Wounded Yemen: Al-Qaeda threatens to launch war of explosives, army responds with ‘Eastern Arrows’
Al-Qaeda's capabilities have been crippled inside Yemen due to the military operation Eastern Arrows, and its elements retreated to the western heights of the Shabwa and Abyan governorates and on the borders of Al-Bayda, which is under the control of the Houthi militia. In response, al-Qaeda has resorted to using the tactic of explosive devices to wage war against the southern forces to compensate for the huge losses that the terrorist organization has suffered in the governorates of Shabwa and Abyan, which is an insignificant response to the loss of its strongholds and camps.
Explosives to make up for losses
Al-Qaeda recently escalated its attacks with explosive devices, as on Thursday and friday it carried out three terrorist attacks targeting the Shabwa Defense Force, the Security Belt, and the Abyan Axis Police, which have played a pivotal role in demolishing the organization’s strongholds since August. The attacks launched by al-Qaeda elements left 11 dead and wounded in the ranks of the southern forces.
The first attack took place on the main road leading to the Omran camp east of the Mudiyah district, one of the central districts in Abyan, by targeting a military patrol of the southern forces, killing one soldier and wounding five others. This was followed by another attack in Abyan governorate, which was launched by the elements of the organization with an explosive device against another patrol, injuring three. Another attack took place in the town of Al-Humaima, east of Mudiyah, targeting a military patrol that was on a mission to pursue terrorist elements in areas that are likely to be hideouts of al-Qaeda members, which resulted in at least two soldiers from the Fifth Brigade of the Shabwa Defense Force were seriously injured in an explosion that targeted their patrol in the district of Markah Al Olaya to the northwestern side of the oil province.
Since August 2022, the southern forces have been leading Operation Eastern Arrows, while al-Qaeda vowed to launch a war of bombs and ambushes in the strategic governorate that extends to the outskirts of the interim capital, Aden. According to the spokesman for the southern forces, Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed al-Naqeeb, the southern forces are still facing al-Qaeda's latest means represented by the IED warfare. However, the terrorist organization’s war of explosives does not in any way indicate that al-Qaeda has entered a new phase of operational activity, but it is more of an insignificant reaction to the loss of its strongholds and camps.
A spokesman for the southern forces confirmed that al-Qaeda no longer has any real alternatives, activity, shelter or movement, indicating that the terrorist organization has resorted to planting these explosive devices through disguised cells that are pursued and tracked by the army forces, security belt, tribesmen and society.
The military operation Eastern Arrows was launched on August 23 with the participation of the security belt forces, the police, the Abyan axis, and the southern resistance. Through four phases, it was able to deploy and control major areas and camps in six districts: Khanfar, Ahwar, Lawdar, Al-Wadih, Mudiyah and Al-Mahfad.
Operation Eastern Arrows paralyzed al-Qaeda's capabilities in Yemen after tightening the screws on it in its main strongholds in Abyan in the south of the country, where the fourth phase of the security and military campaign implemented by the joint southern forces culminated in securing all areas and camps in Al-Mahfad district located on the governorate’s borders with Shabwa. The southern forces announced the tightening of complete control over the Al-Mahfad district and spreading and positioning in the valleys and the mountain range extending from Wadi Dayqah in Al-Mahfad to the borders of Shabwa governorate.
