Taking Photos in Al-Hasaba

Post by Ruqaya

I met up with al-Ghariba (who sometimes posts on this blog) who used to be my neighbor before the war and we thought we'd go out and take some photos of  al-Hasaba before things got cleaned up.

We took photos in and around bait al-Ahmar, the house of the tribal sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, we even got to go inside and get photos from the back garden. We got photos of the Yemenia building, all tall and burnt and then al-Ghariba suggested some photos from the back streets where the aqdam live - this is where we came unstuck.

There are a lot of sandbag walls when you go around in the areas between the big house of al-Ahmar to the bus station and the clock intersection. One street is blocked off by a bus shell filled with these sandbags, and al-Ahmar troops mind these areas and it is all OK to take photos even with them in it. Then as we exited onto the clock intersection near the bus station, some Najda Police stopped us and wanted to take our cameras. Oh no!

Al-Ghariba refused but the policeman got bothered and the remainder of them sitting around chewing qat got up, so we both surrendered our memory cards before we lost our whole cameras and phones too.

ALhamdulillahi Rabbil-alameen that these harsh policemen (who are part of the attacks on al-Hasaba and provoke the tribe fighters into breaking the ceasefire) did not ask for our IDs. I don't think al-Ghariba would have been in a good position being non-Yemeni. Well sister, at least your lahjah is coming along!

Friendly advice from an al-Hasaba resident: Do not take photos in areas with regime forces! or anywhere near them. if you want to take photos inside al-Hasaba do it near bait al-Ahmar!

And when walking by regime forces act as normal as posible and go about your business other than photo taking!

Stuck in the Mud

Post by Ayman
Warning: the "s" word appears often in this blog and also contains sarcasm and cynicism.

I am wondering how this thawra (uprising/revolution) can end successfully. I hold a clear contemptuous view of it all, but still hope for its success.

People (non-Yemeni) often comment at how humble and patient Yemenis are in the face of hardship. I can agree to a certain extent. They do put up with a lot of shit and just keep going, but I disagree just as much and say Yemenis lack aspiration and vision of a future that isn't full of it. I also throw in a bucket of laziness for good measure.

So when a Yemeni is handed a bucket of shit they take it and put up with the stink until they don't notice it anymore, then they are handed worse shit and the cycle continues. So thanks to Allah some youths, after seeing Tunisa and Egypt revolution decided, all we need to do is clean out the shit and we can do it peacefully but sitting around in a public space - let's do it! No that's not fair of me, the original youth of the thawra are the one's who aspire to clean out the bucket of aforementioned substance, but some old hands realised that the shi# might actually get emptied out and cleaned up and so joined the thawra, and highjacked the agenda, now the whole lot is stuck in the mud.

We can all go forward and be killed peacefully and be shuhada' (martyrs) because Shaikh Al-Zindane said that those killed in the way of the thawra are shaheed, and I really hope they are, but I add a BIG INSHA ALLAH on the end of that.

Thousands have died now and the loyalist forces bomb daily the areas in Arhab, North Sana'a Governate, Taiz and Abyan. What are these areas guity of?

Arhab: Many areas are strong supporters of the Islah political party (the Islamic party in the style of Ikhwan - Muslim Brotherhood), and the founder of Islah the late Shaikh Abdullah al-Ahmar is from this region.

Northern Areas of Sana'a Government - also Islahi people.

Taiz- Interlectual heartland of Yemen. The thawra was the strongest here and the most organised and the most able to implement governance at the fall of the regime.

Abyan: al-Qaeda heartland - so they say. But really just a bunch of armed hooligans, not the real AQAP. USA are having a big hand in landing cruise missiles on civilians.

How will the thawra end? Here are some suggestions:

1. Ali Saleh and family will run out of bullets and the remainder of their soldiers will embrace the thawra.
2. USA and Saudi Arabia decide to support the Yemeni people for the good of the people rather than self-interests at the expense of Yemeni freedom and lives.
3.The peaceful protesters have an epiphany and take up arms.
4. The 12,000 mujahideen of Aden/Abyan (as in the hadith) come and save the day.
5. Ali Saleh will come back to Yemen during Ramadan and reopen the petrol resources and the gas, and electricity will run without interuption, there will be affordable food in the markets, and then all the ignorant and starving Yemenis will fall in prostration to Him and declare, "ash-sha,ab yureed Ali Abdullah Saleh" and he will fill there buckets with extra shi#.

