SANAA: Ali Abdullah Saleh survived for decades as Yemen’s strongman, the master of shifting alliances, playing both sides — or flipping sides freely — in the multiple guerrilla conflicts and civil wars that tore apart his impoverished nation throughout his life. But his last switch proved his end.
Saleh, who was Yemen’s president for 33 years until he stepped down in 2012 amid an Arab Spring uprising, was killed on Monday by Houthi rebels whom he had once allied with in hopes of a return to power but then turned against in recent months.
A video circulating online showed Saleh’s body, his eyes open but glassy, motionless, blood staining his shirt and a gaping wound In his head.
His grisly end recalled that of his contemporary, Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi, whose body was shown being abused by the rebels who killed him in that country’s 2011 civil war.
During his rule, Saleh was known as the man who “dances on the heads of snakes” for his ability to manipulate friends and enemies alike, using patronage, family bonds and brute force. That skill enabled him to stay on top in the Arab world’s poorest nation and one of its most unstable, where tribal and regional alliances and the sheer geography of mountains and deserts made central rule weak.
In the 2000s, Saleh was a vital ally of the US in fighting Al-Qaeda’s branch in his country, a top priority for Washington after the branch tried to blow up a passenger jet and carry out other attacks on American soil. Even while taking millions in US aid, Saleh was suspected of striking deals with the militants and enlisting them to fight his battles.
After a popular uprising against his rule erupted in 2011, Saleh cannily managed to hang on to power for months, even surviving a bomb that detonated in the presidential palace mosque as he prayed there, severely burning him. Still, he stayed on, only finally resigning in early 2012 under a Saudi-brokered deal.
As president, Saleh fought multiple wars against the Houthi rebels in their heartland in northern Yemen, each time failing to crush them completely. Then after his fall, he allied with the Houthis against his own former vice president and successor, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi — most likely in the hope he could ride them back into power.
Saleh’s loyalist military units helped the Houthis overrun the capital, Sanaa, and much of the north and center of the country. Hadi fled, his government moved to the southern city of Aden, and Saudi Arabia and its allies launched a coalition air campaign in early 2015. Then in recent months, Saleh’s alliance with the Houthis fell apart as the rebels moved to weaken him and Saleh flirted with switching to side with the Saudi-led coalition.
Saleh rose to power in an era when Yemen was divided into two nations, north and south. He was born into a small tribe allied with one of the country’s mightiest clans, Al-Ahmar. He did not stay long in school, leaving before he was a teenager and enlisting in the armed forces. His age was not known for sure. His website gives his birth date as March 21, 1946, but many in Yemen say he was born four years earlier. On the other hand, he just happened to be 40 when he took power in 1978 — when the constitution said the president had to be 40. And in the 2006 election, official statements alternated between saying he was 64 and 65.
Whatever his age, Saleh was ambitious and soon caught the eye of North Yemen’s president, Ahmed bin Hussein Al-Ghashmi, who appointed him military chief in the city of Taiz, south of Sanaa.
Saleh’s moment came after a bomb in a briefcase killed Al-Ghashmi in June 1978. Within a month, Saleh was North Yemen’s president, backed by Saudi Arabia.
His reputation cemented as a tough leader, he also knew how to play Cold War politics. Marxist South Yemen was a Soviet client state, so Saleh reached out to Western leaders to leverage aid for North Yemen.
In 1990, with the Soviet Union unraveling, Saleh negotiated unity with the south, ensuring his place as the president. On May 22, 1990, he raised the flag of the Republic of Yemen at the southern port of Aden. Four years later, he crushed an attempt by the south to break free.
His powerful nexus of the military and tribes made him virtually untouchable. He also sought to harness a dangerous new force in the country. Arab militants who had fought the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s needed a new home, and the deal apparently offered by Saleh was sanctuary in exchange for respecting his authority.
In 2000 that legacy came back to haunt him when the Navy destroyer USS Cole was bombed in Aden harbor, killing 17 American sailors. Washington demanded that Saleh crack down on suspected militants.
Saleh’s efforts against extremist groups were widely criticized as spotty and ineffective.
In 2006, a band of Al-Qaeda militants made a bold escape from a Sanaa prison that US and Yemeni officials believed had help from regime insiders. The band went on to form Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the terror network’s Yemen branch. The group was linked to the attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day 2009 and shipments of explosive-rigged packages were intercepted in Britain and Dubai in 2010. Still, the US saw little choice but to partner with him.
Key dates in life of veteran
• March 21, 1942: Born to a North Yemen family linked to the Hashid tribal confederation.
• 1962: Joins the army. Takes part in the coup that replaces the Zaidi imamate with an Arab nationalist republic.
