Yemen's children: Between psychological trauma and physical starvation

As she has every night for many weeks past, six-year-old Fatima al-Khadi wakes up in the middle of the night calling for her parents.

And as in every one of those nights, the ever-present backdrop to her cries are sounds of explosions and the rumbles of firing guns, their shrieks engulfing Yemen's capital and Fatima's home.

The psychological effects of war on Fatima have been severe, her father tells The New Arab.

"We live by the city's international airport, which has come under severe and continuous bombardment since the Saudi-led coalition started targeting it," he said.

With airstrikes now a consistent feature of life both day and night in the capital, nightmares now puncture every one of Fatima's attempts to sleep at night.

Accounts of the physical and psychological trauma of children are flooding out of Yemen's regions as the now one-year-old war shows no real signs of abating.

Yemeni families find themselves unable to hide their children away from the violence that has taken over the country since the Saudi-led coalition began heavy aerial bombardments of Yemen in an attempt to drive away Houthi rebels from the capital city.

The impoverished nation of Yemen, a country of 26 million, which imports 90 percent of its food, had one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world before the war.

Meanwhile, in another Yemeni home, the skeletal body of a clearly malnourished five-month-old baby lay completely still.

Udai Faisal's limbs are as thin and delicate as twigs, his cheeks sunken in and his eyes dry.

At least six million children in Yemen are in danger [Getty]

"He didn't cry and there were no tears," his mother said, the baby just "turned stiff."

"I screamed and fainted." Intissar Hezzam said about the final momemts of her childs life.

The impoverished nation of Yemen, a country of 26 million, which imports 90 percent of its food, had one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world before the war.

But in the past year cases of malnutrition and starvation have leaped.

Ten of the country's 22 provinces are classified as one step away from famine.

The conflict is deepening poverty and deprivation, keeping children locked in a vicious cycle of violence, loss and uncertainty. - UNICEF

Where before the war around 690,000 children under five suffered moderate malnutrition, now the number is 1.3 million.

Even more alarming are the rates of severe acute malnutrition among children - the worst cases where the body starts to waste away - doubling from around 160,000 a year ago to 320,000 now, according to UNICEF estimates.

"The scale of suffering in the country is staggering," UNICEF said in its recent report released on Tuesday.

The violence "will have an impact for generations to come" it adds.

The report also found that if children survive the bombs and bullets, the impact of the violence remains detrimental.

"The conflict is deepening poverty and deprivation, keeping children locked in a vicious cycle of violence, loss and uncertainty," the UNICEF found.

With 50 percent of Yemen's population under 18-years of age, at least six million children are in danger.

"Living in violent environments, children experience what no child should witness. The destruction of their homes or the death of their parents, siblings or friends," UNICEF warned.

The fighting in Yemen has killed more than 900 children and wounded over 1,300, 61 percent of them in airstrikes, according to UNICEF.

Coalition airstrikes appear to be "responsible for twice as many casualties as all other forces put together." - Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein

Eight-year-old Asma al-Safyani used to play outside everyday with her friends from the neighbourhood. But since the start of the war, her mother does not let her leave the house.

"Two of the children she played with were killed in an airstrike," Asma's mother told The New Arab. "She has been very sad and she hardly smiles, but I just cannot take the risk."

Coalition airstrikes appear to be "responsible for twice as many casualties as all other forces put together," Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, UN's high commissioner for human rights said.

The Saudi-led coalition argues that Houthi rebels often use civilians and civilian locations as shields for their fighters.

It also disputes the UN figures on how many deaths are caused by strikes, saying they are based on statistics from the Houthis.

Yet, many of Yemen's children will carry these emotional burdens into adulthood - if they live to make it that far.

Agencies contributed to this report.

Yemeni official: Houthis recruiting African fighters

Staff writer, Al Arabiya News Channel
Monday, 29 February 2016

A top military Yemeni official said the Iran-backed Houthi militias and their ally’s forces have started recruiting “mercenaries,” coming mostly from African countries, Al Arabiya News Channel reported Monday.

Deputy Chief of Staff Gen. Nasir al-Tahiri said the move by the Houthis and forces allied to to the toppled Ali Abdullah Saleh was to buttress their weakening fronts at the capital Sanaa and the northwestern governorate of Saada.

