The suicide bombing that killed seven CIA operatives and one Jordanian intelligence official in Afghanistan last week sheds light on secretive partnerships the US has forged in its shadow war against al-Qaeda. Jordan has evidently been involved in supporting operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, despite the unpopularity of both wars among Arabs. The death of Jordanian Army Capt. Sharif Ali bin Zeid, a distant relative of Jordan's King Abdullah II, alongside CIA operatives—and the fact that the attacker was apparently Jordanian double agent—has brought at elements of this partnership into the open. The suspected bomber, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, was a Jordanian informant who CIA and Jordanian intelligence officials hoped would lead them to al-Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The blast was the worst loss of life for the CIA since the Beirut embassy bombing of 1983. (CSM, Jan. 6)

Thousands of Coptic Christians clashed with police in southern Egypt Jan. 7 during a funeral procession for seven people shot dead as they left a Christmas service hours earlier. Protesters hurled stones at vehicles and set fire to ambulances in the town of Nag Hamadi, 40 miles from the ancient ruins of Luxor. The unrest was sparked by a drive-by shooting in which three men sprayed automatic gunfire into a crowd leaving a midnight Mass to mark the Coptic Christmas.

A White House spokesman said Jan. 5 that the US government will suspend transfers of Guantánamo Bay detainees to Yemen. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs made the announcement at his daily briefing amid increasing political pressure not to transfer any more detainees to Yemen after it was revealed that the man who attempted to detonate an explosive device on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 last month received al-Qaeda training in Yemen.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US President Barack Obama have agreed to fund a special counter-terrorism police unit in Yemen to tackle the rising threat from the country. The announcement comes as the US and UK shut their embassies in Yemen's capital Sana Dec. 3, the US State Department citing unspecified but "ongoing threats by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," the regional franchise of the terror network. The closures came a day after a quiet visit to Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh by Gen. David H. Petraeus, the US regional commander, who delivered a message from Obama of support for Yemen's unity and counter-terrorism efforts. (Press TV, NYT, Jan. 3)

The senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), says he has information the suspect in the apparent thwarted Christmas Day terrorism attempt may have had contact with Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemen-based radical imam with ties to the suspect in the Fort Hood shootings. The incident on Northwest Airlines flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit "definitely appears to be al-Qaeda-related," King said. "This was not a firecracker. This was for real." (Bloomberg, Dec. 26)

A group of 34 al-Qaeda militants were killed and 17 others were arrested by special operations in Abyan province, Sana'a city and Arhab district in Yemen, authorities announced Dec. 17. Warplanes reportedly carried out air-strikes against an al-Qaeda training camp in al-Ma'jala area of Abyan governorate, while safe houses were raided in Sana'a, the capital. (Yemen Observer, Dec. 17)

Yemeni authorities should stop using unjustified lethal force against protesters and end attacks on the media in southern Yemen, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Dec. 14. The 73-page report, "In the Name of Unity: The Yemeni Government's Brutal Response to Southern Movement Protests," documents attacks by security forces on supporters of the so-called Southern Movement as well as on journalists, academics, and other opinion-makers.

Saudi Arabian warplanes bombed a market in Bani Maan village in Yemen killing 70 civilians, rebels in the north of the country said Dec. 14. The rebels, known as Houthis, have accused the Saudis of several cross-border raids. Additionally, Iran's Press TV, citing claims on the rebels' Almenpar website, reported that US fighter jets took part in the air-raids in the northwestern province of Sa'ada. (BBC News, Press TV, Dec. 14)