Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri The Coordinator 2015 Part 4-1-Yemen-11

By Capt (Ret) C de Waart, feel free to share: in Confidence

Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri The Coordinator 2015 Part 4-1-Yemen-11Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is the early winner in Yemen. -- Bruce Riedel

Previous: S. Arabia Bombing A Sovereign Nation with No UN Mandate, Iran vows to end Saudi-led air strikes on Yemen rebels, Bombardment needs to stop and al-Qaeda should be prevented from taking advantage, says Iranian foreign minister

Apr 17, 2015 Iran submits four-point Yemen peace plan to United Nations; It calls for an immediate ceasefire and end of all foreign military attacks, humanitarian assistance, a resumption of broad national dialogue and "establishment of an inclusive national unity government."

"It is imperative for the international community to get more effectively involved in ending the senseless aerial attacks and establishing a ceasefire, ensuring delivery of humanitarian and medical assistance to the people of Yemen and restoring peace and stability to this country through dialogue and national reconciliation without pre-conditions," said Zarif's letter

Iran is sending an armada of seven to nine ships — some with weapons — toward Yemen in a potential attempt to resupply the Shia Houthi rebels, according to two U.S. defense officials.

Officials fear a naval confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia could escalate what has become a proxy war between the two countries.

Yet another theory is that Iran wants to force a confrontation with Saudi Arabia that it believes it will win, because Iran views the Saudi military as weak and suspects the U.S. lacks the willpower to support its Gulf ally

“We're assisting the Saudis to protect their own territory and to conduct operations that are designed to lead ultimately to a political settlement to Yemen,” said US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Thursday. “That's good for the people of Yemen, first and foremost. It's good for Saudi Arabia that doesn't need this on its southern border. And … it's good for us, among other reasons, because of AQAP's presence in Yemen. But for that to occur, it'll require more than military action,” he added.

Friday, Iranian Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, put the onus for the transnational turmoil wrought by Sunni jihadists on Washington, declaring that "the ISIL (Islamic State), Boko Haram and al-Nusra have been created in line with the US strategy of religion against religion which seeks to impair the divine face of Islam." Without fail, Pourdistan also linked the White House's alleged conjuring of global jihadism to its support for Israel, suggesting that "the American and European people's high tendency towards...[the] protection of the Zionist regime's security have caused the US to create the terrorist groups."

Supreme Leader Khamenei's adviser, Ali Akbar Velayati, who had called the Islamic State "American Proteges" who "don't differentiate between Muslims sects" and prove themselves to be tools of Israel since they "show no enmity towards the Zionist regime"

Possibly speaking to the same audience, senior Iranian figure, the Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahhedi Kermani told the faithful gathered for Friday prayers in Tehran that Saudi actions in Yemen had shown their "imprudence", "disgrace" and that recent development show that the House of Saud is teetering on the brink of destruction.

Saudi Arabia's government insists it is not at war with Iran despite its three-week air campaign against Tehran-backed rebels in Yemen, but the kingdom's powerful clerics, and its regional rival's theocratic government, are increasingly presenting the conflict as part of a region-wide battle for the soul of Islam. The toxic rivalry between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran is playing out on the battlefields of Yemen and Syria, and in the dysfunctional

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politics of Iraq and Lebanon, with each side resorting to sectarian rhetoric. Iran and its allies refer to all of their opponents as terrorists and extremists, while Saudi Arabian clerics speak of a regional Persian menace.

But even if today's power struggle has more to do with politics than religion, the unleashing of increasingly sectarian rhetoric on both sides has empowered extremists and made the region's multiplying conflicts even more intractable.

Sheikh Mohammed al-Arefe, a Saudi cleric with 12 million Twitter followers and rock star status among ultra-conservative Sunnis, says the Saudi-led coalition launching airstrikes in Yemen is at war with the enemies of Islam. In a sermon viewed nearly 94,000 times on YouTube, he refers to them as "Safawis," a reference to a 16th century Persian dynasty that oversaw the expansion of Shiite Islam. "It is they, who until today, bow in prayer to shrines," al-Arefe says, referring to the Shiite practice of praying at the tombs of religious figures. Saudi clerics who follow the country's strict Wahhabi doctrine view such rituals as akin to polytheism and advocate the destruction of shrines.

