Suspicious devices 'dry run' for terror campaign against US synagogues

[tankuku]

Terror alert: suspicious devices 'dry run' for terror campaign against US synagogues

A series of suspicious packages found in Britain and Dubai could have been part of a “dry run” by al-Qaeda for a mail bomb plot in the United States, authorities believe.

By Andrew Hough, and Peter Hutchison
Published: 7:11PM BST 29 Oct 2010

Image of the toner cartridge with wires hang out of it that police have been checking Photo: UNIVERSAL

Image of the toner cartridge with wires hang out of it that police have been checking Photo: UNIVERSAL

Police load a parcel that has been removed from a UPS Container at East Midlands airport onto a police helicopter this afternoon Photo: PAGE ONE

A forensic officer walks towards a UPS container as a Ryanair jet taxis on the tarmac at East Midlands Airport Photo: REUTERS

A forensic officer removes a package from a UPS container at East Midlands Airport Photo: AP

A United Parcel Service jet is surrounded by emergency services on a runway at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia Photo: AP

A United Parcel Service jet is seen isolated on a runway at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia Photo: AP

A United Parcel Service jet is seen isolated on a runway at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia Photo: BBC

US authorities are searcing cargo planes at Philadelphia (above) and Newark Photo: BBC

The packages were found on an American-registered cargo plane at East Midlands airport in England, en route from Yemen to Chicago, via Cologne in Germany, and on aircraft in Dubai which had also come from Yemen. It was claimed the devices were destined for synagogues in Chicago.

Jewish organisations and synagogues in Britain said they were already on high alert. Scotland Yard said the package found in Britain was removed for further testing. It was claimed it contained a toner cartridge for a printer, covered in white powder and with wires protruding from it.

It was found at East Midlands, one of Britain's biggest cargo hubs, during screening of cargo at the airport. It was claimed that security sources in the Middle East had tipped off the intelligence services about packages emanating from Yemen, now regarded as one of the hot-beds of al-Qaeda terrorist activities.

"We know that these packages originated in Yemen and we are looking into potential links to terrorism," said one U.S. official. As a result of the terror alert, the US Department of Homeland Security increased aviation security measures. Fedex, the world’s largest cargo airline, confirmed that the suspicious package seized at its Dubai facility originated in Yemen. It had stopped all shipments, originating from Yemen, a spokesman added.

Officials were also investigating reports of several packages on aircraft in the eastern United States cities of Philadelphia and Newark, New Jersey although nothing had yet been found. The FBI said it did not believe an attack was imminent, a spokesman said. Barack Obama, the US President, was told late on Thursday night of a "potential terrorist threat" surrounding suspicious packages on the aircraft, the White House said.

"Intelligence and law enforcement agencies discovered potential suspicious packages on two planes in transit to the United States," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. "Authorities were able to identify and examine two suspicious packages, one in East Midlands and one in Dubai. Both of these packages originated from Yemen."

Mr Gibbs said that, as a precaution, extra security measures were taken regarding other cargo planes at Newark and Philadelphia international airports in the United States. "The President was notified of a potential terrorist threat on Thursday night at 10:35, by John Brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security and counter-terrorism," he said.

The US Department of Homeland Security urged people to be vigilant in light of the alert. "As a precaution, DHS has taken a number of steps to enhance security. Some of these security measures will be visible while others will not,” a spokesman said. "The public may recognise specific enhancements including heightened cargo screening and additional security at airports.

"Passengers should continue to expect an unpredictable mix of security layers that include explosives trace detection, advanced imaging technology, canine teams and pat downs, among others.” He added: "As always, we remind the public to remain vigilant and report suspicious activity to local law enforcement." Earlier, parts of East Midlands airport were sealed off following the discovery of the suspicious package with the security cordon lifted late on Friday.

Several aircraft, including a United Parcel Service (UPS) jet in Philadelphia, were moved to a remote location so law enforcement officials could investigate. An employee who worked in one of the buildings at East Midlands Airport praised the police operation. He said: "I work in one of the buildings. Nothing has been confirmed.

"Apparently a bomb was found about 10am after the first one from early hours was deemed safe. "DHL, Royal Mail and UPS were evacuated straight away to the Travelodge. Other buildings where evacuated after 1pm. "The police are doing a brilliant job of keeping everybody safe. No-one is allowed down the roads." A Scotland Yard spokesman said that the packages were seized for further testing.

“Cargo removed from the plane was examined,” a Scotland Yard spokesman said. “Further tests were carried out. Following this a number of items have been sent for additional scientific examination. “(We) can confirm that explosives officers attended the airport. At this stage there is nothing to suggest that any location was being targeted in the UK.”

A BAA spokesman said: "There are no problems at any of our airports." BAA runs Stansted, Southampton, Heathrow, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh airports. The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago said: "We were notified this morning that synagogues should be on alert and we are taking appropriate precautions and are advising local synagogues to do likewise."

A spokesman for the Community Security Trust (CST), which deals with security in Jewish buildings, said: "The Jewish community in Britain has been on a high state of security alert for some considerable time now, precisely because of the current threat levels. "This specific alert today, plus the recent alerts over the last month or so is the reason why we've been on significant security alert for some while." The CST is in constant contact with local police about security threats, he added.

 

[Cao Pi]

Al Qaeda ink cartridge bomb found on jet was linked to mobile phone SIM card

Al Qaeda ink cartridge bomb found on jet was linked to mobile phone SIM card

By David Williams and Rebecca Camber
Last updated at 12:09 PM on 30th October 2010

• Bomb discoverd on jet in UK following MI6 tip-off
  
• Similar Fed-Ex package seized in Dubai
  
• 'Bombs' were addressed to synagogues in Chicago
• British Jews on 'high alert' after advice from police
  
• Home Office grounds all flights from Yemen to UK
• Passenger jet escorted into JFK airport by U.S. fighters
  

The US-bound package discovered on a plane in Dubai contained explosives and an electrical circuit linked to a mobile phone SIM card, police said today. The device was prepared in a 'professional manner' and bore the hallmarks of terror groups such as al Qaeda, Dubai Police said in a statement. The explosive material PETN, or pentaerythritol trinitrate, was used, the statement said.

This is the same chemical found after the failed attempt to blow up a plane over Detroit last Christmas. A major international terror alert was launched after security staff found printer cartridges with wires attached at cargo hubs at East Midlands Airport in the UK and Dubai yesterday.

Dubai police discovered parts of a computer printer with explosives loaded into its toner cartridge found in a package onboard a cargo plane coming from Yemen

Terrorists had tried to conceal a bomb inside this printer, which was intercepted by Dubai police en route from the Yemen to Chicago

The packages were addressed to synagogues in Chicago, and were on Chicago-bound cargo planes that had set off from Yemen in the Middle East. 'The parcel was prepared in a professional manner where a closed electrical circuit was connected to a mobile phone SIM card hidden inside the printer,' Dubai Police said.

'This tactic carries the hallmarks of methods used previously by terrorist organisations such as al Qaeda.' The bomb also contained lead azide, an explosive compound which can be used in detonators. The statement continued: 'Swift action has enabled Dubai Police to foil a potential act of terror in the place the package was bound.'

The police said they were tipped off by a call from abroad. It warned of the possibility of an explosive device hidden in postal packages onboard the FedEx flight from Yemen. The one found in Britain was intercepted by MI6 after a tip-off to one of its sources in the Arabian country, it was reported last night. Security services were placed on high alert.

The first package was found in the early hours yesterday. It had arrived on a United Parcel Service (UPS) flight which stopped at East Midlands Airport, on the Derbyshire and Leicestershire border. It was taken off the plane and placed in a UPS storage depot just 300ft from the runway and half a mile from the passenger terminal, which is used by five million a year. From there, it would have been transferred on to a cargo plane bound for Chicago.

The Fed-Ex bomb: The booby-trapped printer was packed in a box together with a number of everyday items such as books and magazines

The packages spurred searches and investigations of jets arriving at New York's JFK Airport, Newark International Airport in New Jersey and the airport in Philadelphia

Newark: A bomb squad officer carries a package away from a UPS cargo plane as the plane and its contents are searched inr Newark, New Jersey

But before this could happen, it aroused suspicion during routine checks. The package was tested in a remote sealed-off area of the airport after wires and white powder were seen to be coming from it. Initial examinations suggested it might not have detonated, but last night it was sent together with other items from the plane to Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist detectives for further forensic tests. It was also reported that the device was linked to a mobile phone.

