Houthi card: Al-Qaeda returns in southern Yemen

Nora Bandari

In the midst of regional and international calls for the parties to the conflict in Yemen to resolve the crisis, which has entered its ninth year, and to reach a political settlement that puts an end to the ongoing war, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has once again launched attacks in Yemeni territory, specifically in the southern governorates, in conjunction with the temporary cessation of negotiations between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia under Omani sponsorship and the militia’s return to escalation despite calls to stop any escalatory actions, revealing the existence of Houthi coordination to target the forces affiliated with the legitimate government.

Terrorist acts

It should be noted that al-Qaeda has not stopped launching attacks in Yemeni territory since the beginning of 2023, but it sometimes calms down and then returns to escalation again. April witnessed two attacks by the terrorist organization. The first took place on April 27, when al-Qaeda militants targeted a patrol of Fawzi Shayef al-Bakri, a counterterrorism officer in the Southern Transitional Council’s Security Belt Forces, in the town of Ambaqira in Wadi Omran, eastern Mudiyah district, eastern Abyan governorate. The attack resulted in the killing of Bakri, who played a role during the past years in thwarting several terrorist operations by al-Qaeda and the Houthis.

As for the second attack, it took place in early April, when terrorist elements from al-Qaeda in Ambaqira set up an armed ambush and launched an attack on a number of southern forces in this area, which resulted in the killing of three soldiers affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council in the governorate. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for this operation in a statement on May 1.

In this context, Yemeni media outlets revealed that during the first third of 2023, al-Qaeda launched nearly 11 terrorist operations, all in the southern governorate of Abyan, which resulted in more than 50 deaths and injuries, all of them from the southern forces and the Abyan axis. The reason for this is that the Southern Transitional Council directed its forces during the second half of last year, specifically in August 2022, to cleanse the country of terrorists, especially in the governorates of Shabwa and Abyan. In light of that, the Arrows of the East and Arrows of the South operations were announced in these governorates, and therefore the southern forces were targeted by the Houthis and al-Qaeda.

Houthi method

The question remains about the reason for the escalation of al-Qaeda attacks with the faltering negotiations between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia and whether the Houthi militia was involved in these terrorist acts. Yemeni political analyst Mahmoud al-Taher said that these terrorist attacks are a Houthi means of pressure and destabilization, especially when there is a continuous war, and we find that terrorist operations only target leaders in the legitimate government, and when the war stops and there are negotiations, we find attacks targeting citizens and everything.

Taher pointed out in a special statement to the Reference that choosing the governorates of Abyan and Al-Bayda as a place for launching terrorist operations is due to the similarity and ruggedness of the terrain and the proximity of the two governorates to each other, so that if the terrorists are chased from Abyan, they will return to Al-Bayda under the protection of the Houthis and then gather their ranks to return again.

Because of the war, Yemen represents a suitable environment for terrorist groups, whether al-Qaeda or the Houthis, Taher said, adding that in 2011, when Yemen entered a vortex of political conflict, the Houthis were able to reach and control Sanaa, while al-Qaeda was expanding in Abyan Governorate in southern Yemen, taking advantage of the political situation and the deteriorating security at that time. With the beginning of the war in Yemen and Iran’s unlimited support for the Houthis and al-Qaeda, a partnership was created between the two groups, and they formed a joint operations room to manage terrorist operations in the liberated areas, which resulted in many terrorist operations seeking to confuse the security situation in the liberated regions.