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Iran and Obama dismiss Netanyahu speech to US Congress

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Iran’s vice president describes Israeli PM’s speech criticising US policy towards Tehran as “deceitful and a desperate”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was greeted at the US Congress by a long standing ovation [AP]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was greeted at the US Congress by a long standing ovation [AP]

by Al Jazeera

Tehran has called the speech of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the US Congress on Iran’s nuclear talks deceitful and a desperate attempt to impose an irrational agenda.

In his speech to Congress, Netanyahu said that the world must stand together to stop Iran from gaining access to a nuclear weapon.

Iran denies accusations it wishes to produce such a weapon and is currently in talks with the US and other powers over its nuclear programme.

Massoumeh Ebtekar, Iran’s vice president, said on Tuesday that Netanyahu was trying to derail the negotiations.

“I don’t think it carries much weight. Well, they’re [Israeli government] making their efforts to somehow derail the deal…,” Ebtekar said.

“But I think the more logical lobbies in both sides are looking forward to a solution.”

US President Barack Obama dismissed Netanyahu’s speech, saying the Israeli leader did not offer any alternatives.

In a similar speech in 2012, Netanyahu warned the UN General Assembly that Iran was 70 percent of the way to completing its “plans to build a nuclear weapon”.

However, a secret cable obtained by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit revealed last month that at the time of the UN speech Mossad – Israel’s intelligence service –  believed that Iran was “not performing the activity necessary to produce weapons”.

Obama says ‘nothing new’

In the speech on Cogress, which escalated the Israeli leader’s campaign against Obama’s diplomacy with Iran, Netanyahu said on that there was a need to “stand together to stop Iran’s march of conquest, subjugation and terror”.

In response, Obama said: “I am not focused in the politics of this. I am not focused on the theatre.

“As far as I can tell, there was nothing new.

“On the core issue, which is how to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon which would make it far more dangerous, the prime minister did not offer any viable alternatives.”

Iran and international powers have set a deadline of late March to reach a framework agreement and June for a comprehensive final settlement.

The powers want to curb Iran’s nuclear programme to ensure it cannot develop an atomic bomb, and Iran wants crippling economic sanctions to be lifted.

Obama said there was no deal with Iran yet, but if the negotiations turned out to be successful, the agreement would be “the best deal possible”.

However, Netanyahu said that the proposed Iran nuclear deal would leave Iran with a “vast” nuclear programme and that the world should demand that Tehran stops its aggression towards its neighbours before lifting restrictions.

“If the deal now being negotiated is accepted by Iran, that deal will not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons – it will all but guarantee that Iran will get those nuclear weapons – lots of them.”

Netanyahu was greeted at the Congress by a long standing ovation.

However, at least 50 Democratic members refused to attend the speech to protest against what they see as a politicisation of Israeli security, an issue on which Congress usually unites.

Following Netanyahu’s speech, Mitch McConnell, the US Senate majority leader, said on Tuesday the Senate would begin debating next week a bill that would require Obama to submit any final nuclear deal with Iran for approval by Congress.

“We think it will help prevent the administration from entering into a bad deal,” McConnell said.

“But if they do, it will provide an opportunity for Congress to weigh in.”

However, the White House has said Obama would veto the bill.

Young Sikh boy racially abused in US, video goes viral

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sikh-boy-racial-abuse

New York: In a shocking case of racism, a young Sikh boy in the US state of Georgia has been called a “terrorist” by a group of school children, with the video of the abuse now going viral on the internet.

In the video posted on Inquisitr, the bespectacled Sikh boy is seen sitting in what appears to be a school bus and is surrounded by students.

He whispers to the camera: “The kids are being racist to me.”

A young girl sitting behind him then shouts “terrorist! terrorist!” and points her finger at the boy, who remains calm and even shouts “who cares” when the kids hurl abuses at him.

