From Azzan to Zinjibar… Half a month with Ansar Al-Sharia By: Amjad Khashaqa
A tank taken by Al-Qaeda in 7 October factory
The one who sees isn’t like the one who listens… That’s a rule which is part of the literature of the journalist searching for the news in the arena of political recruitment for every event, since the Yemeni arena has speculations more than the lived reality until the Westerners became reading the Yemeni scene better than the Yemenis themselves, just because for their impartiality to reality whatever it may be… for them or against them. What is happening in the far south of Yemen in the city of Abyan in particular was not immune from being exploited by the events and battles from the media irritability, that’s why we had to come closer in a journey that isn’t dangerous as some think or as I have personally imagined, until suspicion possessed my mind and took my thinking, because those masked with a black veil or the bombers who we saw previously were forced to hid or cover up from the cameras and avoid having being interviewed by a journalist… But today the events and revolutions left a wide space to appear and control large areas as was said by Anwar AlAwlaki “the Arab revolutions provided an opportunity to the Islamic groups to breath and deliver it’s voice…” as well as what is happening now by Ansar AlSharia from seizing wide areas from Azzan, Shabwa to Zinjibar, Abyan under a social environment where citizens under the rule of Ansar Al-Sharia. This is the center of our visit that was an invitation from one of Ansar Al-Sharia after reading
he read to me before three months a long study about reality there in one of the Yemeni newspapers. He said that is was near to reality offering me a journalist visit and field reconnaissance so I accepted the visit… without going to details about how we reached Azzan… In Azzan… We reached the city of Azzan in the province of Shabwa, in other words out of the control of the state and entering in the geographical framework where the Ansar Al-Sharia group exists, which extends from Azzan to Zinjibar, since governance became under their control… we didn’t know then what the citizens suffered there from security breakdown. That land was imbibed with the sweeping flood of fighting to be focused in the concourse of Azzan… This is what we felt from the citizens who misery appeared on them and were tired by difficult life, while the oil pipelines passed through their barren land to other countries in a cheap price. In the past years there has been a mobility regarding the cheap and inauspicious deals of the Yemeni government selling gas that is estimated with one million unit at 3.2 dollars when the price of the same quantity in other countries reached 11.38 dollars. This deal made the country lose more than 60 billion over 20 years. Azzan region is considered a breather for Ansar Al-Sharia and a shelter for the fighters who return from Zinjibar, despite of that wasn’t safe from the air bombardment that tracks continuously the figures of the fighters, since the warplanes in its latest operation in Mid-October managed to target a group on the road that leads to Azzan, which was mentioned in the American media that it targeted Ibrahim Al- Bana, Egyptian national, but in fact he wasn’t present there according to statements issued by Al-Qaeda organization. This bombardment lead to the apprehension of the citizens so some of them displaced to the city to avoid the repeat of the bombardment, but that cannot be because the fighters promised to strike the oil pipelines in case the air strikes were repeated on the region, which is what they did immediately three hours after the bombardment until it became a danger to the Western interests since the supplies in that region are allocated to France. But the presence of Ansar Al-Sharia is a burden to some extent on the population that even one of them commented on that bombardment by saying: “If America manufactured silent missiles, so if it wishes to target us there won’t scare the souls of the citizens”.
