More Reports of Foreign and Domestic Jihaddists Organizing in Sa’ada, Yemen
As foreign jihaddists coalesce in Sa’ada, it certainly is starting to look like the Zawahiri deal is coming to fruition. The deal with the old jihaddists in Abyan under al-Fadhli is likely Saleh’s second prong of mobilization.
The influx of foreign jihaddists to Sa’ada as well as the structure, training and hierarchy being imposed on them, indicates this a non-random confluence. It quite possibly is an outcome of the communication between President Saleh and Ayman Zawahiri that I referenced here before. (Zawahrir promised fighters for the Sa’ada war in exchange for Saleh’s release of prisoners and who knows what else.) Of course, the gathering of foreign jihaddists could be the result of simultaneous decisions by hundreds of random zealots, but it seems unlikely in the context of the intercept and subsequent events.
Saleh (again) letting the jihaddists loose on the Houthi “supporters”, a vague term that neo-Salafi fanatics may extend to the entire civilian population, is a troubling prospective scenario. However, if and when Zawahiri’s jihaddists fight in Sa’ada, in all likelihood that blood will only be the glitter on the surface of their multi-faceted activities.
For the US to support an ally engaged in a state sponsored jihad, and that’s not a stretch of linguistics, is morally repugnant. If that jihad has the material support of al Qaeda Central, its unconscionable. Unfortunately, the group-think of analysis on Yemen views Saleh as a self-described victim with little culpability and basically good intentions, and defines all these relationships in the most benign terms possible, leaving the strategic scope of events unexplored and unimagined. In fact, Saleh is a very shrewd man and the extent of his duplicity, greed and ruthlessness should never be underestimated. He is the King of Spin and a master deal maker, and he’s doing it again.
al-Tajamo Local sources in Saada information to establish a single camp for Islamic Jihad confirmed the members of various Arab nationalities as well as citizens from different provinces, the sources said, “assembly” that the arrival of these groups has a marked intensity in recent weeks, pointing to the emergence of striking the Salafist groups (Wahhabism) in the city of Saada, and effort to build a center for Yemeni al-Qaeda in Yemen.
وافادت المصادر بان عناصر تنتمي الى ما يسمى بتنظيم الجهاد عقدت خلال الايام الماضية سلسلة من الاجتماعات تطرقت الى برامج التوجيه والتدريس والارشاد, واوضحت ان العمل على تنشيط مركز خاص بذلك الى جانب المعسكر يجري تحت مظلة شخصية قبلية واسلامية نافذة في صعدة, على صعيد متصل كانت وكالة فرانس برس” بثت تقريراً مطولاً حول علاقة السلطة في صنعاء بالسلفيين اوضحت فيه ان السلطة رأت في هؤلاء فرصة لكسر سطوة السادة على قبائل محافظة صعدة وقد دعمت نشاطهم في اغلاق مدارس ومكتبات زيدية وعبر تعيين خطباء سلفيين في جوامع زيدية, واشارت الوكالة الى تدفق الارهابيين على اليمن بعد ان اشتدت حملات ملاحقتهم في السعودية وبعد ان طردوا من افغانستان. The sources added that the elements belonging to the so-called Jihad, the organization held during the past few days a series of meetings touched on the orientation programs, teaching and guidance, and said that work on the revitalization of a special status to the camp by being under the umbrella of a tribal and Islamic window in Saada.
Also see the Yemen Times article down a bit for more reporting. The YT describes “thousands” of jihaddists in Sa’ada who are Yemenis and non-Yemenis from neighboring Arab and non-Arab countries.