Inquisitr reported that the video was uploaded by a user named ‘Nagra Nagra’ and identified the Sikh boy as Harsukh Singh.

Singh apparently uploaded the video initially which has so far got 130,000 views, with the description,”Kids being racist to me and calling me an Afghan terrorist. Please don’t act like this towards people like me. If you don’t know, I’m not Muslim I’m Sikh.”

An online user described the video “disgusting” in which the young Sikh boy is “being bullied with racist chants on a school bus. “The Sikh bravely states that he doesn’t care what they think of him.”

The Inquisitr reported that Singh is a student at the Chattahoochee Elementary School in Duluth, Georgia.

The incident comes weeks after a Hindu temple was vandalized in Seattle. A Nazi swastika and the phrase “get out” was found spray-painted in red on the exterior of the temple and cultural centre in Washington state in February.

According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, FBI hatecrimes statistics shows that anti-Muslim hatecrimes are still at about five times more common than they were before the 9/11 attacks.

Last year, 29-year-old Sikh man Sandeep Singh was brutally injured after a Long Island man slammed his pick-up truck into him after calling him ‘Osama’ and that he should “go back to your country.”

Joseph Caleca was indicted by a grand jury on a nine-count indictment charging him with attempted murder as a hate crime, assault, criminal possession of a weapon and leaving the scene without reporting after hitting Singh.

(PTI)

UN reveals 'credible and reliable' evidence of US military torture in Afghanistan

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New report finds U.S.-backed Afghan government still committing widespread torture

UNAMA Human Rights Director, Georgette Gagnon (left), and Special Representative Nicholas Haysom. Photo: (Photo: UNAMA/Fardin Waezi)

UNAMA Human Rights Director, Georgette Gagnon (left), and Special Representative Nicholas Haysom. Photo: (Photo: UNAMA/Fardin Waezi)

by Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams

The United Nations revealed Wednesday it has “credible and reliable” evidence that people recently detained at U.S. military prisons in Afghanistan have faced torture and abuse.

The UN’s Assistance Mission and High Commissioner for Human Rights exposed the findings in a report based on interviews with 790 “conflict-related detainees” between February 2013 and December 2014.

According to the investigation, two detainees “provided sufficiently credible and reliable accounts of torture in a U.S. facility in Maydan Wardak in September 2013 and a U.S. Special Forces facility at Baghlan in April 2013.”

The report states that the allegations of torture were investigated by “relevant authorities” but provided no information about the outcome of the alleged probes or the nature of the mistreatment.

This is not the first public disclosure of evidence of torture during the U.S. war in Afghanistan, now into its 14th year. The U.S. military’s Bagram Prison, which was shuttered late last year, was notorious for torture, including beatings, sexual assault, and sleep deprivation, and further atrocities were confirmed in the Senate report (pdf) on CIA torture, released late last year in a partially-redacted form. Afghan residents have repeatedly spoken out against torture and abuse by U.S., international, and Afghan forces.

The Senate report on CIA torture, released late last year in a partially-redacted form, exposes U.S. torture at black sites in Afghanistan and around the world.

Moreover, residents of Afghanistan have testified to—and protested—torture by U.S., international, and Afghan forces.

Beyond U.S.-run facilities, the UN report finds that torture and abuse have slightly declined over recent years but remain “persistent” throughout detention centers run by the U.S.-backed Afghan government, including police, military, and intelligence officials. Of people detained for conflict-related reasons, 35 percent of them faced torture and abuse at the hands of their Afghan government captors, the report states.

According to the report, prevalent torture methods used by Afghan forces include, “prolonged and severe beating with cables, pipes, hoses or wooden sticks (including on the soles of the feet), punching, hitting and kicking all over the body including jumping on the detainee’s body, twisting of genitals including with a wrench-like device, and threats of execution and/or sexual assault.”

