Courcy’s Intelligence Brief

Yemen is another escalating front in the proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, with Iran backing the rebellion by the Shia Huthi movement in the northern Yemeni governorate of Sadah.  In the past month, at least 100 people have been killed in fighting, and it has been reported in the past 24 hours that the fighting has resumed with perhaps a further 20 people being killed.

The latest fighting in the town of Dammaj has been between the Huthi rebels and Salafists rather than government troops.  The problem is that Dammaj is home to an important Salafist educational establishment which has more than 12,000 students from elsewhere in Yemen.  There are also foreign Salafist students in Dammaj, and it has been reported that nationals from France, Russia, Canada, and China died in recent fighting.

The Huthis say that there are more than just foreign students in Dammaj.  They say there are up to 7,000 jihadists with experience of fighting in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and other jihadist hotspots.  The salafists, in return, say that the Huthis are receiving weapons and other support from Iran.  On 12 November, nine people were convicted in Aden of trying to smuggle in 40 tons of weapons and ammunition from Iran.

After fighting broke out in early November, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) issued a statement by spokesman Shaykh Harith Bin-Ghazi al-Nazari declaring “total solidarity” with the people of Dammaj and promising revenge against the Huthis.  But if AQAP is engaged in the fight against Iranian-backed Huthis, it also continues to be targeted by the US.  On 19 November, three presumed AQAP militants were killed by a US drone attack in Hadhramaut Governorate.