War and Conflict Journal

 Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the North African branch of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terrorist group, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of two Italians on December 18 in Mauritania, according to the Al-Arabiya TV channel, which is based in Dubai.

The abductions of the Italians are similar to the way three Spaniards were seized  in late November, 2009   by al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb.

 Over the past two year,  al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb claimed a series of attacks in Mauritania, including the assassination in late 2007 of four French citizens in Aleg (about 150 miles east of the capital of Nouakchott) and an American in June in Nouakchott.

Attempt to Bomb Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day, 2009

Northwest Airlines Flight 253 After Attempted Terrorist Attack

The Islamist terror network al-Qaida apparantly made an attempt to attack the United States on Christmas Day, 2009. A Nigerian man named Abdul Mudallab attempted to ignite an explosive device onboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 as it neared the airport in Detroit, Michigan on December 25, 2009. Early reports indicate Mudallab claimed a connection to al-Qaida, though later reports say he denied any such connection.

Reports indicate that Mudallab, an an engineering student at University College of London, took a flight from Nigeria to the Netherlands, where he then boarded the American plane on a route to Detroit. About 20 minutes from the Detroit airport, fellow passengers smelled smoke, and noticed that Mudallab was attempting to ignite something. A passenger jumped on Mudallab, and apparently interrupted an attempt to cause a mid-air explosion. The suspect was seen with burns to his legs, and the passenger who jumped on him also is reported to have suffered burns.

Airport and airlines security worldwide was tightened in response to this attack. U.S. officials are treating this incident as an attempted terrorist attack.

Links and Resources:

 http://www.historyguy.com/airplane_attempted_bombing_christmasday_2009.htm

Jet passengers overpowered would-be bomber–LA Times, Dec. 25, 2009

Statement by Department of Homeland Security Press Secretary Sara Kuban–Dept. of Homeland Security Press Release, Dec. 25, 2009

Saudi Arabia and Yemen are two arabic speaking Sunni
Muslim-majority nations on the Arabian penisula with a
long history of hostility toward each other. However,
both nations are battling al-Qaida rebels, and both have
concerns about the growing influence of Shiite-majority
Iran and its growing influence in the Arab world. Yemen
has battled a local Shiite insurgency (called the Houthi
Rebellion or the Saadah Insurgency), in the northernmost
region of the country near the Saudi border.

As the Shiite rebellion in Yemen grew, and appeared to
be receiving aid from Saudi Arabia’s rival, Iran, the
Saudis in turn aided the Yemeni government. The Yemeni
rebels launched an incursion into Saudi Arabia in early
November, and a Saudi soldier was killed by the so-called
al-Houthi rebels along the border on Novermber 4, 2009,
and on November 6, Saudi forces openly intervened in the
Yemeni war with air strikes near the border and artillery
fire on rebel positions inside Yemen.

Saudi officials reported that as of Nov. 8, Saudi
military casualties included three killed, 15 wounded,
and four missing. Saudi Arabia claimed to have regained
control Saudi territory seized by the Yemeni rebels the
week before. Smoke from airstrikes rose above the Jebel
al-Dukhan, a 6,600-foot tall mountain on the border
between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, near the town of
Al-Khubah.

video of a Saudi
warplane over Yemen border

 Web and News
Links on the Saudi-Yemen Border Wars:

http://www.historyguy.com/Saudi_Yemen_Border_Conflict_2009.htm

Saudi and Yemen battle Zaidi rebels–AFP, Nov. 8, 2009

Saudi Arabia says regains area seized by Yemen
rebels–Reuters, Nov. 8, 2009

Saudi
Forces Bomb Yemeni Rebels on Southern Border –Wall
Street Journal, Nov. 7, 2009 

Houthis
Capture Saudi Soldiers, Saudi Bombing Yemen for Third
Day–Nov. 6, 2009

CIA
Factbook on Country or
conflict
–Click
on the country name (Yemen) at this site.

Security
Incidents in Yemen, 1998–From
the Al-bab website.

Tiny
Voices Defy Child Marriage in
Yemen–June
29, 2008

Massive
protest in south Yemen–by
Jane Novak, for the Long War Journal, May 27,
2008

Yemen’s
Intifada–by
Jane Novak, for the Long War Journal, January 2,
2008

The Sa’dah insurgency in northern Yemen began in June of 2004 with a rebellion led by the Shiite cleric Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, head of the Shi‘a Zaidiyyah sect. Most of the fighting has taken place in Sa’dah Governorate (province) in northwesternmost Yemen.

