 200 government Special Forces and military troops are currently involved in the operation. The attack started when a vehicle exploded at the main entrance of the headquarters, taking down the gate and allowing two other vehicles transporting militants to enter the compound. Two of the killed were stationed at the entrance. The governmental troops attempted to halt the militants but were outnumbered near the main gate. Later on Yemeni Special Forces retook an army base and freed several hostages hours after al Qaeda militants disguised as security personnel seized the site in southeast Yemen.
A Yemeni court on Wednesday October 2, 2013, jailed five Al-Qaeda militants for up to 10 years for plotting a suicide bombing that killed 86 soldiers and wounded 171 others last year. The court specialising in terrorism-related charges sentenced two defendants to 10 years in prison and a third to seven years. Two more were imprisoned for three and two years respectively. The judge also ordered the release of three other defendants based on the time already served, and acquitted three more.
An army officer was killed by a bomb planted in his car by suspected al-Qaida militants. The bomb went off on Wednesday October 2, 2013, as the officer was driving from work in the southern city of Ataq in Shabwa province. The explosion, which had all the hallmarks of al-Qaida, also wounded two people.
Yemeni troops stormed Wednesday October 2, 2013, a military base overrun by suspected al-Qaida militants, and a senior officer said that the government had regained control of the compound after a three-day standoff. It was not clear if soldiers reportedly taken hostage by the militants at the beginning of the siege have survived. All the militants were killed in the operation, which followed three hours of intense clashes. Hostages are believed to be freed. The gunmen had planted explosives and deployed snipers to keep security forces away. At least 10 soldiers and security agents have been killed since the start of the standoff at the base in the eastern province of Hadramawt. The militants, dressed in fatigues and riding in military trucks, overran the base on Monday and took an unknown number of soldiers hostage. The military sent in reinforcements and surrounded the building. The militants had refused to surrender, forcing authorities to storm the building.
Unidentified gunmen have shot dead an officer in Yemen's southern port city of Aden in the latest attack targeting military personnel we were told on Friday October 4, 2013. Lieutenant Colonel Waleed al-Wahabi, a member of the Special Forces, came under fire late on Thursday in the Tawahi district.
One Yemeni soldier was killed while another was wounded in an armed attack staged on a Yemeni military checkpoint on Friday October 4, 2013. Unknown gunmen carried out an armed attack in the city of Radda in the Yemeni province of Al-Bayda, according to the security sources. The attack left one Yemeni soldier dead, while another one was wounded. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
Gunmen shot dead a German security guard employed by the German embassy in Yemen's capital on Sunday October 6, 2013 as he was leaving a supermarket. The guard was gunned down in Sanaa's Hadda district, where the embassy is also based.
On Sunday October 6, 2013, gunmen have seized a Sierra Leone citizen working for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The man was seized at gunpoint from a UN vehicle in northern Sanaa; his Yemeni driver was not kidnapped.
Militants on a motorcycle have shot and killed an army colonel. The gunmen attacked the colonel as he walked to his car in an area east of the coastal town of Mukkala, in the southeast Hadramawt province.
A suspected al Qaeda militant blew himself up on Friday October 11, 2013, in a market in Lahj province in south Yemen, killing himself and wounding four people. ---
The Yemen-based branch of Al Qaeda said on Monday October 14, 2013, its attack on a Yemeni army base last month targeted an operations room used by the United States to direct drone strikes against militants, and it threatened more such assaults. Dozens of militants stormed and captured the headquarters of the Yemeni army's Second Division in the eastern coastal city of al-Mukalla on September 30 and took some military personnel hostage. Military officials said four Yemeni soldiers were killed and nine wounded in a counter-strike to retake the base. A Yemeni official denied that the army base contained a joint US-Yemeni operations room, saying its task was to prevent piracy in nearby Arabian Sea lanes.
A police officer was gunned down in a motorcycle drive-by shooting Tuesday October 15, 2013. Two armed men suspected of belonging to Al-Qaeda opened fire at the officer, Mahmud al-Nakhii, who was in a police car in the main street of Ghayl Bawazir, a town in Hadramawt province. The officer was killed on the spot and the assailants on a motorbike fled.
Three soldiers were killed and five others wounded in an attack by Al Qaeda militants at a security base in Yemen's southern province of Lahj Tuesday October 15, 2013. The Al Qaeda militants, wearing security uniforms, attacked the soldiers guarding the main gate of the Special Forces based in Al Hota city of Lahj.
Yemen Thursday October 17, 2013:
A suicide car bomber killed 12 soldiers and wounded six others Friday October 18, 2013, in an attack on a military command centre in southern Yemen’s Abyan province. The attack in the district of Ahwar targeted the command centre of the 111th Brigade. The sources gave an initial toll of six dead, but said later that it had doubled to 12. The commander was among the six wounded. The bomber had used an armoured vehicle to carry out the attack. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. On Thursday gunmen suspected of membership in Al-Qaeda carried out two attacks targeting a police post and a security checkpoint near Abyan. A soldier was killed and two others wounded in the attack on the security checkpoint.
Two masked gunmen killed a security officer and his bodyguard in southern Yemen late on Friday October 18, 2013. Colonel Mohammed Abdullah al-Habashy, security adviser in the southeastern Hadramout province, was at a restaurant with his bodyguard in the city of Sayoun when gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire.
Two senior Yemeni security officers were killed in separate attacks in Yemen's southeastern province of Hadramout early Sunday October 20, 2013. Attackers suspected of belonging to the Al Qaida terrorist group killed a senior security officer by gunfire and an intelligence officer in an ambush in different areas in Hadramout province. The senior security officer was travelling in his own car when he came under a hail of bullets northwest of Hadramout and the intelligence officer was ambushed by "terrorists" in Ghail Bawazir region.
US missile strikes, including armed drone attacks, have killed dozens of civilians in Yemen as Washington tries to crack down on al-Qaida in the country we were told on Tuesday October 22, 2013. In a 96-page report detailed six "unacknowledged" US military attacks on targets in Yemen, which either clearly, or possibly, violated international law. Eighty-two people, 57 of whom were civilians, were killed during the six attacks studied. One of the incidents occurred in 2009. The other five happened in 2012-2013.
Yemeni warplanes carried out two air strikes against Al Qaeda hideouts, killing six terrorists, including three Al Qaeda commanders, in the southern province of Abyan Thursday October 24, 2013. There were two separate air strikes that targeted hideouts of the Al Qaeda militants in Wadi Mahfad town in Abyan province. At least six terrorists were killed, three in each air strike. Most of the dead militants were local commanders of the Yemen-based Al Qaeda offshoot.
Gunmen shot dead a Yemeni intelligence officer outside his Sanaa home on Thursday October 24, 2013. The unidentified assailants in a vehicle opened fire at Colonel Abdulrahman al-Shami, killing him as he was leaving his house in central Sanaa.
Yemeni authorities arrested on Tuesday October 29, 2013, one of the most dangerous Al-Qaeda militants in the country's southeast. The arrested terrorist Omar Salem is involved in the assassination of the deputy head of the military college General Ali bin Freyjan who was killed earlier this month. Salem was arrested in Ghayl Bawazir in the southeastern province of Hadramawt after authorities received a tip-off about his whereabouts.
Shiite Muslim rebels killed 10 Sunni Islamists in Yemen Wednesday October 30, 2013, and wounded several others, in an attack in the northern province of Saada. The Zaidi rebels fired mortars and rockets at the Mazraa mosque and the surrounding area in Dammaj during noon prayers. The rebels were attempting to storm the village, home to Sunni Salafists. At least 42 people were killed in 10 days of clashes last month between Sunni Islamists and Shiite rebels in the northern Amran province, and the central Ibb region.
The death toll from a Shiite Al Houthi attack on a mountain town in north Yemen held by their Salafist Sunni rivals has risen to 24 we were told on Thursday October 31, 2013, as the two sides fought for a second day. Fighting erupted despite government mediation efforts to shore up a ceasefire in place since late last year. More than 100 people were also wounded in the town of Damaj, which the Al Houthi rebels, who dominate the northern province of Sa’ada, had besieged for weeks. Most of the casualties had been inflicted in the past two days when rockets and tank shells hit a mosque and dormitories for students at a nearby religious school. He said Salafists were fighting back with light automatic weapons.
At least four soldiers from Yemen army have been killed on Thursday October 31, 2013, when a check point in Abyan province was targeted by unidentified assailants with firearms.
Military officials confirmed that Omar Salem, a prominent al-Qaeda leader had been arrested by the security forces in the south-eastern province of Hadhramawt as part as a sweeping campaign against the terror group. Plagued by violence and unrest, Sana’a has vowed to revenge its murdered officers and officials by cracking down on all of al-Qaeda cells in the region and thus regain control of its territories. Following a tip-off from locals Hadhramawt authorities organized a raid in Ghayl Bawazir where Salem was hiding with other terror operatives.
A Yemeni security officer was seriously injured when a bomb exploded in his military vehicle in the southern port city of Aden on Sunday November 3, 2013. The officer, in charge of Aden International airport security, survived an assassination attempt after a bomb attached to his military car exploded. He was seriously injured.
The death toll in four days of clashes between rival Muslim clans in north Yemen rose to 55 on Saturday November 2, 2013. Shi'ite Houthi rebels launched an attack on the town of Damaj, held by their Sunni Salafi rivals, on Wednesday. The army said earlier a ceasefire had come into effect on Friday afternoon, but a Salafi spokesman then said clashes had continued on Saturday, and that in all 55 Salafis had been killed by rockets and tank fire. The Houthis had sought the release of six of their followers who had been kidnapped by pro-Salafi fighters from a third group, the Al-Ahmar clan, in the neighboring province of Omran. The six had been freed following the intervention of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The Al-Ahmar clan includes both Sunnis and Shi'ites and its members are key figures in the Sunni Islamist Islah party.
Overnight shelling has taken the death toll from fighting between rival groups in a northern town in Yemen to at least 100 people we were told on Monday November 4, 2013. Sectarian fighting in the town of Damaj has cast a shadow over national reconciliation efforts in Yemen. Clashes broke out on Wednesday when Houthi fighters, who control much of Saada province on the border with Saudi Arabia, accused Salafi rivals in Damaj of taking in thousands of foreign fighters to prepare to attack them. The Salafis say the foreigners are religious students who travel from abroad to study Islamic theology at Dar Al Hadith academy established in the 1980s.
Drone strikes in southern Yemen killed five suspected al-Qaida militants, we were told on Friday November 8, 2013, as fighting between rebels and ultraconservative Sunnis raged on in the north. Two strikes killed the suspects Thursday in Abyan province, while a third left no casualties.
On Friday November 8, 2013, we were told that sectarian clashes between rebels and ultraconservative Sunnis killed two people in recent fighting, the latest deaths in ongoing clashes that left dozens dead over the past 10 days. Shiite rebels known as Hawthis have been fighting ultraconservative Salafis and jihadists in the city of Damaj in the northern Saada province. 12 people also were injured in the last two days.
Three people were killed on Sunday November 17, 2013, when Shi'ite Houthi rebels shelled a school in a northern Yemeni town where sectarian fighting has killed more than 100 people.
Gunmen ambushed and killed eight policemen Tuesday November 19, 2013, near a gas terminal in southern Yemen. The attack took place as the officers were driving to a security checkpoint near the Balhaf terminal, in the southern province of Shabwa. Armed men in two cars opened fire on the policemen, killing them on the spot. Earlier a Special Forces officer was abducted by armed men northeast of Balhaf, and his body was later found to the west. He had been shot three times. The corpse was found not far from where the eight policemen were killed.
An airstrike Tuesday November 19, 2013, killed three alleged al-Qaida militants in the country’s southeast. The leaders, who witnessed the strike in Hadramawt province, said they saw it hit a vehicle carrying the three militants and suspected it came from a U.S. drone. The government had not carried out any strikes in the area so it must have been a drone. The United States has regularly carried out drone strikes in Yemen, escalating the rate of attacks in the last year. Washington rarely confirms individual strikes.
Security officials have arrested women suspected of being al-Qaida militants after a security force operation in the country’s south that left four soldiers dead. The women and a number of children were arrested in Hadramowt province early Wednesday November 20, 2013. They say the arrests came after the suspected female militants fired assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades at authorities in the city of al-Shahr. Male militants on motorcycles later joined the fight. At least four soldiers were killed. The women are believed to be Saudi nationals. They say the women were transferred to Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, for further interrogation.
Three police officers were killed in clashes Wednesday November 20, 2013, with Al-Qaeda suspects in Yemen's southeastern Hadramawt province. Al-Qaeda suspects, hiding in two houses in Hadramawt's city of Shahr, opened fire at police officers who were trying to search the place. Several Al-Qaeda militants also died in the clashes. On Tuesday, three extremists were killed by a drone strike that targeted their vehicle in the same province.
Two Yemeni soldiers were killed on Thursday November 21, 2013, as they deployed to police a truce between Shiite rebels and hardline Sunnis in the north. A mine exploded as a military vehicle passed by, killing one soldier instantly and grievously wounding another who died later. The explosion came as the soldiers were moving in to place themselves between Zaidi Shiite rebels and Salafist fighters in the town of Dammaj.
A member of Yemen's parliament was shot dead by armed gunmen in Sanaa Friday November 22, 2013. Abdul Karim Jedban was on his way home when he was shot by gunmen on a motorcycle. In a separate incident but in the same area of Sanaa, a United Nations convoy was shot at, although the U.N. envoy who was traveling to his hotel was not injured. But an official source at the office of U.N. envoy Jamal Benomar denied that the convoy came under fire, saying reports of such an incident were unfounded.
Security officials in Yemen say two gunmen riding a motorcycle have killed a Shiite-rebel representative on the country’s national dialogue conference. On Friday November 22, 2013, Abdel Karim Gadban, a representative of Ansar Allah, the political arm of the Shiite Hawthis rebels, was killed while leaving a mosque in the capital, Sanaa. Ansar Allah leader Abdel Karim el-Khaywani said the killing was an attempt to hinder the work of the national dialogue conference, which is tasked with mapping out the Arab nation’s future.
A wedding party in Yemen turned into a bloodbath Friday November 22, 2013, when a guest wildly dancing to “Gangnam Style” with an AK-47 accidentally sprayed fire into the crowd, killing three guests. A video shows several men dancing to the song by South Korean sensation Psy. When the song reaches its chorus, the sound of rapid machine-gun fire is heard amid screams.
Four policemen were killed and one was wounded early Sunday November 24, 2013, when militants launched an attack on a police checkpoint in southeastern province of Hadramout. The gunmen fled the area shortly after the attack, and an investigation was underway. The armed attack took place while a number of security chiefs were meeting in Seiyun to discuss the security situation in the region. Earlier in the day, three army personnel were injured when their military vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in Hadramout province.
Government airstrikes have killed 12 suspected al-Qaida militants in the country’s south we were told on Monday November 25, 2013. The militants were killed in a strike this week in Abyan province that left their vehicle burned to a shell.
Unknown gunmen in Yemen killed a foreign military expert and wounded his colleague in a drive-by shooting Tuesday November 26, 2013, in the capital. A Russian embassy spokesman says the two were Belarussian. Two gunmen on a motorcycle shot the two as they left their hotel in Sanaa's Benoun street. The two are military experts working for Yemen's Defence Ministry. In a separate incident, two unknown gunmen assassinated an army major in drive-by attack in Sanaa's Kholan Street. The two assailants on a motorbike fired at Maj. Ahmed al-Jahdari and killed him instantly.
Tribesmen blew up Yemen's main oil export pipeline on Friday November 29, 2013. The pipeline carries crude from the Maarib fields in central Yemen to the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea. Tribal sources said they carried out the attack to force the government to pay them compensation, without going into further details.
One person has been killed and another injured in an attack by Houthi rebels in Yemen's town of Dammaj. Houthi snipers shot dead a resident and seriously injured another late Friday November 29, 2013. ---
Gunmen shot dead a Yemeni army colonel and his son on Sunday December 1, 2013, when he stopped his car at a roundabout in his hometown. Four passersby were also wounded when the gunmen, who were on foot, fired on Colonel Ahmed al-Marfadi, deputy commander of the 37th Armored Division, and his son when they stopped at a traffic light in the center of the town of al-Qatan in the province of Hadramout. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Fighting between Shi'ite Houthi rebels and Sunni Salafis in northern Yemen has killed more than 120 as the Houthis are breaking the truce we were told on Sunday December 1, 2013. The death toll among Salafis in the town of Damaj had risen to more than 120, with dozens wounded. No casualty figures were available for the Houthis.
Yemen began enforcing a temporary ban on motorbikes in the capital on Sunday December 1, 2013, to prevent “shoot and scoot” attacks as Al Qaeda suspects on a bike elsewhere killed an army officer. The ban will last until December 15 and its aim is to “preserve security and stability” as Yemen undergoes a difficult political transition. The ban was being strictly enforced, with no motorcycles seen on the streets on Sunday. Motorbikes are a cheap form of transport frequently used as taxis in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country. But they have also become a tool for hit-and-run shootings that have killed dozens of officials. Hundreds of demonstrators protested on Saturday in Sanaa against the bike ban near President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi’s residence, where the authorities used water cannon and tear gas to disperse them.
Clashes on Monday December 2, 2013, between al-Qaeda suspects and Yemeni troops in the southeastern province of Hadramawt left nine people dead, three of them soldiers. Six al-Qaeda terrorists were killed in clashes with soldiers at an army checkpoint at the western entrance to the town of Seyun.
Unknown gunmen have killed a foreign military expert and wounded his colleague in a drive-by shooting in the capital. Two gunmen on a motorcycle shot the two Tuesday December 3, 2013, as they left their hotel in Sanaa's Benoun Street. The two are military experts working for Yemen's Defense Ministry. An investigation is under way and the ministry is also trying to determine the nationality of the two victims.
Clashes in a southern province have left three suspected al-Qaida militants and two soldiers dead. The gunmen attacked early Monday a military checkpoint in Sayoun, a city in Hadramawt province. Another four militants and one soldier were wounded. In addition unknown gunmen shot and killed an army officer and his son in a drive-by attack on his car in Hadramawt on Sunday. It said two attackers on a motorcycle fired at Colonel Ahmed al-Merfidi who was driving his car with his son Yasser, killing them both. The government ordered Sunday banning the movement of motorcycles in Sanaa.
A suicide bomber and gunmen wearing army uniforms staged a deadly attack on Yemen's Defense Ministry on Thursday December 5, 2013, ramming the building with an explosives-laden vehicle, followed by gunmen who battled security forces inside. The attack also targeted a hospital at the Defense Ministry complex. At least 52 people died in the attack in the capital, Sanaa. Four foreign doctors were among the dead. Also, a relative of President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi died in the attack. The coordinated strikes wounded 167 people. Two German and two Vietnamese doctors, and one Indian and two Filipino nurses were among the dead. Earlier, Defense Ministry officials had said 10 soldiers and nine militants were among the dead.
Yemeni security forces launched a sweep in the capital to find the perpetrators of a deadly attack on the country's Defense Ministry, sparking clashes that left five suspected militants and one member of the Special Forces dead we were told on Friday December 6, 2013. The brazen assault Thursday left 52 people dead of whom at least seven were foreigners, including medics working at a hospital in the complex. The assailants separated out the foreigners to be shot in the head and chest.
Yemen said on Friday December 6, 2013, it had regained full control of its Defence Ministry compound in Sanaa a day after a militant attack, claimed by an al Qaeda-affiliated group, killed 56 people, including foreign medical staff. An estimated 12 attackers, mostly Saudi nationals, had taken part in the assault and were all killed. Gunmen wearing army uniforms opened fire at soldiers guarding one of the hospitals inside the military compound. An explosives-laden pickup truck was then blown up.
The leader of Yemen's Socialist Party escaped an assassination attempt Sunday December 8, 2013, the third on him in recent months. An unknown attacker fired a gun fitted with a silencer at Yassin Said Noaman while he was driving his car in Sanaa. The gunman missed Noaman but shattered the car's windows. The gunman hid in the minaret of a mosque opposite Noaman's house. The Socialist Party, which ruled southern Yemen before it merged with the north in 1990, is one of the largest in parliament.
A U.S. drone strike in southern Yemen has killed three Al Qaeda suspects. The strike hit the suspects’ moving vehicle in Hadramawt province and set it on fire. It was the first drone strike since the brazen Al Qaeda attack on Thursday on the Defense Ministry compound in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, which killed 56 people.
Yemen's liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant complex was targeted with rocket-propelled explosives last Friday, the Yemen LNG Company said on Tuesday December 10, 2013. The facility was partially evacuated. There were no injuries and only slight property damage. Production and shipping operations continue.
A Dutch couple kidnapped in Yemen six months ago have been freed in the capital Sanaa we were told on Tuesday December 10, 2013. Dutch journalist Judith Spiegel and her partner Boudewijn Berendsen, abducted since June 8 have been freed we were told.
Missiles fired by a U.S. drone slammed into a convoy of vehicles traveling to a wedding party in central Yemen on Thursday December 12, 2013, killing at least 13 people. The attack took place in Radda, the capital of Bayda province, and left charred bodies and burned-out cars on the road. There were no immediate details on who was killed in the strike, and there were conflicting reports about whether there were militants traveling with the wedding convoy. A military official said initial information indicated the drone mistook the wedding party for an al-Qaeda convoy. Tribesmen known to the villagers were among the dead. One of the three security officials, however, said al-Qaeda militants were suspected to have been traveling with the wedding convoy.
In north Yemn ultraconservative Sunni Muslim militants and rebels belonging to a branch of Shiite Islam battled each other with artillery and machine guns in clashes that killed more than 40 people. The violence between Islamic Salafi fighters and Hawthi rebels has raged for weeks in Yemen's northern province of Saada, but the latest sectarian clashes marked an expansion of the fighting to the neighboring province of Hagga. The government brokered a cease-fire last month to try to end the violence, but both sides have repeatedly broken the truce. Clashes began when ultraconservative Salafis took over a Hawthi stronghold in a mountainous area near the border with Saudi Arabia. Most of the casualties were on the Hawthi side. The Salafis accused Hawthis of trying to infiltrate their strongholds in the town of Fagga.
Yemen said senior al Qaeda militants were targeted in Thursday December 12, 2013's air strike in al-Bayda province. 15 people were killed on their way to a wedding. The wedding party was hit in the strike in the south of Yemen after being mistaken for an al Qaeda convoy; five people were also injured. Officially the attack targeted a number of al Qaeda leaders and members who were among the most high-ranking and who had been involved in planning terrorist operations. ---
Assailants stabbed a Japanese diplomat stationed in Yemen’s capital Sunday December 15, 2013, when he fought back during a failed kidnapping attempt. The kidnappers attacked the diplomat not far from the Japanese Embassy in Sanaa, later fleeing with the man’s car. He was taken to hospital; his injuries were not serious.
Saboteurs blew up a section of oil pipeline in eastern Yemen overnight for the second time, stopping the flow of crude we were told on Friday December 20, 2013. Armed men blew up the pipeline in the Al Arqain area of Maarib province late on Thursday, just “one hour after it was repaired following a previous act sabotage. Technicians, accompanied by security forces, are trying to seal a breach in the oil pipeline to ensure the pumping of crude can resume.
Thousands protesting the death of a prominent tribal leader rioted Friday December 20, 2013, in southern Yemen, forcing police officers to flee and attacking shops owned by northerners as two people were killed. The riots erupted after tribal leaders called for an “uprising” and a general strike in Mukalla, the provincial capital of Hadramawt. They also called for expelling police and soldiers and to take control of government agencies and local municipalities. Clashes spilled outside Mukalla and into other cities in the province, including clashes between armed tribesmen and guards of oil facilities in an area called Ghail bin Youmin in Hadramawt. ---
Al Qaeda's wing in Yemen blamed a renegade fighter for targeting medics and patients in a military hospital during its attack on the Defence Ministry compound in Sanaa earlier this month, it said in a statement released on Saturday December 21, 2013. The killing of unarmed medics and patients, captured on closed-circuit television footage and broadcast by state media, caused widespread outrage in Yemen, where al Qaeda has portrayed itself as fighting for normal people against foreign drone strikes. Al Qaeda's offshoot Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) claimed responsibility earlier this month for the December 5 assault in which at least 52 people were killed, the worst such attack in Yemen for 18 months. It said it attacked the compound because it believed it to house an operations room for drone attacks carried out by the United States against Islamist militants, which have also led to civilian deaths. Many of those killed died inside the compound's hospital, where staff said they had seen foreign doctors and nurses executed by attackers.
Yemen Sunday December 22, 2013:
On Monday December 23, 2013, Yemeni political parties have signed a document pledging a “just solution” that would grant some autonomy to the once-independent south. The agreement was hailed as a breakthrough in a long-stalled national dialogue between political parties and the government aimed at drafting a new constitution for Yemen and preparing for elections in February. The issue of the south has been a major stumbling block, and hard-line southern secessionist factions have boycotted the talks. The document, signed by representatives of 17 political parties and civil society groups, pledged to resolve the issue of the south “on the basis of federalism.” A committee formed by President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi will now choose between forming two regions, north and south, or six, two in the south and four in the north.
On Thursday December 26, 2013, tribesmen bombed Yemen's main oil pipeline and it will take several days to repair it and resume crude pumping. The attack, in the Wadi Obaida area of the central oil-producing province of Maarib, halted oil flows from the Maarib fields to the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea.
Tribesmen seized an oil ministry building in Yemen's eastern Hadramout province on Thursday December 26, 2013, and exchanged gunfire with a pro-government tribe seeking to regain control of the premises. The tribesmen were responding to the killing of a tribal leader earlier this month in fighting at an army checkpoint after his bodyguards refused to hand over their weapons to soldiers.
An army tank shelled a funeral tent erected by the Southern Movement at a school in Yemen on Friday December 27, 2013, killing 10 people among them children. At least 15 people were wounded. The tent was set up by the Southern Movement, which is campaigning for autonomy or outright secession for the formerly independent south, for mourners paying condolences following the death of a man killed during clashes with security forces on Monday. The clashes in Daleh erupted when southern secessionists attempted to storm the governorate building to hoist a flag of the former South Yemen, which was an independent state until it was united with the north in 1990. The gunfight left two Yemeni policemen and a civilian dead.
Yemeni tribesmen blew up a pipeline in the eastern Hadramout province on Saturday December 27, 2013, disrupting oil flow two days after they seized an Oil Ministry building in the region. The pipeline attacked transports crude oil from Massila oil field in Hadramout to the port of Mukkala. This was the first time the pipeline has been hit.
A Sanaa court on Sunday December 29, 2013, sentenced to death a Yemeni Al-Qaeda suspect for his role in a deadly attack on a security headquarters in Aden in 2011. The court convicted Ahmad Kadiri Ahmad Turki of belonging to AQAP and setting up the cell that planned and launched the attack in the southern city. The June 2011 attack killed nearly 20 members of the intelligence services in Aden. The same court handed nine other suspects sentences of between two and 10 years in prison for belonging to Al-Qaeda and attempting to assassinate President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi. The prosecution said the group planted an explosive device in Sanaa with the aim of blowing up Hadi's convoy as it drove past, but the bomb was discovered and defused by security forces.
At least 10 soldiers were killed when gunmen attacked a Yemeni military post in Lahj province Monday December 30, 2013. The military post located in the suburbs of Lahj province was attacked by secessionist gunmen who were driving vehicles topped with machine-guns. The attack took place in al-Habylan area, some 20 km from the entrance to Lahj province. The army forces launched a large-scale manhunt against the secessionist attackers and arrested one of them. Two military vehicles were destroyed during the attack. The identities of the gunmen remained unclear.
Five soldiers and three militants were killed Monday December 30, 2013, during an attack on an army position in southern Yemen in which the assailants also abducted four troops. Attackers from the Southern Movement armed with automatic rifles and anti-tank rockets launched the attack, destroying two tanks and killing five soldiers. The assailants lost three men but they managed to abduct four soldiers. Leaders of the Southern Movement denied the group was involved.
Three people including a suicide bomber were killed in three explosions targeting security offices in Aden, the main city in southern Yemen we were told on Tuesday December 31, 2013. Seven policemen were wounded. Hundreds of security officials have been killed in explosions and shootings over the past two years in southern Yemen, where the government and allied tribal militias are fighting against Islamist militants allied to al Qaeda.
Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen on Thursday January 2, 2014, killed an intelligence officer in Aden. Colonel Marwan al-Maqbali was leaving his house in Al-Qalua neighbourhood when he was fired on from a car carrying gunmen "suspected of belonging to Al-Qaeda. Two bullets hit Maqbali who died before reaching hospital, and his assailants escaped.
Two alleged Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) affiliates were killed in a drone strike on Tuesday December 31, 2013, in the Al-Mahfad district of Abyan governorate in southern Yemen. Three others, also alleged to be associated with AQAP, were injured in the aerial attack. However, several local sources claim that six persons died in the attack. One of the dead was Abu Yousif Al-Sana’ani, an AQAP leader in Abyan.
Yemeni troops clashed with armed tribesmen blocking repairs to the country's main oil pipeline on Friday January 3, 2014, and one army officer and a tribal fighter were killed. Tribesmen bombed Yemen's main oil pipeline in Maarib province last month, halting oil flows to the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea. Ten soldiers including the chief of military police and four tribesmen were wounded. Disgruntled tribesmen carry out such attacks to pressure the government to provide jobs, settle land disputes, or free relatives from prison.
Renewed clashes in the north between rebels belonging to a Shiite-branch of Islam and ultraconservative Salafis backed by allying tribes have killed 17. Saturday January 4, 2014’s clashes were in Amran province, one of three fronts where battles are raging between Hawthi rebels and Salafis. Two other fronts with sporadic fighting are in the adjacent Saada and al-Jawf provinces, bordering Saudi Arabia.
On Sunday January 5, 2014, Yemen’s president has refused to extradite the head of an ultraconservative political party who the United States has accused of financing al-Qaida. President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi denounced the charges and said his government had informed the U.S. it will not hand over citizens to any foreign country, including Abd al-Wahhab Muhammad Abd al-Rahman Humayqani, secretary general of the Yemeni Rashad Union, the country’s first ultraconservative Salafi party. In December, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Humayqani, accusing him of having used his position as head of a Yemen-based charity to send funds to the group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. He also is accused of facilitating financial transfers from al-Qaida supporters in Saudi Arabia to Yemen.
Tribesmen in Yemen's Hadramawt province blew up a major oil pipeline in retaliation for the killing by the army of one of their men we were told on Monday January 6, 2014. Hadramawt has been shaken since December 20 by protests against the central government after the army killed local tribal chief Said Ben Habrish and his bodyguards at a checkpoint. The simmering tension erupted again on Sunday when a tribesman was killed in an incident at an army checkpoint and gunmen overnight blew up the pipeline linking Masila oilfield to Al-Daba port in the town of Shahr on the Gulf of Aden. Local tribal chief Ahmad Bamaezz said that youths from a tribe in Hadramawt were behind the attack.
A Yemeni intelligence officer was seriously wounded when his car exploded on Tuesday January 7, 2014 in the main southern city of Aden. Colonel Saleh Al Qadi was seriously wounded in the explosion of a car that was probably booby-trapped.
A gunman in the southern province of Lahj killed a man suspected of being of gay, the latest in a series of attacks on homosexuals in the conservative Muslim country. Waleed Saleh Awedan, 25, was shot by a man riding a motorbike near his home Monday evening January 6, 2014. At least 34 people have been killed in similar attacks in the past two years, many in the southern provinces which have been under intermittent al-Qaida control. Homosexuality is a crime in Yemen.
Tribesmen in the eastern Yemen province of Hadramawt have blown up an oil pipeline for the second time in two days, disrupting an important source of revenue for the impoverished state. The attacks targeted a pipeline with a capacity of 120,000 barrels a day carrying crude from the Masila field, the most important in Yemen. Tuesday January 7, 2014's blast struck in the Wadi Urf area, while Monday's attack on the same pipeline was in the Sah area. The latest pipeline attacks were in response to fighting on Saturday between tribes and the army in which a young man was killed. The tribes issued the army with an ultimatum to hand over the soldiers who killed him.
Tuesday January 7, 2014 two soldiers were killed in a firefight between security forces and unknown attackers.
Two suspected Al-Qaeda militants were killed in a U.S. drone strike in the southeastern province of Hadramout on Wednesday January 8, 2014. The aircraft fired at least one missile on a car in the al-Qatan region, completely destroying the vehicle and killing two people.
Yolande Korkie, the South African teacher kidnapped with her husband was released early on Friday January 9, 2014, after four days of intensive negotiations. But her shadowy Yemeni kidnappers, possibly aligned to Al-Qaeda, continue to hold her husband Pierre, demanding several million dollars in ransom within eight days from Friday for his release. The Korkies, teachers from Bloemfontein, were kidnapped by armed men in the southern city of Taiz last May. They had been working for a local charity development group.
Armed tribesmen killed two soldiers and wounded another in an attack Saturday January 11, 2014, on oil installations operated by Norwegian DNO in southeastern Yemen. The assailants targeted a guard post at the oil field in the Ghayl Bin Yamin district of Hadramawt province. A regional tribal alliance was behind the attack.
Yemeni gunmen killed at least six soldiers in stepped up attacks on army installations in the southeastern Hadramout province we were told on Sunday January 12, 2014, after tribesmen warned Norway's DNO to stop operations in the area. Tribesmen tried to overrun an army camp on the outskirts of the Arabian Sea city also on Sunday, killing four soldiers.
Heavily armed al-Qaida militants laid a siege to a coast guard camp in a southern town, shelling its barrack and killing four coast guard members. Al-Qaida militants used anti-aircraft guns mounted on pickup trucks Sunday January 12, 2014, in the coastal town of al-Shahr in the province of Hadramawt overlooking the Gulf of Aden.
At least 210 people have been killed in two months of fighting between Shi'ite Muslim Houthis and ultra-conservative Sunni Salafis in northern Yemen we were told on Monday January 13, 2014. The death toll among Salafis had risen to 210, with 620 wounded. No casualty figures were available for the Houthis.
Two gunmen assassinated a colonel in the southern province of Hadramout, the latest in a long series of attacks on the country's security forces. Col. Abd al-Ghani al-Muqalih, the general manager of a military-affiliated corporation, was killed in a drive-by shooting on Tuesday January 14, 2014, by two men, whom security officials believe to be from al-Qaida.
A Yemeni farmer was killed in a U.S. drone strike on Wednesday January 15, 2014, in what witnesses said was an attack apparently intended for suspected Islamist militants in southeastern Yemen. The farmer was killed by shrapnel from two rockets fired by the drone early in the morning as he walked home in the village of al-Houta, near the city of Shibam.
Al-Qaida militants attacked a military camp Thursday January 16, 2014, in central Yemen, sparking heavy clashes that killed at least eight soldiers. The militants tried to storm the camp on the outskirts of the city of Radda south of the capital, Sanaa. They attack wounded 10 soldiers, and the attackers made away with a military armored vehicle.
Clashes between armed militants and the Yemeni army killed three and injured two in Yemen's southern city of al-Dalea on Friday January 17, 2014. Two soldiers had been shot dead, and another was injured. A Yemeni bystander had also been killed in the crossfire and other injured. The clashes took place in a local market area.
Gunmen fired shots at a car belonging to the Iranian embassy near the ambassador's residence in Yemen's capital Sanaa on Saturday January 18, 2014, seriously wounding a diplomat. The diplomat had resisted attackers as they attempted to kidnap him and was injured as a result. The gunmen fled, and there was no immediate claim of responsibility. The diplomat died later on in hospital.
At least 12 people were killed in northern Yemen overnight after Sunni Muslim tribesmen fought with a Shi'ite group which was trying to capture a mountain we were told on Monday January 20, 2014. Eight Houthis and four members of the pro-Salafi Al Ahmar clan were killed late on Sunday after the Shi'ite rebels tried to seize the mountain. ---
Unknown assailants shot dead a leader of the Yemeni Shi'ite Muslim Houthi group in Sanaa on Tuesday January 21, 2014, while driving to attend the final session of reconciliation talks aimed at tackling the country's political and security challenges. Ahmad Sharafeddin, a Houthi delegate at the reconciliation talks who had been dean of the law faculty at Sanaa University, was killed when gunmen opened fire on him in his vehicle from a speeding car in central Sanaa.
The son of Yemen's powerful Islamist Al-Islah (Reform) party's secretary general was seriously wounded when his father's car exploded in Sanaa on Tuesday January 21, 2014. Omar Abdelwahab al-Ansi was critically wounded in the explosion.
Gunmen on Tuesday January 21, 2014, shot and killed a leading member of a Shiite Muslim group on his way to reconciliation talks and a senior advisor to a provincial governor was slain by a bomb planted in his car. A third political figure, the son of the secretary-general of an Islamic party, survived an attempt on his life.
Unidentified gunmen assassinated the top envoy of a northern Yemeni rebel movement in the capital early Tuesday January 21, 2014. Ahmed Sharaf Eddin was gunned down in his car. Sharaf Eddin represented the Hawthi rebels, who are members of a Shiite sect, in the so-called National Dialogue talks.
Yemeni authorities on Saturday January 25, 2014, found a decapitated body in the Eastern province of Marib believed to belong to the Iranian diplomat, Nour-Ahmad Nikbakht, who was kidnapped in the capital Sana'a in July, 2013. The body was half-buried in a desert area in Eastern Marib. In July 2013, unknown assailants abducted the Iranian embassy staff member, Nikbakht, in Safr Street in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a.
Gunmen shot dead a senior Yemeni security officer on Sunday January 26, 2014. Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed Amir al-Mahthouthi, a senior officer in the investigative branch of state security, was shot outside his home in Hadramout, eastern Yemen, by gunmen who then fled on a motorbike. The authorities have blamed al Qaeda and its local ally Ansar al-Sharia for carrying out hundreds of similar killings of police and army officers over the past two years.
A clash between Yemeni troops and southern separatists, who were demonstrating on Monday January 27, 2014, against the country's reconciliation talks, left four people wounded. Hardline secessionists, who are calling for independence for the south, took to the streets of the southern city of Ataq two days after a national dialogue concluded in Sanaa. The talks concluded with a plan to turn the republic into a federation, draft a constitution and hold elections. A gunfight erupted between armed protesters and troops who tried to disperse the demonstration; two protesters and two soldiers were wounded. ---
Sectarian clashes between northern rebels and ultraconservative Salafis have killed at least 21 people and injured dozens in a northern Yemeni city after a truce fell apart. The fierce clashes took place in the early hours of Monday January 27, 2014, in villages in the northern Arhab Mountains, nearly two weeks after ultraconservative Salafis and Hawthi rebels reached a cease-fire after weeks of fighting that killed hundreds. Arhab tribesmen accused Hawthis, who follow a branch of Shite Islam, of waging a “terrorist invasion” and attempting to drive the tribesmen out of their areas. Meanwhile Hawthi movement accused the government of backing the Salafis.
Renewed clashes between Shiite Huthi rebels and armed tribesmen have killed 13 people in northern Yemen we were told on Tuesday January 28. Heavy fighting erupted on Monday and continued Tuesday in Wadi Khaywan and Danan, in Amran province, between the rebels and Hashid tribesmen, 12 people were killed. And a rebels was killed in fighting with hard-line Sunnis in Arhab, north of Sanaa, as the two sides battled control for three hills overlooking the airport.
Suspected al-Qaida militants launched surprise attacks on Friday January 30, 2014, on a checkpoint and a police patrol killing 17 troops. The first attack took place in the ancient city of Shibam in the province of Hadramawt, where attackers surprised the soldiers as they were having lunch and battled them for nearly half an hour before fleeing the scene. Fifteen troops were killed. At least five of the attackers were hit and either killed or wounded, but militants carried them away. Earlier, gunmen targeted a police patrol in the central province of Bayda, killing two.
Fierce clashes between Huthi Shiite rebels and gunmen from the powerful Hashid tribe killed at least 60 people on Friday January 30, 2014, in northern Yemen. The clashes in Omran province killed 40 Huthi rebels and their allies and left 20 dead in the ranks of the Hashid tribe. The violence in Omran dates back to January 5 when Huthis tried to seize Hashid strongholds. A source close to the powerful Al-Ahmar tribal grouping to which the Hashid belong said the tribes had "mobilised thousands of gunmen over the past few days" to confront the Huthis.
Armed tribesmen bombed Yemen's main oil pipeline on Saturday January 31, 2014, halting crude flow to the country's main export terminal less than a month after it was repaired. The attack occurred in the Serwah district in the central oil-producing province of Maarib and caused a huge fire that prompted the closure of the pipeline and stopped oil flow from the Maarib fields to the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea. Disgruntled tribesmen stage these attacks to pressure the government to provide jobs, settle land disputes or free relatives from prison.
Yemeni tribesmen said on Sunday February 2, 2014, they had kidnapped a German man to press their government to free jailed relatives. Tribesmen telephoned journalists to say the man, who was kidnapped from Sanaa on Friday, was being held by them in Maarib province, a tribal stronghold in the center of Yemen. They said they were demanding the release of two relatives who they said were being held without charge.
Shia Huthi rebels have overrun strongholds of powerful tribes in northern Yemen, witnesses said Sunday February 2, 2014, in a major advance following weeks of combat that have left scores dead. The rebels have been pushing out from their stronghold in the mountains of the far north to other areas nearer the capital to expand their hoped-for autonomous unit in a promised federal Yemen. The Huthis seized the town of Huth and Khamri village -the seat of the Hashid tribal chief, as tribal defence lines crumbled. Tribal chief sheikh Hussein al-Ahmar ordered his fighters to evacuate his family's farm in Khamri and set it ablaze. The tribesmen have retreated to neighbouring areas. Scores have been captured by the advancing rebels.
A security officer was critically injured on Monday February 3, 2014, in the port city of Aden. Unknown men opened fire on the car of Colonel Awadh Al Dahboul, assistant director of Aden’s criminal investigation, and his associate. Both men suffered serious injuries and being treated in a local hospital. No one has claimed responsibly for the attack. In the capital, six Al Qaida suspects accused of murder, kidnapping and theft will go on trial.
Three large explosions were heard in Yemen's capital Sanaa on Sunday February 2, 2014, close to the defence ministry, the central bank and the former president's home. The explosions were followed by heavy gunfire. The third explosion occurred near former President Ali Abdullah Saleh's house which is also within close proximity to the French embassy. The witnesses added that the blast near Saleh's home appears to have been caused by an implanted explosive device in the area. There was no immediate word on the total number of casualties or the cause of the blasts.
On Sunday February 2, 2014, Shi’ite rebels have overrun strongholds of a rival Sunni tribal group in fighting that has killed at least 40 people in northern Yemen in the last two days. Tribal sources said Houthi fighters and their allies from the Hashed tribal federation seized control of al-Khamri, the al-Ahmar family tribal region in Omran province. An al-Ahmar family home was burned. The Ansarullah website, run by the Houthi group, said its fighters and allies from Hashed were “pounding the fortifications of the militias of the al-Ahmar sons” in al-Khamri and Zu Anash areas in Omran province.
Armed tribesmen bombed Yemen’s main oil pipeline on Sunday February 2, 2014, halting crude flow to the country’s main export terminal less than a month after it was repaired. The attack occurred in the Serwah district in the central oil-producing province of Maarib and caused a huge fire that prompted the closure of the pipeline and stopped oil flow from the Maarib fields to the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea.
Shiite Huthi rebels have overrun strongholds of powerful tribes in northern Yemen. The rebels have been pushing out from the mountains of the far north to areas closer to Sanaa to expand their hoped-for autonomous unit in a promised federal Yemen. A mortar shell was fired overnight in the direction of the French embassy while a car bomb exploded metres away in Sanaa's diplomatic quarter we were told Monday February 3, 2014. There were no victims. That blast came shortly after a car exploded on the nearby main road. Meanwhile a German citizen kidnapped in the capital on Friday was being held in a tribal region of the eastern Marib province. The Huthis seized the town of Huth and Khamri village -the seat of the Hashid tribal chief- as tribal defence lines crumbled.
Gunmen raked a military bus with gunfire in Yemen’s capital Sanaa moments before it was hit by a bomb, leaving two soldiers dead and 12 wounded. The explosion targeted a bus transporting soldiers and officers in the capital’s southern neighbourhood of Dar Salam. Two gunmen in a car opened fire at the bus moments before the blast.
On Tuesday February 4, 2014m armed men have abducted a British national working with an oil services company on a main street in Yemen. The British man left a local supermarket in the capital Sanaa and was about to get into his car when four gunmen grabbed him, beat him with their rifle butts and forced him into their car before speeding off.
A security officer was critically injured on Monday February 3, 2014, in the port city of Aden. Unknown men opened fire on the car of Colonel Awadh Al Dahboul, assistant director of Aden’s criminal investigation, and his associate. Both men suffered serious injuries and being treated in a local hospital. ---
Shia rebels and several tribes of the influential Hashid confederation in northern Yemen agreed on Wednesday February 5, 2014, to end fighting that has killed nearly 150 people in a week. But the deal does not include the Al Ahmar, the Hashid’s historical leading clan, whose stronghold was overrun at the weekend and whose fighters have fled to the capital. The Ansarullah (Partisans of God) rebels, also known as Huthis, have been pushing out from the mountains of the far north to areas closer to Sana’a to expand their hoped-for autonomous unit in a promised federal Yemen. They met with fierce resistance at first from pro-government tribes in the Zaidi Shia northern highlands led by the Al Ahmar. But at the weekend they seized the town of Huth and Khamri village —the seat of Hashid tribal chief Sheikh Sadeq Al Ahmar— in the northern province of Amran. The agreement, reached without the Al Ahmar, stipulates an “end to fighting... reopening of roads and allowing supporters of Ansarullah to move freely” in areas under tribal control.
Unidentified gunmen shot dead four Yemeni soldiers and wounded three others Wednesday February 5, 2014, in an attack on a military vehicle in the southern Shabwa province. They opened fire as the vehicle headed to an army checkpoint near the port of Balhaf gas-export terminal.
On Thursday February 6, 2014, three large explosions have been heard in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, close to the defence ministry, the central bank and the former president’s home. The explosions were followed by heavy gunfire. The third explosion occurred near the house of the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. The blast near Saleh’s home appears to have been caused by an implanted explosive device in the area. There was no immediate word on the total number of casualties or the cause of the blasts. ---
Yemeni tribesmen ambushed a military convoy Friday February 7, 2014, and killed four soldiers and wounded several more, in the southeastern province of Hadramawt. The troops were escorting technicians on their way to repair an oil pipeline blown up by tribesmen in December, when they came under attack.
A bomb planted in the car of a Yemeni intelligence colonel exploded Sunday February 9, 2014, near the oil ministry, killing the officer and wounding three people. The explosive device was planted under the driver's seat in the vehicle of Colonel Mohammed Fadhel Hussein; it went off as the car passed near the oil ministry in Sanaa. A bodyguard travelling with Hussein was wounded, in addition to two passers-by.
Yemen has handed to Saudi Arabia 29 al Qaeda militants who were wanted by the Saudi authorities we were told on Tuesday February 11, 2014. The militants had Saudi nationality and had been handed over to the Saudi security apparatus in the past few days.
A key Yemeni panel agreed Monday February 10, 2014, to transform the country into a state of six regions. But the system of federalism chosen by the panel, to have six regions rather than two, is opposed by southerners who feel dominated by the more populous north. The decision comes at the end of two weeks of talks by delegates from across the country on a new political map to end decades of centralization that fed internal conflicts in the north and south. The federalism plan will be included in the new constitution, to be put to a referendum. There will be two regions in the south —Aden and Hadramawt— and four in the north —Saba, Jenad, Tihama and Azal. Sanaa, the capital, will not be affiliated to a region, while Aden, the largest city in the south, will have special status giving it more power than the province in which it is located.
Both Shiite rebels and southern independence activists in Yemen on Tuesday February 11, 2014, rejected plans for a six-region federation decided by a committee after 10 months of talks failed to reach agreement. In the capital Sanaa, however, demonstrators turned out in numbers in support of the government's plans for the transition from the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, ousted in early 2012 following 11 months of deadly protests that began three years ago. The committee headed by President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi unveiled the federation plan on Monday, which will be inserted into the new constitution and will divide Yemen into six federal units -four in the north and two in the south.
