by Sam Culper III
I haven’t been keeping up with the four-sided war in Yemen probably as much as I should be. One thing I’ve noticed about the fighting, however, is a concerted effort by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP; aka Ansar al-Sharia) to attack military intelligence targets across Yemen. (While everyone’s been focused on the global proxy war in Syria, the Saudis have been bombing Yemeni markets and mosques used by Houthi guerrillas and no one bats an eyelash. Probably didn’t hear about the Saudi plane that was shot down over Yemen or the Scud missile that was launched into Saudi Arabia, either.)
Currently Yemen is split into two legitimate factions: pro-Hadi Sunnis (current president) and pro-Saleh Shiites called the Houthis (they support the former president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh). Don’t get confused because it’s not that important – just remember that it’s Shia versus Sunni. (Surprise, surprise.) The most important thing is what AQAP is doing to exploit the security situation.
Friday’s attack against the Fifth Military District HQ in al Hudaydah is a continuing trend in AQAP’s fight against the Yemeni government, specifically targeting military intelligence facilities. According to Xinhua, AQAP fighters killed ten soldiers and destroyed the building on 16 October. During the complex attack, a car bomb exploded at the rear gate and then the main gate was attacked by gunmen who raided the building, which is a very common tactic used by insurgents and terrorists across the Middle East.
Here’s a list of known attacks against intelligence targets:
