Al-Qaida seizes key areas of Yemen port
Militants take advantage of civil war to achieve gains
SANAA, Yemen — Al-Qaida militants have seized control of key areas in and around Yemen’s port city of Aden, highranking security officials said Saturday, a major gain for the group which has been making inroads amid the chaos of the country’s civil war.
The move, part of a weeks-long expansion in Aden in the wake of major fighting there between Shiite rebels known as Houthis and pro-government forces backed by Saudi Arabia, shows how the organization still holds formidable clout despite its relatively low-profile role in the country’s raging civil war.
Fighters took Tawahi district, home to a presidential palace and Aden’s main port, and were patrolling the streets, some carrying black banners, the officials said. The militants also took parts of Crater, Aden’s com- mercial center, and parts of the town of Dar Saad, just north of Aden, including an army base that their fighters turned into a training camp, they added. Training at base
Security officials near the seized base, in Dar Saad’s al-Lohoum district, said it is now training some 200 militants.
The officials, who hail from the military, security forces and police, all spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to journalists.
Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi, now based in Saudi Arabia, did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Yemen’s conflict pits the Iran-allied Houthi rebels and troops loyal to the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, against an array of forces including southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants as well as troops loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The conflict gained international attention when the Houthis took over the capital, Sa- naa, last September, and escalated in March as a Saudi-led coalition started launching airstrikes against Houthi positions. Security vacuum
Backed by heavy airstrikes, the coalition forces pushed the Houthis out of Aden last month, and have been pursuing them further to the north. They had been making rapid advances in armored columns until earlier this week, when rebels ambushed them in a major battle near the entrance to Bayda province.
Al-Qaida appears
to have taken advantage of a security vacuum in Aden to ramp up its presence.
Omar al-Sobeihy, a resident of Dar Saad, said that while al-Qaida fighters are moving freely, “we haven’t felt any harassment from them so far.”
In the Tawahi district, resident Taha Faris described a similar situation.
“They are spread out in Tahawi, and we can say they have the area under their control. So far they aren’t harassing people, trying instead to gain support, though I fully realize they are waiting for the right moment,” Faris said.