Yemenis troops took two of al-Qaeda’s southern strongholds 12 June 2012 in an operation known as Golden Swords. The offensive, which began 12 May 2012, took over ninety percent of the provincial capital of Abyan, Zinjibar, and the city of Jaar. The troops also took the highway linking Jaar to the port of Aden, the area through which sixty percent of Yemen’s oil passes.

The Yemeni military was backed by dozens of US troops who remained in a command center at a nearby air base.

The Yemeni troops have been shelling the strongholds for about the past two months. The troops took Jaar in a surprise dawn attack, driving the al-Qaeda group out. The residents of the town celebrated the victory of the operation. One Jaar resident, Khaled Mohsen stated, “we thought it would take a year in order for the army to get rid of al-Qaeda, but we were surprised when they swept into the town in no time. I have been hearing constant exchange of gunfire all night, then suddenly everything was quiet. I looked from the windows, and I saw soldiers in uniform in the center of the town.”

The fighting in Zanjibar was much lighter than in Jaar since most of the city was already taken and many of the militants left for Jaar to defend that city.

Twenty militants and forty troops were killed in the fighting. The al-Qaeda militants fled from the town to the mountains and small towns in the region; most are now in the coastal town of Shaqra, the last remaining stronghold of al-Qaeda in the Abyan region. The group claims that they left the city to “spare bloodshed” and threatened to attack the capital of Sanaa in retaliation, according to CP24, a Canadian news agency. As they left Jaar the militants wrote “Al-Qaeda has withdrawn. Al-Qaeda was not defeated” on shutters and walls.

Al-Qaeda has been in possession of most of the southern province of Abyan for over a year. Although the Yemeni military has tried to take the region back, past attempts have failed because they are ill-equipped, badly trained, have no developed intelligence system, and there are still some conflicted loyalties to former President Saleh.

Newly elected President, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, has promised to purge Yemen of al-Qaeda; so far his efforts seem to be successful. According to Gamal al-Aqil, governor of the Abyan province, the Yemeni government has succeeded in dealing al-Qaeda “painful blows.”

The United States views al-Qaeda in Yemen as the greatest threat to its national security. They have been aiding the Yemeni government as it tries to overthrow the group. The United States has also sent many drone attacks to the area over the past several years, although many in Yemen oppose the strikes. According to the BBC around forty people, including Yemeni citizens, were killed in US drone strikes in 2009.

Although al-Qaeda seems to be on the run in Yemen, the government is still worried about sleeper cells that may remain elsewhere in Yemen. The group has also retaliated recently with a suicide bomber in Sanaa in response to the foiling of a bombing attack on a US airliner.

Image Courtesy of  Ryan Rodrick Beiler / Shutterstock.com

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Washington, U.S.A. – An experts panel hosted by the Carnegie Endowment and Atlantic Council warned that al-Qaeda terrorists are consolidating their position in northern Mali — buoyed by drug-trafficking, kidnapping ransoms, Libyan arms, and an influx of extremists. As the international community deliberates next steps on the Mali ”meltdown,” analysts worry about the spread of an Arc of Instability across Africa’s Sahel.

“Terrorists are consolidating their position by the day in northern Mali and the international community just talks,” said Maman Sidikou, Niger’s Ambassador to the US. He cited the influx of Libyan arms, kidnappings, and control by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) of drug-smuggling routes. “Al-Qaeda has the resources, arms, and ideology to turn young people’s minds. They are the driving force.” Why would international leaders “wait while this turns into another Afghanistan?”

For Western aid-workers, Rossella Urru of Italy and Ainhoa Fernandez de Rincon and Enric Gonyacons of Spain, it was day 222 of captivity since their Oct. 23 kidnapping from a Polisario-run refugee camp near Tindouf in Algeria, reportedly assisted by camp-insiders. They are believed held in northern Mali by an al-Qaeda offshoot, Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), that threatens to kill one of them if its ransom demands aren’t met. More than half of Westerners kidnapped in Africa are now held in northern Mali, news reports indicate.

“Northern Mali is turning into a Star Wars bar of extremists from across the region,” said Dr. J. Peter Pham, Director, Atlantic Council’s Ansari Africa Center. “The last thing Africa needs right now is another Failed State” attracting bad actors.”  He added that “pragmatism” holds together the ideologically diverse groups now in control — Tuareg-led separatists, Ansar Dine Islamists, AQIM, and MUJAO.