In November of 2009, the Sa’ada insurgency took on an alarming new dimension, as Saudi Arabia openly intervened to aid the Yemeni government with air strikes and artillery barrages on the Shiite rebels.  Analysts see the Saudi participation partly as a pre-emptive strike to prevent the war from actually spreading into Saudi territory, but also as a move against Iran, which is believed to be aiding the rebels. Saudi Arabia and Iran have engaged in a long-running proxy conflict in the Gulf region, in the Iraqi civil war, and also in Lebanon, where Iran backs Hezbollah, and the Saudis support the Lebanese government.

Of interest is the fact that Saudi Arabia is aiding Yemen at all, given the fact they have a long history of dislike toward each other,  but the mutual threat from both Iran and al-Qaida (and their mutual alliance with the U.S.) appears to trump past history.

See also:

http://www.historyguy.com/Saudi_Yemen_Conflict.html

http://www.historyguy.com/yemen_saada_war.htm

George Stanley McChrystal (b. August, 14, 1954)
General Stanley A. McChrystal is an American army general who was named the commander of allied forces in Afghanistan, and assumed command of those forces in May of 2009.
General McChrystal is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. McChyrstal is a Green Beret and an Army Ranger, as well as a veteran commander in Special Operations, also known as “Black Ops.”
McChrystal served in Afghanistan as chief of staff of the military operations in 2001 and 2002. He also commanded the 75th Ranger Regiment and served tours in Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf War in 1991.
Forces under General McChrystal’s command found and captured Saddam Hussein and with tracking and killing Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Mesopotamia (al-Qaida in Iraq).
General McChrystal replaced General David McKiernan…

http://www.historyguy.com/biofiles/mcchrystal_stanley_general.htm

American Special Forces attacked vehicles in Somalia carrying members of al-Qaida’s Somalia and Kenya branch on September 14, 2009. The dead included Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, wanted for the 2002 car bombing of a beach resort in Kenya and an attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner. He was a leader of the local al-Qaida branch. Nabhan was a 30-year old Kenyan who is suspected of being behind the 2002 attacks in Kenya ttargeting Israelis. Ten Kenyans and three Israelis died in the bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa. Ground-to-air missiles were fired at the Israeli airliner as it took off from the city’s airport but missed the jet. Nabhan is believed to be one of those who fired a missile. He later escaped in Somalia, which is a largly lawless nation with a strong al-Qaida presence.

Previous American attacks on al-Qaida in Somalia involved missile attacks which were relatively imprecise, and created casualties among Somali civilians. This attack was carried out by helicopters which fired on the vehicles. Witnesses reported that after the helicopter attack concluded, American troops rappelled to the ground, collected the dead and wounded, and flew off. One Somali official said that the attack produced five dead.

The last confirmed American troop presence in Somalia was in 1993, during the Battle of Mogadishu. When Ethiopia invaded Somali in 2005 and 2006, some reports indicated that small numbers of U.S. troops accompanied the Ethiopians, searching for al-Qaida leaders.

See http://www.historyguy.com/special_forces_attack_al-qaida_somalia.htm

An American drone attack apparently killed 80 people in Pakistan’s turbulent and rebellious border country, but the chief target, Jihadist leader Baitullah Mehsud, escaped.

The drone attack struck a funeral held for a Taliban leader killed in an earlier drone strike that same day.  The drone strikes today were the 19^th and 20^th drone attacks since Barack Obama took office in January.  There were only 24 known American drone attacks in Pakistan during the Bush Administration, spanning the years 2004 through January 1, 2009.

Recent drone attacks seem to be targeting Baitullah Mehsud’s organization, which is central to the Taliban rebellion against the Pakistani government.

Strike Reportedly Missed Chief of Pakistani Taliban by Hours—NYTimes, June 24, 2009

Drone attacks on Pakistan by the United States—Wikipedia Article

Nine foreign hostages were found dead in Yemen, near the Sa’dah region of northwestern Yemen.  The obvious suspects are the al-Houthi Shiite rebels who live and fight in that region, but they deny any involvement in the deaths a British engineer, his South Korean wife, a German doctor, his wife and their three children, and two other German women, believed to be nurses. The dead foreigners all worked in a hospital in Sa’dah, and worked for a Baptist Mission.  If that denial is true, then another suspect group, one which the Yemen government may prefer to blame, is al-Qaida’s local wing, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).  The long-running fear among Western governments and analysts is that al-Qaida may be setting up shop in chaotic Yemen. 