Have a Happy Ramadan!!!!

The Last Days of Al-Hasabah

We've had a long absence as a result of the conflict in Sanaa. The English editor disappeard to Ibb, then we couldn't find the password, then there was no electricity, and no petrol to run the generator, and no money to buy petrol then no time to sit days in the queue to buy some petrol when we did have money. Here is a recount of a sister who lives in al-Hasaba.

Post by Ruqaya

23 May 2011 – al-Hasabah Sana’a, Yemen

We started hearing shots being fired around midday, but there had been a lot of shots fired in the past weeks so we disregarded it as normal activity and continued our lesson. The serious fighting started not long after the call to the midday prayer while I was still in the streets on my way home. 

After arriving home, greeting everyone and praying thuhr, I made a sarcastic remark that the guards must be getting bored and taking pot-shots at cats. I was quickly rebuked and told it was not funny, this fighting is for real.

We had been expecting something to happen for months as the number of al-Ahmar armed guards had increased as well as their sand-bagged firing positions and road obstacles, but I never expected what was to come, I just didn’t believe the President was that evil.

Artillery shells started being fired randomly upon our neighbourhood, although we knew they were meant for the al-Ahmar residential compound. Fortunately or unfortunately the Republican Guards were not very accurate with their weapons.

The street was a buzz of gunfire near and far, men shouting orders, instructions and warnings of where government fighters were heading under heavy rain. As the fighting intensified, we prepared bags, dressed and headed to the downstairs area where there were no windows to shatter over us, and we waited there for the rest of the day hoping that it would stop, and at the time of sunset, it did. Alhamdulillah, and we hoped that was the end of it and so didn’t seek to evacuate.

24 May

Everyone was so calm about the previous day’s events that it almost seemed normal, but the second day was far more intense than the first. I did not go to work that day (24 May), and all morning sporadic exchanges of small-arms fire was still being heard from all areas of the neighbourhood and some of it right in front of my bedroom window, so I tidied up a little before going to the neighbour’s house to sit out the day because their house was better built than mine as because they had a car in case of a need for a speedy exit.

The artillery started while lunch was still on the stove and we started receiving direct hits before lunch was even half cooked. The shelling was heavy and there were many casualties from both fighters and locals. I was sitting in a small diwan peeking out the window when the first tray-back vehicles drove by loaded up with the dead and dying. As I watched this spectacle, an artillery shell landed on the building opposite, the shockwaves pushed me off the ledge upon which I was sitting and onto the floor. After that I decided to go downstairs and sit with the others until the attack stopped or we bugged out.

We lived quite near the al-Ahmar compound and were able to get news from fighters about what was happening. The 63^rd Republican Guard were not going to stop shelling our neighbourhood until they destroyed the al-Ahmar compound. On 25 May the President of Yemen said on TV that all residents of al-Hasaba should leave the area before 6pm or face the concequences of the soon to commence air attack. For once the President told the truth, although we hoped it was another lie. The attack started not long after midnight and heavy fighting took place in the streets. That day saw the heaviest fighting and the most deaths. And we bugged out and I felt sad to do so, something inside me wanted to stay despite the danger. It was my home after all.

We didn’t return for three weeks and watched and listened to the news. We heard of the death and destruction, and the fires, and the looters and militiamen roaming the streets. Finally, we got the green light to go back and check out our homes. We were all silent with anticipation as we sat in the bus to al-Hasaba.

The bus terminated at the Clock Intersection and immediately we saw the damage of the clock itself and millions of bullet holes in everything as well as the shops on that corner burnt, and the skin doctor’s clinic which I was due to visit before the fighting started also completely burnt. We heard through the weeks all the explosions from al-Hasaba and didn’t hold much hope our house survived.

