Update and Assessment: April 28, 2015

Key Takeaways:

1. Saudi Arabia announced the end of Operation Decisive Storm and beginning of Operation Restoring Hope in Yemen. The air campaign in Yemen against the al Houthis and their allies is continuing, though the al Houthis portrayed the end of Operation Decisive Storm as a victory. Iranian regime officials initially praised Iran’s “important role in the ceasefire” following the end of Operation Decisive Storm and later condemned Saudi Arabia’s continued airstrikes in Yemen. 
2. A pro-ISIS group, Soldiers of the Caliphate in Africa, claimed credit for an attack on Tunisian soldiers in the Kasserine region. It is unclear if the group is connected to the other pro-ISIS group in Tunisia, Soldiers of the Caliphate that claimed responsibility for the March 18 Bardo Museum attack in Tunis. The Tunisian government has tied the Bardo Museum attack to a seperate Islamist group, the Uqba ibn Nafaa Brigade.
3. The Kenyan government announced its intention to close the Dadaab refugee complex, home to an estimated 350,000 Somalis. The announcement came in reaction to the growing threat from al Shabaab in Kenya and the recent attack at Garissa University that killed at least 147 people.