Explosive New Snowden Doc: NSA/GCHQ stole vital cell phone encryption keys

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New reporting by The Intercept, based on documents leaked by whistleblower, reveals how spy agencies hacked world’s largest SIM card manufacturer

'One of the biggest Snowden stories yet,' says journalist Glenn Greenwald. (Image: The Intercept)

‘One of the biggest Snowden stories yet,’ says journalist Glenn Greenwald. (Image: The Intercept)

by Jon Queally, Common Dreams

Explosive new reporting by The Intercept published Thursday, based on documents obtained by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, reveals how the U.S. spy agency and their British counterpart, the GCHQ, worked together in order to hack into the computer systems of the world’s largest manufacturer of cell phone SIM cards – giving government spies access to highly-guarded encryption codes and unparalleled abilities to monitor the global communications of those with phones using the cards.

Following its publication, journalist Glenn Greenwald called it “one of the biggest Snowden stories yet.”

According to fellow journalists Jeremy Scahill and Josh Begley, who did the reporting on the top-secret documents and detail the implications of the program, the target of the government hacking operation was a company called Gemalto, based in the Netherlands, which makes SIM cards for some of the best known makers of cell phones and other portable electronic products, including AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and hundreds of other global brands. The acronym SIM stands for “subscriber identity module” and is a small intergrated circuit within a phone that is used to authenticate users and relay key information to the network on which the phone is operating.

As Scahill and Begley report:

With these stolen encryption keys, intelligence agencies can monitor mobile communications without seeking or receiving approval from telecom companies and foreign governments. Possessing the keys also sidesteps the need to get a warrant or a wiretap, while leaving no trace on the wireless provider’s network that the communications were intercepted. Bulk key theft additionally enables the intelligence agencies to unlock any previously encrypted communications they had already intercepted, but did not yet have the ability to decrypt.

As part of the covert operations against Gemalto, spies from GCHQ — with support from the NSA — mined the private communications of unwitting engineers and other company employees in multiple countries.

In a series of tweets, both Scahill and Greenwald offered context for the latest reporting:

For its part, Gemalto told The Intercept it was totally unaware of the security breach or that the encryption keys to any of its cards had been compromised. In fact, after being reached for comment on the operation, Gemalto directed its own security team to investigate the situation, but told the journalists they could find no trace of the hack. However, according to the top-secret document detailing the program leaked by Snowden, an operative with the NSA boasted, “[We] believe we have their entire network.”

Technology experts who spoke with Scahill and Begley said the theft of the encryption keys was highly troubling. Christopher Soghoian, the principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the idea that the NSA has stolen these encryption keys “will send a shock wave through the security community.”

Told about the program, Gerard Schouw, a member of the Dutch Parliament, said the revelation was “unbelievable.” And repeated: “Unbelievable.”

According to The Intercept:

Last November, the Dutch government amended its constitution to include explicit protection for the privacy of digital communications, including those made on mobile devices. “We have, in the Netherlands, a law on the [activities] of secret services. And hacking is not allowed,” he said. Under Dutch law, the interior minister would have to sign off on such operations by foreign governments’ intelligence agencies. “I don’t believe that he has given his permission for these kind of actions.”

The U.S. and British intelligence agencies pulled off the encryption key heist in great stealth, giving them the ability to intercept and decrypt communications without alerting the wireless network provider, the foreign government or the individual user that they have been targeted. “Gaining access to a database of keys is pretty much game over for cellular encryption,” says Matthew Green, a cryptography specialist at the Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute. The massive key theft is “bad news for phone security. Really bad news.”

Hindu temple vandalised in US, 'Get Out' scribbled on wall

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'Get out' painted on the temple wall. Agencies

‘Get out’ painted on the temple wall. Agencies

Washington: A Hindu temple has been vandalised with a hate speech in the US state of Washington, sending shock waves through the community in the area and prompting authorities to launch an investigation.

The incident happened when unidentified miscreants sprayed swastika and painted “Get Out” on one of the walls of the temple in the Seattle Metropolitan area. It is one of the largest Hindu temples in the entire North West.

