Gulf of Aden Security Review – July 1, 2020

Yemen: AQAP eulogizes Hurras al Din senior official; Hadi meets with UN Special Envoy to Yemen in Saudi capital; Saudi-led coalition launches airstrikes on al Houthi sites in Sana'a governorate; al Houthis deploy militants to al Bayda governorate; Hadi government forces claim eliminating al Houthi weapons smuggling cell in Ma’rib governorate

Horn of Africa: Al Shabaab claims targeting Somali president in Mogadishu; SNA repels al Shabaab attack in central Somalia

Yemen Security Brief:

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) issued a eulogy for Hurras al Din Deputy Emir Khalid Mustafa al 'Aruri on June 29. A suspected US drone strike killed 'Aruri in Syria in mid-June. Hurras al Din issued a eulogy for AQAP's late emir Qasim al Raymi in late February. AQAP previously released a statement in mid-May about an internal "cabal."[1]

President of the internationally recognized Yemeni government Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi met with UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, on June 30. They reportedly discussed the proposed UN-led cease-fire agreement between the al Houthi movement and Hadi’s government. They also discussed the November 2019 Riyadh agreement between Hadi’s government and the Transitional Political Council of the South (STC). President Hadi called on the STC to abide by the Riyadh Agreement during a meeting with Hadi government officials in Riyadh on June 27.[2]

The Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes targeting al Houthi sites in Sana'a governorate on July 1, including an alleged drone and missile site in Yemen’s capital Sana’a. A Saudi spokesman claimed Saudi forces intercepted an al Houthi ballistic missile launched from Sana'a city toward Riyadh on June 23.[3]

The al Houthi movement has reportedly deployed “hundreds” of militants to al Bayda governorate’s Qaniya front in central Yemen in preparation of a major military operation targeting Ma'rib governorate in northern Yemen. Al Houthi militants reportedly took control of territory from Hadi government forces in Qaniya in late June.[4]

Hadi government forces claimed dismantling an alleged al Houthi weapons smuggling cell in Ma’rib governorate’s Wadi Abidah district on June 29, killing eight al Houthi militants.[5]

Horn of Africa Security Brief:

Al Shabaab militants fired mortar shells at a sports stadium in the Somali capital Mogadishu’s Wardheegle district on June 30. The newly opened Mogadishu Stadium formerly served as a military base. Al Shabaab claimed targeting Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo’s motorcade on the same day. President Farmaajo had visited the stadium’s opening ceremony prior to the attack. An al Shabaab militant detonated a suicide vest targeting Somali National Army (SNA) forces at a Turkish military base in Mogadishu on June 23.[6]

SNA forces repelled an al Shabaab attack on a SNA base near Beledweyne town in central Somalia’s Hiraan region on June 29. SNA and Djiboutian African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces killed seven al Shabaab militants near Beledweyne town in mid-June.[7]