Al-Qaeda Capitalizes on Strategic Opportunities in Yemen

As the heavy Saudi-led airstrikes continue against the Shiite rebels loyal to President Hadi, the chaos has allowed Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to continue its major offensive with the capture of the Riyan airport, a sea port, and an oil terminal on Thursday just outside the city of al-Mukalla.

Military officials close to the situation said that AQAP extremists clashed with Yemen security officials outside the city of Al-Mukalla for a brief time before the eventual takeover. AQAP has strategically exploited the chaos in Yemen, most notably in the early April prison break to free over 300 loyalists and extremists, including senior AQAP commander Khaleed Saeed Batarfi.

Mukalla is the capital of Yemen’s largest province, Hadrawawt, and has been under United States drone strikes and counterterrorism actions since AQAP’s presence in the region. Not only is AQAP’s presence in the region ensuring more conflict, but Houthi rebels had seized the capital earlier in the month and exiled President Hadi.

Al-Qaeda has sat back and tactically capitalized on the Shiite-Saudi and Houthis-Hadi battles and has mapped out its own territory within the battlefield known as Yemen. The military units of Al-Qaeda’s opponents are quickly shrinking and the advancement of AQAP is going under the radar. It is important to point out that AQAP does not appear to be the target of Saudi led airstrikes, and this precise move is what is helping facilitate Al-Qaeda advancement.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Carter and Joint Chief of Staff Chairman acknowledged the American-backed Saudi  General Martin E. Dempsey faced questions as to the growing conflict in Yemen and if the conflict created a growing environment for Al-Qaeda to expand:

AQAP provides opportunity in the environment created by the turmoil in Yemen. AQAP, just to remind you, is a branch of Al Qaida that has shown a particular determination to attack us and our homeland, and is therefore of serious concern to us. We continue to watch them and take action against AQAP.

You know, it’s obvious that it’s easier to do our counter-terrorism operations against AQAP when there’s a settled government in Yemen. There is not that now. We, for that reason and other reasons, hope that there will be and are trying to work with others in that direction.

It is being reported that AQAP took control of the 27^th Merchandised Brigade’s camp and seized heavy weapons, artillery, and tanks.

Peace initiatives have been called upon by Yemen’s exiled Vice President Bahah, saying that ground operations must cease for peace talks. Unfortunately, the United Nations special envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, resigned early Thursday morning due to “interests in moving to another assignment”. Pressure was mounting as the Moroccan diplomat had seen a surge in Houthi operations.

APAP is still widely considered Al-Qaeda’s strongest terroristic branch, with its size and operational capacity the greatest threat to United States homeland security. With no end to the conflict in sight, a strategy to minimize the conflict in Yemen is all we can hope for now.