Yemeni al-Qaeda crackdown

Said Ali al-Shihri †
Qasim al-Raymi  †
Anwar al-Awlaki †

The Yemeni al-Qaeda crackdown refers to military operations by the Yemeni government and the United States government against al Qaeda and related targets in Yemen as part of the Global War on Terror. The crackdown began in 2001 and escalated on January 14, 2010 when Yemen declared open war^[14][15] on al Qaeda. In addition to fighting against al Qaeda in several provinces, Yemen is also battling a northern Shi'ite insurgency and trying to contain separatists in the south.

Background

Yemen has come under pressure to act against al Qaeda since attacks on its two main allies, Saudi Arabia and the United States, by militants coming from Yemeni soil. Previous attacks linked to al Qaeda in Yemen include the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, the 2008 American Embassy attack, and several attacks against foreign tourists.

Yemen had already intensified operations against al Qaeda in late 2009 when a Yemen-based wing of the group claimed to be behind the failed December 25, 2009 attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner, itself a retaliation against an attack against a training camp in Abyan on 17 December, killing many civilians.^[16] News reports have indicated substantial American involvement in Yemeni operations against al Qaeda since late 2009, including training, intelligence sharing, "several dozen troops" from the Joint Special Operations Command, and direct involvement.^[17][18]

Timeline

• December 17, 2009: Yemeni ground forces carried out raids in Sana'a (arresting 13), Arhab (killing 4 and arresting 4), and attacked an alleged training camp in Al-Maajala, Abyan, killing 24–50,^[16][19] including 14 women and 21 children. According to ABC News, American cruise missiles were also part of the raids.^[20][21] The U.S. denied they were involved in the strikes, despite evidence from Amnesty International.^[18]

• December 24: U.S. drones or missiles^[22] struck an al Qaeda meeting in Shabwa, killing some 30 individuals. One target of the strike was Anwar al-Awlaki.^[23]

• January 4, 2010: Yemeni security forces killed two alleged militants a day earlier north of the capital.^[24]

• January 6: Yemeni forces arrested three suspected al-Qaeda militants who were wounded in a raid, that was carried out by security forces.^[25]

• January 13: Yemeni army launches Operation Blow to the Head in Sa'dah city, aimed at both Sunni al-Qaeda and Shi'a Houthi fighters, in which al-Qaeda leader Abdullah al-Mehdar was killed.

• January 14: A Yemen army air strike has killed at least six suspected al-Qaeda fighters in the north of the country, a Yemeni security official said.^[15]

• January 17: A radical Islamist Somali group claimed it was exchanging some of its fighters with those in Yemen. Yemeni militants are reportedly also sending fighters in return. This exchange in fighters shows the close links it has with the country of Yemen, an al-Shabab spokesman said.^[26]

• January 20: The Yemeni air force bombed the home of a suspected al-Qaeda leader, Ayed al-Shabwani, who the military had claimed was dead a week before this bombing. The attack on his home was reportedly met with anti-aircraft fire from his village. No figure on casualties has been released, for this latest attack.^[27]

• January 21: In order to "halt terrorist infiltration", Yemen decided to only issue visas through embassies, ceasing the practice of issuing visas to foreigners when they land at Yemeni airports.^[28]

• February 8: Al-Qaeda leader Said Ali al-Shihri released an online audio message calling for jihad in the Arabian Peninsula.^[29]

• March 16: Two Al-Qaeda militants who were killed in Yemen due to air raids carried out by the Yemen air force have been identified, government officials have said. A third suspected senior militant had also reportedly been killed in these raids. These bombing raids were carried out in the southern province of Abyan. It has been reported that these militants were connected to the failed bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner last year. However it is not clear how many other people were killed in these air strikes.^[30]

• August 25: Gunmen on motorcycles attacked a military patrol in Yemen's restive south on Wednesday, killing four soldiers and wounding one, a security official said. The official said an early investigation indicated the attackers were members of al-Qaida, which lately appears to have stepped up high-profile attacks in the south of this impoverished country. He did not provide details. The attack occurred in the Abyan provincial capital of Zinjibar and brought to 53 the number of soldiers killed by al-Qaida since May, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.^[31]

• January 8, 2011: Armed suspected Al Qaeda militants attacked a Yemeni army checkpoint in Lahj killing 4 soldiers a day after 12 soldiers were killed in an ambush in Lawdar.^[32]

• March 6, 2011: Armed suspected Al Qaeda gunmen shoot dead 4 soldiers from the elite Republican Guard as they passed in a truck near Marib.^[33]

• March 26, 2011: Al Qaeda captured the town of Jaar in the South of Yemen.^[34]

• March 27, 2011: Al Qaeda militants captured the town of al-Husn, the strategic mountain of Khanfar, and a weapons factory. Fighting in Jaar captured the day prior is being reported.^[34]

• May 27, 2011: Al Qaeda militants captured the capital city of Abyan Governorate, Zinjibar, the village of Ar Rawdah, the village of Shuqrah and Houtah in the Shabwah Governorate.^[35][36] At last 217 Yemeni soldiers, between 282 and 335 Al Qaeda militants and 45 civilians were killed.^[37][38] The group seized 30 police cars after two police camps surrendered to them and destroyed 3 tanks.^[39]

• September 30, 2011: Anwar al-Awlaki was killed by a drone strike launched by the US which successfully killed him, Samir Khan and a few other militants as it turned out they were driving to get some breakfast and all were in their car when the strike took their lives.

