Whilst airstrikes targeting the Houthis in Yemen have made international news headlines in recent weeks, this weekend saw counter-terrorism efforts against al-Qaeda and potentially the Islamic State increase.
Online news source al-Sahil al-Gharbi.net reported that a strike occurred on Sunday evening (April 12), less than 24 hours after the killing of “a prominent al-Qaeda leader in neighboring Shabwa Governorate”. According to this article, the driver of a Hyundai Santa Fe, Abu Nasser al-Karbi, a prominent al-Qaeda leader responsible for a smuggling network and also implicated in the kidnapping of foreigners, was killed in this strike. This follows an intensive campaign of airstrikes in Yemen that started over a month ago.
While these strikes have previously targeted Houthi forces due to their prolonged aggression towards western shipping in the Red Sea, various sources on social media platform X (former Twitter) reported on April 12 that this most recent strike looks to have targeted a vehicle in the area of al-Nasr camp in Ataq, Shabwa Governorate in Yemen.
Yemeni journalist @MohamedBinFisal has also indicated that another individual by the name of Mohammad Yahya Qasim al-Amari may have also been killed in this strike. It is unclear as to their allegiance or association however @MohamedBinFisal recently posted on April 13 that CT services carried out an operation in Shabwa governorate, leading to the killing of purported ISIS members Abu Zaid al-Hadi al-Yafei and Abu Ibrahim al-Hadhrami.
The claim of IS affiliation was echoed by Fadh Ubbad al-Baghdadi and al-Hashimi (FUBH), whose name means “exposing the worshippers of [former IS leaders] al-Baghdadi and al-Hashimi”, in a comment issued by its account on RocketChat on April 14. FUBH’s brief comment addressed the “security events” that had taken place in the “last two days” in the town of Ataq in Shabwa. It also stated that Abu Zayd al-Yafei and Abu Ibrahim al-Hadhrami, presumably individuals implicated in the security raid, were “without a doubt” members of IS. FUBH added that the target of the raid was likely to have been a senior IS member but admitted that this had not been confirmed.
However, local reporting stated that security forces affiliated to the UAE-backed separatist Southern Transitional Forces (STC) killed an “AQAP” commander during a security campaign in Ataq. This slain purported AQAP figure was named in the reports as Abu Zayd al-Huday al-Yafei, likely identical with the “IS” individual cited in Fadh Ubbad al-Baghdadi’s comment.
Image of a corpse
News of this operation was also followed by various posts that included the image of the corpse of a young male, bound to the front of a Counter-Terrorism vehicle; paraded in front of the local community.
The video has sparked widespread outrage, with Yemenis expressing their shock and outrage at the brutality. While the Transitional Council Forces also consider the incident a security achievement, human rights organizations condemned the incident, describing it as a “heinous crime”.
SAM organization for Rights and Liberties stated that the shocking scenes circulated from the Abyan Governorate, which showed members of the Southern Transitional Council’s counter-terrorism forces roaming the city streets with the body of a dead person strapped to the front of the military vehicle, constitute a heinous crime and flagrant violation of the law.
Neither AQAP nor IS have commented on these reports, and their online supporters have not been observed to have discussed the incident.
“air hunts” for terrorist leaders
It is clear that the “air hunts” for terrorist leaders has extended to Yemen. This prolonged and increasingly global campaign will undoubtedly have senior militants associated with both organizations worrying who will be next.