Heavily armed militants attacked Yemen's main prison in central Sanaa on Thursday February 13, 2014, killing seven people and helping 29 inmates escape, many of them convicts in terrorism-related charges. The attack started with a car bomb explosion, then militants exchanged heavy gunfire with the guards at the Sanaa Central Prison, and a number of prisoners fled amid the chaos. Authorities suspect it was an inside job. Among the 29 who fled, 19 are convicted al-Qiada prisoners including those plotting the assassinations of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and western diplomats. Earlier explosions rocked the capital and smoke billowed into the sky. Security forces and army troops have been deployed to the site of the attack and sealed off the whole area. The prison, housing thousands of inmates. The attackers came in three groups and three cars, including the car bomb. One group detonated the car bomb, the second joined the first and engaged with prison guards at the front gate while the third dispersed throughout the prison, engaging with security forces outside. Other militants were firing from the rooftops of houses surrounding the prison. Authorities suspect the attackers received help from inside the prison in order to allow the inmates to break free.
Eleven people were killed when attackers mounted a bomb, grenade and gun assault on the main prison in Yemen's capital on Thursday February 13, 2014, to free inmates. Guards managed to confront the terrorists and forced them to flee but eleven people were killed; seven guards were killed and four wounded, while 29 inmates, including 19 jailed for terrorism-related crimes, escaped in the chaos. The ministry released the names of the escapees and asked citizens to report any information to help capture them.
Security services in the Yemen’s port city of Aden arrested 27 suspected Al Qaida militants after foiling an attack on Saturday February 15, 2014, against a major oil refinery in the city. Aden police in conjunction with the army arrested six armed Al Qaida militants in a car shortly before carrying out their attack on Aden oil refinery. Twenty one more militants, including senior figures, were subsequently arrested in the same city.
Four Yemeni soldiers and a high-ranking officer –an Army Colonel- were killed in clashes with secessionist gunmen in the country's southern province of al-Dhalea Tuesday February 18, 2014. The confrontation started when a military patrol was targeted by the secessionist group.
Secessionist rebels attacked a Yemeni army truck carrying food to a unit in the southern Dali province on Tuesday February 18, 2014, killing seven soldiers and wounding nine. The clashes were prompted by the army’s 33rd brigade random shelling of three districts in Dali that destroyed five houses and killed six people including a child.
On Tuesday February 14, 2014, we were told that the trial is under way of five men accused of trying to assassinate Yemen's former president. Their lawyers insist they had nothing to do with the attempt on Ali Abdullah Saleh's life in June 2011. Local rights organisations insist the trial is unlawful.
Nine people were killed and 14 soldiers kidnapped on Tuesday February 18, 2014 after a clash between gunmen and Yemeni troops in the southern city of Dalea, a separatist stronghold. The incident occurred when gunmen attacked a truck carrying food supplies. In the ensuing clash, four soldiers and one officer were killed and 14 others were abducted by what the ministry called "saboteurs". Local residents said four civilians, including a child, were also killed in the incident. The identity of the gunmen was not immediately clear.
At least 12 people were killed in violent clashes between Yemeni troops and militants secessionists in the southern Yemeni province of Dhaleh on Tuesday February 18, 2014. Among those killed were six troops and six militants. A top army colonel was among the government troops killed.
Suspected al-Qaida militants have killed a well-known ultraconservative Islamist in a drive-by shooting in a southern region. Militants gunned down Salafi Sheik Ali Bawazir while he was in front of a school for Qur’an recitation in Hadramawt on Wednesday February 19, 2014. Meanwhile Yemeni warplanes bombed two separate groups of al-Qaida militants in Abyan governorate. He gave no details of causalities. ---
Two protesters were shot dead and more than 20 were wounded when security forces dispersed a demonstration in the southern port city of Aden. Security officials say their forces prevented thousands of demonstrators from entering the main square Friday February 21, 2014, in a northeastern Aden neighborhood by using tear gas, and water cannons. They denied using bullets, though medical officials say those shot were hit with live ammunition.
A Czech doctor was freed several hours after being kidnapped by gunmen in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. The doctor was walking to work at a private hospital when the armed assailants blocked her way with their car and seized her. She was the third foreigner to be snatched this month. We were told on Sunday February 23, 2014, that the kidnappers later freed the woman unharmed, leaving her on a main road east of the capital, and that she returned home on her own. The reasons for the kidnapping and the release were not immediately clear.
Two teachers were shot dead on Sunday February 23, 2014, by unidentified armed men. The two victims, identified as Maher Mohamed Ali and Malek Ali al-Seremi were gunned down in an al-Qaeda-style targeted hit by men riding motorcycles.
Unidentified assailants blew up Yemen’s Maarib oil pipeline on Monday night February 24, 2014, halting crude flows to the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea. The attack, in al-Damashqa area of the central oil-producing province of Maarib, caused a fire.
At least 24 people were killed on Friday February 28, 2014, as Yemeni troops and allied Islamists engaged in heavy fighting with Shiite rebels in the north. The fighting, in which soldiers aided by fighters from the Islamist Al-Islah party were pitted against Zaidi Shiite rebels, was for control of local government offices in Hizm, capital of Jawf province. The army and Al-Islah lost eight men, while the Shiite rebels lost twice that number, and there have been dozens of wounded on both sides.
At least 13 people died when Shi'ite Muslim fighters clashed with security forces in northern Yemen on Friday February 28, 2014. The fighters were from the Houthi movement which is seeking to strengthen its hold on the north. Two soldiers were killed in the attack and four others were wounded when Houthis attacked a security checkpoint in the northwestern al Jawf province. An exchange of fire took place as a result of the attack and three of the Houthi attackers were killed and several others were then arrested. Violence erupted after members of the Houthi group staged a protest in al Hazm, the provincial capital of al Jawf province, against what they said was the government's failure to boost the economy and end violence. Armed Houthis exchanged fire with soldiers at an army checkpoint near a local government compound, leaving at least 10 Houthis and three soldiers dead. The Houthis said they were attacked by armed Islah members supported by a group from the army.
On Saturday March 1, 2014, we were told that five civilians were injured in the southern province of Shabwa when a roadside bomb exploded. A mine planted by terrorists hit a civilian car at a main street in Shabwa's provincial capital of Ataq city. As a result, five people were injured.
Gunmen have ambushed a colonel in the security forces in central Yemen, killing him and wounding his guard. The colonel was traveling by vehicle Sunday March 2, 2014, on the outskirts of the city of Radaa, south of Sanaa. Meanwhile, armed tribesmen clashed with security forces on the southern edge of Sanaa, leaving two gunmen dead and three soldiers wounded. The clashes erupted when the force attempted to prevent the tribesmen from entering Sanaa with guns, in line with a government policy to limit weapons in the capital. The tribesmen’s attempt to enter Sanaa a “provocation.”
Yemen Monday February 3, 2014:
A senior military official survived an assassination attempt in southern Yemen on Tuesday March 4, 2014. Gen. Qassim Laboza, the commander of the 2nd Infantry Division, survived an attack by suspected Al-Qaeda militants on a military patrol in Shabwa province. Two soldiers were killed in the attack. ---
al-Qaida militants operating in Yemen have killed, execution-style, one of their own, a man they accused of spying for the United States. The man was killed on Thursday March 6, 2014 by a militant firing squad and his body was hung from a street light pole for public display in the town of Shahr in the southeastern Hadramawt province.
Officials confirmed on Wednesday March 5, 2014, that Admiral Qasim Laboza, commander of the Second Armoured Brigade in Shabwa had managed to escape an assassination attack as he was traveling through an area located near the seaport of Belhaf, home to Yemen LNG terminal. While the Admiral was suffered some injuries, none believed to be life-threatening, members of his staff were sadly not as lucky.
A US drone strike in northern Yemen on Wednesday March 5, 2014, killed four suspected Al-Qaeda members, including an Iraq veteran. The unmanned aircraft fired two rockets at a vehicle in the Khalka area of Jawf province; among those killed was Ali Juraym, a local militant chief who had fought in Iraq.
Unidentified gunmen on Thursday March 6, 2013, gunned down a senior officer in Yemen's domestic intelligence agency in capital Sanaa. Armed men on a motorbike opened fire on Colonel Abdel-Malak al-Azri of Yemen's Political Security Office near Sanaa airport, killing him instantly.
al-Qaida militants operating in the country have killed, execution-style, one of their own, a man they accused of spying for the United States. The man was killed on Thursday March 6, 2014, by a militant firing squad and his body was hung from a street light pole for public display in the town of Shahr in the southeastern Hadramawt province. An al-Qaida flier distributed to residents said the execution was in "retribution" for anyone who deals with the Americans. It claims the man, who was not identified, had been placing microchips in cars and safe houses used by al-Qaida members to guide missiles fired by U.S. drones.
At least two Yemeni soldiers and a militant were killed in a clash when militants tried to attack a military compound in southern Yemen on Saturday March 8, 2014. The al Qaeda militants approached the compound in Lawdar town with suicide belts, hand grenades and explosive devices, when soldiers from the 115th Infantry Brigade and members of neighbourhood patrols confronted them and killed one of them who carried Saudi nationality, injured another and arrested two. Two soldiers were also killed in the clash and a third was wounded.
At least 40 people have been killed in three days of fighting between Shi'ite Muslim rebels and Sunni tribesmen, we were told on Sunday March 9, 2014. Fighters loyal to the Shi'ite Houthi tribe, who have repeatedly fought government forces since 2004, are trying to tighten their grip on the north as Yemen moves towards a federal system that gives more power to regional authorities.
Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi has sacked his interior minister and an intelligence chief after a rise in unrest in the country we were told on Saturday March 8, 2014.
Unidentified attackers gunned down a soldier between the Ebar and Wadeia regions of the Hadhramaut province; the shooting was probably linked to the local drug trade. In the Abyan province, meanwhile, seven soldiers were injured when their vehicle struck a landmine.
A US drone strike in northeast Yemen has killed four suspected al-Qaeda members on Monday March 10, 2014. Two missiles struck two vehicles in the Wadi Abida area, east of Sanaa, killing the occupants "who were all al-Qaeda members. Obad Mubarak al-Shabwani and Jaafar al-Shabwani, "both local chiefs of al-Qaeda," were among the passengers.
One soldier was killed and several others kidnapped during Tuesday March 11, 2014, clashes with unidentified gunmen in Yemen's southern Hadhramaut province. The gunmen blocked the main road between the Al-Abr and Al-Wadia districts and opened fire on a military vehicle. One soldier was killed and another injured in the shooting, while the militants kidnapped several soldiers.
Two Yemeni soldiers were killed on Thursday March 13, 2014, when Shi'ite Muslim Houthi tribal fighters attacked an army base near the capital Sanaa. Another four soldiers were injured in the attack. Four Houthi rebels were also injured. ---
Six Shiite rebels and two soldiers were killed near Sanaa on Thursday March 13, 2014, as Huthis continue to push south towards the Yemeni capital. Eight of the Huthi rebels, also known as Ansarullah (Partisans of God), were wounded in the fighting in Qaratel. The firefight followed a rebel ambush, and came after days of bloody clashes between Ansarullah and tribesmen backing the influential Sunni Al-Islah (reform) party in which at least 22 people have reportedly been killed since the weekend.
Yemeni troops shot dead a young Southern Movement activist Friday March 14, 2014, during a raid in the port city of Aden. They said the troops were searching for secessionists at dawn when they opened fire on around a dozen activists who had come out into the street, killing one of them.
A senior Yemeni police officer was killed when a street patrol in the southern city of Aden intervened to stop gunmen from killing a judge we were told Saturday March 15, 2014. Colonel Tareq Sharaf was shot in an overnight gun battle with the assailants, two of who were wounded and arrested.
On Sunday March 16, 2014, three alleged al-Qaida operatives have accidentally blown themselves up in the province's Habban region while outfitting a car with explosives in preparation for an operation in the southern Yemeni province of Shabwa. Tribesmen from the area and security officials identified the three, one Saudi and two Yemenis, as al-Qaida members.
Gunmen in Yemen's southeastern Hadramawt province killed two soldiers in an ambush on an army patrol on Monday March 17, 2014. Unknown gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades at an army vehicle” in the town of Shehr killing both soldiers on board, before fleeing.
A car bombing has targeted the military intelligence department in the southern port city of Aden, killing at least one person. The parked car was detonated by remote control and exploded just outside the department building in the city's Sabr area on Tuesday March 18, 2014. At least 13 people, both passers-by outside and troops inside the building, were wounded. The front of the facade of the two-story building was badly damaged while several nearby buildings also sustained minor damage.
Shiite rebels have begun withdrawing from positions they seized near the Yemeni capital under a truce agreed with armed tribesmen allied with the influential Sunni Al-Islah (reform) party we were told on Thursday March 20, 2014. But some rebel fighters, known as Ansarullah or Huthis, are refusing to evacuate positions they won after months of deadly battles despite an ultimatum by the army. The army meanwhile has deployed to prevent those who have left from returning to their positions.
Tribesmen bombed Yemen's main crude export pipeline on Saturday March 22, 2014, forcing oil flows to be stopped. Its main export pipeline carries around 70,000-110,000 bpd of Marib light crude an export terminal on the Red Sea.
Twelve people were killed Saturday March 22, 2014, in clashes between Yemeni forces and Shiite rebels on the outskirts of the northern city of Amran. The rebels, known as Houthis or Ansarullah, had traveled to Amran to take part in a demonstration, but shooting erupted when they insisted on crossing a checkpoint to the northern entrance to the city with their weapons. Eight rebels were among the dead, as well as two soldiers and two civilians.
Suspected militants killed 20 members of Yemen's security forces in a dawn raid on a checkpoint on Monday March 24, 2014. The troops belonged to a paramilitary unit under the Interior Ministry, were mostly asleep when the raiders attacked the checkpoint east of the provincial capital al-Mukalla. The terrorist attack, involving four armed vehicles, surprised a security checkpoint ... resulting in 20 members of the special security forces being killed.
On Tuesday March 25, 2014, Yemeni troops have freed an Italian UN staffer and his driver, hours after they were abducted from a diplomatic district of the capital. The Italian UN Development Program employee was "in good" health" after his ordeal. The kidnappers were stopped at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Sanaa where they were arrested and the hostages freed.
A Yemeni man was killed on Wednesday March 26, 2014, in a bomb explosion in the southern Aden city. The man was driving his car near a police station when the explosive charge exploded in Aden's al-Qahira district.
Two Yemeni soldiers and two al-Qaeda militants were killed on Tuesday March 25, 2014 during clashes in Yemen's western province of Al-Hadida. Security forces detained four al-Qaeda militants during the early hours of the day. Fresh clashes then erupted, leading to the fighting in which the soldiers and militants were killed. The remaining al-Qaeda members fled to nearby mountains, leaving behind a car full of weapons.
Two Yemeni soldiers and two suspected Al-Qaeda fighters were killed Friday March 28, 2014, when Special Forces stormed a militant hideout in the southern province of Daleh. The force raided an apartment in the Damt area rented by militants a week ago allegedly to plot an attack.
Two members of Yemen’s auxiliary Popular Resistance Committees were killed in an overnight ambush by presumed Al Qaeda members in the south we were told on Sunday March 30, 2014. The men were gunned down on the road between Loder and Moudia northeast of Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province. The attackers, who escaped after the killings.
Two people from Al-Ashraf tribe were killed and two others injured in clashes between two feuding tribes in northern Yemen we were told on Sunday March 30, 2014. Gunmen from Al-Haddad and Al-Ashraf tribes engaged in a gun battle in Al-Wadi directorate in Ma'rib province against the background of a bitter, long-standing feud between the two sides.
A Yemeni policeman was killed and two others were injured on Monday March 31, 2014 in a drive-by shooting in the southern Ad Dali' province. Unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on soldiers manning a checkpoint in the province and fled the scene.
Fighting in western Yemen has killed three soldiers and two al-Qaida militants. Militants first attacked a security checkpoint early Tuesday April 1, 2014, in the town of Wassab in Damar province, killing one soldier, then fled to the nearby Hudayda province. Security forces pursued the militants into Hudayda, where clashes lasted for nearly two hours. Two soldiers and two militants died while four were arrested.
Attackers on a motorbike shot dead two Yemeni policemen in the southern separatist bastion of Daleh overnight we were told on Tuesday April 1, 2014. The two attackers, one riding pillion, fled after gunning down the officers guarding the southern town’s police station. A third policeman was wounded in the shooting.
Al-Qaeda attacked a Yemeni army headquarters in a heavily patrolled district of Aden on Wednesday April 2, 2014, sparking a gun battle that killed 20 people, most of them militants. The building targeted is located in the supposedly tightly secured coastal district of Tawahi that hosts intelligence and political police headquarters, a naval base and a presidential residence. Ten of the assailants were killed, along with a suicide bomber who detonated his explosives-laden car at an entrance to the base. Six soldiers were killed and 14 wounded, while three civilians including a seven-year-old child were also among those who died.
Suspected Al Qaida militants riding in a convoy of vehicles attacked an army post in Hadramaut province in southeast Yemen on Friday April 4, 2014, killing eight soldiers and wounding 11. The attackers approached the position on board several vehicles and opened fire on the soldiers with different types of weapons. The militants targeted a post known as Hanine in the area of Al Qatn town in the centre of the vast semi-desert province.
An aide to a senior Yemeni government military adviser and three security guards were wounded when a bomb exploded near his car on Saturday April 5, 2014. It was not immediately clear who detonated it as Fawaz al-Dhibri's vehicle went past. All four were in a stable condition in hospital. ---
On Monday April 7, 2014, 13 members of a kidnapping ring have been arrested over involvement in a spate of abductions in the Arab Peninsula country. The detainees had been involved in several cases of kidnapping foreigners and merchants in Yemen, describing the arrests as a "distinguished security success".
Suspected militants killed five soldiers guarding a checkpoint in southeastern Yemen on Tuesday April 8, 2014, and a leader of a Shi'ite Muslim party was wounded in a drive-by shooting in the capital Sana'a in which two guards died. Gunmen in two vehicles stormed the Buroum checkpoint on the border between Shabwa and Hadramout provinces with automatic fire and grenades, killing the five soldiers. The attack was the third in two weeks in Hadramout. Last month suspected militants killed 20 members of Yemen's security forces in a raid on a checkpoint in Hadramout. Earlier this month, an officer and four soldiers were killed in the southeastern province.
An army soldier was seriously injured Tuesday April 8, 2014, in a militant attack in Yemen's southern Hadhramaut province. Unidentified gunmen opened fire at the soldier in Hadhramaut's al-Shahr city.
Three soldiers were killed on Wednesday April 9, 2014, in renewed clashes between the army and Shiite Houthi militants in Yemen's northern Amran province. The violence broke out when Houthi militants tried to set up military checkpoints at the province's entrances.
Two Saudi soldiers have been killed in a clash with unidentified gunmen who fired on them from across the border with Yemen. A border guard patrol in the southwestern province of Asir "came under heavy gunfire on Wednesday April 9, 2014, from unknown sources inside Yemeni territory. The attack triggered a gun battle which resulted in the death of sergeant Abdulrazaq al-Qhamidi and soldier Mohammed al-Qahtani. The Saudi authorities were coordinating with their counterparts in Yemen to investigate the attack.
About six civilians were wounded Thursday April 10, 2014, in a roadside bombing in Yemen's southern province of Lahj. A small bus touched off an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) near a crowded public market in Yafea region in Lahj province. The explosion injured six people.
Shiite rebels believed to be seeking to advance on Yemen's capital have attacked an army post in a neighbouring city, killing three soldiers and losing two of their own we were told on Thursday April 10, 2014. The Zaidi rebels, also known as Ansarullah or Huthis, carried out the attack in Amran late on Wednesday. Military sources have said their objective was to seize Amran and, from there, lay siege to the capital.
An army soldier was killed and another injured on Saturday April 12, 2014, in a militant attack in Yemen's southern Hadhramaut province. Unidentified militants attacked a military camp in provincial capital Tarim.
Unidentified gunmen in Yemen shot dead a Saudi Arabian border guard and wounded another in the early hours of Monday April 14, 2014. The guards came under heavy fire from the Yemeni side of the border in the mountainous eastern part of Jizan province in the southwest. On Thursday two border guards in Asir province, next to Jizan, were killed by gunfire from over the Yemeni border.
Suspected al-Qaida militants have assassinated the deputy governor of a southern province. The attackers opened fire at Hussein Dayan as he was leaving his home on Tuesday April 15, 2014, heading to work in the province of al-Bayda, a militant stronghold. Dayan was killed instantly and the militants fled.
Despite having little history of domestic terrorism, New Zealand and Australia were drawn into the global debate on drone strikes Wednesday April 16, 2014, after confirming that a citizen from each country was killed in Yemen last year. The men were killed during a November counter-terror drone strike along with three known al-Qaida operatives. The New Zealander had been watched by intelligence agencies and had first attended some kind of terrorist training camp. New Zeland said drone strikes by the United States were justified in some circumstances.
Suspected Yemeni smugglers shot dead a Saudi soldier near the kingdom's border with Yemen we were told on Tuesday April 15, 2014. The clash between a Saudi patrol and "Yemeni smugglers" in the southwestern province of Jizan also left a Saudi border guard wounded. The Saudi troops seized 14 guns left behind by the smugglers at the site of the clash. ---
A soldier was abducted Thursday April 17, 2014, in Yemen's southern Shabwa province. Unidentified militants took soldier Mohamed Morgan hostage in provincial capital Ataq. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the abduction. The kidnappers will try to use the captured soldier as a bargaining chip with which to pressure Yemeni authorities to release detained colleagues.
A Yemeni army officer -Col. Humaid Zayed- was gunned down in a Thursday April 17, 2014, drive-by shooting in Seiyun city in the southern province of Hadhramaut.
An American drone strike has killed nine suspected al-Qaida militants and inadvertently killed and wounded some civilians. The Saturday April 19, 2014, raid targeted a car carrying the militants in the Sawmaa area in the al-Bayda province at the time another car was nearby carrying civilians. At least six civilians were killed and wounded. The deputy governor of al-Bayda was assassinated Tuesday by suspected al-Qaida militants.
Drone airstrikes targeting suspected al-Qaida training camps in a rugged mountain region in southern Yemen have killed more than 30 militants over two days. At least 25 militants were killed Sunday April 20, 2014, and 10 militants and three civilians were killed Saturday.
Yemeni forces, backed by U.S. drone strikes, hit al-Qaida militants for a second straight day Monday April 21, 2014, in an assault on a major base of the terror group hidden in the remote southern mountains. The government said 55 militants were killed so far. The sprawling base was a rare instance of a permanent infrastructure set up by al-Qaida's branch in the country. Built over the past months, it includes a training ground, storehouses for weapons and food and vehicles used by the group to launch attacks. The base is in a remote mountain valley called Wadi al-Khayala in the rugged Mahfad region at the border between Abyan, and the neighbouring provinces of Shabwa, and al-Bayda. The first strikes came Sunday in an attack on training grounds for the group. New strikes, believed to include U.S. drone hits, came Monday. Another airstrike Saturday in al-Bayda killed at least nine militants.
Two policemen were killed Thursday April 24, 2014, when suspected Al Qaeda gunmen raided a security outpost in Y Shibam, Yemen's southeastern province of Hadramout. The Al Qaeda attackers fired two rocket-propelled grenades toward a key police checkpoint in Shibam city. The terrorist attacks were to be an angry reaction to the multiple US drone strikes Sunday on militant hideouts in the country's southern regions.
A foreigner living in Yemen shot dead two gunmen who tried to abduct himon Thursday April 24, 2014. The two armed men tried to kidnap a foreign citizen as he was leaving a barber in Hadda Street in Sanaa. He was able to resist and shot them with a revolver he had in his possession. Accomplices of the gunmen in a car with no number plates managed to get away.
Al-Qaeda militants have seized hospitals in southern Yemen to treat wounded comrades following blistering air strikes that killed scores of gunmen in two days we were told on Thursday April 24, 2014. An intensive aerial campaign by US drones and Yemeni jet fighters on Al-Qaeda bases in the rugged mountains of nearby Abyan province killed some 70 militants over the weekend. On Sunday, militants stormed the hospital of Azzan, in Shabwa province, as well as two smaller medical centres in nearby districts. They counted experienced doctors among their number, who tended the wounded. After the raids, militants arrived with casualties in pick-up trucks, accompanied by several doctors, including Arabs and foreigners. ---
A German diplomat has been injured in a kidnapping attempt in the capital, Sanaa. Unknown gunmen tried to stop the car of two German diplomats Monday April 28, 2014, in the southern Hadda neighborhood, home to many of the city's embassies. When the two men did not stop their car, the would-be kidnappers opened fire and one of the Germans sustained light injuries.
Yemeni forces have launched an operation to drive Al-Qaeda fighters out of southern towns, where blistering air strikes killed nearly 60 militants last week we were told on Tuesday April 29, 2014. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula jihadists established strongholds in towns and rugged zones in Abyan and Shabwa provinces after security forces chased them from major cities in Abyan in 2012. Yemen and US drone strikes last week targeted bases of AQAP. Army troops backed by local militiamen had moved in to "purge" the towns of Ahwar and Al-Mahfad, in Abyan province, and Azzan, Al-Houta, Al-Rawda and Al-Saeed in Shabwa province.
Yemeni military on Tuesday April 29, 2014, launched a major offensive targeting al-Qaida hideouts and strongholds, killing at least eight suspected militants. Backed by tanks and heavy weaponry, the military clashed with suspected al-Qaida fighters in the mountain areas of the Mahfad region. Eight al-Qaida militants and three security forces were killed.
Suspected Al-Qaeda militants killed 18 Yemeni soldiers in separate ambushes Tuesday April 29, 2014, as the army launched a ground offensive against their remaining strongholds in the south. Twelve militants were also killed when the ambush in Shabwa province sparked a firefight. Ten soldiers were also wounded and 15 captured.
Suspected Al-Qaeda jihadists have executed three Yemeni soldiers they captured in an ambush of an army convoy backing an offensive against extremist strongholds in the south we were told on Wednesday April 30, 2014.
Yemeni troops backed by aircraft killed six suspected Al Qaeda militants as they pressed a ground offensive in the south we were told on Thursday May 1, 2014. The assault that began overnight focused on the Shabwa province towns of Maifaa and Azzan. Three vehicles were destroyed and six suspected militants travelling in them killed. The army launched a major offensive on Tuesday aimed at clearing the militants from their remaining strongholds in villages and smaller towns in Shabwa and neighbouring Abyan province. So far, a total of 21 soldiers and 21 suspected militants have been reported killed in the ground offensive, which followed intense US and Yemeni air strikes last week.
Yemen Saturday May 3, 2014:
- On Friday Yemeni government forces killed five al Qaeda militants and wounded dozens of others in south Yemen in the fourth day of an offensive against Islamist insurgents.
- The Yemeni army killed a top Al-Qaeda operative with Chechen links. Abu Islam al-Shishani was the second foreign jihadist to be killed this week.
- Officials blamed AQAP for a suicide bombing at an intelligence post that wounded two guards, and after gunmen killed an army officer in Aden.
- On Friday, AQAP leader Qassem al-Rimi threatened to strike back at any party involved in the drone campaign, and denied that foreigners made up the bulk of the group's jihadists.
- On Friday, the defence minister announced that local jihadist commander Abu Muslim al-Uzbeki had been killed in clashes, also in Abyan province.
Yemen's al-Qaida branch says one of its local commanders has died from wounds he suffered during an attack by the Yemeni army and U.S. drones. Ali bin Likra al-Kazimy died Saturday May 3, 2014, after a military attack on one of its camps in the town of Mahfad last week.
Yemen Saturday May 3, 2014:
Yemen Sunday May 4, 2014:
Yemeni government forces captured al Qaeda's main stronghold in the southern part of the country on Tuesday May 6, 2014, after insurgents blew up the local government compound there and fled.
Yemeni jetfighters have pounded several suspected militant hideouts in the southern Shabwah province including Ramlah, Maifaa al-Qadima and Mazraat Saqr, as a security operation we were told on Monday May 5, 2014. The airstrikes left numerous militants dead or injured.
Assailants blew up Yemen's main oil export pipeline halting crude flows while other gunmen attacked electricity lines, causing a power outage in most of the country's northern cities. The attacks late on Tuesday and early on Wednesday May 7, 2014, coincided with an offensive by Yemeni government forces in mountainous areas of southern Yemen that led to the capture of the militants' main stronghold in that region. The oil pipeline was bombed twice in less than 12 hours late on Tuesday in an area between the central Maarib province and the capital Sanaa. The pipeline carries crude from the Maarib fields in central Yemen to the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea.
Yemeni forces on Wednesday May 7, 2014, killed three members of a militant cell who authorities believe carried out assassinations in the capital Sanaa and attacked a German diplomat late last month. The Special Forces raided a house in the Shmailah district of south Sanaa and killed three al Qaeda militants. They were behind the attempted killing of the German diplomat.
Yemen's army seized control of major Al-Qaeda stronghold Azzan in the southern Shabwa province as an offensive against militants entered its tenth day Thursday May 8, 2014. An agreement was reached between local tribal dignitaries and Al-Qaeda, allowing militants to withdraw without fighting in order to spare the city bloodshed and destruction. ---
Yemen Friday May 9, 2014:
One of the two officers at the U.S. Embassy in Yemen who shot and killed a pair of suspected al-Qaida gunmen was getting a haircut at a barbershop when the attempted abduction took place we were told on Sunday May 11, 2014. The attempted kidnapping took place on April 24. The armed militants arrived in a battered SUV and burst into the shop shouting: "Police! Police!" The officials said one of the two Americans was having his hair cut, while the second waited for his turn. One of the Americans killed both militants. The Americans were a CIA officer and a lieutenant colonel with the elite Joint Special Operations Command.
At least ten Yemeni police and a civilian have been killed in a suicide bomb attack in the southern city of Mukalla. The bomber drove up to a police station and started an argument to draw more officers to the scene before detonating his device. The explosion at the police station caused part of the building to collapse while other officers were having lunch inside. The civilian cook at the station was also killed. A separate dawn attack on a presidential guard checkpoint in the capital Sanaa led to the deaths of three gunmen and a civilian. The latest violence comes only two days after four soldiers were killed in a gun battle with militants in the capital.
A Yemeni intelligence officer was gunned down by unidentified men Sunday May 11, 2014, in the country's Lahj province. The assailants opened fire with automatic rifles on Tawzia Hassan Ahmed's car in a main street in Houta city, Lahj's provincial capital, killing him on the spot. Ahmed was returning home from his workplace when the gunmen riding on a motorcycle sprayed bullets at his vehicle.
A drone strike killed six Al-Qaeda suspects in Yemen's east Monday May 12, 2014. The pilotless aircraft targeted a vehicle near Al-Husun, a village in Marib province. In the capital Sanaa, the US embassy announced the mission "will remain closed for consular services through May 15," adding that it could remain shut for even longer depending on the situation.
Clashes that followed two simultaneous attacks by al-Qaeda suspects on army positions in Yemen's southern province of Shabwa killed 10 soldiers and 13 jihadists on Wednesday May 14, 2014. The military's losses included General Mohsen Saeed al-Ghazali, an aide to Yemen's defense minister who was killed in one of the two attacks in Azzan and neighboring Jul al-Rida. Troops on Wednesday "repelled two simultaneous attacks by al-Qaeda" on army positions in Azzan and Jul al-Rida, killing three attackers and wounding others. The attacks sparked clashes between troops and jihadists in which eight soldiers were also wounded, the officer said. Several cars and homes were damaged in the exchange of fire, and that many families in Azzan have been fleeing the city due to the violence.
Five suspected al Qaeda militants were killed when Yemeni fighter planes targeted their vehicle in the southern province of Shabwa we were told on Wednesday May 14, 2014.
A Yemeni woman on Saturday May 17, 2014, blew up a main oil export pipeline in eastern Yemen to put pressure on authorities to release her brother. Raysa Saleh al-Radmani said she opened fire on the pipeline in the eastern province of Marib, blaming what she described as "procrastination" by Yemeni authorities to release her brother. This the first time a Yemeni petroleum pipeline is blown up by a woman since this country's pipelines started to be targeted years ago. ---
Yemen’s military said Saturday May 17, 2014, it has regained control of an Al Qaida stronghold in the country’s south as part of an ongoing offensive, an attack that killed seven militants and two soldiers. The military said its soldiers regained control of the town of Azzan in Shabwa province. Elsewhere in the province, soldiers opened fire on militants as they tried to ambush a military patrol in Qarn Al Sawda, an attack that killed five militants and two soldiers.
Two Yemeni soldiers were killed on Monday May 19, 2014, in an ambush by militants in the southern province of Hadhramaut. Militants believed to be affiliated with Al-Qaeda targeted a military patrol in Al-Shahr city, killing the two soldiers.
Eleven Yemeni soldiers and 14 Shiite Huthi rebels were killed Tuesday May 20, 2014, during clashes in a stronghold of the insurgents in the north of the country. Dozens of other combatants were wounded in the gunfight that erupted on the western outskirts of Amran city. A military source said earlier that three soldiers were killed in the clashes which broke out when rebels attacked an army position in the area. Tensions remain high in Amran where Huthis have been trying to enforce their presence through armed parades and protests against the military.
Yemen Tuesday May 20, 2014:
A Sanaa criminal court on Wednesday May 21, 2014, handed prison terms of between two and eight years to three defendants convicted of involvement with an al-Qaeda-affiliated armed gang. Yasser Ahmed al-Zarhani and Haitham Mansour Abdul Jalil al-Zaatari were sentenced to seven and eight years in prison respectively and Mohammed Ali Saleh was sentenced to two. The defendants were convicted of planning to carry out criminal acts targeting army and security forces, military and security facilities, officers and foreigners. The convicts also were given a three-year travel ban after they serve their terms.
A suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden car into a checkpoint manned by Shi'ite Muslim fighters in northern Yemen on Friday May 23, 2014, killing at least three people. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the attack in al Jawf province bore the hallmarks of Sunni Islamist al Qaeda militants. The attacker had been heading for a Houthi cultural centre but when stopped at the checkpoint nearby and he detonated the car there. Two Houthis were killed in the blast.
Yemen Friday 23, 2014:
At least 27 people were killed in an overnight raid by gunmen on a city in southeastern Yemen, we were told on Saturday May 24, 2014. Armed with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and explosives, attackers drove in from the surrounding desert on 15 pickup trucks into Seyoun after detonating a car bomb at the entrance to the city in Hadramout province. The militants targeted at least seven locations, including the main military posts, the local police headquarters, bank branches and the airport. The city's electricity supply was cut during the attack and one could hear explosions and gunfire throughout the night. The militants briefly captured some buildings before withdrawing early on Saturday. They wanted to capture the city and control it. 20 attackers died and they took away 18 bodies. Five members of the security forces and two soldiers died in the fighting.
Yemen's security forces killed five al-Qaida members and captured four in a raid north of the capital Sana'a on Sunday May 25, 2014. Anti-terrorism units raided a cell in Bayt al-Othdri, in the Arhab region. The forces exchanged fire with the wanted men who were holed up inside a house. Five were killed and four were captured. An officer of the country's intelligence service also died in the gunfight,
Yemen's security forces on Sunday May 25, 2014, killed a senior al Qaeda leader wanted for attacks on local and foreign targets in Sanaa after a raid near the capital in which at least four other militants died. Two officers also died when anti-terrorism units raided an al Qaeda hideout and a car bomb-making facility in Bayt al-Adhari and Bani Hakam districts, in the Arhab region, and fought a gunbattle with its occupants. Two officers were also wounded. Security forces also conducted two other separate raids in downtown Sanaa.
Shiite rebels in northern Yemen attacked army positions and killed five soldiers Tuesday May 27, 2014. The Shiite Huthi rebels launched attacks on three army posts on the northern and eastern entrances to the city of Amran and wounded several other troops. The attacks sparked clashes that continued throughout Tuesday morning that left several rebels dead and wounded. On May 20, medics said 25 soldiers and rebels were killed in similar clashes in Amran. The rebels are suspected of trying to enlarge their sphere of influence as the country is set to be split into six regions, pushing out from their mountain strongholds in the far north to areas closer to the capital Sanaa.
A gunman riding on the back of a motorbike shot dead a Yemeni intelligence officer and his son in the southeastern city of Mukalla on Thursday Mat 29, 2014. The attack was carried out in broad daylight in the heart of the port city, capital of Hadramawt province, an Al-Qaeda stronghold. Colonel Salmin al-Obtani was the latest in a string of army and intelligence officers to be killed in hit-and-run attacks in Hadramawt. ---
Yemen has resumed crude oil flows on Friday May 30, 2014, after repairs to its main export pipeline following an attack by tribesmen this month. Yemen’s oil and gas pipelines have repeatedly been sabotaged by insurgents or tribesmen since anti-government protests created a power vacuum in 2011, causing fuel shortages and slashing export earnings for the impoverished country. On May 15, tribesmen in the central Maarib province blew up the pipeline, which carries around 70,000-110,000 bpd of Marib light crude to an export terminal on the Red Sea.
Clashes between Shiite rebels and tribesmen backed by national army units in Yemen have killed at least 12 people we were told on Friday May 30, 2014. Fighting resumed late Thursday night when Hawthi rebels attacked a checkpoint and two locations where tribesmen from the Islamist Islah Party had gathered in the city of Amran. The clashes killed five tribesmen and at least seven Hawiths, including one of their leaders. The army and police forces managed to drive away the Hawthis fighters.
Suspected al-Qaeda militants shot dead a Yemeni intelligence officer on Saturday May 31, 2014, in the southern province of Lahej. The officer was in his car when he was shot by the militants carrying machine guns. The dead man, Colonel Nasser al-Issai, was the latest in a string of army and intelligence officers to have been killed in Yemen. So far more than 22 other senior officers have died this year.
A Yemeni intelligence officer survived an assassination attempt in the southern Hadhramaut province on Sunday June 1, 2014. Officer Hussein Saleh came under fire from unidentified gunmen riding a motorbike in Seiyun. The Yemeni officer was unhurt in the attack.
Four members of the Yemen-based al Qaeda offshoot were detained during a police raid at a hotel in the country's Hadramout province on Sunday June 1, 2014. The military police forces launched an operation and stormed a hotel in the Seiyun town of Hadramut province, detaining four al Qaeda operatives. The captured men were mid-level commanders of the al Qaeda group. They were involved in several drive-by shootings and armed attacks against security forces and intelligence officials in the province.
At least 120 people were killed in northern Yemen Monday fighting between Houthi rebels and government forces before a cease-fire was agreed we were told on Tuesday June 3, 2014. Yemeni war planes bombed positions held there by Houthi fighters and army forces clashed with the rebels, killing around 100 of them. He said about 20 government soldiers were killed as well. Fighting ended by Monday evening after the sides agreed a cease-fire and no clashes were reported Tuesday. Yemen has been in turmoil since 2011, when mass protests forced long-ruling president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.
Clashes between Shiite rebels and Islamist tribesmen backed by national army units have killed and wounded dozens in a northern city. The fighting intensified over the past 48 hours near the main prison of Amran, where military jets bombed Shiite Hawthi rebels trying to take control of the city. The Hawthis waged a six-year insurgency in the north, which officially ended in 2010. But the Hawthis, who belong to the Zaydi branch of Shiite Islam, recently have clashed with Sunni ultraconservatives.
The Yemeni security forces clashed with suspected al-Qaida gunmen at a military checkpoint in the southeastern province of Hadramout on Wednesday June 4, 2014, killing two terrorists and detaining four others. The security personnel manning a military checkpoint in Wadi Hadramout intercepted an al-Qaida vehicle loaded with explosives and ammunition, triggering a short shootout that ended with killing two terrorists and four others detained. The security forces found and seized heavy weapons hidden inside the truck and two policemen were also injured in the firefight that lasted for one hour.
The Yemen Army and Shi’ite rebels have agreed to a ceasefire on June 4, 2014, in the northern province of Amran. The agreement called for a ban on reinforcements on both sides in Amran. On June 5, at least 12 Yemeni soldiers were killed in an Al Qaida attack at an army checkpoint in the southern province of Shabwa. The ceasefire was arranged through mediation by United Nations envoy Jamal Benomar. The agreement was also said to include the deployment of 30 monitors.
Yemeni forces have killed 500 suspected Al-Qaeda militants in an all-out offensive against them in their southern strongholds that began on April 29 we were told on Thursday June 5, 2014. Forty soldiers were killed and another 100 wounded in the operation in the provinces of Shabwa and Abyan, in which 39 militants were captured. The army launched the offensive against Al-Qaeda in Shabwa and neighbouring Abyan in a bid to expel its forces from smaller towns and villages that escaped a previous sweep in 2012. Troops and militia have entered a series of towns, but analysts say their advances could be the result of a tactical retreat by the militants in coordination with local tribes.
At least two soldiers were killed Saturday June 7, 2014, when unidentified gunmen attacked a security checkpoint in Yemen. Suspected al Qaeda militants shot at troops manning the checkpoint near an armoured army brigade in Hadramout province. Meanwhile, authorities managed to defuse an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted near the main gate of the Special Security Forces headquarters in Hadramout's town of Seiyun.
At least 60 African migrants and two Yemeni crew perished in the treacherous waters off Yemen's coast last weekend, in a boat sinking that has just come to light and is believed to be the deadliest there this year we were told on Friday June 6, 2014. In the first four months of this year, 16,500 migrants and refugees, mainly Somalis, Ethiopians and Eritreans, have crossed the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea to land in Yemen, seen as a gateway to a better life in the Middle East. About twice as many crossed in the same period last year. It brought the known total of deaths at sea of people trying to reach Yemen to at least 121 so far this year.
A suspected Al-Qaeda attack on an army checkpoint in southeast Yemen on Saturday killed one soldier and wounded another. The attack targeted an army checkpoint in the Al-Qatn area of the semi-desert Hadramawt province. The gunmen, suspected Al-Qaeda militants, had fled.
Yemeni tribesmen kidnapped a foreign manager working for a US oil company in central province of Marib on Sunday June 8, 2014. The man was snatched along with his two Yemeni security bodyguards while they were driving to capital Sanaa. ---
On Tuesday June 10, 2014, a suspected Al-Qaeda gunman killed a soldier in a Yemeni provincial capital, bringing the death toll in the southern town of Huta to three in as many days. The soldier was shot dead at a checkpoint in the town, capital of Lahij province.
On Friday June 13, 2014, Yemenis awoke to a country without any electricity as a result of a suspected tribal attack on vital power lines in the central province of Marib the night before. The attack knocked out the country's national power grid entirely and left the Marib gas station in Bani al Jardan district out of service. The attack targeted power lines connecting Marib and Sana'a that are located in the Jaham district of Marib province. The power lines in Marib were attacked twice on June 9 and shortly after technicians had begun repairing the damage from the first assault, the same militants returned and attacked once again, ultimately leading to the nationwide power outage.
A suspected U.S. drone in Yemen’s south targeted a car carrying al-Qaida militants Saturday June 14, 2014, killing all five passengers. The attack took place in a mountainous area in al-Saied in the southern Shabwa province. One of those killed in the attack was a suspected al-Qaida leader named Musaad al-Habashi. The U.S. considers Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula to be the group’s most dangerous branch in the world and has linked it to a number of botched or foiled attacks on the U.S. homeland.
At least five soldiers were killed and 10 injured on Saturday June 14, 2014, in a car bomb attack. An explosive-packed vehicle blasted near an army outpost in the Abyan's district of Mahfad and five army personnel were killed and 10 others injured.
A suspected American drone in Yemen's south has targeted a car reportedly carrying al-Qaeda fighters, killing all five passengers. The attack on Saturday June 14, 2014, took place in a mountainous area in Mafraq al-Saeed area in the southern Shabwah province. One of those killed in the attack was a suspected al-Qaeda leader named Musaad al-Habashi.
A gunman shot dead eight members of staff from a military hospital in Yemen's main Southern city of Aden on Sunday June 15, 2014. The attacker opened fire with an assault rifle at an army minibus killing eight passengers, among them two women, and wounding 12 others. The bus was carrying doctors and nurses working for the military hospital in Aden.
At least 29 people have been killed in clashes between the Yemeni army and the Shiite Houthi group in the north of the country since Sunday night June 15, 2014. Seven Houthi militants and one soldier were killed in Mahshash Mountain area in northwestern Amran Province. The clashes are still ongoing and two soldiers were wounded in the clashes. Two army soldiers and 19 Houthi militants were killed in Jayef district in Hamdan directorate in Sanaa province when clashes flared up Sunday night. Three soldiers were also injured.
Yemeni warplanes hit Shiite rebel positions Tuesday June 17, 2014, in the north, where the army has come under repeated attacks after the collapse of a short-lived truce. The latest fighting with Houthi rebels, also known as Ansarullah, erupted Sunday, ending an 11-day truce reached through mediation backed by United Nations envoy Jamal Benomar. The Tuesday raids targeted rebel positions in the villages of Salata, Sahab and Bani Maymun, located at the foot of the strategic Jabal al-Dhine mountain. Dozens have been killed on both sides since Sunday. Late Monday, suspected rebels sabotaged main power lines, leaving the provinces of Amran and neighbouring Hajja in total darkness.
A least ten Shiite Houthi rebels were killed and two villagers injured in Tuesday June 17, 2014, clashes with armed villagers in northern Yemen. Houthi militants planted bombs in the homes of three tribal leaders in Dufair village in Sanaa's Bani Matar directorate and blew them up, which led to clashes with villagers. Houthi rebels also tried to take control of a mountain overlooking the village, but armed residents managed to repel the attack.
Shi'ite rebels fought Yemeni soldiers just 25 miles northwest of the capital Sanaa on Wednesday June 18, 2014 as they try to tighten their grip in the area before next year's presidential election. Shi'ite Houthi rebels were fighting government troops backed by tribal militia for a second day in several villages. Tribal sources said Houthi insurgents were also fighting government troops in two districts on Sanaa's western outskirts, also about 25 miles from the centre of the capital.
At least seven soldiers were killed after Shiite rebels attacked army posts in Yemen's Amran province Wednesday June 18, 2014. In the past two days, the rebels have attacked military posts in Bani Maimoon and al-Mihshash areas of the province.
A Yemeni army colonel shot his brother to death for belonging to Al-Qaeda and was then gunned down by his nephews in revenge we were told on Saturday June 21, 2014. The double murders took place Friday in the central Baida province of Yemen. Lieutenant Colonel Salah Barkani shot dead his brother, Alawi, when the middle-ranking Al-Qaeda operative came to visit relatives in the village of Mikras. When Alawi's sons learned of the incident, they went and killed their uncle. ---
Suspected al-Qaida militants killed a senior army officer in front of his home in the capital Sanaa we were told Saturday June 21, 2014. Two men on a motorcycle opened fire at Brigadier-General Abdullah al-Mehdar, a member of the committee assigned to restructure the armed forces, and fled. al-Mehdar was seriously injured last year in a bomb explosion, also in front of his home, and was flown to Jordan for treatment. Meanwhile a U.S. drone attacked targets Saturday in the province of al-Bayda, a militant stronghold.
Shi’ite Houthi fighters said on Saturday June 21, 2014, they had cut off the main road leading to Yemen’s main airport, as fighting between the rebels and the country’s military spreads to areas surrounding the capital, Sana’a. The rebels had positioned themselves in the Al-Jaraf area, which separates Sana’a International Airport from the Al-Daylami air force base on the outskirts of the city. The rebels also laid siege to the village of Al-Dhufair, a few miles outside Sana’a, during the last few days, bombing a reception center for the Yemeni armed forces as they tried to take control of the strategic area of Hamdan, northwest of the capital. They also besieged areas under the control of the rival Al-Ahmar tribe.
Suspected Al Qaeda militants shot dead a Yemeni intelligence officer in the southern city of Mukalla on Monday June 23, 2014. Gunmen on a motorbike killed Colonel Ahmed Radman, a member of Yemen's political security division. At least 25 other senior officers have been killed in Yemen this year. Another colonel was shot dead in the capital Sanaa on Saturday and an officer and a local official were killed in two Southern provinces on Sunday.