In the meantime; Al-Qaeda militants have taken control of a strategic military camp in the city of Mukalla in southeastern Yemen, seizing tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons."Today Al-Qaida fighters took control of the 27th Mechanized Brigade's camp and seized heavy weapons including tanks and artillery," an unnamed Yemeni official told

April 16, 2015 – Defense Secretary Ash Carter discussed his top priorities and other defense issues at a Pentagon news conference. Carter also addressed a range of situations abroad beginning with the situation in Yemen and the threat posed by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. The terrorist group, he said, is a branch of al-Qaida that has shown a particular determination to attack Americans and the United States, and is, therefore, of serious concern. “We continue to watch them and take action against [them],” he added. It’s easier to conduct counterterrorism operations when Yemen has a settled government, Carter said. “But in the meantime,” he added, “we need to, and do through other means, protect ourselves against [al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula], because they are dangerous. And there are other things we can do to act against them, and we are.”

“Enough,” Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said He predicted that the only outcome of the Saudi coalition’s war is failure. “It's about time Muslims and Arabs raise their voices and tell Saudi Arabia enough is

enough." "Yemenis do not need to prove their Arab or Islamic identity. It’s those invading

Yemen who must prove being real Arabs ... look to their dialect, language, eloquence, nobility, courage, generosity and presence, if the Yemeni people were not from the Arabs, who are the Arabs?" He added,

“They claim to be defending the Yemeni state, is it by bombing the state's administrations, airports, ports and military bases. Is this how you defend the state?"

“Nothing will stop us, neither repercussions nor threats, from declaring our condemnation to the US-Saudi aggression on Yemen and our support and solidarity with the people of Yemen."

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Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah greets his Lebanese and Yemeni supporters through a giant screen during a speech against US-Saudi aggression in Yemen, in Beirut's southern suburbs, April 17, 2015. (photo by REUTERS/Aziz Taher)

Nasrallah to Saudi Arabia: Enough is enoughAuthor: Ali Hashem Posted April 17, 2015 LEBANON PULSE

“Enough,” Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said, addressing thousands of his party’s supporters gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs. “It's about time Muslims and Arabs raise their voices and tell Saudi Arabia enough is enough." The rally took the verbal escalation to a higher level, especially after former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's Future Movement responded harshly to Nasrallah’s previous speeches and remarks by the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Saudi Arabia and its war on Yemen. There are serious fears in Lebanon that the tension surrounding Yemen might shake the already vulnerable security of the country that has been without a president since May 2014. Hariri tweeted shortly after Nasrallah’s speech, accusing him of “falsification and deception” regarding the Yemeni conflict, noting that Hezbollah’s Yemen rhetoric is “imported from Iran” and does not serve Lebanon's interest. “Following in the footsteps of Sayyed Ali Khamenei, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has excelled in falsification, deception and the shows of intimidation and sectarian mobilization,” said Hariri via Twitter, adding “Insulting the late King Abdul Aziz will put the insulters in the line of fire, from their biggest authority in Tehran to the smallest one in Dahieh."

In his speech, Nasrallah refused to label the war in Yemen as a Shiite-Sunni war, or to accuse Yemenis supporting Houthis of being non-Arabs. "Yemenis do not need to prove their Arab or Islamic identity. It’s those invading Yemen who must prove being real Arabs ... look to their dialect, language, eloquence, nobility, courage, generosity and presence, if the Yemeni people were not from the Arabs, who are the Arabs?" He added, “They claim to be defending the Yemeni state, is it by bombing the state's administrations, airports, ports and military bases. Is this how you defend the state?"

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The Hezbollah secretary-general stated, “Nothing will stop us, neither repercussions nor threats, from declaring our condemnation to the US-Saudi aggression on Yemen and our support and solidarity with the people of Yemen."

Nasrallah criticized the Saudi mobilization around the Arab and Muslim world with claims that Ansar Allah (the Houthis) are threatening Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia. He accused the Islamic State (IS) of being the real threat: “I can confirm that there is a threat against the two Holy Mosques, but it is coming from Daesh [Islamic State], which after declaring a caliphate in Mosul announced that it will demolish the Holy Kaaba."