We walked in a daze up the main street towards the totally burnt out Yemenia Airlines building, electricity lines hung low and limply like long lifeless snakes, metal light poles were cut in half by the sheer amount of bullets that passed through them, leaving behind perforated grey stumps with jagged tops. There were still many al-Ahmar militiamen in the street, weary and dirty, watching us as we walked by.

We reached our street corner, now empty of the women selling bread and the men selling qat. It was also blocked off to traffic because the side of the al-Ahmar compound reached half way down the street. And then we arrived.

I was so happy to see it wasn’t burnt. All the damage we had was smashed windows and qamariyas. All our things where still there and there had not been any rain to damage my books. Now the clean-up begins....  

Thinking About Abi Bakr (rAa)

Post by Ayman

This is the first article I have written for this blog. I agreed ages ago to write things in English and translate interesting things, but the Yemen uprising has hijaked my life and I could only find Arabic words to describe the events. It has hijaked more than just my life, it has hijaked all of our lives, our social lives, conversations, family relationships and some, their lives literally.

So I was thinking about Abi Bakr Allah be pleased with him. I thought about him because he was so brave, and did you know that not only was he the first man to become a Muslim, he was also the first Muslim to give an Islamic speech. Really, he decided to announce Islam in Makka, with the Messenger of Allah Peace be upon him, beside him. Abu Bakr did not go very far in his speech before the people of Quraish attacked him. One in particular was very forceful against Abu Bakr and pressed his shoe into the face of as-Siddiq so hard that Abu Bakr's nose became flat. The man who did this was Otba bin Rabi'.

The people of Quraish instantly labelled Abu Bakr a trouble maker from those who are creating disunity amongst the people and the tribes. In those early days of Islam families were becoming split  - Muslims and Kufar.

I was thinking about this story and the situation now in Yemen where the powers of the day are calling the demonstrators trouble makers creating disunitiy in the nation, and families have split along party lines - those with the current regime and status quo and those for change.

Back in the time of the Messenger of Allah the split was kufr (disbelieve/denial) or iman (faith in Islam), now we are all supposed to be Muslims and we are turning on each other for the sake of a corrupt dictatorship. Another thing is the difference in the numbers of those against the dictatorship, they are far greater in number, but they are not united on anything so their numbers become superflous and they have no power. And those of us who choose Islam and iman are still the outsiders and all our brave Abu Bakrs (no one is equal to him, I mean by this, those strong Muslims who speak the truth  no matter the cost) are in prison or in hiding lest a missile fall on their heads. Shuhada' Insha Allah.

My peers are now talking of maching to the President's Palace and ask if I'll march with them. No, I am not keen. They know they could be killed and are so keen and willing to go. So I ask if they are afraid to die in a cause other than Allah and waste the one chance of Marytom. They say "NO! We will march or die!" This is for Allah, do get rid of the corruption. And as they say this they wear Yemen flags painted on their cheeks as if at a football game.

I walk away from them sullenly, disillusioned. I walk home, wishing I was more like Abu Bakr as-Saddiq, but I am not and to avoid conflict with my pro-government parents, I go to bed early.

Usama bin Laden Mawjood!

Posted by Admin:

"Justice has been done." Declared the American President.

Justice indeed is in the Hands of Allah the Most Merciful, and insha Allah Usama bin Laden and those killed along with him are accepted amongst the shuhada'. Not forgetting the BILLIONS of dollars the American government has funnelled away from health, education and welfare services in the hunt for one man.

He may be gone but his legacy has not and the ideology of the establishment of an Islamic State will never die, as Allah the Most Gracious has guaranteed us that there will always be present during all times a "ta'ifat al-Mansoora" a victorious group who are on the truth of Islam.

"They" say that al-Qaeda will die now that Shaikh Usama is gone and the Arab nations rise up against the oppressive rulers, but al-Qaeda will not die, it may change name, shape but in the end the idea of establishing an Islamic state will remain. Once the reality of false freedom of democracy is realised by the Muslim world, they will realise there is no other way to govern other than by what Allah has revealed and that there is no freedom without submission to Allah.

The Arab uprisings will perhaps give groups like al-Qaeda time to rethink some of their strategies and present the Ummah a balanced plan. We, the Ummah need a plan that goes beyond martydom operations and war. What will happen after we gain a victory, how will Islamic governance be implemented on the ground.