17 Yemeni policemen were wounded in an ambush by Shiite Huthi rebels as fighting between government forces and the rebels neared the capital we were told on Sunday June 22, 2014. The Huthis -also known as Ansarullah- have been pushing out of their northern mountain strongholds towards Sanaa in a suspected bid to expand their sphere of influence as Yemen is reorganised into six regions. Militants blocked a road in Sanaa's Al-Jarraf district, where the rebels have a representative office near to the interior ministry, and opened fire on police patrols from surrounding buildings. Seventeen policemen, including three officers, were wounded in the assault. The incident took place after authorities arrested two wanted rebels and tried to arrest others.
Militants have assassinated a senior intelligence officer in the country's capital, Sanaa. Col. Khaled al-Khawlani was killed in front of his house in a drive-by shooting on Wednesday June 25, 2014. Al-Khawlani was involved in investigating al-Qaida-linked militant cells suspected of being behind the abductions and killings of foreigners over the past months.
Clashes between Yemeni forces and Al Houthi rebels in the northern city of Amran claimed the lives of 13 civilians -, among them five children and two women- who died when their houses collapsed we were told Wednesday June 25, 2014. The fighting erupted when rebels attacked government forces near the University of Amran, in the western district of the city; dozens of houses and shops were destroyed.
Yemen Thursday June 26, 2014:
Militants attacked an international airport, a military barracks and a post office in the southern city of Sayoun on Thursday June 26, 2014, in a coordinated attack that set off clashes with troops and killed at least 15 people. The deadliest attack took place near a military barracks, where a suicide bomber killed at least nine civilians.
Yemen Saturday June 28, 2014:
At least two policemen were killed in a drive-by shooting attack by suspected al-Qaida gunmen in Yemen's southeastern province of al-Bayda on Monday evening June 30, 2014. Suspected al-Qaida attackers riding a motorbike opened fire at a military patrol in central al-Bayda province, leaving about two police members killed on the spot. The masked gunmen fled the scene before police reinforcements arrived.
Yemeni security forces lost 374 personnel fighting Al-Qaeda, northern rebels and southern separatists as well as in targeted assassinations during the first half of 2014 we were told on Wednesday July 2, 2014. The Army lost 211 troops, among them 12 officers, between January 1 and June 30, with 95 wounded. Special Forces under interior ministry command lost 94 policemen, including seven officers, and 31 wounded. Thirty-four other policemen, among them 18 officers, were murdered by gunmen on motorcycles. Ten others were wounded in similar attacks. During the same period, 17 intelligence officers were killed and one was wounded in hit-and-run attacks by gunmen on motorbikes, mostly in Sanaa and in restive southern provinces.
A senior Yemeni security officer was assassinated by unknown attackers on Wednesday July 2, 2014, in Yemen's southern province of Taiz. Unidentified gunmen riding a motorbike fired on Col. Ahmed Hanash near the building of Taiz's Post Office, killing him instantly. The incident occurred when Hanash was heading to work at Taiz's Security Headquarters.
Clashes between two Yemeni tribes over who owns a piece of land in the southeast believed to be rich in oil has left 15 people dead we were told on Wednesday July 2, 2014. Several others were wounded in firefights that erupted Tuesday between Al-Butahif tribesmen from the eastern Marib province and the Belhareth from adjacent Shabwa province. The two tribes are locked in a dispute over the ownership of a desert area between both provinces, and which they believe to be rich in oil. Six Al-Butahif members and nine Belhareth were killed in the clashes during which both light and medium weapons were used.
Suspected Al Qaeda militants launched an armed attack Thursday July 3, 2014, against a local government complex in Yemen's southeastern province of al-Bayda, leaving at least two soldiers and three assailants dead. The local government headquarters came under heavy fire by rocket-propelled grenades from Al Qaeda. Two soldiers and three attackers were killed in the exchange of gunfire. Suspected Al Qaeda militants also raided the house of al-Bayda's deputy governor, but police forces managed to repel the assault. Earlier in the day a group of Al Qaeda gunmen attacked a security checkpoint located near Seiyun's (a city in Hadramout) local airport, sparking armed clashes in the area". The militants attempted to raid the airport for a second time in less than a month after army and security reinforcements arrived in the area.
A Saudi security officer and a Yemeni soldier were killed in an attack on a border post between the two countries Friday July 4, 2014. A border security patrol came under fire near the Wadia post in the southern province of Sharura, killing the unit's chief. Security forces gave chase, killing three of the attackers, while a fourth was wounded and captured. One or two suspects were on the run.
Gunmen attacked a government complex Thursday July 3, 2014, in Yemen's central province of Baida, an Al-Qaeda stronghold, sparking a firefight that killed two assailants and wounded three policemen. An armed terrorist group attacked the complex where the residence of Baida deputy governor Sinan Halqum is also located. ---
At least two security members were killed when suspected al-Qaida gunmen attacked a military checkpoint near the border between Saudi Arabia and Yemen on Friday July 4, 2014. The al-Qaida suspected gunmen carried out an attack with rocket-propelled grenades against a military checkpoint and the Wadia border crossing with Saudi Arabia in southeastern Hadramout province. The masked gunmen in a four-wheel-drive vehicle opened fire with machine guns at the border guards and stormed the offices there. A short shootout occurred after the terrorist attack, which resulted in the killing of two security personnel and wounding three others at the scene.
A senior officer of the Yemeni Air Force was killed in a drive-by shooting attack by al-Qaida suspects in the southeastern province of Hadramout on Friday July 4, 2014. The assailants riding a motorbike opened fire and killed the officer of the Yemeni Air Force brigade named as Nasser in Ghayl Bawazir region in Hadramout province. The officer died instantly on the spot and the unidentified attackers fled the scene.
Clashes between Shiite rebels and government-allied tribesmen have killed at least 35 people and wounded 40 others in some of the fiercest fighting to hit the country in months we were told on Sunday July 6, 2014. At least 15 soldiers and 20 rebels were killed in two days of fighting that began Friday in and around the city of Amran, northwest of the capital, Sanaa. National army units fought with the tribesmen and military warplanes struck the rebels who tried to attack a government compound late Saturday. The Hawthis, who belong to the Zaydi sect, a Shiite branch, also accuse ultraconservative Muslims known as Salafis of trying to proselytize in their strongholds.
Clashes between suspected al-Qaida militants with security forces along the Saudi-Yemen border since Friday killed 10 people, including 5 assailants, we were told on Saturday July 5, 2014. Six gunmen fled to the south of Saudi Arabia in a four-wheel-drive vehicle and attacked a border post on Friday after attacking the Yemeni side of the border that left a Yemeni soldier dead. The following fighting killed three of the assailants along with three Saudi police. One of the assailants was wounded and arrested, while two others escaped. The two, who fled to an intelligence building after killing a Saudi police nearby Saturday morning, blew themselves up following hours of standoff with security forces.
Fighters from a Yemeni Shiite rebel group took control Tuesday July 8, 2014, of a northwestern city where they have been fighting for weeks with conservative Sunnis from one of the country's largest tribes. The rebels seized control of the city of Amran, about 45 miles north of the capital Sanaa, deploying fighters and vehicles at government offices, banks and shops. Witnesses said fighters from the Hashid tribal confederation, one of Yemen's largest, allied with the country's Muslim Brotherhood group, the Islah party, and were nowhere to be seen in the city. In weeks of fighting, the tribesmen were backed by a local army unit. But the rebel fighters did not storm or take over the military camps in the city.
Fighters from a Yemeni Shia rebel group have taken control of a northwestern city where they have been fighting for weeks with conservative Sunnis from one of the country's largest tribes. The rebels seized control of the city of Amran, about 70km north of the capital Sanaa, on Tuesday July 8, 2014, deploying fighters and vehicles at government offices, banks and shops.
Sanaa Yemeni authorities on Wednesday July 9, 2014, accused rebels of having carried out “atrocities” in the northern city of Amran that they seized after three days of fierce fighting. Rebels “stormed the headquarters of the 310th Armoured Brigade, looted weapons and equipment there, and killed a number of soldiers and officers. They have also taken over government headquarters in the town.
Tribesmen bombed Yemen's main oil export pipeline on Saturday July 12, 2014, halting crude flows. The attack took place in the al-Habab area of the central oil-producing province of Maarib, and the tribesmen blew up the pipeline that carries crude from Safer oilfields to Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea.
Suspected al Qaeda gunmen killed a Yemeni man in Hadramawt province Friday July 11, 2014, after accusing him of sorcery and practising black magic, which are banned under Islam. Hussein al-Jaafari was gunned down as he left his home in Tarim and died on the spot. The victim had been accused of practising sorcery and black magic, and his suspected killers belonged to the extremist al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Unidentified gunmen opened fire and killed a commander of the Yemeni police forces in the southeastern province of Hadramout on Saturday July 12, 2014. Suspected al-Qaida assassins killed the Chief of Civil Defence Forces (fire fighters) near the Local Council building in the elShahir town of Hadramout province. Unknown attackers shot Col. Ali Baras several times in his lower body as he was driving his own car nearby the Local Council headquarters in elShahir town. The gunmen fled the scene quickly after conducting the drive-by shooting attack; none of them was arrested.
Two days of clashes between Shiite rebels and Islamist tribesmen in the country's north have killed at least 35 fighters on both sides. The Hawthi rebels, who belong to a Shiite sect, have been battling their conservative Sunni rivals from one of Yemen's largest tribes, backed by a local army unit, in Jouf province since Tuesday July 15, 2014. The two sides are using artillery fire and Katyusha rockets.
Suspected Al-Qaeda militants attacked a post office in Yemen's Southeastern Hadramawt province, killing a policeman and making off with two million riyals ($10,000 we were told on Wednesday July 16, 2014. The policeman was guarding the post office in the town of Hura when attackers late Tuesday killed him and fled with the cash. Also in Hadramawt, in the city of Qoton, two Al-Qaeda suspects on a motorbike killed a civilian and wounded one of his relatives. In addition to launching regular attacks on the security forces, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula AQAP has also murdered several people brutally.
Gunmen have killed two Yemeni police in an attack on a camp for anti-riot forces in the central province of Baida, an Al-Qaeda stronghold we were told Thursday July 17, 2014. The assailants on board two vehicles fired machineguns at the camp in the town of Rada late on Wednesday, and on-duty policemen shot back at them. Two policemen were killed and a third was wounded in the clash; the assailants fled after failing to storm the camp.
Two Yemeni soldiers and a suspected Al-Qaeda gunman have been killed in a clash following an ambush in the southern province of Shabwa we were told on Friday July 18, 2014. The gunmen ambushed an army vehicle late Thursday on the main road in Al-Aram; the soldiers fired back at the assailants but two soldiers were killed in the confrontation and another was wounded. One attacker was shot dead in the clash and four were wounded. ---
Yemen resumed pumping crude oil through its main export pipeline on Thursday July 24, 2014 after repairs took place under army protection. Tribesmen on July 12 blew up the pipeline in the Serwah area of the central Maarib province, halting crude flows and disrupting a main source of revenue for the impoverished state. On Wednesday five government soldiers and two tribesmen were killed in clashes between solders and tribesmen which erupted when troops fought off armed tribesmen blocking a road leading to the site.
Al-Qaeda suspects on a motorbike shot dead an army officer Thursday July 24, 2014, in Lahij province of Southern Yemen. The gunmen opened fire at Major Bilal Karo near his home in Thalab town immediately killing him. The militants suspected of belonging to Al-Qaeda fled on their motorbike.
An officer of the Yemeni armed forces was shot dead by unidentified gunmen early on Thursday July 24, 2014, in the southern province of Lahj. Major Belal Karo, commander of an army unit in Lahj province, was gunned down as he left his residential building.
Yemen resumed pumping crude oil through its main export pipeline on Thursday July 24, 2014, after repairs took place under army protection and seven people were killed in brief clashes between solders and tribesmen. Tribesmen on July 12 blew up the pipeline in the Serwah area of the central Maarib province, halting crude flows and disrupting a main source of revenue for the impoverished state. Five government soldiers and two tribesmen were killed in clashes, which erupted when troops fought off armed tribesmen blocking a road leading to the site.
At least five Yemeni policemen were killed on Friday evening July 25, 2014, when suspected al-Qaida gunmen attacked a security checkpoint in the southeastern province of al-Bayda. Heavily armed gunmen fired machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades on a checkpoint manned by police troops near the main entrance of al-Bayda province, leaving five policemen killed and two others injured. Two of the assailants were injured in the assault. Two armoured vehicles were torched during the attack.
A British man held hostage in Yemen for the past five months has been released safely on Saturday July 26, 2014. Mike Harvey was kidnapped in capital city Sanaa in February.
Three simultaneous suicide car bomb attacks by Al-Qaeda on army posts in Southern Yemen and clashes that followed killed two soldiers and 10 militants on Sunday July 27, 2014. Dozens of terrorists had taken part in the dawn attacks that aimed to capture three army posts in Mahfad, in the province of Abyan. Two of the car bombs exploded before reaching their targets, while a third went off at the gate of a base.
A Yemeni military commander survived an assassination attempt Monday July 28, 2014, in the southern province of Ad Dali'. Unidentified militants fired two RPGs at the vehicle of Abdullah Dabaan, the commander of the 33rd Brigade. Six soldiers were injured in the attack. ---
A senior Yemeni army officer was gunned down in the southern province of Abyan on Tuesday July 29, 2014, by militants who are believed to be affiliated with Al-Qaeda. The officer was a colonel whose car was targeted in Abyan's Lawdar District. Abdullah al-Maaraji, the slain officer was the commander of the Yemeni army's infantry brigade that fought against Al-Qaeda in Lawdar District in 2012. The battle brought Yemeni army control back to the district. Yemen has started hitting hard at Al-Qaeda in its southern provinces since late April. Battles between the army and Al-Qaeda in the southern provinces of Shabwah and Abyan left 500 Al-Qaeda militants and 40 Yemeni troops dead.
Armed men blew up Yemen's main oil export pipeline on Wednesday July 30, 2014 halting crude flows and disrupting an important source of revenue for the impoverished state. Yemen's oil and gas pipelines have repeatedly been sabotaged by insurgents or tribesmen since anti-government protests led to a power vacuum in 2011, causing fuel shortages and slashing export earnings. Earlier on Wednesday, Yemen raised fuel prices in an attempt to ease the burden of energy subsidies on its state finances.
A presidential mediation committee on Saturday August 2, 2014, managed to broker a suspension of hostilities between the Yemeni army and the Shia Houthi movement in the northern Yemeni province of Al-Jawf. The two-phase agreement will include a total ceasefire in the first phase and also the handing in of positions captured by Houthi militants in the past days in the second phase. The first phase of the agreement will be implemented on Sunday by removing barriers placed by the militants and the Yemeni army on the ground.
Militants have killed at least nine soldiers in attacks in south and eastern Yemen over the past three days we were told on Monday August 4, 2014. A group of militants attacked a security checkpoint on a main road in Hadramout province in eastern Yemen killing six soldiers. The militants are believed to be from al Qaeda and they used machineguns to shoot the six soldiers. On Saturday, three soldiers were killed in a similar attack in the southern Shabwa province.
Yemen, Wednesday August 6, 2014:
On Wednesday August 6, 2014, 18 Al Qaeda operatives were killed in clashes against the armed forces in the south-eastern province of Hadhramawt. The military managed this Wednesday to take three Al Qaeda operatives into custody. Military Region's Commander Maj. Gen. Abdul-Rahman Al-Halili denied on Tuesday news reports which claimed Al Qaeda had managed to seize control over territories in the province.
Eleven suspected Al Qaida militants and four Yemeni soldiers were killed on Thursday August 7, 2014, in attacks on two army posts in the south-eastern province of Hadramaut. This came a day after clashes in which 18 militants and seven soldiers died in southern and southeast Yemen. An earlier toll had said 10 soldiers were killed on Wednesday. Gunmen attacked the military headquarters in the city of Sayun leaving seven dead among the assailants along with one soldier.
Fourteen soldiers have been executed by al-Qaida militants in Yemen in an apparent revenge attack after a recent army crackdown in the east of the volatile country. The soldiers, who were travelling home to Sana'a on a public bus, were ordered off and taken to a market in Seiyoun on Friday August 8, 2014. Their bullet-riddled bodies were found on a road near the city about three hours later. The militants had killed the soldiers for taking part in military operations against the group.
A drone strike on Saturday August 9, 2014 killed three suspected al-Qaida militants in Yemen's central province of Marib. The strike hit a house in the Obeida Valley, where the group is well represented. Two women were also injured.
A Yemeni policeman was killed and three others were injured Monday August 11, 2014, in an ambush by tribal militants in the northern Jawf province. A police patrol, dispatched to the Al-Lawz district to open a road blocked by tribal gunmen, fell into the ambush.
A bomb killed nine people in southern Yemen on Wednesday August 13, 2014 and tribal sources in the north said 15 more died in clashes between Shi'ite Muslim fighters and Sunnis loyal to an Islamist party. In the southern town of Saber in the Lahej province, suspected al Qaeda militants detonated a roadside explosive charge as bomb squads tried to defuse it while residents looked on, killing a total of nine people and wounding another 14. Three bomb disposal experts, two local residents and four members of security forces died in the explosion, which al Qaeda had claimed. In north-eastern Yemen, tribal sources said the fighting between the Shi'ite Houthi fighters and rivals loyal to the Islamist Islah party erupted in al-Jouf province on Tuesday night with both sides using heavy weaponry including tanks that were previously captured from the army.
Three Yemeni soldiers and two al Qaeda militants were killed when security forces foiled an attack by insurgents in the eastern province of Hadramout on Thursday August 14, 2014.
Ten soldiers were injured, including four seriously, in two blasts that took place near a security headquarters and a presidential palace in Al-Mukalla, in the southern Yemeni province of Hadhramaut on Friday August 15, 2014. One of the two blasts was caused by a booby-trapped car, while the other was caused by a rocket-propelled grenade. The blasts were followed by clashes between Yemeni security men and suspected Al-Qaeda militants. The two explosions coincided with a raid carried out by unknown militants on a branch of the private Yemen International Bank in the same city. It is not known whether the militants succeeded in seizing money from the bank. ---
A drone attack killed three suspected al Qaeda militants on Saturday August 16, 2014, in Yemen's eastern Hadramout province. The three armed men were traveling in a vehicle along a desert stretch between Yemen and Saudi Arabia's border when the drone shot two rockets at them. All three are dead.
Two Yemeni soldiers and four suspected militants were killed when soldiers raided a house used by insurgents in the restive eastern province of Hadramout we were told on Sunday August 17, 2014. The raid took place in the town of Al-Qatan after midnight. It said one soldier had been killed and five were wounded. The statement also added that four militants were killed and five "terrorist elements" were arrested. Earlier this month the Yemeni army sent extra troops to the Wadi Hadramout region in northeastern Yemen to counter attempts by AQAP's local affiliate Ansar al Sharia to declare an Islamic emirate in the city of Seiyoun.
Tens of thousands rallied in Yemen's capital and across the country on Monday August 18, 2014,, answering a Shiite rebel call for protests over authorities ending fuel subsidies while threatening to stage prolonged sit-ins to challenge the government. Abdel al-Malek al-Hawthi, a top leader of Yemen's Hawthi tribe, had urged people to rise up against what he described as the country's "corrupt" government. Thousands streamed into Change Square in Yemen's capital, Sanaa. The square witnessed a yearlong uprising against Yemen's former President Ali Abdullah Saleh that forced him to step down. Yemen's President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi said that lifting the subsidies was "inevitable" and cautioned against moves that could endanger the nation's stability, in apparent warning to Hawthis.
Thousands of Shia Houthi rebels have further strengthened their positions in the Yemeni capital on Wednesday August 20, 2014, as their supporters gathered on the outskirts of Sanaa to demand an end to fuel price rises and for the government to step down. Protesters were responding to a call by Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, the main leader of the heavily armed Hawthi group that overran northern cities. He has given the government until Friday to meet their demands of reinstating fuel subsidies.
Three policemen were killed by unknown gunmen in Yemen's southern province of Abyan late Wednesday August 20, 2014. The gunmen with assault rifles opened fire on military police officers stationed on the outskirts of Abyan province, killing three policemen at the scene. Soldiers of the brigade responded to the terrorist attack by firing several tank shells on suspected al-Qaida hideout in the same region.
Tens of thousands of supporters of Yemen’s Shia rebels rallied Friday August 22, 2014, in Sanaa pressing the government to quit as a presidential team held crisis talks in their stronghold to end the impasse. After the rally, a group of Zaidi rebels began erecting an encampment on a road in northern Sanaa that leads to the airport and where the interior, communication and electricity ministries are located. The protest was staged on the final day of an ultimatum set by rebel commander Abdulmalik al-Houthi for the government, which they accuse of corruption, to resign. This protest marks the start of the “second phase of the peaceful revolutionary escalation” through “legitimate means”, Houthi said on Thursday. Thousands of armed Shia rebels, also known as Ansarullah or Houthis, have strengthened their positions around Sanaa as they press their campaign against the government.
Yemen Saturday August 24, 2014:
Tribal saboteurs bombed on Saturday August 23, 2014, Yemen's Marib oil pipeline. The fresh blast took place in the Serwah district and forced an immediate shutdown of the pipeline. The Central Bank of Yemen said that the crude revenues reached $930 million in the first half of this year, down by $398 million from the revenues in the same period last year. Yemen's crude output dropped in the 2014's first half to around 8.4 million barrels compared to more than 12 million barrels in the same period last year. The decline in the oil production forced the authorities to import fuels by more than $1.3 billion by June.
Two prisoners held at a U.S. military prison were handed over to Yemen on Tuesday August 26, 2014. The two Yemeni prisoners were transferred to Yemen from Bagram prison, north of Kabul. The two prisoners are Amin al-Bakri and Fadi al-Maqaleh, who have been detained since 2002 when they were arrested in Pakistan. U.S. forces are due to hand over control of the Bagram prison to Afghan forces when they pull out of the country in December. There are more than 90 Yemeni detainees in US prison of Guantanamo, or two thirds of prisoners there and called for their handover to Yemen.
Three Al-Qaeda suspects were killed in a clash with troops Wednesday August 27, 2014, in the southeastern Hadramawt province. The suspects attacked troops setting up a checkpoint and camp on the outskirts of the historic city of Shibam, sparking a clash that left "three Al-Qaeda militants killed and two others wounded. Three soldiers were also hurt and the remaining extremists fled. On August 23, Al-Qaeda suspects planted a bomb on a road linking the towns of Seiyun and Shibam killing three soldiers when it exploded as an army vehicle passed. Earlier this month, six Al-Qaeda suspects and three soldiers were killed in clashes in the province where the army has boosted its deployment.
Tens of thousands of supporters of Yemen's Shia rebels have rallied in the capital Sanaa to press for the government to step down and a large number of its backers held a counter-demonstration. Three days of talks last week between authorities and the Zaidi Shia rebels, known as Houthis or Ansarullah, failed to reach a deal to end the impoverished country's latest political impasse. The protesters massed on a road leading to Sanaa airport after the weekly Muslim prayers. At the same time, tens of thousands of government supporters rallied in southern Sanaa, calling for unity and solidarity with the cabinet. Houthi's followers want the resignation of the government, the scrapping of fuel price rises and a broader political partnership.
Clashes in Yemen between the army and al-Qaida's local branch killed at least 13 suspected militants and four troops Saturday August 30 2014. The fighting started in the early hours when a suicide car bomber attacked a military camp in the city of al-Qatn in the southern province of Hadramawt. Militants then assaulted the camp, prompting a gun battle that lasted for more than an hour that killed 10 suspected militants and four troops. The army also fired artillery at a nearby home believed to hide al-Qaida fighters, killing three suspected militants inside.
Two leaders of Yemen's Popular Congress Party, which has ministers in the current government, were assassinated on Friday August 29, 2014, by unidentified militants in the southern Lahij province. Two militants on a motorcycle shot the two officials down in the southern part of the province.
At least ten men from local militias and from the Yemeni army were killed on Saturday August 30, 2014, in clashes with Houthi fighters who were trying to seize a road that links the capital Sanaa with oil-rich provinces. The Houthis have fought against the Yemeni government for years, demanding more power for their Zaydi Shi'ite Muslim sect in the predominantly Sunni country. Starting two weeks ago, the Houthis massed tens of thousands of supporters on the outskirts of Sanaa to press the government to quit and to restore fuel subsidies.
Clashes in Yemen between the army and militants killed at least 13 suspected militants and four troops Saturday August 30, 2014. The fighting started in the early hours when a suicide car bomber attacked a military camp in the city of Al-Qatn in the southern province of Hadramawt. Militants then assaulted the camp, prompting a gun battle that lasted for more than an hour that killed 10 suspected militants and four troops. The army also fired artillery at a nearby home believed to hide fighters, killing three suspected militants inside.
At least six Yemeni soldiers were killed in two separate suicide bombings by suspected al Qaeda militants in southern Yemen on Sunday August 31, 2014. The Yemeni army launched a major campaign earlier this year to flush out militants of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) from their strongholds in southern Yemen, but militants have still been attacking state and military targets. A suicide car bomber blew himself up at a military checkpoint in Gol al-Rayda district in Shabwa province, killing three soldiers. Another suicide car bomber attacked a military checkpoint in Azzan, also in Shabwa province, killing a further three soldiers. Some militants also died. On Saturday, security forces killed five militants who tried to take over a police station in the eastern province of Hadramout. In recent years the group has killed hundreds of people in repeated attacks on state institutions, including army camps and state buildings across the country.
Suspected al Qaeda militants carried out two separate suicide car bombings against military locations in the south Yemen province of Shabwa on Sunday August 31, 2014, killing several Yemeni soldiers. Ansar al-Sharia, al Qaeda's local affiliate in Yemen, launched a "widespread campaign in Shabwa province that targeted a number of military and security locations for the Sanaa regime".
At least 21 people were killed in weekend clashes between Shiite rebels and pro-government tribesmen in the north of Yemen we were told on Sunday August 31, 2014. The fighting comes as the Zaidi Shiite rebels, also known as Houthis or Ansarullah, have been pressing for the government to step down and its fuel price hikes to be scrapped. The clashes have rocked the Majzar region straddling the northern province of Al-Jawf and Marib, southeast of Sanaa, since Friday night. The pro-government tribes are trying to "stop the rebels from advancing on Sanaa.
Three people have been executed by militants in Yemen on Monday September 1, 2014, for having links with the United States. Suspected Yemen-based Al Qaida operatives kidnapped three local residents and then executed them by firing a barrage of bullets on them in Qattan region of Hadramout province. The three men were killed because they provided the whereabouts of the Islamist militants to the US. “Those spies helped the US unmanned aircraft in bombing and assassinating the commanders of the Islamic fighters in Yemen,” Ansar Al Sharia News reported.
Dozens of supporters of a Shiite rebel group demanding the reinstatement of fuel subsidies have blocked major roadways in Yemen's capital Sanaa in an escalation of its standoff with the government. Supporters of the group, known as the Hawthis, on Wednesday September 3, 2014, brandished arms and batons while using tires and cement blocks to divert traffic from main roads, including a boulevard that leads to government buildings and state institutions. Tanks were positioned in front of the parliament and TV buildings. The disruption of traffic comes a day after Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi dismissed the Cabinet and announced a reduction of fuel prices in an attempt to resolve the crisis.
Yemen will partially restore a fuel subsidy from Thursday September 4, 2014, in an attempt to calm anti-government protests in the capital that have threatened to destabilise the impoverished Arab state. The plan to ease petrol prices by about 30 percent has however failed to mollify the Shi'ite Houthi rebel group, which also rejected a proposal by president Abed Rabbu Mansour Hadi on Wednesday to form a unity government.
At least 12 people were killed in fierce overnight clashes between army-backed Yemeni tribes and Shia Huthi rebels pressing a protest campaign against the government. Fighting raged in Jawf province north of Sanaa as rebels sought to seize routes to the capital where their supporters have staged weeks of escalating protests against the central government. Fighting in the Ghayl and Majzar regions straddling Jawf and Marib, east of Sanaa, killed 12 people, raising the death toll from clashes since Thursday to 34. 20 soldiers and tribesmen and 14 rebels were killed.
Unknown gunmen killed two senior officers with traffic police department in the southeastern Yemeni province of al-Bayda on Sunday September 7, 2014. The attackers opened fire on the officers' vehicle near the city of al-Bayda, sprayed it with bullets and fled the scene immediately. The perpetrators had escaped and the police patrols are searching the area.
Yemen's main oil export pipeline was blown up by heavily armed tribesmen on Monday September 8, 2014. The flow of crude oil was halted after the Marib province blast, in which there were no reported injuries.
Yemen on Monday September 8, 2014, sacked the chief of its police special forces, a day after violent clashes as they tried in vain to disperse a Shiite rebel sit-in blocking the road to Sanaa airport. As thousands of Shiite Huthis stepped up their protest action, General Fadl al-Qawsi was replaced by General Mohammed al-Ghadra. Huthi rebels, also known as Ansarullah, said a demonstrator was shot dead and around 40 others were wounded in Sunday's clashes with police special forces, who had hurled tear gas canisters and deployed water cannon.
On Tuesday September 9, 2014. Police in Yemen have shot at anti-government Shia protesters in the capital, Sanaa, killing at least four people. In recent days, thousands of Houthi demonstrators have intensified weeks of protests on the outskirts of the city. Last week the president dismissed the government and promised to review fuel subsidy cuts. The head of Special Forces was sacked on Monday after a failed attempt to disperse the protest. The Houthis have been holding sit-ins at ministries and on the main airport road in their push to overthrow the government. Their leader, Abdel Malik al-Houthi, warned that his supporters would remain in their positions on the outskirts of the capital until their demands were met.
At least one protestor was killed Tuesday September 9, 2014, when Yemeni riot police dispersed thousands of activists near the prime minister's office in the capital city of Sanaa. The supporters of the Shia Houthi group were trying to enter the compound of the prime minister's office when riot police fired warning shots to disperse them. The protestors started to set up sit-in tents in front of the compound after the clashes. Some protestors fired at the security forces guarding the compound.
Three Yemeni soldiers were killed Tuesday September 9, 2024, when a suicide bomber managed to reach an army checkpoint with his car after a helicopter gunship destroyed the car of a fellow attacker. In a clash that followed the bombing on the outskirts of Qatan town in southeastern Hadramawt province, four suspected Al-Qaeda militants were killed. A helicopter had fired a missile at an explosives-laden car driven by a suicide bomber, destroying it some 500 meters before reaching the checkpoint. But a second suicide bomber sped his way towards the same checkpoint and detonated his explosives, killing the soldiers. Gunmen then attacked the position.
At least 25 people have been killed in the last 24 hours in clashes between Sunni tribesmen affiliated with Yemen's Muslim Brotherhood group and Shiite rebels in the northern city of Jawf we were told on Monday September 15, 2014. The Shiite rebels, known as the Hawthis, have routed their Islamist rivals in a series of battles in recent months that have allowed them to expand the area under their control in northern Yemen, where they waged a six-year insurgency that ended in a 2010 cease-fire deal. The Hawthis, already in control of the northern city of Saada, have been staging demonstrations in the capital Sanaa for more than a month demanding a new government and reinstatement of fuel subsidies.
Yemeni rebels camped out across the capital for weeks seeking greater political clout clashed with pro-government tribesmen Tuesday September 16, 2014, leaving 11 people dead. It came as a UN envoy pressed efforts to broker a deal to end demonstrations that have seen tens of thousands of Shiite rebels overrun Sanaa, cutting road links to the provinces. The fighting erupted near a new protest camp close to an army barracks in Hamdan on the northern outskirts of the capital. Nine loyalist tribesmen and two rebels were killed. Islamist militiamen of the Islah party joined the fighting on the side of the tribesmen. President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi has agreed to involve the rebels in the formation of a new government to replace the unpopular administration which imposed austerity measures -including a sharp fuel price increase- earlier this year.---
On Saturday September 19, 2014, international airlines have suspended flights to Yemen's main airport in the capital Sanaa for 24 hours due to the threat of violence. Arab and foreign airlines have decided to suspend their flights to Sanaa for 24 hours because of developments in the capital. The measure could be extended or reconsidered depending on the security situation.
Yemeni state television’s three channels stopped transmitting for about an hour after its studios came under fierce fire since Thursday September 18, 2014 during an overnight rebel advance on the capital. Many airlines also stopped their flights to Yemen for the same reason.
Shiite rebels and Sunni militiamen battled in Sana for a second day Friday September 19, 2014, in fighting that has killed at least 120 people and caused thousands from the Yemeni capital to flee their homes.
Yemen's Shiite rebels seized the government headquarters in the capital on Sunday September 21, 2014, as Prime Minister Mohamed Basindawa resigned, accusing the president of being "autocratic. The rebels, who have been locked in deadly clashes for days with Sunni fighters and troops, also took over the state radio station.
A spokesman for a German family (Johannes, Sabine and Simon Hentschel) kidnapped in Yemen five years ago said on Tuesday September 23, 2014, the couple and their young son are dead. It appears the parents were killed while the boy, an infant at the time of kidnapping, died of an infection. The Hentschels, who were working for a small Christian aid organization, were kidnapped with their three children in northern Yemen in 2009. Their two daughters, Lydia, 10 and Anna, 8, were freed in 2010 with Saudi Arabia's help and today live with relatives in Germany.
The State Department on Thursday September 25, 2014, ordered some of its diplomats and other government workers at the U.S. Embassy in Yemen to leave the country because of deteriorating security amid unrest and sectarian clashes that have left Shiite rebels in control of the capital. A separate travel warning for U.S. citizens said the step was taken due to the continued civil unrest and the potential for military escalation. The rebels, known as the Hawthis, overran Sanaa over the weekend, defeating Sunni Islamist fighters. They signed a peace deal with the government on Sunday but have ignored calls for fighters to leave the city.
Rebels have attacked the home of Yemen's intelligence chief in Sanaa showing the fragility of a power-sharing accord that has failed to stop fighting in the capital. Houthi rebels seized control of much of Sanaa last week, hours before the accord was signed with other political parties providing for the creation of a new government. The takeover of the capital effectively made the Shia Houthis the main power brokers in Yemen. However there have been several clashes between Houthi rebels and security forces in Sanaa since the accord was signed. The rebels attacked National Security Chief's Ali al-Ahmadi's house in the city's upscale Hadda neighbourhood early on Saturday September 27, 2014, and clashes continued for two hours. One soldier and two rebels were killed in the fighting, while 15 people -six soldiers and nine Houthis- were wounded.
A US drone strike killed three Al Qaida militants and injured three civilians on Friday evening September 26, 2014, in the northern province of Jawf. The strike occurred in a remote village called Al Khasaf near the province’s capital. The car was carrying Al Qaida militants and driving in a desert area between Mareb and Jawf. The drone launched a rocket when the car reached the village. The children were outside their house when the drone fired the rocket. The children are suffering from shrapnel injuries in their legs and pelvis. The children, a boy, 12 and two girls 8 and 5, are being treated in a hospital in Mareb province. The US drones have launched at least three deadly strikes on September in provinces across Yemen. Two of these strikes happened in the southern province of Shabwa and claimed the lives of at least ten Al Qaida militants.
An al Qaeda splinter group launched a rocket toward the U.S. embassy in Sanaa on Saturday September 27, 2014, wounding several guards. None of the embassy staff were wounded. The rocket landed 200 meters from the heavily fortified embassy, hitting members of the Yemeni special police force who guard the site. At least two were wounded.
Dozens of people have been killed or wounded when a bomb struck a hospital used by Ansarullah fighters of the Shia Houthi movement in Yemen’s oil-rich eastern province of Ma'rib. The attack took place in the town of Mazjar on Sunday September 28, 2014, as an assailant rammed his explosive-laden car into the field hospital. The hospital was being used by Houthi fighters to treat their wounded from battles with pro-government forces in recent months. Separately, hundreds of Yemenis took to the streets in Sana’a on Sunday to demand the withdrawal of Ansarullah fighters from the capital.
Militants on motorcycles killed two traffic police officers in the Yemeni city of Ta'izz on Sunday September 28, 2014. The militants fired at a police patrol in front of a school.
A suicide bombing allegedly carried out by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) targeted a Houthi location in Al-Majzr district of Marib governorate on Sunday September 28, 2014. The number of casualties remains unclear. While local media reported that 15 Houthis were killed and 50 others injured in the suicide attack there could have been fewer casualties.
A bomb blast in northern Yemen has left at least two people dead and ten others injured. The attack took place in Amran Province on Friday October 3, 2014, after an explosive device planted inside a car was detonated in a popular local market. This comes as Jamal Benomar, the United Nations envoy to Yemen, left Sana’a on Thursday, following weeks of unrest in the capital and the country's failure to name a new head of government.
Yemen's president appointed a new prime minister on Tuesday October 7, 2014, as part of a deal with Shi'ite Muslim fighters who control the capital to start leaving the city, but they rejected the nomination, suggesting no end to the deadlock is in sight. Houthi fighters seized Sanaa with little resistance last month after overrunning an army brigade affiliated to the rival but moderate Islamist Islah party, making them effectively the power brokers in the country. The Houthis' rejection of the appointment adds fresh uncertainty to weeks of political volatility following the movement's seizure of the capital of 2 million people.
At least seven Yemeni government soldiers were killed on Thursday October 9, 2014, in an attack involving a suicide car bombing and a gun assault on a military camp in eastern Yemen. The attack, in a coastal region called Buroom in Hadramout province, occurred early on Thursday. Soldiers at the camp engaged the gunmen and forced them to retreat.
Two suicide bombers struck in Yemen on Thursday October 9, 2014 —one targeting a gathering of Shiite rebels in the country's capital and the other hitting a military outpost in the south— in attacks that killed nearly 70 people. The Health Ministry said at least 47 people died and 75 were wounded when a suicide attacker set off his explosives on Thursday morning in central Sanaa. The attacker targeted a gathering of Houthis and their supporters, mingling among the protesters as they were getting ready for the rally in the city's landmark Tahrir Street before he detonated his explosives. The second bombing took place on the outskirts of the southern port city of Mukalla in Hadarmout province when a suicide car bomber rammed his car against a security outpost, killing at least 20 soldiers and wounding 15. ---
An explosion near a military checkpoint in Yemen's southeaster Hadramawt region killed two soldiers and injured four others we were told Saturday October 11, 2014. The blast took place on a public street in the city of Shibam in Hadramawt. On Thursday an explosion and gun attack by AQAP in the coastal Buroom region of Hadramawt killed at least 20 soldiers while a suicide bombing in Sanaa by the same group killed at least 47.
On Saturday October 11, 2014, Al Qaeda in Yemen posted a video online purporting to show the abduction and execution of 14 soldiers the Sunni Muslim militants alleged were Shi'ite Muslim "apostates". The video shows masked militants stopping a bus in the eastern city of Shibam and forcing several of its occupants to lie face down outside.
Al-Qaeda militants have seized the office of the local administration in central Yemen's al-Bayda province we were told on Saturday October 11, 2014. The militants broke into the building and seized equipment and documents. Armed guards have reportedly not resisted the storm.
On Monday October 13, 2014, an explosion near a military checkpoint in Yemen’s southeastern Hadramawt region killed two soldiers and injured four others. The blast took place on a public street in the city of Shibam in Hadramawt. On Thursday an explosion and gun attack by AQAP in the coastal Buroom region of Hadramawt killed at least 20 soldiers while a suicide bombing in Sanaa by the same group killed at least 47.
Houthi rebels have reportedly taken over the city of al-Hudaydah. The Shi'ite rebels did not face any resistance in taking the city and have also reportedly seized control of the city's airport.
Saudi border guards have reportedly clashed with Yemeni tribesmen in Yemen’s northwestern province of Sa’ada. The clashes broke out on Tuesday October 14, 2014, in Munbeh region of the province as Saudi guards sought to install checkpoints on the Yemeni side of the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Shiite rebels who overran Yemen's capital last month won another stunning victory Tuesday October 14, 2014, capturing a key port on the Red Sea in a move that underlined their apparent intention to create a mini-state in the mostly chaotic and lawless Arab country.
Houthi rebels have seized more territory south of Yemen's capital, including the city of Ibb, near an al-Qaeda stronghold. Dozens of cars carrying Houthi fighters were seen arriving in Ibb on Wednesday October 15, 2014, an area bordering al-Bayda province. The Houthis, who took over Sanaa on September 21, and who have held the strategic southern port of Hudaydah since Tuesday, did not face any opposition from local authorities as they entered the provinces of Dhamar and Ibb and set up checkpoints. Another convoy of several cars carrying Houthis was later seen on the outskirts of Taiz, a city 50km south of Ibb. The Houthis, who hail from the northern highlands and champion the interests of the Zaidi community which make up a fifth of Yemen's 25 million population, are increasingly imposing their authority outside the capital as well as in it. The group wants the northern part of the country to be one region instead of three and are also seeking a bigger say in drafting the constitution.
Tribesmen attacked Yemen’s main oil export pipeline late on Wednesday October 15, 2014, halting the flow of crude. The pipeline carries crude from the Marib fields in central Yemen to the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea. Before the spate of attacks began three years ago, the 270-mile (435-km) pipeline carried around 110,000 barrels per day to Ras Isa. It was unclear when the pipeline would be repaired.
Clashes between Yemen’s Shiite Houthi rebels and Sunni tribesman in the southern province of Ibb killed at least 20 people on Friday October 17, 2014. The rebels, who have been advancing into mainly Sunni areas of Yemen, met deadly resistance from the heavily-armed tribesmen as well as al-Qaeda militants. Tribesmen battled the rebels around the city of Ibb which the rebels entered earlier this week. The rebels clashed with al-Qaeda militants overnight in Baida province further east, leaving “dozens” of casualties. The rebels have clashed repeatedly with al-Qaeda in the province since Tuesday.
Suspected al-Qaida militants on Thursday October 16, 2014, overran a security base south of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, killing three policemen before fleeing to nearby mountains. The attack took place in the al-Adeen area in Ebb province, nearly 200 kilometres from Sanaa. The militants held the facility for three hours and also robbed a local bank. When government reinforcements arrived at the scene, the attackers fled to nearby mountains.
Suspected Al-Qaeda militants have captured a town in southwest Yemen in a deadly attack seen as a counter move to advances by Shiite rebels sweeping across the strife-hit country. Rival groups are seeking to exploit a power vacuum in impoverished Yemen, which has been in a political deadlock since the Houthi Shiite rebels took control of the capital Sanaa last month. Al-Qaeda’s Yemen-based franchise, considered by the United States to be the deadliest branch of the extremist network, has vowed to fight the rebels in defense of Sunnis. Its militants stormed the town of Udain overnight, setting fire to the police headquarters and attacking the offices of the local government we were told on Thursday October 16, 2014. Five policemen were reported dead. The offensive came just hours after Shiite rebels overran the provincial capital of Ibb located 20 km to the east. Already in control of Sanaa and the strategic port city of Hudeida, the Shiite rebels on Wednesday appeared to have taken control of the Dhamar and Ibb provinces, security officials said.
Yemen Saturday October 18, 2014:
A commander of the anti-Qaida militiamen along with two of his bodyguards were killed in a terrorist attack in Yemen's southern province of Lahj on Saturday October 18, 2014. Attackers suspected of belonging to al-Qaida group opened fire and killed a commander of the tribal militiamen who backed the government and fought alongside with the army against the terrorist elements in Lahj province. The attack took place near Yemen's largest air base of Al Anad that has long been known to host U.S. military troops who help the Yemeni counter-terrorism in tracking and hunting al-Qaida leaders.
At least 13 people were killed Saturday October 18, 2014, during clashes between the Shia Houthi militants and Sunni tribes in Yemen's southern province of Ibb, a day after 19 people were killed and 27 injured in the same province. At least 11 Houthis and two Sunni tribesmen were killed when the Sunni tribes attempted to drive out the Houthis from Yarim city in Ibb province.
Yemen Sunday October 19, 2014:
The United Nations is preparing to impose sanctions on five high-profile Yemenis including the country's former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. The five, who include Saleh's son Ahmed Ali as well as three leaders of the Shiite rebel Houthi group, were singled out for derailing Yemen's democratic transition which the UN is overseeing. Saleh, whose 33-year reign ended in 2012 after a popular uprising, has been accused of backing the Houthis, a group he fought for years when in office, to re-establish his influence over the country’s politics. His son Ahmed Ali, dismissed as head of the Republican Guard by president Hadi in 2012, is Yemen's ambassador to the United Arab Emirates who Yemeni officials have also accused of backing the Houthis in an effort to weaken Yemen's Muslim Brotherhood, al-Islah. Analysts say that imposing sanctions on Ahmed Saleh, would be difficult given his diplomatic immunity. The three Houthis listed are the group's 32-year-old leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi, his brother Abdulkhaleq al-Houthi and military leader Abu Ali al-Hakem.
A suicide car bomb on Monday October 20, 2014, targeted a house used by Shiite Houthi rebels in a town south of Sanaa, killing at least 10 and injuring 15 in an attack that bore all the hallmarks of al-Qaida. The bombing in the Radaa area in Baydah province hit the house of Abdullah Idris, a top local official with the party of ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh. All victims were members of the Houthi movement, whose fighters overran the capital of Sanaa last month. The Houthis have since made significant military advances widely suspected to have been made with the help of Saleh's loyalists among tribes and in the military. Also on Monday, al-Qaida militants captured the town of al-Adeen, 200 kilometers south of from Sanaa in Ibb province.
On Monday October 20, 2014, an explosion near a checkpoint manned by Ansarullah fighters in northern Yemen has claimed the lives of at least 30 people, while injuring others. The explosion took place in the city of Rada'a in al-Bayda Province when a bomber set off his explosive-laden vehicle near the checkpoint. The Houthi movement’s Ansarullah fighters have been engaged in clashes with Takfiri militants in the city.
A suicide car bombing at a Houthi gathering led to dozens of deaths Monday October 20, 2014, after conflict was reignited between al-Qaida backed Sunni tribes and Houthi rebels in central Yemen. A total of 67 Shia fighters were killed between the bombing, a shelling and an attack at two posts.
Sunni al-Qaida militants and Shi'ite Muslim rebels have fought a bloody battle in central Yemen we were told on Wednesday October 22, 2014, amid fears of worsening sectarian tension in the impoverished Arabian country. Thirty Shi'ite rebels and 18 Sunni fighters and their tribal allies were killed in the clashes. In a separate incident, al-Qaida claimed responsibility for an attack on an army checkpoint elsewhere in al-Bayda province which killed five soldiers.
Militants loyal to Yemen's powerful Shiite Houthi group on Wednesday October 22, 2014, stormed the headquarters of the Interior Ministry in capital Sanaa and expelled employees from their offices. The Houthi militants arrived in two cars to the ministry's premises on Airport Street in northern Sanaa and stormed it. The Houthis broke into several offices, including that of Ministry Undersecretary for Financial Affairs Mohamed al-Sherafi and expelled his employees. The Houthis have remained in control of Sanaa since September 21, when they inked a deal with Yemen's presidency aimed at ending a weeks-long political standoff. ---
Tribesmen blew up Yemen's main oil export pipeline on Friday October 24, 2014, halting crude flows less than a week after it was repaired. Yemen's oil and gas pipelines have been repeatedly sabotaged, often by tribesmen who have feuds with the central government, causing fuel shortages and slashing export earnings for the impoverished country. The last attack was on October 16 and the pipeline was repaired two days later. The pipeline, which transports crude from Marib oil fields in central Yemen to Ras Isa on the Red Sea, was blown up in the Wadi Obaida area.
Houthi militants captured a historic castle in Al-Hudaydah Governorate on Friday October 24, 2014, following clashes with members of Hirak Al-Tuhami, an anti-Houthi political group based in the west of the country. The Houthi militia managed to take control of the Corniche Al-Hudaydah Castle after clashes with members from the Hirak Al-Tuhami. The two sides exchanged fire with light and medium arms. The Shi’ite movement also seized a key public square where Friday prayers were supposed to be held followed by a demonstration by Hirak Al-Tuhami supporters in protest against the Houthi presence in the city. Houthi snipers were positioned on top of the castle as a precaution against possible counterattacks. Two civilians were killed during the clashes and several Hirak Al-Tuhami members injured.
