Translated by YemenPress:
Al-Qaeda admited its role as a US-Saudi proxy and a vital element foot-army of the Saudi war of aggression on Yemen. and its mercenaries. Leader of the so-called “Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” Qasem al-Rimi recently unravelled the mystry around the real objectives of the US-Saudi aggression on Yemen, to strengthen terrorist groups in Yemen plunging the country into total chaos.
The U.S.-backed war on Yemen has strengthened al Qaeda there, American defense officials concede.
Yemen’s Salafi movement is undergoing a rapid transformation, shaped by the war and new sources of patronage. It is clear relationships between AQAP and various Salafi groups develop for Saudi political ambitions beyond defeating the Huthis. Their growth into a pivotal player in the Saudi-war of aggression and the growth of Salafi militias appears to be feeding into AQAP’s.
In Taiz, the lines between Salafi and AQAP/AAS fighters are blurred. As in Aden, Salafis are at the forefront of Saudi-led coalition-sponsored efforts to repel Yemen army and popular forces advances. Among the city’s myriad factions, one of the more notorious groups, acting with UAE-supplied weapons and armoured vehicles, is led by another former salafi terrorist, Abu al-Abbas. Al-Abbas’s men have clashed with the Saudi-sponsored tribal sheikh and Al-Qaeda leader Hamoud al-Mekhlafi.AQAP/IS links to a number of Salafi groups, since December 2016, Salafi and other Saudi-led militias have nominally been integrated into the saudi-puppet army while remaining separate in reality.
Another group, the Security Belt forces, a UAE-supported militia established by presidential decree in May 2016 to help secure Aden and led by Nabil Mashwashi, have a significant Salafi component. Prominent Salafis, such as Hani Bin Baraik, a minister of state and figurehead of the group, tend to be anti-Islah which, just as their UAE backers, they suspect of collusion with AQAP.
Opportunistic alliances forged by the Saudi-led coalition have propelled Salafis to prominence. In Aden, they act with UAE support as state-sponsored, irregular security forces. As the battle for that city reached its peak in July 2015, the UAE worked with a Salafi to lead fighters there. After Yemeni army and popular forces retreated from Adden, another little-known Salafi, Bassam Mehdhar, became the UAE’s main beneficiary. In 2015, the al-Mehdhar Brigade, based in Sheikh Othman and Mansoura districts, acted as a local security force. In October 2016, the group joined other Saudi-supported Hadi militias in crossing the Saudi-Yemeni border in an attempt to push into Saada, the Huthi stronghold.
Months into the U.S.-supported Saudi aggression against Yemen, fighters linked to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), long considered the terror group’s deadliest franchise, are closing on the southern port city of Aden, according to U.S. officials and local reports.
The land grabs marks the most important gains al Qaeda has made since March, when the Saudi military began its intervention into Yemen. And it gives the group more area to train, plot, and attack.
And it appears the group is using the conflict there to solidify its hold on Yemen.
the group joined other Saudi-supported Yemeni forces in crossing the Saudi-Yemeni border in an attempt to push into Saada, the Huthi stronghold.
AQAP continues to make inroads and exploit the situation.”
In the last few days, reports have emerged suggesting al Qaeda controls the city’s port, Aden’s commercial center, known as Crater, and Tawahi district, which holds a presidential palace. Just north of the city, in Dar Saad, roughly 200 al Qaeda fighters are training in what was once an army base.
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The U.S. military has helped Saudi Arabia carry out its attacks against the Houthis by providing intelligence, refueling Arab warplanes, and effectively blockading Yemen at times to prevent Iran from resupplying them. But
even as warplanes from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and other Gulf militaries pound the Houthis, the Sunni fighters of AQAP are taking advantage of the power vacuum in Yemen to claim more territory and strengthen their operations.
Despite AQAP’s gains, U.S. officials so far have been reluctant to publicly criticize the Saudi intervention in Yemen. The kingdom is, of course, a longtime regional ally, and its reserve and oil supplies set world market prices, which now are relatively low.
And with that, the U.S. drone program has slowed down, as has U.S. understanding of how AQAP is adjusting and exploiting the situation.
Among the prime beneficiaries of the Saudi strategy in Yemen is al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the same group that took responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo slaughter in Paris.
“The governorate of Hadramawt is one of the few areas where the Saudi-led coalition did not conduct any air strikes,” noted Buringa. “The port and the international airport of al-Mukalla are in optimal shape and under the control of al-Qaeda. Moreover, Saudi Arabia has been delivering arms to al-Qaeda, (which) is expanding its sphere of influence.”
The Saudi alliance with al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists in Yemen was brought to light last June when the Saudi-backed government of Abd Rubbuh Mansour Hadi dispatched none other than Abdulwahab Humayqani, a representative to Geneva as an official delegate for UN talks. Abdulwahab Humayqani, identified as a “specifically designated global terrorist” in 2013 by the US Treasury for recruiting and financing for AQAP. Humayqani was also allegedly behind an al-Qaeda car bombing that killed seven at a Yemeni Republican Guard base in 2012.
Other analysts concur. As Michael Hortoncomments in the Jamestown Foundation’s Terrorism Monitor: “AQAP may also benefit from the fact that it could well be regarded as a useful proxy by Saudi Arabia in its war against the Houthis. Saudi Arabia and its allies are arming a host of disparate militias across southern Yemen. It is certain that much of the funding and materiel will make its way to AQAP and the Islamic State.”
While trumpeting the war on IS in Iraq and Syria, the West is paving the way for the resurgence of both al-Qaeda and IS in Yemen.
As in most parts of the world where the US has waged its war on terror, the supposed targets—terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State—are the primary beneficiaries.
