Security Threats
In the aftermath of the 1990-91 Gulf War when Yemen sided with Iraq in its invasion of Kuwait, both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia broke diplomatic ties with Yemen. Although these ties have been restored, tensions remain over the Saudi Arabia-Yemen border; in early 2008, Saudi Arabia reinforced its concrete-filled security barrier along sections of the border in order to stem illegal cross-border activities. Despite increased border security, fugitive Islamist militants from throughout the Gulf region, especially Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, regularly cross what is still perceived as a lax border into Yemen. This poses a security threat to a country battling terrorism on many fronts.
Analysts see the greatest challenge to the political dominance of the General People's Congress as stemming from a range of security threats posed by Islamist and tribal elements within Yemen. Yemen's topography contributes to a lack of central government control in the more remote governorates, which in turn has enhanced the authority of the country's wellarmed autonomous tribes. Tribesmen routinely kidnap foreign tourists and workers in order to extract political and economic concessions from the government; as recently as May 2008, two Japanese tourists were kidnapped in Marib.
Since the establishment of the Republic of Yemen in May 22nd, 1990 and the adoption of democratic pluralism based on the principles of Shoura principles of Islamic shari'a values and goals, the door was made wide open before all political forces, organizations and parties to express themselves through their organizations, the press and the expression of different opinions.
Since the incident of Abu Al-Hassan Al-Mehdar in 1998 and the subsequent terrorist and violent accidents, that the Republic of Yemen has become a target for terrorist groups. The existence of some terrorist elements is a result of the encouragement given to them by some radical groups, as well as the qualitative shift from the banditry and kidnapping operations to terrorist operations that exploit religion and foreign-funded external ideological nurturing as what we see happen in the second half of the last decade in the killing of a number of British and Australian tourists in December 1998 by Abu Al-Hassan Al-Mehdar and his group.
The beginning of change in the international position came when the USS Cole bomb attack took place in the port of Aden in October 2000. The United States administration started security cooperation with the Yemeni government to apprehend those who were involved in the Cole attack and to establish their links with Al-Qaida organization. However, that cooperation did not extend to include support for Yemen's interla security apparatus and development of their capabilities. The situation continued in this manner until the 11 September 2001 events when the United States and the whole world witnessed the worst terrorist disaster. As a result, attention on terrorism shifted from the local dimension and so the international terrorism and counter-terrorism became a top issue in international cooperation.
In northern Yemen, since 2005 al-Houthi rebels carried out attacks against police and soldiers near Sadah; the attackers are believed to be followers of a militant Zaydi cleric killed by Yemeni security forces in September 2004. Despite the negotiation of cease-fires in March 2006, June 2007, and February 2008, thousands have been killed, and fighting continues. Several bombings were reported in May 2008. Since May 2007, in Aden and other southern governorate cities, security forces have battled demonstrations by former army officers, demanding reinstatement and better pensions, as well as unemployed workers. In 2008 these protests have grown in number and intensity. The government also faces a threat from militants from Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Iraq who routinely cross the Yemen-Saudi Arabia border, as well as militant Islamists from Somalia who can access existing arms smuggling routes between the two countries.
Yemen was the site of two major terrorist attacks-the suicide bombing attack against the USS Cole in October 2000 in the Aden harbor and the bombing of the French supertanker Limburg off the port of Al Mukalla two years later. In 2004 suspects linked to al Qaeda were prosecuted and convicted in Yemeni courts for the Aden attacks as well as other planned terrorist activities. In 2005 dozens of al Qaeda members were tried and convicted in Yemen of planning and perpetrating terrorist attacks against Yemeni officials and Western targets both in Yemen and abroad, including additional suspects linked to the USS Cole bombing. On February 3, 2006, 23 convicted al Qaeda members, 13 of whom were tied to the USS Cole and Limburg bombings, escaped from the maximum-security prison in Sanaa; most remain at large. In September 2006, four suicide bombers were killed in a foiled attempt to bomb two Yemeni oil facilities; two of the four have been identified as being among the group of 23 escaped prisoners. As of June 2008, two al Qaeda suspects convicted in Yemen of terrorist attacks have also been indicted in U.S. courts and are wanted for trial in the United States, but Yemen has insisted that its constitution precludes extradition of Yemeni citizens. Although al Qaeda continues to use Yemen as a base for training and operations, several incidents demonstrated that the country itself was targeted for attack. In July 2007, a suicide bombing in Marib killed eight Spanish tourists; in January 2008, gunmen killed two Belgian tourists in Hadramout; in March 2008, a mortar attack that damaged a school was apparently aimed at the U.S. embassy; and in April 2008, bombs struck a residential complex inhabited by Westerners.
