The Agonist - Arabia

Saudi jets 'attack Yemen rebels'

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:35:40 -0800

November 5

BBC - The Saudi air force has attacked rebels in northern Yemen following Wednesday's killing of a Saudi security officer in a border area, reports have said.

Saudi aircraft had targeted strongholds of the Houthi rebels on the Yemeni side of border, spokesmen for the group and Arab media said. A Saudi official told Reuters they had hit rebels occupying its territory.

The Houthis said on Wednesday that they had taken "full control" of a mountainous section of the border region of Jabal al-Dukhan. In a statement on its website on Wednesday, the group said Saudi warplanes and helicopters had dropped phosphorus bombs on its fighters in the areas of al-Malahaid, Jabal al-Mamdud, al-Husama and al-Mujdaa.On Thursday, rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdul Salam said the bombs had hit "crowded areas including a local market in the northern province of Saada".

In Yemen, War Centers on Authority, Not Terrain

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:55:10 -0700

Robert F Worth | Sana | Oct 25

NYT -

For almost seven weeks, Khasan Muhammad Abdullah and his family cowered in their house in northern Yemen while a war raged outside and their food slowly ran out. He could hear government fighter jets screaming across the sky, and he knew the Houthi rebels by their distinctive logos and headbands. But he could not understand what the two sides were fighting about.

Yemen has been fighting Houthi rebels in the north.

“What do they want, what are they thinking?” Mr. Abdullah said wearily, sitting on a friend’s floor here a week after escaping the war zone, along Yemen’s remote northwestern border with Saudi Arabia.

Those questions are being asked across the Arab world and beyond. More than two months of fierce fighting have left thousands dead. Whole villages have been pounded to rubble. The conflict has forced tens of thousands to flee their homes, fueling a humanitarian crisis and worsening the chaos that has already made Yemen a new haven for Al Qaeda and other militant groups.

Yet this mysterious war seems to have more to do with the crumbling authority of the Yemeni state than with any single cause. The Houthi rebels, after all, are a small group who have never issued any clear set of demands. They have been fighting the government on and off since 2004, and it is not clear why President Ali Abdullah Saleh decided in August to force an all-out war.

Many in Yemen’s own government say the conflict is less about controlling terrain — always a tenuous prospect in this tribally splintered country — than about Mr. Saleh’s struggle to reassert his military powers, in the face of widening insurgencies and intensifying political rivalry in the capital.

No way home: The tragedy of the Palestinian diaspora

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:41:08 -0700

Judith Miller & David Samuels | Oct 22

The Independent - You might think Palestinian refugees would be welcomed by their Arab neighbours, yet they are denied basic rights and citizenship

It is a cynical but time-honoured practice in Middle Eastern politics: the statesmen who decry the political and humanitarian crisis of the approximately 3.9 million Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in Gaza ignore the plight of an estimated 4.6 million Palestinians who live in Arab countries. For decades, Arab governments have justified their decision to maintain millions of stateless Palestinians as refugees in squalid camps as a means of applying pressure to Israel. The refugee problem will be solved, they say, when Israel agrees to let the Palestinians have their own state.

Yet in the two decades since the end of the Cold War, after two Gulf wars, and the rise and fall of the Oslo peace process, not a single Palestinian refugee has returned to Israel – and only a handful of ageing political functionaries have returned from neighbouring Arab countries to the West Bank and Gaza. Instead, failed peace plans and shifting political priorities have resulted in a second Palestinian "Nakba", or catastrophe – this one at hands of the Arab governments. "Marginalised, deprived of basic political and economic rights, trapped in the camps, bereft of realistic prospects, heavily armed and standing atop multiple fault lines," a report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) in Lebanon recently observed, "the refugee population constitutes a time bomb."

Fresh clashes claim more Yemeni lives

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:37:30 -0700

Saada, Yemen | October 17

PressTV - Military officials say an unspecified number of people have been killed in fresh fighting in northern Yemen, as the army continues its offensive against Houthi fighters.

"Ferocious battles broke out in the morning in the old quarters of the city of Saada, which left people dead," an unnamed military official told AFP.

Another official said fighters attacked throughout the night targeting positions they had lost in the northern mountains.

"Dozens were killed when the Yemeni army was trying to keep the rebels away from positions the army has captured in the past days," he said.

'Saudi forming militia to fight Houthis'

PressTV, October 11

The Houthi fighters say Saudi Arabia is recruiting gunmen to form a militia in a bid to help the Yemeni government's crackdown on the Houthis.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Shia fighters accused the Saudi Interior Ministry of planning to form the militia to fight them on both sides of the Saudi-Yemeni border.

It added that Saudi Arabia also dispatched a number of Wahabi clerics to mobilize al-Qaeda elements inside Yemen to help the army fight the Houthis in the Sa'ada region.

