These are the major events from April 20 for Iran and for al Qaeda operations in Yemen and Africa. Please see the Iran News Roundup, the Gulf of Aden Security Review, and the weekly Threat Update for more details.
West Africa
Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS) militants attempted to conduct a suicide bombing in northeastern Algeria, likely in response to Algeria’s crackdown on the group’s leadership.Libya
Russia is appealing to rival Libyan factions in order to secure its economic interests in Libya.The Saudi-led coalition seeks U.S. support for its upcoming offensive on al Hudaydah port.
U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis met with Saudi leadership in Riyadh, where U.S. and Saudi defense officials assessed that the al Houthi-Saleh bloc will not agree to a ceasefire without suffering additional military losses. The al Hudaydah operation will exacerbate Yemen’s humanitarian crisis and feed the narrative of grievance that drives al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s recruiting. (Related reading: Warning to the Trump administration: Be careful about Yemen)
Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS) militants attempted to conduct a suicide bombing in northeastern Algeria, likely in response to Algeria’s crackdown on the group’s leadership.
The al Ghuraba Brigade, an al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb group that pledged allegiance to ISIS in February 2016, attempted an attack in Constantine province on April 19. ISIS’s operations in Algeria are limited to Constantine province, where an ISIS militant attacked a police station with a briefcase bomb on February 26. The most recent attack may be a response to the death of the reported head of ISIS in Algeria, Noureddine Laouira, whom Algerian security forces killed on March 25. (Related reading: AQIM and ISIS in Algeria: Competing Campaigns).
Russia is appealing to rival Libyan factions in order to secure its economic interests in Libya.
A military delegation from Misrata city in western Libya met with top Russian defense and foreign ministry officials in Moscow. Misratan militias oppose Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), which Russia supports militarily. Russia may be preparing for a de facto partition of Libya by cultivating influence with the most powerful military actors in eastern and western Libya. Russia has significant economic interests in Libya and also seeks to establish military bases in LNA-held territory on the Mediterranean coast. A partition would be unstable because of the distribution of Libya’s economic resources, however. (Related reading: Russia Moves to Supplant U.S. Role)
The Guardian Council qualified President Hassan Rouhani, Hojjat ol Eslam Ebrahim Raisi, and four others to run in the presidential elections. It disqualified former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The Guardian Council also approved Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, current First Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri, Mostafa Aqa-Mirsalim, and Mostafa Hashemitaba. It disqualified Ahmadinejad, his protégé Hamid Baghaei, as well as former Parliamentarian Alireza Zakani and former Education Minister Hamid Reza Haji Babaei.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif retained his position.
The Pakistani Supreme Court ruled against removing Sharif from power but will open a more thorough investigation of the offshore accounts of Sharif’s children. Imran Khan, leader of the Islamist Pakistan Tehrik-e-Inshaf Party, called for Sharif’s resignation on the basis that he lacks the moral authority to lead the country.