Gulf of Aden Security Review

Yemen: Al Qaeda threatens to retaliate after Yemeni strikes; official sources claim Abdul Malik al Houthi is dead, no confirmation from the rebels; Yemeni court sentences Iranian to death, two other Iranians  to five-years in prison; local tribesmen in al Jawf attack al Houthi rebels; clashes between Southern Movement supporters and security forces occur in Lahij and Dhaleh provinces

Horn of Africa: Ahlu Sunna wa al Jama’a and Hizb al Islam clash near Beledweyne; local NGO official in Gedo region shot dead; Hizb al Islam arrests seventy for banditry; Ahlu Sunna wa al Jama’a arrests four in south planning to bomb town; mediation talks between al Shabaab and Hizb al Islam fail in Kismayo

Yemen Security Brief

• Al Qaeda has threatened retaliatory strikes after the recent security operations in Yemen.  Officials reports say that over sixty-four al Qaeda suspects were killed in the attacks and twenty-nine others were arrested.  Al Qaeda denies that any militants were killed, and its wings in both Yemen and Saudi Arabia have called for people to attack foreign military bases, intelligence missions – including embassies – and naval fleets.[1]

• Official sources reportedly confirmed on Sunday that rebel leader Abdul Malik al Houthi had been killed.  He is said to have been buried in secrecy.  Yemen’s Supreme Security Committee urged all al Houthi rebels to surrender themselves after their leader’s death and the deaths of thirteen other field commanders over the past few days.  There has been no confirmation of Abdul Malik al Houthi’s death from the rebels.[2]

• The Yemeni State Security Court in Sana’a sentenced an Iranian to death and two others to five years of imprisonment for drug trafficking.  The court also freed seven other Iranians who had been arrested after authorities found large quantities of hashish aboard their boat.[3]

• Local tribesmen in Matamah in al Jawf province attacked al Houthi rebels following a bombing raid executed by Yemeni planes.  Reportedly, the tribesmen do not want the al Houthi rebels to take up positions within their lands.[4]

• Southern Movement supporters and Yemen security forces clashed in the area of al Qabita in Lahij province.  Reportedly, the fighting broke out when troops tried to remove drawings of the flag of the former Democratic Republic of Yemen and to open the main road between Taiz and Aden.  Clashes also occurred in Dhaleh city when armed men attacked checkpoints.[5]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• Ahlu Sunna wa al Jama’a forces attacked Hizb al Islam’s bases near Beledweyne in Hiraan region.  A Hizb al Islam official, Moallin Farah Daud, said Hizb al Islam fighters were able to defend their bases and that four militants had been injured in the fighting.  Aden Abdulle Awale, an Ahlu Sunna wa al Jama’a official, claimed victory and added that Ahlu Sunna wa al Jama’a seized weapons from Hizb al Islam.  Awale reported that Ahlu Sunna wa al Jama’a militants killed at least thirteen Hizb al Islam fighters and wounded nine others.[6]

• Unidentified gunmen killed Osman Madey, a local NGO official, in the town of Beled Hawo in the Gedo region.  Reportedly, the men entered his house and asked his wife where he was.  Madey exited the house to see what was going on, and was then killed.  This is the first murder like this since al Shabaab took control of the town.[7]

• Hizb al Islam militants have rounded up seventy men accused of banditry along the road connecting the Lower Shabelle and Bay regions.  An official for Hizb al Islam in the Lower Shabelle region, Mohamed Ibrahim Inda-bur, reported that those who were arrested would be held in a prison in Burhakaba district in the Bay region, where they will face a Shari’a court.[8]

• Sheikh Hassan Abdullahi, the spokesman of the Ahlu Sunna wa al Jama’a administration in southern Somalia, reported that Ahlu Sunna wa al Jama’a forces had arrested four men who were planning to bomb Dolow town in Gedo region in order to target the group’s clerics in the town.  This is the first time an arrest like this has been made by Ahlu Sunna wa al Jama’a.[9]

• Mediation talks between al Shabaab and Hizb al Islam have failed.  Sheikh Mohammed M. Ali, the press secretary for Hizb al Islam, reported that al Shabaab refused to enter a power-sharing agreement in Kismayo and confirmed that the Lower Jubba region is under the control of al Shabaab.  He added that most of Hizb al Islam’s militias had fled to Kenya.[10]