The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Department is investigating this case as malicious harassment. On Monday, top county officials visited the temple.

“This kind of thing should not happen in the US. Who are you telling to get out? This is a nation of immigrants,” Nitya Niranjan, chairman of board of trustee of the Hindu Temple and Cultural Centre, Bothell, Washington told PTI.

On Tuesday, the temple is celebrating Mahashivratri.

Niranjan said some kind of painting was sprayed on the outside wall of the temple a few years ago, but they did not bring it to the notice of the law enforcement authorities as nothing was written.

“We have no idea, who did it,” Niranjan said.

While the temple has been there for nearly two decades, the construction on the second phase of the current building began recently.

The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) condemned the incident.

“The timing of this crime, occurring before a major Hindu festival, warrants special attention from law enforcement,” said Jay Kansara, director of Government Relations, Hindu American Foundation.

“We are encouraged by the ongoing thorough investigation of the Bothell City Police Department. HAF will continue to engage through the local community with city, state, and federal officials until the perpetrator is brought to justice,” Kansara said.

Of late there has been increasing incidents of vandalism of Hindu temples in the US including one in Loudoun County, Virginia and Monroe, Georgia last year.

As of 1 January, 2015, the Department of Justice ordered all crime reporting forms to include the category anti-Hindu under the possible motives of hate crimes.

“Houses of worship are places where people should be able to be safe, at peace, and inspired to serve others,” said Padma Kuppa, HAF board member.

“Instead, the vandalism of the Hindu temple in Seattle and the arson of a mosque in Houston this past weekend incite fear and result in distrust among communities,” he said.

(PTI)

US: Houston Muslim school burned down in what investigators say is likely an arson attack

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The arson attack was the third incident of Islamaphobic violence this week.

by Zaid Jilani, AlterNet

Unfortunately, the execution of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill was not the only Islamophobic violence that happened this week. The same week, an Arab American family was assaulted in Dearborn, and now in Houston comes a horrible story of what appears to be an arson attack on an Islamic school for young children.

The Quba Islamic Institute opened in January of 2013 with the goal of doing Sunday school, summer school, and after-school programs for young children as well as host other Muslim events. Here’s a photo from children there shooting hoops they posted yesterday on their Facebook:

And here’s what happened to the school overnight:

Quba Islamic Institute

Early this morning Houston firefighters responded to this blaze which was part of a fire taking place in one of the buildings of the school campus. After an investigation, they determined an accelerant was used to cause the fire, most likely an incendiary device.

I spoke to Ahsan Zahid, the son of the imam at the institution. Zahid described the scene early this morning when they arrived at the school to find it on fire. As the investigation was ongoing, the firefighters asked them if they “had thrown around a desk in a parking lot” – it soon became clear that school property had been smashed overnight, most likely intentionally.

Zahid also described a suspicious person they saw last night, “We had a person in a white pickup truck..who had just last night drove by our mosque as we were playing basketball outside at night getting ready to leave…chanting Arabic phrases, mocking us in a way.”

“I would like for my community…not to reach for hate, not to point fingers at anyone, not to criticize anyone,” said Zahid about how they plan to move forward. “I believe that since we have been wronged it is not necessary to be angry at the one who has wronged us…everybody has united nobody has said a single word of anger or hatred towards anyone.”

Elsewhere in Houston, Abdullah Shakur, a Muslim Vietnam veteran, was at a car stereo shop on Tuesday night when masked gunmen decided to attack it. Its unclear what the gunmen wanted, although it is possible it was a routine robbery. Shakur left the others he was with and tackled one of the men. “He knew they had guns. He was trying to defend us,” said one witness to the incident. The gunmen then shot him. “It was execution-style. And the fact that they executed Shakur, they need to be brought to justice. He was a Vietnam War veteran. He was lovable, always smiling. He was trying to protect us,” said the witness.