Terrorist activity increased sharply during 2008. Numerous attacks against government, foreign, and oil interests occurred, causing injuries and deaths. On January 18, two Belgian tourists and a Yemeni driver were killed in Hadhramout governorate when four gunmen ambushed their four-car convoy. The Yemen Soldiers Brigade (YSB), an al-Qa'ida in Yemen (AQY) affiliated group, later claimed responsibility for the attack in addition to the July 2007 attack on a convoy of Spanish tourists in Ma'rib. On September 17, a suicide attack on an embassy in Sanaa killed 18 persons, including seven attackers. Islamic Jihad in Yemen, reportedly a second AQY affiliated group, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Yemen’s deteriorating security situation caused DOD to suspend the majority of its security assistance activities in 2011 and restricted the ability of USAID program implementers to access remote sections of the country, thereby leading USAID to shift its focus to providing civilian assistance in large urban areas with a more secure and accessible working environment.
The new administration led by President Hadi was more aggressive in countering al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) than the previous administration. Of particular note, in June 2012, a Yemeni military offensive conducted in conjunction with tribal militias in southern Yemen removed AQAP from regions where it had seized control during the civil unrest in 2011. However, AQAP continued to conduct attacks against the Yemeni government and remains a threat to the United States, and according to a senior Yemeni MOD official, AQAP’s decision to change tactics from seizing and holding territory to conducting targeted assassinations of Yemeni government officials, including in Sana’a, constitutes a major security challenge. Yemen’s transitional period has weakened the central state’s security apparatus to a degree that is likely to make the battle for local support, rather than further degradation of state capacity, AQAP’s priority.
There were politically motivated disappearances and kidnappings of individuals associated with political parties, NGOs, and media outlets critical of various security forces within the government, as well as others reportedly kidnapped for supporting the Houthis in the north or the Hirak separatist movement in the south. The incidence of kidnapping of citizens increased during 2015 because of deteriorating security in many areas.
Abductions were difficult for foreign entities to verify, unless they involved a foreigner or government official. Many unofficial groups abducted persons to achieve specific goals. During the period September 2014 to August 2015, Houthi and pro-Saleh forces and their allies arbitrarily detained 5,894 persons in 17 governorates, 900 of them in Aden; by the end of that period, the captors had released 4,640 of the detainees and continued to hold 1,254.
There were also reports of abuses by elements of the Houthi-Saleh security forces and in institutions under their control. Torture and other forms of mistreatment were common in Houthi-Saleh detention facilities, according to the Yemeni Coalition to Monitor Human Rights Violations (YCMHRV), a government-funded NGO, which documented 796 cases in 16 of the country’s 21 governorates and the capital Sana’a from September 2014 to August 2015. Between September 2014 and 15 August 2015, Houthi-Saleh forces and their allies abducted and forcibly disappeared 982 persons in 17 governorates, extracting forced pledges and confessions and demanding ransom from family members.
Da’esh, emerging in Yemen in 2015, claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on Houthi-affiliated Shia mosques. On December 3, Da’esh-affiliated militants executed two members of the Awlaki tribe in Seiyun in Hadramawt Province after kidnapping them.
Clashes occurred as the parties expanded control over, lost, and regained territory. The military’s loyalties divided among numerous local actors. Armed clashes continued and expanded to several areas of the country among Houthi-Saleh rebels, supporters of both the Islah Party (Sunni Islamist) and the Rashad Party (Salafi), armed separatists affiliated with the Southern Mobility Movement, tribal forces, and progovernment resistance forces, and some Saudi-led coalition ground forces, with participation by elements of the country’s armed forces. Terrorist groups, including AQAP and Da’esh, carried out attacks against government representatives and installations, Houthi combatants, members of Hirak, and other actors AQAP and Da’esh accused of behavior violating sharia law.
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