Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 7 augusT 2018

Yemen: US allies strike deals with al-Qaida in war on rebels

By MAGGIE MICHAEL The Saudi-led coalition
TRISH WILSON commented by saying it
LEE KEATH "continues its commitment
Associated Press to combat extremism and
ATAQ, Yemen (AP) — A mil- terrorism."
itary coalition led by Saudi The UAE did not respond
Arabia and backed by to repeated requests for
the United States has cut comment. But on Monday,
secret deals with al-Qaida Emirati Minister of State for
fighters, paying some to Foreign Affairs Anwar Gar-
leave key cities and towns gash tweeted that the UAE-
the militants had seized backed counter-terrorism
across Yemen and letting strategy had "removed"
others retreat with weap- thousands of militants and
ons, equipment and wads deprived them of safe ha-
of looted cash, an investi- vens. AQAP is "at its weak-
gation by The Associated est since 2012," he wrote.
Press has found. Hundreds In early 2016, al-Qaida
more were recruited to join pulled out of the southern
the coalition itself. port city of Mukalla and
Again and again over the seven areas in the nearby
past two years, the coali- Abyan province, under
tion has claimed to win de- deals reached with the
cisive victories that drove UAE, according to five mili-
al-Qaida militants from tary, security and govern-
their strongholds and shat- ment officials and four trib-
tered their ability to attack al mediators involved in the
the West. What the vic- Abyan arrangement.
tors didn't disclose: many That agreement included
of those conquests came a provision that 10,000 lo-
without firing a shot. Coalition-backed fighters advance on Yemen’s Red Sea port town of Mocha in this Jan. 11 2017, cal tribesmen — includ-
The compromises and al- photo. ing 250 al-Qaida militants
liances have allowed al- Associated Press — would be incorporated
Qaida militants to survive into the Security Belt, the
to fight another day — and aim of eliminating the ex- The AP found that coalition- known al-Qaida figure as UAE-backed Yemeni force
risk strengthening the most tremists known as Al-Qaida funded militia command- his closest aide. in the area, an al-Qaida
dangerous branch of the in the Arabian Peninsula, or ers actively recruit al-Qai- The U.S. is aware of an al- negotiator and two Secu-
terror network that carried AQAP. But the larger mis- da militants — considered Qaida presence among rity Belt commanders said.
out the 9/11 attacks. sion is to win the civil war to be exceptional fighters anti-Houthi ranks, a se- An accord for the with-
Key participants in the against the Houthis, Iranian- — or fighters who until very nior American official told drawal in February from the
pacts said the U.S. was backed Shiite rebels. In that recently were members of reporters in Cairo earlier town of al-Said in Shabwa
aware of the arrangements fight, al-Qaida is effectively the group. this year. Because coali- province went further, the
and held off on any drone on the same side as the co- Abdel-Sattar al-Shamiri, a tion members back militias AP found. The coalition
strikes as the al-Qaida fight- alition — and, by extension, former adviser to the gov- with hard-line Islamic com- promised payments to al-
ers retreated in plain sight. the United States. ernor of Taiz province, said manders, "it's very, very Qaida members who left,
The AP's findings are based The U.S. has sent the co- he recognized al-Qaida's easy for al-Qaida to insinu- according to Shabwa's se-
on reporting in Yemen and alition billions of dollars presence from the start ate itself into the mix," the curity chief Awad al-Dah-
interviews with two dozen in weapons to fight the and told commanders not official said, speaking on boul, a mediator and two
officials, including Yeme- Houthis, and American jets to recruit members. condition of anonymity un- government officials.
ni security officers, militia provide air-to-air refueling "Their response was, 'We will der the briefing's terms. Al-Dahboul said about
commanders, tribal media- for coalition war planes. unite with the devil in the The Pentagon denied any 200 al-Qaida members
tors and four members of The U.S. does not fund the face of Houthis,'" al-Shamiri complicity with al-Qaida. received payments. He
al-Qaida's branch. All but a coalition, however, and said. "Since the beginning of did not know the exact
few of those sources spoke there is no evidence that A militia commander in 2017, we have conducted amounts, but said 100,000
on condition of anonymity, American money went to Taiz, known as Aboul Ab- more than 140 strikes to Saudi rials ($26,000) were
fearing reprisals. Emirati- AQAP militants. bas, was put on the U.S. remove key AQAP lead- handed over to one al-Qa-
backed factions, like most "Elements of the U.S. mili- terrorism list for al-Qaida ers and disrupt its ability to ida leader in the presence
armed groups in Yemen, tary are clearly aware that ties last year. But he contin- use ungoverned spaces to of Emirati commanders.
have been accused of ab- much of what the U.S. is ues to receive money from recruit, train and plan op- Thousands of tribal fighters,
ducting or killing their crit- doing in Yemen is aiding the UAE for his militia, his erations against the U.S. including AQAP members,
ics. AQAP and there is much aide Adel al-Ezzi told the and our partners across the also were to be taken into
The deals uncovered by angst about that," said Mi- AP. Al-Ezzi rejected the U.S. region," spokesman Navy the UAE-funded Shabwa
the AP reflect the contra- chael Horton, a fellow at accusation, denying any Cmdr. Sean Robertson said Elite militia, the mediator
dictory interests of the two the Jamestown Founda- terrorism links. Soon after in an email. and two officials said.
wars being waged simulta- tion, a U.S. analysis group his comments, the AP saw "Our regional partners have Al-Shamiri, the former offi-
neously in this southwestern that tracks terrorism. him meeting with a known a proven track record of cial from Taiz, warned that
corner of the Arabian Pen- But supporting allies against AQAP commander. aggressively pursuing ter- the militants will be diffi-
insula. "what the U.S. views as Ira- Another Taiz commander rorist organizations and de- cult to uproot after filter-
In one conflict, the U.S. is nian expansionism takes — Adnan Rouzek, who was nying them safe haven in ing into such roles. "We will
working with its Arab allies priority over battling AQAP recently given $12 million Yemen and DOD does not get rid of Houthis and we
— particularly the United and even stabilizing Ye- by Yemen's president for have any reason to doubt will be struck with terrorist
Arab Emirates — with the men," Horton said. his fighting force — has a their resolve," he wrote. groups."q