Meanwhile, military sources said Saleh has ordered Republican Guards forces to withdraw from central al-Baydha, southwestern Ibb and Dhammar (west of al-Baydaha) to be consolidated in Sanaa as battles heat up.

It is not the first time that an abroad force is helping with the militias in Yemen.

Last week, the internationally recognized Yemeni government said it has evidence that the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah is backing the Houthi militia group.

President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s internationally recognized government has declared Aden the country’s provisional capital after the Houthis and their allies drove it out of Sanaa and much of northern Yemen since September 2014.

The rebels controlled Aden for months before government loyalists pushed them out in July.

Because of the unrest gripping Aden, Hadi himself and many senior officials in his government spend most of their time in Riyadh, which has led an anti-rebel coalition since March 26 last year.

Coalition retakes Yemeni islands from militias

Reuters, Dubai
Arab coalition forces have captured a Yemeni Red Sea archipelago used by Iran-allied Houthi militias for storing and smuggling weapons into Yemen, the Saudi-led alliance and local fishermen said on Thursday.

The Saudi-led coalition has been trying to dislodge the Houthis and forces loyal to their ally, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, from areas captured since September last year and to restore President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi to power.

The Houthis control most of the former north Yemen from Taiz in the south to Saada in the north, giving them control of Yemen’s Red Sea coast.

The coalition said its forces “cleansed Greater Hanish”, the biggest island in the archipelago in the Red Sea’s main shipping lanes, Saudi state television said.

The islands, it said, were controlled by Yemeni militias loyal to Saleh and used by the Houthis to store weapons and smuggle them into Hodeida, Yemen’s main Red Sea port.

The archipelago was the subject of a territorial dispute between Yemen and Eritrea, which seized the archipelago in the 1990s, until a London-based international arbitration court granted Yemen sovereignty in 1998.

ISIS militants kill two Yemen tribesmen

AFP, Aden
Militants have killed two members of an influential tribe in southeastern Yemen, tribal sources said Thursday, accusing the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group of carrying out the executions.

“Supporters of Daesh on Wednesday executed members of the Awlaki tribe after kidnapping them,” a senior tribesman told AFP, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

Another tribal source said Hashem and Ahmed Maklam al-Tunssi were killed in Seiyun, the second largest town in Hadramawt province, where Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has a significant presence.

The men belonged to the same tribe as U.S.-born radical cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki, who Washington alleges was a senior Al-Qaeda operative.

He was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011.

The pro-government “Popular Resistance” force in Hadramawt confirmed the deaths of the two men in a statement accusing ISIS of the killing.

The announcement comes a day after AQAP fighters drove pro-government forces out of a town in southern Yemen that could potentially open up a supply route between their stronghold of Mukalla, in Hadramawt, and second city Aden.

At least 15 people were killed when AQAP fighters swept into Jaar, in Abyan province, before appearing to withdraw from the town.

AQAP, which has taken advantage of fighting between loyalist and rebel forces across the country, took control Thursday of a checkpoint in Jaar leading to the town of Zinjibar, where the militants already control government buildings.

A Saudi-led coalition launched strikes on Iran-backed militias in March after the insurgents seized the capital Sanaa and swept south towards Aden, forcing the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee temporarily to Riyadh.

The United Nations says more than 5,700 people have been killed in Yemen since then, nearly half of them civilians.