Here the fighters from Ansar Al-Sharia try to have a real presence which offers services in all fields to the citizens, from establishing security and answering the demands of the citizens, since they are convinced that implementing the Sharia is a base for the revival of the Ummah, relying on implementing the Hudud (prescribed penalties), especially after Yemen in general witnessed in all the cities a security breakdown, especially the southern regions when the power of the state shattered with a simultaneous inciting against it… Several cases remained unresolved for many years in the (secular) courts before it were settled in the courts of Ansar Al-Sharia as it will mentioned in detail later. We reached Azzan in a dark night, but as soon as the night ended we saw many people… non-stopping patrols… fighters in the ports of the city… at least one kiosk for selling Jihadi nasheeds that don’t have tambour… a closed bank which has millions or billions heavily guarded… warplanes roaming like bees that never leave the skies… etc. On that day they had entertainment activities and a meeting in the Radum area which is located south east of the city almost 30 kilometers away from it, near the Arabian Sea; we were with them after offering them the idea to go out... A celebration was held attended by the citizens, most of it had an entertainment and humor nature and it ended with an identification of Ansar Al-Sharia group. In the celebration there a crowd of people that surrounded them like a necklace to a neck. I met on that occasion the one who raises with his voice the morals of the fighters… the first Munshid of Al-Qaeda organization in the Arabian Peninsula, who was called Abu Hajjar from the city of Hadramout and one of the 62 who escaped from political security prison in Hadramout. He was accused of that he was going to Iraq and was convicted for creating an armed group... He stayed there for three years then he came out from it as was narrated in the “Story of the Escape” video... to become now the first Munshid of Al-Qaeda in Yemen. He told me that he wrote most of the poems that he chants now on the wall of the prison, because the pens were banned or he would try to memorize it… Abu Hajjar didn’t forget the efforts of the Yemeni revolutionaries, a reverence to their withstand, he said that he has several releases that will be issued, he dedicated a nasheed to the revolutionaries in Yemen, which a part of it was in the video “One Ummah”, another documentary published by Al-Malahim. I asked him about the purpose of that, he answered me: “So that we make the others that we are one Ummah and aren’t separated by whims, but rather the Islamic Sharia bring us together. Khanfar directorate... an end to a frightening history
We reached after a long journey from Azzan to the city of Jaar, after a full eight hours passed we had to cut a great distance between the two cities, to find ourselves in a city that was a fertile ground for corruption to swell and horror and killing to rule in it, leaving the citizen to reap the bitter fruit of all that. Jaar is one of cities of Abyan, and it’s the capital of the Khanfar directorate. It remained a long period of time live a state of security breakdown due to the weak control of the state and government in the government facilities, which lead to the creation of gangs and blocs that pursue the method of plundering the money of the people who they oppress. Jaar was the first city to fall in the hands of Ansar Al-Sharia, which became a base to distribute the groups of fighters to the rest of the cities of the province of Abyan. Historically Jaar is the most prominent city to harbor the Jihadis who come from Afghanistan after the war against the USSR in 1989 and to the end of the nineties of the past centuries. So it created small hidden groups in the center of Jaar in during 1992 to 1993. Their plan was in the beginning was to target the regime of the socialist party in the South because of the saying of sheikh Osama bin Laden “May I not live if the socialist party in southern Yemen lives” because it’s just as bad in their view as the USSR due to the intellectual rapprochement between them... At that time, the first special operation was executed which lead to the killing of two American soldiers who were on their way to Somalia in the framework of the Operation Restore Hope. After that the circle of the Jihadis expanded, so they had camps on the mountain of Hatat and they participated in the war of 1994 against the socialist regime. After that they weren’t pleased with the Northern regime which was legitimate then, so when it declared a “democratic state”, also Abu Al-Hassan Al-Muhdar and his companions declared war in the city of Jaar against the Northern regime in 1996. The atmosphere in those days in Jaar was an enabling environment for the Jihadi gatherings so they were able to mobilize supporters until the declaration of the Aden Abyan army in 1998 under the leadership of Abu Al-Hassan Al-Muhdar. After that Al-Muhdar became wanted for the Yemeni government for intercepting French tourists and killing some of them, so he was arrested and prosecuted, and the matter ended in killing him in 1999. But killing of the individuals for the Jihadis is considered a way to empowerment and doesn’t resemble the end of the ember of jihad, but rather it keeps the soul that stimulates moral and the memory
of the hero remains stuck in the mind of who come after him, that’s why the city of Jaar remained in a state of tension until the revolution happened, so it was the first city the Ansar Al-Sharia controls. The citizens in Jaar speak about tell about the tragic history under the fragile security a few years ago which makes us ask the citizens about that. Ali Abduh Ali says – one of the citizens of Jaar - “The government facilities with all its sections were out of the law, they left the continuous conflicts between the citizens without solving. So bribery became widespread in a way that you couldn’t deal with all our problems except with money, even if you entered jails to visit one of your relatives you only enter with a bribe or no one is allowed to visit and we were in a difficult situation of life and that’s why it was a very heavy burden for us”. And he adds: “But today to some extent the situation is good… There were some aid from Ansar Al-Sharia in the beginning but it stopped now. The biggest thing that we suffer from now is the armed gangs and the frequent thefts”. And the citizen Mohammed Salih Al-Saadi (arms seller): “Robbery reached in this region an incomparable status, and plunder was a model. Especially who came from the northern areas, people who used to come to the market of Jaar felt regional intolerance from some of the influential people, and those who had merchandise from the north were being harassed. But now despite of what Jaar has exposed to previously from aerial bombardment but the robbery isn’t as before, because Ansar Al-Sharia executed some Hudud through the courts that are present in Jaar. Implementation of the Hudud We tried to search for one who the Haad (singular of Al-Hudud). We found one incidentally on the road between Zinjibar and Jaar. The Haad that was implemented on him is the Haad of robbery for being accused of stealing some public property, Khalid Abdulaziz from the Al-Hajr region that is located between Jaar and Zinjibar; he was the second to have this Haad implemented on him. He did that act more than once and the Haad wasn’t implemented on him except after the accusation was proved against him and direct confession, Khalid says: “Ansar Al-Sharia implemented the Hudud against the committers of the crimes. My case was among several crimes, which was robbery that became common in our region due to the high level of poverty and hunger which forced me to steal. I’m not a thief but conditions forced me to that, and I acknowledge my crime”.
