Aden (South24) 

Officials and activists of the Yemeni Islah Party (the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Yemen) intend to launch a "widespread electronic campaign" against the STC in Aden, claiming responsibility for assassinations, days after the security authorities revealed a "terrorist cell" accused of carrying out explosions inside Aden, leaving dozens of victims.

It is scheduled to launch the campaign, which included definitive and explicit accusations of leaders in the STC and the Security Belt Forces of committing assassination crimes, today's afternoon.

The head of the "Islah" media department in Aden, Khaled Haidan, published a poster on his Facebook account, in which he called for participation in the campaign. The poster included a picture of the director of the Quran Memorization Department in the governorate's education office, Ihab Bawazeer, who was assassinated on December 7 in Aden.

The campaign accuses the STC Vice-President, Hani Bin Brik, of being behind the killing of Salafi Sheikh Samhan Al-Areqi, known as "Sheikh Rawi", in January 2016.

Anticipation

On September 5, investigations conducted by the Security Committee in Aden revealed the involvement of elements belonging to the commander of the Transportation Brigade in the Yemeni government, and the Islah senior official, Amjad Khaled, in violent "terrorist" operations that struck Aden last October.

Investigations revealed that “Mohammed Al-Maisari” and “Ahmed Al-Baydani” had carried out the assassination attempt on the governor of Aden, Ahmed Lamlas, and the Minister of Agriculture, Salem Al-Socotri, two prominent leaders of the STC, on October 10, with a car bomb.

This attempt, which took place in an area that includes schools and kindergartens in Al-Tawahi  district, left seven dead, including three journalists from the staff of the governor of Aden, in addition to members of the convoy’s guard.

The statement of the Security Committee also claimed the responsibility of "Saleh Wadih Al-Haddad" for the bloody car bomb attack in front of the outer gate of Aden International Airport, on the 30th of the same month, which left 5 dead and 25 wounded, including women and children.

The defendants, Adel Radman and Farouk Khaled, confessed in video footage published by the counter-terrorism forces in Aden, the details and merits of the two operations, indicated that the perpetrators received financial and logistical support from the Iranian-backed Houthis.

The two accused members also revealed the involvement of the three members in previous operations targeting camps and figures in the Southern forces in Aden, which were carried out under the supervision, direction and participation of the Commander of the Transportation Brigade, Amjad Khaled, who is affiliated to the Yemeni Vice President, Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar.

Practically, "the expected electronic campaign can be interpreted as coming as a result of the religious party [Islah] sensing the seriousness of what was revealed by the results of these investigations, which prove the existence of operational and financial cooperation between prominent leaders in the party, and its supposed enemy in North Yemen, the Houthi group," says a security source to "South24".

The source, who requested anonymity, because he is unauthorized to speak to media, said that this step reflects "the existence of a state of concern in the corridors and closed rooms of the party about the exposure of the iceberg from which only the summit has emerged recently, and which is accused of bloody violence over recent years in Aden, including assassinations, suicide bombings, advanced explosive devices, and more".

Islah did not respond officially to these accusations, but military leaders loyal to it repeatedly participated in attempts to storm Aden in 2019 and 2020.

The recent operations in Aden represented messages of bloody chaos, which basically shook the security and stability of the city, which received the UN and US envoys to Yemen, and a diplomatic delegation from the European Union, in October and November, respectively. The operations were met with widespread international and regional condemnation.

The intensity of these operations escalated with the return of the prime minister of the parity government between South and North Yemen, Dr. Maeen Abdulmalik, to Aden in late September.

The STC has long accused the Islah party, which has extensive political and military influence in the internationally-recognized Yemeni government, of attempting to thwart the parity government, which was formed in December 2020 within the practical implementation of the terms of the Riyadh Agreement between the STC and the Yemeni presidency, in November 2019.

The actions undermining the stability of Aden contradict the general regional and international trend to support the parity government to perform its work, in light of the unprecedented economic collapse the country is witnessing, which “makes those involved in these actions at risk of accountability and punishment,” as the security source says to “South24.”

Assassinations

Since its liberation from the Houthis in 2015, Aden has witnessed a historic wave of violence that has affected the security and military, clerics, and civilian figures.

The assassinations topped the scene of violence in this city, the most prominent of which was the assassination of the former governor of Aden, Major General Jaafar Mohammad Saad, on December 6, 2015, with a car bomb targeting his convoy in the west of the governorate.

Over the following years, the lists of assassinations included security, military and religious figures in Aden, some of whom were third-class figures belonging to the Islamic Islah Party.

ISIS and AQAP have claimed some operations that targeted Southern soldiers, camps and personalities, while many of them remained tied up against unknown people.

The pace of violence in Aden decreased significantly after the campaigns carried out by the southern security forces against the hideouts of armed groups in Aden and Lahj, in conjunction with broader military operations against ISIS and AQAP in Hadramout, Abyan and Shabwa.

The absence of courts and the obstruction of the judicial system in Aden and the Southern governorates caused many delays in the trial processes that the defendants were supposed to undergo in the hands of the security forces, and reveal who was behind the violence.

"South24" had previously revealed an armed cell led by the former guard of the Islamist leader Abdul Majeed Al-Zindani, one of the most prominent leaders of the Islah party. The security authorities in Aden said that they were behind widespread assassinations that hit the city until the end of 2019. 

South24 Center for News and Studies

Photo: Amjad Khaled, Haidan, and the five cells who are accused by the security authorities of carrying out the bloody bombings in Aden last October (South24)