Not all Muslims will have the iman to be like Usama bin Laden or those striving in the way of Allah, but to establish Islamic rule the majority of Muslims need to at least support the groups working towards an Islamic state.

Now that "they" have gotten their man, one could expect increased attention by US agencies on al-Qaeda in Yemen (AQAP), especially considering that Imam Anwar al-Awlaki has become the most wanted man and he is in Yemen. We can expect impunity in military actions against AQAP in Yemen. If we look at the operation that lead to the killing of Shaikh Usama we know that the US forces entered and conducted the operation without permission or knowledge of the Pakistani government. One can expect similar action in Yemen and we have already seen such actions taking place in areas of Yemen, especially in the past year.

There have been drone missile strikes (reported in Yemen Times) on targets in Abyan not killing any AQAP but terrifying the locals. The uprising in Yemen has opened a window to unaccountability in military action as emergency law widens the powers of impunity of security forces.

America constantly reiterates that the war on terror is not a war on Muslims. I remember reading an newspaper article title when the war on terror began and it said, "America declares war on an abstract noun."
You can't kill ideas unless you kill every single person with that idea. That's not going to work. Pharoah tried to out-plot Allah by killing all the men of the children of Israel, and in the end the one who undid him was raised in his very house!!! If Allah wants something to happen, it will happen.

May Allah increase the strength of those who strive for His Sake and increase them in victories and support of the Ummah. Allah keep those striving for the establishment of Islam in the lands on the truth and away from oppression and tyrrany. Amin.

On a final note: It has been reported that Shaikh Usama's body has been "burried at sea according to Islamic traditions." Who are they kidding. They were worried his gravesite would become a place of reverence for extremists. Don't they realise that this is against the ideology of "extremists" - the ideology of the Sunnah.

Steps to Start a War in Sana'a

Yemen Post reported that Yemen's president Saleh has planned to explode the situation militarily in the capital Sana'a, amid the escalation of the protests calling for his ouster, almasdaronline.com reported on Wednesday.

The independant news website quoted political and security sources with knowledge of the plans as saying that: " Saleh and his relatives, especially those who command key military systems, have chaos and criminal plans on which they pin hope to cling to power and that these plans just need to be implemented".
The plans will be implemented in two phases; in the first phase, the targets will be the first armored division, whose commander announced peaceful support to the popular uprising, the square of change outside Sana'a University and houses of opposition leaders , the sources were quoted as saying.
"Missiles will be fired at these targets, and in the second phase the pro-Saleh forces will raid the targets".
Saleh himself will run the operations in collaboration with his son, Ahmed, commander of the republican guard, his nephews commanders of the national security and the central security, and his brother, the website said.
The national security will use force to disperse the tens of thousands, who have been conducting a sit-in in the square of change for months to call for the resignation of Saleh, it said, quoting analysts and politicians as warning of the consequences of such plans.

LPOY contacts have also expressed similar information. The targeting of the main Ali Muhsin rebel army base would affect the areas around Al-Eman University, Nahdha street and Sitteen areas adjoining the bases. Threats have also been made to the residences of Ali Muhsin as well as parts of the al-Ahmar* family including the compound of Shaikh Sadeq in al-Hasaba area.

Insha Allah the situation finds a solution before such potentially catastrophic events befall the community. If the President leaves, it seems he will destroy what ever is left on his way out.

*The al-Ahmar family are not the same as the al-Ahmar name of Ali-Muhsin.

Sana'a Situation Map Link

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=208524688437899033617.0004a0dea7f037b0c6774&ll=15.38815,44.221001&spn=0.193975,0.287361&z=12

American Journalist Jeb Boone updates this map every-so-often.

Civil Disobedience and Sabotage

A lot is going on around town and not all of it is happening at the demonstration area in Change Square.

Sit-inners are getting more and more frustrated and have been marching by the tens of thousands through town calling for more people to join them as well as continuing their demands of complete removal of the President, his sons and cronies rejecting all dialogue and mediation as a useless until their demands are met.