I asked him: “Do you accept this act – I mean the Hudud -? one of his friends answered: “Yes… Yes, this is the Sharia of Allah and we are pleased with it”… This was repeated by all who were around him. After implementing the Haad of theft by amputating his right hand from the palm he was commiserated with 120 thousand Riyals. I asked immediately how are Hudud implemented on the citizens in the conditions of poverty and deficiency, when Hudud weren’t implemented for a awhile in the time of the Omar bin Al-Khattab in the year of Al-Ramada (Cinders)?... we searched for an answer, so we found the judge Abu Bishr in the court of Jaar of Ansar Al-Sharia. He was a slim man with medium height, wearing a turban not similar to that of judges, but he was vicious, courteous in his answering like his ruling. * I asked him: “How do you rule Jaar?”. - The judge: “When we declared jihad for the sake of Allah which it’s big goal is to implement the Sharia of Allah which He ordered the people to implement and it has in it their security and stability. When we began to spread that and inform it to the people we said to them we have came to you to implement the Sharia of Allah in its general content because some people imagine that Sharia is only implementing the Hudud, but rather the religion of Allah is wider and more generous than that. So the people received this with welcome and rejoicing because the people are Muslims and they want the Sharia of Allah that was lost and removed by the hands of the tyrants centuries ago, and we began in that… and cases came to us, one case after another, and we began to solve it with the people, and they accepted it. I give you an example: cases of lands and denying of rights… here people and some tribes deny the women their rights like inheritance and other, so these rights have to be returned to its people”. He continues: “You also talked about the theft and gangs. Yes there were gangs and there were some robbery by some of the blocs, but Alhamdulillah when we came and declared that who will assault any Muslim in his honor or property or religion the Haad will be implemented on him. And we contacted these gangs so that they lay down their arms because its illegitimate to assault on the honors of the people. We have captured a group of these bandits, and it was recorded and we have the tape. The motivation was khat and drug pills, so the Sharia of Allah was implemented on them and we used to say to them “do you have any justification?”, they used to confess on themselves. But what was circulated by some of the media that one of those who the Haad was implemented on them had died due to the amputation that’s all fabrication. Of course, after implementing the
Haad we gave them some aid to help them to do good so that they begin a new life, and the people were optimistic and especially the cases about drugs because we fought it fiercely and implemented the Hudud on them. * You are speaking about those who you implemented the Haad like the alcohol drinkers and users of drug pills and others, but one who I have met and the Haad of robbery was implemented on him and he committed it only because of need and poverty is present largely in Yemen in general and Jaar in particular and you also know that Omar bin Al-Khattab lifted implementing that Haad in the year of AlRamada, so how do you implement it on the citizens? - Of course, those who we implemented on them the Hudud as you said previously most of them were youth and are capable of working and methods of working are many in the region. There isn’t a famine there as many claim and the thieves made this a justification for stealing, but those who we implemented on them the Haad before that we examined their social status from their relatives... They didn’t steal because of need but they stole to get khat and drug pills and they confessed about that themselves. When we capture a thief we study his social status from all aspects then if it was as they said were poor... in that case we delay the case... Now we have thieves who we haven’t implemented the Haad on them and cut their hand because they claim that they are poor. * How many Haad did you implement? - The Haad of robbery was implemented on two in Jaar. * And the other Hudud? - We implemented the Haad of murder on two persons who killed intentionally and we implemented on them the Haad and of course we tried before that to reconcile between the people of the killed. We went to them and tried to give them the Diyah (blood money) and all what they want but they refused except for the Haad to be implemented on the murderer, so he was killed. * You as a judge, when you implemented the Hudud in Jaar, do you see that robbery has decreased or not? - Before we implement the Hudud there was 15 to 20 robberies in the single day this is often... and sometimes robbing the homes on an ongoing basis. When we declared the Hudud and cut hands, I say without exaggeration, to some extent
