The Assassinations File: Islah Begins to Reverse the Facts in Aden

عربي

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.

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.