Gulf of Aden Security Review

Yemen: British nationals arrested in Yemen for alleged terror ties; U.S. court indicts Texas man on al Qaeda links; Houthis, rival Shi’ites clash, kill 4; US to deport 29 Yemenis from Guantanamo; nine Ethiopians captured in Ma’rib; security forces seize 12,000 weapons in May

Horn of Africa: TFG and allied forces continue offensive operation in Mogadishu, 28 civilians dead; TFG general states that this is not the major counter-offensive expected by observers

Yemen Security Brief

• Yemen arrested a group of British nationals with suspected ties to Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and radical cleric Anwar al Awlaki. These arrests followed the detention last month of an Australian woman who Yemeni authorities claim has ties to al Qaeda.[1]

• A U.S. federal court charged a Texas man with attempting to deliver material support to AQAP. The man, Barry Bujol Jr., allegedly has ties with Anwar al Awlaki, and was under investigation by the FBI before his arrest.[2]

• Fighting between al Houthi rebels and a rival Shi’ite religious group killed four people in Sa'ada Thursday. Yemen’s Interior Ministry claims the conflict began when al Houthi militants tried to stop the other Shi’ite group from distributing competing religious literature from local scholars.[3]

• The U.S. will deport 29 of Yemen’s 90 remaining Guantanamo Bay prisoners, however, further releases are contingent on an improvement in Yemen’s security situation.[4]

• Provincial authorities caught nine Ethiopian refugees in Ma’rib province who were attempting to sneak through the country towards the Saudi border. Yemeni authorities caught 50 Ethiopians in the province alone in May.[5]

• Security forces seized over 12,000 weapons in May as part of a continuing effort to crack down on the country’s illicit arms trade.[6]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• TFG and allied forces continued an offensive operation in Mogadishu into Friday with casualties rising to at least 28 civilians dead and 60 more wounded. The TFG captured multiple rebel positions in the northern districts of the city, but the fighting subsided later in the day. Separately, Ahlu Sunna wa al Jama’a claimed to have killed 90 Islamist militants in the fighting.[7]

• TFG general Ali Araye said the two day offensive in Mogadishu is not the government’s anticipated counter-offensive that aims at driving Islamists from the city.[8]