90%, we didn’t we robbery and even assault on the public property like wires. To this day no one came to us being accused of theft. * Did the citizens support you when you implemented the Hudud? - You go out and ask about that matter, regarding us when we conduct interviews after the Hudud we find them happy, because we cannot oppose this Sharia of Allah and we cannot hear the words of the orientalists who accuse Islam with barbarity when implementing Hudud and they portray that this is horrendous and an offense. Allah preserved the hand when it maintained itself, but Allah humiliates it when it humiliates itself by assaulting the rights of others. Robbery in origin is one of the most criminal matters because it steals the honors of others, and that’s why Allah undervalued this hand when it assaulted the rights of the others, but when it preserves itself and was generous and when it was assaulted Allah made its value great. Zinjibar and the line of fire The city of Zinjibar became empty from the population and citizens, and no one lives in it except the DC and howitzer rocket launchers and anti-aircraft warfare are distributed on every house. You can’t find a house not effected with the destructive war, like every house was meant to be targeted, but the governmental installations and public facilities was the most destructed, and that was for the estimation of the Yemeni army that members of Al-Qaeda are present in it because the citizens don’t enter their homes. That’s why the building of the province on the entrance of Zinjibar was shelled with missiles, moreover targeting the museum which is located in the center of the city which cost the state to build huge sums of money estimated in one billion Yemeni Riyal. The fighters of Al-Qaeda organization barred entry to it due to the indiscriminate shelling from the 25th Mechanised Brigade and the central security. We visited all the locations of the city and we found one of the most destroyed neighborhoods, which became a pile of scattered stones, and we found a sign written on it (the Bajdaar area). Bajdaar... ruin after construction A residential area of Zinjibar, it’s half a kilometer away from the central security, and it’s close to the line of contact. The state media had declared that the armed forces have entered to it and defeated Al-Qaeda but we asked the fighters about
that, so they said until now the troops of the central security from advancing, and Bajdaar is under the control of Al-Qaeda. In this region the roof of house has fallen like it was hit by an earthquake and made it a ruin after construction. This region was exposed to the heaviest shelling, when a warplane dropped several “Abu-Mazala” missiles on the city Bajdaar got the biggest share of destruction. A missile was dropped which is only used by Saudi warplanes according to them. This missile wreak havoc for hundreds of meters in a wide wavelike circle, and it’s specified to destroy in a way that is surprising and wonder: “Who is targeted with this horror and this way? Are they the fighters or the citizens who left who they own in that region like the citizen who fled seeking security for him and his sons is the reason. Points of contact Some of the members of Al-Qaeda are present on the outskirt of Zinjibar near to the camp of the central security and the 25th Mechanised Brigade, creating a wall around the city except the sandy area of Dofas which is the only breather to the camps that lead to the city of Aden. Dofas was in the hands of the members of Al-Qaeda for more than four months, where the most fierce battles which are absolutely the most violent in Yemen, in a continuous attempt from the Yemeni government, American warplanes and Saudi flights until 2011-09-10, before the fighters of Al-Qaeda withdraw by order from Qasem Al-Raimi, and that according to them isn’t a defeat but a tactical plan. We came closer and found in the Hassan stadium members of Al-Qaeda most of them between 18 to 25 years... They are overwhelmed with tranquility and laugh more than they talk... The most phrase that is repeated in their talk “Insha’Allah... Alhamdulillah”... Their numbers don’t exceed 20 in every front and despite of that the camps don’t leave their location and the troops don’t advance except with shells from behind the walls of the camps and the warplanes missiles that are fired randomly. We had heard through the media about the refusal of the Yemeni army to enter in a war with the fighters of Al-Qaeda after the Yemeni forces controlled the Dofas region when the fighters changed the fighting to a war similar to guerrilla warfare, and that’s not the job of the army forces, but it’s the mission of the counterterrorism units. After that it was planned to enter to Zinjibar by armored vehicles