U.S. officials said they believe the packages contain pentaerythritol trinitrate, or PETN – the same powerful explosive used in last year’s failed Christmas Day Detroit airliner attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was trained in Yemen. This is the same explosive as used by shoe bomber Richard Reid in his failed attack in 2001. One of the most potent explosives known to man, just 100g of PETN can destroy a car.

THREAT FROM YEMEN GROWING

Fear have been growing rapidly over the terror threat posed to the West by Islamic fundamentalists based in Yemen. Gordon Brown warned in January that the Middle Eastern country represented a growing ‘regional and global threat’ following the failed bomb attack on a U.S. plane over Detroit on Christmas Day last year. Yemen-based group ‘Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’ is now considered the most dangerous strand of the terror organisation outside Pakistan and Afghanistan.

At its head is the preacher Anwar Al Awlaki, above, who is thought to have influenced both the Detroit bomber Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab and the 9/11 terrorists. MI6 say he is urging violent attacks against the UK and the US describes him as ‘probably terrorist Number One.’ Mutallab, who is accused of trying to blow up a jet over Detroit on Christmas Day with explosives hidden in his underwear, is thought to have been tutored in Yemen.

However, it is extremely difficult to detect – making it an ideal weapon for terrorists. But other sources said the packages may have been dummies adapted to look like real bombs in a ‘dry run’ as preparation for a real plot. Hours after the discovery at East Midlands, two UPS planes at Philadelphia airport were moved to a secure area and checked, while searches were also carried out on an aircraft arriving from the UK in Newark, New Jersey.

Further checks were reported on planes that carried cargo originating in Yemen and that were arriving from Europe in Portland, Maine, and at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. In Brooklyn, New York, police were examining a package from a UPS truck after reports that a possible explosive had been found. Two fighter jets later escorted an airliner travelling into New York from Dubai.

UPS said it was immediately suspending service out of Yemen until further notice 'because security is of the utmost importance'. The terror alert follows calls this week from airline bosses that existing security procedures such as shoe and laptop checks should be scrapped. Earlier this year, the US and Britain temporarily closed embassies in the Yemeni capital over fears of a terrorist attack. A Yemen-based offshoot of al Qaeda was suspected of being behind the alleged Christmas Day bomb attempt on a jet flying to Detroit.

Speaking in the White House last night, Mr Obama said: 'I want to briefly update the American people on a credible terrorist threat against our country and the action that we have taken with our partners to respond to it. 'Last night and earlier today our intelligence and law enforcement professionals working with our friends and allies identified two suspicious packages bound for the US - specifically, two places of Jewish worship in Chicago.

'Those packages have been located in Dubai and East Midlands Airport in the UK. 'Initial examination of those packages has determined that they do apparently contain explosive material.' He added: 'I've...directed that we spare no effort in investigating the origins of these suspicious packages and their connection to any additional terrorist plotting.

​

 

[Cao Pi]

Search: Officials head straight for cargo hold to find the suspected package that has been sent from Yemen

Grounded: The Emirates plane on the tarmac at New York's JFK airport after being escorted down by U.S. fighters with a suspect package from Yemen on board

Men walk past the offices of FedEx in Sanaa last night. Two suspicious packages being flown from Yemen to the United States were found in Britain and Dubai on Friday after a tip prompted authorities to search cargo planes on both sides of the Atlantic

'Although we are still pursuing all the facts, we do know that the packages originated in Yemen. 'We also know that al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, a terrorist group based in Yemen, continues to plan attacks against our homeland, our citizens, and our friends and allies.'

DEVICE SHOWS 'TERRORISTS HAVE THE ABILITY TO ADAPT'

The use of explosive material built into printer cartridges shows terror groups are coming up with innovative new ways to launch attacks on foreign soil, security experts said today.

The packages discovered on cargo planes in Britain and Dubai are now undergoing forensic analysis. According to US officials initial tests indicated the use of PETN, the same powerful explosive used in the plot to blow up a plane over Detroit last Christmas.

