Houthis, al-Qaeda targeting legitimacy leaders in Yemen

Noura Bendari

Arab Coalition forces work hard to support legitimacy in Yemen and curtail the terrorism of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Houthi coup militia and Islah Party, the arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen.

These extremist groups have, meanwhile, been following a new approach, namely the assassination of the leaders of legitimacy forces, especially the southern leadership, which succeeded in the past period in inflicting heavy damage on them.

Security Belt commander’s assassination

Abdulatif al-Sayed, the commander-in-chief of the Security Belt Forces of the Southern Transitional Council, was killed, along with four soldiers, following a bombing of his convoy in the Wadi Awimran area in Abyan province in southern Yemen on August 10.

Although no one has yet claimed responsibility for the operation, accusing fingers were pointed at al-Qaeda.

Some people based their conclusion on who might have staged the attack on its modus operandi which belongs to al-Qaeda.

The convoy was targeted with explosive devices.

The same people drew the same conclusion because al-Qaeda is also active in Abyan province. It suffered significant losses during the past period at the hands of the Security Belt Forces.

Operation Martyr Hoss Swords

The operation targeting the leaders of the Security Belt comes four days after the announcement by the southern armed forces on August 6 of the launch of Operation Martyr Hoss Swords with the aim of hunting the elements of al-Qaeda in Abyan.

The southern forces succeeded in arresting al-Qaeda field commander, Saeed Ali Saeed, codenamed ‘Abu al-Qaqa’, according to Spokesman of the southern armed forces, Mohamed al-Naqib.

He said the operation is an extension of Operation Eastern Arrows which was launched by the southern forces in August 2022 with the aim of establishing security and stability in the southern governorate.

Two sides of the same coin

Yemeni political analyst, Mahmud al-Taher, said the aforementioned developments reflect the presence of consensus between the Houthis and al-Qaeda on the need for targeting the Arab Coalition and the Yemeni government.

The two groups, he said, carry out operations and assassinations against Yemeni military leaders with the aim of destabilizing liberated areas.

“These terrorist operations will only stop by restoring Yemen to its Arab incubator, working to restore the state, and then carrying out a military operation to cleanse the country of radical terrorism,” al-Taher told The Reference.

He described the Houthis and al-Qaeda as ‘two sides of the same coin’.

“We expect many terrorist operations to happen during the coming period against the Yemeni government and ordinary people, especially in liberated areas,” al-Taher said.