The protesters are often being met with lethal force, and  are fighting back with rock throwing and many are armed with traditional daggers, which are not merely for decoration.

Acts of civil disobedience have been various, ranging from simple grafitti to spreading sit-ins to other areas of the capital, but the more dangerous actions have been coming from the big players, actions such as skirmishes between the two armies (government loyalist forces and the forces of General Ali Muhsin). One of these exchanges was reported to have happened at the Amran Road check point. (Road to Amran from Sana'a to the north). It has been reported that artillery was used by both sides as the Ali Muhsin army attempted to gain control of the area.

The call by protesters to partake in civil disobedience has opened the door for the government to sabotage vital services and then blame it on protesters, such as the cutting of power lines in Marib. These power lines provide a large portion of the energy needs of the capital Sana'a.

Government forces are also restricting gaz trucks into the Capital, causing mass cooking gas shortages and inflated prices as bottles are now exceeding 3000 riyals.

An interesting story has come out of Abyan about who was responsible for the ammunition factory explosion with resulted in the deaths of 150 people. A previously unknow Jihadi group in Jaar (the town housing the ammunition factory) has come forward claiming responsibility and saying that their group is not al-Qaeda but share the same vision as al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and also say their people wear the same clothes as Afghani people. I found this quite strange that this group has now emerged, I cannot hold the reports of this group with any credibility and will hazard a guess that this is a fabricated group made up by the Government to cover their possible involvement or implicity in the explosion.

Some interesting claims have been made that students from al-Eman University have been trained by the Ali Muhsin army and instructed to attack the Sana'a International Airport as well as government media. I am unable to confirm if such a plan was underway, but this is not the first time that students of al-Eman University have been accused of receiving military training from the army base that borders the university.

Meanwhile the value of the riyal is falling which is a problem for a country that imports almost all its food. This has been a long term prblem in Yemen and we could blame qat growing for that - agricultural sabotage and a government that seemed to encourage qat chewing perhaps as a means to pacify the population all these years.

Sh#% Rolls Down Hill

It has been 2 months since the anti-government sit in started at the front of Sana'a University, slowly growing and extending along the adjoining streets. The protesters have remained patient and not retaliated violently to violence metted out to them by government forces and their affiliates.

I applaud the audacity of the original sit-inners, but now the situation has become way too big for the youth and well, quite frankly they have bitten off more than they can chew and now need support, help and guidance from those older and more experienced.

Hearing statements from youth expressing disappointment that America has not been more helpful is one such naive idea I have found amongst youth activists. Or the call for democracy and freedom, not realising that democracy does not equate to freedom, but is a system that bends with the desires of the people, which may not always be in keeping with Islamic principles. A move further away from Islam is not a desireable outcome for Yemen or for the Ummah in general.

In fact no matter what system is in place after Saleh leaves, the situation for the people is going to be desperate. Poverty will increase, long with unemployment and lack of opportunities while the new leadership slowly combs out all the knots tied up by the current regime. The patience of the sit-inners will have to continue as all Yemeni hands work to clean up the mess, something that could take an entire generation, pending no future internal conflicts or messy foreign interventions.

Protesters have recently  taken to taking walks en masse around the areas near university and have attracted attacks from pro-government affilliates. Yesterday 4 were killed on the Sitteen not too far from Al-Eman University (which is in an Ali Muhsin army area), while on one of these walks. The protesters are frustrated that it is taking so long to dislodge the President and so need to push the point further. Continued killings have prompted responses from EU for the President to hand over power immediately, but America is still weak on resolve in this crisis wanting to support the President for his cooperation in the war on al-Qaeda, and in doing so, creating a police state which people can unite on in opposition to the Saleh regime and American foreign policy.

From what we can see, the President will cling to power as long as he can, buying time with agreements to GCC sponsored talks (which the opposition opposes as talks with the President are a waste of time, no talks until he is gone), and no one really knows how far the President will go in regards to military force upon protestors as well as opposition figures and their families. He may go so far as to "do a Gaddafi".

Allah protect us from such lunacy and strengthen us so not as to let such lunatics rule over the Muslims. Amin.