'If this attack is by AQAP (al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula), it demonstrates an accelerated ability to design new and innovative ways of conducting IED attacks and a focused effort to execute those attacks on US soil,' Ben Venzke, chief executive of the intelligence agency IntelCenter, said.

Mr Venzke said the group elaborated on its bomb-making philosophy in its official Arabic-language magazine, Sada al-Malahim, following the attempted Christmas Day bombing. 'The article provides insights into how the group approaches IED (improvised explosive device) design and creates devices for specific targets and operations,' he said.

'The creation of devices built into toner cartridges fits within this philosophy and would not be surprising to see coming out of AQAP.' He quoted the article as saying: 'The using of many methods for implementation and bombings is very important because it gives flexibility to operations and the infiltration through barriers.

'The decision to use one device or another differs according to the importance of the location and the results of the blast. You have weapons that you use at the proper time. This is also subject to the conditions of the targeted place. 'The tight security inside the office of a security official under observation and guard is totally different than an aeroplane that is in the air for six hours.

'It is certain that the conditions in the later situation will be more flexible and do not raise suspicions during implementation.' Terror expert Dr Sally Leivesley said it appeared to be a 'sophisticated' device which may have used the powdered toner as a means of evading screening. She said the size of the device meant if it was a bomb it could cause 'devastation'. She said: 'It's a step-jump change in terms of threat to aviation and it's extremely serious. 'These devices can be put on board anywhere.'

The U.S. and Britain have stepped up training, intelligence and aid to Yemen this year amid concerns that the country has become a major training ground for Al Qaeda and after specific warnings that it is targeting aircraft. Home Secretary Theresa May confirmed the package at East Midlands did contain explosive material, but said it was not yet clear whether it was a 'viable explosive device'. Forensic experts are still examining the find.

Ms May said Cobra, the UK government's emergency planning committee, met yesterday following the discovery and would meet again later today. All direct flights from Yemen to the UK had been suspended, she added. Ms May said: 'The package which originated in Yemen was removed for forensic examination by UK experts. That examination continues. 'At this stage I can say that the device did contain explosive material. But it is not yet clear that it was a viable explosive device. The forensic work continues.'

She added: 'We are reviewing the security measures for air freight from Yemen and are in discussion with industry contacts.' The Yemeni government expressed astonishment last night at reports linking it to the two explosive packages. In a statement distributed to journalists and appearing on the official website, the government said there were no UPS cargo planes that had taken off from Yemen, or any indirect or direct flights to British or American airports.

The statement added that the government was co-operating with the US, British and Emirati parties. Yemen's statement warned against 'rush decisions in a case as sensitive as this one and before investigations reveal the truth'. The government also promised an investigation into claims that the packages had originated in Yemen. Prime Minister David Cameron, who is at his Chequers country residence, will not be attending or taking part in today's Cobra meeting.

Downing Street said Mr Cameron had spoken to the Home Secretary last night, and was being kept up to date with the situation. Former Home Secretary Lord Reid said there was a 'huge and continuing threat' from terrorism. He told BBC News: 'The important thing is to remember that even when there are no incidents like this, there is still a huge and continuing threat from terrorism, not just al Qaida but its affiliates and in some cases from brand new groupings.

'We've got to get away from this idea that if we go a period of time without an incident like this that somehow we can reduce vigilance and reduce security at airports.' He said it was 'unclear' whether this was a 'dry run', but it would be 'unwise to assume that because we have detected these two (devices) that there aren't any more out there'. He added: 'What no government can guarantee is 100% success because, to use the old adage, we have to be successful every time in our counter terrorist operations, the terrorists only have to be successful once.'

The latest aviation security alert involving suspect cargo packages is almost certainly bound to end hopes of an easing of airport checks for UK passengers. Earlier this week British Airways chairman Martin Broughton had suggested that some parts of the security programme were now 'completely redundant'. He added that there was no need to 'kowtow to the Americans every time they wanted something done'.