• 1978: Following the assassination of President Ahmad Al-Ghashmi, Saleh is elected president of North Yemen by a constituent assembly.
• 1990: He successfully steers the country to reunification with the communist south, becoming president of a unified Yemen.
• 1994: He crushes a secession bid in the south.
• 2004-2010: Saleh fights northern Houthi rebels, who like him belong to the Zaidi minority.
• 2012: Steps down on Feb. 27 after months of demonstrations against his 33-year rule, and after being wounded in a June 2011 attack.
• 2014: Saleh allies himself with his former enemies — the Houthis — who in 2015 seize the capital Sanaa, and briefly Aden in the south, which is quickly retaken by a Saudi-led coalition.
• 2017: Break-up of the alliance between Saleh and Houthi rebels, who shoot him dead on Dec. 4 south of Sanaa after he flees the city.
— AFP
Timeline of conflict since 2011 uprising
SANAA: Timeline of the conflict in Yemen since a 2011 uprising that toppled President Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose former Houthi allies said Monday had been killed.
Inspired by regional uprisings in the Arab Spring, Yemenis take to the streets in early 2011 to demand the departure of Saleh, who has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1978.
November 2011: Saleh agrees in to hand over power in exchange for immunity from prosecution for him and his family, after 11 months of protests and deadly clashes.
February 2012: As Saleh steps down, a presidential election is held. Saleh’s deputy and only candidate Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, seen as a man of consensus, is sworn in days later. Efforts to draw up a new constitution for Yemen face difficulties and tensions intensify.
2014: Houthis launch an offensive and push toward Sanaa from their northern stronghold of Saada, aiming to expand a hoped-for autonomy within a future federation.
Sept. 21, 2014: Houthis storm the capital and seize the government headquarters, state radio and military sites after days of clashes. More than 270 people are killed. The rebels, backed by Iran, forge an alliance with forces loyal to Saleh.
January 2015: The rebels and their allies have also taken control of the presidential palace. Hadi flees to Yemen’s second city, Aden, which he later declares as the “provisional capital.”
March 26, 2015: Nine regional countries in a Saudi-led Arab coalition launch operation “Decisive Storm” with airstrikes on the rebels to defend Hadi and his internationally recognized government. They claw back some territory but also have to deal with increasing attacks by terrorists allied to Al-Qaeda and Daesh.
2015 and 2016: The UN and US organize three rounds of fruitless peace talks. Seven truces are agreed, but all are broken.
Aug. 23, 2017: Splits emerge in the rebel camp, with the Houthis calling Saleh a “traitor” after he dismissed the Iran-backed group as a “militia” in a speech. The next day, hundreds of thousands of Yemenis attend a rally marking 35 years since the founding of Saleh’s General People’s Congress (GPC) in a major show of support. The tensions erupt into clashes between the allies in which a colonel loyal to Saleh and two rebels are killed.
Nov. 29: Violence erupts anew in Sanaa, killing and wounding dozens.
Dec. 2: Saleh reaches out to the Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthis, offering to “turn the page” if it lifts a crippling blockade on the country. The Houthis accuse him of staging a “coup against our alliance.”
Dec. 4: President Hadi orders his forces to retake control of Sanaa. The Houthi-controlled Interior Ministry announces the killing of Saleh, 75, as a video emerges showing what appears to be his body.
— AFP
Saleh ruled by shifting alliances as nation crumbled
Saleh ruled by shifting alliances as nation crumbled
Israel strikes south Lebanon, Aoun holds urgent talks to halt attacks
- Hezbollah field commander killed, civilians injured in 19 airstrikes across Nabatieh area
- Nawaf Salam condemned the Israeli strikes on Nabatieh and said the government was aiming to “put an end to the Israeli violations as soon as possible”
BEIRUT: Israel conducted heavy airstrikes in south Lebanon on Thursday, hitting targets north of the Litani River in violation of a US-brokered truce.
Following the strikes in the Nabatieh region, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun held urgent talks with high-level foreign contacts to halt the Israeli violations.
The airstrikes killed one person, reportedly a senior Hezbollah military leader, and led to multiple injuries, sparking panic in schools, universities and among residents.
Aoun followed up on security developments with army chief Gen. Rodolphe Haikal, receiving reports on the areas struck by the Israeli bombardment.
The Ministry of Health said that the initial death toll of the Israeli airstrikes on the outskirts of Nabatieh was one, with eight injured.
A source familiar with Aoun’s communications told Arab News: “The president’s contacts primarily involved the US and French sides, as they are sponsors of the ceasefire agreement and key members of the committee overseeing its implementation.”
The president reportedly called on the US and France “to pressure Israel to halt its attacks,” but the talks “did not yield any concrete guarantees.”
