Yemen launches massive encirclement of "Al Qaeda" operatives
Yemen launches massive encirclement of "Al Qaeda" operatives
17:00, January 12, 2010 
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Yemeni anti-terror forces have arrested seven suspected members of an al-Qaeda-linked sleeper cell in a quarter, adjacent to the US embassy in Sanaa, the Yemeni Interior Ministry announced on Monday.
The anti-terrorism forces on late last Tuesday, or January 5, raided al-Houri house at Sawan quarter, and captured three members of the family Esam, Maajid and Kamal al-Houri… A tip from an observant security officer in the area also led to the arrest of another four suspected members from the same quarter.
Since the American embassy in Yemen is located in the area and the United States has just announced the closure of the embassy due to security reasons, so the operation has arrested special attention of people worldwide.
Moreover, an Al-Jazeera TV report quoted Mahmoud Ali Hussein, the governor of Shabwa province in southeastern Yemen as saying that there is an evidence that al-Qaeda operatives active in the region have a number of "jihadists" coming from Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
While intensifying efforts to battle al-Qaeda operatives, the Yemeni parliament announced that the National Assembly will be convened to address the current crisis. In this framework, President Ali Abdullah Saleh has invited to the territory all political forces, including the northern Shiite rebels loyal to the former government of Yemen and the al-Qaeda operative sub-bracnhes in the Yemeni territory.
In a recent TV interview, President Ali Abdullah Saleh once again appealed to all political forces and civil society organizations to take part in the talks. Saleh has even offered to open talks with Al-Qaeda operatives. "We are prepared to deal with anyone who renounces violence and terrorism," Saleh said… The peace talks by setting preconditions were no set in the past.
On 25 December 2009, Farouk Abdul Mutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian national, who had boarded Northwest Flight 253 in Amsterdam, tried to light up explosive but was aborted while the flight was making a landing in Detroit.
U.S. security department found that the suspect had also undergone training in Yemen. So, the United States and Britain soon stepped up their support to Yemen in its anti-terrorist operation. Then, the Yemeni government, nevertheless, was not responsive to the U.S and UK support, as some analysts are concerned that the involvement of the U.S. and Britain in actions against al-Qaeda operatives could spur anti-American forces to implement the "jihad" in Yemen, resulting in an "Afghanistan-based" trend.
The United States, however, remains unwilling to send ground troops to Yemen. Last Friday, President Barack Obama said in his January 8th interview with the "People" magazine interview that the U.S. currently has no intention to send troops to Yemen or Somalia. He also said he acknowledged that "al-Qaeda"has become a serious problem in Yemen over the past year and that the same is true in Somalia. Al-Qaeda operatives are trying to capitalize on the failure of local government to control the situation thoroughly.
President Obama stressed that it is of vital importance to realize that the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area remains a center of activities for "al-Qaeda"operatives and their leadership and allies.
Following Navy Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of th U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week that he would not send troops to Yemen, and General David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, also said he excluded the possibility for the U.S. to send troops to Yemen. Such a fast, repeated release of signals indicates not only the continuation of the U.S. government's new strategy but reactive response of the United States in its current counter-terror predicament.
Abandoning or giving up a troop dispatch to Yemen conforms to the new requirements of the U.S. counter-terrorism strategy. Since entering the White House in early 2009, President Obama has substantially revised the anti-terrorist line of the Bush administration and instead adopted a military, diplomatic, economic, and social assistance as the mainstay of the new strategy.
President Obama reiterated this route last December. In view of an uncertainty in Afghan war, if the United States sends troops to Yemen and re-starts the battlefield in the Middle East region, this would undoubtedly have a negative impact on its existing global counter-terrorism deployment and in disconformity of American interest.
To renounce a troop dispatch to Yemen can rid the United States of another risk for the war that could very much"resemble the "war in Afghanistan". Furthermore, under the grave impact of global financial crisis, American treasury is overstretched and, if U.S. servicemen enter the new war, the United States is bound to bear a much greater and bitter steep pressure.
