Gulf of Aden Security Review

• Saudi-led coalition helicopters targeted suspected al Qaeda militants at a farm in al Hawta in Lahij governorate  on April 7. No casualties have been reported. The coalition is conducting an airstrike campaign against AQAP in southern Yemen.[2]

• Saudi-led coalition warplanes targeted an al Houthi-Saleh military base west of the capital Sana’a on April 7.  The airstrikes are the first in the capital after several days of calm.[3]

• Forces loyal to President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi reinforced positions in northwestern Ma’rib and southwestern al Jawf near Nihm, Sana’a on April 7. Pro-Hadi forces arrived in Nihm from the al Wadia border crossing on April 6.[4]

Horn of Africa Security Brief:

• A reported U.S. airstrike targeted an al Shabaab-controlled settlement near Jilib in the Middle Jubba region in southern Somalia on April 6. Local reports also claimed that foreign special operations forces deployed from a helicopter shortly after the strike and engaged al Shabaab militants on the ground. No casualties were reported. Neither the Pentagon nor al Shabaab have confirmed the attack.[5

• Somali National Army (SNA) and Ethiopian African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops secured several small villages near Dinsor in the Bay region on April 7. The Bay region district commissioner said that the contingent also confiscated several weapons caches during the security operations. The Interim Southwest Administration (ISWA) announced the launch of a  large-scale operation to clear al Shabaab militants from the region early last month, but has reported little progress until now. [6]

• The Galmudug Federal State administration announced that it will employ a military tribunal system to try the al Shabaab militants captured last month during a failed incursion into northern Somalia. Galmudug security forces captured at least 15 militants, including two Kenyans and a Tanzanian, after  Puntland Defense Forces drove them into Galmudug territory. The Galmudug State Security Minister added that children captured fighting with the militants would be processed separately because they are not considered legal combatants under international law.[7]