This speech was Saleh's second since his return from Saudi Arabia after three months of medical treatment for injuries he sustained during an assassination attempt at his presidential palace early last June.
During his meeting on Saturday with a number of Shoura and Parliament members President Saleh said, “since 2006 and me winning the elections and the JMP losing and the country has been in continuous turmoil. One of the lawless and defecting generals [Ali Muhsin Al-Ahmar] calls a military commander in Abyan [Mohammed Al-Somali] asking him to surrender Abyan to the revolutionaries and we will pull themselves as Al-Qaeda from the areas
“Where are the American Intelligence and the FBI? They keep pestering us day and night about Al-Qaeda? But I am still siding with the war against terrorism and its supporters,” said Saleh.
However this accusation by Saleh against the defected army which sided with the peaceful revolution demanding an end to Saleh’s 33-year rule came only one week ago when the Yemen’s air-force bombarded a military position in the center of war-torn Zunjbar belonging to the defected army. This took place whilst they advanced in the city against the armed Islamists, according to Anis Mansour, an expert on Al-Qaeda and a local journalist in Aden who has reported exclusive news on the recent development in Abyan.
Mansour claims that his sources in the military and local areas provide him with details and facts of the battles. He explained that he knows three of Al-Qaeda’s members who were killed late last August during fighting in Abyan against the army and they were identified as agents of Saleh’s regime.
“The intelligence service leader’s son in Al-Jawf was one of those who lost his life in the fighting in Abyan. It was he who was battling with the armed Islamists,” said Mansour.
“ Another son of prominent tribal leader, Sagheer Bin Azeez in Amran governorate who is loyal to president Saleh was killed while was fighting with the armed Islamists,” he said.
Further, he said, “there are local tribesmen in Abyan loyal to the Islah Party -- the opposition Islamic party -- who fought against Al-Qaeda recently. It is they who supplied the blockaded 25th Mechanic brigade that sided with the revolution through the provision of food during the three-month siege imposed on the military camp by the armed Islamists.
However, last July, Yemen’s air-force shelled the military position that belonged to the opposition tribal forces fighting against Al-Qaeda and killed around 40 tribesmen and wounded others, according to Mansour. Further, a teenager from Ashal tribe in Abyan whose tribe has supported the defected army against Al-Qaeda in Abyan was assassinated in September in the capital Sana’a for their position against Al-Qaeda, according to Mansour.
“The position of the Islah party [which is the most tangible opposition party to defected Al-Ahmar] is clear on the premise that Al-Qaeda is a terrorist organization. They do also believe that Al-Qaeda was made by Saleh to use it as a bargaining card to remain in the power,” Mansour said.
Three days ago, a house in the Musaimair district of Lahj governorate belonging to a tribal leader loyal to the defected general Al-Ahmar was destroyed by Saleh’s security forces. The security agents claimed that “the tribal leader is a spy for the defected general.” “In fact the military brigades who sided with the revolution are fighting fiercely and with clear determination against Al-Qaeda, but Saleh’s loyal army hinders their advances in order to prolong the battle against Al-Qaeda in Abyan. This is a merely a political tool,” he said.
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| Warning: ‘Islamic emirate of Ja’ar’ being established in Abyan, Yemen. emptyquarter |
“Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar has his own terrorist group commanded by the two well-known Jihadists in Abyan: Khaled Abd Al-Nabi and Abd Alateef Al-Sayed. The two concerned fled Abyan one month after the battle between armed Islamists and army started in Abyan. Mansour elaborated, "this group is known as jihadists as well and they are moving upon orders from the general Ali Mohsen,” he said. Tareq Al-Fadli, a former Yemeni jihadist based in Abyan who fought in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union is a brother-in-law to the defected general as the latter is married to Al-Fadli’s sister. This former jihadist is closely connected to the jihadists commanded by Abd Al-Nabi. Al-Nabi is an ally of the defected general, according to Anees Mansour.
Conclusion
“There is concrete evidence that supports the opposition’s claim that Saleh’s regime has been prolonging the fighting against Al-Qaeda in Abyan. This is in order to utilize that as card for Saleh to remain in power,” said Mansour.
“Tribesmen loyal to the army against Al-Qaeda were bombarded last July, defected army teams who were advancing inside Zunjbar was air-raided on Oct 1st who were forced to move backward while they were progressing much and were about to take control of Zunjbar.,” he said.
According to Mansour that which is taking place in Abyan is well-linked to the political crisis in the capital and “when this crisis finishes in Sana’a, the Al-Qaeda-army battle in Abyan will be resolved immediately.”
Khaled Abd Al-Nabi, commander of Islamic Jihadists who are an ally to the defected general Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar has been imprisoned many times, but was released with no explanations which hints that military leaders in top positions from both the defected and Saleh’s camps are in contact with the armed Islamists.
Each party uses Al-Qaeda to achieve some political purposes.
The armed Islamists who are dominant in Abyan at the moment, and known as “The Islamic law supporters” have links with Al-Qaeda but large numbers of its members are intelligence agents. Not all are aware of the status of their fellow Islamists, according to Mansour.
Saeed Ubaid Al-Jemhi, another Yemeni expert on Al-Qaeda and author of “Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” has often told then Yemen Times that both the regime and the opposition have been playing the Al-Qaeda card to get the western support for power."
source: Yemen Times
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