Saudi-backed Yemeni Forces Recapture Airport in Aden

On July 14, Saudi-backed Sunni Yemeni forces recaptured the international airport in Aden, a port city in the southwest. The forces, loyal to exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, were also able to capture the city’s central district of Khormaksar. They were aided by airstrikes from the Saudi-led coalition of Arab states fighting to remove the dominant Houthis from power.

The Iranian-backed Shia Houthis captured Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, in September and the two sides have been fighting for control over the country ever since.

The Saudi-backed forces, known as the Popular Resistance, trapped the Houthi forces on a small peninsula jutting out from the city. A spokesperson for the Yemeni government said that he expected the Houthis to be completely cleared from Aden in the next few days.

The retaking of the airport in Aden (and the expected retaking of the city) marks the first significant achievement in the city for ousted President Hadi. After fleeing Sanaa last September, he had been living in Aden before being forced out of the country and into exile in Saudi Arabia in March. Additionally, Aden is incredibly valuable because the Saudi-led coalition can use its ports to ship military supplies and aid to forces on the ground.

A week-long ceasefire brokered by the UN went into effect at midnight on July 10 to allow humanitarian aid into the country, though it has been largely ignored by both sides. Yemen is running low on food, medicine, and fuel due to the blockade by the Saudi coalition and Houthi reluctance to let aid trucks into war-torn areas. Aden has been hit especially hard by the fighting.

Although the Saudi-backed forces’ success in Aden is a signal that the combination of Saudi airstrikes and Popular Resistance advancement on the ground is effective, problems in Yemen are far from being over. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the organization responsible for the Charlie Hebdo attack in January, has been inserting itself in amongst forces fighting the Houthis. The ongoing civil war has allowed the group to take control of entire regions in Yemen with no contest. In addition to AQAP’s presence, the Islamic State (IS) has also been stepping up attacks against the Houthis.

The West must be cognizant of the fact that, should the Saudi-led coalition win the civil war, Sunni terrorist groups such as AQAP and IS might increase their operations in the country as they operate with the consent of a civilian population grateful to be liberated from the Houthis. However, should the Saudi-led coalition get bogged down in ground operations against the  Houthis, there is a risk of continued instability which Al Qaeda, Islamic State, and Iranian-backed terror groups are all likely to exploit.