GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Yemen's weakened president abandoned by own tribe

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Federal News Radio

21March2011 5:00amEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: SANAA, Yemen (AP) – The U.S.-backed president of Yemen suffered a devastating political blow on Sunday when his own powerful tribe demanded his resignation, joining religious leaders, young people and the country's traditional opposition in calls for an end to his three decades in power.

Massive crowds flooded cities and towns around the impoverished and volatile nation, screaming in grief and anger as they mourned dozens of protesters killed Friday when President Ali Abdullah Saleh's security forces opened fire from rooftops on a demonstration in the capital.

Saleh appeared to be trying to hold on, firing his entire Cabinet ahead of what one government official said was a planned mass resignation, but making no mention of stepping down himself. Yemen's ambassador to the United Nations and its human rights minister had announced their resignations earlier in the day.

Experts said that Saleh, who has cooperated closely with U.S. military operations against his country's branch of al-Qaida, had lost the support of every major power base in Yemen except the military. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Saudis ready to aid Bahraini ruler. First riots in Libya after Yemen, Jordan

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: DEBKAfile

16February2011 7:52amEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Despite security police efforts to dislodge them, anti-government protesters continued to occupy the main square of Manama, Bahrain Tuesday night, Feb. 15, even after its ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa made a rare television appearance to regret the two deaths and promised a full investigation.

Wednesday, first protests were reported in Libya, starting in Benghazi, where eyewitnesses report
police responded to stone-throwers with water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets.

In Yemen, security forces stayed on alert after five days of disturbances by protesters demanding President Ali Abdullah Saleh's removal from power although he promised not to run again when his term ends in 2013. Wednesday saw, security forces in Jordan and the army in Syria on high alert.

Saudi Arabia is especially alarmed by the swelling protest in its small but strategic neighbor, Bahrain, site of US Fifth Fleet headquarters for the Gulf region. For the first time, Sunni Muslims joined the majority Shiite protest against the rule of the Al Khalifas who have been in power since 1971.

DEBKAfile discloses that shortly before dawn Wednesday, Feb. 16, the Bahraini king secretly asked the Saudis for riot dispersal gear for his security forces to break up the protests. He also asked Saudi Arabia to place its security forces on the ready in case they got out of hand. (read full report)

 

 

 

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Homegrown terror plots focus of hearings

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: L.A. Times

09February2011 9:38amEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: WASHINGTON — Abdulhakim Muhammad was born Carlos Bledsoe, played high school football and attended business school in college. He mowed his grandmother's lawn. He also converted to Islam at a Memphis mosque, studied in Yemen and, while there, fell in with a group of extremists.

By the time he returned to the U.S., federal law enforcement officials say he had been dangerously radicalized as a domestic terrorist. When he allegedly opened fire with an SKS automatic rifle on a Little Rock, Ark., Army recruiting station, he became part of a rising trend — one of 50 Americans arrested on terror charges in the last two years.

From May 2009 to last November, authorities broke up 22 homegrown terror plots, compared with 21 during the previous eight years. (read full report)

 

 

 

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's advertisers or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Australian terrorist threat to airports

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Herald Sun

09February2011 8:58amEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: A GROUP of Australians who are believed to be at terrorist training camps in Yemen pose a threat to airport security, a security expert has warned.

ABC Television's Foreign Correspondent has reported that 22 Australians have gone missing in Yemen and are believed to be at al-Qaeda training camps.

Heading up the al-Qaeda regime in Yemen is an American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki who the ABC reported has been dubbed the Osama bin Laden of the internet.

Al-Awlaki has been allegedly involved in a number of terrorist attacks and in his internet sermons – delivered in perfect English – he preaches contempt for non-believers. (read full report)

 

 

 

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's advertisers or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.