Yemen vows to fight terrorism to the end

Yemen's army is continuing an offensive against Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in the south and has advanced on key fronts, military sources in Abyan told Xinhua on Sunday. The defense ministry said the forces, supported by popular committees in the governorates of Abyan and Shabwa, have been targeting hideouts and sites of AQAP and killed dozens of militants including two foreign leaders named as Abu Islam from Chechnya and Abu Muslim from Uzbekistan. The ministry also said the forces have forced AQAP out of its strongholds of Mahfad in Abyan and Ahwar in Shabwa and are now combing other areas to free the two governorates from militants. The army in cooperation with the security forces and the pro- government popular fighters has attacked AQAP's sites by artilleries, tanks and fighter jets, the ministry said, while hailing the victory so far. President Abdrabu Mansour Hadi has recently vowed to eradicate Al-Qaida after its operations targeting senior military commanders. He said that 70 percent of AQAP members were foreigners who infiltrated into Yemen from many countries. Observers said the military action against AQAP, the most dangerous armed group in the country, reflected the commitment of the government to the outcomes of the national dialogue conference which called for tackling terrorist groups and restoring the rule of law in all parts of the country. Abdulsalam Muhammad, head of AbAAD center for strategic studies, said "Through operations against the forces, armed and violent groups aimed to weaken the government in order to control the country and rule it with extremist doctrines. Thus, the military action was the best response," Muhammad said. "It is true that Yemen needs a good strategy, which should not be focused on and restricted to the military action, to respond to threats from extremist groups. But in a situation like the one we are experiencing, the military action is inevitable," he added. Some observers, however, argued that the military action should no t be the first solution to tackle violent groups in the country. Nabil Albukiri, head of the Arab center for political studies and development and a researcher specialized in Islamic groups, said the military action should follow other peaceful approaches such as rehabilitation of extremists and economic reforms. "The country is facing serious security and economic challenges and the war on AQAP could give other violent groups the opportunity to expand and rearrange their cards at the expense of all efforts to build a modern, civil state," Albukiri said. "Who knows, we might see more security complications in the future because of the confusion of priorities." Abdulrazak Al-Jamal, an analyst, said al-Qaida requires an intelligence war not a war by equipment and large numbers of forces on the ground. "The military action is not that helpful because AQAP could regroup and be stronger. We have evidence for such theory which is the regrouping of AQAP after their defeat two years ago in Abyan," Al-Jamal said. In the past two years, Yemen has witnessed alarming security challenges including increasing AQAP operations and occupation of towns in the southern and eastern regions, wars of the Houthi Group with tribes near the capital Sanaa and acts of armed separatist factions in the south. Observers said the fragility of the state was to blame for all problems. The current war on AQAP, which is seen the most dangerous violent group, is the second after the 2012 offensive which forced the group out of towns seized in Abyan and Shabwa. Military sources said the forces have advanced almost on all fronts in the two governorates in the past few days while warning that militants might escape to other governorates. Meanwhile, the U.S. has been providing direct support to Yemen against terrorism either during the offensives or by drones which have targeted many AQAP operatives and leaders in the past two years.