Hadhramaut is a geographic region in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula which includes the Yemeni governorates of Hadhramaut, Shabwa and al-Mahra, as well as Aden, Abyan and Lahij. Some sources also include Dhofar Governorate, in southwestern Oman, and Shaurah, in Najran Province, in southern Saudi Arabia. The name is of ancient origin, and is reflected in the name of the Yemeni Governorate of Hadhramaut. The people of Hadhramaut are called the Hadharem. They formerly spoke Hadramautic, an old South Arabian language, but they now predominantly speak Hadhrami Arabic.
Shibam, officially the Old Walled City of Shibam, is a town in Wadi Hadhramaut in eastern Yemen with about 7,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Shibam District in the Hadhramaut Governorate. It is known for its mudbrick-made high-rise buildings, with some of the buildings reaching as high as 11 stories. The design was in order to protect the residents of the city from Bedouin attacks.
Mukalla, officially the Mukalla City District, is a seaport and the capital city district of Yemen's largest governorate, Hadhramaut. The city is in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula on the Gulf of Aden, on the shores of the Arabian Sea, about 480 kilometres east of Aden. It is the most important port city in the Hadhramaut region. It is also the sixth-largest city in Yemen, with a population of approximately 595,000 as of 2023. The city is served by the nearby Riyan International Airport.
Riyan International Airport is an airport in Mukalla, Hadhramaut, Yemen. It is not to be confused with the former RAF Riyan, which is located closer to Mukalla.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP is a Sunni Islamist militant organization which seeks to overthrow the Yemeni government and establish an Islamic emirate. Part of the al-Qaeda network, the group is based and primarily active in Yemen, while also conducting operations in Saudi Arabia. It is considered the most active of al-Qaeda's affiliates that emerged after the weakening of central leadership.
The Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen is an ongoing armed conflict between the Yemeni government, the United States and their allies, and al-Qaeda-affiliated groups in Yemen. It is a part of the Global War on Terror.
United States drone strikes in Yemen started after the September 11 attacks in the United States, when the US military attacked the Islamist militant presence in Yemen, in particular Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula using drone warfare.
The First Battle of Mukalla (2015) was a battle between al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, local tribesmen, and the Yemen Army for control of the coastal city of Mukalla, Yemen.
Khalid Saeed Batarfi, also known as Abū al-Miqdād al-Kindī, was a Saudi Arabian militant and the emir of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He oversaw the Yemen-based group's media network and led jihadist fighters in their takeover of Yemen's Abyan Governorate in 2011, where he was accorded the position of emir. He also reputedly carried out terrorist attacks in the Abyan and Hadhramaut governorates.
In early December 2015, two Yemeni towns, Zinjibar and Jaʽār, were captured by the jihadist group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). This was the second capture and occupation of Zinjibar during unrest in Yemen. The town was earlier taken by AQAP's in May 2011 and held until the summer of 2012.
The Shabwah Governorate offensive is an insurgent campaign by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) forces to take control of Shabwah Governorate during the Yemeni Civil War.
The Second Battle of Mukalla refers to an armed conflict between al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the Saudi-led Coalition. The aim of the coalition offensive was to disable the newly resurgent al-Qaeda Emirate in Yemen by recapturing its capital, Mukalla. The battle led to a coalition victory, in which the coalition forces gained control of Mukalla and the surrounding coastal areas.
On 15 May 2016, a suicide bombing in the southern Yemeni port city of Mukalla, the capital of the Hadhramaut province, killed at least 47 police and injured over 60. The bombing was preceded by an attack, where 15 Yemeni troops were killed in attacks on army positions outside Mukalla. ISIL said, one of its militants blew up a vehicle, packed with explosives, in an army base in the Khalf district at the city's eastern outskirts.
The following is a timeline of the Yemeni civil war, which began in September 2014.
The Hadramaut insurgency was an insurgency in Yemen launched by AQAP and ISIL-YP against forces loyal to president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi.
The Hadhramaut Tribal Alliance, also known as the Tribal Alliance of Hadramout or the Hadhramaut Tribes Alliance, is an armed group involved in the ongoing Yemeni Civil War. The Alliance's forces are primarily drawn from the Hadhrami people in southern Yemen. During the civil war, the Alliance is often cited as supporting the government of Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and is noted for operating alongside the Republic of Yemen Armed Forces in Hadhramaut.
The Abyan conflict was a series of clashes between forces of AQAP loyal to Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, and forces loyal to Southern Movement for the control of Abyan between 2016 and 2018.
The Shabwani Elite are a military unit operating in the Shabwah Governorate of Yemen, mainly against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The unit consisted of at least 6,000 troops and controlled the majority of the province as of early November 2017, according to its commander Mohamed Salem al-Qumishi.
The Hadhrami Elite Forces are special operations forces formed by the Arab coalition forces, under the supervision of the United Arab Emirates technical support and with funding from Saudi Arabia, to liberate the city of Mukalla from al-Qaeda.
The Islamic Emirate of Yemen was a short-lived Islamic state established by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula after the 2015 Battle of Mukalla, as part of their goal to establish an Islamic emirate in the wider Hadramaut. Mukalla became AQAP's headquarters, and the capital of the Islamic Emirate of Yemen.
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula 
Hadrami Elite Force 
United Arab Emirates 