headed by troops of the counter-terrorism, who appeared in black clothes, who are well trained by American officers but they clashed with them and they withdraw. Most of the fighting time is from night until dawn or morning, but in the afternoon the two sides mostly exchange verbal diatribes through loudspeakers which makes them hear each other differing from the “Language” of the night which we mentioned. And it’s used by Al-Qaeda members to explain some issues about their fighting, which is for implementing the Sharia of Allah, according to them, and that their battle isn’t with the soldiers but who stands with America, etc... likewise the loudspeakers answer from the security side to the fighters that they are saboteurs and that they are fighting is patriotic to establish security and stability, etc... The journalist who wasn’t killed After our return from Zinjibar to Jaar, one of them came holding one of the daily Yemeni newspapers, I was attracted to it, since I haven’t seen a newspaper for more than a week. He was busy reading news, as usual they monitor all the media, especially if it had to do with their organization. I got closer to him and saw a report on the first page - with a red headline from the right to the left of the page -, the report spoke about killing seven fighters from Al-Qaeda among them a Pakistani, two Somalis specialists in explosives and a big senior leader who was hit in his abdomen?! I began to read the report more slowly… and that was yesterday - Tuesday – 2011-11-15 when the building of the province was targeted on the entrance of the city of Zinjibar… end of the report. I said to that man: “Is it true people at that level among you were killed?”. He said: “The answerer has no better knowledge than the questioner!. You were there yesterday in Zinjibar and we are in Jaar!!” I added saying that I was in the same time taking pictures for the building of the province and its destruction and I didn’t hear anything!! Then I looked above and said Alhamdulillah they didn’t say seven dead among them is a journalist so that my name isn’t killed while I’m still alive. “Nun and Al-Qaria” Al-Qaeda can benefit from everything new created in the technical and military field, and employ it as a new invention to overcome the need that is caused by the enemy. For example by “Al-Bakala – grocery in Arabic” – one of them say – we can create a powerful explosive weapon. That method of thinking exists in most of
the members of Al-Qaeda of a trend of combat that express the goal that it pursues in fighting against the rulers. Within the framework of military industrialization, one of the fighters in the Dofas front said that he invented a bomb which is manufactured by the organization which makes a huge blast and it shatters by double of the normal amount, and creates a fire during the explosion and it’s called “Nun and Al-Q”. It has been tested more than once in the city of Zinjibar, but this invention of course is incomparable to what the regular Yemeni army owns from heavy equipment and weapons that cannot be confronted with this invention. Since the brigade uses all kinds of weapons because the Mechanised camps are different from the rest of the camps. The “Mechanised” has more than one fighting tactic, from anti-aircraft , artillery, tanks, infantry, engineering and maintenance department, etc… Beside this the central security and the brigade that belongs to Faisal Rajab are fighting in the Al-Kud region. But this matter is diminished by the members of the Al-Qaeda and they don’t care about it, because they rely on (How often a small group overcame a mighty host by Allah’s Leave) 249 Surah Al-Baqara, as they say. The army used in the battles of Dofas all kinds of weapons, beside the Saudi and American warplanes, which lasted for more than four months and tried to lift the siege on the brigade by eight military campaigns with full ordnance and equipment to no avail. One of them said when speaking in one of the fronts in Zinjibar: Al-Qaeda organization has a unique nuclear weapon which no country in the world has, and it cannot get it, and it preoccupies every member of the organization to execute it. He said it were the suicide operations which made America wakeful in the camps of Iraq and deprived it of sleep in the mountains of Afghanistan. Despite of Al-Qaeda owning this kind of fighting which indeed makes their enemy wakeful, but America made the members of Al-Qaeda in the state of permanent alert, because it monitors them through the predator drones, the latest technology reached by the United States of America. Source: Yemeni Al-Wassat newspaper