Mr Broughton had added: 'We should say, 'We'll only do things which we consider essential and that you Americans also consider essential'.' The BA chairman's views were supported by many leading figures in UK aviation. Mike Carrivick, chairman of the Board of Airline Representatives, which speaks for 80 UK carriers, said: 'Every time there is a new security scare, an extra layer of security is added. We need to have a look at the whole situation.'

A Yemeni employee serves a customer at a branch of the US package delivery firm UPS in Sanaa this morning

Colin Matthews, chief executive of airport operator BAA, called for 'rationalising' of security checks and former security minister Lord West said security had gone too far and could be made 'much less onerous'. UK Transport secretary Philip Hammond said he would allow airlines to look at how they could 'ease the passenger experience'. But that now looks a forlorn hope, with the hard-pressed passenger likely to face more, rather than fewer, checks.

The latest situation also strengthens the US argument that it is right for America to insist on the tightest of security, and the fullest of information about passengers, for flights from the UK to the USA. With the UK's Air Passenger Duty (APD) airport departure tax due to rise on Monday, longer queues at UK airport security points will add to the problems of an aviation industry that had begun to recover, in recent months, from the recession.

HOW THE FED-EX BOMB CRISIS SPREAD

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28
Late - MI6 officer responsible for Yemen reportedly receives tip-off from a local source of a possible al Qaida plot to smuggle bombs to America on cargo aircraft.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29
- Early hours. Suspicious package discovered at East Midlands Airport on a UPS plane, which was from Yemen and bound for Chicago in the US. The device is later said to have been a printer toner cartridge with wires and powder, addressed to a synagogue in Chicago. Police evacuate the centre and set up a security cordon around the airport.

- 10am Police stand down cordon.
Suspicious FedEx package also apparently containing a printer cartridge found on plane in Dubai, which was flying from Yemen to Chicago.

- 2pm Police reimpose security cordon at East Midlands. The move reportedly follows discovery of another suspicious device linked to a mobile phone. It is sent for detailed examination.

- After 4pm First reports emerge in UK of terror alert involving suspicious packages on cargo flights.

- 5.35pm Security cordon at East Midlands Airport lifted.

- 5.56pm FBI says two suspicious packages were addressed to religious buildings in Chicago.

- 6.55pm It emerges US military jets are escorting an Emirates flight through US airspace which is carrying a package from Yemen.

- 7.35pm Emirates flight 201 from Yemen via Dubai lands at JFK airport, New York.

- 7.45pm A suspicious FedEx package that was sent from Yemen has been confiscated in Dubai, a company spokeswoman confirms. FedEx says it has stopped all shipments from Dubai in light of the investigation into the package, and say they are liaising with the FBI. Two other FedEx flights are investigated after landing in Philadelphia and Newark, New Jersey. Both are given the all clear.

- 7.53pm Emirates airline says it is co-operating with the US authorities in the investigation of the package from Yemen on flight 201.

- 7.55pm All direct flights from Yemen to the UK are suspended, Home Secretary Theresa May says.

- 8.35pm John Brennan, assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for homeland security and counter-terrorism, says the packages have been isolated and "made inert".

- 9.20pm President Barack Obama makes a White House address.
He announces the existence of a 'credible terrorist threat' and says two packages found in Dubai and East Midlands Airport 'apparently contain explosive material'. Mr Obama says the packages originated in Yemen and that the Yemen-based terror group al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is planning attacks against the US and its allies.

- 9.55pm The explosive material is reported to be PETN, or pentaerythritol tetranitrate, a very powerful explosive. It is the same as the material used in last year's Christmas Day attempted bomb plot on a jet at Detroit airport.

- 10.57pm The Yemeni government says in a statement it is co-operating with the US, British and Emirati authorities.

- 23.58pm Theresa May confirms the suspect package found at East Midlands did contain explosive material, 'but it is not yet clear that it was a viable explosive device. The forensic work continues'. Ms May says Cobra, the UK government's emergency planning committee, met today and will meet again tomorrow.

​

 

[yellow people]

Yemen arrests suspect as parcels confirmed as bombs


Yemen arrests suspect as parcels confirmed as bombs

By Mohamed Sudam
SANAA | Sun Oct 31, 2010 6:54am EDT

SANAA (Reuters) - Yemeni forces on Saturday arrested a woman believed to be involved in sending explosive packages bound for the United States that triggered a global security alert, Yemeni security officials said. The arrest was the first in the case, in which two air freight packages containing bombs -- both sent from Yemen and addressed to synagogues in Chicago -- were intercepted in Britain and Dubai.

