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!

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....  

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.

Dear Brother

Post sent to LPoY by brother "Abu Rasheed"

Dear Brother Anwar,

I hope you and your family are in good health and iman.

It's been a long time since we quenched our thirsts listening to your lectures. You changed our lives as we progressed from ignorance to understanding of our religion and great love of our Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him. Whenever a new lecture was available there'd be a great buzz, "have you heard the latest Anwar Lecture?" And if we hadn't we'd hunt down a recording.

When you were first arrested in Yemen we were all saddened. I remember sitting with my friends at a Friday gathering, all of us downcast and silent until one of us mentioned this hadith reported by Anas bin Malik.

"After the death of Rasool Allah (sas) Abu Bakr (ra) said to Umar (ra), "Let's  visit Umm Aiman (ra) as Rasool Allah used to visit her." As we came to her she wept. They (Abu Bakr and Umar) asked her, "What makes you weep? Do you not know that What Allah has in store for His Messenger is better?" She replied, "I don't weep because I am ignorant of the fact that what is in store for the Messenger of Allah is better than this world, but I weep because the Revelation has ceased to come." This moved both of them to tears and they began to weep along with her.
(Muslim)

We cannot imagine what it would have been like to be alive at the time of the death of Rasool Allah, but losing our language link to understanding what Allah the Most Merciful gave us through his Messenger was a blow to us and Allah swt did not replace you in your absence.

When you were released and started releasing lectures again it was as if the sun rose after a night of one and a half years. We don't forget you in our du'a. We hope this turmoil in the Arab lands will unearth more brothers like you who are honest and on the truth, who care about the Ummah and serve it sincerely, who think about akhira before duniya.

We love you for the sake of Allah brother Anwar.

Your brothers and sisters in Islam