Despite the hate Muslim Americans have endured, the case of Shakur and the graciousness of Zahid shows that they continue to love the country they live in – and want to work to make it better.

Deadly clashes continue in Yemen as embassies shutdown

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Clashes between Shi’ite Houthi militiamen and Sunni fighters have killed 26 people in Yemen.

The embassy closures have isolated Yemen's new rulers and lent urgency to struggling talks over internal power-sharing which the Houthis.

The embassy closures have isolated Yemen’s new rulers and lent urgency to struggling talks over internal power-sharing which the Houthis.

by Reuters

Sanaa: Clashes between Shi’ite Houthi militiamen and Sunni tribesmen fighting alongside Al Qaeda militants killed 26 people in Yemen, local officials said, as the United Arab Emirates joined Saudi Arabia and Western countries in closing its embassy in the country.

Heavy fighting was ongoing in the southern mountainous province of al-Bayda, leading to the death of 16 Houthi rebels along with 10 Sunni tribesmen and militants, security officials and tribal sources told Reuters.

The state faces collapse in Yemen two weeks after the Houthi group took formal control of the country and continued an armed push southward.

France, the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy and Saudi Arabia have closed their missions in the capital Sanaa and withdrawn staff, citing security concerns.

The United Arab Emirates announced the closure of its embassy in Sanaa on Saturday, state news agency WAM said.

It cited “the increasing deterioration of the political and security situation Yemen is witnessing and the tragic events after the Houthis undermined the legitimate authority.”

Yemen’s rich Sunni Gulf neighbors loathe the Iranian-backed rebels and have called their rise to power a “coup.”

The embassy closures have isolated Yemen’s new rulers and lent urgency to struggling talks over internal power-sharing which the Houthis are conducting with opposition parties.

Hailing their advance as a “revolution” aimed at corrupt officials and economic ruin, the Houthis dissolved parliament and set up their own ruling body earlier this month.

Opponents say the group is backed by Yemen’s former strongman president Ali Abdullah Saleh – ousted in 2011 Arab Spring protests – and is bent on seizing land and the levers of power.

The Houthi spread to Yemen’s well-armed tribal regions in the East and South has prompted locals to make common cause with militants from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, one of the deadliest arms of the global militant organization.

Months of combat and AQAP bombings directed against Houthi targets in Sanaa have stoked fears of an all-out sectarian war.

Erdogan chides Obama's silence on Chapel Hill killings

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Turkish leader criticises US President for his silence after the killings of three Muslim students in North Carolina.

Students with lit candles attended a vigil on the campus of the University of North Carolina after the Chapel Hill killings [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticised US President Barack Obama for his silence after the killings of three young Muslims in North Carolina this week.

Speaking alongside Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto during a state visit to Mexico on Thursday, Erdogan said the silence of Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry was “telling” and they should take a position following such acts.

“If you stay silent when faced with an incident like this, and don’t make a statement, the world will stay silent towards you,” Erdogan said, in the latest sign relations between him and the White House have become strained.

The three Muslims were shot dead on Tuesday near the University of North Carolina campus in an incident police said was possibly a hate crime.

Police investigation

The White House said on Wednesday it would await the results of the police investigation before commenting.

Newlywed Deah Barakat, 23, a University of North Carolina dental student, his wife Yusor Mohammad, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, a student at North Carolina State University, were gunned down on Tuesday in a condominium about three kilometres from the UNC campus in Chapel Hill.

Police charged the couple’s neighbour, Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, with murder.

Investigators said initial findings indicated a dispute over parking prompted the shooting but they were looking into whether Hicks was motivated by hatred towards the victims because they were Muslim.

Turkey, a European Union candidate nation and member of the NATO military alliance, is a key US ally in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

But Erdogan has become increasingly outspoken about what he sees as rising Islamophobia in the West.

Last year, Erdogan said his relations with Obama had become strained and that he no longer spoke directly with him as he was disappointed by a lack of US action over the war in neighbouring Syria.