"The Saudi authorities have mobilized the remnants of the so-called Mujahideen forces to train Wahabi militants, who have already announced readiness to fight Houthis," read the statement

Saudi King leaves Damascus after "historic" two-day visit

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:03:19 -0700

Damascus | Oct 8

DPA - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz left Damascus Thursday ending his two day 'historic' visit to Syria, in which he held political and economic talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Saudi Arabia has called on Syria to take part in efforts to solve inter-Palestinian problems, support Iraq and Lebanon as well as cooperating to fight terrorism and extremism in the region, sources in the Saudi delegation told the German Press Agency dpa.

Abdullah arrived in Syria Wednesday, in a move hailed as a 'historical' and 'landmark shift' in diplomacy between the two countries.

Syria and Saudi Arabia are two of the Arab world's longest standing rivals, with the latter having close relations with the US and Damascus having been implacably opposed to Washington's influence in the region for decades.

Saudis ask for aid if world cuts dependence on oil

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:30:44 -0700

Michael Casey | Bangkok | Oct 8

AP - There are plenty of needy countries at the U.N. climate talks in Bangkok that make the case they need financial assistance to adapt to the impacts of global warming. Then there are the Saudis.

Saudi Arabia has led a quiet campaign during these and other negotiations -- demanding behind closed doors that oil-producing nations get special financial assistance if a new climate pact calls for substantial reductions in the use of fossil fuels.

just great, more bailing out of the rich and greedy :D

Iran sees U.S. role in researcher's disappearance

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:45:10 -0700

Tehran | Oct 8

Reuters - Iran accused the United States on Wednesday of involvement in the disappearance of a technology university researcher "rumored" to be involved in Tehran's nuclear program, Iranian media reported.

ISNA news agency referred to "some rumors that Shahram Amiri, who went missing during a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in June, was an employee of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization who wanted to seek asylum abroad.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki did not confirm that when he made the allegation against the United States, which suspects the Islamic Republic is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge.

"We have found documents that prove U.S. interference in the disappearance of the Iranian pilgrim Shahram Amiri in Saudi Arabia," he told reporters, according to the website of state Press TV, without giving details.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said, "We saw that wire story, and we looked into it.

"We just basically don't have any information on this individual," Kelly told reporters.

Government admits filming torture of Gitmo inmate, alleged 9/11 plotter

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 02:09:53 -0700

Stephen C. Webster | Oct 6

Raw Story - The United States government admitted on Monday that the torture of a Saudi man alleged to be part of the 9/11 plot was recorded on video, according to court documents procured by the Center for Constitutional Rights.

The tapes, allegedly showing the torture of Mohammed al Qahtani, 31, have long been kept under wraps, but a discovery motion for video of his interrogations led the court to acknowledge their existence and order their release.

"The videotapes the government is required to produce will reveal the time period at the end of three months of intensive solitary confinement and isolation that immediately preceded the implementation of the 'First Special Interrogation Plan,' a regime of systematic torture techniques approved by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for use against Mr. al Qahtani," claimed a CCR media advisory.

Lawyers with the Center for Constitutional Rights have represented Qahtani since 2005. The accused 9/11 plotter has been a Guantanamo inmate since 2002.

Yemen: The land with more guns than people

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 05:49:14 -0700

Jane Merrick & Kim Sengupta | Sept 20

The Independent - At least 150,000 people are displaced in Yemen by fighting between Shia rebels and Sunni government forces.

Entire villages of people in north Yemen are being forced to flee by bands of Shia rebels as a sharp escalation of violence in the region prompts warnings that the conflict could become as bitter as that in Darfur. Fighting in the unstable Arab country, where weapons outnumber people and 50 per cent are illiterate, has already displaced about 150,000 souls.

In the past month the conflict has worsened, leaving tens of thousands without access to water and sanitation.And in the past 48 hours, sources reported that two of the largest tribes have begun to polarise behind opposing sides, with one amassing behind the Yemeni president's "popular army" and another falling in behind the Shia rebels, known as al-Houthi. Aid agencies are concerned that a tribal element to the fighting could add immeasurably to its ferocity.

Yemen rebels warn of "long war" after offer rejected

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 06:29:40 -0700

Sanaa | Sept 2

Reuters - Yemeni Shi'ite rebels fighting in the north of the troubled Arabian Peninsula country warned of a "long war" on Wednesday after the government rejected a truce offer.

"Since the authorities have rejected the initiative, we remind them that they have lost a valuable opportunity," said a statement from the office of the opposition group's leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.

"From now on they will see the grave consequences of the war and we promise them major surprises and a long war of attrition, longer than they think and in which we shall be patient. We will stand up to their aggressions and tyranny."

The rebels of the Shi'ite Zaydi sect say they want more autonomy, including Zaydi schools in their area. They oppose the spread of Saudi-influenced Sunni fundamentalism and say they are defending their villages against government oppression.

NKorean arms headed to Iran seized in UAE

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:18:11 -0700

United Nations | Aug 29

AFP - The United Arab Emirates has seized a ship carrying North Korean weapons bound for Iran in violation of UN sanctions, a diplomatic source said Friday.

The diplomat, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said UAE government officials had informed the UN Security Council's sanctions committee, which is responsible for implementing sanctions on Pyongyang.

"It is an issue that is being processed by the committee," said the source, who declined further comment on details on the weapons.

