US military evacuates embassy personnel from Yemen

[Vikrant]

WASHINGTON: The US military evacuated non-essential US government personnel from Yemen on Tuesday due to the high risk of a probable attack by al-Qaida that has caused temporary shutdowns of 19 American diplomatic posts across the Middle East and Africa.

The state department said in a travel warning that it ordered the evacuation "due to the continued potential for terrorist attacks" and said US citizens in Yemen should leave immediately because of an "extremely high" security threat level. The embassy is located in Sanaa, the capital.

Yemeni security officials said a suspected US drone strike early on Tuesday killed four alleged al-Qaida members in the volatile eastern province. The drone fired a missile at a car carrying the four men, setting it on fire, the officials said. It wasn't immediately clear if the decision to evacuate the embassy, made earlier, was connected to the drone strike.

Yemeni officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to talk to the media, said they believe one of the dead is Saleh Jouti, a senior al-Qaida member. It's the fourth drone attack in the past two weeks to hit a car believed to be carrying al-Qaida members.

Pentagon press secretary George Little said the US Air Force transported state department personnel out of Sanaa early on Tuesday.

A senior defense official said on Tuesday that between 50 and 100 diplomatic personnel were flown out of Sanaa in a military transport and were taken to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The official was not authorized to discuss the information publicly, so spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said dozens of military troops remain in the country, including those who were handling security at the embassy and others conducting training with Yemeni troops.

Britain's foreign office also announced that it had evacuated all staff from its embassy in Yemen due to security concerns. The office said the British embassy staff were "temporarily withdrawn to the UK" on Tuesday, but declined further comment. Previously, UK had said the embassy would be closed until the end of the Muslim festival of Eid later this week.

The state department on Sunday closed a total of 19 diplomatic posts until next Saturday. They include posts in Bangladesh and across North Africa and the Middle East as well as East Africa, including Madagascar, Burundi, Rwanda and Mauritius.

A US intelligence official and a Mideast diplomat told The Associated Press that the current shutdown of embassies in the Middle East and Africa was instigated by an intercepted secret message between al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri and Nasser al-Wahishi, the leader of the Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, about plans for a major terror attack. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

AQAP has been widely considered al-Qaida's most dangerous affiliate.

Officials say al-Zawahri, who took over for Osama bin Laden and works from Pakistan, has reached out to the Yemeni branch, cementing their ties and further signalling that the AQAP is once again looking to target US and Western interests after a sustained period of more local and regional focus.

The latest warnings raise questions about how successful America's anti-terrorism effort has been and whether al-Qaida has been able to reorganize and reconstitute itself since bin Laden's death in Pakistan in May 2011.

Although US officials agreed a year ago to restart military aid to Yemen, it's unclear how much of the new aircraft and weapons have arrived. The US military is once again on the ground there, training Yemeni special operations forces and has delivered more than a dozen helicopters to the Yemeni military and provided training for them, US defense officials said.

US military evacuates embassy personnel from Yemen - The Times of India

 

[Warrior102]

It's called "RETREAT."
Another brilliant move by our Commander In Chump.

 

[waltky]

possum scared of `em, but not Granny - she'd whup `em with one hand tied behind her back...

Why al-Qaeda in Yemen scares the West
6 August 2013 > Whatever plot the US eavesdroppers overheard the top two al-Qaeda leaders discussing clearly rattled the US intelligence community so badly that Washington shut 19 of its diplomatic missions around the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

In the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, where the threat of attack is considered greatest, the UK, France and Germany have also shut their embassies. The British embassy has emptied completely, with all remaining British staff leaving the country on Tuesday, while the US air force flew out American personnel. So just what is it about al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen that triggers such warning bells in Washington? Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP), al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen, is not the biggest offshoot of the late Osama Bin Laden's organisation, nor is it necessarily the most active - there are other, noisier jihadist cells sprawled across Syria and Iraq, engaged in almost daily conflict with fellow Muslims.

But Washington considers AQAP to be by far the most dangerous to the West because it has both technical skills and global reach. Plus it is loyal to the nominal al-Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and what remains of the group's core leadership hiding in Pakistan. For the West, AQAP presents three dangers:

* locally, to western embassies and citizens in Yemen
* inspirationally, to potential jihadists around the world through its online magazine Inspire
* globally, by putting bombs on planes

AQAP has form. In August 2009, its master bomb-maker Ibrahim al-Asiri, a Saudi national, built an explosive device so hard to detect it was either packed flat next to the wearer's groin or perhaps even concealed inside his body. He then sent his brother Abdullah, a willing volunteer, as a human bomb to blow up the Saudi prince in charge of counter-terrorism. He very nearly succeeded. Pretending he wanted to give himself up, Abdullah al-Asiri fooled Saudi security into letting him get right next to Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef before the device was detonated, possibly remotely by mobile phone. The blast blew the bomber in half, but with most of the explosive force directed downwards, the prince had a miraculous escape with only a damaged hand. AQAP boasted that it would try again and it did.

In December 2009, Ibrahim al-Asiri devised another device to put on a volunteer, this time a young Nigerian called Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He was able to fly all the way from Europe to Detroit with a viable explosive device hidden in his underpants, a massive failure of intelligence and security. But when he tried to light it as the plane approached Detroit airport, he was spotted, overpowered, arrested and convicted of the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. As Western intelligence heads scrambled to assess this new development, the British government decided to raise the UK national terror threat level to "critical", its highest ever. (It has since dropped back down to "substantial", the third highest of five.)

