Abyan (South24) 

The Southern Armed Forces affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council (STC) announced yesterday (November 15) that they had repelled an attack by the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Wadi Oemran, Abyan Governorate.

A press release by the Southern forces' website said: "Our Southern Armed Forces repelled an attack by elements of the terrorist AQAP organization in Wadi Oemran, east of Mudiyah district in Abyan Governorate."

Giving details, an operational source said that "the terrorist members attacked a site of the Third Backup and Support Brigade towards Al-Furaidh area and the village of Surat Al-Mashaikh. The brigade forces clashed with the attackers and inflicted casualties on them."

#BREAKING

AQAP claimed responsibility for 'terrorist' attack targeting Southern forces in Mudiyah district in #Abyan Governorate on Thursday#south24 pic.twitter.com/fJ1QlSM0xQ

— South24 | English (@South24E) November 16, 2024

The statement added: "The source indicated the deployment of our forces in the area in order to secure and track the terrorist elements fleeing towards areas adjacent to Al-Bayda and Shabwa Governorates."

In an exclusive statement to the ‘South24 Center’, the official spokesman for the Southern forces, Major Mohammed Al-Naqib, said: "The terrorist members attacked our forces and clashed with them. They planted three explosive devices to target any military reinforcements."

"The attack failed to achieve its goal. Damage occurred to our military vehicles, but none of our soldiers were harmed. We believe that we inflicted human losses among the terrorist members of AQAP," he added.

However, a statement by AQAP claimed that four Southern soldiers were killed and seven others were wounded in the attack. The statement indicated that an RPG and a guided explosive device were used during the attack.

In a report submitted to the Security Council in September 2024, the United Nations Panel of Experts to the Security Council Committee Monitoring Global Compliance with UN sanctions on Yemen said that AQAP and the Houthis had reached an agreement to cease hostilities and implement a prisoner exchange.

The report said that since the beginning of 2024, the two groups had come to an agreement to transfer drones, thermal missiles and explosive devices to the AQAP, and also provide training to AQAP fighters. They also discussed that AQAP would provide support to the Houthis in their attacks on maritime targets by giving the Iran-backed militia unobstructed access to the areas along the coastline in Yemen where they hold control.

Commenting on the UN report, the spokesman for the Southern forces said: "We talked about the relationship between the Houthis and AQAP before the international reports were issued, including the report of the Security Council experts."

"Today, we are not talking about what has been confirmed for years about a relationship between the Houthis and AQAP, which has come to the level of a strategic alliance that includes all the components of the alliance and its requirements, including the exchange of capabilities, including armaments, training, and redirection," he explained.

The spokesperson pointed out that "the Houthis are continuing to use AQAP to target the South after the military failure on the battle fronts." He said: "It is only a matter of time until AQAP obtains Iranian missiles from the Houthis, just as it has obtained drones."

The spokesman for the Southern forces criticized what he described as "global negligence of this imminent danger."

Since late 2022, AQAP attacks against the Southern forces have intensified in response to the ‘Arrows of the East’ operation launched by the Southern forces to expel AQAP from its main strongholds in Abyan Governorate.

The terror group used drones for the first time in May 2023 when it attacked the Shabwa Defense Forces, a branch of the Southern forces, in Al-Masina’a area in Al-Saied district of Shabwa Governorate.