Al Qaida in Yemen (AQAP) has long been deemed the most potent branch of Al Qaida in the world.
Combating the dangerous terrorist network has long been a staple of United States’ foreign policy — first under the presidency of Barack Obama and furthered under the presidency of Donald Trump. But it looks like the days of Al Qaida and Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) are numbered in Yemen — a war-ravaged country that has provided fertile ground to such groups.
The US and its Gulf Arab allies named 11 individuals on Thursday who would be sanctioned under a new coordinated effort to clamp down on those who finance Daesh and Al Qaida. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin described the sanctions list as “the largest ever multilateral designation in the Middle East”. The designations were backed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain, who all jointly agreed to the list. The joint effort proves that political squabbling aside, the threat of terrorism in Yemen is real and requires decisive and immediate action.
The UAE has played a leading role and dedicated massive resources to making sure that such terrorist groups are not allowed to fester in Yemen. It was the first country to decide to train Yemeni forces to fight against the group and has recorded many victories since then, including kicking the terrorist group completely out of the Hadramout province and its strategic port capital of Al Mukalla in 2016. Currently, the UAE is working closely with the Yemeni and US governments to stamp out terrorist hideouts in other southern provinces. Already, large swathes of the Abyan province have been cleared after prolonged lawlessness since early 2015, when thousands of army troops switched sides and backed the Iran-backed Al Houthi militants. After the rebels were booted out, local Al Qaida militants exploited a security vacuum and seized control of the province’s main cities, including the capital Zinjibar.
To fight off the well-organised militants, the Saudi-led coalition trained thousands of local fighters in military camps in Aden, Lahj and outside Yemen. On its part, Washington has significantly stepped up its drone strike programme on AQAP, since Trump assumed power, killing many senior leaders. While the Gulf states and US have made significant progress, military action alone is not enough to eliminate the group once and for all. The announcement of sanctions will further help the US and Gulf states to curb the power and influence of terrorist groups in Yemen. With the threat of Al Qaida removed, the Yemeni government and Saudi-led Arab coalition will be able to better focus on combating Al Houthi rebels who have wreaked havoc on the country by prolonging the devastating civil war.
