The Empty Quarter

All so young.

Traveled to the U.S. with his mother in 1995. Recruited by an ‘Amr Muhsen Hassan al-Mahfli al-Raimi. He was previously wanted and was included in Yemen’s 161 most wanted list…

Al-Ayyam is reporting on the name confusion of the suicide bomber that killed four Korean tourists and their Yemeni guide last Sunday. Apparently, the bomber had a fake I.D. on him…

Yemen’s top terror buster, Interior Minister Mutahar Rashad al-Masri has publicly denounce Yemeni judges for being lenient on terrorists. It should be noted that the call for harsher punishment comes after a judge ordered investigation of the treatment of members of an accused al-Qaeda cell who complained of torture by security agencies…

The United Jewish Communities is working with the US State Department, local federations and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to implement the evacuation and help finance the $800,000 expense of absorbing the 110 Yemenite Jews, who represent more than a third of the roughly 280-strong community…

This Korean news report has a pretty cool computer generated re-enactment of of the bombing. You get a really good idea of how it was carried out…

Sixteen suspected members of an Al-Qaeda cell on trial in Yemen said they have started a hunger strike in protest at being tortured and refused to talk at a court hearing on Tuesday…

UPDATED

HEAVILY UPDATED: Another suicide bomber has struck in Yemen near Sana’a airport. This time, it appears that the Korean delegation headed by the korean ambassador was the target. The bomber blew himself up as the delegation convoy passed en route to the airport. Apparently, a car window was smashed but nobody was injured…

Korean news has been running video of the bombing site in Shibam, Hadramout. It is somewhat gruesome, as it shows a burned blood-stained spot – but not too bad. The report also shows victims returning to South Korea…

A security source at the Ministry of Interior has told al-Hayat that Yemeni security forces are tracking 50 Saudis spread throughout Yemen. The source told the paper that the names will be submitted to Interpol…

Strange that the name changed. Perhaps the ID card found was not that of the bomber. It is also unclear whether this article is saying the bomber was a Somali immigrant or Yemeni…

UPDATED: He asked to pose with the Koreans before blasting his body parts over a kilometer away. A witness at the scene says that the boy, who was high on qat, was with an older man in his 40s. News Yemen has also published the names of the victims…

The U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan is in Sana’a where he met with President Saleh over the fate of Yemen’s Guantanamo detainees. Thus far, Yemeni press has reported the meeting as part of a “continuing dialogue” on the matter, although the reality of the U.S. position – the hesitancy to repatriate many Yemeni detainees – has now come out…

UPDATED: The bombing that killed four South Korean tourists and a Yemeni guide in south-eastern Yemen on Sunday was a suicide attack by a young al-Qaeda operative, security sources said on Monday…

News reports have it that the U.S. is considering releasing Yemeni detainees at Gitmo to Saudi Arabia instead of Yemen. Although not here, I have argued in the past that this is most likely what the U.S. would end up doing with that class of prisoners it doesn’t want to see returned into Yemen’s general population right away – which will be ALL returnees to Yemen…

Security forces captured Saudi national Abdullah al-Harbi, named on the lists of Saudi Arabia’s 85 and Yemen’s 116 most wanted, in the governorate of Taiz on Sunday, March 15. Over the past few days a number of al-Qaeda operatives apparently surrendered to security forces in Abyan as well…

UPDATED: What seems to be known: Four South Korean tourists, two men and two women, were killed after a bombing incident around sunset Sunday evening in the area of Shibam in the governorate of Hadhramout. Information beyond those details seems to be mixed between reports…

In Yemen’s region of Marib, capital of the mythical kingdom of the Queen of Sheba, the followers of Al-Qaeda might well outnumber tourists these days…

The Yemeni government are taking precautionary measures to confront any Israeli attempt to transfer the remaining Yemen Jews to Israel, in particular after one of the Yemeni-Jewish family was transferred to Israel last month, sources reported to Nabanews…

The strike is entering into its second day. Ten people were arrested in Aden for inciting a strike and disrupting the public interest. The leader of the movement called for their release and denied reports that an agreement with the government has been reached…

Yemen’s Ministry of Interior released the names and pictures of the country’s 116 most wanted. The ministry has asked for increased vigilance and caution in the capture of those on the list…

Al-Watan’s sources expect the announcement to include at least ten new ministers to take positions in the ministries of education, local government, transport, health, industry, sports, social affairs and endowments, the civil service and interior…

Al-Houthi gave a statement warning the government that ” If you plan a new attack, your loss and defeat will be much greater than ever.” He criticized American forces in the Gulf and Red Sea, saying that the “fleets do not scare us, and we are prepared for confrontation at home and abroad”…

UPDATED: The international community should work with Yemen to stop its people supplying Somali pirates who are disrupting lucrative international shipping routes, a senior U.S. admiral said on Monday…

Sort of. We have confirmation that a mediation effort has taken place – although no report of success like in the Yemen Online article. Sort of. We have confirmation that a mediation effort has taken place – although no report of success like in the Yemen Online article…