Al-Qaeda in Yemen claims Charlie Hebdo attack

A top leader of Yemen's al-Qaeda branch has claimed responsibility for last week's attack on Paris satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo when two masked gunmen killed 12 people, including much of the weekly's editorial staff and two police officers. Nasr al-Ansi, a top commander of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP as the branch is known, appeared in an 11-minute video posted online on Wednesday, saying that the massacre at Charlie Hebdo was in "vengeance for the prophet". Al-Ansi said that France belongs to the "party of Satan" and warned of more "tragedies and terror". He said that Yemen's al-Qaeda branch "chose the target, laid out the plan and financed the operation". The paper had published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, which is considered an insult to Islam. "We, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, claim responsibility for this operation as vengeance for the messenger of Allah," Ansi said in the video entitled "A message regarding the blessed battle of Paris." AQAP was formed in January 2009 as a merger of the Yemeni and Saudi branches of al-Qaeda. Washington regards it as the network's most dangerous branch and has carried out a sustained drone war against its leaders. "The leadership of (AQAP) was the party that chose the target and plotted and financed the plan... It was following orders by our general chief Ayman al-Zawahiri," Ansi said. "The heroes were chosen and they answered the call," he said. Speaking over footage of the attack that killed 12 people, Ansi said: "Today, the mujahedeen avenge their revered prophet, and send the clearest message to everyone who would dare to attack Islamic sanctities." Ansi referenced a warning by the late chief of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, who was killed by US commandos in May 2011. "If the freedom of your speech is not restrained, then you should accept the freedom of our actions," he said. On Saturday, another senior AQAP member Harith al-Nadhari also claimed responsibility for the attack in an audio recording, saying the shooting was an operation to teach the French the limits of freedom of expression. Charlie Hebdo had angered Muslims in the past by printing cartoons lampooning Mohammed and Islam. Hollande's criticism On Wednesday, French President Francois Hollande said that his country must show great determination against armed groups. Hollande also criticised the international community for the slow response to the conflict in Syria, in a speech to troops aboard the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier. Al Ja "I continue to regret the fact that the international community did not act in the required time to stop massacres in Syria and prevent extremists from gaining even more ground," he said. The claim of responsibility by al-Qaeda coincided with thereturn of Charlie Hebdo to newsstands, amid unprecedented demand that saw the paper to print five million copies. The new issue features another cartoon of Prophet Muhammad on its cover, with tears in his eyes, holding a "Je Suis Charlie" sign under the headline "All is forgiven". AQAP has a record of launching attacks far from its base in Yemen, including a bid to blow up a US airliner over Michigan on Christmas Day in 2009. The group recently called for its supporters to carry out attacks in France, which is part of a US-led coalition conducting air strikes against fighters from the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

Source: Agencies

US hostage killed in Yemen raid

American hostage Luke Somers, who was held by al-Qaeda in Yemen, has died during a rescue operation in the southern province of Shabwa, a senior official in the president's office has said. Somers, 33, who was abducted in September 2013 while he worked as a freelance photojournalist forYemen Times, died from injuries sustained during the operation. US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel confirmed Somers' death and that of a non-US hostage, reported to be South African, saying they had been "murdered" by al-Qaeda during the rescue attempt. Hagel said there were "compelling reasons" to believe Somers' life was in danger before the rescue operation was launched. "Yesterday by the order of the president of the United States, US special operations forces conducted a mission in Yemen to rescue a US citizen Luke Somers and any other foreign nationals held hostage with him," Hagel said, speaking from Kabul. "There were compelling reasons to believe Somers' life was in imminent danger." The New York Times said Somers was shot at by his captors as the joint raid by US and Yemeni forces unfolded and was badly wounded when the commandos reached him. He died while being flown to a US naval base in the region, the paper reported. Yemeni journalist Nasser Arrabyee told Al Jazeera the fighters originally tried to escape with Somers. He was apparently shot after his captors found themselves surrounded.   At least ten al-Qaeda fighters were also killed in the raid. Somers appeared in a video released by al-Qaeda on Thursday in which he pleaded for help. His captors said in the same video that "he would meet his inevitable fate" unless the group's demands were met within three days. His sister, Lucy, was quoted by AP as saying that she was informed by the FBI of his death. “We ask that all of Luke’s family members be allowed to mourn in peace,” she said. The South African hostage who was killed in the failed raid was due to be released on Sunday, charity Gift of the Givers, the group that had been negotiating his release, said on Saturday. "We received with sadness the news that Pierre [Korkie] was killed in an attempt by American Special Forces, in the early hours of this morning, to free hostages in Yemen," the NGO said. "The psychological and emotional devastation to Yolande and her family will be compounded by the knowledge that Pierre was to be released by al-Qaeda tomorrow."

Dozens killed in fighting north of Sanaa

At least 50 people have been killed in fighting between Yemeni troops and Houthi rebels north of Sanaa, as supporters of the Shia group continue to rally against the government in the capital.

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Sanaa, said the deadly clashes have been ongoing in the province of Jawf over the last few days, in what is seen as a crucial fight for both groups.