Nasrallah elaborated, giving some historical remarks: "After the founding king seized control of Hijaz, his Wahhabi followers — inspired by their culture — demolished all historic artifacts that have to do with the Prophet [Muhammad] in April 1926.” He asked, "Where did the ideology of the groups that are destroying societies and countries come from? Which school of thought and books? Whose culture and fatwas? Who is spreading this ideology across the world? Who is building schools all over the world to teach Muslim youth this destructive, takfiri ideology? Very clearly it is Saudi Arabia. It is using the pilgrimage revenues in the process."

Nasrallah hailed the Yemeni people and said, “The revolutionary leadership of Ansar Allah, this great leader Badr al-Din al-Houthi, now has the chance to attack and infiltrate into Saudi Arabia. However, he doesn't because he is performing what is called a strategic patience." He predicted that the only outcome of the Saudi coalition’s war is failure: "After 28 days of aerial and naval bombardment, fierce airstrikes and all forms of intelligence and logistical support that was offered by the US, they failed to restore Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to Yemen, as he is still in Riyadh, and because of this aggression, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has lost any chance to return to the presidency, and any political settlement cannot return him to the presidency." On Iran’s readiness for dialogue, Nasrallah indicated that Tehran is ready to talk with Saudi Arabia, yet it is Saudi Arabia that is “being stubborn because it has failed in all countries, in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, and it is seeking a success before sitting down at the negotiation table." Read More: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/04/nasrallah-speech-saudi-arabia-enough.html Ali Hashem is a columnist for Al-Monitor. He is an Arab journalist serving as Al Mayadeen news network's chief correspondent.

April 18, Saudi Arabia, which is leading a three-week-old air campaign against Houthi fighters in Yemen, has announced $274m in humanitarian aid for the Arabian Peninsula nation. The pledge, which the official SPA news agency said on Saturday was ordered by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, followed a UN appeal for $274m to provide emergency assistance to the millions affected by the conflict. "Ordinary families are struggling to access healthcare, water, food and fuel - basic requirements for their survival," Johannes Van Der Klaauw, the UN humanitarian coordinator, said on Friday.

Apr 17, 2015 Iran submits four-point Yemen peace plan to United Nations (Reuters) - Iran's foreign minister on Friday submitted a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon outlining a four-point peace plan for Yemen, where Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have been targeted for three weeks by Saudi-led air strikes. The plan, which Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced earlier this month, calls for an immediate ceasefire and end of all foreign military attacks, humanitarian assistance, a resumption of broad national dialogue and "establishment of an inclusive national unity government.""It is imperative for

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http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/contents/authors/ali-hashemi.html

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/04/nasrallah-speech-saudi-arabia-enough.html

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/04/nasrallah-speech-saudi-arabia-enough.html

http://iranpulse.al-monitor.com/index.php/2014/01/3720/ayatollah-khamenei-warns-muslim-world-about-takfiri-groups/


the international community to get more effectively involved in ending the senseless aerial attacks and establishing a ceasefire, ensuring delivery of humanitarian and medical assistance to the people of Yemen and restoring peace and stability to this country through dialogue and national reconciliation without pre-conditions," said Zarif's letter, which was obtained by Reuters.Western and Arab diplomats in New York have shown little interest in the plan, saying they do not consider Iran a neutral peace broker in Yemen. U.N. officials confirmed receipt of the letter, and a request from Iran to share it with the 15-nation Security Council. It was not clear what they would do with the proposal.Arab states have been bombing the Houthis in support of militias resisting an advance by the group. The conflict, though rooted in local rivalries, has become a proxy battlefield for Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran.Ki-moon on Thursday called for an immediate ceasefire by "all sides" in Yemen, the first time he has made such an appeal since Saudi-led air strikes against the Houthi rebels began.Iran warned that the instability was allowing terrorist groups to gain a foothold in Yemen."This critical situation is escalating and the humanitarian crisis in Yemen is approaching catastrophic dimensions," Zarif's letter said. "It may result in further exacerbation of the already tense circumstances in a region that has been plagued by one of the most barbaric types of extremism and (a) multi-pronged vicious campaign of foreign-backed terrorists," it said. Yemen is home to one of the most lethal branches of al Qaeda, sheltering in tribal regions and targeted for years by U.S. drone strikes.