The officials said the woman had been traced through a telephone number she had left with a cargo company. They told Reuters she was a medical student at Sanaa University and believed to be in her 20s. She was arrested in a poor neighborhood in the west of the Yemeni capital Sanaa. The women's lawyer said her mother had also been detained, but was not a prime suspect. Britain said the device found on a cargo plane at its East Midlands airport was big enough to down an aircraft.

"We believe the device was designed to go off on the aeroplane. We cannot be sure about the timing when that was meant to take place," Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters at Chequers, his country residence outside London. "In the end these terrorists think that our interconnectedness, our openness as modern countries is what makes us weak," he said. "They are wrong -- it is a source of our strength, and we will use that strength, that determination, that power and that solidarity to defeat them."

HALLMARKS OF AL QAEDA

Dubai had said on Friday that it had found a viable bomb. Officials say the bombs bear the hallmarks of al Qaeda's Yemeni branch, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). At least one bomb included PETN, the explosive used in a failed attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day last year. The White House said Saudi Arabia had helped to identify the threat, and President Barack Obama thanked Saudi King Abdullah for the "critical role" his country had played.

Saudi Arabia has come under huge international pressure to take on al Qaeda since it was found to be the home of most of the attackers who struck the United States on September 11, 2001, killing 3,000 people. The United States has focused increasingly on Yemen since last year's failed Christmas Day bombing, which AQAP claimed. An official in Washington called Saturday's arrest "a demonstration that Yemen is taking this seriously and cooperation is strong and ongoing."

There was a heavy police presence on the streets of Sanaa on Saturday night, with checkpoints throughout the city and on the road to the airport, as police hunted accomplices. The White House said Obama's counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan, had told Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh that Washington "stands ready" to aid his government. Saleh said his country was "determined to continue fighting terrorism and al Qaeda in cooperation with its partners," but warned Washington against taking matters into its own hands.

"We do not want anyone to interfere in Yemeni affairs by hunting down al Qaeda," he said in a brief appearance before journalists, who were not given an opportunity to ask questions. Saleh said Yemen would like better intelligence cooperation with the U.S., British and Saudi governments.

DRONE ATTACKS

U.S. drone aircraft are widely believed to be behind strikes against al Qaeda targets in Yemen, much as they are in Pakistan, although Washington does not acknowledge them. Yemeni officials worry an overt U.S. military presence could attract a backlash. U.S. officials say Obama has given the CIA the green light to hunt and kill al Qaeda figures believed to be in Yemen, such as U.S.-born AQAP propaganda chief Anwar al-Awlaki.

In Washington, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said authorities were checking whether other packages had been sent before the two that were intercepted. "We're doing some reverse engineering, as it were, to identify other packages from Yemen," she said on NBC News. The Yemeni suspect's lawyer, Abdel Rahman Burman, said he feared she had been unwittingly used by others.

"Her acquaintances tell me that she is a quiet student and there was no knowledge of her having involvement in any religious or political groups," he told Reuters. "I'm concerned the girl is a victim, because it doesn't make sense that the person who would do this kind of operation would leave a picture of their ID and their phone number." One of the packages was found on a United Parcel Service cargo plane at East Midlands Airport, north of London.

The other bomb was discovered hidden in a computer printer cartridge in a parcel at a FedEx Corp facility in Dubai. That package was brought in on a Qatar Airways plane that stopped over in the Qatari capital Doha, the airline confirmed. UPS and FedEx, the world's largest cargo airline, halted shipments from Yemen. On Saturday, Yemen shut down both companies' operations there, citing security concerns. Britain halted all air freight from Yemen.

(Additional reporting by Adrian Croft, Stefano Ambrogi and Mohammed Abbas in London; Jeremy Pelofsky and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Raissa Kasolowsky, Mahmoud Habboush, Amran Abocar, Erika Solomon and Mohammed Ghobari in Sanaa and Dubai; Writing and editing by Peter Graff and Kevin Liffey)