By People's Daily Online and contributed by PD overseas reporters Yang Jun, Wen Xian and Xu Feibiao
The anti-terrorism forces on late last Tuesday, or January 5, raided al-Houri house at Sawan quarter, and captured three members of the family Esam, Maajid and Kamal al-Houri… A tip from an observant security officer in the area also led to the arrest of another four suspected members from the same quarter.
Since the American embassy in Yemen is located in the area and the United States has just announced the closure of the embassy due to security reasons, so the operation has arrested special attention of people worldwide.
Moreover, an Al-Jazeera TV report quoted Mahmoud Ali Hussein, the governor of Shabwa province in southeastern Yemen as saying that there is an evidence that al-Qaeda operatives active in the region have a number of "jihadists" coming from Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
While intensifying efforts to battle al-Qaeda operatives, the Yemeni parliament announced that the National Assembly will be convened to address the current crisis. In this framework, President Ali Abdullah Saleh has invited to the territory all political forces, including the northern Shiite rebels loyal to the former government of Yemen and the al-Qaeda operative sub-bracnhes in the Yemeni territory.
In a recent TV interview, President Ali Abdullah Saleh once again appealed to all political forces and civil society organizations to take part in the talks. Saleh has even offered to open talks with Al-Qaeda operatives. "We are prepared to deal with anyone who renounces violence and terrorism," Saleh said… The peace talks by setting preconditions were no set in the past.
On 25 December 2009, Farouk Abdul Mutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian national, who had boarded Northwest Flight 253 in Amsterdam, tried to light up explosive but was aborted while the flight was making a landing in Detroit.
U.S. security department found that the suspect had also undergone training in Yemen. So, the United States and Britain soon stepped up their support to Yemen in its anti-terrorist operation. Then, the Yemeni government, nevertheless, was not responsive to the U.S and UK support, as some analysts are concerned that the involvement of the U.S. and Britain in actions against al-Qaeda operatives could spur anti-American forces to implement the "jihad" in Yemen, resulting in an "Afghanistan-based" trend.
The United States, however, remains unwilling to send ground troops to Yemen. Last Friday, President Barack Obama said in his January 8th interview with the "People" magazine interview that the U.S. currently has no intention to send troops to Yemen or Somalia. He also said he acknowledged that "al-Qaeda"has become a serious problem in Yemen over the past year and that the same is true in Somalia. Al-Qaeda operatives are trying to capitalize on the failure of local government to control the situation thoroughly.
President Obama stressed that it is of vital importance to realize that the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area remains a center of activities for "al-Qaeda"operatives and their leadership and allies.
Following Navy Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of th U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week that he would not send troops to Yemen, and General David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, also said he excluded the possibility for the U.S. to send troops to Yemen. Such a fast, repeated release of signals indicates not only the continuation of the U.S. government's new strategy but reactive response of the United States in its current counter-terror predicament.
Abandoning or giving up a troop dispatch to Yemen conforms to the new requirements of the U.S. counter-terrorism strategy. Since entering the White House in early 2009, President Obama has substantially revised the anti-terrorist line of the Bush administration and instead adopted a military, diplomatic, economic, and social assistance as the mainstay of the new strategy.
President Obama reiterated this route last December. In view of an uncertainty in Afghan war, if the United States sends troops to Yemen and re-starts the battlefield in the Middle East region, this would undoubtedly have a negative impact on its existing global counter-terrorism deployment and in disconformity of American interest.
To renounce a troop dispatch to Yemen can rid the United States of another risk for the war that could very much"resemble the "war in Afghanistan". Furthermore, under the grave impact of global financial crisis, American treasury is overstretched and, if U.S. servicemen enter the new war, the United States is bound to bear a much greater and bitter steep pressure.
By People's Daily Online and contributed by PD overseas reporters Yang Jun, Wen Xian and Xu Feibiao
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