Gulf of Aden Security Review - August 6, 2015

Yemen: Saudi soldier killed in al Houthi border shelling; Yemeni soldiers trained in Saudi Arabia reportedly moving into Ma’rib and Shabwah

Horn of Africa: Over 100 al Shabaab militants surrender in Bakool region; security forces arrest up to 100 suspected al Shabaab members in Mogadishu

Yemen Security Brief

• Al Houthi militants shelled the Saudi border province of Jizan on August 5, killing one Saudi soldier. The al Houthis also shelled the border area along Najran province on August 2, killing one Saudi citizen, and killed three Saudi Border Guard soldiers on July 31 at an unknown border location. [1]

• The Saudi-led Arab coalition reportedly deployed hundreds of Saudi-trained Yemeni soldiers in addition to dozens of armored vehicles across the Saudi-Yemeni border on August 6, according to an unverified report. The troops are allegedly heading toward the governorates of Ma’rib and Shabwah. The troops were deployed from the town of Sharura, along the Saudi-Yemeni border.[2]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• A Somali National Army (SNA) commander reported during an interview with Voice of America’s Somali Service on August 6 that over 100 al Shabaab militants surrendered to SNA forces in the Bakool region, including a leader whom he identified as Ali. The commander also claimed that the SNA captured 15 villages near Hurdur, Bakool region, from al Shabaab militants during an ongoing operation by forces friendly with the Somali government in central Somalia that drove al Shabaab from its strongholds of El Ali and El Dher, Hiran region, on August 3.[3]

• Somali security forces supported by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) reportedly arrested up to 100 suspected al Shabaab members in Mogadishu’s Hodan district during a door-to-door search on August 6. The arrests came after the security forces received intelligence of a possible al Shabaab attack in the district. [4]