The UAE mission to the United Nations also declined comment on the case.

The Financial Times reported earlier Friday that the ship was seized "some weeks ago," and identified some of the armaments as basic weaponry, including rocket-propelled grenades.

The arms had been falsely labeled as "machine parts," the Times reported.

Yemen announces truce conditions for rebels

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:55:56 -0700

Sanaa | Aug 13

Reuters - Yemen announced six conditions on Thursday for a ceasefire with Shi'ite rebels, days after government forces launched an offensive against them in the north of the poor Arab country.

The conditions for a ceasefire in the mountainous northern province of Saada include a rebel withdrawal, the removal of checkpoints they have set up and the clarification of the fate of kidnapped foreigners, the country's top security body said.

The conditions also require rebels to return captured military and civilian equipment, hand over those behind the June kidnapping of a group of nine foreigners and to refrain from intervening in local authority affairs, it said.

Authorities have accused the rebels, who belong to the Shi'ite Zaydi sect and are led by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, of being behind the abduction, a charge the rebels deny.

'Sex interview' shocks Saudi Arabia

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 15:30:24 -0700

AL Jaz - Authorities in Saudi Arabia have closed the Jeddah office of a Lebanon-based television network after it aired an interview with a Saudi man apparently discussing his sexual encounters... The controversy stems from a July 15 episode of LBC's "Ahmar Bilkhat al-Areed", or Bold Red Lines programme, in which a Saudi man spoke frankly about sex while the programme showed off erotic toys.

...Abdul-Jawad has been charged with publicising vice and lawyers say he may face the death penalty.

After some strides, change in Saudi Arabia stagnates

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 05:52:11 -0700

Dion Nissenbaum | Riyadh | July 29

McClatchy - Ahmed al Omran was among the first to proudly cast his vote in 2005 when Saudi Arabia held its first national elections for local councils, a political milestone that was hailed as a centerpiece of King Abdullah's push for modernization.

So when the Saudi king shelved plans two months ago for a second vote, al Omran was quick to criticize his government for backing away from its slow-motion embrace of Western democratic ideals.

"Delaying the elections is kind of disturbing at this point," said the 25-year-old university student behind Saudi Jeans, one of the country's more popular English language blogs.

"When you take a step backwards like that, you are losing the gains that you made with the first election," al Omran said. "Second, you raise questions about your commitment to reform."

Princess facing Saudi death penalty given secret UK asylum

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 06:04:57 -0700

Robert Verkaik | July 20

The Guardian - Woman feared she would be stoned after giving birth to an illegitimate child in Britain

A Saudi Arabian princess who had an illegitimate child with a British man has secretly been granted asylum in this country after she claimed she would face the death penalty if she were forced to return home. The young woman, who has been granted anonymity by the courts, won her claim for refugee status after telling a judge that her adulterous affair made her liable to death by stoning.

Her case is one of a small number of claims for asylum brought by citizens of Saudi Arabia which are not openly acknowledged by either government. British diplomats believe that to do so would in effect be to highlight the persecution of women in Saudi Arabia, which would be viewed as open criticism of the House of Saud and lead to embarrassing publicity for both governments.

The woman, who comes from a very wealthy Saudi family, says she met her English boyfriend – who is not a Muslim – during a visit to London. They struck up a relationship.

She became pregnant the following year and worried that her elderly husband – a member of the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia – had become suspicious of her behaviour, she persuaded him to let her visit the UK again to give birth in secret. She feared for her life if she returned to Saudi Arabia.

She persuaded the court that if she returned to the Gulf state she and her child would be subject to capital punishment under Sharia law – specifically flogging and stoning to death. She was also worried about the possibility of an honour killing.

Since she fled Saudi Arabia, her family and her husband's family have broken off contact with her.

The woman has been granted permanent leave to remain in the UK after the Immigration and Asylum tribunal allowed her appeal.

The Home Office yesterday declined to discuss the case. A spokesman for the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in London said that he would call back but subsequently became unavailable.

Relations between the UK and Saudi Arabia have been strained in recent years and were brought to a head in 2006 when Tony Blair intervened to end a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) inquiry into alleged kickbacks paid in a multibillion military aircraft deal between the two states.

The Saudi royal family was deeply concerned about the idea that the investigators might try o open up their Swiss bank accounts, it was alleged at the time.

This led the Saudis to threaten to restrict the sharing of intelligence relating to terror activity if the prosecution went ahead. They also threatened to pull out of other highly-lucrative arms deals.

Last year, the House of Lords ruled that the SFO's decision to drop the corruption investigation into the £43bn Saudi arms deal with BAE Systems was unlawful.

In a hard-hitting ruling, two High Court judges described the SFO's decision as "an outrage".

One of them, Lord Justice Moses, said the SFO and the Government had given into "blatant threats" that Saudi intelligence co-operation would end unless the probe into corruption was halted.

"No one, whether within this country or outside, is entitled to interfere with the course of our justice," he said. "It is the failure of government and the defendant to bear that essential principle in mind that justifies the intervention of this court."