Iranian ship convoy moves toward Yemen, alarming US officials

18 April US concerned that Iran's support for Houthi rebels in Yemen could spark a confrontation with Saudi Arabia and plunge the region into sectarian war. Iran is sending an armada of seven to nine ships — some with weapons — toward Yemen in a potential attempt to resupply the Shia Houthi rebels, according to two U.S. defense officials. Officials fear the move could lead to a showdown with the U.S. or other members of a Saudi-led coalition, which is enforcing a naval blockade of Yemen and is conducting its fourth week of airstrikes against the Houthis. Iran sent a destroyer and another vessel to waters near Yemen last week but said it was part of a routine counter-piracy mission. What's unusual about the new deployment, which set out this week, is that the Iranians are not trying to conceal it, officials said. Instead, they appear to be trying to "communicate it" to the U.S. and its allies in the Gulf. It is not clear what will happen as the convoy comes closer to Yemen.

Saudi Arabia has deployed ships around Yemen to enforce the blockade, as has Egypt. An official said the ship convoy could try to land at a port in Aden, which the Houthis have taken over. Although the U.S. is assisting with the Saudi-led air campaign, it is not participating in the naval blockade of Yemen, said U.S. Central Command spokesman Col. Pat Ryder. However, the U.S. Navy is in the region and has already "consensually boarded" one Panamanian-flagged ship in the Red Sea on April 1 on the suspicion it was illegally

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carrying arms for the Houthis. None were found, but the move raised alarm bells in Washington over an increasingly active U.S. military role in the conflict. The Pentagon indicated this week that more boardings could occur. "We will continue to vigilantly defend freedom of navigation and to conduct consensual searches in an effort to ensure that drugs, human trafficking, weapons trafficking and other contraband are limited," Army Col. Steve Warren said on Monday. Officials fear a naval confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia could escalate what has become a proxy war between the two countries.The U.S. has been supporting the airstrikes with intelligence and logistical support, and last week began refueling Saudi fighter jets. Administration officials say it is important to support Saudi Arabia. Earlier this week, a senior State Department official said the U.S. would try to ensure that a United Nations Security Council arms embargo against Houthi leadership is enforced. "We will be taking very careful look and examining very closely efforts to violate the embargo," senior State Department official Gerald Feierstein told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The deepening of the conflict comes as the U.S. hopes to reach a deal with Iran to roll back its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Officials say U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition has not affected the negotiations with Iran. The conflict also threatens to complicate U.S.'s relations with Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, an Iran ally, criticized Saudi Arabia for its airstrike campaign during a visit to Washington this week. U.S. officials say they are unsure why Iran is making the brazen move. One theory they have floated is that the Saudi-led coalition has effectively blockaded any air routes into Yemen and there are no other ways to resupply the Houthis.

Another theory is that Iran is trying to distract the coalition from another ship it has tried hard to conceal that is currently docked at Oman — a potential land route for smuggling arms into Yemen. Yet another theory is that Iran wants to force a confrontation with Saudi Arabia that it believes it will win, because Iran views the Saudi military as weak and suspects the U.S. lacks the willpower to support its Gulf ally.

Earlier this week, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Twitter taunted Saudi Arabia, calling its military puny and smaller than Israel's. He also said the air campaign was tantamount to genocide of innocent Yemeni civilians and that the U.S. would also fail in Yemen. U.S. officials say they hope the airstrikes will force Houthis to the negotiating table in order to restore stability in Yemen, where America faces a terrorist threat from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). “We're assisting the Saudis to protect their own territory and to conduct operations that are designed to lead ultimately to a political settlement to Yemen,” said Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Thursday. “That's good for the people of Yemen, first and foremost. It's good for Saudi Arabia that doesn't need this on its southern border. And … it's good for us, among other reasons, because of AQAP's presence in Yemen.

But for that to occur, it'll require more than military action,” he added.

17 April Senior Iranian officials call ISIS 'American proteges,' warn of imminent Saudi demise Addressing worshipers in Tehran, Iranian leaders decried Saudi Arabia's "blood bath" in Yemen and warned the US of deceitful behavior in negotiations over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Iran marks the 36th anniversary of the Islamic revolution. (photo credit:screenshot) On the

heels of the escalating conflict in Yemen and an emerging deal with the international

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community, Iran's political and military elite have not cooled their fiery rhetoric, laying the blame for regional crises on the US and Saudi adversaries.

