Foreign Al Qaeda Fighting for Yemen Govt in Sa’ada War by Jane Novak

[OIPWHR-M.T.]

Yemeni local sources report that jihaddists who had earlier fought in Iraq and Afghanistan are now fighting for the Yemeni military in the Sa’ada War against the Houthi rebels.During the siege of Old Saada City last week, “mujahadeen” fighters or state jihaddists included Mohammed Ali Misrat who was killed in battle. Al Qaeda operatives were spotted on the roofs of the city with their guns. “Others were advancing (as an) army are fully armed and equipped (for) combat during the raid (on Old Sa’ada City),” Attagammua reported.Their leader (and ally of the state of Yemen) is Mohammed al-Edha Shabebah, a 45 year old “well known personality” who returned from Afghanistan. Known as a hardline Islamist, he was seen calling on the Houthi rebels to surrender through a megaphone. Local press reports Shabebah was arrested two years ago in Saudi Arabia on terror related offenses and released after a year to Yemeni custody. He is suspected of recruiting and smuggling fighters to Iraq.The Yemeni government has been using al Qaeda operatives to train tribal fighters or to fight the Saada War since 2005. I wrote about this particular flow in March and the jihaddist build-up in Sa’ada several times after.3/29/09: In the north, newly arrived foreign terrorists have begun organizing. Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh reportedly struck a deal with Ayman al Zawahiri late last year. Zawahiri would supply Saleh with al Qaeda terrorists to aid the military’s efforts in the Saada War against northern Shiite rebels. A significant number of terrorists arrived in Sa’ada by March. The Yemen Times reported, “Jihadist groups, or Salafia – including Yemenis and foreigners from neighboring Arab and non-Arab countries – started gathering in areas around villages and towns where Houthi supporters live.” The report indicated the Yemeni military was overseeing the build-up.Al Tajamo described the “striking emergence of Salafi groups” which included “members of various Arab nationalities as well as citizens from different provinces.” The groups were in the process of organizing a unified structure, the paper said. The Yemeni government deployed al Qaeda terrorists as both fighters and trainers in the Saada War since 2005.There have been numerous recent reports of some al Qaeda migration from Iraq and Afghanistan to Yemen. The assumption is that they are going there to fight against Saleh or because of pressure in other theaters or to launch attacks against Saudi Arabia. However, the possibility is very real that they are coming to President Saleh’s assistance.Even discounting aforementioned intercept from Saad bin Laden on behalf of Zawaheri, its in al Qaeda’s best interests to keep Yemeni President Saleh marginally in power; there will never be another more leader accommodating.Aspects of the Yemeni government are thought to provide training, passports and travel accommodations to jihaddists traveling to Iraq. Moreover, Sa’ada itself is a strategic location for al Qaeda.In news regarding the recent US assisted counter-terror air strikes, during which the intended al Qaeda target escaped and many civilians were killed, the Yemen Post reports, “Dozens of locals informed the government of the Al-Qaeda training camp, which has been there for more than four months, but the government did nothing about it.” The Yemen Times has new casualty figures and notes, “most of the civilian causalities were located between one to two kilometers away from the jihadist’s camp.”