At least 20 of those killed were from the army and armed pro-government groups, while 30 were from the Houthi side. 

Our correspondent said: "The fighting has intensified over the last few hours.... Both sides are trying to consolidate their presence near the capital Sanaa. Both are fighting to control a strategic junction on the main road that link the capital to Jawf and Maarib provinces."

"There was a truce earlier but suddenly it broke and the fighting resumed…There is loads of anxiety and a very charged political atmosphere in Sanaa."

Analysts said the rebels are trying to establish themselves as the dominant political force in the northern highlands, where Shia are the majority community.

'Psychological warfare'

Hundreds of thousands of people rallied in Sanaa on Friday in support of the beleaguered government, as a large number of its opponents held a counter-demonstration vowing to intensify their protests until the cabinet resigns.

The rebels called for further action against the government, who they accuse of corruption and whose resignation they have been demanding.

Protesters called for an escalation of the situation, and a senior member of the Houthis politburo called for "civil disobedience" and urged supporters to join in new protests on Sunday and Monday to keep up the pressure on the government.

As protesters step up pressure for the government to resign, Ahelbarra said that the Houthis and their supporters have threatened to block roads leading to the capital, and move closer to the airport.

"They are waging some sort of psychological warfare. It's quite tense tense here," he said.

Yemen has been locked in a protracted transition since long-time president Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced from power in February 2012 after a deadly 11-month uprising.

Strike hits Yemen ahead of national dialogue

Thousands of supporters of separtists in southern Yemen have rallied to protest against a national dialogue starting on Monday, demanding that their region be allowed to secede from the north.

Protesters carrying placards saying "No dialogue under occupation!, Independence is our choice!" demonstrated in the port city of Aden on Sunday evening, waving flags of the formerly independent South Yemen which was united with the north in 1990.

"We are here by the thousands to reject the dialogue as it is an issue of northerners and those southerners who are involved in it do not represent the people," Khaled Junaidi, an activist, told the AFP news agency.

Yemeni authorities deployed police to protect government buildings and foreign consulates in the city.

Activists said protesters also gathered in Moukalla, capital of the southeast Shabwa province.

The protests came after Aden was paralysed by a six-hour general strike staged by hardliners from the Southern Movement who are boycotting the UN-backed dialogue that is to begin in the capital Sanaa on Monday and will last for six months.

More than 500 Yemeni delegates are expected to attend that meeting. 

Calls for secession

Qassem Askar, a leader of a hardline faction in the Southern Movement said his group was mobilising the street to "express our rejection" of the talks.

"Several people have not been informed that they were appointed to represent southerners in the talks and some have withdrawn. Others representing southerners are of northern origins," he told AFP.

Anti-unity songs blared from loudspeakers in Aden as dozens of cars patrolled the city urging residents to participate in the rally on Sunday.

Several anti-dialogue slogans and calls for the secession of the south were smeared on walls of many buildings, in addition to the displaying of flags of the former South Yemen in parts of the city.

The dialogue aims to draft a new constitution and prepare for general elections in February 2014 after a two-year transition led by President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.

The dialogue should take place under a deal that eased former strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh out of office after an 11-month uprising against his 33-year rule.

Most factions have finally agreed to take part after months of negotiations and under UN pressure.

Major challenges

The Southern Movement, headed by Ali Salem al-Baid, South Yemen's former president, seeks independence or at least autonomy for the south.

"We refuse to participate in the dialogue which insults and betrays the programme of the southern revolt," said the head of the Southern Movement Council in Mualla, Hussein Zein.

After North and South Yemen united in 1990, the south broke away in 1994. The secession triggered a short-lived civil war that ended with the region being overrun by northern troops.

In 2007, the Southern Movement emerged as a social protest movement of retired officials and soldiers. But it has gradually grown more radical in its demands.

In addition to Baid's faction, the dialogue is boycotted by the head of the Southern Movement's Supreme Council Hassan Baoum, the most powerful faction of the alliance.

The National Council for the People of the South led by Haidar Abu Bakr al-Attas, who lives in exile in the United Arab Emirates, and the National Democratic Coalition led by Khaled Baharun and Abdulrahman al-Jisri, are also boycotting the talks.

