Houthis enlisting support from al-Qaeda in Yemen
The Iran-backed Houthi militia works to consolidate its ties with al-Qaeda, in a desperate bid to compensate the heavy losses it suffered in the past period at the hands of the Arab Coalition to Support Legitimacy, the Yemeni National Army, and the Giants Brigades.
Sources in Yemeni capital, Sana'a,
have revealed that a meeting took place recently between seven al-Qaeda
leaders, including Nayef al-Awaj, on one hand, and Houthi officials from the so-called
Preventive Security Intelligence, on the other.
The meeting, they said, took place
at the National Security headquarters in the Sarf region, northern Sana'a.
Both sides discussed coordination in
the mobilization of new fighters within the ranks of the Houthi militia.
The sources pointed out that the
Houthi militia resorted to al-Qaeda elements in the process of mobilizing
fighters after their failure to mobilize fighters to compensate losses on the
fronts of Marib, Hajjah and Shabwah.
They referred to joint coordination
between the two sides to launch an attack on the oil and gas fields in Marib.
The Houthi militia had recently
announced the mobilization of fighters in the areas it controls.
This came after many tribes refused
to supply the militia with more fighters, against the background of the death
of a large number of tribesmen who fought within the ranks of the Houthi
militia in the past period.
The leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen,
Hamza Muhammad Ali Rawiya, was killed recently while participating with the
Houthi militia in battles in southern Marib.
New military sites
On Feb. 20, the Yemeni National Army
announced the liberation of new military sites from the grip of the Houthi
militia in Saada province in northern Yemen.
The army launched a lightning attack
on strategic sites and heights on the al-Razzamat front in the al-Safra District,
near the border with Saudi Arabia.