“The meltdown in the north came in conjunction with the coup in the south,” said Anouar Boukhars, co-leader of Carnegie’s Mauritania working group and assistant professor, McDaniel College. He and panelist Rudolph Atallah, senior fellow, Atlantic Council, outlined the complex history that provided the “ingredients for the conflagration.”

Al-Qaeda’s consolidation in northern Mali underscores growing volatility across Africa’s Sahel.Multiple reports are linking instability in the region to other militants and groups in the Maghreb and Sahel, including members from the Polisario-run camps.

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On January 16, Al-Qaida forces took over Radda, a Yemeni town 100 miles south of the capital, and captured the local prison, setting at least 150 convicts free. According to an Associated Press photographer, the al-Qaida militants who attacked Radda were equipped with rocket-propelled grenades, automatic rifles, and other arms.

Residents said that a black al-Qaida banner was flown at the top of a captured mosque. Around 200 militants invaded Radda from already captured points, according to security officials. These points included an ancient castle, mosque, and school. Some of the freed criminals were given arms and joined in the fighting, according to anonymous officials who were not allowed to speak to the media.

The officials divulged that the leader of the al-Qaida fighters was Tariq Al-Zahab, whose sister was married to Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Qaida cleric and recruiter who was killed in a U.S. airstrike. The fighters maintained a security ring around Radda, so nobody could enter or leave.

Al-Qaida militants are taking advantage of the fact that the Yemeni government has been weakened due to an anti-regime uprising which was influenced by the Arab Spring revolts. This takeover has added to the number of towns that al-Qaida has already conquered in the mostly lawless south. After months of opposing protests, President Ali Abdullah Saleh finally ended his 33-year rule. The capture of Radda gives al-Qaida a foothold close to the capital, which is believed to contain many terrorist sleeper cells.

Thousands protested the security officials’ failure to protect the town in the provincial capital of Bayda. They blamed Saleh for the attack, as did some tribal leaders. “We are surprised by the silence of the security forces,” said one protester, Abdel-Rahman al-Rashid, who lives in Radda. “They have not moved, which only means that this is all arranged to spark chaos.”

Yemen, being the poorest nation in the Arab world, has long been in danger of splitting up along regional lines, with al-Qaida in possession of remote, guarded areas in the country’s mountainous areas. If this happens, Yemen could turn into something similar to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and become a power base for militants to plot terrorist attacks against the US and its allies.

The active al-Qaida branch in Yemen has previously been connected to terror attacks on the United States and Saudi Arabia and is considered one of the most formidable franchises of the international terror organization. The US once viewed Saleh as an ally in the fight against al-Qaida. However, the US stopped its support last summer and encouraged Saleh to resign.

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The US Homeland Security Department has acknowledged a ‘credible and specific’ report that al Qaeda is planning to blow up infrastructure in New York on the anniversary of the national tragedy that struck the United States 10 years ago on September 11.

New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg told the press that the intelligence of the threat was uncorroborated but because of the nature of the situation, nobody was willing to take chances. “We know the terrorists regard the anniversary as an opportunity to strike again. We do live in a world where we must take these threats seriously,” Bloomberg said according to British newspaper The Guardian.

Intelligence agencies are behind the warning. To the Huffington Post, a US intelligence official said, “US counterterrorism entities have been alert for any leads, and for the first time we’ve received specific and credible – but unconfirmed – threat information linked to the 9/11 anniversary.

Any and all leads related to possible plots are of course being run to ground, and the US will bring every resource to bear to ensure the security of the American people.” The assistant director of the FBI in New York, Janice Fedarcyk, told The Guardian that initial suspicion was raised during the raid at Abbottabad, Pakistan that killed Osama Bin Laden.

The obtained intelligence showed that al-Qaida had an interest in several important dates – including 9/11. President Barack Obama has requested redoubled effort from the counter-terrorism forces in order to clarify the nature of the threat and Fedarcyk was sure to stress that “sometimes this reporting is credible and warrants intense focus, other times it lacks credibility and is highly unlikely to relate to real plots that are underway.”

Citizens of New York will have to deal with tightened security around the city. Sky News reports that extra police will carry out checks on cars around tunnels and bridges while there will be more bag inspections on the subway and more resources put into radiation and bomb monitoring.

Mayor Bloomberg said that while the authorities are taking additional measures to protect the city in anticipation of the weekend, he would like New Yorkers to go about their business as usual. “The best thing we can do to fight terror is to refuse to be intimidated by it.

For the past 10 years we have not allowed terrorists to intimidate us, we have lived out lives without fear and we will continue to do so,” said Bloomberg.
Ryan Rodrick Beiler / Shutterstock.com

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