In the far northern highlands, the Houthis - a movement seeking to revive Yemen's Zaidi Shia tradition - fought six wars against Saleh's troops between 2004 and 2010, and are spreading their influence from their base in Saada to neighbouring provinces.

The most powerful units in the army still appear to be split between loyalists of Saleh and his one-time ally and later rival, General Ali Mohssen.

Saleh himself is widely seen to be playing an obstructive role behind the scenes - so much so that he was singled out for a warning in a recent statement from the UN Security Council.

Yemen says seized ship carried rockets from Iran

A ship loaded with rockets and explosives which Yemen said it had intercepted last month came from Iran and the arms were destined for Shiite rebels, a security official said on Sunday.


Yemeni coast guard in coordination with the US navy last month intercepted the ship in the Arabian Sea, authorities have said."The boat was heading towards the (Red Sea) port of Al-Mukha" and the arms "were destined for the Huthi rebels in Saada," the northern stronghold of the Shiite fighters, the Yemeni security official told AFP.
The vessel "came from Iran and was carrying arms and explosives among them surface-to-air missiles SAM-2 and SAM-3," state news agency Saba reported on Sunday, adding that the crew of eight Yemeni nationals were being questioned.
The ship was stopped on January 23 in Yemeni territorial waters and flew several fake flags, authorities have said.
An offshoot of Shiite Islam, Zaidis are a minority in mainly Sunni Yemen but form the majority in the mountainous north.
From 2004 the Huthis fought six wars with central government forces before signing a truce in February 2010. The rebellion claimed thousands of lives.
The government accuses the rebels of being backed by Shiite-dominated Iran, charges which the Zaidis deny.

YEMEN COURT SENTENCES ALLEGED 5 AL-QAIDA MILITANTS

SANNA, Yemen (AP) -- 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 gave the defendants sentences ranging from four to 10 years. It was not immediately clear how many would serve the maximum sentence.

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.

Journalists were in the courtroom.

Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has ordered trials for dozens of al-Qaida suspects held without charges for over a year.

SENIOR YEMENI INTELLIGENCE OFFICER KILLED

Yemeni military officials say that a senior intelligence officer in southeastern Hadramawt province has been killed by two unknown assailants on a motorbike.

The officials said the attackers shot Brig. Gen. Ahmed Ba Ramada, deputy head of intelligence for Hadramawt, as he left his home Tuesday in Mukalla, the provincial capital.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief reporters.

Several senior Yemeni military and intelligence officials have been killed in the past few months. Officials believe al-Qaida is waging a retaliation campaign for a military offensive, backed by U.S. advisers, which pushed militants out of strongholds in several southern towns last summer.

The U.S. considers the local al-Qaida branch, which is also known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the world's most active.

AL-QAIDA'S NO. 2 IN YEMEN SAYS IN AUDIO HE'S ALIVE

CAIRO (AP) -- A man claiming to be al-Qaida's No. 2 in Yemen released an audio denying reports that he had died in a U.S. drone attack, as Yemeni officials said Monday that another top member of the terror network was killed in a drone strike earlier this month.

The authenticity of the clip, purportedly made by Saeed al-Shihri, could not be confirmed. It was produced by al-Qaida's media arm in Yemen, al-Malahem, and posted on militant websites late Sunday. When top members of al-Qaida are killed, the militants will frequently report their "martyrdom."

The U.S. does not usually comment on drone attacks.

In the audio message, a man claiming to be the Saudi-born al-Shihri, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Sufyan al-Azdi, denounced the Yemeni government for spreading the "rumor about my death ... as though the killing of the mujahideen (holy warriors) by America is a victory to Islam and Muslims."

Al-Shihri fought in Afghanistan and spent six years in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, before being released in 2007 and going through Saudi Arabia's famous "rehabilitation" institutes. He fled to Yemen and became deputy to Nasser al-Wahishi, the leader of the group known also as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

Yemeni officials had claimed that al-Shihri and six others traveling with him died in a Sep. 10 strike on their vehicle. The missile was believed to have been fired by a U.S.-operated, unmanned drone aircraft.

But shortly after the announcement, the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat quoted an unnamed senior Yemeni defense ministry official as saying that DNA tests of the body have proved that the dead man was not al-Shihri.

