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Archive for the 'Yemen' Category


Summary: Deputy al-Qaida leader Abu Yahya al-Libi has been killed in a U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan, Pakistan. Al-Libi, who escaped from a U.S. military prison at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan in 2005, was one of al-Qaida’s most influential propagandists and one of its most able leaders.



Summary: Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born Muslim cleric who played a significant operational role in al-Qaida, plotting and inspiring terrorist attacks on the United States, has been killed in a drone missile strike in Yemen. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 2, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that the U.S. State Department, responding to credible al-Qaida threats, issued a travel alert urging American citizens to be vigilant if they planned to travel in Europe. Officials did not identify specific targets, but thought terrorists might launch Mumbai-style “swarm attacks.”


May 7th, 2011

Summary: Radical American-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki escaped a U.S. drone attack in Yemen when a missile was fired at a car in southern Yemen, killing two brothers believed to be al-Qaida militants. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 7, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that alleged links between Faisal Shahzad’s Times Square bombing attempt and the Taliban are adding to perceptions of Pakistan as a global exporter of terror and increasing pressure on its military to crack down on extremists along the Afghanistan border. The Pakistani Taliban — Tehrik-e-Taliban — was hellbent on revenge inside America after a U.S. Predator drone attack killed its leader, Baitullah Mehsud, in August 2009 and more recent strikes that nearly killed Baitullah’s successor, Hakimullah Mehsud, in January 2010.


Mar 31st, 2011

Summary: The surging unrest in numerous countries in the Middle East and northern Africa is a complex and fast-moving story. To help make sense of it, msnbc.com asked experts to share their insights on the protests, answer readers’ questions, and explain why what happens in that volatile region matters. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on March 31, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that Iraq’s political disarray had deepened, with potential kingmaker Muqtada al-Sadr withholding his support from the two biggest election winners — the blocs of Ayad Allawi and Nouri al-Maliki — and saying he would ask his supporters to make their choice in a referendum.


Feb 14th, 2011

Summary: Protesters have taken to the streets in different corners of the Middle East: Iran’s beleaguered opposition stormed back to central Tehran and came under a tear gas attack by police, while demonstrators faced rubber bullets and birdshot to demand more freedoms in the relative wealth of Bahrain and protesters pressed for the ouster of the ruler in poverty-drained Yemen. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on February 14, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that Vice President Joe Biden belittled Dick Cheney’s criticism of the Obama administration’s commitment to fighting terrorism as either “misinformed” or “misinforming,” saying the Iraq war wasn’t worth it because of “the horrible price” paid.


Feb 3rd, 2011

Summary: More than 20,000 Yemenis filled the streets of Sanaa for a “day of rage” rally, demanding a change in government and saying President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s offer to step down in 2013 was not enough. The protest movement in the Middle East and North Africa also appears to be gaining momentum in Jordan, Syria, and Algeria. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on February 3, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, at a political forum in Rochester, Minn., made the wild claim that President Obama’s health reform proposals, beyond being “the crown jewel of socialism,” could lead to “gangster government” and “absolute abject corruption,” with people terrified to speak out against the government for fear of being blacklisted for denial of health care.


Feb 2nd, 2011

Summary: Heavy gunfire reverberated in central Cairo as supporters and foes of embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak continued to face off at Tahrir Square, where chunks of concrete and Molotov cocktails were employed as weapons in the escalating crisis. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on February 2, 2010, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.


Jan 31st, 2011

Summary: As Egyptians take to the streets to call for the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, some analysts caution about the prospect of protests in Egypt spreading across the Arab world, with popular revolt erupting in Middle Eastern countries such as Yemen, Jordan, Syria, and even Saudi Arabia, with grave implications for regional stability and U.S. national security interests. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 31, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that U.S. Special Forces working with Afghan commandos clashed with Afghan troops manning a snow-covered outpost and called in an airstrike, killing four Afghan soldiers in a case of mistaken identity. Separately, an Afghan interpreter killed two U.S. service members at a combat outpost and U.S. soldiers shot and killed an Afghan imam when his car approached a convoy.


Jan 5th, 2011

Summary: The Obama administration has ramped up its secret war on terror groups with a new military targeting center to oversee the growing use of special operations strikes against suspected militants in hot spots around the world. The creation of the center comes as part of the administration’s increasing reliance on clandestine and covert action to hunt terror suspects. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 5, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that Dr. Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, the 32-year-old Jordanian physician who struck the CIA’s Camp Chapman forward operating base in Khost province near the Afghan-Pakistan border on December 30, 2009 killing seven Central Intelligence Agency employees, matched the psychological profile of a specific type of suicide bomber.


Dec 28th, 2010

Summary: Fuad Mohamed “Shongole” Qalaf, leader of al-Shabab, Somalia’s al-Qaida-linked Islamist insurgency, is threatening to attack America. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 28, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that in the midst of two unfinished wars — Afghanistan and Iraq — the United States had quietly opened a third, largely covert, war front against Al Qaeda in Yemen.