Battle of Lawdar

al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

Between 19 and 25 August 2010 the Yemeni army launched a major offensive in the city of Lawdar controlled by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Several activists including local leaders of Al Qaeda were killed during the clashes. On August 25 Yemeni authorities claimed to regain control of the southern town of Loder, a great part of which was in the grip of suspected Al-Qaeda militants during days of clashes with the army.^[43]

Timeline

• Thursday 19: 2 soldiers were killed and two others wounded.
• Friday 20: 11 soldiers killed, two civilians killed and 4 injured.
• Sunday 22: 7 members of al-qaida killed.
• Monday, August 23: a local leader of al-qaida killed.
• Wednesday, August 25: Yemen regains control of the town.

Battle of Huta

On September 20: They begin siege of the town.^[46] Also US President Barack Obama's top counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan visited Yemen Monday and discussed cooperation in the fight against Al-Qaeda, the White House said. Brennan met President Ali Abdullah Saleh and delivered a letter from Obama expressing US support for a "unified, stable, democratic and prosperous Yemen, " National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said in a statement. "President Saleh and Mr Brennan discussed cooperation against the continuing threat of Al-Qaeda, and Mr Brennan conveyed the United States' condolences to the Yemeni people for the loss of Yemeni security officers and citizens killed in recent Al-Qaeda attacks, " Hammer said.^[47] On September 21: Al-Qaeda militants besieged in the southern Yemeni town of Hota are using residents as human shields in the second major clash between them and troops in recent weeks, an official said on Tuesday. "Al-Qaeda elements are preventing residents from leaving Hota, to use them as human shields, " a security official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.^[48] The Yemeni army destroyed five homes suspected of hiding al Qaeda militants Tuesday as a siege of a southern village entered its second day, but officials denied reports that U. S.-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was among those surrounded, the AP reported. Earlier Tuesday, an unofficial website run by government opponents, Alganob.net, had reported that al-Awlaki had been surrounded. But the chief municipal official in the area, Atiq Baouda, and the security officials denied that he was in the area under siege. The Yemeni army refused to comment on the operation. A Yemeni news website reported Tuesday that state security forces had surrounded a group of suspected al Qaeda leaders in a south Yemen village, possibly including American-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.^[49] On September 22 Al-Qaida militants holed up in a village in south Yemen on Wednesday fought off repeated attempts by government troops backed by tanks and heavy artillery to retake the besieged town, officials said. A military official said the militants are using sniper fire and land mines to keep the soldiers at bay, forcing the army to adjust its tactics. In one attempt, Yemeni troops tried to repel from helicopters into the village but met with fierce resistance, two Hawta residents said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they fear for their security. They said four soldiers were wounded and were rushed away in ambulances. In another attempt, six soldiers were wounded by militant sniper fire as they tried to mount barricades put up by the militants on the town's outskirts, local officials said. Medical officials confirmed that nine soldiers are being treated at the provincial hospital. This was reported by the AP

On September 24 a government siege of al-Hota ends after security forces take control of the town in the southern province of Shabwa.^[50]

US drone and cruise missile attacks

The U.S. first said it used targeted killing in November 2002, with the cooperation and approval of the government of Yemen.^[51][52] A CIA-controlled high-altitude Predator drone fired a Hellfire missile at an SUV in the Yemeni desert containing Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, a Yemeni suspected senior al-Qaeda lieutenant believed to have been the mastermind behind the October 2000 USS Cole bombing that killed 17 Americans.^[51][52][53] He was on a list of targets whose capture or death had been called for by President George W. Bush.^[51] In addition to al-Harethi, five other occupants of the SUV were killed, all of whom were suspected al-Qaeda terrorists, and one of whom (Kamal Derwish) was an American.^[51][54]

In May 2010 an errant US drone attack targeting al Qaeda terrorists in Wadi Abida, Yemen killed five people, among them Jaber al-Shabwani, deputy governor of Maarib province who was mediating between the government and the militants. The killing so angered Shabwani's tribesmen that in the subsequent weeks they fought heavily with government security forces, twice attacking a major oil pipeline in Maarib.^[55]

According to The Times, in 2010 the US, in cooperation with Yemeni officials, launched four cruise missiles at suspected terrorist targets in Yemen. The strikes reportedly killed 200 civilians and 40 terrorists. According to the Times, Yemen asked the US to suspend the strikes after one of the missiles killed a pro-Yemeni tribal leader, Sheikh Jaber al-Shabwani, the deputy governor of Marib province, resulting in his tribe turning against the Yemeni government. The Times also stated that US special forces troops were on the ground in Yemen helping to hunt al-Qaeda operatives.^[56]

On 3 June 2011 American manned jets or drones attacked and killed Abu Ali al-Harithi, a midlevel al-Qaeda operative, and several other militant suspects in a strike in southern Yemen. Four civilians were also reportedly killed in the strike. The strike was reportedly coordinated by American special forces and CIA operatives based in Sana.^[57] According to the Associated Press, in 2011 the US government began building an airbase near or in Yemen from which the CIA and US military plans to operate drones over Yemen.^[58] September 30, 2011: Anwar al-Awlaki was killed by a drone strike launched by the US which successfully killed him, Samir Khan and a few other militants as it turned out they were driving to get some breakfast and all were in their car when the strike took their lives

References

External links

• Yemen: A Fragile Unity
• Al-Qaeda in Yemen: Renaissance of Terror
• After Thwarted Bomb Plot, US Military Operations in Yemen Could Intensify - video report by Democracy Now!