In the audio, the man claiming to be al-Shihri lashed out at an August Islamic summit held in Saudi Arabia that focused on Syria's civil war, saying it failed to help the Syrian people.

He said the summit was "attended by the evil leaders of the Islamic governments, at the forefront Iranian President (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad, the most evil person on earth." Many Sunni militants see the uprising against Syria's President Bashar Assad, an ally of Shiite Iran, as a holy war.

The audio also alluded to a U.S-produced anti-Islam film that gained prominence in mid-September - after al-Shihri's reported death - and sparked protests across the Muslim world.

Meanwhile, a Yemeni Defense Ministry official said another top al-Qaida member died in an Oct. 4 drone strike.

He said that Adel al-Abbab, ranking fourth in the network's leadership, was among five whom Yemeni officials had earlier said were hit while they were traveling in two cars through the southern province of Shabwa. Yemen's media, quoting relatives of al-Abbab, confirmed his death and said he had been buried in Shabwa.

All officials spoke anonymously according to regulations.

Al-Qaida seized several southern Yemeni towns during the chaos of last year's popular uprising, but was driven from them by the army in a summer offensive into nearby mountains and desert. They have retaliated with bombings and assassinations of Yemeni officials in the capital Sanaa and elsewhere.

Washington considers the Yemen branch of al-Qaida to be the world's most dangerous offshoot of the terror network, and has sent advisors to Yemen to assist the government in its campaign.

Qaeda car bombing kills nine Yemeni soldiers: military

Al-Qaeda militants set off an explosives-laden car inside an army base in southern Yemen at dawn on Friday, killing at least nine soldiers, military officials said.

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, one official told AFP.

“Four members of Al-Qaeda with explosive belts... travelling in a military vehicle managed to pass through several army checkpoints to reach the camp” at Shaqra, 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the Abyan capital Zinjibar, another said.

“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, killing seven soldiers,” said the official.

The army killed two of the militants who got out of the vehicle, while the other assailant managed to escape on foot, according to the officials, who added that a search was launched.

The attack came 24 hours after rockets fired from a drone near the southern city of Jaar killed at least seven suspected members of the terror network, including a local leader, an official in the restive region said.

Officials say Al-Qaeda militants have been trying to position themselves near Yemen’s main southern cities to carry out operations against the army and the Popular Resistance Committees, local pro-army militias.

In May, the army launched an all out offensive against Al-Qaeda in Abyan province, forcing them to retreat from major strongholds including Jaar and Abyan’s capital Zinjibar.

The campaign was backed by U.S. drones which in recent months have been deployed in strikes against Al-Qaeda targets in the south and east of the country.

Thursday’s strike was the second such drone attack this month.

On October 4, a drone blasted two cars carrying suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen in the southern province of Shabwa, killing five of them.

Al-Qaeda took advantage of the weakness of Yemen’s central government in an uprising last year against now ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh, seizing large swathes of territory across the south.

But after the month-long offensive, most militants fled to the more lawless desert regions of the east.

Though weakened, the militants still launch hit-and-run attacks on government and civilian targets throughout the country.

Four members of former Yemen president’s party killed in ambush

Armed men killed four members of the political party of Yemen’s ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh in an ambush outside Sana’a on Friday night, the party said.

General People’s Congress officials were travelling on the road to Maareb province when attacked, the party’s website said. Eight were wounded.

It was not clear if the group was targeted because of its party affiliation and a tribal source in al-Jawf where some of the men worked said it could have been a tribal vendetta.

Saleh was forced to step down as president in February after a year-long uprising. Restoring stability in Yemen has become an international priority for fear that Islamist militants will further entrench themselves in a country neighboring top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and lying on major world shipping lanes.

Saleh was succeeded by his deputy Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has U.S. backing for a transition process that aims to balance the interests of groups including a Shiite Islamist movement in north Yemen, southern secessionists and tribal and Sunni Islamist groups which benefitted under Saleh’s rule.

Saleh, who ruled for 33 years, remains head of the GPC which retains half the seats in a transitional cabinet.

Yemen minister survives car bomb, 7 guards killed: officials

A car bomb exploded on Tuesday near Yemen's government headquarters in central Sanaa, a day after troops killed a top Al-Qaeda operative, state news agency Saba said.