Erdogan said he instead spoke with Biden over issues such as Iraq.

Despite working together to combat ISIL, differences have arisen between the US and Turkey over how best to tackle the rebels.

Turkey has been an opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backing rebels fighting to oust him and allowing the political opposition to organise on Turkish soil.

It long lobbied for international intervention in the war.

US police officer who brutally assaulted Indian in Alabama arrested, will be fired; FBI to probe matter

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57-year-old Sureshbhai Patel was partially paralysed in the US when a police officer forced him on ground. Photo: Al.com

57-year-old Sureshbhai Patel was partially paralysed in the US when a police officer forced him on ground. Photo: Al.com

Washington: One of the two police officers who allegedly assaulted the 57-year-old Indian man in Alabama has been arrested and FBI will be conducting a probe into the matter to find out if there were any federal violations in the incident.

Larry Muncey, the Madison City Chief of Police while apologising to the victim Sureshbhai Patel, who was wrongfully assaulted by two police officers, without any provocation just because he did not know English and was unable to answer to their questions, informed that Federal Bureau of Investigation will also be conducting a probe into the matter.

“I sincerely apologise to Mr Patel, Mr Patel’s family and our community. We strive to exceed expectations,” Muncey told reporters at a news conference.

“Additionally FBI would be conducting a parallel inquiry to ascertain if there were any federal violations,” Muncey said after he released audio and videos related to the incident.

“As a result of the investigations, I found that Mr Parkers’s actions did not meet the high standard and expectations of the Madison City Police Department,” he said, adding, that he (Muncey) has proposed termination of officer Parker, who has now been arrested for third-degree assault.

The incident occurred on the morning of February 6 while walking down the sidewalk in the neighbourhood, Patel, a permanent US resident, “was violently assaulted by a police official without provocation, and left partially paralysed,” according to the 11-page lawsuit filed.

A day before, Patel had arrived in the United States to assist his son and daughter-in-law in caring for their 17-month-old child, who was developmentally delayed after a premature birth.

In the video, Patel is seen walking quietly in a sidewalk. He is not seen peeping at any of the houses or garage as was the police told in an non-emergency call it received from a neighbour, after which a police car was rushed to the neighbourhood.

In the video, two police officers are see approaching Patel and asking him questions – like name, address and identity card.

Patel is heard saying “No English” and pointing figure towards his son’s home. Soon one of the police officer, later identified as Parker, is seen violently throwing Patel on the ground and threatening him not to leave. It is at this time it appears Patel was paralysed, apparently by shock.

Moments later when two police officers try to walk him, Patel is not able to stand on his own. Patel was severely injured in the incident, said his attorney Henry F Sherrod.

Patel has been partly paralysed and is currently under treatment at a city hospital.

The incident was condemned by Indian community members across the globe.

In the Meanwhile, an online fundraising campaign has started to help the Patel family with their mounting medical bills.

By yesterday evening nearly USD 12,000 was raised out of the target of USD 12,000. The amount was raised by 278 people in one single day.

The funds raised will be provided directly to the family to help cover medical bills and other fees related to this incident.

Angered by the incident, SAALT (South Asian Americans Living Together) in a statement demanded immediate disciplinary action and termination of the officials concerned.

It asked Madison Police to investigate with expediency and thoroughness the reasons that led to the police encounter with Patel, what occurred during the incident, and the subsequent steps taken by the police department, including a timeline to publicly release the investigation’s findings.

New York-based Indian American attorney Ravi Batra said the local Madison cop dishonored his badge, and violated Sureshbhai Patel’s federal civil rights and state rights.

“The governor of Alabama needs to speak out and mayor of Madison need to retrain their cops while holding Police Chief Larry Muncey responsible,” he said.

“Our federal government, led by President Obama, can move Sureshbhai to Walter Reade hospital – where US presidents go for care, and give him the best medical care to repair his spinal injuries,” Batra said in a statement.