The Houthis have been facing fierce resistance from Al Qaeda fighters and tribesmen as they seek to expand their areas of control after seizing the capital Sana’a and the Red Sea port city of Hudeida. Clashes broke out on Friday evening October 24, 2014, when Houthi fighters trying to wrest control of the mountains around the central town of Rada, in Baida province, met resistance from Sunni militias. They were repelled each time with heavy losses. The fighting killed dozens, particularly among Huthi ranks. Houthi rebels had been trying to bolster their presence in the province after failing to take full control of Rada.
A suicide car bomber killed about 20 Houthi fighters in central Yemen late on Sunday October 26, 2014 including a prominent tribal leader who had just defected to the Shi'ite Muslims' side.
The US has carried out another drone strike in Yemen’s southern province of al-Bayda, killing at least a dozen people –all militants? - in the attack on Sunday. The US drone attack took place in the city of Rada’a, where Houthi fighters are battling al-Qaeda-linked militants. Rada’a has been the scene of fierce clashes as Houthi fighters push to drive out al-Qaeda-linked militants from the region. The Houthi fighters moved into al-Manasseh area in al-Bayda province on Sunday, driving out al-Qaeda-linked militants.
Shiite rebels seized a city in central Yemen Wednesday October 29, 2014, seen as a strategic link to the south, further widening their territory following deadly clashes with tribesmen. The Huthis took control of Radmah -located on a road linking the capital Sanaa with the main southern city Aden- on Wednesday after 24 hours of fighting against local tribesmen. Radmah is part of Ibb province, where the rebels have been locked in deadly battles with mostly-Sunni tribesmen this month.
At least two people were killed and six others injured during clashes between the army and protesters marching towards a military base in Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Wednesday October 29, 2014. The pro-secession protesters marched toward an army base located near the main protest camp of the separatist movement in Aden's district of Khor Maksar, sparking a short shootout in the area.
On Wednesday October 29, 2014, armed tribesmen have killed eight Shiite Houthi rebels. The attack happened on a road north of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and that the tribesmen fled the scene. Troops suspected to be loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh opened fire on pro-secession protestors in the southern city of Aden, killing one person and injuring four. The sit-in by thousands began two weeks ago in one of Aden’s squares.
Ansarullah fighters have secured control of a strategic town in the central province of Ibb following clashes with al-Qaeda-linked militants. The town of Radmaa fell under the control of the fighters on Wednesday October 29, 2014, giving Ansarullah access to a strategic road linking the capital, Sana’a, with the main southern city of Aden. The town was taken after 24 hours of fierce clashes with local militants. Nine people from both sides were killed during the battle. Ansarullah fighters have routed the al-Qaeda-linked militant groups in a series of battles in recent months. The revolutionary group has restored security in areas under its control. The fighters have already pushed the militants out of Sa’ada, a strategic town in central Yemen. They have also taken control of the strategic town of Rada’ in the central province of al-Bayda.
Two Al-Qaeda gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed commander Fadl al-Majidi on Thursday night October 30, 2014, in downtown Huta, capital of Lahij province. The assailants were able to flee the scene. Farther south in Mahfad, a town in Abyan province, gunmen fatally wounded a soldier in his barracks.
Yemen Shiite rebels attacked an Islamist party headquarters in a central province killing four guards and blowing up the building overnight. The rebels, also known as Houthis, attacked the Islamist Islah Party headquarters in Ibb province and fought with the guards until early Saturday November 1, 2014. Mediators managed to stop the fighting and allow those who were inside the party headquarters to leave, but the Houthis later detained 25 people and took them to the office of the provincial governor. The Houthis blew up a nearby dispensary belonging to the Islah Party, forcing hundreds of people to flee the area.
Ten of Yemen's Western and international allies urged the Houhis Saturday November 1, 2014, to stop their campaign to seize government and military institutions and allow the government to exercise its duties without threats or intervention in its work. The group said that the Yemeni government is the only power responsible for its national security and called for the speedy formation of a regime in line with an agreement signed by all political parties last September.
Hundreds of Yemeni men and women demonstrated Saturday November 1, 2014, in the capital Sanaa, demanding Houthis to withdraw their fighters from Sanaa and other provinces and to allow the government to run the country's affairs peacefully.
Yemen's main political factions, including the Houthi rebels, have signed an agreement mandating the president and prime minister to form a new government in an effort to defuse political tensions that have crippled the country. Saturday November 1, 2014's statement did not mention when the new government would be formed, but a number of party members who were involved in the negotiations that led to Saturday's agreement said it could be in a few days or a week. Yemen's Shia Houthi rebels and their main rivals, the Sunni al-Islah Party were among the groups that signed the agreement. The agreement came hours after Houthi fighters attacked Islah's headquarters in the central province of Ibb, killing four guards.
A gunman shot dead Sunday November 2, 2014, the head of a Yemeni liberal political party in Sanaa. Secretary General of the Union of Popular Forces party Mohammed Abdulmalik al-Mutawakil was shot dead by a gunman on a motorbike on a street in central Sanaa. Mutawakil was "fatally shot in the neck," by his assailants who fled.
Twenty Yemeni soldiers and three suspected al Qaeda militants died in clashes on Saturday November 1, 2014, in the town of Jabal Ras in Yemen's western province of Hodeidah. Saturday's clashes broke out when suspected al Qaeda militants staged an attack.
Suspected al-Qaida militants killed 13 Yemeni troops and captured 15 others in an attack in the Red Sea port city of Hudeida we were told on Sunday November 2, 2014. The overnight attack targeted security headquarters in Hudeida, which Shiite Huthi rebels seized in mid-October as they expanded across several towns and cities with almost no resistance from government forces. Dozens of al-Qaida suspects took part in the attack on the security forces headquarters in Jabal Ras, in Hudeida. The assailants seized the building but three of the militants were also killed. Army reinforcements were sent to Jabal Ras and negotiations launched with the assailants to withdraw from the building.
U.S. drone strikes killed at least 10 suspected al Qaeda militants on Tuesday November 4, 2014, in central Yemen, where fighting between members of Ansar al-Sharia and Shi'ite Muslim rebels also killed 10 people. The drones targeted positions held by Ansar al-Sharia in the town of Radda in al-Bayda province and a vehicle used by the group. At least 10 suspected Ansar al-Sharia fighters died in the strikes.
A senior al-Qaeda official wanted by the United States, and a local leader of the armed group's affiliate, Ansar al-Sharia, have been killed in a drone strike in central Yemen overnight. Shawki al-Badani, a leader of al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP) and a designated "global terrorist" by the US, was one of four armed group members killed, along with Nabil al-Dahab, the leader of Ansar al-Sharia in Yemen's al-Bayda province we were told on Wednesday November 5, 2014. The US State Department says Badani was linked to at least two plots against the US embassy in Sana'a and a 2012 suicide bombing in the Yemeni capital that killed more than 100 soldiers.
At least twenty people have been killed in two assassination attacks by US unmanned aerial vehicles in central Yemen, where al-Qaeda militants have been locked in deadly clashes with fighters from the Shia Houthi Ansarullah movement. We were told on Tuesday November 4, 2014, that the overnight drone raids targeted suspected al-Qaeda positions near the town of Rada southeast of the capital, Sana’a.
Yemen Thursday November 6, 2014:
At least 10 Houthi armed men were killed in an attack by Al-Qaeda group and allied tribesmen on their checkpoint in the central Yemeni province of Al-Bayda we were told on Thursday November 6, 2014. ---
Yemen, which has been in political turmoil due to clashes between rival factions, has announced the formation of a new government after weeks of unsuccessful attempts. Key players, including the Houthi rebels, had signed an agreement we were told on Friday November 7, 2014. Five women are in the cabinet, which will be led by Prime Minister Khaled Bahhah, a former diplomat. State television read out the names of 34 ministers in the new government, bringing in politicians including from both the Houthis and from a wing of the southern separatist Herak group.
Yemeni security forces have killed a senior Al-Qaeda operative in the southern province of Lahij, where he was known as the group's local chief we were told on Friday November 7, 2014. Turki al-Assiri, a Saudi also known as Marwan al-Mekki, was shot dead on Thursday in the Tuban region. He was killed as he resisted arrest and one of his companions was wounded and detained. Assiri was an Al-Qaeda leader and its emir in Lahij.
Yemen's president swore in a new government Sunday November 9, 2014, despite objections from the ruling party, led by former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and Shiite rebels allied to him who control the capital. At least three ministers boycotted the government after Saleh and the General People's Congress called it unrepresentative Saturday. Thirty ministers, including Prime Minister Khaled Bahah, were sworn in by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi in the presidential palace. Bahah said three other ministers were outside Yemen and unable to return in time. After weeks of violence and political wrangling, a U.N.-brokered deal saw Bahah nominated as prime minister and tasked with forming a government. All Yemeni parties and political groups eventually agreed on an independent technocrat Cabinet last Saturday in what was seen as an important step in efforts to regain stability after Houthi rebels captured Sanaa in September demanding Hadi appoint a new government. ---
At least 30 people have been killed in Yemen during intense fighting between Sunni tribesmen and Shia Houthi fighters in the southern province of Bayda. The gun battle erupted on Monday November 10, 2014, as the tribesmen, believed to be backed by al-Qaeda fighters, launched a counter attack to push back the Houthis who have been expanding their control of the city of Radaa, a predominantly Sunni area. The latest violence comes a day after Yemen's new Prime Minister Khaled Bahhah and his cabinet were sworn into office, highlighting the challenge he faces in uniting the fractious country.
Seven suspected al Qaeda militants were killed Wednesday November 12, 2014, by a drone strike in southern Yemen. The militants were killed by an air raid, but news reports said the strike was suspected to have been carried out by the U.S., the only nation operating drones over Yemen. The militants were hit by an aerial strike while gathered “‘under a group of trees” in the village of Azzan in the Yemen’s southern province of Shabwa.
A powerful suicide bomb attack on Shiite militia fighters in central Yemen left dozens of people dead on Wednesday November 12, 2014.
Yemen Friday November 14, 2014:
Yemeni Shi'ite Muslim Houthi fighters backed by government forces drove the local wing of al Qaeda from one of its last strongholds in central Yemen on Friday November 14, 2014 in intense fighting that killed at least 35 people. At least 25 Houthis and 10 Ansar al-Sharia and tribal fighters had died in the fighting, which began on Thursday afternoon. Ansar al-Sharia and its allies withdrew to Yakla district, on the border with Maarib province.
A senior leader of a Yemeni party affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood was killed Tuesday November 18, 2014, in a bombing that hit his car in the central province of Taiz. Sadeq Mansour, deputy secretary-general of the Congregation for Reform (Islah) party, was killed when an explosion of a roadside bomb hit his car in Masbah district in Taiz.
Yemen’s Shia Ansarullah fighters have managed to push al-Qaeda militants out of the southwestern strategic town of Rada’. The Ansarullah fighters, who have the support of allied tribesmen, are now in full control of the strategic town we were told on Tuesday November 18, 2014. The town had been under the control of al-Qaeda militants since early 2012. ---
Yemeni security forces have freed seven Yemeni hostages and a foreigner in a raid in which seven al-Qaeda kidnappers were killed. The foreign hostage was a US military instructor who worked at al-Anad air base in Lahej province.
In a predawn raid on Tuesday November 25, 2014, United States Special Operations commandos and Yemeni troops rescued eight hostages being held in a cave in a remote part of eastern Yemen by Al Qaeda’s affiliate there. The freed captives were six Yemeni citizens, a Saudi and an Ethiopian, who were unharmed. About two dozen United States commandos, joined by a small number of American-trained Yemeni counterterrorism troops flew secretly by helicopter to a location in Hadhramaut Province near the Saudi border. The commandos then hiked some distance in the dark to a mountainside cave, where they surprised the militants holding the captives. An ensuing shootout left seven of the Qaeda militants dead. The hostages were then evacuated in helicopters.
Saboteurs blew up Yemen's main oil export pipeline on Wednesday November 26, 2014, halting crude flows. The attack had occurred in the area of Habab in Marib province, halting flows to export facilities on the Red Sea.
Yemeni Shiite rebels attacked and occupied the seat of power of an influential tribe in the capital Wednesday November 26, 2014, following clashes that killed six of the guards and one fighter. The rebels, known as Houthis, blamed the guards of al-Ahmar tribe for the clashes. Al-Masira TV station, allied with the Houthis, said the tribal fighters attacked a checkpoint erected by the rebels, setting off the clashes in the northern Sanaa district of Hassaba. Four al-Ahmar fighters and four rebels were injured in the clashes.
On Friday November 28, 2014, Yemeni Houthi movement’s Ansarullah fighters have entered an eastern suburb of the southern city of Taiz as they continue fighting al-Qaeda-linked militants in the country’s south. A 16-vehicle convoy of the fighters entered the area and deployed near the local airport and radio station. However, they have not entered the city yet. The Ansarullah movement accuses authorities of not honouring their commitment to arrest 14 extremists in Taiz province. The fighters were preparing to march toward Yemen’s port city of Aden that overlooks the Gulf of Aden.
A roadside bomb went off near a military patrol in Yemen's southern Hadhramaut province without casualties. The bomb exploded as the patrol was passing in Qatn district.
Al-Qaeda has claimed it detonated two bombs outside the US embassy in Sanaa, killing several guards we were told on Saturday November 29, 2014. The fighters set off the explosive devices at an entrance to the embassy on Thursday night. The announcement comes three weeks after Al-Qaeda said it had tried to assassinate US Ambassador Matthew Tueller with two bombs that were discovered minutes before they were to explode. The devices had been planted outside the house of Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi and had been intended to explode when Tueller left after a visit there on September 8. ---
A militant attack in Abyan province in the south of the country has killed four soldiers and wounded three. Two Yemeni army patrols were targeted with two explosions on Monday December 1, 2014. They suspect al-Qaida was behind the attack. The improvised explosive devices were planted on a main road.
Yemeni police shot dead a protester and wounded four others as southern separatists marched Sunday November 30, 2014, toward the governorate building in the south’s main city of Aden. The clash came as tens of thousands of people rallied to demand independence at a time when Shiite militiamen from the north are expanding their control over the impoverished country. The southerners were marking the 47th anniversary of the end of British colonial rule in 1967, which created an independent state that lasted until union with the north in 1990.
A suicide attacker drove a car laden with explosives at the Iranian ambassador’s residence in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, on Wednesday December 3, 2014, killing as many as three people and wounding three more. Yemeni and Iranian guards have been killed in the attack. Later on the interior ministry confirmed one death –the son of the ambassador’s bodyguard– and said 17 people had been hurt, mostly employees of the oil ministry in a nearby building. The ambassador was unhurt, having left his residence for the embassy 10 minutes before the attack.
Al-Qaeda in Yemen released a video Thursday December 4, 2014, threatening to execute a US journalist taken hostage last year. In the video dated December 2014, the hostage said his name was Luke Somers, 33, and that he was kidnapped more than a year ago in Sanaa. The photojournalist was kidnapped in the Yemeni capital in September 2013. The speaker threatened to kill the hostage in three days if Washington failed to meet unspecified demands. Al-Qaeda had moved hostages including an American journalist, as well as a Briton and a South African, days before a raid in southeastern Hadramawt province to free him.
A U.S. journalist and a South African teacher held by al Qaeda militants in Yemen were killed along with some of their captors during a night rescue attempt by U.S. and Yemeni forces in a remote desert village we were told on Saturday December 6, 2014. Luke Somers, 33, and South African Pierre Korkie were shot by their kidnappers shortly after the raid began in the arid Wadi Abadan district of Shabwa, a province in southern Yemen.
An American photojournalist and a South African teacher were killed Saturday December 6, 2014, during a high-risk U.S.-led raid to free them from al-Qaida militants. The raid before dawn was the second rescue attempt in as many weeks to free Luke Somers, a 33-year-old freelance photographer and editor kidnapped just over a year ago in Yemen's capital. South African Pierre Korkie, abducted 18 months ago with his wife in the city of Tazi, also was killed by militants as U.S. forces descended upon the militants' compound in southern Yemen. He was a day from freedom after a deal late last month that included a "facilitation fee" to the kidnappers. The relief organization had told Korkie's wife that "the wait is almost over."
At least seven Yemeni soldiers were killed and nine others wounded after suicide car bomb attacks on a military base in the city of Seyoun in southern Yemen on Tuesday December 10, 2014. Two car bombs detonated at the military headquarters in Hadramout province in the northeast of the country. The first vehicle targeted the main gate of the compound and the second targeted the building inside. Medical officials said the death toll could rise as a number of the injured are in critical condition. ---
At least five Yemeni government soldiers were killed on Tuesday December 9, 2014, when two al Qaeda suicide bombers tried to drive cars laden with explosives into a military compound in the country's east. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for the attack on the headquarters of the First Military Command base in Seyoun, the second largest city in Hadramout province. It said dozens had been killed and wounded in the attacks.
An al-Qaida affiliate targeted a U.S.-Yemeni air base with rockets in retaliation for a U.S. raid on the group's hideout to free an American hostage. A powerful explosion rocked the Al-Annad base early Thursday December 11, 2014 in the southern province of Lahj.
Unidentified militants attacked a military barracks in Yemen's eastern Ma'rib province on Friday December 12, 2014. The militants believed to belong to Al-Qaeda group attacked the barracks in the Wadi Obeida area early Friday morning. An unspecified number of Yemeni troops have been killed or injured in a subsequent exchange of fire with the militants.
Yemeni troops Saturday December 13, 2014, shot dead five Al-Qaeda suspects disguised as women who fired at a soldier during a checkpoint inspection of their Saudi-bound bus. Another suspect and the driver were wounded in the shooting in Harad, a town 15 kilometres from the Saudi border. Two of those killed were Saudis. As one of the soldiers climbed on board the bus for an inspection, one of the suspects opened fire and wounded him, prompting shooting from other soldiers at the checkpoint. All six had been dressed in black robes and wore the niqab, a face-covering veil commonly worn by women in Yemen. A suicide belt and arms were also found on the bus, and the wounded suspect and driver were being questioned.
Yemeni security forces shot dead a prominent leader in the southern separatist Herak Movement in Aden on Monday December 15, 2014. Soldiers from the paramilitary National Security Forces shot and killed Khaled al-Junaidi when a group of soldiers blocked his path while he was driving in Crater district of the southern port city of Aden. Members of the security forces brought Junaidi with a gun shot wound to Jumhouriya hospital, where he died soon after. Junaidi, in his 30s, had recently been freed after months in detention for his role as a Herak leader.
At least 14 Houthi rebels have been killed in fighting with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in the country’s central province of al-Bayda. AQAP and tribal fighters attacked positions held by the Shia rebels in the Qalala Mountains in Radaa district of al-Bayda early on Sunday December 14, 2014. The clashes came amid claims by the Houthis that they had defeated rival tribesmen and taken control of Arhab - a district of greater Sanaa - on Saturday, expanding their control over the capital city. They blew up seven buildings in Arhab. The Houthis used tanks and artillery to shell houses and neighbourhoods of rival tribes. The fighting left dozens dead while AQAP said that two of their fighters were killed in clashes with the Houthis during the takeover of Arhab. The rebel group already controls most of the capital and several other cities.
Yemeni police have been accused of killing a prominent southern separatist in what human rights group Amnesty International called an "execution". Khaled al-Junaidi, 42, a prominent figure in the Southern Movement, was shot in the chest on Monday December 15, 2014, when masked security officers in Aden opened fire on his car. He was inspecting protests in the south, organised to press for southern secession. The police had no immediate comment on the death of Junaidi.
On Wednesday December 17, 2014, at least 25 people, among them 15 children, have been killed in twin car bomb attack in the central Yemeni province of Bayda. The children were inside a school bus that was passing a checkpoint manned by Shia Houthi rebels in the Radaa area when the first bomb exploded. The second one went off soon afterwards near the home of a Houthi leader.
Yemen's powerful Shiite rebels shut down a strategic Red Sea port on Wednesday December 17, 2014, and stormed the offices of the country's main state newspaper. The rebels, known as Houthis, closed Hodeida port, the second largest in Yemen, and prevented its director from entering his office. The port was seized by Houthis in October, a month after they swept through the capital, Sanaa. This month, they sacked the governor of Hodeida and replaced him with an ally. A day before Hodeida was shuttered, the Houthi's overran the offices of the newspaper al-Thawra. The armed men raided the building and forced out Editor-in-Chief Faisal Makram, accusing him of corruption.
Yemen's parliament on Thursday December 18, 2014, approved a new government despite months of violence and political wrangling that has shaken the country. This could ease tensions but it is unlikely to resolve the power struggle between President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the Shiite Houthi rebels who in September seized control of the capital, Sanaa, and are allied with loyalists of former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Yemen Thursday December 18, 2014:
A suspected Al-Qaeda bomb attack killed three Yemeni soldiers and wounded five others Friday December 19, 2014, the second attack in days on security forces in Yemen's southeastern Hadramawt province. An explosive device planted in the town of Seyun was detonated remotely as a vehicle carrying army personnel passed by. Three soldiers were killed on Wednesday in a similar bombing west of Seyun. In Maarib "unknown assailants" had shot Lieut. Col. Jamal al-Asadi near his home by the airport, killing him instantly.
Eighteen members of the Houthi militant group were killed Sunday December 21, 2014, and 22 others wounded in violent clashes with armed Arhab tribesmen in a northern Yemeni district that bears the tribe's name. The clashes began when Houthi armed militants blew up the house of tribal leader Yehia Taqi Markoub in the village of Darb Obaid of the Arhab district, he said. Markoub was able to escape to another safe location without being harmed.
Dozens of Houthi rebels have been killed in central Yemen in a suspected revenge attack after at least 40 people from a rival tribe were kidnapped by the Shia group. At least 42 Houthis were killed by Sunni tribesman in Arhab on Sunday December 21, 2014. The Houthis, who have been pushing for control of Arhab have used heavy weaponry, including tanks and artillery to shell homes and neighbourhoods, in fighting that has left dozens dead.
Four bodyguards of a Sunni tribal chief were killed Monday December 22, 2014, near Yemen's capital by Shiite militiamen of the Ansarullah group, sparking an ambush in reprisal. The four were killed when the militiamen, also known as Huthis, blew up the house of Sheikh Yahia Taqi of the Islamist Al-Islah party at al-Makarib in the Arhab area. Local tribes then ambushed an Ansarullah convoy of four vehicles carrying reinforcements, "killing or wounding around 30.
Yemen Tuesday December 23, 2014:
Yemen's second highest ranking intelligence official has been abducted in Sanaa by suspected Houthi fighters who have been in control of the capital since a September offensive. General Yahia al-Marrani was kidnapped on Thursday December 25, 2014, by armed Houthis from his home in Sanaa. About 20 fighters had stormed Marrani's residence and taken him to an unknown location. The officer, who had served for five years as head of the police intelligence unit in Saada province, a Houthi stronghold in north Yemen. He was named as a director in Yemen's intelligence services and head of internal security by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who took power following a 2012 uprising that unseated long time ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh. When the Houthi members came to Marrani's residence, he had reportedly told his guards to put down their guns to avoid clashes.
Two people were killed and six others injured in Thursday December 25, 2014, clashes between Yemeni security forces and armed tribesmen in the southern Lahj province. Tribesmen blocked a main road in the province, prompting security forces to launch a campaign to reopen the road. Two tribesmen were killed and six others injured in the ensuing clashes. No casualties were reported among security forces. The tribesmen had blocked the road to demand the release of a detained colleague.
The Shiite Houthi movement has released General Yahya Marrani, the kidnapped head of the Yemeni Intelligence we were Thursday December 25, 2014. Earlier in the day, 20 Houthi militants besieged the house of the general and kidnapped him.
Shiite Houthi militants have abducted a Yemeni tribal elder, Sheikh Mohamed Abdullah Ghalib of the Nehim tribe, in Sanaa we were told Sunday December 28, 2014. The militants had stopped the sheikh's car in Sanaa's Bani Harith district and took him to an undisclosed location. The tribal elder has been a vocal critic of the expansion of Houthis in Yemen.
A senior Shiite Houthi leader has been seriously injured in an attack in Yemen's central Ibb province. Ansar al-Sharia group said that one of its militants had opened fire on Houthi leader Abdel-Elah al-Ezi as he was driving in the province on Saturday December 27, 2014.
An army commander in southern Yemen has managed to escape unhurt after a bomb attack targeted his car and killed his driver. The incident occurred on Sunday December 28, 2014, in the southern city of Aden’s Khor Maksar district. The attack also left two bodyguards wounded. General Farej al-Atiqi, commander of the 31st armoured battalion, was unhurt when a device that had been hidden in his car exploded.
12 people have been killed in clashes between tribesmen and Shiite rebels north of the capital Sanaa. Shiite Houthi rebels went to the Arhab district late Saturday December 27, 2014, to search the home of a tribal chief whom the rebels suspected of being allied with the Sunni Islamist al-Islah party, with which the rebels are at war. Clashes erupted when locals resisted the search, leaving nine rebels and three tribesmen dead. The rebels later destroyed the house, which was believed to be empty.
A senior Yemeni military intelligence officer was killed on Monday December 29, 2014, in the country's southern province of al-Bayda in a drive-by shooting. The unknown attackers shot the officer, Nasser Wahishy, several times as he drove his car along the street in central al-Bayda province and they escaped the scene. On Sunday, one soldier was seriously injured in a blast of an improvised explosive device planted in the car of the commander of the 31st Armoured Brigade in the port city of Aden. The commander escaped the attack unharmed.
A suicide bomber killed at least 23 people –later on we were told that the number of deads rose to 33 and could still increase- in central Yemen on Wednesday December 31, 2014, when he blew himself up at a cultural centre where students were celebrating the Prophet Mohammad's birthday. At least 48 people were also injured, including many women and children. The celebration, in the city of Ibb, was organized by the Houthis, the group that controls most of Yemen. ---
A suicide bomber attacked a large gathering of Shiite rebels Wednesday December 31, 2014, in central Yemen preparing to commemorate the Prophet Muhammad's birthday, killing at least 24 people and wounding 48. The suicide bomber blew himself up inside a culture centre in the city of Ibb. He said an initial report of a second bombing at the site was incorrect. Two other explosions rocked Ibb following the first attack. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties in those two attacks.
A leading member of a local vigilante group in the southern Yemeni province of Abyan was injured on Thursday January 1, 2015, when an explosive charge went off in his car. The charge was planted in the car of leading vigilante Wadah Rajeh and that it went off when he was driving the vehicle on one of the streets of Zinjibar, the largest city in Abyan. Another man -who happened to be in Rajeh's company at the time– was injured as well.
An activist with Yemen's southern separatist Al-Hirak movement was killed and three others wounded by Yemeni security forces on Friday January 2, 2015, in the southern Aden province. Security forces opened fire on a bus carrying several Al-Hirak activists near the governor's office in Aden, which led to the death of activist Mohamed al-Shoeibi and the injury of three others.
Yemeni police have arrested three foreigners in the capital Sanaa after one of them was found to have al-Qaeda material in his possession. The foreigners are a Bulgarian, Belgian and Somali we were told on Friday January 2, 2015.
At least 7,000 people were killed in Yemen in 2014, including at least 1,200 civilians. Shia Houthi fighters are controlling about 70 percent of army's capabilities. During 2014 the Houthis seized more than 120 tank-type vehicles as well as other armoured vehicle and about 100 rockets during operations in 2014.
A senior army officer was shot dead in southeastern Yemen and four fighters from a Houthi-led militia that controls much of Yemen died in a bomb attack on a guest house south of the capital Sanaa Sunday January 4, 2015. 25 others from the Popular Committees, a force comprising mainly Houthis tribesmen, were wounded in the explosion in the city of Dhamar. Terrorists are likely to have planted the bomb at the entrance of the guesthouse. The Yemeni Defence Ministry said on its website that the latest victim, Col. Hamoud Hussein al-Dharhani, was shot dead Sunday when he left his house in the city of Ataq in the southeastern Shabwa province.
A large blast damaged a building belonging to Yemen's Shi'ite Muslim Houthi militia in a western district of the capital Sanaa early on Monday January 5, 2015, but there were no fatalities. The explosion left a hole in the wall of the building, which was used as a base by the Houthis.
On Wednesday January 7, 2015, at least 37 people have been killed and 66 others injured by a bomb blast outside a police academy in Yemen's capital, Sanaa. Two men were seen getting out of a minibus and walking away shortly before it exploded beside dozens of people queuing to enrol at the academy. ---
A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden minibus into a gathering of recruits outside a police academy in the heart of Yemen's capital on Wednesday January 7, 2015, killing at least 37 people. The bomber struck as cadets were lined up outside the academy, preparing to enrol.
Shiite Houthi rebels abducted the chief of staff to Yemen's president early Saturday January 17, 2015 in the centre of the capital, Sanaa. Gunmen kidnapped bin Mubarak and his two guards when they stopped their car in central Sanaa. One of the youngest politicians in Yemen, 46-year-old businessman-turned-political figure bin Mubarak emerged during the uprising that forced long-time leader Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down in a U.S.-backed agreement.
A ceasefire has taken effect in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, after hours of fierce clashes on Monday January 19, 2015, between the Presidential Guard and Shia Houthi rebels. At least three people were killed in the most intense clashes in Sanaa since the rebels overran it in September.
Shiite Houthi rebels overtook the presidential palace in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, on Tuesday January 20, 2015. The President has no more control. President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi was thought to be in his private residence at the time -not in the palace. There were reports of clashes near the residence. And the Prime Minister's residence was under attack from the street. The regime still controlled the city of Aden, and it closed the port of Aden as well as roads leading into and out of Sanaa.
After days of turmoil and talks of a coup in Yemen, the government and Houthi rebels reached a tentative deal Wednesday January 21, 2015. The rebels have agreed to release the President's chief of staff and withdraw their militias from key government institutions if officials take a significant step: rewriting parts of the country's constitution.
Yemen's President resigned Thursday night January 22, 2015, shortly after his prime minister and the Cabinet stepped down: seismic changes in the country's political scene that come just one day after the government and Houthi rebels struck a tentative peace deal meant to end days of turmoil. The resignations of Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi and other officials are the latest fallout from the Houthis' move in recent days to gain power in the capital, which included kidnapping Hadi's chief of staff on Saturday and taking over the presidential palace on Tuesday. The chaos in Yemen is cause for concern far beyond the country's borders. For the United States and its allies, Yemen's government has been a key ally in the fight against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen-based group linked to attacks such as the recent slaughter at French magazine Charlie Hebdo. The United States responded by reducing embassy personnel in the capital because of security concerns. The Cabinet and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah resigned before Hadi did on Thursday night, with Bahah telling Hadi in a letter that they essentially wanted to wash their hands of "destructive political chaos," an apparent reference to the deal that was to give Houthis more power. We resigned "so that we are not made party to what is going on and what will happen," Bahah wrote in a letter. Hadi's resignation came soon afterward. It wasn't immediately clear who would succeed Hadi.
A number of lawmakers trickled into Parliament on Sunday morning January 25, 2015, just in time for an emergency meeting to address the resignation of Yemen’s president last week. Minutes later, they walked back out, after hearing that the session had been called off. Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of a Shiite-led rebel group now in control of most security and state institutions, appeared to be calling the shots.
A U.S. drone strike in Yemen, the first so far this year, killed three Al Qaeda fighters on Monday January 26, 2015, signalling Washington's determination to keep targeting the global terror network's most lethal branch despite the resignation of the Yemeni president. Hours later, the State Department announced the U.S. Embassy in Yemen was closing to the public "until further notice" over security concerns as street gun battles and political turmoil continue to roil this impoverished Arab country. One of the three slain fighters was Saudi while the other two were Yemenis. ---
Yemen's Houthi movement has freed the presidential chief of staff, whom it seized on January 17 during a power struggle with then President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi we were told on Tuesday January 27, 2015. The seizure of the aide, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, helped to plunge Yemen into political crisis, resulting in clashes between the Houthis and President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's presidential guards that prompted the president and the government to resign. bin Mubarak was freed without any restrictions or conditions as a goodwill gesture to ease tensions in Yemen and in honour of a delegation of tribal leaders from the Shabwa province in southeastern Yemen where the Hadi aide comes from.
Shiite rebels have captured a key military base south of the capital where U.S. advisers had previously trained counter-terrorism forces. The Republican Guard camp captured Thursday January 29, 2015, was used by American experts until 2012 to train local forces battling al-Qaida's powerful Yemeni affiliate. The camp captured Thursday was manned by forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is suspected of quietly backing the rebels. The seizure of the camp could drive a wedge between the two.
A suspected U.S. drone strike on a car in Yemen killed three men believed to be al Qaeda militants on Saturday January 31, 2015 and possibly another drone crashed in a different part of the country.
The ideological leader of Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said Friday January 30, 2015, that France had surpassed the United States as the top enemy of Islam. With the “weakening” of the United States in recent years, France has replaced America in the “war on Islam. U.S. intelligence agencies consider AQAP to be the most dangerous branch of the jihadi network. One of the group’s ideologues, Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi, has claimed in a video that AQAP was behind the January 7 attack on French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo that left 12 people dead.
Yemen Sunday February1, 2015:
At least three suspected al-Qaeda militants were killed on Monday February 2, 2015, in a U.S. drone strike on a car in southeastern Yemen, the third such strike in a week. The attacks show there has been no letup in a U.S. campaign against suspected militants despite a power vacuum left by the resignation of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who had publicly backed the program.
A suicide car bomber has targeted a military base in central Yemen, killing at least five troops. Wednesday February 4, 2015's bombing struck the gates of the base in the province of Bayda. Elsewhere in Bayda, a senior Houthi member was killed. Also Wednesday, Houthis opened fire there at an anti-rebel rally, wounding three protesters.
At least two Yemeni army soldiers have been killed and six others wounded when suspected al-Qaeda militants carried out an attack in the country’s southern province of Shabwa. The ambush took place in the district of Azan, located 550 kilometres southeast of the capital on Tuesday February 3, 2015. The troops were escorting a convoy carrying salaries for army soldiers of a brigade in Azan, when they came under attack. Three soldiers are missing in the aftermath of the assault. On the same day gunmen attacked a local government building in the southern port city of Aden seriously injuring three policemen.
A senior cleric for al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen was killed along with three other people in a drone strike on their vehicle on January 31 in Yemen. The cleric, Harith bin Ghazi al-Nadhari, was killed in Yemen's south-central Shabwa province. Al-Nadhari made headlines in November when he inserted himself into a rivalry between al Qaeda and ISIS, or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The Houthi rebels in Yemen, who effectively forced the country’s president and cabinet to resign last month, announced on Friday February 6, 2015, that they intended to dissolve Parliament and take control of the country, which does not now have a functioning government. The plan would be put into effect quickly, but they conceded that the process might take weeks to complete. They would replace the Parliament with a national council, which would in turn choose a committee to select a new president. ---
Yemen's powerful Shiite rebels announced on Friday February 6, 2015, that they have taken over the country and dissolved parliament, a dramatic move that finalizes their months-long power grab. The development also pushes the impoverished country further into chaos and threatens to turn the political power struggle into a full-blown civil and sectarian conflict, pitting Houthi Shiites against the country's majority Sunnis, including powerful tribesmen and secessionists in the south. The takeover statement placed Houthis' security and intelligence arm, known as the "Revolutionary Committee," as the ruler of Yemen.
Feuding political parties resumed United Nations-mediated talks with the Houthi militants controlling Yemen’s capital on Monday February 9, 2015, but two parties withdrew within hours complaining of threats from the Houthis. Soon after the first session began on Monday, Abdullah al-Noman, the secretary general of the Nasserist Organization, a small party, accused one of the top Houthi negotiators, Mehdi al-Meshaat, of threatening to use force to compel the other parties to accept the Houthis’ plan. Citing those threats, the larger Islah party later said that it was boycotting the talks as well. The Islah statement also objected to the Houthis’ insistence on sticking to their unilateral plan to form a government. The Islah party is an Islamist Sunni grouping that has bitterly opposed the Houthis, who are dominated by Zaydis, adherents of a sect that is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
The United States is temporarily closing its embassy in Yemen amid political deadlock and deteriorating security conditions after the takeover of the country by Houthi fighters. Diplomats were being evacuated from the country on Tuesday February 10, 2015, and that the embassy will suspend operations until conditions improve. Recent unilateral actions disrupted the political transition process in Yemen, creating the risk that renewed violence would threaten Yemenis and the diplomatic community in Sana’a. Yemen has been in crisis for months, with Houthi fighters besieging the capital and then taking control. Marines providing security at the embassy will also likely leave but American forces conducting missions in other parts of the country will not be affected.
Houthi rebels took all U.S. Embassy vehicles parked at the Yemeni capital's airport and wouldn't let departing U.S. Marines take their weapons with them. The actions come after the United States, along with Britain, suspended operations at their embassies and moved out staffers because of the instability in Yemen. We were told on Thursday February 12, 2015, that the Houthis seized many U.S. Marines' weapons at the airport, and the American troops also handed over some to random airport officials. However, a senior U.S. military official told CNN the Marines disabled their weapons and gave them to a Yemeni security detail, which had escorted them to the airport, because the Marines were flying commercial. US officials however said that all weapons were destroyed at the embassy prior to movement. None of them were 'handed over' in any way to anyone. The destruction of weapons at the embassy and the airport was carried out in accordance with an approved destruction plan. The previous night, embassy officials burned tens of thousands of documents and destroyed weapons that were inside the Sanaa embassy's storage warehouses.
The evacuation of American diplomats, soldiers and even CIA operatives from Yemen is stirring deep concerns that the U.S. is losing a vital foothold in territory that the most notorious Al Qaeda affiliate calls home. The White House says Defence Department officials remain on the ground and are coordinating with Yemeni counterparts, but the retreat of most U.S. personnel is seen as a significant setback for what had been a cornerstone of American counterterrorism operations. But there is now "less pressure" on America's chief enemy in that region, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which he described as a "serious" threat. That makes it easier for them to plot and plan against America.
On Friday February 13, 2015, we were told that U.S. Marines destroyed their personal weapons at the airport in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, on Wednesday, before leaving the country and did not hand them over to anyone. The Marine Security Force left the embassy for the airfield with only personal weapons after other weapons were destroyed at the embassy. The U.S. Embassy was closed and embassy personnel evacuated the country after the Houthi militia group, which overran Sanaa in September, formally took power last week. The Shi'ite Muslim group is stridently anti-American and is backed by Iran.
Saudi Arabia, Italy and Germany shut down their embassies in Yemen on Friday February 13, 2015, amid growing political uncertainty as Yemen's top U.N. envoy warned that the Arab world's poorest nation is at a crossroads between "civil war and disintegration." The new embassy closures come days after similar measures by the United States, France and Britain, threatening international isolation for a country that houses the world's most active al-Qaida branch.
Heavy fighting between Shiite rebels and Sunni tribesmen in southern Yemen has left 26 dead we were told Saturday February 14, 2015, as tens of thousands of people marched to protest the rebels' rule. The rebels, known as Houthis, were supported by army troops when they fought the tribesmen in Bayda province in clashes that began the night earlier. The Houthis lost 16 fighters and the tribesmen 10.
Meanwhile tens of thousands marched in protest against the Houthis Saturday February 14, 2015, in the cities of Ibb, Taiz, Hodeida, Dhamar and the capital, Sanaa. In Ibb, protesters set a Houthi military vehicle ablaze before the rebels dispersed them, wounding at least three people. Talks between political groups were continuing and views were converging.
Also Saturday February 14, 2015, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Arab Emirates became the latest countries to shut down embassy operations in Sanaa, announcing they were evacuating diplomats. Saudi Arabia, Italy, Germany, the United States, France and Britain have taken similar measures amid the growing political uncertainty, threatening international isolation for the country. ---
The United Nations Security Council on Sunday February 15, 2015, demanded Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen withdraw from government institutions, called for an end to foreign interference and threatened "further steps" if the violence does not stop. The United Nations has warned that Yemen is collapsing. Shi'ite Muslim Houthi fighters have sidelined the central government after seizing the capital Sanaa in September and expanding across Yemen, which borders oil giant Saudi Arabia. Al Qaeda and other Sunni Muslim militants have since stepped up attacks. Yemen is home to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, one of the global network's most active arms, which has carried out attacks abroad. The 15-nation Security Council unanimously adopted a British- and Jordanian-drafted resolution on the crisis.
Forces loyal to Yemen's president said they had seized strategic buildings in the southern city of Aden on Monday February 16, 2015, after a five-hour battle, escalating a civil conflict threatening to split the country in two. The militias supporting Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi wrested parts of Yemen's economic hub from security forces allied to the Houthi movement, including its main power station and intelligence headquarters.
Turkey has closed its embassy in Yemen we were told on Monday February 16, 205, the latest of a number of foreign powers to withdraw their diplomats as the country’s civil conflict worsens. The ambassador and other embassy staff had returned to Turkey. The Turkish embassy will resume activities when state authority had been reasserted. Turkish citizens were asked to leave Yemen.
Houthi rebels, who deposed Yemen's government by force, have come to a preliminary agreement for a new government, showing willingness to negotiate we were told on Friday February 19, 2015. Parties to the negotiations are hopeful it will prevent a civil war. It represents a shift of the Houthis' tone from just a month ago, when they stormed the capital Sanaa with guns blazing.
The Yemeni leader who resigned the presidency last month and has fled to the country's south says all actions taken since Shiite rebels stormed the capital last September are illegitimate, hinting that he will seek to reclaim his power and office. In a statement signed as the "President of the Republic" Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi called for a national dialogue in the southern port city of Aden or city of Taiz— both areas not under control by the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis.
Three people were killed Friday February 20, 2015 in a drone strike. A US drone struck a vehicle in the city of al-Houta in the southern province of Shabwah, killing the car's three passengers, allegedly militants. According to rights groups, dozens of suspected al-Qaeda operatives –along with a number of civilians– have been killed by US drone strikes in recent weeks. ---
Yemen's deposed president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has withdrawn his resignation and has been meeting with senior security advisers and provincial governors in his hometown, Aden. Hadi had submitted a letter to the assembly on Monday February 23, 2015, withdrawing his resignation as the country's president, which he had tendered in January after Shia Houthi rebels took control of government. Hadi escaped from the capital, Sanaa, on Saturday after being under house arrest for a month. The Arab Gulf countries have supported Hadi's attempt to reconsolidate his status as the legitimate president and on Monday called on Yemenis to support him. Hadi has been trying hard to regain control of the country.
Gunmen have kidnapped a French woman and her Yemeni driver in the centre of the capital, Sanaa, while she was heading to work. The unidentified gunmen intercepted the vehicle on 45th Street and led the 30-year-old woman, who works for a consulting firm on a project funded by the World Bank, and the driver to an unknown location.
Fighters from the Shi'ite Muslim Houthi militia took over a Special Forces base in the capital and a coast guard station on the Red Sea on Wednesday February 25, 2015. The clashes at the Sanaa base started late on Tuesday when the Houthis shelled the camp with heavy weapons. Fighting lasted around six hours, soldiers from the camp said, and at least 10 people were killed. The troops had been trained and equipped by the United States as an elite counterterrorism unit during the rule of ex-president Ali Abullah Saleh, who was ousted by Arab Spring protests in 2011. The Coast Guard post in the port city of Hodeidah was seized after moderate gunfire and military sources did not immediately confirm any casualties.
Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has retracted his resignation after escaping house arrest in the militia-controlled capital we were told on Tuesday February 24, 2015, staking a claim to lead the country out of crisis. The embattled leader had tendered his resignation last month after the Shiite militia, known as Huthis, seized the presidential palace and besieged his residence in Sanaa. He made a surprise escape from house arrest on Saturday and resurfaced in Aden, capital of the formerly independent south Yemen, where he has resumed his duties and branded all measures adopted by the Huthis "null and illegitimate". The 69-year-old native of southern Yemen had sent a letter withdrawing the resignation to parliament, which had never met to formally accept it. ---
A U.S. drone attack in Yemen killed four suspected al Qaeda militants on Saturday February 28, 2015, in the southern province of Shabwa. The attack targeted militants traveling in two vehicles in the Bihan region of Shabwa province; several other suspected militants were injured.
Nine army soldiers were injured Saturday February 28, 2015, in an attack by suspected separatists in Yemen's southern Lahij province. Suspected separatists attacked an army patrol in the province's Radfan district, leaving nine soldiers injured. Clashes broke out between Yemeni soldiers and militants following the attack.
A first Iranian flight has landed in the Yemeni capital, a day after officials from the Shia-controlled city signed an aviation agreement with Tehran. The Mahan Air plane arrived in Sanaa on Sunday March 1, 2015, carrying a team from the Iranian Red Crescent and medical aid. Senior Iranian diplomats were on hand to welcome the flight -the first between the two countries in many years and comes weeks after Houthi Shia rebels took over the government in a coup. Under the deal Iran Mahan Air and Yemenia would operate 14 flights each a week. The flight underscores how the Shia rebels are strengthening their grip over state institutions and exercising sovereign power in Sanaa, even as the country's president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, insists he is still in charge.
A US drone attack in Yemen killed four suspected al Qaeda militants on Saturday February 28, 2015, in the southern province of Shabwa. The attack targeted militants traveling in two vehicles in the Bihan region of Shabwa province; several other suspected militants were injured. Nineteen US drone strikes killed 124 militants and four civilians in Yemen in 2014.
A U.S. drone strike Saturday February 28, 2015, in central Yemen killed three men believed to be al-Qaida militants. The attack took place in the town of Bihan in Yemen's Shabwa province; the nationalities of the men killed had not been established.
Saturday February 28, 2015,, the Shiite rebels who control Yemen's capital, Sanaa, signed an agreement with Iranian authorities in Tehran to set up direct flights between the two countries. The memorandum of understanding between aviation officials from the two countries calls for 14 flights per week from each side.
A drone attack killed two suspected al Qaeda militants in the southern Yemeni province of Shabwa on Monday March 2. 2015. The attack targeted militants traveling in a vehicle in the Rikhwa region of Shabwa province. At least six drone strikes have been conducted in Yemen so far this year, killing at least 20 people. In the last attack last week, four suspected al Qaeda militants were killed in Shabwa.
Yemen Tuesday March 3, 2015:
On Thursday March 5, 2015, inspired by the video of Daesh (Islamic State/ISIS) burning to death the Jordanian pilot Muath Al Kasaesbeh, a group of boys set about re-enacting the atrocity in their Al Dahthath village in Yemen’s northern province of Ibb. The group of a half-dozen youths trapped a ten-year-old boy in a wooden cage, doused him with gasoline, and set him on fire. They even re-enacted the Islamic State leaders passing judgment on the Jordanian pilot and ordering his immolation. Luckily, the boy’s screams were heard in time, and he was rescued by villagers. He went to the hospital for treatment of the burns on one of his legs.
An oil pipeline was blown up on Wednesday March 4, 2015, by unidentified militants in Yemen's southern province of Shabwah. Unidentified militants blew up the pipeline forcing the oil company operating it to stop pumping oil until repairs are carried out.
On Sunday March 8, 2015, Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who fled to Aden after escaping from the Houthi armed group controlling Sanaa, considers the southern port city to be Yemen's capital.
Yemen Sunday March 8, 2015:
At least two militants and two soldiers died in an al Qaeda assault on an army base in southern Yemen early on Monday March 9, 2015. The assault on the base in Mahfad in Abyan province was a setback for the country's splintered military which, alongside local militiamen, had largely expelled Al Qaeda from the area's towns in 2013. The battle is ongoing and army reinforcements backed by dozens of the armed "popular committees" had come to the soldiers' aid.
Al-Qaida militants overran and held a city in southern Yemen for hours Monday before an army counterattack pushed them out, officials said, as Saudi Arabia offers to host peace talks to end the country's political chaos.
The attacks come a day after Defence Minister Maj. Gen. Mahmoud al-Subaihi managed to escape the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, which Shiite Houthi militants have controlled since September. He joined embattled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi in the southern city of Aden, where the leader has renounced his resignation and now claims to be leader of the Arab world's poorest country.
On Monday March 9, 2015, fighting over the city of Mahfad in Yemen's Abyan province, a former al-Qaida stronghold, lasted eight hours. Al-Qaida in Arabian Peninsula militants took control of the city council building and several army checkpoints before moving in on a key army base. Fighting killed four Yemeni soldiers and seven al-Qaida militants.
Yemen's defines minister has fled Houthi-controlled Sanaa for Aden we were told on Sunday March 8, 2015, in a move expected to bolster President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in his power struggle with the Shi'ite Muslim group.
