Thousands of Yemenis – possibly as many as 80,000, according to al-Jazeera – are reported to to have fled their homes in Lawdar (or Loder) as the authorities conduct a massive house-to-house search ostensibly aimed at rooting out al-Qaeda militants.
Details are sketchy because the city,… Read more
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Amnesty International says it is "extremely likely" that Saudi Arabia used British-supplied Tornado warplanes to bomb northern Yemenat the height of the Houthi conflict last year.
Saudi forces came to the aid of the Yemeni military against the rebels in November and operations… Read more
I wrote a short article for Comment Is Free yesterday linking low taxes and rentier states to the lack of government accountability in the Middle East. I wouldn't claim it's an original argument, though it's rarely discussed outside a fairly specialised field and it seems to have annoyed the… Read more
After spending two months among the jihadists in southern Yemen, Iraqi-born journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad presents the
first of two reports for the Guardian. Choice quote:
At Faisal's house, I asked him what he thought of the government's attempt to crack down on al-Qaida.
"Don'… Read more
If you've never sampled the delights of freshly-caught Yemeni salmon, don't worry. Neither has anyone else. Yemen has no permanent rivers and, consequently, no salmon.
'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen' is the title of a comic/satirical novelby Paul Torday which won a couple of awards and… Read more
In the latest fighting in southern Yemen, a dozen or more soldiers and several civilians were killed during a battle near the marketplace in Lawdar, Abyan province, yesterday.
The ruling party's website blames "terrorist elements from al-Qaeda and some outlaw elements… Read more
With the Jordanian parliament dissolved since last November, the cabinet is continuing to issue "provisional" laws – a practice that is allowed by Article 94 of the constitution so long as the laws relate to "necessary measures which admit of no delay".
One of these – though it… Read more
The assassinations of intelligence officers in southern Yemen continued yesterday with the shooting of Abdulkarim al-Dalei in Zinjibar. It was the seventh such attack in just over two months (see below), and there is clearly a pattern here: individual officers are being picked off – often by gunmen… Read more
A Yemeni intelligence officer, Colonel Ali Abdul Kareem al-Ban, was shot dead outside his home in Lahej late on Friday. Reuters quotesan unnamed official as saying that al-Qaeda is suspected.
However, AFP implies that he may have been targeted by southern secessionists. It points… Read more
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has ordered that the issuing of public fatwas in the kingdom should henceforth be restricted to scholars of his own choosing.
The royal decree, sent to the kingdom's grand mufti (with copies to the interior and justice ministers) says:
"We have noticed … Read more
ARAB ART ONLINE: Susan Hefuna: Al Sabr Gamil (Patience is Beautiful) 2007. Ink stained on wood 140 x 170 cm. More information | Click to enlarge