Kidnapping is a common occurrence in Yemen, especially of foreigners, who may be worth some ransom money.  Killing those hostages is not common, due to the aforementioned financial value inherent in healthy, breathing captives.  This tends to make the possibility of the murderers being regular Yemeni rebels or entrepreneurs more remote.

The Yemeni government, embattled in the north by the al-Houthis, and facing a possible new front in the south around the port city of Aden with a new effort by southerners to secede, may welcome the chance to gain more Western aid if a threat by al-Qaida is seen.  The bodies were found in the el-Nashour area, which is slightly to the east of the Sa’dah areas where the al-Houthis are fighting.  Al-Qaida is known to have a base in the el-Nashour area.

Sources and Information:

3 foreign hostages found dead in Yemen, LA Times, June 15, 2009

British engineer among nine foreigners feared murdered in Yemen—Telegraph.co.uk, June 15, 2009

Hostages in Yemen Found Dead??!! Update: Six Alive??!!—-Armies of Liberation, June 15, 2009

Sa’dah al-Houthi Rebellion in Yemen (2004-Present)–www.historyguy.com

The Threat to Yemen: al-Qaida and the Perils of More War in Yemen

Yemen, that oddly-shaped nation on the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is one of the world’s poorest nations with a very uneducated, illiterate population.  It is also a hotbed of violence, tribalism, insurgencies and protests against the weak central government, along with a history of civil war and conflicts among Yemen’s very different regions.  Most men in the rural mountains and deserts own guns, know how to use them, consider kidnapping foreigners a fun and profitable way to pass the time, and they don’t like their alleged central government telling them what to do.

Oh, and to top off the list of unfortunate things about Yemen, it is the traditional homeland of the bin Laden family, (yes, THAT bin Laden family!), and, according to U.S. military and intelligence sources, it is turning into a possible new safe haven for al-Qaida fighters and leaders as they look for a more out-fo-the-way place to lead their Jihad from.  Yemen gained notice in the U.S. in 2000 with the al-Qaida attack on the American warship, the USS Cole. The U.S. did not publicly respond to that attack, but after the al-Qaida attacks of September 11, 2001, Yemen sided with the United States, and began dealing with its own militant problem with American aid.  The U.S. also conducted Predator drone strikes against Jihadist/al-Qaida targets in Yemen, most likely with the knowledge of the Yemeni government.

In 2004, the Sa’dah Insurgency began in the northwestern tip of Yemen, with the Islamic cleric Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, the leader of the Shiite  Zaidiyyah sect, launched an uprising against the Yemeni government. The Yemeni government also has problems in the south of the country, (which used to be the independent and avowedly Marxist/Socialist People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen).  Southern Yemen is making noises about seceding from the northern-dominated government, and some analysts and commentators (http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=35108&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=7&cHash=cf625c5341) claim that al-Qaida is getting involved in the southern protests and violence against the government.

So, why should the U.S. or any other Western nation care?  Look at the map of where Yemen lies.

Map of Yemen and Surrounding Region

Yemen is next to Saudi Arabia, and across the Bab al Mandeb (narrow straits separating Arabia from Africa) lies Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Somalia.  Most of the Somali pirate action is in the Gulf of Aden, which lies between southern Yemen and Somalia. A LOT of the world’s oil supply travels through those waters, and a seriously unstable Yemen on the scale of pre-2001 Afghanistan or the present-day Somalia is bad news for Saudi Arabia and Western interests.

The potential for a new Yemeni North/South War (past North/South conflicts erupted in 1972, 1979, and 1994) is serious and could spell trouble for the whole region.  This bears watching…

 Some websites and blogs of interest regarding Yemen:

Waq al-Waq

Jane Novak’s Yemen Articles

Wars of Yemen (1914-Present)

New page on the war between the Pakistani government and the Taliban rebels.

“Throughout late 2008 and into the spring of 2009, the Taliban continued to make advances further into Pakistan itself. In April, the Taliban expanded out of the Swat Valley into the Buner region, a mere 60 miles from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. The Pakistani military responded with attacks on the Taliban advance elements, and by early May, the Swat Valley truce seemed to be in tatters as combat escalated.”

See more at:  http://historyguy.com/taliban_war_in_pakistan.htm