Unidentified groups have killed a retired security officer in the southern Yemeni province of Hadhramaut, we were told Tuesday March 10, 2015. Saleh Khairallah, who worked before for the country's internal intelligence service, was shot dead by unidentified people riding a motorbike in Al-Qatn district in Hadhramaut. ---Al-Qaeda militants overran and held a city in southern Yemen for hours Monday March 9, 2015, before an army counterattack pushed them out. The attacks come a day after Defence Minister Maj. Gen. Mahmoud al-Subaihi managed to escape the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, which Shiite Houthi militants have controlled since September. He joined embattled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi in the southern city of Aden, where the leader has renounced his resignation and now claims to be leader of the Arab world's poorest country. Monday's fighting over the city of Mahfad in Yemen's Abyan province, a former al-Qaeda stronghold, lasted eight hours. Al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula militants took control of the city council building and several army checkpoints before moving in on a key army base. Fighting killed four Yemeni soldiers and seven al-Qaeda militants.
Members of the Shi'ite Muslim militia that controls much of Yemen opened fire on hundreds of people protesting at their presence in the southerly city of al-Bayda on Thursday March 12, 2015, killing one and wounding eight others.
Talks aimed at pulling Yemen out of crisis are open to the Houthi militia which seized power in Sanaa last month we were told on Thursday March 12, 2015. The Houthi have so far opposed any change in venue for UN-brokered talks which broke down after Western-backed president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi escaped from house arrest in Sanaa last month and resumed power from second city Aden in the south. With no agreement on a venue to continue dialogue inside Yemen, Mr Hadi proposed that talks move to neighbouring Saudi Arabia. The six Gulf Cooperation Council members agreed to that request last Monday but have not set a date for the meeting.
Opponents of Yemen’s Houthi militia announced the formation of a national alliance on Saturday March 14, 2015, to restore the authority of the state, in a major shakeup of Yemen’s political landscape. The coalition, called the National Salvation Alliance, formally unites players from across Yemen’s regional and ideological divides. It may strengthen their hand in ongoing United Nations-backed talks for a unity government. The seven parties include activists, Islamists and members of Yemen’s former ruling party, who back President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi from his base in the country’s South.
Yemen's Shiite rebels who overran the capital, Sanaa, and several Northern provinces, on Monday released the country's prime minister and all Cabinet members from weeks-long house arrest; this was a gesture of good will by the rebels aimed at defusing the political crisis. The rebels put President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the entire government, including Prime Minister Khaled Bahah, under house arrest. During their forced detentions, Hadi and the Cabinet members resigned in protest. Hadi eventually escaped from house arrest, surfaced in the southern port city of Aden where he revoked is resignation and set up a base to rally supporters to his side. Bahah did not clarify if he also was rescinding his resignation but said he was now leaving Sanaa to visit family elsewhere. --
The family of a prominent Yemeni politician and supporter of the country's Shiite rebels says he was assassinated by gunmen in front of the family's home in the capital, Sanaa. Two armed men riding on a motorbike opened fire and gunned down his father as he came out of the house on Wednesday morning March 18, 2015. The attackers left the victim in a pool of blood and sped away. al-Khewani was transferred to hospital but died of his wounds there.
Unidentified armed groups have killed a retired intelligence officer in central Yemen's Al-Baydaa province we were told on Wednesday March 18, 2015. Last week a retired security officer Saleh Khairallah was killed in the southern Yemeni province of Hadhramaut. Ali al-Amoudi was shot dead by armed groups in Al-Baydaa's provincial capital.
Forces loyal to Yemen's former president stormed the international airport in Aden on Thursday Match 19, 2015, and sent fighter planes to bomb the palace in the southern port city where the current president has been based since fleeing from the rebel-held capital last month. Troops fended off the airport attack, the airstrikes missed the palace and President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was in a safe place. But the violence, which he said had left 13 people dead, marked a major escalation in Hadi's long-simmering conflict with former autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is allied with the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis. Hadi remains Yemen's internationally recognized president and has been a close U.S. ally in the battle against a powerful local al-Qaida affiliate.
Quadruple suicide bombers on Friday March 20, 2015, hit a pair of mosques controlled by Shiite rebels in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, unleashing blasts through crowds of worshippers that killed at least 137 people and wounded around 350 others in the deadliest violence to hit the fragile war-torn nation in decades. A group claiming to be a Yemeni branch of the Islamic State group said it carried out the bombings and warned of an "upcoming flood" of attacks against the rebels, known as Houthis, who have taken over the capital and much of Yemen. If true, Friday's bombing would be the first major attack by IS supporters in Yemen.
The U.S. military is in the process of evacuating about 100 Special Operations forces members from the Al Anad airbase in Yemen due to that country's deteriorating security situation we were told on Saturday March 21, 2015. Those being evacuated are the last American troops stationed in the Arab nation, which is home to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The United States closed its embassy in Sanaa last month, after Houthi rebels took over the Yemeni capital. And hundreds of al Qaeda members escaped two Yemeni prisons Thursday and Friday, raising further security questions.
Like a ticking time bomb left unattended for too long, Yemen’s undeclared civil war has suddenly exploded into a region-wide crisis that will have far-reaching, unpredictable international consequences, not least for Britain and the US. The conflict, spreading outwards like a poison cloud from the key southern battleground around Aden, pits Saudi Arabia, the leading Sunni Muslim power, plus what remains of Yemen’s government against northern-based Houthi rebels, who are covertly backed by Shia Muslim Iran. What has until now been an unacknowledged proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the two great powers of the Middle East, has now burst into an open confrontation that appears to be escalating rapidly as other countries and players are sucked in. The primary Saudi aim is to pacify Yemen, but its wider objective is to send a powerful message to Iran: stop meddling in Arab affairs.
Saudi and allied warplanes struck rebels in Yemen on Thursday March 26, 2015, with Saudi Arabia threatening to send ground troops and inserting itself into its southern neighbour’s civil war, potentially opening up a broader sectarian conflict in the Middle East. The swift and sudden action involved 100 Saudi jets, 30 from the United Arab Emirates, 15 each from Kuwait and Bahrain, 10 from Qatar, and a handful from Jordan, Morocco and Sudan, plus naval help from Pakistan and Egypt. Egypt's support also could involve ground forces. What do those countries have in common? They're all predominantly Sunni Muslim in contrast to the Houthi rebels who are Shiite Muslims who have taken over Yemen's capital of Sanaa and on Wednesday captured parts of its second-largest city, Aden. The Saudis consider the Houthis proxies for the Shiite government of Iran and fear another Shiite-dominated state in the region.
On Saturday March 28, 2015, Yemen President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi has accused Iran of destabilising the country, calling Houthi rebels the "stooges of Iran". Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia says military intervention in Yemen will continue until the country is "stable and safe". The move comes after a third night of airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition hit cities across the country. The conflict has been described as a proxy war between Sunni Arab nations and Shia Iran. President Hadi was speaking at an Arab League summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, days after having to flee Yemen as rebels advanced on his stronghold of Aden. He plans to stay abroad until the situation settles, Yemeni Foreign Minister Riad Yassin said. ---
Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen will continue until Shiite rebels there withdraw and surrender their weapons, a summit of Arab leaders decided Sunday March 29, 2015, as they also agreed in principle to forming a joint military force. The decision by the Arab League puts it on a path to more aggressively challenge Shiite power Iran, which is backing the Yemeni rebels, known as Houthis. A Saudi-led coalition began bombing Yemen on Thursday, saying it was targeting the Houthis and their allies, which include forces loyal to Yemen's former leader, Ali Abdullah Saleh. The campaign could pave the way for a possible ground invasion. Yemen President Hadi directly accused Iran of being behind the Houthi offensive, raising the spectre of a regional conflict. Iran and the Houthis deny that Tehran arms the rebel movement, though the Islamic Republic has provided humanitarian and other aid.
Yemen's embattled president on Saturday March 28, 2015, called Shiite rebels who forced him to flee the country "stooges of Iran," directly blaming the Islamic Republic for the chaos there and demanding airstrikes against rebel positions continue until they surrender. Other leaders, including the leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, obliquely referenced Iran earlier at the opening session of an Arab summit held in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. They blamed Shiite, non-Arab Iran for meddling in the affairs of Arab nations. Yemeni President Abdel Rabbo Mansour Hadi directly challenged Iran in his remarks. He also called for his supporters to rise up in peaceful protest against the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis. Iran and the Houthis deny that Tehran arms the rebel movement.
Pakistan will send troops to Saudi Arabia to give military support to a coalition of mainly Gulf States fighting Yemeni Houthi rebels we were told on Monday March 30, 2015. Largely Sunni Muslim Pakistan -a regional ally of Saudi Arabia, the Gulf's main Sunni Muslim power- would join a Saudi-led military coalition conducting air strikes against Shi'ite Houthi forces.
The air strikes are targeting the rebels' southward advance on the port city of Aden, the last bastion of Saudi-backed president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Pakistan denied that the country had made a decision to send troops to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has not decided yet whether to send ground troops into Yemen. It is keeping its options open, but was committed to completing its air campaign.
An air strike at a camp for displaced people and refugees in Houthi-controlled northern Yemen on Monday March 30, 2015, killed 45 people and wounded 65. The strike hit the vicinity of the Mazraq refugee camp in northern Yemen. A Saudi-led coalition was bombing Yemen for a fifth day Monday to try to weaken the Iranian-allied Houthi militia and allied military units. The air attacks have also targeted their southward advance on the port city of Aden, the last bastion of the Saudi-backed president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Yemen's foreign minister blamed Iranian-allied Houthi fighters for the airstrike, denying any link to Saudi-led military operations. Saudia Arabia, said the explosion on the camp was not from Arab coalition forces but by "artillery strikes" by the Houthis. Who is lying?
At least 27 people were killed in an explosion overnight in a dairy factory near the coastal city of Al Hudaydah on Wednesday April 1, 2015. The victims were employees working the night shift at the factory, owned by Yemen Dairy and Juice Industries. It was not clear whether the explosion had been caused by a Saudi airstrike or an errant shell fired by an armed Yemeni faction.
Three hundred inmates from a prison in Yemen have been freed by al-Qaeda on Wednesday April 1, 2015, after the Islamists stormed the jail in which they were held. The identity of those freed from Al Mukalla prison was not immediately clear, although initial reports suggested that it included well-known jihadis.
A unit of Houthi rebels and allies backed by tanks pushed into central Aden, the main foothold of fighters loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, we were told on Wednesday April 1, 2015, despite a week of air strikes by Saudi-led coalition forces. The alliance of mainly Sunni Gulf Arab states has also attacked the northern Shi'ite Houthis from the sea but their advance toward the southern port city has been relentless.
Yemeni Houthi fighters and their allies seized a central Aden district on Thursday April 2, 2015, striking a heavy blow against the Saudi-led coalition which has waged a week of air strikes to try to stem advances by the Iran-allied Shi'ite group. Hours after the Houthis fighted their way into a presidential residence. By nightfall the Iran-allied Shi'ite fighters had reached the edge of Aden's port district of Mualla. The Houthis and their supporters swept into the heart of Aden despite an eight-day air campaign led by Riyadh trying to stem their advances and ultimately return Hadi to power. By midday on Thursday they were in control of Crater neighbourhood, deploying tanks and foot patrols through its otherwise empty streets after heavy fighting in the morning.
On Thursday April 2, 2015, a Chinese naval frigate has evacuated 225 foreign citizens from strife-torn Yemen. Ten different nationalities were among the evacuees picked up on Thursday afternoon from Aden, Yemen's second city, and transported to Djibouti. The ministry said foreign governments -Pakistan, Ethiopia, Singapore, Italy, Germany, Poland, Ireland, Britain, Canada and Yemen- had requested China's help. A spokeswoman said it was the first time China had carried out a specific evacuation of foreign nationals from a danger zone.
Two brothers working for the local branch of the Yemen Red Crescent Society were shot dead on Friday April 3, 2015, in the southern port city of Aden while evacuating wounded people to a waiting ambulance. Disaster-management coordinator Khaled Ahmed Bahuzaim and relief volunteer Mohammed Ahmed Bahuzaim were both bearing the Red Crescent emblem, which should have ensured their protection. The death of the two men follows the killing of another Yemen Red Crescent volunteer worker in Al-Dhale' province three days ago. Also earlier today, two Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) volunteers, Ibrahim Eid from the Idlib branch and Mohamad Ahmad Kamouaa from the Maaret al-Nouman sub-branch, were killed while carrying out their duties. They were retrieving dead bodies from near the Idlib branch of the SARC and preparing shelters for people fleeing the fighting in the city. Red Crescent volunteers are being deliberately killed as they strive to save others. This is the third senseless death in a single week.
Yemen’s Houthi militia, supported by army units, have gained ground in the southern city of Aden, pushing back loyalists of the Saudi-backed president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi. On Sunday April 5, 2015, residents took refuge in their homes and reported hearing sporadic gunfire and blasts of rocket-propelled grenades. One witness saw a Houthi tank in the central Mualla district, which sits astride Aden’s main commercial port. Houthi forces have inched forward by street-fighting in the city despite an 11-day nationwide bombing campaign by a Saudi-led coalition. Saudi planes dropped weapons to Hadi’s armed supporters in the Aden area on Friday, helping them to beat back Houthi advances temporarily.
At least nine people from a single family were killed when what appeared to be an airstrike by the Saudi-led military coalition struck a home in a village outside Sana we were told Saturday April 4, 2015. Village residents gave a higher toll, saying that as many as 11 members of the Okaish family, including five children, were killed in the bombing on Friday. The airstrike may have been intended for an air defines base about a mile and half away. Bombings attributed to the coalition have killed dozens of civilians since the start of the Saudi-led air offensive intended to cripple the Houthis.
Houthi fighters and allied army units clashed with local militias in the southern Yemeni city of Aden on Sunday April 5, 2015 as gun battles and heavy shelling ripped through a downtown district near the city's port.
Saudi airstrikes targeting a military base on Tuesday April 7, 2015, hit a nearby school, injuring at least a half dozen students. According to the Education Ministry in Ibb, three students had been killed at the Al Bastain School in Maitam, in southwestern Yemen, as a result of the airstrike. ---
UNICEF said Friday April 10, 2015, that an initial shipment of 16 tons of medical supplies landed in Yemen's capital, Sanaa. The supplies can make the difference between life and death for children and their families but they are not enough. The cargo included antibiotics, bandages, syringes, IV sets and other medical supplies. Included as well were micronutrients for up to 20,000 children and water storage materials airlifted through Djibouti from UNICEF's supply centre in Denmark.
Two Indian vessels carrying 445 Indians evacuated from strife-torn Yemen started their journey for back home on Sunday April 12, 2015.
At least 24 people -twenty Houthis and four tribesmen- were killed in overnight clashes between Houthi militants and armed tribesmen in Yemen's central Ibb province we were told Saturday April 11, 2015. Six tribesmen were also injured in the violence.
Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi appointed his former prime minister as vice president on Sunday April 12, 2015. Bahah is popular across Yemen's spectrum of feuding parties and may be seen as a figure who could calm tensions and bring warring parties to the negotiating table.
An American drone strike has killed a top ideologue and spokesman for Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen we were told on Tuesday April 14, 2015. Ibrahim al-Rubeish, a 35-year-old Saudi citizen, had been held for five years in the United States military prison at Guantánamo Bay. Mr. Rubeish was killed Monday in what it called a “hate-filled Crusader strike” near Al Mukalla, a city on Yemen’s southern coast. Since 2009, Mr. Rubeish has been the group’s voice in many important pronouncements, including a video eulogy for Anwar al-Awlaki, the American cleric killed in a drone strike in 2011.
U.N. special adviser to Yemen Jamal Benomar plans to step down from his job we were told on Wednesday April 15, 2015. Benomar, a veteran Moroccan diplomat, had recently irked Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations for his handling of so far unsuccessful peace talks between Iranian-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen and the Western and Gulf Arab-backed Yemeni government. The Gulf countries, which have been involved in Saudi-led air strikes against Houthi positions in Yemen for three weeks, felt that Benomar was being too accommodating towards the Shi'ite Houthis.
Al-Qaida seized control of a major airport, a sea port and an oil terminal in southern Yemen on Thursday April 16, 2015. al-Qaida fighters clashed briefly with members of one of Yemen's largest brigades outside Mukalla, a city the militants overran earlier this month and where they freed prison inmates. The militants then seized control of the Riyan airport and moved to secure their hold on the city's main sea port, which is also an oil terminal. The leaders of the brigade in charge of protecting the entire area fled. The southeastern city of Mukalla is the capital of Yemen's largest province, Hadramawt, where al-Qaida has long maintained a presence despite U.S. drone strikes and Yemeni counterterrorism operations. ---
Al-Qaida's Yemen branch routed government forces from a large weapons depot in the country's east on Friday April 17, 2015, seizing dozens of tanks, Katyusha rocket launchers and small arms as airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition intensified in the capital, Sanaa, and also in Yemen's second-largest city. The seized depot is located in Mukalla, the capital of Hadramawt —Yemen's largest province where al-Qaida has been consolidating its control. Only the day before, the militants captured a major airport, an oil terminal and the area's main military base. The gains highlight how al-Qaida has exploited the chaos in Yemen, where Shiite rebels are battling forces loyal to exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The Saudi-led air campaign in support of Hadi, now in its fourth week, has so far failed to halt the rebels' advance.
Saudi-led air strikes on a missile depot in Yemen's rebel-held capital Monday April 20, 2015, sparked explosions that left at least 18 people (all civilians) dead and 300 wounded, flattening houses and shaking faraway neighbourhoods. Many more people were feared to have been killed after the two strikes that hit the depot in the Fajj Attan area of Sanaa, which was covered in thick black clouds of smoke.
A U.S. aircraft carrier was dispatched to the waters off Yemen Monday April 20, 2015, to join other American ships prepared to block any Iranian weapons shipments to Shiite Houthi rebels fighting in Yemen. The USS Theodore Roosevelt -along with her escort ship, the USS Normandy, a guided-missile cruiser- left the Persian Gulf on Sunday en route for the Arabian Sea, to help enforce the blockade. A massive ship that carries F/A-18 fighter jets, the Roosevelt is seen more of a deterrent and show of force in the region.
The Indonesian Embassy in Yemen was heavily damaged, while its two diplomats and one citizen were injured, in explosions that followed an air strike by Saudi-led coalition warplanes on a missile depot in the rebel-held Yemeni capital of Sanaa. At least 15 people (all civilians) were dead and there were fears for dozens more after the air strikes that set off the explosions.
Saudi-led coalition warplanes bombed Yemen on Wednesday April 22, 2015, despite an announcement by Riyadh that it was ending its campaign of air strikes, while renewed fighting erupted on the ground between rebels and forces loyal to the exiled president. Tuesday's announcement by Riyadh that it would end almost a month of air strikes against the Iranian-allied Houthis drew positive responses from both the White House and Tehran. But hours later, air strikes and ground fighting resumed and the International Red Cross described the humanitarian situation as "catastrophic". The rebel Houthi movement said it wanted a return to United Nations peace talks, but only after a complete halt to air strikes.
Houthi fighters captured an army base loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in the city of Taiz on Wednesday April 22, 2015. A Saudi air strike hit the headquarters shortly afterwards. Coalition planes later hit rebel positions in southern Yemen with 12 more air strikes. Also in southern Yemen, pro-Hadi militiamen fought against the Houthis and their army allies loyal to powerful ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, and residents in the port of Aden reported tank shelling and automatic gunfire.
As Saudi forces pounded southern Yemen with a fresh series of airstrikes Wednesday April 22, 2015, Houthi rebels called for peace talks: “the U.N.-sponsored talks should resume but only after a complete halt of attacks, Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam said. The previous round of talks between Houthi rebels and the government of Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi failed in January after rebels attacked the President's personal residence and presidential palace in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital.
On Tuesday April 21, 2015, Saudi Arabia announced the end of its Operation Decisive Storm, a nearly monthlong air campaign against Houthi positions. The Saudi-led coalition said a new initiative was underway, Operation Renewal of Hope, focused on the political process. But less than 24 hours later, after rebel forces attacked a Yemeni government military brigade, the airstrikes resumed. Five airstrikes targeted a weapons depot in the province late Wednesday. It was unclear whether it was a resumption of the operation or a short-term series of strikes.
Houthis released Yemeni Defence Minister Mahmoud al-Subaihi in Sanaa on Wednesday April 22, 2015. The Houthis detained the defines minister at an air base near the Yemeni port city of Aden on March 26, shortly before the Saudis began their airstrike campaign. The rebels captured the base that day as part of an advance on the Aden area. ---
Tensions off the coast of Yemen between the United States and Iran appear to be dissipating, with a fleet of Iranian ships possibly carrying weapons for Yemeni rebels and a U.S. aircraft carrier both turning away from the region we were told on Friday April 24, 2015. The Iranian ships have turned northeast in the Arabian Sea, away from Yemen. The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and its escort ship, the guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy, also are heading back to the Persian Gulf, leaving seven other U.S. combat ships in the waters off the coast of Yemen.
Air raids, naval shelling and ground fighting shook Yemen on Sunday April 26, 2015. There were at least five air strikes on military positions and an area near the presidential palace compound in the Houthi-held capital Sanaa while warships pounded an area near the port of the southern city of Aden.
The U.N. chief appointed a new special envoy to Yemen as pressure grows to return to peace talks while fighting continues in the Arab world's poorest country. A statement Saturday April 25, 2015, says Ban Ki-moon has appointed Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed of Mauritania, who until now has led the U.N.'s Ebola mission.
Yemen Sunday April 26, 2015:
Deadly street battles raged in Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city on Sunday April 26, 2015, as airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition battling Shiite rebels struck targets in several cities. The fighting in Taiz between government forces and rebels was heaviest around government and security buildings in the city centre, killing some 20 civilians and wounding dozens more; indiscriminately fired mortar rounds hit several private residences and landed near a hospital at one point.
Jets from a Saudi-led alliance destroyed the runway of Yemen's Sanaa airport on Tuesday April 28, 2015, to prevent an Iranian plane from landing there. The fighting across the country killed at least 30 people. ---
Yemen's Shiite rebels attacked Saudi border posts, sparking fierce fighting overnight that killed three Saudi troops and dozens of rebels. Saudi-led airstrikes continued to bomb rebel positions inside Yemen on Friday May 1, 2015, including a strike in the capital, Sanaa that killed at least 20 civilians. The attack late Thursday by the Houthis, was the most dramatic border incident since Saudi Arabia launched an intense campaign of airstrikes against the rebels just over a month ago. It also brought to 11 the number of Saudi soldiers killed so far in border skirmishes during the air campaign. The assault underscored how the Iran-backed Houthis are still capable of launching major operations despite the airstrikes that have relentlessly targeted their positions and those of their allies, military units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The Saudi-led military coalition fighting a rebel group in Yemen has in the past few weeks used cluster munitions supplied by the United States we were told on Sunday May 3, 2015. They were used near villages in Yemen’s northern Saada Province. Cluster munitions are banned by much of the world, though not by the United States, Saudi Arabia or Yemen They are imprecise weapons that spread ordnance over a wide area and pose a long-term danger to civilians because of the unexploded bomblets they leave behind.
With helicopter gunships hovering overhead, at least 20 troops from a Saudi-led Arab coalition came ashore Sunday May 3, 2015, in the southern port city of Aden on what military officials called a "reconnaissance" mission, as fighting raged between Iranian-backed Shiite rebels and forces loyal to the nation's exiled president. It was the first ground landing by coalition forces since the start of the Saudi-led air campaign against the rebels and their allies -forces loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh- who have captured most of northern Yemen and marched on southern provinces over the past year.
Yemen's rebels fired rockets and mortars into Saudi Arabia on Tuesday May 5, 2015, killing at least three people and capturing five soldiers in an attack showing the insurgents' ability to launch assaults despite weeks of Saudi-led airstrikes targeting them. Saudi Arabia's national airline cancelled flights into the border area of Najran as schools closed early amid the attack, the first by the Houthis rebels to target a civilian area in the kingdom since the start of the airstrikes late March. Meanwhile, hundreds of families fled the southern Yemeni city of Aden after the Houthis advanced into their neighbourhoods, firing indiscriminately as they took over surrounding, towering mountains.
Saudi Arabia proposed a five-day ceasefire Thursday May 7, 2015, in Yemen so that humanitarian aid can be distributed. Even if the Houthis accept the deal, several days would need to pass before the ceasefire could start, because aid groups need time to prepare to take advantage of the opportunity. Between March 26 and May 3, at least 646 civilians were killed and more than 1,300 were wounded.
Yemen called for help from international ground forces Wednesday May 6, 2015, accusing rebels of "barbaric violations against a defenceless population. Yemen wants the international community to quickly intervene by land forces to save Yemen.
Shells struck boats trying to flee the southern Yemeni city of Aden, killing more than 50 people we were told on Wednesday May 6, 2015. Houthi militias are blamed for the strikes. Heavy clashes also erupted Wednesday in Aden's Tawahi port district. Forces supporting President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi -backed by airstrikes- battled Houthi fighters, who took control of the port.
On Friday May 8, 2015, we were told that an US air strike in Yemen has reportedly killed Nasser al-Ansi, a top militant of al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula. Ansi was killed in April in the port city of Mukalla.
Dozens of Saudi-led coalition airstrikes hit the rebel stronghold Saada in northern Yemen, forcing hundreds of families to flee the area we were told on Saturday May 9, 2015. The raids come after the Saudi-led coalition ordered civilians in rebel strongholds to flee by nightfall Friday and declared the entire region a "military target." It warned it will strike anything in the region, even as the Saudis pressed for a ceasefire to begin next week. The strikes have targeted multiple buildings belonging to Houthi leadership, weapons stores and rebel encampments in the region bordering Saudi Arabia. The Houthis are accused of preventing area residents from leaving the area under fire. Several tribal officials said the Houthis were making it difficult for residents to leave by removing petrol from the market and using it instead for their war effort. The Houthi denied the accusation, and said that on the contrary, the Houthis opened camps in Yemen's capital Sanaa to receive refugees and those who remain in Saada are people who refused to leave.
A Moroccan F-16 warplane has gone missing while on a mission with Saudi-led forces in Yemen, we were told on Monday May 11, 2015, and Yemen's dominant Houthi militia said regional tribesmen shot down the aircraft. Saudi-led air strikes hit military bases and weapons stores in the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa on Monday evening, setting off huge blasts that residents said launched rockets into the air which then crashed back down. ---
Yemen’s Houthi rebels said Sunday May 0, 2015 that they will accept a five-day humanitarian cease-fire proposed by Saudi Arabia, even as a new round of Saudi airstrikes targeted the home of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a key Houthi supporter. Statements from various Houthi leaders and their military allies in Yemen indicated that the rebel group would cooperate with the proposed cease-fire, which is scheduled to begin Tuesday.
Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition kept up their airstrikes in Yemen on Tuesday May 12, 2015, targeting the positions of Shiite rebels and their allies just hours ahead of the scheduled start of a five-day humanitarian cease-fire. Iran said that its navy would protect an Iranian aid ship traveling to Yemen; Washington said that Tehran's use of a warship escort was not necessary. Airstrikes overnight, at dawn and during the morning hours targeted weapons depots and other military facilities north and south of Sanaa. Part of the capital's international airport also was targeted. Ten strikes hit Sanaa from dawn until about noon Tuesday.
At least 69 people have been killed and 250 others wounded by explosions after Arab coalition fighter jets hit an arms depot near the Yemeni capital Sanaa. Explosions at a military base at Mount Noqum, on the city's eastern outskirts, lasted until mid-day on Tuesday after coalition jets struck the depot late on Monday May 11, 2015. Most of the people killed and wounded were civilians. The air strikes set off huge explosions that sent debris crashing into a residential area at the foot of the mountain.
Four leading members of Yemen's Al Qaeda branch have been killed in a suspected U.S. drone strike in an eastern Yemen province. The four died in Yemen's southern port of Mukalla on the Arabian Sea, where rockets believed to have been fired by U.S. drones hit Al Qaeda militants based in the city's presidential residence on Monday May 11, 2015. The four include Maamoun Hatem, reportedly an IS sympathizer. The three other militants were identified as Abu Anwar al-Kutheiri, Mohammed Saleh al-Gharabi and Mabkhout Waqash al-Sayeri. The compound in Mukalla was recently captured by Al Qaeda's branch in Yemen.
Relief agencies on Thursday May 14, 2015, used a five-day humanitarian truce in Yemen to expand aid distribution to some of the millions deprived of food, fuel and medicine by weeks of fighting and air strikes. Saudi Arabia, leading a coalition of Arab states backed by the West, has pounded Houthi rebels and forces loyal to Yemen's former leader since March 26, aiming to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, now exiled in Riyadh. However, despite weeks of strikes, the Houthis and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh remain entrenched across the country and no side yet looks ready to make concessions for a political solution.
Saudi-led coalition airstrikes targeting Shiite rebels resumed early Monday May 18, 2015, in the southern port city of Aden after a five-day truce came to a close following talks on the war-torn country's future that were boycotted by the rebels. Coalition airstrikes hit rebel positions and tanks in several neighbourhoods of Aden after the cease-fire expired at 11 p.m. on Sunday. The cease-fire hadn't halted all fighting in Yemen between the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, and government forces loyal to exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
Sunday May 17, 2015, hundreds of Yemeni politicians and tribal leaders gathered in Saudi Arabia for three days of talks on Yemen's future, but the Houthis refused to participate. The Shiite rebels reject the main aim of the talks —the restoration of Hadi, who fled the country in March in the face of rebel advances— and the location of the negotiations in Saudi Arabia, which is leading an air campaign against the Houthis and their allies.
Saudi-led airstrikes targeting Yemen's Shiite rebels resumed on Monday May 18, 2015, and fierce clashes were underway across the impoverished country after a five-day truce expired. The cease-fire had been repeatedly violated, with both the rebels, known as Houthis, and Saudi-backed forces loyal to exiled Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi trading blame for the continued violence. The coalition accuses Shiite-majority Iran of arming the Houthis as part of a larger struggle with Sunni Saudi Arabia for regional influence, something the Islamic Republic and the rebels deny. ---
Saudi shells hit an international aid office in Yemen on Thursday May 21, 2015, killing five Ethiopian refugees. 10 other refugees were wounded when artillery fire and air strikes hit the town of Maydee along Yemen's border with Saudi Arabia in Hajja province, a stronghold of the Iran-allied Houthi group that a Saudi-led Arab alliance has been bombing for eight weeks.
A bomb exploded at a Shi'ite Houthi mosque in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Friday May 22, 2015, wounding 13 people. Members of the caliphate in Sanaa have detonated an explosive device in a Houthi mosque which lead to the death and injury of many of people said the Islamic State. Two out of the 13 wounded were in critical condition. The bomb was planted inside the mosque before Friday prayers.
Yemen Friday May 22, 2015:
Yemeni rebels claim to have shot down a Saudi F-16 fighter jet during a fresh wave of airstrikes. The Iran-backed rebels were pictured celebrating with the wreckage of the downed aircraft which crashed in the district of Bani Harith in the northern part of Sana on Sunday May 24, 2015. The fighter jet had reportedly conducted a number of airstrikes against Yemen’s al-Dailami air base before it came down.
Local Sunni Muslim militia ejected Shi'ite Houthi rebels from much of the southern Yemeni city of Dalea on Monday May 25, 2015 inflicting the first significant setback on the Iranian-backed rebels in two months of civil war. Dalea had been a bastion of southern secessionists in Yemen before the Houthis took widespread control of the city in March, after having seized the capital Sanaa in the north in September, toppling President Abd-Rabbu Mansour, and then thrust into the centre and south of the Arabian Peninsula country. After two months of fighting in which much of Dalea has been destroyed, Sunni fighters on Monday turned the tide by seizing a key military base and the main security directorate in the city. Twelve Sunni fighters and 40 Houthi rebels were killed. Local forces in Dalea, which has an estimated population of 90,000, were backed by weeks of air strikes on Houthi positions as well as weapons drops which intensified in recent days.
United Nations-brokered talks designed to return peace to war-torn Yemen have been postponed, a U.N. official told AFP on Sunday May 24, 2015, just four days before they were due to begin in Geneva. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon had said the meeting from May 28 aimed to "restore momentum toward a Yemeni-led political transition process," after weeks of conflict that have left nearly 2,000 people dead in Yemen.
Fighting raged on in Yemen on Sunday May 24, 2015, with airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition hitting rebel targets in multiple cities, including the capital, while fierce street battles in the city of Taiz killed several civilians including four members of the same family. The clashes in Taiz between rebels and forces loyal to the exiled president saw errant artillery rounds repeatedly hitting residential areas, killing at least eight civilians. They added that air raids over the past day have struck over 30 military bases. Meanwhile, aircraft struck a Republican Guard base in Hodeida province that had been seized by the rebels while another airstrike also targeted a Special Forces camp in Dhale province.
Fighters backing Yemen's exiled government captured a city on the road to the port city of Aden we were told on Tuesday May 26, 2015, their first significant victory since a Saudi-led coalition began targeting Shiite rebels in airstrikes. The fighters took Dhale, a significant gain as the city is home to the command centre of the 33rd Armoured Brigade, the country's largest army unit that had been loyal to former Yemeni leader Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh has backed the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, in their campaign across Yemen that began in September. Government-allied fighters seized tanks, rocket launchers and ammunition caches from the base at Dhale.
Arab warplanes and ships bombed Yemen's largest military port in the Red Sea city of Hodaida on Wednesday May 27, 2015. The city and its military bases are aligned with the Iran-allied Houthi militia, Yemen's dominant force. The naval base was bombed by aircraft and ships. Large parts of it were destroyed and two warships were hit, and one of them, named Bilqis, was destroyed and sank onto its side, and five gunboats shelled the administrative buildings of the base. Residents of the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa reported air strikes on military camps loyal to the group on Wednesday.
Yemen Wednesday May 27, 2015:
Saudi-led airstrikes struck a headquarters for police commandos in Yemen's capital Wednesday May 27, 2015, killing at least 45 people gathered and wounded at least 286 there to prepare to fight against forces loyal to the country's exiled president. Hundreds had been gathered at the site, close to Sanaa's presidential palace, to receive weapons while others loitered in the grass and under trees before the strike. There also were militiamen there from the ranks of the Shiite rebels many of them wearing traditional Yemeni clothes. The bombs and missiles demolished at least three buildings in the complex, damaged armoured vehicles and set weapons depots ablaze, many having explosions for at least an hour afterward.
Saudi-led coalition strikes against Iran-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen's second city Aden on Thursday May 28, 2015, and ground clashes killed at least 40 Huthis and their allies.
Yemen's Shiite Huthi rebels have killed the capital's governor in clashes that erupted during an attempt to detain him we were told on Friday May 29, 2015. Sanaa governor Abdulghani Jamil and his nephew Nasr Jamil died of wounds suffered in clashes late Thursday between his aides and the Iran-backed militiamen. Jamil was appointed by exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. The Huthis "demanded Jamil hand himself in" but he refused, resulting in a firefight.
Houthi rebels have taken at least four Americans hostage in Yemen we were told Saturday May 30, 2015. Three of the hostages were working in the private sector. The fourth is a dual citizen of Yemen and the US, whose job is unknown.
Armed tribesmen killed 18 Houthi fighters in an ambush in Yemen's central province of Ibb on Tuesday June 2, 2015, in one of the deadliest ground attacks in over two months of war. The attack hit a convoy of militiamen and allied army troops in the town of Qaeda while they were en route to the city of Taiz. Farther south in Dhalea province, around 15 Houthi fighters were killed in heavy clashes with pro-Hadi fighters on Monday night.
Warplanes from the military coalition led by Saudi Arabia carried out airstrikes Tuesday June 2, 2015, in Yemen that killed at least 16 fighters allied with the Saudi-led group. The victims were fighters supporting President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who was forced into exile by Yemen’s Houthi rebels this year. Warplanes bombed a group of pro-Hadi fighters in Jawf Province in the north, killing at least 16 fighters, including three senior leaders. Separate airstrikes around the same time, in the southwestern province of Ibb, also killed pro-Hadi fighters.
A series of pre-dawn air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition on Sunday June 7, 2015, targeted the headquarters of Yemen’s armed forces in the militia-held capital, Sana’a, causing heavy destruction to the facility. The air strikes damaged several nearby homes and the entire city shook from the blasts. At least 22 people were killed, but Al Houthis put the number at 45. The dead were mostly soldiers and the air strikes damaged several nearby homes and shook the entire city. Residents said the armed forces’ headquarters, a short distance away from the city centre, was hit by at least three air strikes.
Saudi-led air strikes killed at least 19 people across Yemen on Tuesday June 9, 2015 a day after Saudi Arabia said shells fired from Yemen had killed two of its soldiers.
Saudi fighter jets have used cluster bombs in their fresh attacks against border areas in the province of Sa’ada. On Monday afternoon June 8, 2015, Saudi warplanes dropped cluster munitions in populated areas close to the border with the oil-rich Persian Gulf kingdom.
Three suspected Al Qaida members were killed in an apparent US drone strike in Yemen’s Al Qaida-held southeastern port city of Al Mukalla we were told on Wednesday June 10, 2015. The drone fired four missiles at three Al Qaida militants near Al Mukalla port late Tuesday, killing them on the spot. A leading figure within Al Qaida was among the dead. ---
More than 100 injured, including women and children, were received by MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières) in Aden On Wednesday June 10, 2015 as a result of heavy shelling on the Al-Basateen residential area in the city. Since March 19th, MSF has received more than 2,500 injured in Yemen; with more than 1,800 of them in Aden alone. Hospitals in Aden are full, some are placing mattresses in front of their front gates to accommodate patients some of whom are unable to access care. Patients who are already in hospitals are often too scared to leave.
Three suspected Al-Qaeda members were killed in an US drone strike in Yemen's jihadist-held southeastern port city of Mukalla we were told on Wednesday June 10, 2015. The drone fired four missiles at three Al-Qaeda militants near Mukalla port late Tuesday, killing them on the spot. A leading figure within Al-Qaeda was among the dead.
At least two Saudi soldiers have been killed after their positions were shelled by Yemeni forces in southern Saudi Arabia. The deaths came on Thursday June 11, 2015, when Yemeni forces targeted a Saudi military base in Dhahran al-Janoub of Asir Province. Yemeni fighters fired several mortar rounds as well as 26 rockets on three Saudi military bases in Saudi Arabia's southwestern city of Jizan. Yemeni army units allied with Ansarullah fighters have also stormed the Saudi military base, Jabal al-Dood, near the border between the two countries in a retaliatory attack, forcing Saudi soldiers there to flee the area. Three Yemeni women were killed after Saudi warplanes targeted areas in Yemen’s northwestern province of Sa'ada.
At least 43 people were killed in heavy fighting in Yemen overnight and on Wednesday June 10, 2015, between supporters of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the country's dominant Houthi group. Fighters opposed to the Houthis advanced from a district of Aden known as 'workers' island' toward the port city's Houthi-held international airport. Five local fighters and 11 Houthis had died in clashes. Eight fighters from an anti-Houthi force called the Southern Resistance were also wounded in the clashes. Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition flew sorties overnight against Houthi outposts in the Bir Ahmed area north of Aden, killing 12 members of the Zaydi Shi'ite Muslim group. Saudi-led air strikes on Houthi fighters in the oil-producing Marib province also killed 10 Houthis. Separately, in the central city of Taiz five civilians had been killed when they were caught in the middle of fighting between the Houthis and local resistance fighters aligned with Hadi.
Saudi-led airstrikes targeting Shiite rebels and their allies in Yemen destroyed historic houses on Friday June 12, 2015, in the center of the capital, Sanaa, a UNESCO world heritage site. Rescue teams digging through the debris pulled the bodies of six civilians from under the rubble. The bombing drew swift condemnation from the U.N. cultural agency.
Also, early on Friday June 12, 2015, random shelling killed 12 civilians in the southwestern city of Taiz.
A plane meant to carry Shiite Houthi rebels and their allies to talks in Geneva left Sanaa International Airport without the delegates on board we were told on Saturday June 13, 2015. The absence casts doubt on whether the U.N.-led meetings will be able to go forward as planned. The talks are slated to be first substantive meetings by all parties involved in the conflict. The delegation representing the government of embattled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi arrived in Geneva Saturday morning. The Houthis objected to the idea of two separate delegations to the talks -one representing the embattled government, and one seen as representing a "coup."
On Saturday June 13, 2015, two UAE planes have reached Yemen with food and medical supplies as part of an air bridge to ensure urgent aid for the country. The urgent aid was dispatched in line with the directives of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and orders of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, to provide succour to the people of Yemen suffering amid the suffering inflicted on them by the takeover of the country by the Al Houthi militia.
The United Nations said on Friday June 12, 2015, that talks between Yemen’s warring parties scheduled for Sunday have been delayed until Monday as one delegation would be arriving late in Geneva.
Nine people were killed on Saturday June 13, 2015, when Saudi-led coalition warplanes bombed a district in Sana’a inhabited by relatives of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Residents said the warplanes had targeted apparently abandoned houses in Bait Me’yad, a district near the heart of Sana’a that is home to a number of relatives of Saleh, whose loyalists are allied with the Al Houthis.
Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebels arrived in Geneva for U.N.-brokered peace talks on Tuesday June 16, 2015 after a delay in Djibouti. The Geneva talks are aimed at ending months of fighting that prompted a Saudi-led coalition to launch an air campaign against the Houthis and their allies nearly three months ago.
Al-Qaida militants in Yemen killed two men accused of spying for the U.S. and hung their bodies off a bridge on Wednesday June 17, 2015, a day after the jihadi group announced the death of its leader in an American drone strike. al-Qaida gunmen in the southern city of Mukalla read out charges before shooting the two men, one of whom was accused of guiding the drone that killed commander Nasr al-Ansi and a media liaison known as Muhannad Ghalab in April.
Yemen's exiled government and Shiite rebels who control the capital failed to agree on even a temporary cease-fire Friday June 19, 2015, as they wrapped up U.N.-brokered talks aimed at ending a conflict that has killed over 1,000 civilians and displaced more than a million since March. The collapse of the talks came as Saudi-led airstrikes continued to pound the Iran-backed rebels, known as Houthis, and their allies, killing at least 10 civilians in a northern rebel stronghold. The U.N. meanwhile called for $1.6 billion to help millions of Yemenis avoid a "looming humanitarian catastrophe." ---
Yemen's exiled government and Shiite rebels who control the capital failed to agree on even a temporary cease-fire Friday June 19, 2015, as they wrapped up U.N.-brokered talks aimed at ending a conflict that has killed over 1,000 civilians and displaced more than a million since March. The collapse of the talks came as Saudi-led airstrikes continued to pound the Iran-backed rebels, the Houthis, and their allies, killing at least 10 civilians in a northern rebel stronghold. The U.N. meanwhile called for $1.6 billion to help millions of Yemenis avoid a "looming humanitarian catastrophe."
A car bomb that exploded in Yemen's capital Sanaa on Saturday June 19, 2015, near the Qiba al-Mahdi mosque, killing two people and wounding six others. Isis said in a statement that the attack was targeting the Houthi militia, whose fighters have used the mosque, located in the old city of Sanaa.
Yemen Sunday June 21, 2015:
Yemeni forces have carried out rocket attacks on a Saudi military base in the southwestern border city of Najran. The Yemeni military and allied Ansarullah fighters carried out the retaliatory attack early on Tuesday June 23, 2015. Yemeni forces launch such attacks in retaliation for Saudi Arabia’s relentless airstrikes, which the monarchy has been carrying out since March 26. Earlier on Monday, Saudi warplanes carried out raids on Abs and Harad towns in the northwestern Hajjah province.
Army forces loyal to Yemen's exiled president seized a border crossing with Saudi Arabia on Tuesday June 23, 2015, dealing a rare blow to the country's dominant Houthi group. The Houthis and their allies in Yemen's army control three other crossings with the kingdom, which has led an anti-Houthi alliance in a three-month bombing campaign against the group to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power. Thousands of Yemenis gathered there to flee the country after the Wadee'ah crossing in eastern Hadramawt province changed hands amid heavy combat. Fighting between Saudi and Houthi forces has closed all other entry points to impoverished Yemen's oil-rich neighbour, and one border facility has been destroyed in artillery exchanges.
Yemen Wednesday June 24, 2015:
A drone strike has killed four suspected al-Qaeda militants in southeast Yemen we were told Thursday June 25, 2015. The attack late Wednesday hit a car in a military camp in al-Qaeda-controlled Mukalla, capital of the vast desert province of Hadramawt. A local al-Qaeda chief was among those killed. A second al-Qaeda vehicle was targeted on Wednesday evening in a drone strike in the town of Ghil Bawazir in the same province but there was no word of casualties.
Gunmen have shot dead a Huthi rebel commander in the Yemeni capital, as the insurgents came under attack elsewhere in the country we were told Friday June 26, 2015. The men, on a motorbike, attacked low-ranking officer Ibrahim Hassan al-Sharfi near his Sanaa home late Thursday before they fled.
Yemen's Houthi fighters fired missiles at storage tanks at an Aden refinery on Saturday June 27, 2015, starting a large fire, and 14 people were killed in clashes between the Houthis and Saudi-led forces near the southern port city. The attack on the refinery in the Buraiqah area sent black smoke billowing into the sky. After months of conflict, Yemen is suffering from severe fuel shortages and its oil and gas industry has all but ground to a halt.
Yemen Saturday June 27, 2015:
Yemen Sunday June 28, 2015:
The Islamic State (IS) militant group say its Yemeni affiliate carried out a car-bomb attack at a funeral attended by Shia Houthi rebels in the capital. Dozens of people were injured and an unconfirmed report said many people were killed. The blast happened near a military hospital in Sanaa on Monday night June 29, 2015.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for an attack on two Houthi rebel leaders in Sanaa on Monday night June 29, 2015, that killed at least 28 people, including eight women. The car bomb targeted Houthi rebel chief brothers Faycal and Hamid Jayache during a gathering to mourn the death of a family member.
Yemen Monday June 29, 2015:
On Tuesday June 30, 2015, we were told that about 1,200 prisoners, including al-Qaeda suspects, have escaped from a prison in central Yemen. There were clashes at the prison in the central town of Taiz ahead of the break-out. ---
Yemen Friday July 3, 2015:
A Saudi and a Kuwaiti are among four suspected Al-Qaeda members killed by an American drone strike in southeastern Yemen we were told on Friday July 3, 2015. The dawn strike targeted their car as it left the base of the 27th Mechanised Brigade in the Hadramawt provincial capital Mukalla. Fighters from the Sunni extremist group seized the camp from forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in April, consolidating their grip on Mukalla. These deaths bring to 13 the number of suspected Al-Qaeda militants killed by similar strikes in Yemen over the past 10 days, and follows the death of the second-in-command of Al-Qaeda's global network.
Yemen's Houthi group and its army allies on Saturday July 4, 2015, have shelled various areas in Saudi Arabia's Jizan and Najran, killing and wounding several soldiers. 13 shells had been launched on Friday, targeting several areas including Jizan's airport. The shelling also led to the destruction of military equipment.
Saudi-led air strikes killed at least 16 people in Yemen on Friday July 3, 2015, as the European Union and United States appealed for a pause in the war to enable aid deliveries to stricken civilians.
A Saudi-led air strike on a Huthi Shiite rebel stronghold in Yemen's northern mountains killed 23 people early on Saturday July 4, 2015. The strike targeted a munitions factory in Saqayn, near Saada. Coalition aircraft also bombed the rebel-held capital Sanaa, targeting an arms warehouse and the air defence headquarters.
Late on Saturday July 4, a rocket blasted through the front of the Al Tadamon Kindergarten in Aden, penetrating several walls and killing 12 refugees: 11 Somalis and one Ethiopian. Among the dead were five children. A further 12 refugees were injured and remain in hospital. Several families were sleeping on the roof when the rocket hit, but were fortunately not harmed.
Earlier on Saturday July 4, 2015, UNHCR's national partner, a Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW) mobile medical team visited the Al Tadamon Kindergarten where 94 displaced urban refugees from Basateen, made up of 40 adults and 54 children, have sought refuge since May. The medical team conducted health assessments on the 10 families, treating cases of skin infection and providing therapeutic feeding for children.