Drone attacks

See also:

US special forces on alert overseas to strike any potential Al Qaeda targets
August 5th, 2013 > American special forces units overseas have been on alert for the past several days for a mission to attack potential al Qaeda targets if those behind the most recent terror threats against U.S. interests can be identified, a senior Obama administration official told CNN.

The official declined to identify the units or their locations because of the sensitive nature of the information. The units, along with several others, were put on heightened alert by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last week.

The United States closed embassies and consulates across an area of Africa and the Middle East and imposed a global travel alert for Americans following threats against U.S. interests described as serious and credible.

An intercepted message among senior al Qaeda operatives in the last several days raised concerns that led to the closures, CNN has learned. Three sources said the United States has information that members of the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula are in the final stages of planning an unspecified attack.

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/...eas-to-strike-any-potential-al-qaeda-targets/

Related:

What al Qaeda wants to do
August 6th, 2013 > The revelation that al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has been communicating directly with the group's Yemeni franchise about future operations is causing plenty of consternation among western counter-terrorism officials.

It suggests a heightened level of co-ordination between al Qaeda 'central' and its branches, and an initiative by Zawahiri to leverage instability in places far away from his hideout – thought to be somewhere along the Pakistan-Afghan border. There are still few confirmed specifics about the nature of the plot that Zawahiri was supposedly discussing with Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). But he has clearly identified that group as an effective affiliate, possibly the one best placed to attack U.S. interests directly.

U.S. officials were concerned that a plot was timed to go into operation to coincide with the end of Ramadan, which has often been a period of increased terrorist activity. The Muslim holy month ends on Wednesday. "The security threat level in Yemen is extremely high," the State Department announced in a travel advisory on Tuesday, while repeating guidance that all U.S. citizens should leave the country. Britain suspended operations at its embassy in Sanaa indefinitely and has withdrawn its staff.

AQAP active

The Yemeni government also acknowledged the threat, issuing a list of the 25 most dangerous terrorists in the country and promising a reward for information leading to the capture of any of them. It has also bolstered security throughout the capital. Over the past 13 years, al Qaeda has seen Yemen as one of its most promising hunting grounds – beginning with the attack on the USS Cole in the port of Aden in 2000. In the middle of Ramadan in September 2008, Wuhayshi orchestrated a complex attack on the U.S. embassy in Sanaa – one of the most heavily fortified diplomatic missions in the world. Although the attackers did not breach the perimeter, at least six Yemeni guards and four civilians were killed in an assault that involved suicide bombers driving vehicles packed with explosives, snipers and rocket propelled grenades.

More recently, AQAP was responsible for the attempted "underwear bombing" that targeted a U.S. airliner over Detroit and the successful dispatch of printer bombs as air cargo destined for the United States. Only a Saudi intelligence tip at the last moment led to the discovery of those explosives. Another plot was thwarted last year because the intended suicide bomber was a Saudi informant. Last September 11, three or four Yemeni AQAP operatives participated in the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, several counter-terrorism sources have told CNN. Western intelligence officials suspect they were dispatched by the group to take part, but have not ruled out that they were already in eastern Libya and decided to join in.

Drone attacks

 

[Whereisup]

Actually, Obama was never a military expert. So when the generals and top intelligence officers talk to him and say that they are the experts and they know what to do, he tends to do what they suggest. So would you if you were face to face with a number of generals and intelligence experts.

We do have an opportunity, but I myself don't know how to cash in on it.

The majority of Muslims don't like the Islamic Fundamentalist terrorists. After all, consider how many Muslims that terrorist bombers kill and main in their own nations. The terrorists even bomb mosques. If someone claimed to be a Christian terrorist and bombed churches, that would not be approved of by most Christians. Also, the terrorists bomb markets where mothers with children are shopping, bomb weddings, and much more.

So, we have most Muslims opposed to the terrorists.

How can we work with that?

Jim

 

[waltky]

Uncle Ferd says, "Yea - kill `em all, let God sort `em out...

Yemen: 12 Suspected Militants Killed in US Drone Strikes
August 09, 2013 > Yemeni officials say three more drone strikes have killed at least 12 suspected militants, as the U.S. expands its fight against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

Security officials say the Thursday attacks targeted al-Qaida militants driving in cars in Hadramout and Marib provinces. Seven U.S. drone attacks in the past two weeks have killed at least 30 alleged terrorists in Yemen. On Wednesday, Yemen said it foiled al-Qaida plots to seize a port city and Western-run oil terminal. Yemen has boosted security in the capital, Sanaa, and elsewhere.

Predator B unmanned aircraft taxis at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The U.S. and Britain have evacuated diplomatic staff from the country because of a threat by AQAP, al-Qaida's Yemeni branch. Eighteen other U.S. diplomatic missions in the Middle East and Africa will stay closed through at least Saturday because of the threat. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has arrested two suspects who may have been planning attacks against Western embassies. The SPA state news agency said Thursday the men - a Chadian and a Yemeni - had contacts with AQAP and were discussing "impending suicide operations."

U.S. intelligence late last week intercepted electronic conversations in which the al-Qaida chief in Pakistan, Ayman al-Zawahri, ordered the head of its branch in Yemen to carry out an attack. But the two terrorists did not specify exactly where and when the attacks would take place. The U.S. has acknowledged carrying out drone strikes against suspected al-Qaida militants in Yemen, but does not comment on individual incidents.

Yemen: 12 Suspected Militants Killed in US Drone Strikes