Israeli jets launched about 19 airstrikes on the area between Kfar Tebnit, Jabal Ali Taher, Nabatieh Al-Fawqa and Kafr Rumman, forming what resembled a ring of fire.
Containing valleys, hills and forests, the area is located about 4 km from the city of Nabatieh, which itself is 56 km from Beirut.
The unprecedented Israeli attack on the region, untouched since the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on Nov. 27, specifically targeted the Ali Taher area, considered a Hezbollah-controlled security zone.
Hezbollah reportedly lost one of its top military commanders, Abu Hussein Shahrour, who, according to reporters in the region, “was one of the party’s key fighters and played a pivotal role in the 1997 Sajd operation against the Israeli occupation.”
According to Israeli media, a “senior source” in the Israeli army said the military “attacked a significant target in southern Lebanon, consisting of underground infrastructure.”
Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the target “was used to manage the fire and defense systems of the Hezbollah terrorist organization.”
According to Adraee, the airstrikes “targeted personnel, combat equipment and wells. The site in question was part of a strategic underground project and was put out of service as a result of the strikes.”
He added that “the site and activities there are a blatant violation of the understanding between Israel and Lebanon.”
The Israeli army “will continue to act to eliminate any threat to Israel’s security and will prevent any attempt to rebuild Hezbollah’s capabilities,” Adraee said.
The Israeli army’s Northern Command said it would maintain its “offensive policy” against Hezbollah.
The airstrikes and massive explosions triggered loud bangs that echoed throughout Nabatieh and the south.
Residents near the targeted areas rushed to evacuate their children from schools, and most official departments shut down.
Later, the Israeli army opened fire with machine guns on a civilian vehicle on the Odaisseh-Kafr Kila road in the border area.
The car sustained damage. However, the female driver and her daughter escaped unharmed.
Meanwhile, in the morning, Israeli aircraft dropped leaflets on several areas in the south, resembling banknote-like papers that carried incendiary phrases against Hezbollah. These included: “Hezbollah’s dollar is haram (forbidden in Islam) and will not benefit you after it destroyed your house and displaced your family.”
Another said: “Do not miscalculate things and do not accept the yellow dollar.”
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the Israeli strikes on Nabatieh and said the government was aiming to “put an end to the Israeli violations as soon as possible.”
He added: “The government has spared no diplomatic effort to stop these actions and ensure Israel’s withdrawal from the hills it still occupies.”
Salam, accompanied by a ministerial delegation, traveled to Baalbek in the morning on a Lebanese army helicopter and inspected the border plains with Syria.
He has repeatedly called for Lebanon to ramp up its border security.
Salam called for strengthened security measures during a security meeting at Baalbek Serail, highlighting the need to “maintain stability and ensure successful municipal elections with complete transparency and integrity” throughout the governorate.
Meeting with local representatives, the premier announced progress on establishing a cannabis regulatory authority, describing it as a pathway “to transition toward a development-based economy benefiting regional residents.”
Salam was unequivocal that “neither security nor development can function through arbitrary measures.”
He highlighted the urgent need to resolve transportation challenges between Beirut and the Bekaa Valley, while advocating for Baalbek’s restoration as a premier tourist destination in Lebanon.
Salam also visited the Masnaa border crossing with Syria, receiving detailed security briefings from military personnel on site.
“The Masnaa crossing serves as a vital gateway for both the Bekaa and Lebanon as a whole. It must operate according to the highest technical and security standards rather than succumbing to disorder or discretionary practices,” Salam said.
He added that advanced scanning equipment would soon be installed “to facilitate goods movement, enhance transparency and enable properly regulated land exports of Lebanese products.”
Salam said that transforming the border crossing “from a vulnerability into a symbol of state effectiveness” represents a critical first step in broader reforms.
“This is where change begins — with Lebanon fully reclaiming control of its borders and converting them into gateways for legitimacy and order, not channels for chaos and violations.”
Released Palestinian student to help launch immigrant legal aid initiative in Vermont
- Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led protests against Israel’s war in Gaza at Columbia University, spent 16 days in a state prison
- “We will not fear anyone because our fight is a fight for love, a fight for democracy, a fight for humanity,” Mahdawi told supporters
VERMONT: A Palestinian student arrested during an interview about finalizing his US citizenship is helping to launch an initiative to help other immigrants facing deportation in Vermont on Thursday, a week after a federal judge freed him from custody.
Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led protests against Israel’s war in Gaza at Columbia University, spent 16 days in a state prison before a judge ordered him released on April 30. The Trump administration has said Mahdawi should be deported because his activism threatens its foreign policy goals, but the judge ruled that he has raised a “substantial claim” that the government arrested him to stifle speech with which it disagrees.