Air strikes by Saudi-led forces killed 30 civilians in an attack on a market in northern Yemen on Sunday July 5, 2015. Also Houthi forces launched rockets against a number of Saudi army positions, including a military airport in the southern city of Najran, in response to what it described as Saudi aggression against Yemen.
Yemen Monday July 6, 2015:
Over 40 Yemeni troops have been killed in a Saudi airstrike on a military base in the central Hadhramaut province. Over 200 Saudi soldiers were also injured in the attack we were told on Wednesday July 8, 2015. Also on Wednesday, Yemeni forces backed by popular committees fighters launched a rocket attack on a Saudi military base in the southwestern Dhahran al-Janub region, inflicting heavy damage on Saudi forces. According to the UN, over 3,000 Yemenis have been killed and 14,000 more injured in over three months of conflict in the country.
The Saudi-backed government of Yemen has agreed to a “pause” in fighting, starting Friday July 10, 2015, so that humanitarian relief can be delivered in the country. The Houthi rebels who control large parts of Yemen have agreed to respect it as well. The Yemeni government in exile has been saying for at least a week that it favors a pause, though it has also insisted that the Houthis must withdraw their forces from strategic cities.
A new truce in Yemen was pierced within an hour as Saudi-led airstrikes hit targets in the capital Sanaa and the southwestern city of Taiz following reports of ground movement and fighting. The U.N.-declared truce that began after midnight Friday July 10, 2015, is meant to last through the end of the holy month of Ramadan and allow in desperately needed humanitarian aid for millions of people. There was at least one airstrike in the east of the capital of Sanaa, targeting a military camp used by the rebels. Three airstrikes came after Shiite rebels and their allied forces clashed with rivals who have held pockets of resistance against the rebels' control of Taiz. One airstrike targeted a military camp used by forces loyal to the rebels, while another hit a rebel convoy. Both sides exchanged blame for violating the truce. Rebel officials said their rivals were using the truce to advance in Taiz. Fighters accused the rebels of trying to push them from the territories they hold.
A U.S. drone strike killed four al-Qaida members travelling by car in the coastal city of Mukalla. The airstrike took place on Friday night July 10, 2015, in Mukalla, the capital of Yemen's sprawling eastern Hadramawt province. Al-Qaida's Yemen branch has made gains in the province and captured Mukalla earlier this year. At least five other militants were wounded in the airstrike.
Saudi-led air strikes and heavy shelling between warring factions shook several cities in Yemen on Saturday July 11, 2015, violating a United Nations humanitarian truce which took effect just before midnight. The U.N.-brokered pause in the fighting was meant to last a week to allow aid deliveries to the country's 21 million people who have endured more than three months of bombing and civil war.
Two missile strikes by unmanned American drones in southeastern Yemen have killed 10 suspected members of Al-Qaeda, including three local chiefs we were told on Saturday July 11, 2015. The raids targeted a vehicle and a container loaded with weapons late on Friday at the port of Mukalla, the provincial capital of Hadramawt. ---
Airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition targeting Shiite rebels and their allies struck several Yemeni cities on Sunday July 12, 2015, with combat raging near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb strait despite a declared truce. Some 500 troops loyal to exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, along with allied militias, were pushing to take areas near the strait. The forces were operating under air cover by the Saudi-led coalition that had destroyed anti-aircraft batteries and killed dozens of rebel troops. A military base in the capital, Sanaa, was hit and the warplanes also bombed a cement factory in Amran province, wounding 10 people.
Yemeni forces took control on Tuesday July 14, 2015, of the airport in the strategic port city of Aden, driving the rebels there into a part of the city jutting out into the sea. The operation was assisted by "preparatory airstrikes" by the Saudi-led coalition that targeted the Houthi positions over the past few days.
Saudi-backed Yemeni troops and fighters have driven Shiite rebels out of two major neighborhoods in the southern port city of Aden, we were told Thursday July 16, 2015, prompting street celebrations by residents after weeks of fierce fighting. Armored vehicles and troops have deployed in the neighborhoods of Crater and Mualla, where fighting had intensified earlier as part of an offensive to regain control of the port city from the Shiite rebels and allied forces.
Local fighters and army forces in Yemen wrested two military bases from Houthi forces building on a week of gains against the country's dominant faction we were told on Friday July 17, 2015. The advances come a day after Yemen's government in exile declared the key southern city of Aden liberated. Saudi-backed Yemeni forces backed up by air strikes seized the Labuza army base in Lahj province north of the port city and the headquarters of the 117th armored division in eastern Shabwa province.
A bombardment in Aden by the Houthi militia and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh killed at least 100 people and injured 200 on Sunday July 19, 2015. Clashes continued in the city's northern districts of Dar al-Saad and Sabr, and in Maashiq in Crater district as local fighters backed by the Riyadh-based government and a Saudi-led Arab coalition pushed to seize remaining parts of Aden. Those fighters and Yemeni army forces loyal to exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi seized Aden's airport and other central areas in a sudden advance last week that broke months of deadlock in the city.
Yemen Tuesday July 21, 2015:
A car bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed four people near a Shiite mosque in the rebel-controlled Yemeni capital Sanaa. Children were among eight people wounded in the Monday evening July 20, 2015, blast.
Yemeni troops and local militias, backed by a Saudi-led military coalition, seized full control of the strategic port of Aden after ousting Shiite rebels from their last holdout in the city and were pushing on Thursday July 23, 2015 to solidify their gains. Aden’s airport reopened Wednesday, paving the way for the delivery of more aid.
Saudi-led coalition airstrikes killed more than 120 civilians and wounded more than 150 after shelling a residential area in the Yemeni province of Taiz on Friday July 24, 2015. Most of the houses in the area were leveled and a fire broke out in the port city of Mokha. Most of the corpses, including children, women and elderly people, were charred by the flames. This comes after Saudi-led coalition planes launched dozens of airstrikes on positions of Shiite Houthi rebels and their allies in Mokha. The closest Houthi outpost to Friday evening's deadly strike is at least 5km away.
The sounds of bombs and gunfire are set to go silent in Yemen at 11:59 p.m. Sunday July 26, 2015, as warring sides set down their weapons for a five-day humanitarian ceasefire. The temporary truce will allow for the delivery of medical aid and humanitarian assistance. At least 3,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in March. As many as 1 million people have fled their homes and an estimated 21 million are in need of immediate humanitarian aid. The Saudi-led coalition backing Hadi reserves the right "to respond to any military action" by Houthi rivals.
A senior commander of Yemen's Houthi militia has been captured by southern secessionist forces allied to a Saudi-led coalition. The militia captured Houthi military commander Abdul-Khaliq al-Houthi on Saturday July 25, 2015. Yemenis say Abdul-Khaliq al-Houthi, a brother of Houthi leader Abdul-Malek al-Houthi, played an important role in the Iranian-allied militia's capture of the capital Sanaa in September. He was one of several Yemenis blacklisted by the U.N. Security Council in November 2014 for allegedly threatening Yemen's peace and stability and obstructing political reform efforts.
On Sunday July 26, 2015, the leader of Yemen's Houthi movement has rejected a ceasefire planned by its Saudi-led Arab coalition adversary, saying such a truce would benefit only Islamic State and al Qaeda.
Saudi-led coalition airstrikes came to a halt in Yemen early Monday July 27, 2015, after a five-day humanitarian truce went into effect. However, ground fighting broke out almost immediately in the restive city of Taiz following random shelling by Shiite Houthi rebels in three neighborhoods. Ground fighting has also erupted in Marib province and in the area surrounding the strategic al-Anad military base in Lahj province. Random shelling by Houthis and their allies hit northern and western areas of the port city of Aden after the cease fire. The pause declared by the Saudi-led coalition began at 11:59 p.m. Sunday. It is intended to help allow humanitarian aid to be delivered to ease the suffering of civilians in the Arab world's poorest country.
Yemen Monday July 27, 2015:
Yemen Wednesday July 29, 2015:
An attack by an unmanned aircraft on a car in southern Yemen overnight killed four suspected al Qaeda militants we were told on Thursday July 30, 2015. Those killed in the strike by a suspected U.S. drone in al-Mahfad in Abyan province included a man described by the residents as a mid-ranking local leader, Ahmed al-Kazimi. The occupants of the vehicle were suspected members of Ansar al-Sharia, a part of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the most active branches of the al Qaeda network.
Yemen's exiled prime minister has visited the country's war-torn city of Aden. Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah landed in Aden with six government ministers on Saturday August 1, 2015, and departed the same day. Bahah's visit aimed at normalizing life in Aden. Bahah was briefed about the situation and the functioning of local government agencies, and saw that the government is working to restore services. Badie said Bahah, who is also Yemen's vice president, toured the city and reviewed the destruction caused by months of fighting. Meanwhile, military and government-aligned militias have gained control of the strategic southern city of Zanjibar. ---
Yemen's pro-government troops fought pockets of resistance outside a key military base in the country's south Tuesday August 4, 2015, a day after they seized it from Shiite rebels. The capture of the Al-Anad base —once the site of U.S. intelligence operations against al-Qaida's powerful Yemeni affiliate— was a significant victory for the forces allied to Yemen's exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi in their battle to reverse the gains of the rebels known as Houthis.
Yemen's al-Qaida branch has exploited the chaos in this embattled country to capture three towns near the southern port city of Aden where pro-government forces have been advancing against Shiite rebels in recent weeks we were told Thursday August 6, 2015. al-Qaida's black banners were raised over buildings in the towns of Rabat, al-Lahoum and al-Masaabin. The extremist group seized government buildings without a fight and turned them into military bases.
More than a dozen al-Qaeda-linked terrorists and militants loyal to fugitive former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi have been killed in a powerful blast in the country’s strategic southern province of Aden. 16 were killed on Tuesday August 4, 2015, when a landmine explosion occurred in the Dar Saad district of the provincial capital city of Aden. Separately, eight al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists and pro-Hadi militants were killed and more than 20 others injured when Yemeni army forces backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees carried out an ambush against them in the Sabar region of Yemen’s southwestern province of Lahij. Yemeni soldiers also managed to destroy 17 armored vehicles belonging to militants in the al-Anad area.
A French woman abducted in Yemen has been freed we were told on Friday August 7, 2015. Development worker Isabelle Prime and her translator Shereen Makawi were abducted by gunmen in the capital Sanaa on February 24 while on their way to work.
Seventeen civilians were killed and dozens wounded by explosions of mines planted by retreating Shiite Huthi rebels from the southern Yemeni province of Lahj we were told Friday August 7, 2015. Most of the casualties were civilians returning to their homes, including in provincial capital Huta. The Iran-backed rebels fled after forces loyal to exiled president Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi retook large parts of the southern province.
A passenger plane of national carrier Yemenia landed Friday August 7, 2015, in Aden from Djibouti, carrying 180 Yemenis returning home.
Yemen Saturday August 9, 2015:
A Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Yemen hit allied fighters in a friendly fire incident, killing at least 20 we were told Sunday August 9, 2015. The incident happened late Saturday as the fighters were on a coastal road heading toward the embattled city of Zinjibar in southern Yemen.
Yemen's pro-government troops fought pockets of resistance outside a key military base in the country's south Tuesday August 11, 2015, a day after they seized it from Shiite rebels. The capture of the Al-Anad base -once the site of U.S. intelligence operations against al-Qaida's powerful Yemeni affiliate.
Saudi-backed forces loyal to Yemen’s exiled government have seized a town south of the militia-held capital we were told on Tuesday August 11, 2015, in their latest advance against Al Houthi militiamen. The “Popular Resistance Committees” —comprising pro-government fighters, tribes, and southern separatists— seized overnight the town of Utmah, about 100 kilometres south of Sana’a. The town is in the Zaydi majority province of Dhammar next to Sana’a province. Loyalist forces also seized six towns in the mountainous central Ibb province, where local tribes have been clashing with Al Houthis for months.
An U.S. drone strike in Yemen on Wednesday August 12, 2015, killed five suspected al-Qaida militants traveling in a vehicle east of the city of Mukalla, the provincial capital of Hadramawt.
Dozens of people have been killed in a month by landmines planted by the retreating Al Houthis. At least 100 people have been killed since Mid-July when they either walked or drove over landmines in Aden and neighbouring districts. Most of the dead are those who hastily returned home to Aden and other areas. The defeated Al Houthis randomly planted landmines on main roads and farms to deter resistance advances. Security services in Aden defused 1,200 landmines from Aden airport in July and removed hundreds from places near electricity towers, main roads and water pipelines. Local authorities in Aden have been distributing notices to the people especially those who returning to their house, giving them instructions on how to avoid landmines and other unexploded ordnance.
Forces loyal to exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi seized Yemen's southern province of Shabwa on Saturday August 15, 2015. The loyalist fighters, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, have advanced on a broad front through southern Yemen in recent weeks, forcing the Houthis and army units aligned with former strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh into retreat. ---
Militia forces loyal to Yemen's exiled government fought their way deep into the central city of Taiz on Sunday August 16, 2015 largely pushing out Houthi militiamen from the country's third largest city. The tribal fighters seized a mountaintop citadel and an intelligence headquarters in battles with the Houthis and allied Yemeni army units, who control two military bases in the city. Tank battles and air strikes have rocked Taiz since April, when the militia forces backed by Gulf Arab warplanes rose up against the Houthis. The combat has left much of the city in ruins and its residents pinned down inside their homes.
A powerful explosion has hit a hospital in the southern city of Aden, setting off a fire and leading to evacuations of patients. At least three people were wounded. The explosion Sunday August 16, 2015, at the May 22 hospital in Mansoura district forced doctors to bring patients to a nearby mosque, while others lay on the ground in public squares.
Heavy fighting between government loyalists and rebels for control of Yemen's third city Taez has killed more than 80 people in the past 24 hours we were told on Monday August 17, 2015. The bodies of 50 rebels and allied fighters were recovered from Taez Monday and 31 pro-government fighters had been killed. Backed by air strikes from a Saudi-led coalition, the loyalists have been pushing hard to take Taez, seizing several strategic locations on Sunday. Coalition strikes continued to hit rebel positions in the city on Monday.
On Thursday August 20, 2015, we were told that the U.S. knows the Saudi government has employed cluster bombs in its ongoing war against Shiite Muslim rebels in neighboring Yemen, but has done little if anything to stop the use of the indiscriminate and deadly weapons during what has become a human rights catastrophe in one of the Arab world's poorest countries.
A Saudi-led coalition air strike killed 13 teaching staff and four children in northern Yemen we were told Thursday August 20, 2015. 20 other people were wounded. This senseless bloodshed occurred in Amran province on Tuesday. Five Huthis were also killed in the strike. The raid hit a building housing offices for a teachers' union as well as the pro-rebel General People's Congress party during a meeting of Huthi militiamen.
On Friday August 21, 2015, air strikes led by Saudi Arabia killed 43 people in the central city of Taiz. Also Houthi attacks on the city killed 13 people, including seven children. The Saudi-led air raids late on Thursday targeted Taiz's republican palace and the city's Sala neighborhood, which has a dense population of the Houthi group. 50 people had been injured and some of the 43 killed were found dead in the ruins of buildings destroyed by the bombing in Sala. Houthi fighters fired mortars at Taiz's Asifrah neighborhood and al-Masbah, east of the city, in a bid to drive out Hadi's supporters. They said the shelling destroyed a main power plant in the city.
The latest heavy fighting in Taiz has killed 58 civilians and wounded at least 50. Rebel shelling first killed 23 civilians and provoked air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition that killed 35 people and demolished five houses in the eastern neighbourhood of Sala. Of those killed, at least 10 were children.
A bomb next to the governor's office in Aden killed four people on Thursday August 20, 2015.
Several bombs exploded outside a building used by the intelligence services in Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Saturday August 22, 2015, causing fires to break out but no casualties.
Al-Qaida militants have seized control of key areas in and around the port city of Aden we were told Saturday August 22, 2015. Fighters took Tawahi district, home to a presidential palace and Aden's main port, and were patrolling the streets, some carrying black banners. The militants also took parts of Crater, Aden's commercial center, and parts of Dar Saad town, just north of Aden, including an army base that they turned into a training camp. The seized base, in Dar Saad's al-Lohoum district, is now training some 200 militants. Al-Qaida also has a presence in Breiqa city, west of Aden, and nearby al-Khadra city. ---
The United Arab Emirates said Sunday August 23, 2015, that its military freed a British hostage, Douglas Robert Semple, who was kidnapped 18 months ago by al-Qaeda in Yemen. Semple, 64, had been working as a petroleum engineer in the Yemeni province of Hadramawt when he was kidnapped in February 2014.
Rockets fired by Houthi militiamen killed 14 civilians, most of them children, as fighting intensified for control of Yemen's third largest city, Taiz, we were told on Monday August 24, 2015. The Saudi-led coalition opposing the Houthis also launched air raids on military bases and Houthi positions in the southwestern city during the fighting but no casualties were reported. All the hospitals have closed except for one, so there's a shortage of medical care. Two rockets fell on the Deluxe neighborhood, killing 14 people, among them women and children.
The Saudi-led coalition targeting Shiite rebels in Yemen bombed insurgent positions near the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Sunday August 23, 2015. 13 Houthis fighters were killed in the airstrikes. A high-ranking general was killed along the kingdom's border with Yemen in the kingdom's southern region of Jizan. Maj. Gen. Abdulrahman al-Shahrani, commander of the 18th brigade, died Sunday after coming under hostile fire. He is the highest ranking Saudi officer to die since Saudi Arabia began its air offensive in Yemen in late March. Several dozen Saudi soldiers have been killed in border attacks since the airstrikes began, mostly by missiles launched by the rebels and their allies. Two Saudi pilots were killed Friday when their helicopter was shot down in Jizan.
Al-Qaeda militants on Wednesday August 26, 2015, blew up an army headquarters and set up checkpoints in the jihadist network's southeastern stronghold of Mukalla. The explosion flattened the three-storey army building, the command centre for a zone covering Hadramawt and parts of neighbouring Shabwa province. It came a day after Al-Qaeda dynamited a headquarters of the secret police in Mukalla. In Aden a 100-strong Saudi force arrived late on Tuesday and was deployed at the main southern city's international airport.
A drone strike killed at least five suspected militants traveling in a car in an al Qaeda stronghold in eastern Yemen. The strike on Wednesday August 26, 2015, was the second reported this week in the port city of Mukalla. The group has taken advantage of the chaos around a five-month-old war pitting Houthi fighters and forces loyal to Yemen's exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to grab territory and operate more openly.
Saudi warplanes have conducted new attacks on Yemen’s northwestern Sa’ada Province, killing five people. This happened in the Razeh city on Friday August 28, 2015. Casualties were also reported after Saudi warplanes launched airstrikes on the city of Amran, also located in the country’s northwest. In the southwest, Saudi fighter jets conducted four airstrikes on the central security camp in the city of Ibb, the provincial capital of a province with the same name. Two women were killed and three people wounded in airstrikes on the Majma’ah complex in the province.
Al-Qaeda militants in southeastern Yemen have publicly flogged 10 men in a new sign of their growing control over the lawless region we were told Friday August 28, 2015. The men were whipped in Al-Shihr, a coastal town in Hadramawt province, after being summarily convicted of insulting God and consuming alcohol and drugs. Dozens of people attended the flogging, which is said to follow the Islamic sharia law. Each man received between 80 and 100 lashes and that both screamed in pain. Al-Qaeda militants have been harassing residents by interfering in all aspects of their daily lives.
At least 11 journalists are currently being held hostage by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Nine of the 11 journalists were abducted at the same time on 9 June from a Sanaa hotel that was being attacked by Houthis. Most of them work for a news outlet that supports the rival Sunni party Al-Islah, which is affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood. It is not known where the 11 are being held or what has happened to them.
Yemen’s Ansarullah fighters and allied army units have shelled Saudi Arabia's southwestern city of Jizan as part of their retaliatory attacks against the ongoing Saudi aggression. Several tanks and armored vehicles trying to infiltrate a Yemeni military base were destroyed in the Friday August 28, 2015 shelling. Yemeni forces also targeted a control tower in Jizan by mortar attacks. They have killed a number of Saudi troops and captured several military bases over the past weeks. The allied forces have intensified strikes on Jizan in recent days in retaliation against Riyadh’s airstrikes on civilians and residential areas across Yemen.
A car bomb exploded Saturday August 29, 2015, in Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa. The blast occurred near a mosque in Sawan neighbourhood, in northeastern Sanaa, close to a checkpoint leading to the US Embassy.
On Saturday August 29, 2015, at least 36 people have been killed after an airstrike by Saudi-led coalition forces hit a bottling plant in northern Yemen.
Unidentified gunmen opened fire and killed a high-ranking security official in Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Sunday August 30, 2015. Colonel Abdul-Hakim Sunidi, chief of Aden's security operations, was attacked along Reemy street when gunmen, riding motorcycles, opened fire from automatic rifles and killed him at the scene in Aden's neighborhood of Mansoura. The victim had just left his house and headed for a security meeting in Aden when the incident happened. ---
Yemen Tuesday September 1, 2015:
At least 20 rebels and pro-government fighters have been killed Tuesday September 1, 2015, in Saudi-led coalition air strikes targeting insurgent positions in south Yemen. The raids struck the rebel-held headquarters of the 19th Infantry Brigade and checkpoints in Baihan. Over the past 24 hours, 17 rebels were killed in strikes that also "mistakenly" left three pro-government fighters dead.
Two Red Cross employees were shot dead in the northern Yemeni province of Amran by an unknown attacker on Wednesday September 2, 2015. The pair were Yemeni nationals and were returning from aid work in the far northern province of Saada.
A suicide bomber and a subsequent car bombing killed at least 20 people Wednesday September 2, 2015, at a mosque in Yemen's rebel-held capital, Sanaa. The suicide bomber blew himself up inside the mosque during the evening call to prayers, while the car bomb exploded outside an entrance. The death toll may rise as many people are now in operating rooms in several hospitals. The car bomb exploded while people were carrying out the wounded from inside the mosque, adding to the casualties.
Yemen Friday September 4, 2015:
On Saturday September 5, 2015, we were told that forty-five soldiers from the United Arab Emirates have been killed in yesterday attack on an ammunition storage.
A Saudi-led alliance killed at least 20 Indian nationals in air strikes on fuel smugglers at a Yemeni port on Tuesday September 8, 2015. More foreign troops were reported to be arriving to intensify the campaign against Houthi forces. 15 citizens were killed in air strikes on Sanaa and at least 15 civilians were killed in similar attacks on Monday.
At least seven out of 20 Indian crew members are missing after their boats came under aerial bombardment while plying between Somalia and Yemen we were told Tuesday September 8, 2015. Disputing reports that 20 Indian nationals were killed in air strikes by Saudi-led coalition forces at Yemen's Hodeidah port, we know now that 13 Indians crew members "are alive and 7 are reported missing".
Qatar has deployed ground forces in Yemen for the first time, dispatching 1,000 troops to battle Shiite rebels in an oil-rich central province We were told Monday September 7, 2015. The deployment marks a major escalation by the Saudi-led coalition that has been bombing the rebels from the air since March, and which includes Qatar.
The bodies of six Indian seamen whose boats were hit by airstrikes between Somalia and Yemen have been recovered on Friday September 11, 2015. One Indian is missing and the embassy in Yemen's camp office in Djibouti is working with local authorities and contacts to determine his whereabouts. Warplanes dropped bombs on the two boats, the Mustafa and the Asmar, on Tuesday, and 14 of the 21 Indians onboard were rescued. The Saudi-led coalition attacked more than five boats off the Yemeni coast on Tuesday.
Iran-backed rebels fired Katyusha rockets at a busy market in Yemen's eastern city of Marib killing at least 20 civilians on Friday September 11, 2015; dozens wounded in the attack. The attack came hours after a Saudi-led coalition air strike killed seven rebels in Marib. The coalition strike targeted a military vehicle used by the rebels in Marib province, while other air raids targeted rebel positions in neighbouring Shabwa. The UN estimates that more than 4,500 people have been killed in the Yemeni conflict since March. ---
A drone attack killed four men suspected of belonging to al Qaeda in northern Yemen on Saturday September 12, 2015. Two missiles hit the men's car, killing all of them.
Unidentified assailants set ablaze one of the few churches in Yemen's second city Aden on Wednesday September 16, 2015, a day after it had been damaged by vandals. The masked arsonists torched St Joseph, a Roman Catholic Church in the central Crater neighbourhood of the port city, which is controlled by loyalists of the exiled government. Yemen's population is 99 percent Muslim. Of the 22 churches that operated in Aden when the city was a British colony before 1967, only a few remain open, used rarely by foreign workers and African refugees.
Yemen’s exiled prime minister returned to the war-torn country Wednesday September 16, 2015, with several members of Cabinet, seeking to re-establish the government in the southern port city of Aden after nearly six months in Saudi Arabia. The return of Prime Minister Khaled Bahah, who also serves as vice president, came after pro-government forces drove Shiite Muslim rebels and their allies from Aden in July and started pushing north toward the capital, Sana. President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi had designated Aden his temporary capital before fleeing to Riyadh in March as the rebels closed in on his refuge.
Airstrikes carried out by a Saudi-led coalition against Yemen's Shiite rebels and their allies have killed 29 people, including civilians, in the capital Sanaa we were told Saturday September 19, 2015. The coalition's airstrikes hit an apartment building in the center of the capital, an area that is a UNESCO world heritage site, killing a family of nine. Another civilian was also killed and rescuers were searching for other possible victims buried under the rubble. The Houthis, lost 19 fighters in the overnight attack.
Airstrikes carried out by a Saudi-led coalition against Yemen's Shiite rebels and their allies have killed 29 people, including civilians, in the capital Sanaa we were told Saturday September 19, 2015. The coalition's airstrikes overnight hit an apartment building in the center of the capital, an area that is a UNESCO world heritage site, killing a family of nine. Another civilian was also killed and rescuers were searching for other possible victims buried under the rubble. The Houthis lost 19 fighters in the overnight attack.
Six foreign hostages have been released by Houthi rebels after being held in Yemen's capital Sanaa for more than five months we were told Saturday September 19, 2015. Three Americans, two Saudis and a British national have boarded a plane and are flying on Sunday to Oman, which negotiated their release.
Two Saudi Arabian soldiers have been captured by rebels in Yemen we were told on Monday September 21, 2015. They are alive and they are in captivity with the militia.
The president of Yemen’s internationally recognised government Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi has arrived in the recently liberated southern Yemeni city of Aden. The president arrived in Yemen “amid extreme secrecy”, adding that even representatives in Hadi’s own government were not allowed to enter the airport on Sunday morning September 20, 2015.
A US drone strike has killed two suspected members of Al-Qaeda east of the Yemeni capital we were told on Tuesday September 22, 2015. A missile from a US drone hit their vehicle on the outskirts of the city of Marib during the night.
President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi of Yemen flew back to his war-ravaged country on Tuesday September 22, 2015, for the first time since he was forced into exile six months ago. It is a symbolic reminder of Mr. Hadi’s authority more than a sign that his government or its backers in Saudi Arabia are prevailing in the civil war in Yemen. Sana, the capital, is still under the control of the Houthi rebels who drove him out, and other major cities are torn by fighting or are dominated by Sunni extremists. Mr. Hadi flew to the southern port city of Aden. ---
At least 25 people were killed in a suicide bombing at a mosque in Yemen's capital Thursday September 24, 2015, as worshippers said prayers to mark the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Adha. The attack took place in an area controlled by the Shiite rebels known as Houthis. The bomber put an explosive device in his shoe, which caused the initial explosion and as worshipers ran to the door, he blew himself up in the middle of the crowd.
Yemen Saturday September 26, 2015:
The Saudi-led coalition targeting Yemen's Shiite rebels mistakenly struck a wedding party on Monday September 28, 2015, killing at least 38 people. The strikes hit the celebration in al-Wahga, a village near the strategic Strait of Bab al-Mandab. At least 40 people were wounded in the two airstrikes. Many of the victims were women and children.
The death toll from Saudi-led airstrikes that hit a wedding party in Yemen has risen to 131, making it the deadliest single incident since the start of the country's civil war we were told Tuesday September 29, 2015. At least 80 women were killed in the wedding airstrikes in the central province of Taiz.
On Tuesday September 29, 2015, the U.N. says at least 2,355 civilians have been killed in fighting since March, when the coalition began launching airstrikes against Shiite Houthi rebels and allied army units, who control the capital and are at war with the internationally recognized government as well as southern separatists, local militias and Sunni extremists.
Two Red Crescent volunteers were killed in an air strike south of Yemen's capital we were told Wednesday September 30, 2015. Government forces expelled rebels from Marib dam to the east. ---
Suicide car bombings targeting exiled Yemeni officials and the Saudi and Emirati troops backing their efforts to retake the country killed at least 15 people Tuesday October 6, 2015, in the port city of Aden. A new Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility for the assault, which officials earlier blamed on Yemen's Shiite rebels. The early morning attack on the Al Qasr Hotel & Resort, a large compound that Yemeni officials use as a headquarters, likely changed that. A blast struck the front of the 239-room hotel along the Arabian Sea, west of the port city's downtown, sending thick black smoke rising over it for hours as sirens wailed. Two other attacks followed on locations used by troops from the United Arab Emirates, which has the most overt presence among coalition forces inside Yemen. Those assaults hit the palace of Sheikh Fareed Al Awlaqi, which Emirati troops and the Emirati Red Crescent had been using, as well as a nearby coalition military camp. The dead included four Emirati soldiers, though the Saudi Press Agency said three Emiratis and one Saudi died. All government ministers and the prime minister were safe and unhurt.
Yemen Wednesday October 7, 2015:
Two airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition killed at least 15 civilians and wounded 25 others in Yemen on Wednesday October 6, 2015, at a wedding hosted by a tribal leader known to support the Houthi rebels. The strikes targeted the home of the tribal leader in Sanban, a region in Dhamar province 113 km southeast of the capital, Sanaa.
Islamic State suicide bombers killed 22 people in attacks on Yemen's government and its Gulf Arab coalition ally in the port city of Aden and on a Houthi-run mosque in the capital Sanaa on Tuesday October 6, 2015. Four coordinated Islamic State suicide bombings killed 11 Yemeni and four United Arab Emirates soldiers in Aden. In Sanaa, seven people were killed in the attack on the al-Nour mosque in the al-Nahda district of the Houthi-controlled capital. Islamic State said that dozens of Houthis preparing to go to the battlefront had been killed or wounded.
Three brothers waiting to get married were killed in a rocket attack alongside at least 22 other people in southwest Yemen on Thursday October 8, 2015. The three brothers were waiting for their brides' party to arrive when a missile hit their house in the town of Sanban in Dhamar region. At least 50 people were wounded, but the brides were unharmed.
Pro-government forces have driven Shiite rebels from a strategic seaside town of Dhubab on Friday October 9, 2015, after three days of heavy clashes that killed nearly 100 fighters. This cutted off rebel supply lines to Yemen's third largest city, Taiz.
Yemen Saturday October 10, 2015:
On Saturday October 10, 2015, we were told that Yemen’s remaining Jews have been given a stark choice by the government: Convert to Islam or leave Yemen. Yemen boasted a Jewish population of over 50,000 during the mid-20th century; there are now fewer than 100 Jews in the capital, with another community of similar size in the northern town Raida. The majority of the country’s Jews immigrated to Israel shortly after it was established. The Jewish community has faced dangers in recent years.
At least 12 Somali citizens have been killed in Saudi-led coalition air strikes in a North-western town in war-torn Yemen on Saturday October 10, 2015. The Somalis died after the warplanes striked a bridge in the town of Sa’ada.
Yemeni army soldiers backed by fighters from the popular committees have shot down a Saudi reconnaissance drone in the country’s northwestern province of Sa’ada as Riyadh continues with its aerial assaults against its crisis-hit neighbor. Yemeni forces targeted the remote-controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as it was flying over al-Dhaher district in the arid and mountainous province on Friday October 9, 2015. The same day Yemeni forces destroyed a Saudi tank and an armored vehicle in the al-Khobe district of Saudi Arabia’s southwestern border region of Jizan.
Five civilians and 12 fighters from the forces fighting Shiite rebels known as Houthis were killed this month by rebel-planted mines in a central province. We were told Wednesday October 14, 2015, that the Houthis planted the mines before they were pushed out from their last outpost in Marib province last week. In Taiz province 13 Houthis and allied fighters were killed in airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition, while fierce clashes were ongoing near the provincial capital's airport.
A suspected al-Qaida suicide bombing, accompanied by an attack with guns and grenades, killed 10 soldiers guarding an intelligence building in the western Yemeni city of Hodaida on Friday October 16, 2015, as well as two of the assailants. Gunmen believed to belong to al-Qaida attacked the main gate of the political security building with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns after a car bomb driven by a suicide bomber attacked the back gate.
Yemen Friday October 16, 2015:
On Saturday October 17, 2015, the Saudi-led coalition destroyed a mobile platform to launch Scud missiles in the capital Sanaa and trucks loaded with arms and ammunitions near the Saudi border. Raids were also launched on Sanaa, and other provinces such as Saada and al-Hudayda including two military camps. In the Red Sea port city of Taiz, dozens of the Iran-backed Houthi militias were wounded in confrontation in a number of neighborhoods. Civilians were also killed after random shelling by the insurgents. ---
About 700 Sudanese soldiers arrived in Yemen to bolster Saudi Arabia’s campaign against Shiite Houthi rebels there who forced its president into exile. They arrived by sea on Saturday October 17, 2015, in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden. The coalition is trying to reinstate the government of President Abdurabuh Mansur Hadi, which crumbled after rebels overtook the capital, Sana’a, last year, forcing him to flee to Saudi Arabia. While Hadi remains in Riyadh, Yemen’s prime minister and other cabinet members who had followed him into exile recently returned to Aden.
On Saturday October 17, 2015, the Saudi-led coalition mistakenly bombed Yemeni government troops, killing about 30 fighters in central Taiz province. The airstrikes hit a pro-government position in a village recaptured Friday from rebels and allied forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The coalition might have not been updated on who now controls the area.
On Saturday October 17, 2015, we were told that at least 2,355 civilians have been killed and nearly 5,000 wounded since the coalition airstrikes began in March, according to the United Nations.
Coalition warplanes destroyed a major missile base controlled by the Houthi rebels and forces loyal to deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Several coalition jets staged the strike on Sunday October 1, 2015, against the base in the central Shabwa province, close to Marib. Coalition aircraft struck targets in other areas, killing six rebels. Meanwhile, Yemeni national resistance fighters attacked a Houthy military training camp in the South-central province of Ibb with rockets propelled grenades (RPGs), killing and injuring many coup rebels. The camp, which belongs to the Houthis and forces loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh, is located near Jabal Ras between Ibb and the Western port of Al Hudaydah, Yemen’s fourth largest city.
A reconnaissance drone, presumed to be American, has crashed in Yemen where Washington has waged a sustained drone war against Al Qaida. The unmanned aircraft crashed in the Wadi Abida district of the central province of Marib on Sunday October 18, 2015. The aircraft was not armed with missiles. ---
Fourteen civilians were killed in one of Yemen's largest cities on Wednesday October 21, 2015, when shells fired by Houthi fighters and their allies, forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, fell on their neighbourhoods. The shells also wounded some 70 people in the neighbourhoods of Tahrir and Daboua in the city of Taiz, in southwestern Yemen. At least 5,400 people have been killed in the fighting in Yemen, the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, since March.
At least 20 Houthi militia fighters were killed in heavy clashes in Yemen's third-largest city Taiz on Thursday October 22, 2015, a day after they pounded it with rockets.
The Yemeni army has shot down a Saudi drone flying over the southwestern province of Ta’izz. The unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down in the area of Siman, in Sabir al-Mawadim District of Ta'izz Province on Saturday October 24, 2015. Similarly, on October 22, the Yemeni forces targeted a Saudi drone in the Jabal Asvad area of the provincial capital, Ta’izz.
Yemem Saturday October 24, 2015:
Islamic militants stormed a supermarket in Aden on Sunday October 25, 2015, firing into the air and briefly taking hostages. About 30 militants arrived at the supermarket in four pickup trucks. Shoppers fled when the militants fired in the air, but an unknown number were trapped inside when the gunmen locked the doors. The militants freed the hostages after less than an hour and left the scene. Some supermarket employees were slightly hurt when the militants kicked and punched them. The militants shouted that they were protesting the mingling of men and women in the supermarket and demanded that female employees cover their faces, in keeping with a strict interpretation of Islamic law. A supermarket worker said the militants told them this was the final warning.
Yemeni forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi made gains on Sunday October 25, 2015, in the southwestern city of Taiz after days of intense battles with Houthi fighters. The Haddi supporters, backed by airstrikes from a Saudi-led coalition since March, made particular progress around the presidential palace, a complex that has changed hands several times and been largely destroyed by fighting. 13 Houthi fighters had been killed in the fighting as well as eight fighters loyal to Hadi.
Suspected al-Qaida gunmen have broken into Aden's main prison, freeing an individual suspected of attacking the compound of Aden's former governor in August.
Hundreds of former Colombian nationals are fighting alongside Saudi Arabian-led forces in Yemen we were told Sunday October 24, 2015. The troops include former Colombian soldiers fighting under contract with Saudi Arabia. The first group of just under 100 Colombian troops arrived in Yemen earlier this month. As many as 800 Colombian fighters could take up frontline positions under Saudi command, according to the newspaper.
On Monday October 26, 2015, a Saudi-led coalition airstrike has hit a Médecins sans Frontières hospital in Yemen, the latest bombing of a civilian target in the seven-month air campaign in the country. The hospital in the Heedan district of Saada governorate was hit several times. Fortunately, the first hit damaged the operations theatre while it was empty and the staff were busy with people in the emergency room. They just had time to run off as another missile hit the maternity ward.
Militants have bombed a local college in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, following previous threats against the school. Militants on a motorcycle tossed a bomb Wednesday October 28, 2015, onto the sprawling campus of the University of Aden. It shattered windows at the College of Commerce and Economics. Terrified students ran for safety.
Yemen Friday October 30, 2015:
Gunmen killed two security officers in separate drive-by shootings in the southern Yemeni city of Aden. In the first incident, gunmen opened fire from a car at Major Meead Ali outside the building where he lives in the port city's Inmaa neighbourhood. Gunmen shot dead Abdelwahed Ahmed of Aden's criminal investigation unit in a similar attack outside his home in Al-Mansura district. Meanwhile, the chief prosecutor of the neighbouring Lahj province, Saeed Abdullah, escaped an attempt to assassinate him in a similar way in Aden. All the attacks took place late on Saturday October 31, 2015. ---
Ravaged by months of war, Yemen has now been battered by the first tropical storm on record to make landfall in the impoverished Arab country. Tropical Cyclone Chapala slammed into Yemen's central coast early Tuesday November 3, 2015, lashing the area with maximum sustained winds of around 140 kph. But the major concern is the extraordinary volume of rain the storm system is expected to dump on the country's dry, rugged terrain, bringing a severe threat of mudslides. Yemen typically gets around 100 millimetres (4 inches) of rain per year. Chapala was forecast to unleash two to three times that amount in the space of just one day.
Two American contractors have been detained at the airport in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, which is controlled by Shiite Houthi rebels we were told Monday November 2, 2015. They arrived on a U.N. aircraft from Djibouti on October 20 and were detained by the authorities at the airport in Sanaa. The two are not U.N. contractors but work for the company that manages the facilities that the U.N. is using in Sanaa.
At least 11 civilians have been killed in “indiscriminate bombing” by Al Houthis in Taiz as clashes with pro-government forces intensified we were told Thursday November 5, 2015. Al Houthis and their allies control the outskirts of the city, which remains in loyalist hands. At least 22 people were also wounded. The dead included at least one woman.
More than 50 people were killed in Yemen in the past two days in fighting pitting an Arab coalition against Houthi fighters backed by troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh we were told on Sunday November 8, 2015. In Taiz 29 people including eight civilians were killed in clashes. About 30 people were killed in fighting in Damt district in Dhalea governorate in the south. At least 5,600 people have been killed in seven months of war in Yemen.
A second extremely rare and powerful cyclone in two weeks battered the Yemeni island of Socotra with hurricane-force winds on Sunday November 8, 2015, killing a woman and causing around 5,000 people to flee their homes. The new storm, called Megh, comes less than a week after Cyclone Chapala killed 11 Yemenis on Socotra and the mainland, dumping nearly a decade of average annual rainfall on the impoverished and war-torn country in just two days.
Winds and rain from the second rare cyclone to hit Yemen in two weeks have killed 13 people, including three children, on Yemen's Socotra Island we were told on Tuesday November 10, 2015. Cyclone Megh slammed into Socotra on Sunday with category four hurricane-force winds, and arrived on the Yemeni mainland's southern shore near the port city of Aden on Tuesday. Three fishermen were also missing on the island.
Yemen Tuesday November 10, 2015:
Yemen Wednesday November 11, 2015:
Saudi-led coalition air strikes and attacks by pro-government forces killed at least 24 rebels Thursday November 12, 2015, in Yemen's south, where the insurgents have been pushing to regain lost ground. Warplanes bombed two rebel troop transports north of Damt, the Daleh province's second-largest city, which the Iran-backed Huthi rebels and their allies recaptured on Saturday. The strikes killed 13 rebels and wounded several more. Elsewhere in the same region, 11 rebels died in ambushes on convoys by fighters loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
Yemen Friday November 13, 2015:
26 people in Yemen have been killed -including 18 on Socotra Island- by cyclones “Chapala” and “Megh”, which recently pounded the country we were told Thursday November 12, 2015. In Shabwah province around 2,700 people have received assistance -including tents- along with another 2,500 people in Hadramaut province. However the humanitarian aid was meeting only a "fraction" of the affected population’s total needs.
Yemeni loyalists and Saudi-led coalition forces launched an offensive Monday November 16, 2015, to retake the key battleground province of Taez from Iran-backed rebels. At least 30 fighters were killed, including 16 soldiers after their vehicle hit a landmine. Taez is seen as a gateway to the capital Sanaa, which has been held by the Shiite Huthi rebels since September last year. It is located at the crossroads between Sanaa, Yemen's second city and main port of Aden and Mocha on the Red Sea coast.
Saudi-led airstrikes and clashes have killed some 40 Shiite rebels and their allies over the past 24 hours. The airstrikes and fighting took place mostly in Ibb province into Monday November 16, 2015, and near the cities of Mocha and Taiz. The raids in Taiz also killed four civilians. Anti-rebel fighters say 13 of their own forces were killed and more than 20 wounded in the Taiz fighting.
Yemen's president returned from exile to southern city Aden Tuesday November 17, 2015. After landing in the provisional capital, Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi went straight to the palace to "supervise" the offensive aimed at retaking Taez province, mostly-controlled by the rebels.
An ambush in the port city of Mocha killed 44 anti-rebel fighters. The ambush the Houthis, took place Monday November 16, 2015. In a separate development more than 20 Houthi fighters were killed Monday and Tuesday in clashes in the central Marib province. ---
Yemen Tuesday November 17, 2015:
Three US citizens have been evacuated from Yemen by the Omani air force. They were flown on Wednesday November 18, 2015, out of Yemen's capital. The US government had requested Oman's help in finding them. The three Americans were detained by the security forces run by the Houthis and were held on suspicion of spying.
At least 20 Yemeni fishermen have been killed in Saudi Arabia's airstrikes in coastal areas. We were told on Thursday November 19, 2015, that the fishermen were killed after Saudi warplanes pounded their boats off the coast of Zaqar Island and near Hanish Island in al-Hudaydah Province. Several others were wounded when the Saudi aerial raids hit two Yemeni islands on the Red Sea. Saudi airstrikes were also reported in the northern Sa’ada Province. Meanwhile, Saudi aircraft destroyed an arts and industrial centre in Juhana, which is located just outside Yemen's capital, Sana'a.
Yemen Friday November 20, 2015:
Yemeni national resistance fighters killed two Houthi field commanders close to the group’s top leader in an ambush in the central region. The resistance fighters ambushed the two commanders riding in a convoy with other coup rebels on a rugged road West of the central town of Ibb. The fighters attacked the convoy on Saturday November 21, 2015, in Adeen area and that other insurgents were also killed or wounded.
On Saturday November 2015, at least eight Yemeni fishermen have lost their lives after Saudi Arabia’s warplanes bombed their boasts in the Red Sea. The fishermen were killed near Hanish Island in the western province of Hudaydah. In a similar attack on Thursday, Saudi jets pounded several boats off the coast of Zaqar Island, killing 20 fishermen and injuring several others. Meanwhile, Saudi warplanes targeted a residential area in the northern Sa’ada province. The airborne assault left a Yemeni woman and her son dead and several others wounded.
Yemen Monday November 23, 2015:
Yemen Tuesday November 24, 2015:
Yemen’s national army and resistance fighters backed by Arab coalition air strikes seized a key military camp controlled by the Iranian-backed coup rebels after heavy fighting that lasted more than 20 hours we were told on Wednesday November 25, 2015. The army and resistance attacked the Omari camp overlooking the strategic Bab Al Mandeb waterway for the second time in a week and clashed with the Houthis and their allies with heavy weapons and rockets. Eight of the government men were martyred while at least 20 rebels were killed during the clashes.
Overnight clashes between Shiite Houthi rebels and pro-government militias have killed 47 people, nearly all of them fighters. The rebels stormed the town of Dabab late Tuesday November 24, 2015. Two civilians were among the 47 killed in the fighting.
A suicide bomber has killed at least 21 people at a Shia Muslim procession in northern Nigeria -and several others have been injured. The attack happened in the village of Dakasoye during a march by followers of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria. ---
.Yemen Sunday November 29, 2015:
Unidentified assailants on Tuesday December 1, 2015, kidnapped two Red Cross employees in the Yemeni capital, releasing one (a Yemeni) but keeping the other, a Tunisian female staffer. The ICRC had suspended all movements of its staff in Yemen following the kidnapping and called for the immediate release of the Tunisian staff member.
Hundreds of al Qaeda fighters seized two major cities in Yemen after hours of clashes. Al Qaeda militants on Wednesday December 2, 2015, took over Zinjbar, the capital of Abyan province, and Jaar after fierce clashes with groups loyal to Yemeni President Abdurabu Hadi amid absence of the armed forces in the province. The head of pro-government committees, said their forces evacuated during the fierce clashes and that both Jaar and Zinjibar are now in the control of al Qaeda. Al Qaeda destroyed the headquarters for the popular committees in Jaar and killed at least 4 senior popular committee commanders. Armored vehicles, funded by Gulf nations, which entered Yemen over the last five months to stop the Houthi expansion are now controlled by al Qaeda. The vehicles were previously controlled by forces loyal to Hadi.
A mobile clinic run by Doctors Without Borders in Yemen was bombed Wednesday December 2, 2015, in Saudi-led airstrikes, wounding at least seven people. The medical team in Taiz is collecting information about the incident and providing treatment to those who were wounded in the airstrikes. The attack is the fourth on a facility run by the non-profit -known officially as Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF- and comes just days after a hospital supported by MSF was bombed in Syria, causing seven deaths and leaving the building in ruins. A girl was among those killed in the Saturday attacks. The Syria attack was what is known as a double-tap tactic -a first bombing followed by a second one after health professionals have arrived to aid the victims. The tactic is the hallmark of the Syrian Air Force.
ISIS has released four depraved execution videos from Yemen. Six men were blown up by a rocket launcher, another six were put on a boat which was sent out to sea and exploded, four were obliterated by the mortar shells hung around their necks and nine were beheaded with sharp daggers.
On Sunday December 6, 2015, Islamic State militants say they carried out a bombing that killed the governor of Yemen's port city of Aden. Jaafar Mohammed Saad and several aides died when their convoy was hit. IS says it detonated a car laden with explosives as he drove by. ---
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for a powerful car bomb that killed the provincial governor in the southern port of Aden early Sunday December 6, 2015, raising concerns that hard-line Sunni militants were gaining a foothold in one of Yemen’s largest cities. The governor, Jaafar Mohamed Saad, was the most senior official to be killed in Aden.
Yemen's President told the United Nations on Monday December 7, 2015, that he has asked the Saudi-led coalition to begin a 7-day ceasefire on December 15 to coincide with U.N.-sponsored peace talks aimed at ending months of fighting that has killed nearly 6,000 people. It will be renewed automatically in case of compliance from the other side.