According to FARS news, while addressing an audience at Tehran University on Friday, Iranian Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, put the onus for the transnational turmoil wrought by Sunni jihadists on Washington, declaring that "the ISIL (Islamic State), Boko Haram and al-Nusra have been created in line with the US strategy of religion against religion which seeks to impair the divine face of Islam." Without fail, Pourdistan also linked the White House's alleged conjuring of global jihadism to its support for Israel, suggesting that "the American and European people's high tendency towards...[the] protection of the Zionist regime's security have caused the US to create the terrorist groups." Pourdistan seemed to echo remarks made by another senior Iranian official, the Supreme Leader Khamenei's adviser, Ali Akbar Velayati, who had called the Islamic State "American Proteges" who "don't differentiate between Muslims sects" and prove themselves to be tools of Israel since they "show no enmity towards the Zionist regime". As Pourdistan doled out his dose of rhetorical scolding against the US and Israel, another senior Iranian figure, the Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahhedi Kermani, turned his attention to the Islamic Republic's Sunni foe across the gulf. Possibly speaking to the same audience, Kermani told the faithful gathered for Friday prayers in Tehran that Saudi actions in Yemen had shown their "imprudence", "disgrace" and that recent development show that the House of Saud is teetering on the brink of destruction. According to Iran's state owned Press TV news service, Kermani asserted that Riyadh's nearly month long bombing campaign has "triggered a bloodbath in Yemen" that has killed, according to the Ayatollah, "2,500 innocent people", a figure that contrasts with numbers provided by the UN's deputy secretary-general for human rights. In an interview with al-Jazeera earlier this month, the UN official suggested that only some 600 people, half of which were civilians have perished in the conflict waged between the Saudi led coalition and the Iranian back Shi'ite Houthi militia who are posed to take over the country. Kermani did not hesitate to further involve religion into the already sectarian conflict between the two Islamic adversaries, demanding that the Saudi Monarchy abide by Quranic dictum on war if they truly believed in the scripture of the holy book.

Kermani, perhaps unable to resist a parting shot at the White House, also warned the US against what he suggested maybe deceitful behavior regarding the ongoing nuclear negotiations between Tehran and P5+1 countries. Both sides are to draft a final agreement by June and while Karmani did not specify what trickery he suspected Washington of engaging in, it may involve suspicions that the US may try to use Iran's own aggressive stance in the region - it's involvement in Syria, Iraq and Yemen- as a diplomatic bargaining chip.

In March US President Barack Obama delivered a message of support to Saudi Arabia's newly crowned King Salman, lending approval to Riyadh's interventionist policies in Yemen, long a battle-field for Washington's controversial drone campaign against al-Qaida militants. Yet the ongoing turmoil has forced the US to freeze its operations in Yemen, a setback that the Saudi effort may be able to reverse. The return of deposed pro-Western president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi would not only allow the US to resume its airborne missions in the Arabian peninsula's poorest country, it would also minimize Iran's expansion into Saudi Arabia's backdoor.

Al-Qaeda seizes key military camp in Yemen, snatches tanks and artilleryApril 17, 2015 17:25 Al-Qaeda fighters (Reuters / Stringer)

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Al-Qaeda militants have taken control of a strategic military camp in the city of Mukalla in southeastern Yemen, seizing tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons.The takeover of the base has established Al-Qaeda’s full control of Mukalla after they seized the city’s airport on Thursday. "Today Al-Qaida fighters took control of the 27th Mechanized Brigade's camp and seized heavy weapons including tanks and artillery," an unnamed Yemeni official told AFP. Residents of Mukalla, the capital of Hadramawt province, said the army camp fell into the Islamists’ hands “without resistance.” The base, loyal to exiled Yemeni president Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, was the last military facility in the city taken over by the Sunni extremists. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) attacked Mukalla, capitalizing on the chaos in the country, which is being bombarded by Saudi Arabia in an attempt to suppress the Houthi rebels fighting against the supporters of Hadi. The jihadists began their assault on April 2, quickly seizing key installations in the city and freeing over 300 prisoners, including prominent local terrorist leader, Khaled Batarfi. The Shia Houthi rebels took control of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in September 2014, forcing president Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia and are now fighting for the strategic port city of Aden. Being a radical Sunni Islamist movement, Al-Qaeda views the Houthis – representing the Shia Zaidi minority in Yemen – as heretics.

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Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri The Coordinator 2015 Part 4-1-Yemen-11

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