(PTI)

Embassies closed in Yemen as AQAP supporters pledge allegiance to ISIS

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Security forces stand guard around the US Embassy building in Sanaa, Yemen, on February 11, 2015 after the US government closed down its embassy. Anadolu/Mohammed Hamoud.

Security forces stand guard around the US Embassy building in Sanaa, Yemen, on February 11, 2015 after the US government closed down its embassy. Anadolu/Mohammed Hamoud.

Britain, the United States and France have pulled their ambassadors and other staff out of Yemen and suspended work at the embassies due to fears over the security situation, officials said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a group of Islamist militants in Yemen, which formerly had supported al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), reportedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on Tuesday.

The US State Department said on Tuesday it made the decision to close its Yemen embassy “due to the deteriorating security situation in Sanaa,” just as the United Nations brokered a second day of talks aimed at resolving the crisis gripping the country.

The UK’s move came after the United States said it was closing its embassy indefinitely after the Houthi militants, who staged a political takeover on February 6 , warned against attempts to destabilize the country.

Britain’s Foreign Office in London said operations at its embassy had been suspended “temporarily.”

“The security situation in Yemen has continued to deteriorate over recent days,” Tobias Ellwood, the Foreign Office minister with responsibility for the Middle East, said.

“Regrettably we now judge that our embassy staff and premises are at increased risk.”

“We have therefore decided to withdraw diplomatic staff and temporarily suspend the operations of the British Embassy in Sanaa,” Ellwood added. “Our ambassador and diplomatic staff have left Yemen this morning and will return to the UK.”

On Wednesday, the French embassy also suspended its operations for “security reasons.”

Anti-Houthi demonstrations

Yemenis in the central city of Taiz and the capital Sanaa held the largest protests yet against a takeover by a the Houthi militia group on Wednesday after Western countries shut their embassies in Yemen over security fears.

Houthi fighters, bedecked in tribal robes and automatic rifles, were out in force manning checkpoints and guarding government buildings they control in the capital.

Houthi gunmen shot in the air and thrust daggers at hundreds of protesters opposing their rule in Sanaa.

In Taiz, which the Houthis do not control, huge crowds of thousands carried banners and chanted slogans against the militants.

Meanwhile, Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman has urged revolutionaries to use the fourth anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled ousted dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh to launch a fresh revolution against what she called the Houthi “coup.”

“This new revolutionary wave won’t stop until the army’s weaponry is restored, militias dissolved, and a modern state — that respects freedom, dignity, justice and equality — is established,” Karman said in a statement.

The Nobel laureate said that Yemen was currently at a critical juncture. “It will either be consumed by chaos and war or the youth will defeat violence through their peaceful and popular will,” she said.

Unfounded fears

On Tuesday, Houthi militia chief Abdel Malek al-Houthi said that foreign diplomats fears of instability was unfounded.

Speaking in a televised address as the UN-brokered talks carried on at a Sanaa hotel, Houthi sought to reassure diplomats after reports that some embassies in Sanaa intended to close.

“Some people are raising concerns among diplomatic missions so that they flee the country,” he said, adding that “these fears are unfounded. The security situation is stable.”

“It is in the interests of everyone, both inside and outside the country, that Yemen be stable,” Houthi stressed.

“The interests of those who bet on chaos and want to hurt the economy and security of the people will suffer,” the Houthi leader warned.

In particular, he singled out the monarchies in the Gulf, who have vowed to defend their interests in the face of what Houthis’ opponents are calling a coup.

Addressing his adversaries, Houthi proposed what he called “a partnership” under the “constitutional declaration” by which the militia seized power.

He took particular aim at the Islamist party al-Islah, one of the fiercest opponents of his militia, urging it to give up an ideology “that excludes the other.”

On February 6, matters came to a head when the Houthis said they had dissolved parliament and created a presidential council to bring the country out of crisis.

