Free Republic

A US destroyer intercepted a hijacked Israeli-managed oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden earlier today, freed the crew, and took the Houthi pirates into custody. My colleague Jeff Charles covered the piracy in this post, High Seas Drama: Another Israeli Tanker Seized by Unidentified Attackers Near Yemen.Shortly after dawn local time, the Central Park, a small Liberian-flagged oil and chemical tanker managed by an Israeli company registered in London, sent a distress call saying it was being boarded by armed men. The USS Mason, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, was operating in the area. According to reports, the Mason directed...

For Yemeni fisherman Fares Abdulhakeem and his friends, the day was like any other as they headed out to sea to earn a living in the war-torn country -- until they hit the jackpot in the belly of a whale. Abdulhakeem related how he was among 35 fishermen who stumbled upon a floating sperm whale carcass in February, about 26 kilometres (16 miles) off the coast of the southern city of Aden. He said they dragged the dead mammal back to shore, where they sliced it open and struck "floating gold", or ambergris, a rare substance formed in the whale's...

The death toll is expected to rise, as 36 victims remain in serious condition with wounds requiring major surgeries, said Ali Abdullah Saleh, director of Aden’s health office. He said the injured were taken to several hospitals in the southern coastal city. The assault, for which no group immediately claimed responsibility, threatens to ignite more turmoil in the Middle East nation already reeling from war and hunger. It was launched after the Yemeni government forged a political alliance with southern separatists, ending months of feuding that threatened to plunge the country into more conflicts and chaos. Videos posted on social...

Saudi, Sudanese Troops Arrive in Aden Area After Yemen Denies Deal With Separatists © AFP 2019 / SALEH AL-OBEIDI 00:19 17.10.2019 CAIRO (Sputnik) - Saudi and Sudanese troops, tanks and other military hardware rolled into the southern Yemeni province of Aden on Wednesday, a local government source said. The deployment of troops allied with the Yemeni government comes a day after it denied that a deal would soon be inked with separatists that would allow the cabinet to retake its interim seat in Aden. The reinforcements have been stationed west of the key port city between the Aden airport and...

ARLINGTON, VA (WCMH) — Nineteen years ago today, 17 American sailors were killed and 37 sailors were injured when the USS Cole was attacked by terrorists in a small boat laden with explosives in Yemen on Oct. 12, 2000.

Yemeni separatists have taken control of the strategic city of Aden after days of fighting with forces backing the internationally recognized government. A spokesperson for the Southern Transitional Council (STC) told CNN the group took over the city including its presidential palace, port and airport. Aden has been the seat of the Saudi-backed government since Houthi fighters took over Sanaa in 2014. "We are not inside the presidential compound, which is on an island, but we have secured its entrances and exits," Nizar Haytham, the STC spokesperson, told CNN. CNN wasn't able to verify the claims. However, the interior minister...

Fighting between southern separatists, backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), against forces loyal to Saudi-based president Hadi, risk crippling their once united campaign against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen’s north. The UAE is a major component of a Saudi-led military coalition of Arab states that has supported Hadi’s government since the Houthis seized much of the country, including the capital Sanaa, three years ago. Hadi’s government operates out of Aden, while he lives in Saudi Arabia. Residents said forces loyal to the Southern Transitional Council (STC), formed last year to push for the revival of the former independent...

Alarmist scientists have been caught red-handed tampering with raw data in order to exaggerate sea level rise.The raw (unadjusted) data from three Indian Ocean gauges – Aden, Karachi and Mumbai – showed that local sea level trends in the last 140 years had been very gently rising, neutral or negative (ie sea levels had fallen). But after the evidence had been adjusted by tidal records gatekeepers at the global databank Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL) it suddenly showed a sharp and dramatic rise.The whistle was blown by two Australian scientists Dr. Albert Parker and Dr. Clifford Ollier in a paper for Earth Systems and Environment.

The removal of the Jews from the Arab world has been all but ignored, says Tom Gross It is not surprising, given the sheer scale of the Holocaust and its sadism, that it has dominated contemporary discourse among Jews and others. But, while the extermination of European Jews has rightfully (though belatedly) generated a great deal of study and research, the removal of the Jews from the Arab world has been all but ignored. This ignorance extends to policy-makers at the highest level. Some journalists and politicians I have spoken to have expressed surprise when I even mentioned that Jews...