…The EU ambassadors have affirmed their understanding of the decision of the two-year extension of the parliament term and postponement of the elections. They also affirmed their countries continuation in supporting the approach of democracy and success of its course as well as the support for all economic and political aspects of it…

Saudi authorities say they have broken up four big drug smuggling operations and arrested 35 suspected drug dealers. Security forces seized more than 1,760kg of cannabis resin and more than 3m amphetamine tablets in raids across the country, officials said…

Yemen Online is saying that mediation has succeeded in ending the clashes that were reported yesterday. I am still looking for confirmation of this…

The report indicates a lack of accord among the parties which sought to cast doubt from the onset about the impartiality and independence of the Supreme Commission for Elections and Referenda (SCER) given the process by which it was established and the composition of its members…

The al-Houthi’s have taken control of a mountain and battled with security forces for 20 hours…it seems to me this may now be the sixth outbreak in everything but name only…

The source says the government is considering the ban on Mawlid celebrations “in order to preserve the safety and lives of the people in the areas within the governorate of Sa’dah”…

Asharq al-Awsat has put together a good update on the current status of the child marriage debate in Yemen. MP Abdul Bari Dogheish, a GPC representative from Dar Sa’d, Aden, says he thinks it is unlikely that the law will be revisited…

UPDATED: Speaking with his students at al-Iman University, the famous sheikh said that the international court’s decision to arrest al-Bashir was an international plot to colonize the Sudan for its oil reserves in the Darfur region…

There has been a lot of talk in the Yemeni press the last month, and on other blogs the last few days, discussing the possibility of another conflict in Sa’dah…the sixth, but whose counting. Not to disappoint, I’m going to add my two rial and tell you why I think the current crosswinds are right for another flare up..

An official source at the General Secretariat of the General People’s Congress GPC on Wednesday expressed surprise over a statement made by deputy spokesman for the US State Department on the agreement reached by all political forces in Yemen on a two-year extension of Yemeni parliament tenure…

The new channel seems to be up and running. This is going to be an interesting experiment…

The Public Prosecution is interrogating MS who was arrested by police for luring and recruiting youths to fight Jihad against the foreign forces in Afghanistan, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting knowledgeable security sources…

I find it ironic that Arab states are now claiming the ICC has no jurisdiction in the Sudan, given that a month ago they were trumpeting ICC genocide charges against Israel. Yemen was particularly vocal, and is now being equally vocal about rejecting the ICC arrest warrant for Sudan…

So, I was reading an article today about the recent fiasco over the Marine One specs found on a P2P network source in Iran, when I came across this statement by the President of the company that made the discovery:…

22 May reports that the leader of a militant group supposedly responsible for nation-wide killings and attacks on government targets, “Ayad al-Haliya,” was killed and his associates – one called “al-Somali,” one “al-Zubeidi” – were wounded in a clash with security forces…

A really interesting compilation of the historical relationship between Yemen and weapons. A match made in Russia…

The United States Embassy in Sana’a submitted to Yemeni government a purchase request to buy pieces of land and a street adjacent to the mbassy building in Sa’wan residential area in order to build a housing complex for U.S. diplomats, embassy staff and their families, reported media sources…

UPDATED: The U.S. State Dept released a statement today (as of yet not posted on the Yemen embassy’s website) regarding the decision of Yemen to postpone elections two years. The United States views the delay “with deep concern and disappointment…It is difficult to see how a delay of this duration serves the interests of the Yemeni people or the cause of Yemeni democracy,” it said…

A Muslim man who shot dead a Jewish teacher in broad daylight was ordered yesterday to pay the victim’s family US$27,500 (Dh100,925) in blood money, but escaped the death sentence after the judge ruled he was mentally ill, a verdict the family’s lawyer called a “scandal”…

al-Ghad has it from “reliable sources” that a one-year truce has been agreed upon by the Yemeni government and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQ-AP) and its leader ‘Abu Basir’ Nasser al-Wahayshi. The agreement was apparently reached via the government’s jihadist middleman Tariq al-Fadhli…

The national interest has been the basic motivation and the first base of the political agreement emerged from the dialogue between leaders of the GPC and the JMP, confirmed the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs of the General People’s Congress GPC, Sultan Al-Barakani…

UPDATED & CONFIRMED: Mareb Press runs a story quoting Russian press, which says that Yemen has proposed a deal with Russia to write off the 1.2 billion debt it owes in exchange for a new 4 billion dollar military modernization contract….

As a first reaction to the postponement agreement of Parliamentary elections, leaderships of the General People’s Congress GPC in the governorate of Marib announced their intention to submit mass resignations, and that they are currently studying the possibility of accession to the Joint Meeting Parties JMP…

All parties involved have committed themselves to silence? In the spirit of “national interest.” One major piece of news is that some sort of hybrid proportional system has been agreed to…