Cruising Through Town Before Curfew

Posted by Al-Ghariba

We were well aware of the state of emergency imposed curfew in the country, which is 9pm so we left our venue at 8pm. Due to road blocks and therefore plenty of doubling back as well as military checkpoints around the city, our time started to run short and we didn't want to break the curfew, although it is a common action.

We passed through the last military check point on our way to the Sitteen (major arterial road from north to south of Sanaa) and drove like Yemeni maniacs up the highway only to be stopped by yet another military checkpoint. No problem, and we were waved through and returned weaving at speed through traffic.

We had not gone even a few hundred metres when a group of soldiers ran out onto the street ahead of us with rifles at the ready pointed at us. So, we stopped, and I have to admit that my heart skipped a beat. These troops were from the Ali Muhsin part of the army which had defected to support the uprising. Once they saw that we were a car full of women they appologised and let us continue.

This sudden encounter however did not encourage us to change our driving style. But still it highlighted three things. One; erratic driving will arrouse the suspicions of soldiers patroling the streets. Two; avoid being out at night, especially foreigners. And thirdly, a new confusing situation has emerged where we do not really know which soldiers are from which army.

Ali Muhsin troops have most of the city and you are most likely to encounter them. Ali Saleh troops are mainly in the southern districts around the President's Palace, Saba'een and his big Masjid.

Take care and have an enjoyable revolution.

Stepping Up the Ante

Posted by Admin

This Friday, 25 March, the protesters have decided to march en masse upon the presidential palaces in all parts of the country. They will go armed with nothing but courage and steadfastness to the aim of deposing the President and his men. This day is being labelled "The Day of Creeping".

It is not likely that the president will welcome them openly, and all the palaces are now guarded with armoured vehicles and troops serving in the units commanded by and loyal to the sons of the President and his brothers.

Word from the protest scene is that the people are confident and unafraid of what might happen to them during this protest action. One protester intending to participate in the march said that he is not afraid to be killed because life without hope and future is like being dead anyway so he has nothing to lose in trying to change the situation even if it results in his death because he will be shaheed insha Allah and the people who remain can benefit from his actions, or he can survive and enjoy the victory. Surat al-Anfal 15-16 was then quoted:

“O you who believe! When you meet those who disbelieve in a battlefield, never turn your backs to them, and whoever turns his back to them on such a day unless it be a war strategy, or a retreat to a group (of your own for reinforcement), he indeed has drawn upon himself anger from Allah and his abode is Hell, and worst indeed is that destination.”

This upgrading in protest action, confidence and resoluteness could end in a number of ways.

1.       Troops guarding the palaces open fire and many protesters are killed but those not killed keep marching forward, their numbers being too many for the troops to resist and the people will take the palace.

2.       Troops guarding the palaces will open fire and then the defected army will decide to react in defence of the protesters and this will lead to the start of armed conflict between the two armies all over Yemen.

3.       Saleh will step down before Friday and mass march of protesters will be averted.

4.       Troops guarding the palaces will not defend and protesters will take the palaces unchallenged.

5.       The fifth is too ugly, and I dare not speak it, may Allah protect us from such carnage.

This is a very unusual Jihad, the unarmed Jihad, a very strange thing to behold in a land where almost everyone, young and old has a gun and often use it as a tool of justice in the case of disputes.

Sadly, a large portion of they youth reject free and fair Islamic rule feeling that the leaders will be harsh and everything will become haram. Some in their disgruntlement even uttered words of kufr. I cannot blame them for their dislike of the Islamic leaders in the country as they have become disconnected with the people.

The youth see the lives of the disbelievers as desirable and wish to copy them on that path. Having a good life with all the services and comforts in it is not haram but choosing the path of the disbelievers will only lead to further destruction of the Deen and the Ummah. We will see the result of our deeds on the Day of Recompense.

We ask Allah to make clean the intentions of those participating in this action and remind them that death in the cause of anything other than for the sake of Allah will not be accepted by Him. So don’t waste your opportunity to be Shaheed in His Sake and enjoy the rewards of the Shuhada’.

Allah protect the shabab al-Thawra and grant victory and true guidance upon the Straight Path. Amin