Six Colombian troops and an Australian commander have been killed in clashes with Yemen’s Houthi fighters and allied forces in the southwestern part of the country we were told on Tuesday December 8, 2015. The six Colombian soldiers were killed after fighters from the Houthi Ansarullah movement and the allied army units launched attacks on Saudi-led forces in al-Amri region in Bab-el-Mandeb area, in Ta’izz Province. The Australian commander, identified as Philip Stitman, who was leading the Colombian forces was also killed in the operation. The Colombians have been dispatched to Yemen based on an agreement between the United Arab Emirates, a major ally of the Saudis in the Yemen war, and Blackwater, a security services company, which is based in the United States. Washington has also helped the Saudis in their nearly nine months of bombardment of Yemen by providing logistics and intelligence to the Saudi air force.
Saudi-led forces fighting in Yemen have cleared a Red Sea island of Shiite rebels. We were told Thursday December 10 that they had seized control of Jazirat al-Hanish al-Kabir island off the coast of Yemen near the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. The strait is a major route for oil from the Gulf and cargo between Europe and Asia.
Unidentified attackers have exploded a Catholic church in Yemen's southern port city of Aden. The abandoned church, which is located in the embattled city’s Mualla District, was blown up on Wednesday by gunmen.
The Yemeni government and Houthi rebels agreed to immediately halt fighting on Tuesday December 15, 2015, as they started peace talks mediated by a United Nations special envoy at an undisclosed location in Switzerland. The seven-day cease-fire, if it holds, will provide desperately needed relief to Yemen’s population of 24 million after nine months of conflict that has taken the lives of thousands of civilians and inflicted significant damage on the country’s infrastructure, deepening the humanitarian crisis there.
A missile strike Monday Dec ember 14, 2015, by Houthi rebels in southwestern Yemen claimed the lives of dozens of pro-government forces, including senior military commanders from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The strike came just before a cease-fire between the two sides was delayed by 12 hours until noon Tuesday. The slain troops included 23 Saudis, nine Emiratis and 12 Moroccan officers, according to Houthi news outlets. The dead included Saudi Col. Abdullah Sahyan.
Air strikes by an Arab coalition targeting Yemen's dominant Houthi group killed at least 15 people late on Monday December 14, 2015, hours before a ceasefire was due to take effect to pave the way for UN-sponsored peace talks in Switzerland. War planes launched two raids on the village of Bani al-Haddad, in the northern Hajjah province on the border with Saudi Arabia, killing 13 people and wounding 20 others. Two more residents died while medics were trying to evacuate them.
A ceasefire went into effect Tuesday December 15, 2015, in Yemen as the warring sides prepare to start peace talks.
Clashes were underway Wednesday December 16, 2015, along several front lines in Yemen, claiming at least 42 lives and undermining a day-old cease-fire and peace talks between the internationally recognized government and Shiite rebels taking place in Switzerland. Fighting was underway for a second day Wednesday in the provinces of Ibb, Bayda, Marib, Jawf, and Taiz. In the besieged city of Taiz, shelling by Houthis killed six civilians.
On Wednesday December 16, 2015, Saudi Arabian air defense has intercepted one of two ballistic missiles fired from the territory of Yemen. The second ballistic missile landed in a desert area east of the Saudi city of Najran. No injuries have been reported so far. Earlier this week, several Saudi targets in Yemen were said to have come under the rebels’ fire. At least three Qahir-1 rockets were used to shell various bases and camps. ---
Yemen Friday December 18, 2015:
Fierce fighting and airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition pounded northern Yemen on Saturday December 19, 2015, as the two main parties in the country's conflict continued to violate a ceasefire agreement and undermine already tenuous peace talks in Switzerland. The clashes in Hajjah Province near the Saudi border between rebel-allied units and pro-government Yemeni forces have killed more than 75 over the past three days. The dead included more than 40 rebels and 35 government troops, with 50 wounded on the rebel side and dozens wounded on the government side. Dozens of tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed.
Days of negotiations in Switzerland to halt the war in Yemen ended on Sunday December 20, 2015, with no sign of a resolution to the conflict and with the combatants engaged in some of their fiercest fighting in months. The United Nations-brokered talks, which began on Tuesday, were aimed at ending the nine-month war between Yemen’s Houthi rebels and the government of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi. As the talks began, there were reasons for optimism: After several previous attempts to hold negotiations failed, the combatants sat down together for the first time during the conflict, and even agreed publicly to a cease-fire. But despite making what the United Nations called “serious progress” in the discussions, repeated violations of the cease-fire appeared to have doomed the current round. The negotiations will resume in mid-January.
A missile fired from war-torn Yemen has struck a Saudi border city, killing three civilians in yet another violation of a ceasefire aimed at helping peace talks. Saturday December 19, 2015's attack on Najran left one Saudi citizen and two Indian workers dead. On Thursday a civilian had been wounded in the Jazan border region by shelling from Yemen.
Unidentified gunmen shot dead a colonel in Yemen's southern resistance in Aden on Tuesday December 22, 2015. The gunmen opened fire on a car containing resistance leader Jalal al-Awbali in the Dar Saad district of northern Aden, killing him immediately.
At least four al-Qaida members were killed in a U.S. drone strike launched in Yemen's southeastern province of al-Baydha on Tuesday December 22, 2015. The U.S. unmanned aircraft fired two missiles on a vehicle carrying members of the Yemen-based al-Qaida offshoot in tribal village of Dhabah that is located between southeastern al-Baydha and Shabwa provinces. The vehicle was completely destroyed in the strike and about four suspected al-Qaida operatives were died and burned at the scene. Earlier this month, scores of gunmen of the al-Qaida group seized two southern towns in the southern province of Abyan after launching well-coordinated attacks on pro-government forces. ---
A presumed US drone strike has killed four suspected members of Al Qaida in central Yemen we were told Wednesday December 23, 2015. The raid targeted their vehicle on Tuesday evening near the border of Baida and Shabwa provinces.
Yemen Friday December 25, 2015:
Assailants shot dead a senior Yemeni intelligence officer in Marib city east of the capital Sanaa on Friday December 25, 2015. Commander Jarallah Salhi was gunned down in the centre of Marib. The officer had actively taken part in the battle for Marib dam, southeast of the city backed by a Saudi-led coalition.
Bahrain said on Tuesday December29, 2017, that two Bahraini soldiers attached to a coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen have been killed in Saudi Arabia. Capt. Ahmed Mohammed Amin and Capt. Mubarak Saad al-Rumaihi were killed on Saudi Arabia's southern border.
Yemen Tuesday December 29, 2015:
Osama Bin Laden's former bodyguard Nasser al-Bahri has died in Yemen after a long illness. Bahri, a Yemeni national, passed away on Saturday December 26, 2015, in a hospital in the southern city of Mukalla. He was in his 40s. Bahri, also known as Abu Jandal, was also a driver for Osama, when he was in Afghanistan. Bahri was freed from the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay and returned to Yemen in 2008. He was involved in attacks by Islamist militants in Bosnia, Somalia and Afghanistan during the 1990s, but later renounced Al-Qaeda. ---
A Bahraini fighter jet taking part in the Saudi-led coalition battling rebel forces in Yemen crashed Wednesday December 30, 2015, in Saudi Arabia due to a technical error. The F-16 jet crashed in the kingdom's southwestern Jazan region near the border with Yemen while carrying out its national duty in defending the southern borders of Saudi Arabia. The pilot was saved and is in good health.
Unknown gunmen suspected of belonging to the Yemen-based al-Qaida group shot and killed a prominent judge in Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Tuesday December 29, 2015. The unidentified gunmen riding a motorcycle opened fire from assault rifles and assassinated Judge Jalal Abdullah in Aden's neighbourhood of Mansoura in Aden province. The prominent judge received several bullets injuries and died at the scene near Banda Supermarket in Mansoura neighbourhood. The masked gunmen fled the spot after the firing. The anti-terror judge, Mohsin Alwani, was known for sentencing a number of al-Qaida members to prison in the country, according to local sources.
Unknown gunmen shot and killed a senior Yemeni militia leader and four people traveling in his convoy in the southern city of Aden we were told Thursday December 31, 2015. Assailants in a car and on a motorcycle opened fire on the motorcade of Ahmed al-Idrisi, a top commander in the pro-government Popular Southern Resistance group, while it traveled on a main road in the Mansoura district late on Wednesday.
A senior pro-government Yemeni army commander survived a car bombing in Aden on Thursday December 31, 2015, that left one of his bodyguards dead. General Ahmed Saif Al Yafie, commander of the Fourth Military Region, escaped unharmed when an explosive device planted in his vehicle blew up killing a bodyguard.
Pro-government fighters in Yemen attacked and killed a senior al-Qaida leader and three people traveling in his convoy near a security checkpoint in the southern Abyan province on Friday January 1, 2016. Ali Abed al-Rab bin Talab, better known as Abu Anwar, was the extremist group's chief judge in Yemen's largest province, Hadramawt, which al-Qaida largely controls. He survived a suspected U.S. drone attack in 2014. Before the attack, Abu Anwar's convoy was heading to the southern port city of Aden.
The Saudi-led coalition announced on Saturday January 2, 2016, the end of a ceasefire that began on December 15, 2015. The ceasefire began in tandem with peace talks sponsored by the United Nations, but it was repeatedly violated by both sides.
Six people were killed in a firefight Friday January 1, 2016, between Yemeni pro-government forces and Al-Qaeda suspects who were travelling in a weapons-laden vehicle toward second city Aden. Militiamen at a checkpoint in the southern Abyan province stopped the suspected extremists, prompting an argument that sparked a gun battle. Three Al-Qaeda suspects and the same number of loyalists were killed. Among the dead was the head of a court set up by Al-Qaeda in the southeastern city of Mukalla, which has been under their control since April.
The governor of Yemen’s southern port city of Aden survived a car bomb attack on Tuesday January 5, 2016, that killed two bodyguards and critically wounded three others. The assassination attempt on Gov. Aidarous al-Zubaidi comes a month after his predecessor was killed in a bombing claimed by a local Islamic State affiliate.
A woman has been stoned to death in south-east Yemen after being accused of adultery and prostitution by an Al-Qaeda Sharia court. The married woman was reportedly killed in a public execution in the city of Al Mukalla, which has been under the control of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) since April last year. Al-Qaeda militants 'placed the woman in a hole in the middle of the courtyard of a military building and stoned her to death in the presence of dozens of residents.
Aircraft from the Saudi-led coalition struck a rehabilitation center for the blind in Yemen's capital Sanaa early on Tuesday morning January 5, 2016. An airstrike hit the Al Noor Center for Care and Rehabilitation of Blind, in the Alsafyeh area of Sanaa.
Saudi jets have 'deliberately' bombed the Iranian embassy in Yemen in an air raid that wounded staff. Warplanes struck the building as they pounded Yemen's capital Sanaa on Wednesday night January 6, 2016.
On Thursday January 7, 2016, the Saudi-led coalition and Yemen's foreign ministry denied Iran's accusation that Saudi warplanes had hit its embassy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. An accusation that exacerbated tension between the major Shi'ite and Sunni powers in the region. ---
A hospital in northern Yemen supported by the medical charity Doctors Without Borders was struck by ordnance early Sunday January 10, 2016, killing at least four people and causing several buildings to collapse. It was the third time in three months that a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Yemen had been damaged or destroyed. At least 10 people were wounded in the latest attack, including three staff members. It is not known which party in Yemen’s civil war had fired what it called a “projectile,” but “planes were seen flying over the facility at the time.” The hospital, called Shiara, is in the northern Saada Province, in the Razeh District, near the border with Saudi Arabia. Fierce fighting along the frontier between Saudi troops and Yemen’s Houthi rebels has devastated many border towns and displaced thousands of people. Attacks on clinics and hospitals have left the province with only one major medical facility, forcing people to travel hours to receive even basic treatment.
A Yemeni officer and two policemen were killed by unidentified gunmen in the southern port city of Aden on Wednesday afternoon January 13, 2016. The attack took place in Sheikh Othman neighbourhood of Aden. The gunmen who were riding a motorcycle rained the police patrol with a barrage of bullets and left an officer and two policemen killed on the spot, before fleeing.
Unidentified gunmen on Wednesday January 13, 2016, shot dead two policemen in Yemen's southern city of Aden the second such attack in as many days. The assailants opened fire at the traffic policemen at a roundabout in the country's second city before escaping on a motorbike.
Ten Yemeni men held at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. military detention centre in Cuba were transferred to Oman on Thursday January 14, 2016, bringing the number of remaining detainees at the prison below 100. The transfer marks the largest single group of detainees moved out of the detention centre since President Obama took office in 2009. Four other detainees have already been transferred this month as the Obama administration ramps up its efforts to close the facility before the president leaves office next year.
A wedding hall was among a number of civilian structures pulverized in Sana’a, Yemen’s capital city, during a recent surge in airstrikes led by Saudi Arabia. Nobody was inside the building when it was reduced to rubble Tuesday January 12, 2016. But for human rights observers, the attack furthers a trend: the 10-month bombing campaign led by the kingdom routinely hits civilian targets, including a number of wedding parties.
A senior military commander from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and three other Saudi-backed foreign mercenaries have been killed in an attack by Yemeni forces in the southwestern province of Ta’iz on Thursday January 14, 2016. The fatalities came after Ansarullah fighters and allied Yemeni army units targeted an armoured vehicle in the Dabab district of Ta’izz Province. Meanwhile, the Yemeni army and allied forces fired several retaliatory missiles at a pro-Saudi militant base in the town of al-Hazm in the northern province of al-Jawf. The missiles reportedly killed several foreign mercenaries and militants loyal Yemen's fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi. A large number of Saudi officers and soldiers have lost their lives over the past months in attacks launched from Yemen. Scores of non-Saudi troops, including nationals of the Persian Gulf littoral Arab countries, have also been killed.
Yemen Tuesday January 12, 2016:
A U.S. drone strike killed three suspected al-Qaida militants in southern Yemen on Saturday January 16, 2016. It targeted the militants' vehicle while they were traveling in Shabwa province. The latest strike comes amid reports of divisions and defections among al-Qaida's rival group, the Islamic State affiliate in Yemen, as a defected group leader gave an online testimony, claiming that IS fabricated videos to exaggerate their strength and presence.
Alliance bombing of Dhahyan in the Saada province killed 30 Houthi militants we were told Saturday January 16, 2016 the Al Arabiya network tweeted, without citing sources or providing further details. ---
A suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into the police chief's house in the southern Yemeni city of Aden on Sunday January 17, 2016, killing seven civilians and security forces. The police chief was not hurt Militants killed two other security officials elsewhere in the country. Police Chief Shallal Shayei survived a similar assassination attempt last month, as did the governor of the province earlier this month. Aden's previous governor was killed in an attack claimed by a local Islamic State affiliate.
An airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition targeted a building used by police in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, killing at least 26 people and wounding about 15 we were told Monday January 18, 2016. Security forces swiftly sealed off the area as earth-moving equipment arrived to help with the search for bodies and survivors under the debris. 30 people were believed still trapped under the debris of the badly damaged building in central Sanaa. The strike also destroyed police vehicles parked in the facility's courtyard while nearby homes suffered some damage.
Freelance Yemeni journalist Almigdad Mojalli was killed Sunday morning January 17, 2016, in an air raid by the Saudi-led coalition on rebel-held Sana'a while on assignment for Voice of America. Mojalli, a freelance journalist for VOA and the U.N. news agency, IRIN, as well as other news sources, sought to fight the humanitarian crisis in his country through truthful, heartbreaking reporting.
A suicide car bombing killed at least 10 people, mostly civilians, on Sunday January 17, 2016, in an attack on the residence of the police chief of Yemen’s southern city of Aden. A bomber wearing an explosives vest blew himself up at the entrance to General Shalal Shaea’s house in the Tawahi district of the port city. Eight civilians and two guards were killed, while the police chief was not hurt.
Dozens of Saudi-led forces have been killed in a new ballistic missile attack on Yemen’s central province of Marib. The army and the Popular Committees fired a Tochka missile on al-Bairaq military base. The missile targeted the operation center of the base and killing dozens of Saudi and Emirati forces, as well as mercenaries hired by US-based private military contractor, Blackwater. The attack destroyed advanced system in the operation center, including spy drones and surveillance systems.
On Sunday January 17, 2016, an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition targeted a building used by police in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, killing at least 26 people and wounding about 15. Some 30 more people are believed to be still trapped under the debris of the badly damaged building in central Sanaa. Police vehicles parked in the facility's courtyard were destroyed and nearby homes suffered some damage. The dead and wounded were policemen and Houthi rebels. The Targeted building was partially used as a gathering point for security forces and on occasion used by the Houthis as an assembly point for forces headed to deployment elsewhere in Yemen.
Yemen Wednesday January 20, 2016:
On Tuesday January 19, 2016, eyewitnesses said that the Nigerian army killed dozens of members of a Shia Muslim organisation during a military crackdown last month and that hundreds of people were killed during the clashes in the city of Zaria. The Nigerian army denies human rights abuses and says only the investigation which is taking place can establish the true number of those killed.
The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera network says it has lost contact with one of its chief correspondents who they suspect has been kidnapped in Taiz. On Thursday January 21, 2016, we were told that Hamdi al-Bukari, who had been covering the intense Taiz fighting that started in April, went missing on Monday night. Several journalists have been killed, detained or expelled during Yemen's war.
Almigdad Mojalli, a freelance journalist working with the Voice of America (VOA), was killed during an air raid in Yemen this week. He died in a Saudi-led airstrike Sunday January 17, 2016.
A US drone strike killed two Al-Qaeda suspects in a militant stronghold in southeast Yemen we were told Thursday January 21, 2016. The unidentified suspects were travelling in a vehicle in the town of Qoton in Hadramawt province when they were targeted.
Three Al-Jazeera journalists working in Yemen who went missing this week likely have been kidnapped. Reporter Hamdi al-Bokari and crew members Abdulaziz al-Sabri and Moneer al-Sabai were last seen Monday night in Taiz. In a statement late Thursday night January 21, 20`16, Al-Jazeera's acting director-general Mostefa Souag called for the men's immediate release.
Thursday January 21, 2016, the ambulance service of the MSF-supported Al Gomhoury Hospital in Saada governorate was hit by an airstrike, killing one Ministry of Health (MOH) staff member. The incident took place in Dhayan, about 20 kilometres from the city of Saada and not far from the MSF-supported Shiara hospital, which was hit with a projectile on 10 January. The ambulance was hit as it arrived at the site of an earlier bombing. When people gathered to assist the victims, the same site was hit again. The driver and the ambulance were then hit in a third strike. Two other local towns, Baqim and Al Jawf, were also hit last night in airstrikes. The total number of wounded and killed is still uncertain. MSF has received 40 casualties, six of whom have sadly died.
On Friday January 22, 2016, a U.S.-backed, Saudi-led airstrike on an oil facility has killed at least nine people and injured at least 30. The strike comes one day after thousands of Yemeni women marched in the streets of the capital Sana’a to decry the continued U.S.-backed, Saudi-led bombing campaign.
Yemen Thursday January 21, 2016:
Unidentified gunmen have killed a police officer and four others in Aden. Assailants on Sunday January 24, 2016, opened fire on a police vehicle carrying Colonel Taha al-Sobeihi in Aden's Mansura district, killing him along with a bodyguard and a female bystander. Late Saturday, unidentified gunmen killed a soldier in Mansura.
At least 10 people, including a local judge, were killed in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike on the Yemeni capital of Sanaa we were told Sunday January 24, 2016. The coalition planes launched airstrikes against the judge’s house. The building was destroyed in the airstrike, the judge and his nine relatives died. Another attack was carried out on a local bureau of forensic medicine.
Saudi aircraft have bombed an area in the northwestern Yemeni province of al-Jawf, killing an entire family of 11 people. The fatalities occurred on Tuesday January 26, 2016. The head of the family was identified as Sheikh Saleh Hadi Herman. The attack came two days after Saudi warplanes killed a Yemeni judge and six members of his family after bombing their home in Hay al-Nahzah district in the capital Sana’a. ---
The Islamic State affiliate in Yemen has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing on Thursday January 28, 2016, that killed seven people and targeted the presidential palace in Aden, where the internationally-recognized president and his cabinet are based.
On Thursday January 28, 2016, three Al-Jazeera journalists who were kidnapped in the war-ravaged Yemeni city of Taiz were released. Journalists have been frequently targeted during Yemen's conflict.
A suicide bombing killed seven people and wounded seven others on Friday night January 29, 2016, in Aden, the second deadly attack in as many days in Yemen’s second city. The bombing targeted a police checkpoint not far from the site of a suicide attack on Thursday that killed eight people, including soldiers and civilians, outside the presidential palace in the city.
Airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition targeting Yemen’s Shiite rebels killed over 32 people including at least eight civilians in the capital, Sanaa, we were told on Saturday January 30, 2016. The airstrikes appeared to target a rebel camp and factories producing food and plastic in northern and western Sanaa.
A suicide car bomber struck a checkpoint in the southern Yemen city of Aden, killing seven. The Islamic State affiliate in Yemen claimed responsibility for Friday January 29, 2016's attack. The checkpoint was manned by policemen and policewomen after authorities received tips that IS militants are disguising themselves as women.
Yemeni army forces, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees, have killed five Saudi forces in retaliatory attacks inside Saudi Arabia. Yemeni army sharpshooters killed five Saudi troops near Shabakeh and Ghaviyeh military bases in Khubeh area in Jizan region we were told on Sunday January 31, 2016. Yemeni forces also destroyed a US-made Abrams tank used by the Saudi forces during clashes near the Shabakeh military base. Yemeni retaliatory rocket attacks against targets within Saudi territory resumed on Sunday as well. The Mosfagh military base in Jizan was hit in one such strike, causing a huge fire at the base. Yemeni rockets also targeted other Saudi military bases, including Mojazeh, Khurmah and Sho’ab.
al Qaeda militants reclaimed the town of Azzan in Yemen's Shabwa province on Monday February 1, 2016. Azzan is a major commercial hub of about 70,000 people in an arid and mountainous region and was controlled by al Qaeda for around a year until the group was ejected in 2012 by an alliance of tribesmen and armed residents loyal to Yemen's since ousted central government. Dozens of al Qaeda gunmen arrived in the early hours of the morning and set up checkpoints at the entrances to the town and in its streets. They planted their black flag on government buildings. They faced no resistance or clashes; the tribal militia forces quit the area as it was being taken over.
The lifeless body of Yemen's top Salafi cleric in the southern port city of Aden was found disfigured on Sunday January 31, 2016, hours after he was abducted following a sermon against groups like the affiliates of Al-Qaeda and Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Yemen. The influential cleric, Samahan Abdel-Aziz, also known as Sheikh Rawi, had delivered a fiery sermon against the Al-Qaeda and ISIL branches on Friday. Abdel-Aziz was kidnapped by gunmen outside his mosque late Saturday in the pro-government neighbourhood of Bureiqa.
Shelling by Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebels in the heavily contested western city of Taiz struck a museum housing rare manuscripts and the possessions of a deceased ruler we were told Wednesday February 3, 2016. The museum was struck Sunday. The interior walls of the building were torched black and the museum was filled with rubble and twisted metal. The museum housed a collection of watches, guns, swords, gifts from foreign visitors and manuscripts belonging to Imam Ahmed, who ruled until the 1960s.
An airstrike by the military coalition led by Saudi Arabia hit a cement factory north of Sana, Yemen’s capital, on Wednesday evening February 3, 2016, killing at least 15 people, including civilian workers in nearby businesses. The bombing of the factory, in Amran Province, came days after Saudi officials pledged to form a high-level committee to investigate strikes in Yemen’s civil war that have killed civilians, and to improve their military’s aerial targeting with advice from American and British experts.
A prominent al Qaeda leader was killed in a drone strike overnight Wednesday February 3, 2016, along with three others in the southern province of Abin. Jalal Baliedy headed al Qaeda in the province and led major attacks, including the beheading of soldiers.
A suicide bomber blew himself up outside the home of the security chief of the Yemeni province of Lahej on Wednesday night February 3, 2016, killing himself and wounding the official and six other people. The security chief, Brigadier General Adel al-Halemi, was in stable condition after the attack in the al-Mindara district in the eastern part of the city of Aden.
A drone strike killed six suspected al Qaeda militants in an overnight attack in eastern Yemen, we were told on Thursday February 4, 2016. The U.S. drone strike targeted a car traveling in al Rawda city in Shabwa province, a remote desert area where al Qaeda militants are believed to be operating.
Al-Qaeda militants have taken control of a police headquarters in southern Yemen. The militants on Saturday February 6, 2016, overran the headquarters in Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan Province, after forces loyal to fugitive former president of Yemen, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, reportedly escaped the area. The terrorists have been in control of other government buildings in Zinjibar for weeks while retaining a large presence in the nearby town of Jaar. They have also taken control of the town of Azzan in Shabwa Province and seized the towns of Shoqra and Ahwar, which enable them to completely control the coast road between their stronghold city of Mukalla in the southeast and Zinjibar.
Saudi Arabia has shot down a ballistic missile launched toward the kingdom from Yemen. The Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces intercepted the missile at dawn Monday February 8, 2016, as it headed toward the southwestern Saudi region of Asir. Coalition forces responded by targeting the launch platform inside Yemeni territory. ---
Yemeni pro-government forces backed by Saudi-led air strikes seized control of a military camp 60km from Sanaa on Thursday February 11, 2016 as troops advance toward the capital held by Iran-allied fighters. Pro-government forces seized the Fardhat Nahm camp outside Sanaa in battles with Houthi fighters that left a number of people dead and wounded. Aircrafts from the Arab coalition carried out dozens of strikes during the battles in the area. The camp is located on one of the defense lines for the capital.
Two Yemeni TV journalists and their three children have died after a Saudi-led coalition airstrike supported by the US struck their home in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Wednesday February 10, 2016. 37-year-old Munir al-Hakami and his wife, thirty-year-old Suaad Hujaira, both worked for Yemen TV, a state-owned channel under the control of Houthi-rebels which is critical of Saudi military intervention in the region.
Suspected Al-Qaeda members killed five police officers on Friday February 12, 2016, in an attack in Yemen's second city of Aden. The masked assailants attacked a police outpost in the Basateen area of northern Aden before fleeing. The incident came a day after three pro-government soldiers were killed by suspected jihadists in the southern port city. Al-Qaeda controls parts of Aden, where the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has set up base in its battle against Shiite Huthi rebels who control the capital Sanaa. With support from a Saudi-led coalition, Hadi's forces have driven the rebels out of Aden and four other southern provinces since last July but the Shiite rebels control much of the north.
The Red Cross said on Saturday February 13, 2016, that it had entered the war-torn Yemeni city of Taiz for the first time since August, delivering three tons of lifesaving medical supplies to four hospitals treating the wounded. Taiz has been one of the hardest-fought areas in a war in which local militias and forces loyal to a government that was ousted by Houthi rebels last March are trying to fight their way back to the capital, Sana. Many residents of Taiz, a city of 200,000 in the southwest of the country, say that the Houthi rebels have blocked aid from entering and have bombed civilian sites. The Red Cross team delivered surgical items, intravenous fluids and anesthetic supplies to help treat hundreds of wounded.
The United Arab Emirates said on Sunday February 14, 2016, that one of its soldiers was killed and another was wounded while participating in coalition operations in Yemen. The statement did not identify the soldiers or specify where the incident occurred.
A Saudi-led coalition air strike on a sewing workshop killed at least two people and wounded 15 in the rebel-held Yemeni capital on Sunday February 14, 2016. Two employees, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed and 15 others wounded in the overnight air raid. A search was underway for another employee still buried under the rubble of the building in the east of Sanaa.
A drone attack on two public buildings controlled by al-Qaida militants in south Yemen killed three people on Monday February 15, 2016. The dawn attack also badly damaged the offices of public water and telecommunications utilities in Huta, capital of Lahij province. The drone strike came a day after a soldier and a civilian were killed in a suicide car bombing in Huta that targeted an armored vehicle of the Emirati armed forces.
A suicide bomber killed at least 13 recruits at a Yemeni army camp run by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's government in the southern port city of Aden on Wednesday February 17, 2016. At least 60 people were also wounded in the attack targeting hundreds of new recruits at the Ras Abbas camp in Aden's Buraiqa district. The bomber was disguised in military uniform used by the new recruits, enabling him to penetrate the crowd undetected inside the camp.
Yemen Tuesday February 16, 2016:
A suicide bomber killed at least 10 soldiers Wednesday February 17, 2016, and wounded several others at a Yemeni army camp in the southern port city of Aden. The attacker, who was dressed as a soldier, detonated his explosives at the gates of the Ras Abbas camp. The targeted camp was being used to train of new recruits. ---
Yemeni pro-government forces on Thursday February 18, 2016, seized a town overlooking the besieged city of Taez after weeks of deadly fighting with Iran-backed rebels in the area. The capture of Al Misrakh comes as part of an offensive loyalists launched in November to break the siege on Yemen's third city, where some 200,000 civilians are caught up in the fighting. The town is south of the provincial capital, where two days earlier a rebel sniper shot dead a cameraman working for the government-run Yemen TV channel.
Dozens of Al Qaeda militants took control of the southern Yemeni town of Ahwar on Saturday February 20, 2016, consolidating the group’s control over much of the region. The coastal city and surrounding district, in Abyan province, is home to over 30,000 people and is an important geographic link between the major port city of Mukalla to the east and the smaller town of Zinjibar, both of which Al Qaeda seized months ago. Al Qaeda gunmen clashed with the Popular Resistance forces, killing three of them. They attacked the sheikh in charge of the area and after he escaped set up street checkpoints and planted their black flag on government buildings.
Yemen Saturday February 20, 2016:
A gunman killed a senior Yemeni army officer in Aden on Monday February 22, 2016. The gunman, who was on the back of a motorcycle, killed General Abedrabbo Hussein as he was leaving his home in the Sheikh Othman district of the city. Hussein was commander of the 15th Infantry Brigade which operates in Abyan province, west of Aden, where Al-Qaeda has seized several large towns in recent weeks.
On Saturday February 20, 2016, Saudi Coalition fighter jets conducted a series of strikes in the Gafira area, resulting in the deaths of 31 people and dozens injuries. Ten houses were completely destroyed. The bodies of at least 12 children and 10 women had been discovered at the site. The Saudi-led coalition carried out airstrikes on the southwestern province of Taiz earlier, including on a hospital near the strategic port of Mocha.
Yemeni army forces, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees, have gained control of a military base in Saudi Arabia’s Najran Province. As part of the retaliatory campaign for relentless Saudi military attacks against the impoverished nation, Yemeni forces on Sunday February 21, 2016, managed to seize control of Nahuqeh military base. The attack on the base started with rocket fire and continued with a ground offensive, forcing the Saudi troops to flee. Yemeni forces destroyed one military vehicle and an observation tower in this attack. They also seized a huge cache of munitions in the operation. A separate retaliatory rocket attack by Yemeni forces on Sunday in the city of Rabu'eh in Asir Province, destroying two Saudi military vehicles and an ammunition depot.
On Tuesday February 23, 2016, we were told that Yemen’s army and forces from the Popular Resistance were able to recapture a strategic military camp - Fardhat Nahm camp- near the capital Sanaa. Photos showed destruction of facilities belonging to Iran-backed Houthi militias and forces loyal to ousted former President Ali Abdullah Saleh by the Saudi-led coalition.
Three people have been killed by the Saudi bombing on citizens' houses in Nehm district of Sanaa province. The Saudi-led coalition waged an air raid Monday February 22, 2016, on the home of Nasser al-Nua'imi in Malah area, which led to the deaths of three citizens who lived near the house.
The troops from the United Arab Emirates pulled out of the airport in the southern city of Aden on Wednesday February 24, 2016, a day after it was stormed by pro-government fighters. The authorities then shut the airport, the country's main air hub for the internationally recognized government and the Saudi-led coalition, which is helping the government forces fight Shiite rebels in the north.
At least 13 people have been killed in airstrikes carried out by Saudi jets in Yemen’s northern Jawf Province. We were told Wednesday February 24, 2016, that the airstrikes, which targeted trucks carrying foodstuff eight times, took place in Jawf’s town of al-Matammah. Different areas in Jawf were also attacked by Saudi airstrikes. An airstrike took place against the town of Sirwah in the eastern Ma’rib Province. Two residential areas and a medical center also came under attack in Sirwah. Meanwhile, army forces backed by Popular Committees had managed to seize a warship belonging to mercenaries fighting for Saudi Arabia. The warship was reportedly seeking to enter the al-Fazeh port area off the coast of Khokha, near Hudaydah.
At least 30 people have been killed in an air strike on a market near the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. At least 30 people were injured, most of them civilians. It is not clear who carried out the strike, but Houthi rebels have accused the Saudi-led coalition.
Yemeni militiamen clashed with soldiers guarding the presidential palace in the southern Yemeni city of Aden on Sunday February 28, 2016. The embattled Yemen government is based in Aden and has struggled to build up a national military and pay its bills, including to fighters who have fought on its behalf; Al Qaeda and Islamic State militants have taken advantage of 10 months of civil war to expand their presence in the city. The attackers, affiliated with a local militia called the Popular Southern Resistance, sought an audience with top officials inside the palace over unpaid medical bills for guards wounded in an attack there last month. Six guards were killed and several were wounded in the attack on January 28 at the Maashiq palace in the crater district. They wanted to discuss compensation for those killed and paying the medical bills for the wounded. When the guards blocked them, a gun battle erupted involving light and medium weapons.
Saudi-led airstrikes targeting Shiite rebels killed at least 30 people, mostly civilians, when they hit a market area outside the capital on Saturday February 27, 2016. The raid hit the popular market in the Nihm district, killing at least 22 civilians and leaving burned bodies strewn across the area. The strike comes a day after aid and rights groups urged Western countries to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia, which is striking the Iran-backed rebels, known as Houthis, to support forces loyal to the internationally recognized government.
Gunmen killed a pro-government Sunni Salafist cleric on Sunday February 28, 2016, in Aden. Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Adani was shot dead as he was heading to a mosque near his home. Adani headed a Salafist religious school which attracts both local and foreign students. He was known for his stance against the Shiite Houthi rebels as well as against ISIS and Al-Qaeda which are becoming increasingly active in Aden.
A suicide car bomb exploded in Aden on Monday February 29, 2016, killing four loyalists. The explosion wounded at least five others. An explosives-filled car slammed into a gathering of Pro-Hadi forces in Aden.
Yemen Tuesday March 1, 2016:
Doctors Without Borders says its staffers are "scared" to resume their work in a facility it supports in the northern Yemeni city of Saada after two nearby airstrikes by the Saudi-led military coalition. The airstrikes hit 20 meters from the hospital on Tuesday March 1, 2016, and bombings have forced evacuation of their facility in the Razeh district in Saada. The city is the stronghold of Shiite Houthi rebels and the Saudi coalition has declared it a military zone. The same facility came under airstrikes in January where four were killed and 10 injured.
Gunmen in southern Yemen on Friday March 4, 2016, stormed a retirement home run by a charity established by Mother Teresa, killing 16 people, including four Catholic nuns. The killing spree began with two gunmen who first surrounded the home for the elderly in Aden. Meanwhile, four others entered the building on the pretext they wanted to visit their mothers at the facility. The gunmen then moved from room to room, handcuffing the victims before shooting them in the head. A nun who survived and was rescued by locals said that she hid inside a fridge in a storeroom after hearing a Yemeni guard shouting, “Run, run.”
An Indian Catholic priest was abducted by militants when they attacked a retirement home in southern Yemen last week, killing 16 people, including four nuns. We were told Monday March 7, 2016, in Kolkata that the Rev. Thomas Uzhunnalil was handcuffed and taken away by the attackers when they stormed the retirement home in Aden.
At least 57 people are killed as pro-Saudi militants battle Houthi fighters and Yemeni army forces in a push to capture Yemen's third biggest city of Ta'izz. 37 members of the Yemeni army and their allied Houthi fighters and six civilians were killed in Friday March 11, 2016, clashes which involved airstrikes by Saudi warplanes. Fourteen militants loyal to former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi were also killed. Most of the casualties were caused by Saudi aerial assaults. Ta’izz governor Ali al-Maamari said pro-Hadi forces captured areas in the western and southern suburbs of Ta'izz, including the al-Misrakh district. al-Qaeda-linked militants had kidnapped a number of Houthi fighters in Ta’izz.
Saudi-led helicopters attacked al Qaeda militants in Aden overnight killing at least 18 people we were told on Sunday March 13, 2016. The assault took place as Saudi-backed forces supporting President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fought to widen their control of Taiz in the southwest of Yemen after breaking a siege there on Friday. Apache helicopters from the Saudi-led coalition struck armored vehicles and a government compound used by the militants in al-Mansoura district, a stronghold in north Aden.
Two Emirati pilots have been killed after their fighter jet crashed in Yemen. The Mirage aircraft crashed at dawn due to a technical fault. Initially the United Arab Emirates reported one of its jets missing without giving details.
Dozens of people were killed when warplanes from the Saudi Arabia coalition bombed a restaurant and crowded market in northern Yemen shortly before noon on Tuesday March 15, 2016. An initial count turned up as many as 90 bodies making it among the deadliest airstrikes in Yemen’s yearlong civil war. The Saudi-led coalition has consistently denied that it targets civilians as it fights the Houthis. But in investigations of several bombings, journalists and human rights workers have turned up little evidence of any Houthi-affiliated military personnel or facilities near the site of the attacks. In the worst-hit provinces of northern Yemen, where cities and towns are cratered by frequent bombing, residents have accused the Saudi coalition of following a policy of collective punishment in areas under the Houthis’ control.
Three suspected Al-Qaeda militants on a motorbike were killed Wednesday March 16, 2016, as a bomb they were transporting exploded in the southern Yemeni city of Aden. The motorbike blew up in the Dar Saad neighbourhood of the city.
Saudi Arabia said Thursday March 17, 016, its military coalition will scale down operations in Yemen, an announcement that came as the death toll from an airstrike by the alliance on a market north of the Yemeni capital this week nearly doubled, reaching 119.
A U.N. official said 22 children were among those killed on Tuesday in the Hajja province, an area controlled by Yemen's Shiite rebels known as Houthis, the latest in a series of similar airstrikes that have killed hundreds of civilians since the Yemen war began.
The conflict pits the Shiite rebels and military units loyal to a former president against the internationally-recognized government, which is largely confined to the southern city of Aden. The fighting has killed more than 6,200 civilians, displaced millions and pushed the Arab world's poorest country to the brink of famine.
Saudi Arabia said Thursday March 17, 2016, its military coalition will scale down operations in Yemen. This announcement came as the death toll from an airstrike by the alliance on a market north of the Yemeni capital this week nearly doubled, reaching 119. 22 children were among those killed on Tuesday in the Hajja province.
35 fighters have been killed in clashes between Shiite rebels and pro-government forces in Taiz. Shiite rebels known as Houthis were trying to retake the western part of the city on Friday March 18, 2016, while a Saudi-led coalition launched more than a dozen airstrikes to prevent the Houthis from advancing.
At least four people have been killed in the latest Saudi artillery shelling on a residential area in the western city of Ta’izz. Meanwhile, Yemen’s Ansarullah forces have killed some 80 Saudi-backed militants during clashes in Ta’izz province.
A local photojournalist was killed and three other reporters were wounded by sniper fire in Taiz. Mohammed al-Yamani was shot in the head Monday March 21, 2016, while covering the fighting between Shiite Houthi rebels who have been besieging the city for a year and local fighters backed by the internationally-recognized government and a Saudi-led coalition. ---
The U.S. military conducted an airstrike Tuesday March 22, 2016, against an al-Qaida training camp in Yemen, causing dozens of casualties. The training camp was located in the mountains, and was being used by more than 70 terrorists belonging to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. The airstrike hit a former military base that had been taken over by al-Qaida militants about 75 kilometers west of Mukalla. Dozens of AQAP fighters have been killed –probably 40 between killed and wounded.
Yemen’s warring parties have agreed on a ceasefire from April 10, 2016, followed by peace talks, a U.N. envoy said March 23, raising hopes of a breakthrough in a conflict that has devastated the country.
Three suicide bombers struck security checkpoints in the southern Yemeni city of Aden on Friday March 25, 2016, killing at least 26 people. Dozens of people were also wounded in the attacks, for which Islamic State claimed responsibility and which coincided with the first anniversary of the start of civil war in Yemen. In one of the blasts, an ambulance laden with explosives was detonated as it arrived at a military checkpoint in the Buraiqa area in northwestern Aden, killing about 14 soldiers and civilians.
Drone attacks killed eight men suspected of belonging to al-Qaida in southern Yemen on Saturday night March 27, 2016, as a US campaign against the militant group goes on amid a wider civil war in the country. Two missiles hit the fighters who had gathered in courtyards in the villages of al-Hudhn and Naqeel al-Hayala. The group has carried out attacks against the Yemeni state for years, plotted to blow up US-bound airliners and claimed responsibility for the January 2015 attack in Paris on a French magazine that killed 12 people.
The Indian Catholic priest kidnapped by ISIS-linked terrorists in Yemen earlier this month was crucified on Good Friday March 25, 2016. Father Thomas Uzhunnalil, 56, was taken by Islamist gunmen, reportedly linked to ISIS, who attacked an old people's home in Aden, southern Yemen, killing at least 15 people, on March 4.
Air raids killed 14 men suspected of belonging to al Qaeda in southern Yemen on Sunday March 28, 2016. The air strikes took place as fresh signs emerged that tensions were easing between the Iran-allied Houthis who control most of northern Yemen and Saudi-led forces after a year of fighting that has killed more than 6,200 people.
US warplanes bombed on Monday March 28, 2016, several military camps controlled by Al Qaida militants outside Al Mukalla, the capital of south-eastern province of Hadramout. The air strikes targeted the headquarters of Brigade 27 near the city’s airport, an air defence camp and the house of the commander of the second Military Region. No information was available about deaths among the militants, but large flames were seen engulfing the targeted camps. The heavy air strikes triggered exodus as families escaped from their houses to safer areas in the city. There were three guards when the warplanes hit the camp. They all fled in panic. Now the camp is deserted. The air strikes damaged the camp’s toilets and another small building. The radar remained untouched.
Loyalist forces pushed Al-Qaeda out of parts of Aden on Wednesday March 30, 2016, in a new drive against the jihadists in Yemen’s second city where the internationally recognised government is based. Troops and militia retook the central prison and deployed on main roads across the Mansura residential district after a three-hour gunbattle with the jihadists. There was no immediate word on casualties.
Yemeni pro-government forces have carried out a series of raids against al-Qaida in the southern port city of Aden, arresting dozens of suspects and causing the militants to flee from key areas we were told Wednesday March 30, 2016. Southern fighters backing the government have set up checkpoints across the al-Mansoura neighborhood, a former militant stronghold. The raids are part of a campaign aimed at consolidating the internationally-recognized government's control over Aden.
At least four suspected al-Qaeda militants in southern Yemen were killed in a drone strike on Wednesday March 30, 2016, as unidentified warplanes bombed outposts held by the Islamist militant group further east. The four suspected militants were killed when a US drone fired on a checkpoint at the entrance of the city of Azan in southern Yemen.
Warplanes attacked an al Qaeda camp in southern Yemen on Sunday April 3, 2016, killing and wounding a number of militants. The aircraft launched four air strikes on militants of al Qaeda near the port city of Mukalla on Yemen's south coast. The planes were from a Saudi-led coalition.
Saudi-led coalition warplanes bombed and set ablaze an al Qaeda compound in southern Yemen on Monday April 4, 2016. Two planes launched rockets into an old office of the local government in Zinjibar, the Abyan provincial capital, setting the building on fire. An unknown number of al Qaeda militants were in the compound at the time and were believed to have been killed or wounded. Warplanes also launched four air strikes on an AQAP camp near the port city of Mukalla, killing and wounding a number of militants.
Yemen Wednesday April 5, 2016:
Suspected al Qaeda militants in southern Yemen seized and executed 17 soldiers loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi on Saturday April 9, 2016. The soldiers were detained while travelling from the southern port of Aden to al-Mahra province in eastern Yemen via Ahwar, a city in Abyan province under al Qaeda control. The militants took them to a remote area and killed them by firing squad. They said 17 other captive soldiers were wounded in the incident and some managed to escape and get help from local tribal leaders. Ansar al Sharia, an al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen, later issued a statement denying responsibility for the attack and blamed a local armed fighter named Ali Aqeel.
A shaky truce took hold in Yemen on Monday April 11, 2016, under a U.N.-backed effort to end a war that has made the country a front in Saudi Arabia's region wide rivalry with Iran and caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. The war-damaged capital Sanaa spent a quiet night but residents said fighting flared in the southwestern city of Taiz soon after the planned start of the cessation of hostilities at 2100 GMT on Sunday.
A suicide bomber killed at least four people Tuesday April 12, 2016, in the southern port city of Aden, as a cease-fire between pro-government forces and Houthi rebels stretched into a second day with some reports of fighting. The attacker detonated the explosives among a group of army recruits.
Yemen Thursday April 14, 2016:
Heavy rainfall in several parts of Yemen has caused widespread flooding that killed at least 16 people and caused the collapse of small dams, including two in Hajja and Omran provinces north of the capital we were told Thursday April 14, 2016. Damage to property was particularly heavy, with rushing muddy water cutting off roads and sweeping away cars and cattle. Unusually heavy rainfall over the past 24 hours has also hit Sanaa and the southern port of Aden.
A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden belt near a football stadium in Aden on Tuesday April 12, 2016, killing at least four people. Ten people were wounded in the attack, which appeared to target young army recruits waiting for buses outside a military checkpoint in the city’s north.
Pro-government forces expelled al-Qaida fighters from Huta, 30 kilometers north of Aden on Friday April 15, 2016. They also arrested 49 people suspected of being militants. A ceasefire has been in place in Yemen since last Sunday, although fighting is continuing in pockets across the country. At least 35 pro-government fighters were killed during the first three days of the truce.
Four Yemeni soldiers were killed and two others were wounded in a Sunday April 17, 2016, suicide attack on a checkpoint near the international airport in Aden. The suicide bomber driving a bomb-laden vehicle blew himself up upon arrival at a checkpoint near Aden airport. ---
Talks to end a civil war and Saudi-led intervention in Yemen will not begin on Monday April 18, 2016, as planned, the warring sides said as fighting persisted despite an announced ceasefire. Delegations representing Yemen's Houthi group and the party of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh -Saudi Arabia's main antagonists- have yet to head to Kuwait for the peace talks, citing heavy combat and Saudi-led air operations. The U.N.-brokered truce went into effect on April 11.
Four Yemeni soldiers were killed and two others were wounded Sunday April 17, 2016, in a suicide attack on a checkpoint near the international airport of Aden. A suicide bomber driving a bomb-laden vehicle blew himself up upon arrival at a checkpoint.
Peace talks aimed at ending Yemen’s civil war that were set to begin on Monday April 18, 2016, faltered before they could start, when delegates representing Yemen’s Houthi rebels refused to attend. The setback followed several aborted cease-fires and a previous round of failed negotiations to end Yemen’s 14-month conflict. The latest talks, in the Persian Gulf state of Kuwait, were supposed to bring together the Houthis and delegates from Yemen’s government, which was driven from power by the Houthis last year. More than 6,200 people have been killed, and most of the population requires some form of humanitarian assistance.
Police foiled two car bomb attacks in Aden early on Sunday April 17, 2016, a day before peace talks to end a year of war were due to start. Police at a checkpoint opened fire at a car traveling at high speed which then exploded, wounding at least five officers. One of the policemen later died in hospital. Officers also safely disarmed a booby-trapped car parked on a beach road near the airport in the northeastern part of the city.
On Tuesday April 19, 2016, the Shiite Houthi rebels have reversed course and will participate in U.N.-sponsored talks designed to end the war in Yemen. The Houthis have received assurances from Kuwait and neighboring Oman that there will be an end to violations of a weeklong cease-fire in Yemen by a Saudi-led coalition. Al-Mashat will head the Houthi delegation due to leave for Kuwait, the talks' venue, later on Wednesday. The Kuwait talks are aimed at finding ways to resolve the year-long conflict between Yemen's internationally recognized government, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, and the Houthis and their allies.