UN envoy Jamal Benomar warned that Yemen was at a “crossroads,” and urged political leaders to “take up their responsibilities and achieve consensus” as he battles for a negotiated solution.

Meanwhile, Houthis affirmed their military supremacy across the country as clashes broke out on Tuesday, leading to the militia taking control of the central al-Bayda province.

In Tuesday’s fighting, residents of the central city of Bayda said elements of the Republican Guard still loyal to the ousted dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh had supported the Houthis in the heavy combat that led to the province falling under Houthi control.

In the west of the province, 10 Houthis were killed and another six captured in fighting with local tribesmen, tribal sources revealed.

The Houthi takeover has drawn international condemnation, including from UN chief Ban Ki-moon calling for President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who has resigned, to be restored to power.

“The situation is very, very seriously deteriorating, with the Houthis taking power and making this government vacuum. There must be restoration of legitimacy of President Hadi,” Ban said.

The fall of Hadi’s government has sparked fears that impoverished Yemen — strategically located next to oil-rich Saudi Arabia and on the key shipping route from the Suez Canal to the Gulf — could plunge into chaos.

AQAP allegiance to ISIS

Meanwhile, a group of Islamist fighters in Yemen renounced their loyalty to al-Qaeda’s leader and pledged allegiance to the head of ISIS, according to a Twitter message retrieved by US-based monitoring group SITE.

The monitoring group could not immediately verify the statement distributed on Twitter purportedly from supporters of AQAP based in central Yemen.

AQAP is considered the most powerful branch of the global militant network headed by Ayman al-Zawahiri and has previously rejected the authority of ISIS, which has declared a caliphate in large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria.

“We announce the formation of armed brigades specialized in pounding the apostates in Sanaa and Dhamar,” the purported former AQAP supporters wrote, referring to two central provinces.

“We announce breaking the pledge of allegiance to the sheikh, the holy warrior and scholar Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri … We pledge to the caliph of the believers Ibrahim bin Awad al-Baghdadi to listen and obey,” they said.

Militants in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Libya have also joined ISIS, signaling a competition for loyalty among armed Islamists battling states in the Middle East and North Africa.

US drones keep flying over Yemen

The Pentagon on Tuesday acknowledged that Yemen’s political unrest was impacting its counter-terrorism capabilities but said it was still training some Yemeni forces and could still carry out operations inside the country against al-Qaeda militants.

“There’s no question as a result of the political instability in Yemen that our counter-terrorism capabilities have been … affected,” Rear Admiral John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, told a news briefing.

“As I stand here today, we continue to conduct some training. We continue to have the capability — unilaterally if need be — of conducting counter-terrorism operations inside Yemen.”

Turmoil in the wake of late January’s collapse of a US-backed Yemeni government after days of clashes in the capital Sanaa, forced the US State Department to reduce staff and operations at the US Embassy.

The turmoil has also cast doubt over the future of a key partnership for Washington in the fight against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Only last September, US President Barack Obama touted cooperation with Yemen as a model in counter-terrorism.

The crisis in the Arab world’s poorest country threatens to create a power vacuum that could allow AQAP to expand across the peninsula.

In Late January, US officials said training of Yemeni special forces had ground to a halt in the capital, though some joint activities were continuing in the south.

The US officials added that they can continue drone strikes, as demonstrated by a February 10 attack in Hadramawt province in southeastern Yemen, which killed four suspected al-Qaeda members.

The Central Intelligence Agency, which conducts the bulk of drone operations in Yemen, has no drone bases on Yemeni soil but operates from Saudi Arabia and Djibouti, US officials say.

Yemen is a key US ally in the fight against al-Qaeda, allowing Washington to conduct a longstanding drone war against the group on its territory. However, US drone attacks in the impoverished Gulf country have also killed many civilians unaffiliated with al-Qaeda.

(AFP, Reuters, Anadolu, Al-Akhbar)

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