Volume 1 - Iraq Watch

opposition parties for this action out of fear of aUS government reaction. After a Royal JordanianAirlines flight landed in Baghdad on 27 September,however, Salih decided he could deflect Westerncriticism by claiming the flight was on a humanitarianmission. It was expected that Yemen wouldallow additional flights to Baghdad in the future.By November 2000, another session of the YemeniIraqi Joint Committee, led by ‘Abd-Al-‘Aziz Al-Kumaym, was held in Baghdad. The meetings againcentered on improving bilateral relations, but mainlydealt with increasing economic activity between thetwo countries. The joint committee reached agreementin a number of areas, including the purchaseof Iraqi oil at below market prices for cash usingunnamed Yemeni businessmen instead of the YemeniGovernment. This kind of transaction was veryprofitable for Yemen, but violated UN sanctions. Inaddition to the profits earned by this trade, Saddam’sRegime also agreed:• To provide 60 scholarships for Yemeni students tostudy at Baghdad University.• To the exchange of experts to take place in thefields of agriculture and telecommunications.Yemen Emerges as an Intermediary forIraqi Illicit ImportsSeveral high-ranking Iraqi, Yemeni, and SyrianGovernment officials met to discuss the establishmentof an illicit trade protocol between Februaryand July 2001. The purpose of these particularmeetings centered on formulating and implementinga plan that would allow Iraq to acquire Russianmanufacturedmilitary spares through a complicatedsupply chain and front company network. The mainparticipants in the meetings were the Iraqi Ministry ofDefense General Secretary, the Yemeni Ambassador,and Firas Tlas, the son of the former Syrian DefenseMinister Lt. Gen. Mustafa Tlas. A Yemeni businessmannamed Sharar Abed Al-Haq brokered the illicitYemeni business transactions.• Lt. Gen. Mustafa Tlas, while absent from the meeting,provided a letter, which stated that he recentlymet Dimitrof Mikhail, president of Russian Companyof Iron Export. Dimitrof, a former senior Russianintelligence official, had agreed to supply spareparts without requesting the identity of the end user.• Al-Haq agreed to transport military supplies fromYemen to Iraq using the illicit trade networks.• According to the letters, Iraq provided Al-Haq alist of requirements, signed by the Iraq DefenseGeneral Secretary. This list included spares for thefollowing: MiG-17, MiG-21, MiG-23, MiG-25,MiG-29, Su-22, Iskandri missiles with a rangeof 290 kilometers, updated parachutes, L-39combat capable trainers, Bell 214st helicopters,T-55 and T-72 tanks, armored cars, BMP-1 andBMP-2 armored personnel carriers, and othercars and trucks. The total value of the contract was$7,287,213. The contract outlined a transportationscheme to take the prohibited items from Singaporeto Sana’a, Yemen to Damascus, Syria, to Baghdadwith payment to be made through the InternationalBank of Yemen.According to recovered documents, President Salihcalled his brother, the Yemeni Air Force Commander,after this meeting and told him to provideIraq with spare parts even if they needed to takethem from Yemeni stocks. He also ordered his brotherto acquire more materials from Russia.• Reportedly, in early December 2001, the Iraqi AirForce had received spare parts for MiG-29 fighteraircraft, mainly through Tartus, Syria. No furtherinformation is available as to the origin of theaircraft parts. It is likely that these items were purchasedvia the Russian/Yemen/Syria supply chain.132