Yemen's Defence Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed survived the attack which targeted his convoy near the government headquarters, but seven guards were killed, a security official said.

"The defence minister was the target," said the official, adding that the blast took place near the car carrying guards, killing seven of them.

Smoke billowed from the area of the explosion sealed off by police while ambulances rushed to the scene which hosts several government departments as well as security headquarters, witnesses said.

Earlier witnesses said the car bomb exploded near Yemen's security headquarters in Sanaa, in an attack that came a day after the second in command of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Seed al-Shehri was killed in an army raid.

Yemen army says four suspected militants have been killed

Four suspected Islamist militants have been killed in a gunfight with Yemen’s army and allied tribal fighters in the impoverished country’s turbulent south, which has become al-Qaeda’s most formidable base, a local official said on Saturday.

Up to 50 militant fighters were battling government forces and their tribal allies near the town of Jaar, which the army recaptured in June after a 15 month occupation by Ansar al-Shariah.

The Islamist movement seized control of large swathes of southern Yemen during the turmoil caused by mass anti-government protests last year and gave shelter to al-Qaeda, flying the international militant group's flag in captured towns.

The United States has used unmanned drones to target the al-Qaeda group in Yemen, which has planned attacks on international targets including airliners and is described by Washington as the movement's most dangerous wing.

The local government official said the fighting continued late on Saturday.

On Friday, gunmen suspected of belonging to al-Qaeda had attempted to assassinate the commander of one of the tribal militias fighting alongside government forces in the south.

Tribes opposed to Ansar al-Shariah and al-Qaeda had played an important role in regaining control of Jaar and other southern towns during the summer.

Abdul Latif al-Sayed, a commander with the Popular Committees, survived the ambush on a road in Abyan Province but one of his bodyguards was killed, said another local official.

The attack was the fourth assassination attempt Sayed has survived, including a suicide bombing at a funeral last month that killed two of his brothers and 43 other people.

“The army, police and tribal fighters chased the gunmen who fled into one of the rugged valleys nearby where there were clashes between the two sides,” said the south Yemen government official, who declined to be named.

Mass anti-government protests erupted early last year, causing fighting between tribes and different factions of the army, before former President Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down in February to allow a transition towards democracy.

Aid groups have warned of a major humanitarian crisis in the Arabian Peninsula state, where half the population lives under the poverty line.

As well as fighting the insurgency by Islamists in Abyan, the government also faces conflict with southern secessionists and with the Houthi group of Zaidi Shiite Muslims in north Yemen.

Yemen presidential advisor says survives attack

An advisor to Yemen’s president said he survived an apparent assassination attempt on Monday when armed men opened fire on a car carrying him in Sanaa.

The impoverished Arabian Peninsula state has been in turmoil since an uprising last year which eventually forced veteran ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down in February.

“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,” Yassin Said Noman told Reuters.

Islamist militants gained ground during the unrest, that was inspired by revolts across the Arab world, taking control of some towns in south Yemen.

The army, with backing from the United States, has forced them out of some areas this year but they have hit back with a series of suicide bombings targeting government institutions.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is based in Yemen and has also attempted to stage operations in neighboring Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Noman is head of Yemeni Socialist Party and one of three advisors to President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who succeeded Saleh.

The minister of transport, another socialist party official, escaped an assassination attempt on Saturday in the southern port city Aden.

Militants attack Yemen intelligence HQ, killing 14

Yemeni security officials say suspected al-Qaida militants have attacked an intelligence headquarters in the country's south, killing fourteen people.

The officials say 11 soldiers and three intelligence officials were killed when militants armed with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades opened fire on the building in the port city of Aden on Saturday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Six people were wounded, including three employees of the state-run radio and TV station in the adjacent building.

In the attack on Saturday, witnesses said militants had fired rocket-propelled grenades at the intelligence service's three-storey building, setting it on fire and shattering its windows.

“The operation seemed to have been well planned,” a local security source told Reuters news agency, adding he believed the attackers belonged to al Qaeda.
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The militants had stopped their vehicle in front of an adjacent television building, blown up a military vehicle, and then opened fire on the intelligence building before fleeing, he added.

In 2010, al-Qaida launched a deadly attack on the same intelligence building.

