E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

Al-Qaeda pulls out of two southern cities in Yemen
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Al-Qaeda turbans began to pull out of two southern Yemeni town on Thursday, residents said, following weeks of mediation by rustics for them to exit peacefully rather than resist a Gulf-backed offensive.

Dozens of fighters in Zinjibar and Jaar, the two largest towns in southwestern Abyan
...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues...
province, were seen leaving with their weapons to the surrounding countryside.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000...
, widely considered the most dangerous branch of the global bad boy group, took advantage of over a year of war in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
to seize towns along a 600-km (370-mile) stretch of Arabian Sea coastline.

But Yemeni troops backed by a Saudi-led military coalition pushed the group out of its main base in the port city of Mukalla late last month, depriving them of the estimated $2 million a day in revenue from port taxes and fuel smuggling.

Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
and its Gulf Arab allies intervened in the civil war in Yemen on March 26 last year in support of Yemen's government after it was pushed into exile by the Iran-allied Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
militias.

The war has killed more than 6,200 people, displaced more than 2.5 million and caused a humanitarian catastrophe in one of the world's poorest countries.

Coalition bombing had mostly ignored the steady rise of AQAP until forces funded and trained by the United Arab Emirates launched a surprise attack to win Mukalla last month.

But an armed push toward Qaeda-held towns in Abyan and neighboring restive Lahj
... a Yemeni governate located in the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. It is the stomping grounds on the southern secessionist al-Harak movement
province proved more difficult, and turbans launched repeated suicide kabooms against Yemeni forces.

Posted by: Fred 2016-05-07
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=455050