UN-backed peace talks between Yemen's warring sides began in Kuwait on Thursday evening April 21, 2016. The talks were originally slated to begin Monday but were delayed because of an earlier boycott by the Yemeni Shiite rebels, the Houthis and their allies. A total of 14 delegates from each side are reportedly taking part in the negotiations, which are being mediated by UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed. The envoy opened the talks in Kuwait, urging both sides to have "good intentions" and "make concessions".
Yemeni and Emirati troops advanced into the southern port city of Mukalla on Sunday April 24, 2016, entering a stronghold of al Qaeda's Yemeni wing for the first time in over a year of war. Fighter jets from the mostly Gulf Arab alliance pounded the city on Sunday and killed 30 militants. Mukalla has been the center of a rich mini-state that al Qaeda built up over the past year as it took control of an almost 600-km band of Arabian Sea coastline and pocketed customs revenues from the port.
Four people, including a child were killed by artillery shells launched on Saturday April 23, 2016, on al-Zaher district of Baidha province. The violations of the UN-sponsored ceasefire by the Saudi-led coalition are continuing. The Saudi war jets launched a series of air raids on al-Moton and Khab and al-Sha'af districts in Jawf province. ---
Yemeni government forces and allies from the United Arab Emirates took back control of Yemen’s largest oil export terminal from Al Qaeda on Monday April 25, 2016, a day after routing the militants from their nearby stronghold, the southern port city of Al Mukalla. 2,000 Yemeni and Emirati troops had advanced into Al Mukalla, taking control of its seaport and airport and setting up checkpoints throughout the city.
Yemen's warring factions agreed on an agenda on Tuesday April 26, 2016, for U.N.-backed peace negotiations following heavy pressure from world powers. The talks to end fighting between the Iran-allied Houthis and supporters of Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi were launched last week but were suspended on Sunday amid bickering about flights over Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition.
Three prominent leaders of the Yemen-based al-Qaida offshoot were killed Tuesday April 26, 2016, by a U.S. drone strike in the southern province of Abyan. Missiles were fired from a U.S. unmanned aircraft and targeted two cars carrying local commanders of the al-Qaida terrorist group near the town of Zinjibar, Abyan's provincial capital. The al-Qaida mid-level commander named as Abu Sameh and two other leaders were killed in the drone attack that destroyed their small vehicles.
A suicide car bomb exploded outside the home of the security chief Aden, Shelal Ali Shayyeh, on Thursday April 28, 2016, wounding at least two people. Guards fired at the attacker and the car he was driving exploded. The attack ends a period of relative calm.
Four people were killed and two others were injured on Thursday April 28, 2016, in airstrikes on a government building in the southern province of Hadhramaut. The strikes targeted a building used by al-Qaeda terrorists in eastern al-Mukalla, the provincial capital of Hadhramaut.
A suicide bomber targeted the police chief of Aden Thursday April 28, 2016. General Shallal Shayae escaped unharmed from the attack but one guard was wounded when the bomber blew up a vehicle packed with explosives.
Gunmen killed a colonel in Aden on Friday April 29, 2016, a day after the temporary capital’s police chief escaped a suicide bombing. The unidentified gunmen on a motorbike opened fire at the traffic police chief, Colonel Marwan Abdulalim, as he was in his car going to the weekly Friday prayers in central Aden.
Yemeni government forces backed by an Arab coalition seized an al-Qaeda training camp in the southeastern province of Hadramawt Saturday April 30, 2016, along with “large amounts” of weapons. At least 27 Yemeni soldiers died in the fight to retake Mukalla. And more than 800 militants were also killed.
The capture of the military camp comes as Yemen’s warring parties began face-to-face peace talks on Saturday April 30, 2016, on “key issues” in a bid to end the conflict in the impoverished Arab country.
Yemen's Houthi movement said on Saturday April 30, 2016, that its foe, Saudi Arabia, had handed over 40 prisoners as part of an agreement to quell border fighting.
U.N.-backed peace negotiations to end Yemen's civil war is creeping forward. The Iran-allied Houthis and Yemen's Saudi-backed exiled government are trying to broker a peace and ease a humanitarian crisis in the Arab world's poorest country where conflict has drawn in regional powers and killed at least 6,000 people. On Saturday April 30, 2016, a Houthi delegation in Kuwait, where the talks are being held, presented a plan to the United Nations for a transitional government to oversee a handing over of arms and freeing of political prisoners before elections. The Houthis have demanded the exclusion of Yemen's exiled president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, from a vote. Yemen's government want the Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh to hand over weapons and withdraw from cities captured last year before starting any dialogue.
The Yemeni government suspended direct peace talks to end the country's civil war on Sunday May 1, 2016, after the Houthi movement and its armed allies seized a military base north of the capital Sanaa. The Houthi assault killed several of the soldiers defending the Umaliqa base. Unlike most of Yemen's soldiers, those at Umaliqa had refused to take sides in the war between the Iran-allied Houthis and the Saudi-backed government. The Houthis had tolerated this neutrality until they launched a surprise push into the facility in Amran province and seized its large cache of weapons at dawn.
A car bomb in a central square in Aden on Sunday May 1, 2016, targeted the city's security chief for the second time in a week and killed four soldiers. The bomb exploded in front of the provincial government building and wounded eight people although security chief, Shelal Ali Shayyeh, was unharmed. A suicide car bomb planted outside Shayyeh's home on Thursday ended a period of relative calm in Aden. The attacks follow gains by Yemeni and Emirati forces based in Aden, who have mounted an offensive against al Qaeda militants in towns on the south coast. ---
A suicide bomber attacked the security chief's motorcade in Aden, killing five of his bodyguards. Shallal Shayei was unharmed in Sunday May1, 2016's attack, as was Aden governor Aidroos al-Zubaidi, who was travelling with him. A similar attack on the two was foiled on Monday, and on Thursday a suicide car bomber in women's clothes detonated explosives near Shayei's home, the third attack on his house since December.
Yemen’s government suspended on Sunday May 1, 2016, its participation in “direct” talks with rebels in protest at their takeover of a military base despite a ceasefire. But government representatives will remain in Kuwait where they will continue to take part in indirect talks through UN mediator Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
U.N.-backed peace talks to end Yemen's civil war resumed on Wednesday May 4, 2016, after they were suspended by the Yemeni government for three days in protest at a Houthi assault on a military base near the capital Sanaa.
Al-Qaida militants are pulling out of two coastal cities east of Aden following tribal-led negotiations we were told Thursday May 5, 2016. The pullout from Zinjibar and Jaar is expected to take less than a week. Al-Qaida had gained ground amid the chaos that has reigned in Yemen since 2014 with Yemen’s Shiite Houthi rebels fighting the internationally-backed government and its allies with the Saudi-led coalition.
On Friday May 6, 2016, we were told that the U.S. has quietly re-entered the ground war in Yemen after withdrawing more than a year ago, deploying a small team of troops to assist an Arab-led mission targeting the al-Qaida affiliate that had established a stronghold in the eastern part of the nation. Less than two weeks ago, a team of U.S. ground forces landed in Yemen to provide forces from the United Arab Emirates with intelligence, information from spy planes, advice and assistance on planning for operations, help with maritime security, medical support and aerial refueling. The Emiratis have led a coalition to retake the eastern port town of al-Mukalla from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, in recent weeks.
A Yemeni army colonel was gunned down in Aden on Saturday May 7, 2016. A gunman riding pillion on a motorcycle killed Colonel Badr Al Yafei in the city’s Khormaksar district, which houses diplomatic missions and the airport.
Five people were killed and 17 injured in a suicide bombing in Marib city on Friday May 6, 2016, while a prison chief and his bodyguard were shot dead in Aden. The bombing targeted a central market selling qat, when it was crowded with civilians.
Airstrikes by the Saudi-led, U.S.-backed coalition fighting in Yemen have killed at least 10 rebels. The Monday May 9, 2016, air raids hit a military camp in Amran province, also wounding more than 15 others. ---
A suicide bomber killed at least three people and wounded 12 on Wednesday May 11, 2016, in an attack on the convoy of a senior military commander who survived the assault. 8 people died in the attack near the city of al-Qatan at eight; 17 other people were wounded, including the commander of the First Military Region, General Abdul-Rahman al-Halili, who suffered minor injuries.
A suicide car bombing that struck a navy base in the southern port city of Mukalla on Thursday morning May 12, 2016, killed at least six troops in a rare IS attack in a city once occupied by its rival militant al-Qaida branch. The bomber rammed his car into a checkpoint manned by Yemeni troops outside the navy base, sending a plume of heavy black smoke into the sky.
Saudi warplanes have carried out fresh airstrikes on the northwestern province of Amran, killing and wounding more Yemeni people. On Wednesday May 11, 2016, Saudi jets killed at least two civilians and injured nine others in Jabal al-Aswad area in the Harf Sufyan district of the province. Meanwhile, Saudi troops targeted different areas in the west-central Ma'rib province with rockets and artillery shells.
A suicide bomber killed at least eight people and wounded 17, including a senior commander, when he rammed a car laden with explosives into a government military convoy travelling in eastern Yemen on Wednesday May 11, 2016. Six soldiers and two civilians died in the attack near the city of al-Qatan on the convoy of General Abdul-Rahman al-Halili, head of Yemen's First Military Region in north-eastern Yemen. Halili suffered medium injuries in the attack.
Islamic State in Yemen carried out a suicide bombing that killed ten soldiers in the provincial capital Mukalla on Thursday May 12, 2016. Islamic State said in an online statement that one of its members had blown himself up in a car near government troops. The ten soldiers have been killed at a naval camp near the port of Khalaf in Mukalla when a car exploded. About 15 soldiers were also wounded.
Yemeni talks progressed in Kuwait on Thursday and Friday (May 12 and 13, 2016) as negotiation committees met to continue discussions on the principles and mechanisms of different aspects of a potential agreement. Consultations in a general negotiation session on Friday between delegations representing warring parties in the country ended in Kuwait, during which both sides presented their evaluations on the work of specialised committees tasked with solving key issues in the conflict including security issues, political issues as well as prisoners kept by both sides. The consultations were held in the presence of United Nations Envoy Esmail Ould Cheikh Ahmad. Among issues discussed were the return of state institutions to the government, a resumption of political dialogue, military and security issues, as well as the release of half of the prisoners held by each side before the start of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, which is expected in the beginning of June.
Yemen’s Army carried out one ballistic missile attack against Saudi positions in the southwestern region of Jizan in retaliation for Riyadh's heavy bombing and violation of a ceasefire. On Saturday May 14, 2016, we were told that the Yemeni army fired a 'Qaher-1' ballistic missile late on Friday and hit the positions of the Saudi military in Jizan.
A suicide bomber on Sunday May 15, 2016, detonated his explosives among police officers standing in line outside a police base in the southern Yemeni city of Mukalla, killing 25 (or perhaps even 35). At least 17 more people were injured in the attack. The victims were officers returning to work for the first time since last month's recapture of Mukalla by forces of the internationally recognized government. The port city had been held for more than a year by Yemen's local al-Qaida affiliate. The victims also included young men applying for jobs with the city's local police. Sunday's blast came a week after the IS in Yemen claimed responsibility for an explosion that struck a navy base in Mukalla, killing at least six soldiers.
The Houthi Shia militia and their allies on Saturday May 14, 2016, shelled positions held by the Yemeni army and forces loyal to President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi in Yemen’s northern Al-Jawf province. Houthi shelling had targeted several parts of the province, killing two military personnel. ---
The Saudi-backed delegation in the peace talks on Yemen has withdrawn from the negotiations in Kuwait. On Tuesday May 17, 2016, they blamed Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement and allies of torpedoing the talks, saying they have backtracked on their commitments. This is the second time the delegation leaves the negotiations. A session scheduled to take place earlier in the day was cancelled after the Hadi delegation withdrew.
Yemeni troops killed 13 fighters in a raid outside the southern city of Mukalla. Special Forces and the army gained complete control over the site backed up by helicopters from the Arab coalition we were told on Sunday May 22, 2016.
Two bombings carried out by Islamic State militants killed at least 45 people in Yemen's southern city of Aden on Monday May 23, 2016, targeting young men seeking to join the army who gathered at two recruitment centers. One suicide car bomber killed at least 20, while a second bomber on foot detonated an explosives vest at the other recruitment center, killing at least 25. Scores of others were wounded.
A landslide caused by heavy rain has swept through a village in southwestern Yemen, killing at least 20 people we were told Monday May 23, 2016. Dozens of others were wounded and the death toll was likely to rise as rescue teams struggled to reach the village of Al Lassbah in a mountainous district of Taiz province. The area was hit by “heavy rain that caused a collapse of rocks on houses.
At least two people have been killed in an explosion near Sanaa University. An improvised explosive device went off on Tuesday May 24, 2016, also injured at least two people. The blast happened during an event commemorating the country's 1990 unification.
A suspected Saudi-led coalition airstrike that hit a family's house in southern Yemen has killed 11 people, including four children, from one family we were told Wednesday May 25, 2016. The warplanes, thought to be Emirati, fired two missiles at the family's house in the town of el-Mahala, in the southern province of Lahj. The house was flattened and only one child from the family survived the strike. The home is adjacent to a building that is suspected of housing Islamic militants.
A bomb at Sanaa University killed a gardener and wounded at least two students on Tuesday May 24, 2016, in a relatively rare attack on the Houthi-ruled Yemeni capital. The explosion appeared to have targeted an exhibition organised by the Houthi’s Ansarullah group, which controls most of northern Yemen.
Yemeni authorities on Saturday May 28, 2016, arrested seven Daesh suspects, including one “Westerner” in Mansoura” district, Aden. Among these were twin bombings claimed by Daesh that hit loyalist forces in Aden on Monday, killing at least 41 people.
At least 52 people have been killed and 25 injured in two days of fighting in central Yemen between rebels and forces loyal to the internationally recognized government. On Sunday May 29, 2016, government-allied forces have taken control of several areas previously controlled by the Houthis between the central provinces of Marib and Shabwa.
The U.S. military on Friday June 6, 2016, disclosed that it carried out an air strike in Yemen in May, killing four al Qaeda militants, and also revealed three other strikes that had not been previously reported. The announcement concerned strikes in Yemen that ranged from February to March and killed 11 al Qaeda militants. The total number of strikes carried out by the U.S. military in Yemen this year against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is now at nine. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, widely considered the most dangerous branch of the global militant group, took advantage of more than a year of war in Yemen to seize towns along a 600-km stretch of Arabian Sea coastline.
At least 17 civilians —including 10 women and one girl— were killed and dozens were wounded when rockets hit a busy market in the western city of Taiz on Friday June 3, 2016. The rockets were fired by Shiite rebels (Houthis), who are besieging the city. At least 30 people were wounded and the death toll was expected to rise. The market in the old city of Taiz is under the control of local resistance forces loyal to the internationally-recognized government, who are backed by a Saudi-led coalition. The city has been hard hit by fighting since coming under siege by the Houthis. The rockets also hit a bus station, and destroyed several houses. ---
Militants attacked the airport in Aden on Monday June 6, 2016, sparking a firefight in which at least one civilian was killed. Around 20 gunmen stormed the main entrance road to the airport in the city's Khormaksar district, demanding the release of a fellow militant of Western origin who was detained late last month. Airport guards repulsed the attack after a 90-minute gun battle. The civilian was killed by a stray bullet.
Eight civilians including five members of one family were killed in 24 hours of shelling by Iran-backed rebels on residential parts of Taez we were told Monday June 6, 2016. Three children were among those killed in clashes that have continued despite a ceasefire and peace talks in Kuwait between Houthi rebel and loyalist delegates. Another 13 civilians were wounded when the rebels fired mortar and artillery rounds into the residential areas. Rebel shelling of the besieged government garrison in Taez killed 11 civilians on Saturday, drawing condemnation from UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
A US drone attack killed two suspected Al Qaeda members in their vehicle on Saturday June 11, 2016, in Marib province east of the capital Sanaa. The two dead men are Gazwan al-Waili and Zubeir al-Sanaani and they were known for their links to Al Qaeda.
A U.S. drone has killed three alleged al-Qaida fighters in an airstrike in the central Shabwa province we were told Monday June 13, 2016. The overnight attack hit the men's vehicle as they were travelling near the town of Haban. Also in the onetime al-Qaida stronghold of Mukalla, on Yemen's southern coast, Emirati and other troops from the Saudi-led coalition conducted raids on homes seeking al-Qaida operatives. Some 150 were detained. Activists close to al-Qaida say the men were being tortured in prisons run by Emirati forces.
The pilot and copilot of a United Arab Emirates military helicopter have been killed after their aircraft crashed in Yemen. The chopper went down on Monday June 13, 2016, while taking part in the Saudi-led military operations. The crash took place in the southern port city of Aden.
The Saudi-led bombing campaign of Yemen appears to be crumbling following the publishing of a U.N. report holding the oil-rich kingdom culpable for the killing of civilians — the latest development being a possible withdrawal of Emirati troops from Saudi Arabia’s coalition. The Emirati said the UAE’s involvement in the war was finished after a helicopter crash on Monday June 13, 2016, killed the two Emirati crew members on board.
Houthi and pro-government forces exchanged nearly 200 prisoners in Taiz in central Yemen on Saturday June 18, 2016, the largest such swap to take place since the beginning of a civil war last year. The exchange of 118 Houthis and 76 pro-government fighters, will raise hopes that a ceasefire declared in April may be taking hold in Yemen's third largest city after repeated violations by both sides.
A ballistic missile fired early Tuesday June 21, 2016, towards the central Yemeni city of Marib has been intercepted by the Saudi-led military coalition. The missile was destroyed with no damage. Coalition air forces immediately responded by destroying the missile launching pad.
An airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition on Tuesday June 21, 2016, mistakenly killed eight civilians building a home in an area on the border between Yemen's southern provinces of Lahj and Taiz. The airstrike, which also wounded nine civilians, was called in by pro-government fighters who were locked in a fierce battle with Shiite rebels for control over a mountain overlooking a key military base that is home to forces from Yemen alongside allied troops from Sudan and the United Arab Emirates. Jalis Mountain was eventually captured by the Iranian-backed rebels, known as Houthis, after a three-day battle in which some 45 people were killed from both sides. The capture of the mountain places the Al-Anad air base, which once housed U.S. troops and Special Forces, within range of the rebels' artillery.
Yemen Wednesday June 22, 2016:
Saudi military aircraft have targeted Riyadh-sponsored militiamen loyal to resigned Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in the northern province of al-Jawf, killing and injuring scores of the mercenaries. The Saudi warplanes struck a four-vehicle convoy of the mercenaries on Friday June 24, 2016, as it was travelling along a road in the Saa'da district of the province. The Saudi-backed militiamen were planning to launch an offensive against Yemeni army forces and allied fighters from the Popular Committees in the al-Maton district in the next few days. Several members of the Salafist and al-Qaeda-affiliated Islah party were among the casualties. Later in the day, Saudi warplanes carried out a raft of sorties over Maghribia district in Yemen’s mountainous northwestern province of Sa’ada, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
Clashes in several areas across Yemen on Friday June 24, 2016, killed 22 Shiite rebels and 11 members of pro-government forces. Fierce battles erupted in the northern Jawf province when Huthi rebels attacked loyalists in al-Motoon district, triggering a counter attack by government forces backed by warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition. The fighting left 13 rebels dead, while eight loyalists were killed by mistake in an air strike that missed its target.
Yemen Friday June 24, 2016:
Yemen Saturday June 25, 2016:
Saudi-led airstrikes killed at least seven people in Yemen on Sunday June 26, 2016, as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew to Kuwait to try and galvanise peace talks on the conflict. Five citizens were killed in two air strikes in Khawlan district, southeast of the capital Sanaa. In southern Yemen two women died in an air strike on the home of a merchant in the Qubaita district, located between the Taiz and Lahej provinces.
At least 20 people were wounded in a motorbike bomb explosion in northwest Yemen on Saturday June 25, 2016. The bombing happened at a busy souk in the Hajjah province, a coastal area northwest of the country's capital, Sanaa. Six children and at least one woman were among the wounded.
A Saudi-led coalition air strike killed 10 Yemeni civilians and wounded at least another 15 in the southern province of Lahj on Tuesday June 28, 2016, a day after bombing attacks by Islamic State that killed 45 others. The air strike hit a village market for smuggled fuel in the Hayfan district, which lies near a frontline combat area for the pro-government forces fighting the Iran-allied Houthis. The attack comes a day after three Islamic State bombing attacks in the southern city of Mukalla targeted security forces who wrested the city from Al Qaeda control in April.
A wave of suicide bombings targeting Yemeni troops killed at least 42 people on Monday June 26, 2016, in the southeastern city of Mukalla.
In all, the attacks killed 40 soldiers as well as a woman and child passing by and wounded 37 other people. ---
On Thursday June 30, 2016, the UN special envoy for Yemen says the country’s warring sides have released more than 700 prisoners since the beginning of the peace talks aimed at ending the conflict gripping the impoverished state.
At least three suspected al-Qaida militants have been killed in a drone strike in southern Yemen. The militants were hit while traveling in an SUV in the province of Shabwa. Tribesmen put the death toll among the militants to six.
A suicide car bomber struck a military and security compound adjacent to the international airport in Aden on Wednesday July 6, 2016, killing at least 10 people and setting off clashes with soldiers. After the car bomb hit the Central Security headquarters, next to the Aden International Airport, militants stormed the compound and were clashing with soldiers. Explosions were heard and ambulance sirens wailed in the distance. The death toll was expected to rise.
A rocket fired by Iran-backed rebels on Tuesday July 5, 2016, killed seven children in a residential neighbourhood of Marib city, east of the capital. The rocket hit a courtyard where the children were playing. Two other rockets hit a house and a shop front, wounding 25 civilians including women and children. The Huthis launched the Katyusha rockets from Mount Haylan, 15 kilometres west of Marib. Marib city and the majority of the surrounding province are held by government forces who are fighting the Shiite rebels who control areas to the north and west of the oil-rich region.
Seven people were killed and over 20 sustained injuries in clashes between the army and militants reportedly aligned with Al-Qaeda on Wednesday July 6, 2016. Fighting broke out near a military base outside the city of Aden south in the country following a suicide attack.
Yemeni government forces, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, have recaptured a key military base in their temporary capital of Aden, after it was overrun by fighters. Reinforcements were rushed to the al-Solban base near Aden airport and succeeded in recapturing it on Wednesday July 6, 2016, hours after it was captured by suspected al-Qaeda fighters earlier in the day. Several jihadistes were killed in the fighting.
A suicide car bomber attacked a checkpoint near a military base in southern Yemen on Wednesday July 6, 2016, killing 25 soldiers. The attack in Aden left eight others injured. It targeted a checkpoint outside the Al Solban military base. After the bomb, a group of militants raided the base, leading to hours of clashes from within the facility. Dozens of rocket-propelled grenade rockets were launched at the base. The attackers were dressed as government soldiers, allowing them to seize control of a military building inside the base. The majority of the government troops were not inside the base at the time of the attack and were celebrating the Muslim Eid holiday with their families. Aden announced the closure of Aden International Airport after the attacks near the airport.
At least five citizens were killed on Friday July 8, 2016, and nine others were injured in two Saudi air raids targeted passengers cars in Harib al-Qaramish district of Mareb province. Most of the dead were women and children, who were travelling by a car on the public road in Bani Shuja’a area in the district. Five citizens were seriously injured while they were in another car in the same area bombed by the aggression warplanes.
A fire that broke out at a domestic gas storage facility in Yemen's Marib province on Thursday July 7, 2016, killed a worker and seriously injured four others. Firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze caused by an electrical fault which broke out close to Safer, an oil industry compound in Marib province. Marib has most of Yemen's oil and gas fields and has long been a battleground between factions. ---
More than two dozen Hadi loyalists were killed and scores of others injured during clashes with army troops and allied fighters in the western-central province of Amran. The clashes broke out during an army operation on Saturday July 9, 2016, to wrest control over the strategic Heed al-Zahab mountain in Farzah Nihm district of the province. Yemeni forces managed to seize the mountainous region following the intense fighting. At least 25 Saudi mercenaries, including a militant commander identified as Abdumohammad Bukhaiti, were killed during the fierce skirmishes, and tens of others sustained injuries. Separately, Yemeni army forces and Houthi Ansarullah fighters launched a ballistic missile at Shihat military camp in the northern province of al-Jawf on Sunday morning, leaving a large number of Saudi mercenaries dead and injured.
The US on Friday Jyly 8, 2016, carried out two strikes on Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula near Shabwah Governorate in central Yemen over the past week. Four Al-Qaeda operatives were killed in the strikes on July 1 and 4.
Yemen Sunday July 10, 2016:
At least four citizens were injured Sunday July 10, 2016, when a U.S. drone waged a raid on a farm of a citizen in southern Mareb city. The U.S. raid targeted the farm of the citizen Saeed al-Hajrah al-Khasha’a area southern the city of Mareb, which resulted in injuring four citizens and burning a patrol car.
The governor of Aden survived a suicide car bombing that struck his convoy on Friday July 15, 2016, in an attack they blamed on al-Qaeda. Aidarus al-Zubaidi escaped unharmed after the attack in the Inmaa district of Aden but three of his companions were wounded. Zubaidi's predecessor Jaafar Saad was killed in December in a car bomb claimed by the Islamic State group. In February suspected al-Qaeda militants opened fire on a convoy carrying Zubaidi and Aden's police chief General Shallal Shayae. Both escaped unharmed. Zubaidi and Shayae also survived a car bombing that targeted their convoy in Aden on 5 January, killing two of their bodyguards. ---
The governor of the southern Yemeni city of Aden survived a car bomb attack targeting his convoy on Friday July 15, 2016. A parked car detonated as Aidaroos al-Zubaidi and vehicles carrying his bodyguards and retinue drove in the Inma area. One soldier was injured.
Three Al-Qaeda suspects were killed in a drone strike in Yemen's south on Saturday July 16, 2016. The raid struck a vehicle carrying the suspected militants in Shabwa province killing all those on board.
Two car bombs went off near army checkpoints in Mukalla killing several security personnel (between 5 and 9) and wounding many more. The explosions on Monday morning July 18, 2016, targeted checkpoints in the east and west of the port city.
Yemen Monday July 18, 2016:
Yemen Sunday July 19, 2016:
The Saudi launched seven raids on Wadi Jarah in al-Khubah area in Jizan on Monday July 18, 2016.
A bomb killed four policemen on Wednesday July 20, 2016, in Aden. Another six officers were wounded in the blast. Al Qaida suspected operative standing near the checkpoint threw a bomb hidden inside a plastic bag.
Houthi forces Wednesday July 20, 2016, fired a ballistic missile on a Saudi border guards base in retaliation for airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition. The missile was fired late on Tuesday and hit the Saudi border guards base in Najran, a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia near the border with Yemen. ---
A grenade exploded on Friday July 22, 2016, outside a mosque in Yemen's capital Sanaa, controlled by the Iran-allied Houthi group as worshippers were leaving after midday prayers. There were no injuries or casualties.
A citizen was killed and two others were injured in an airstrike by Saudi war jets targeted their car in Kitaf district of Sa’ada province on Thursday July 21, 2016. The raid targeted a car on the public road in al-Mulail area of Kitaf district, which killed the driver and injured two women were aboard.
The army fired an Uragan missile Thursday July 21, 2016, on Jizan region. The missile accurately hit a Saudi army artillery site in Abu Madhi area and left huge damage to the enemy's ordnance.
Unidentified armed men have shot and killed a Muslim clergyman in Aden on a day which also featured fresh Saudi bombardments, leaving some people dead. Gumen, carrying firearms fitted with silencers, attacked Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Zuhri as he left al-Rahman Mosque after leading dawn prayers Saturday July 23, 2016. Sheikh Zuhri was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to his gunshot wounds. In the capital Sana'a, a grenade exploded outside a mosque as worshipers were leaving after midday prayers. There were no injuries or casualties and no group claimed responsibility for the explosion under a parked car by the Bilal mosque in western Sana'a.
Saudi-led coalition warplanes struck Al-Qaeda positions in southern Yemen Saturday July 23, 2016, killing several extremists, as government forces appeared set on a new offensive. Two airstrikes targeted Al-Qaeda militants gathered on the outskirts of Jaar town in Abyan province, killing and wounding several extremists. The raids came after several military meetings were held in Aden to discuss plans for a new operation against extremists in Abyan.
On Saturday July 23, 2016, twenty rebels have been killed in airstrikes by Saudi-led coalition warplanes on the Red Sea port city of Mocha. The airstrikes targeted a convoy of three military vehicles carrying Houthi fighters deployed along the battle fronts. A warehouse in the outskirts of the city, used by the rebels for storing weapons and fuel was also hit where a number of the militants were inside.
The army and popular committees forces destroyed a Saudi military armored vehicle in the west of al-Khadra site in Najran region on Sunday July 24, 2016. The Saudi armored was destroyed by using an improvised explosive device; all members of its crew were killed.
Yemen Monday July 25, 2016:
Wednesday July 27, 2016, a bomb explosion has ripped through an open market in the Yemeni city of Ma’rib, leaving seven people dead and 18 others injured.
Yemeni forces have clashed with Saudi-backed militants loyal to the former government in the Northern Province of Sana’a, killing over 50 of the mercenaries. The militants loyal to the former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, launched an offensive on Saturday August 6, 2016, to wrest control of Nihm district, east of the capital, Sana’a. However, Yemeni army forces and their allies thwarted the assault and killed 52 Saudi-backed mercenaries in the process.
At least 10 fighters from a pro-government militia have been killed when suspected al-Qaida militants targeted their convoy with two car bombs. The attack took place late on Sunday August 7, 2016, in the Yafea area in Lahj province, where Yemen's al-Qaida branch controls several areas, including a large base in which it has stockpiled heavy weapons looted from army depots elsewhere.
Suspected members of Al-Qaeda shot dead an army colonel in Yemen’s southern province of Abyan on Sunday August 7, 2016. The gunmen on a motorbike opened fire at Colonel Abdullah Shamba, killing him immediately before driving off. Shamba headed a local anti-Al-Qaeda militia in Abyan.
Late Saturday August 6, 2016, Saudi-led coalition jets attacked Al-Qaeda positions in Abyan’s provincial capital of Zinjibar and in the nearby town of Jaar.
A Saudi-led military coalition has conducted air strikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa for the first time in more than three months and locals said that 14 civilians were killed in a factory. The civilians were killed in a strike on a crisp factory in the Nahda district of the capital. The strikes also forced the suspension of flights into Sanaa International Airport for 72 hours from late on Monday August 8, 2016.
At least 10 fighters from a pro-government militia have been killed when suspected al-Qaida militants targeted their convoy with two car bombs. The attack took place late on Sunday August 7, 2016, in the Yafea area in Lahj province, where Yemen's al-Qaida branch controls several areas, including a large base in which it has stockpiled heavy weapons looted from army depots elsewhere.
Airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition bombed a food factory in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa early on Tuesday August 9, 2016, killing 14 civilians working on an overnight shift. Five women were among those killed. The fighting resumption comes after U.N. peace talks on Yemen collapsed over the weekend in Kuwait. Since the Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes against the Houthis, the war has claimed 9,000 lives, displaced some 2.4 million people and pushed the Arab world's already impoverished country to the verge of famine.
Saudi-led coalition warplanes launched fresh air strikes against Shiite rebels across Yemen Wednesday August 10, 2016, despite international concerns over the escalation after the suspension of peace talks. The coalition, which has been battling to prop up Yemen's government against the Huthis since March 2015, hit rebel positions across northern Yemen. ---
Saudi-led coalition jets bombed rebel positions in Yemen's capital Sanaa on Friday August 12, 2016, for a fourth consecutive day. Air strikes hit a presidential compound and military base in Sanaa and wounded six farmers on a road west of the capital. U.N.-backed talks concluded last Saturday with no agreement on how to end a civil war that has killed more than 10,000 civilians and caused a humanitarian crisis in the Arab world's poorest country.
On Friday August 12, 2016, we were told that at least 57 junior Al Qaida operatives have surrendered to local authorities in Yemen’s Hadramout province after a two-week amnesty period was offered to the militants. Authorities have also nabbed a ring of assassins linked to Al Qaida in Aden. The 57 militants are into police custody for interrogation.
Saturday August 13, 2016, at least 10 children were killed and 21 injured in northern Yemen by a Saudi-led airstrike on a school.
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At least 15 people were killed on Monday August 15, 2016, in northern Yemen when warplanes bombed a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders. The airstrike hit Abs Hospital in Yemen’s northern Hajjah Province, and three Yemeni staff members of Doctors Without Borders were among the dead; three foreign doctors at the hospital were also wounded, and that three other staff members had limbs amputated. The airstrike had destroyed the emergency department of Abs Hospital. The bombing came two days after Saudi airstrikes killed at least 19 people, mostly children, in a residential area and a school in northern Yemen. ---
Saudi-led coalition air strikes on a Yemen hospital killed six people on Monday August 15, 2016, less than two days after similar raids killed 10 children and sparked international concern. The Abs hospital in the rebel-held northwestern province of Hajja “was targeted by air strikes.
An Al Qaida suicide bomber killed four Yemeni soldiers (others were wounded) in an attack on Thursday August 18, 2016, in the southern Abyan province, where government forces have launched an anti-terror offensive. The attacker rammed his car into two military vehicles parked on a road linking the towns of Loder and Moudia in Abyan province. The bombing was a retaliation attack by Al Qaida after government troops recaptured parts of Abyan, including provincial capital Zinjibar.
An airstrike on a residential area near the Yemeni capital of Sana on Tuesday killed 17 civilians, most of them women and children. Warplanes from the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition fighting on behalf of the government against Houthi rebels had bombed a family home.
Doctors Without Borders calls for an independent investigation into Monday August 15, 2016’s strike on a hospital, which killed as many as 15 people. This was at least the fourth time U.S.-backed, Saudi-led airstrikes have hit a Doctors Without Borders-supported hospital in Yemen during the 17-month conflict. The group says it had provided the Saudi-led coalition with coordinates for all four of these hospitals, so they would not be struck.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has expressed "deep regret" over a decision by the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) medical aid group to evacuate its staff from the north of the country. MSF said on Thursday August 18, 2016, that it was pulling its staff from six hospitals in northern Yemen after a coalition air strike hit a health facility operated by the group, killing 19 people. Saudi Araba said that they appreciate the work the group is undertaking with the Yemeni people in these difficult circumstances.
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A school in the province of Taiz in the Yemeni highlands has been hit by a Saudi airstrike; no casualties have been reported. Saudi Arabia since its aggression which began in late 2015 has systematically targeted schools, hospitals, refugee camps and other civilian infrastructure. This air raid hit the al-Rawd school in the district of Dabab in western Ta’izz early on Monday August 22, 2016. ---
A police officer was gunned down in Aden city Monday August 22, 2016 in an attack claimed by ISIL group. Gunmen opened fire on the officer in northern Aden, killing him on the spot.
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At least 54 people were killed and 67 injured Monday August 29, 2016, in Yemen’s capital city when a suicide bomber detonated a car filled with explosives at an army training camp and local militia compound. The bomber entered the compound behind a truck bringing breakfast to the trainees.
On Monday August 29, 2016, five Saudi airstrikes have struck housing at the Sugar Refinery in the Houthi controlled city of Hudaydah on Yemen’s Red Sea coast. “8 people are dead or wounded.
Five Yemeni children have been killed and several others injured in Saudi Arabia’s latest attack. The children were killed on Monday August 29, 2016, as Saudi warplanes used clusters bombs in the Sahar district of the country’s northwestern province of Sa’ada. A woman was also killed as the kingdom’s jets pounded a residential area in the province. On Thursday, the UN human rights office stressed that using cluster bombs against residential areas in Yemen by the Saudi military is a violation of international law. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also called for the creation of an independent international body to investigate cases of human rights violations in conflict-ridden Yemen.
A U.S. drone strike in southern Yemen killed an al-Qaida suspect and wounded two more on Tuesday August 30, 2016. The strike hit a vehicle carrying the three jihadists in the eastern suburbs of Ataq, the capital of Shabwa province. On Wednesday, drone strikes killed seven al-Qaida suspects in south and east Yemen.
Airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition hit a house in Saada Wednesday August 31, 2016, killing at least 16 civilians. Security and medical officials in southern Yemen said that the death toll from Monday's suicide bombing by the Islamic State group in Aden had risen to 72, marking the deadliest attack on the southern city this year. ---
Airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition hit a house in the northern Yemeni city of Saada Wednesday August 31, 2016, killing at least 16 civilians. The death toll from Monday's suicide bombing by the Islamic State group in Aden had risen to 72, marking the deadliest attack on the southern city this year.
A total of nine members of one Yemeni family were killed on Friday September 2, 2016, in an airstrike on their home in northern Yemen's capital. The family, including four women and five children, were killed when a plane targeted their house at dawn in Marran area in Arhab suburb, some 50 km north of the capital Sanaa.
Three Yemeni soldiers were killed Saturday September 3, 2016, when a mine they had "dismantled" and taken away in their vehicle blew up as they stopped in a marketplace. Seven other people including three civilians were wounded in the blast in Huta, capital of the southern province of Lahj. The soldiers had "dismantled" the mine planted by suspected jihadists on a road on the edge of Huta and placed it in the back of their vehicle. The device exploded when they stopped at a market in the city.
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A U.S. drone has bombed a home in the central province of Marib, killing nine alleged al-Qaida fighters. The Monday September 5, 2016, attack took place in Marib's Wadi Obeida area.
At least nine civilians, including four children, were killed on Thursday September 8, 2016, in an air strike by the Saudi-led coalition on a residential building north of the Yemeni capital Sanaa. At least five other people were injured in the attack on the three-storey apartment building in the Amran provincial capital, Amran city, north of Sanaa.
At least 21 civilians were killed in two separate air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition in northern Yemen on Saturday September 10, 2016:
Ten soldiers were killed on Sunday September 11, 2016, in a suicide bombing in southern Yemen. A further 14 soldiers were wounded when the bomber drove an explosives-laden car into an army position in Abyan province.
The Houthi forces, backed by the Yemeni Republican Guard, continued their large-scale advance in the northern Yemen countryside, capturing several sites inside the Marib Governorate. The Houthi forces captured a number of military sites at the village of Al-Rabiah in the Sirwah District, killing 22 Hadi loyalists and wounding 34 other militants after a fierce battle. The Marib Governorate is considered one of 'Abd Rubbah Mansour Hadi's strongholds in northern Yemen.
An Arab coalition bombed a Yemeni industrial site in the capital Sanaa on Tuesday September 13, 2016, damaging what the Saudi-led alliance called a workshop making missile parts but which businessmen said were several plants making pipes and building materials. The strike caused a fire that destroyed half the premises and resulted in several million dollars’ worth of damage the Italian owner said.
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Houthi fighters and allied troops have captured a Saudi military post in the border region of Jizan. The Houthi rebels and their allies attacked the post with artillery, rockets and light arms before taking it over on Sunday September 11, 2016. A Saudi Arabia denied the Houthi claim as "lies," but a 15-minute video clip posted on social media networks and aired late Wednesday by the Houthis' al-Masirah TV purportedly shows the shelling of the hilltop post and the attacking force examining weapons and ammunition left behind by the Saudi soldiers who fled.
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An US drone strike in Yemen killed two suspected Al Qaeda members and caused a large explosion when munitions they were transporting blew up. Tuesday evening’s (September 20, 2016) strike hit the Wadi Abida district of Marib province, east of the capital Sanaa. The dead was Abu Yaqin Al Waeli, a local Al Qaeda commander.
An American English teacher in Yemen was detained in the capital on suspicions of espionage Tuesday September 20, 2016. Armed men in civilian clothing entered a school and forced the teacher in their car, while other faculty and students looked on
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On Tuesday September 27, 2016, Doctors Without Borders said its investigation into a deadly Saudi air raid on a hospital in Yemen’s northwestern province of Hajjah has found that the attack was unjust and violated International Humanitarian Law. MSF denounced the attack as "unjustified and unprovoked,” calling for measures “to ensure the safety of medical personnel, patients, assets and infrastructure” in the Saudi offensive. On August 15, at least 19 people were killed and 24 others sustained injuries after a Saudi aerial assault hit an MSF hospital in Hajjah’s Abs district. It was the fifth and deadliest attack on an MSF-supported facility in conflict-ridden Yemen.
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An American destroyer struck three sites in Yemen on Thursday October 13, 2016, hours after missiles targeted a US warship in the Red Sea for the second time in four days. The USS Mason was targeted late Wednesday by missiles from territory controlled by the Houthis. The same warship was targeted Sunday, when two missiles were launched within 60 minutes of each other, but in both incidents they missed the ship and landed in the water. The guided-missile destroyer was not damaged in either incident.
Friday October 14, 2016, an explosion has ripped through a funeral held for a top army commander at a marquee in Marib province east of the capital Sanaa, killing five people. Maj-Gen. Abdul-Rab al-Shadadi was killed last week while leading an offensive against Shiite Houthi rebels east of Sanaa. He was the most senior officer to be killed in Yemen's civil war this year. His brother, Salem al-Shadadi, was killed in Friday's blast.
The Houthi rebels released two U.S. citizens on Saturday October 15, 2016. They were freed as part of complicated diplomatic arrangement that included airlifts for Yemenis wounded by an airstrike this past week carried out by a Saudi-led coalition. Those individuals were taken to Oman for treatment.
A US warship has for the third time in a week, come under fire in the Red Sea from multiple cruise missiles fired off the coast of Yemen. The guided missile destroyer USS Mason has deployed electronic countermeasures to foil the attack and was not hit in Saturday October 17, 2016’s incident, the third such attack on US naval vessels in the area in the past week. The Houthi appears to use small skiffs as spotters to help direct the missile attack on the warship. The United States is also investigating the possibility that a radar station under Houthi control in Yemen might have also “painted” the USS Mason, something that would have helped the Houthi militants pass along coordinates for a strike.
The warring parties in Yemen have agreed to a 72-hour cease-fire which is to take effect shortly before midnight Wednesday October 19, 2016. The UN has received assurances from all Yemeni parties to cease hostilities at 11:59 p.m. Yemen time on October 19 for an initial period of 72 hours, subject to renewal. The warring factions had agreed to follow the terms and conditions of a temporary April cease-fire agreement. He expressed hope that the upcoming cease-fire would lead “to a permanent and lasting end to the conflict.” The agreement obliges all parties “to allow free and unhindered access for humanitarian supplies and personnel” to all parts of Yemen.
Clashes killed dozens of fighters across Yemen before an UN-brokered ceasefire was to begin Wednesday October 19, 2016. The truce is the sixth attempt to end the bloodshed since a Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in March 2015 to support the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi after rebels overran much of Yemen. Civilians have paid the highest price in a country that was already the Arabian peninsula's poorest.
A ceasefire has started in Yemen after warring parties agreed to hold a 72-hour truce. All parties to the conflict agreed to cease hostilities at 11:59 p.m. local time on Wednesday October 19, 2016, for an initial period of 72 hours that is subject to renewal.
Five senior commanders from Yemen’s Houthi militia movement, including a high rank officer loyal to deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh, were killed during clashes in Marib and Saada provinces on Wednesday October 19, 2016. Aqil al Dulaimi, Hisham al Dulaimi and Kamal al Dulaimi were killed while fighting the “National Army” and “Popular Resistance” forces in Serwah, West Marib. In addition, Abdul Latif Hatim, who is military commander from the special forces of Saleh, was also killed alongside Abu Ali Abdullah Mohammed al-Houthi, who is considered one of the field commander close to the Leader in Yemen’s Houthi rebel movement. Both were killed in clashes north east Saada. ---
Two militants associated with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) were killed in a strike on October 6, 2016, in a remote area of the Shabwa Governorate and six AQAP militants were killed in a strike on October 18 18, also in Shabwa.
Houthi rebels broke the ceasefire for the second day on Friday October 21, 2016, attacking pro-government forces in the city of Taez and in Marib province. The Houthis went on firing from east and west and were exploiting the ceasefire to bring reinforcements from the port of Hodeidah to Taez province and were preparing for battle after the 72-hour truce ended at midnight on Saturday.
Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition attacked targets in Sanaa at dawn on Sunday October 23, 2016, hours after a three-day truce in Yemen's war expired. The ceasefire, agreed to allow for an increased flow of humanitarian aid, ended without renewal after a day of heavy fighting between the Saudi-led Arab coalition and the Iran-allied Houthi movement. Each side accused the other of repeatedly violating the truce and U.N. attempts to extend it before it lapsed appeared to have failed.
The destroyer USS Nitze launched Tomahawk cruise missiles at three radar sites on Yemen's coast early Thursday October 20, 2016, as retaliation for this week's two missile attacks on U.S. ships. The sites were destroyed. The strikes were conducted in order to protect military personnel, ships and freedom of navigation after recent attacks against the U.S.
A three-day ceasefire ended Sunday October 23, 2016, and the U.S.-supported, Saudi-led coalition intervening in the Gulf nation's civil war promptly resumed airstrikes. Each side of the conflict blamed the other for breaking the peace, and United Nations efforts to prolong the ceasefire were unsuccessful. The brief truce did allow some humanitarian aid to enter the starving country, where nearly half a million children risk serious malnutrition.
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Unknown assailants who opened fire on a gas tanker October 25 off the coast of Yemen were also carrying a "substantial amount of explosives", the vessel's owner said on Thursday November 3, 2016. It may have been an attempted suicide attack. Initially the shipping group Teekay said its LNG (liquefied natural gas) tanker Galicia Spirit had "experienced a suspected piracy attack" but no one had managed to board it. In an update on Thursday, Teekay said it had now conducted an investigation with security experts. This indicated that "the skiff (small boat) that engaged in an attack on the Galicia Spirit using small arms was also carrying a substantial amount of explosives".
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An internal investigation committee said on Tuesday December 6, 2016, that the Saudi-led military coalition accidentally bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Yemen, which killed 19 people and forced the international group to pull out from northern Yemen. The coalition had received intelligence that rebel leaders were gathering north of the hospital. After bombing the site of the meeting, a warplane tracked a car that headed southward near the hospital. He said that the hospital building had no clear markings.
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Three Yemeni civilians were killed when a drone attacked four suspected al Qaeda militants traveling in a vehicle in the southern part of the country, residents and a local official said on Monday.
Residents said the attack in al-Saeed area of Shabwa province on Sunday afternoon was by a United States drone, part of a campaign by President Donald Trump's administration against Yemen's al Qaeda branch.
They said Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) was known to operate in the area and had been targeted by U.S. forces in recent months.
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- Suspected al Qaeda militants launched a car-bomb and gun attack on an army camp leaving at least 10 militants and two soldiers dead. The soldiers foiled the attack and managed to secure the camp; they are pursuing those who have escaped in nearby farms.
- The assault near the town of Baddah in oil-producing Hadramout province came after a lull in attacks by the Islamist militant group. Attackers set off two car bombs outside the camp. Residents said they also heard gunfire after two loud explosions.
- Dozens of people were killed in four days of deadly clashes between Yemeni government forces and Houthi rebels east of Sanaa.
- Government forces managed to capture a number of Houthi positions in Nahm directorate, 40 kilometers east of Sanaa.
- More than 3,000 landmines had been extracted from the area. More than 12 military vehicles had been destroyed by Saudi-led coalition planes during the fighting.
- A soldier was killed and two others were wounded in an attack by Al-Qaeda gunmen on our checkpoint near the Dowen military camp. Three of the assailants were shot dead and two injured in an exchange of gunfire that followed the attack in the southeastern province.
- Al-Qaeda extremists remain active in the vast region of Hadramawt, where a number of leaders of Yemen's Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) are based.
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A prominent commander of the armed forces loyal to the Saudi-backed Yemen Monday October 8, 2018:
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Two children were killed and eight critically wounded when an unexploded bomb went off at a school in the rebel-held Yemeni capital.
A child had found the bomb and brought it to Al-Fatah school in the Hamdan district of Sana’a to show friends.
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Seven children between the ages of 4 and 14 were killed in an attack on the Mawiyah district, in the southern Yemeni city of Taiz.
This attack brings to 27 the number of children killed and injured in a recent escalation of violence near Sanaa and in Taiz over the past 10 days. These are only the numbers that the United Nations has been able to confirm; actual numbers are likely to be even higher.
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