Immigration authorities have detained college students from around the country since the first days of the Trump administration. Many of them participated in campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war, which has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians. Mahdawi was among the first to win his freedom after challenging his arrest.
“Justice is inevitable. We will not fear anyone because our fight is a fight for love, a fight for democracy, a fight for humanity,” Mahdawi told supporters outside the courthouse last week.
He will join Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak, Senate Majority Leader Kesha Ram Hinsdale and community advocates at the Statehouse to announce the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund. The group, which also includes lawyers and philanthropists, says the goal is to improve access to legal advice for immigrants and build long-term infrastructure within the justice system as it pertains to immigration law.
Members of Vermont’s congressional delegation have spoken up on Mahdawi’s behalf, as have state politicians. Vermont’s House and Senate passed resolutions condemning the circumstances of his detention and advocating for his release and due process rights.
Republican Gov. Phil Scott has said there is no justification for the manner in which Mahdawi was arrested, at an immigration office in Colchester.
“Law enforcement officers in this country should not operate in the shadows or hide behind masks,” the governor said the next day. “The power of the executive branch of the federal government is immense, but it is not infinite, and it is not absolute.”
Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident, was born in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. At Columbia, he organized campus protests and co-founded the Palestinian Student Union with Mahmoud Khalil, another Palestinian permanent resident of the US and graduate student who was arrested in March.
His release, which is being challenged by the government, allows him to travel outside of his home state of Vermont and attend his graduation from Columbia in New York later this month.
UN chief voices ‘grave concern’ after Sudan’s aid hub rocked by 5 days of drone attacks
- Port Sudan is the country’s main entry point for humanitarian aid
- Country’s brutal civil war has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions
NEW YORK CITY: The UN secretary-general has voiced “grave concern” over repeated drone attacks on the eastern Sudanese city of Port Sudan, the country’s main entry point for humanitarian aid.
The city faced a new drone strike on Thursday for the fifth consecutive day amid a fierce confrontation between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces paramilitary.
The attacks have led to an exodus of civilians from the city, which hosts UN offices and aid agencies, and is the seat of power of the army-backed government.
Sudanese army officials have blamed the RSF for the strikes, which have targeted the city’s port, largest operational fuel depot, central power station and airport, among other sites.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the attacks “threaten to increase humanitarian needs and further complicate aid operations in the country,” his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said on Wednesday.
“The secretary-general is alarmed at the expansion of the conflict into an area that has served as a place of refuge for large numbers of people displaced from the capital, Khartoum, and other areas,” he added.
Sudan’s brutal two-year-long civil war has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 13 million.
The conflict has created “the biggest humanitarian crisis ever recorded,” the International Rescue Committee has said.
“The secretary-general reiterates that all parties to the conflict must comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law,” Dujarric said.
“They must not direct attacks against civilians and civilian objects; must take all feasible precautions to avoid, and in any event to minimize, incidental civilian casualties; and must allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need.”
Almost all humanitarian aid enters the Northeast African country through Port Sudan.
The Chinese Embassy in Sudan on Thursday called on all Chinese citizens to leave the country as soon as possible.
Guterres is “concerned at the lack of political will of the parties to return to the negotiating table, preferring instead to continue pursuing their military objectives,” Wednesday’s statement said.
“The secretary-general calls on the parties to engage constructively with the mediation support mechanisms already in place to assist the parties to reach a political solution, underscoring the UN’s continued support to help find a way out of this crisis.
“He renews his call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and stresses that dialogue is the only way to achieve the peace that the people of Sudan demand.”
Syria believed to make no purchase in 100,000 T wheat tender, traders say
- Traders said Syria could issue a new purchase tender soon
- Shipment was sought within 45 days from the contract award
HAMBURG: A Syrian state grains agency is believed to have made no purchase in an international tender seeking 100,000 metric tons of milling wheat which closed in April, European traders said on Thursday.
Traders said Syria could issue a new purchase tender soon.
Shipment was sought within 45 days from the contract award.
Syria had bought about 100,000 tons of wheat in its previous tender reported on March 25, which was believed to be the first large purchase tender since the change of power in Syria late last year.
But the donation by Iraq of 220,000 tons of wheat to Syria was expected to be used for Syria’s immediate import requirements, traders said.
Chinese embassy in Sudan urges citizens to evacuate amid security concerns
- The embassy warned of dwindling supplies of water, electricity and fuel
BEIJING: The Chinese embassy in Sudan on Thursday issued a statement urging Chinese citizens in the country to evacuate as soon as possible, citing deteriorating security situation and rising security risks.
The embassy warned of dwindling supplies of water, electricity and fuel, and advised citizens to evacuate via ships to Saudi Arabia or available international flights, or to travel by land to Egypt.
