US kills AQAP bombmaker, 9 fighters in pair of strikes in Yemen

The US launched two drone strikes against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen today, killing a senior bombmaker and nine other fighters. The US has now conducted three strikes in Yemen in the past four days. Meanwhile, jihadists named one of the AQAP fighters killed in Saturday's drone strike.
In the first strike, the unmanned Predators or Reapers fired several missiles at two vehicles traveling in the town of Rawdah in Baydah province, The Associated Press reported. Yemeni officials said that Abdullah Awad al Masri, a wanted bombmaker who is also known as Abou Osama al Maribi, was killed in the strike. It is unclear if he is a Yemeni, however, as his surname, al Masri, indicates he is an Egyptian.
Two Egyptians, a Tunisian, a Saudi, and a Bahraini were among the seven AQAP fighters killed in the strike. Their identities have not been disclosed.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/08/us_kills_aqap_bombma.php#ixzz22yP1EeQh

Yemen suicide bomber kills 30 in Abyan

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A suspected suicide bomber has struck a village in the southern Yemeni province of Abyan, killing more than 30 people.

Dozens more were wounded in the attack on a funeral service in the city of Jaar, Yemeni officials said.
Military officials told the Associated Press the funeral was for a man linked to militias which had helped the army in their fight against al-Qaeda.
They said five suspected al-Qaeda militants had been killed earlier in the day.
The men were killed in a suspected US drone strike on their vehicle in Hadramawt province.


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Al-Qaeda Still a Threat in Yemen

A relative of a police academy cadet, killed in a suicide bombing attack, cries as he holds his coffin during a funeral procession in Sanaa July 14, 2012. (photo by REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah Ali Al Mahdi)

The Yemeni government is facing obstacles in the information and intelligence war against the al-Qaeda cells scattered across most of the country’s provinces. In contrast to the army’s easy victories against al-Qaeda's main strongholds in the provinces of Abyan and Shabwa, along with the air strikes that dealt al-Qaeda heavy losses in their leadership, accomplishments in the intelligence field have been sparse. Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, has failed to curb al-Qaeda’s attacks on the state’s military and security institutions.

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Summary: Yemen’s military and security services have scored successes against al-Qaeda, but the government is still weak when it comes to gathering intelligence — a key component of the “war on terror,” according to US and EU officials. Abou Bakr Abdallah reports that al-Qaeda sleeper cells are still capable of carrying out attacks in the country. Publisher: Al-Khaleej (U.A.E.) Original Title: Fears of Escalating Al-Qaeda Attacks in Yemen Author: Abou Bakr Abdallah Published on: Thursday, Jul 26, 2012 Translated On: Thursday, Jul 26, 2012 Translator: Rani Geha Categories : Yemen   Reports / Studies Security

The state’s weak intelligence capabilities are worrying Yemeni officials and the international envoys who recently conducted a series of discussions with government officials in order to strengthen the government’s capacity in this regard. Yemen’s allies see good intelligence as vital to the war on terror, especially since al-Qaeda decided to move away from direct confrontation and toward guerrilla warfare.
Yemeni officials recognize that tightening security procedures and increasing the armed forces’ ability to repel al-Qaeda attacks in Sanaa and other areas has not prevented al-Qaeda cells from scoring several successes. Over the weekend, al-Qaeda resumed its attacks in the province of Hadramaut, where an assassination attempt injured a senior military commander. In Aden, security forces foiled an attempt to destroy the Political Security (intelligence services) building.

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Expert: No Drone Backlash in Yemen

Chris Swift photo. All rights reserved.

by DAVID AXE
Lethal strikes by armed drones are America’s best and less obtrusive method of killing Islamic militants and dismantling their terror networks while minimizing civilian casualties. Or they’re a misguided and counter-productive attempt at sterilizing the dirty work of counter-terrorism — one that serves as a rallying cry for terrorist recruiters and ends up creating more militants than it eliminates.
Those are the opposing views in one of the most urgent debates in military, policy and humanitarian circles today. Now a new, ground-level investigation by a daring American researcher adds a fresh wrinkle to the controversy. Chris Swift, a fellow at the University of Virginia’s Center for National Security Law, spent a week in late May interviewing around 40 tribal leaders in southern Yemen, one of the major drone battlegrounds.
What he found might disappoint activists and embolden counter-terrorism officials. “Nobody in my cohort [of interview subjects] drew a causal link between drones on one hand and [militant] recruiting on other,” Swift says.

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U.S. increases planned aid to Yemen in fight against al-Qaeda

Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images - Yemeni soldiers stand guard in Sana’a, Yemen, on July 14, 2012. In the aftermath of Saleh’s resignation in February and an easing of the country’s political crisis, the Obama administration said it will resume sending military aid to Yemen.

 In the latest sign of Washington’s deepening involvement in Yemen’s battle against an al-Qaeda affiliate, the U.S. military is preparing to give more than $100 million in counterterrorism and security aid to the Arabian country this year, according to newly obtained documents.
The U.S. government suspended military assistance to Yemen more than a year ago in response to then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s suppression of mass protests and other challenges to his 33-year rule.

In the aftermath of Saleh’s resignation in February and an easing of the country’s political crisis, the Obama administration notified Congress last month that it intends to resume military aid to Yemen. The aid is restricted for use by Yemen’s counterterrorism forces, which are locked in a struggle with an al-Qaeda affiliate that has also targeted the United States.
In June, the Pentagon told lawmakers that it would give $75 million worth of small arms, ammunition, vehicles, hand-launched surveillance drones and other equipment to Yemen’s Interior Ministry.

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