The group is active in Yemen and had overrun parts of the south during the country's political turmoil last year.

Suspected militants have carried out a series of deadly suicide bombings on high-profile military and security targets since June, attacking a police academy in Sanaa, assassinating the commander of the southern region, and trying to kill the commander of a tribal force allied with the army.

Washington has responded by stepping up its drone strikes on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which was behind several failed attacks on the United States, including an attempt to blow up an airliner over Detroit in December 2009.

Yemeni abductor frees Italian embassy guard

An Italian embassy security agent kidnapped in Yemen over the weekend was freed Thursday in the province of Mareb east of the capital Sanaa, a tribal source and a local official said.

Alessandro Spadotto was released following “tribal mediation” and handed over to local authorities, the source told AFP. He will be driven to the Yemeni capital on Friday morning.

The tribal mediation was backed by the governor of the province, the source said. A local official confirmed the release to AFP.

The interior ministry had said the kidnapper from the al-Jalal tribe seized the 29-year-old in Sanaa to press the authorities to drop charges against him in “cases of murder and banditry” and offer him compensation.

Marebpress, an Internet site close to Yemeni tribes, had said the abductor Ali Naser Huraidkan also wanted the authorities lift a travel ban against him.

“We want the state to respond and cancel a circular banning me from travel,” he was quoted as saying.

According to Italy’s La Stampa newspaper, Spadotto managed to contact a member of his family by mobile text message following his abduction on Sunday.

Italian news agency ANSA had cited officials as saying that he was a member of Italy’s Carabinieri military police. It also said he was picked up while in civilian clothes in a shop near the embassy.

Foreigners are frequently kidnapped in Yemen by armed tribesmen, who use them as bargaining chips with the authorities.

More than 200 people have been abducted in Yemen over the past 15 years. The majority have been freed alive and well.

A French staffer with the International Committee of the Red Cross who was kidnapped in April in the northern port city of Hudaida was released last month unharmed.

But a Swiss woman and a Saudi diplomat kidnapped by al-Qaeda militants in March remain hostages.

Yemeni gunmen vacate Interior Ministry after protest

Yemeni tribesmen agreed on Monday to vacate the Interior Ministry after storming it the day before in a protest for jobs, an official said - an incident that highlighted the ongoing turmoil in a country where al- Qaeda militancy has alarmed world powers.

In a further sign of instability in the Arabian Peninsula country, a security official survived an assassination attempt when a bomb placed under his vehicle was detonated remotely in the southern port city of Aden.

Yemen is struggling to establish order following the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in February after a year of protests against his rule.

An Interior Ministry source said it had persuaded the 100 tribesmen, seen as loyal to former President Saleh, to vacate the ministry, in the capital, Sanaa. The tribesmen were demanding to be enlisted in the police force.

“The president (Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi) formed a committee to negotiate,” the source said.

“They were persuaded to end the occupation in return for a promise to respond to their demands.”

In Aden, Colonel Taha Hussein al-Sobaihi was rushed to hospital after the failed assassination - the second attempt on his life in one year.

Yemeni authorities were also hunting the abductors of an Italian embassy security officer, a member of the Carabinieri police, kidnapped near his embassy in Sanaa on Sunday.

In March, the Saudi deputy consul in Aden, Abdallah al-Khalidi, was kidnapped by a-lQaeda-linked militants who demanded the release of women detainees from Saudi prisons.

During the uprising that toppled Saleh, militants associated with al-Qaeda strengthened their position in areas of south and east Yemen, further testing central government control in a country riven with tribalism and regionalism.

Tribesmen often kidnap foreigners and bomb oil and gas pipelines as a way to press demands on authorities.

Yemen delivered its first oil shipment from the Maarib pipeline to its Aden refinery on Monday, after a nine-month halt caused by tribal attacks that left Yemen relying on imports and Saudi fuel donations, a refinery official told Reuters.

Yemen’s location next to leading oil exporter Saudi Arabia and astride key world shipping routes has heightened regional and Western concern over the security situation.

The disorder has alarmed the United States, a backer of Saleh who has sought to ensure that his successor makes fighting al-Qaeda his priority.

Yemen now ranks alongside Pakistan and Afghanistan for U.S. policymakers concerned with the spread of al-Qaeda networks.