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Report: Saudi-UAE coalition 'cut deals' with al-Qaeda in Yemen
[Al Jazeera] A military coalition battling 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... rebels secured secret deals with al-Qaeda 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...and recruited hundreds of the group's fighters, a news report said on Monday. For more than two years, a Saudi-led alliance - backed by US logistical and weapons support - claimed it crushed al-Qaeda's ability to carry out attacks from Yemen. However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... an investigation by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named found the coalition has been paying some al-Qaeda commanders to leave key cities and towns while letting others retreat with weapons, equipment, and wads of looted cash. Hundreds of al-Qaeda members were recruited to join the coalition as soldiers, the report said. Key figures in the deal-making said the United States was aware of the arrangements and held off on drone attacks against the gang, which was created by the late Osama bin Laden  ... who is now among the dear departed, though not among the dearest...in 1988. The deals uncovered by the AP investigation reflect the contradictory interests of the two wars being waged simultaneously in the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. In one conflict, the US is working with its Arab allies - particularly the UAE - with the aim of eliminating 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... (AQAP). But the larger mission is to win the civil war against the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels. And in that fight, al-Qaeda gunnies are effectively on the same side as the Saudi-led coalition and, by extension, the US. "Elements of the US military are clearly aware that much of what the US is doing in Yemen is aiding AQAP and there is much angst about that," said Michael Horton, a fellow at the Jamestown Foundation. Posted by: Fred 2018-08-07 |
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