PHOTO: People inspect damage from Saudi-led airstrikes on Mukalla in southeastern Yemen on Sunday (Reuters)
Yemeni Government forces, supported by a Saudi-led coalition, have recaptured a southeastern port city taken by Al Qa’eda in the Arabian Peninsula more than a year ago.
Journalist Sabri Salem confirmed from Mukalla, a city of 500,000 population, 536 km (333 miles) from the capital Sana’a:
The forces captured the whole city and there is no presence of Al Qa’eda fighters on the streets.
Groups of Al Qa’eda fighters fled the city in cars. I think they escaped towards mountains far from al-Mukalla after about 20 AQAP fighters were killed.
He said local tribes are believed to have convinced the jihadists to leave.
The Saudi coalition’s officials said more than 800 AQAP members were killed before the decision to withdraw.
AQAP had expanded its hold of territory amid fighting between the Government and the Ansar Allah (Houthi) movement, which took power in Sana’a in February 2015, and the subsequent Saudi-led intervention against the Houthis.
Al Qa’eda moved into the city in March 2015, a week after the Saudis began airstrikes, when Government forces withdrew to battlefronts against the Houthis. They seized the funds in the central bank and earned money, estimated at $2 million per day, from taxation of oil that moved through the port.
See Yemen Feature: How the Civil War Has Strengthened Al Qa’eda’s Mini-State
Amid criticism that its battles with the Houthis had strengthened Al Qa’eda, the Government and Saudi Arabia have been under pressure this spring to make a political and military response.
In early February, the top counter-terrorism official in the Obama Administration, Lisa O. Monaco, met for 2 1/2 hours with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and a senior Emirati leader. UAE trops turned their attention from fighting the Houthis to preparing thousands of Yemeni tribal fighters for a battle against Al Qa’eda. Yemeni commanders said they started receiving orders from their Emirati trainers for an imminent offensive against AQAP.
Last weekend, the Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes against AQAP positions in Mukalla, the capital of Hadramawt Province. The ground assault was supported by UAE armored vehicles, which had gathered with Yemeni soldiers near Mukalla over the past week.
West of Mukalla, the Government and the coalition have re-entered al-Hawta, the capital of Lahj province, and Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province.
However, the troops pulled out of Zinjibar after a car bomb killed seven Government soldiers and wounded 14 on Sunday, with intelligence suggesting more attacks were imminent.