The strange and fascinating world of the British spy known as ‘Chris Whatsit’ was unravelling yesterday. Christopher Steele was once MI6’s top spy on Russian affairs and lived in the shadows until being unmasked as the alleged author of the ‘dirty dossier’ on Donald Trump. He was dubbed ‘Chris Whatsit’ by his late wife on their first date because she could not remember his name – but he revelled in being a man of mystery. Now the 52-year-old is hoping to return to anonymity after fleeing his £1.5million home in Surrey, telling his neighbour to look after his three cats....

Now, even fallen kuffars cannot be left in peace. This rampage of wanton destruction arises from the desire of Islam to wipe the memory of any other faith or culture from the face of the Earth. The aim is to create a world based upon the false belief that nothing other than Islam ever existed. A dozen masked militia ripped apart a cemetery in the former British colony of Aden, Yemen. Nearly two thousand graves were vandalised in the spree of destruction and St Joseph Church, which overlooks the graveyard, was razed to the ground. Wielding their tools, the fanatics...

China's construction of military base in the strategic location of Djibouti is just the first of what will likely be an ongoing expansion in friendly foreign ports around the world, says a Pentagon report. IMAGE: The Gwadar port that Pakistan is developing with Chinese help. China is likely to establish additional military bases in Pakistan and other countries with which it has longstanding friendly ties and similar strategic interests, a new Pentagon report said on Wednesday as the world's largest army increasingly flexed its muscles. In its annual report to the Congress on China's military build-up, the United States Department...

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A Twin Cities Uber driver is charged with trying to kidnap a young woman he picked up on the job. Dahir Aden, 50, is charged with a felony count of false imprisonment after he refused to drive a teenage girl home and instead took her to his home in West St. Paul. The girl told police Aden planned to sexually assault her. Investigators say it was the girl’s quick thinking that allowed her to be rescued. According to the criminal complaint, Dahir Aden picked up a young woman from her North Minneapolis apartment the night of Aug....

The four nuns running a nursing home in Aden, Yemen, killed by the Islamic State earlier this month, belonged to the Missionaries of Charity, established by Blessed Mother Teresa.

(Mother Teresa's missionary order) VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis was “shocked and profoundly saddened” by the murder of four Missionaries of Charity and 12 other people at a home for the elderly in Aden, Yemen. Gunmen entered the building on Friday and went room to room, handcuffing victims before shooting them in the head. A message signed by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said the Holy Father “sends the assurance of his prayers for the dead and his spiritual closeness to their families and to all affected from this act of senseless and diabolical violence.” The message...

Islamic State has claimed a bombing in Yemen that killed the governor of the port city of Aden on Sunday, underlining the growing reach of terror groups amid an eight-month-old Saudi-led military campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

Unseen by most of the world, the once tranquil port of Aden is being steadily infiltrated by jihadists from both al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP) and the so-called Islamic State (IS). They are not in charge of the city, the military forces of the UAE are. But in the last few days disturbing reports have emerged of the summary executions of prisoners by the jihadists, along with their black flags hoisted onto public buildings.

Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna thanks the governments of China and Russia, which helped in the evacuation. “The situation is under control, we have information that for now everything is going well,” he said. Russia air lifted 20 Polish citizens from the capital of Yemen, Sana’a to Moscow on board two aircraft, while the Chinese navy took four Polish citizens across a narrow strait from Aden to Djibuti. Yemen has recently been invaded by a Saudi-led coalition set up to dislodge the Shia Houthis who have taken over the capital city. (an)

Senior editor of Saudi online paper Arab News, Siraj Wahab, has just tweeted that Egyptian ships forced Iranian retreat from Bab Al-Mandab strait near the Port of Aden. A statement issued by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry stated that Egypt is coordinating with Saudi Arabia, together with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for the participation of its Air Force, Navy, and ground forces, should it prove necessary. However, it should be noted that Iran threatened Saudi Arabia today (Thursday), announcing that its foray into Yemen would end up costing it dearly.

Yemen's defence minister was set to resume his duties from second city Aden on Sunday after defecting from Shiite militia who control the capital, a source in the president's office said. General Mahmud Subaihi's escape from Sanaa follows that of Western-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who has called on ministers to join him in the southern port city to reestablish the government if they can. The minister made it safely to Aden but one of his guards was killed in a firefight with Huthi militiamen during the escape, an aide told AFP. The militia had named Subaihi head of a...