First Battle of Mukalla (2015) | ||||||||
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Part of the Yemeni Civil War (2014–present) | ||||||||
Mukalla as seen from the Indian Ocean. | ||||||||
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Belligerents | ||||||||
Hadhramaut Tribal Alliance [1] | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
Khalid Batarfi Ibrahim Sulayman Muhammad Arbaysh † | Sheikh Abdul Hadi al-Tamimi [2] | Major General Mohsen Nasser Qasim Hassan [2] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | ||||||||
8+ killed [3] | 1+ killed [1] | 7+ killed [3] [4] | ||||||
2+ civilians killed [3] | ||||||||
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.
At the end of the March, many Hadi loyal soldiers and forces from the Southern Provinces were sent to the front to fight the Houthis, after a Saudi led-Coalition started an operation to aid the Hadi government in capturing Sana'a. AQAP took advantage of the situation, launching a full-scale attack after years of insurgency in the governorate, to take Mukalla, the provincial capital. Al-Qaeda fighters entered Mukalla on 2 April 2015, seizing control of several government buildings, including the presidential palace. [5] They attacked the city's central prison with rocket-propelled grenades, freeing 300 inmates, including a number of captured militants, also freeing a senior commander, Khalid Batarfi. They also attacked the local branch of the central bank. [6] [7] The group reportedly faced little resistance as it took control of the city. [8] After that, it was reported that Hadi loyalists aided by the Southern Movement retook control of the port of Mukalla, after fighting killed and injured people on both sides. [9] As of the morning of April 3, Hadi loyals were still in control of the army camps, and the airport, in addition to the port. About 500 AQAP fighters were setting checkpoints and bases in their captured areas. [10] In the evening, AQAP fighters stormed the port, and headquarters of the second military zone. [11] The last remaining Yemen Army troops were driven out by mortar fire on 3 April, as the militants occupying the city consolidated their grip. [5] One of the leading al-Qaeda prisoners sprung from prison, Khalid Batarfi, posed for pictures disseminated through social media in the Mukalla presidential palace. [8]
The Washington Post compared the prison break to the escape of 23 jihadists, including future AQAP emir Nasir al-Wuhayshi, from a Saudi prison in 2006, a formative event for the group. [12]
On 4 April, Hadhramaut Governorate tribesmen took over two deserted army bases in Ash Shihr and Riyan, near Mukalla. [13] They then entered Mukalla itself in technicals. [14] At the same time, fighters from Hadrami tribal alliance, entered the port to fight AQAP. [15]
There were conflicting accounts of the situation on 5 April, with the Yemen Times reporting that anti-AQAP tribal fighters surrounded the city but were unable to enter it [3] and Reuters reporting that the tribesmen were successful in retaking much of the city from the jihadists, pushing the al-Qaeda fighters out, although the militants reportedly remained in some neighbourhoods. [16] One tribal fighter and two soldiers were reportedly killed in clashes between tribesmen and Yemeni Army soldiers on 5 April. [1] [4]
The Yemen Observer reported on 7 April, citing "tribal sources", that the Hadhramaut Tribal Alliance and militiamen loyal to the embattled president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi were successful in retaking Mukalla. [1] However, Reuters cited local residents as saying that al-Qaeda remained in control of about half of the city. [17] In 12 April, an drone strike killed 7 AQAP fighters in one of their gatherings in Mukalla. [18] One of the killed, was Ibrahim Sulayman Muhammad Arbaysh. [19]
Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants calling themselves the Sons of Hadhramaut seized an oil terminal and infantry base in Mukalla on 16 April, as well as an air defense base and military airport on the city's outskirts. Yemeni troops reportedly deserted their posts to avoid a fight with the militants. [20] The jihadists also captured a massive weapons depot that contained dozens of tanks, Katyusha rocket launchers and small arms. With this advance, Al-Qaeda consolidated its hold on Hadhramaut province. [21]
An apparent United States drone strike killed an al-Qaeda leader and spokesman, Ibrahim al-Rubeish, to the west of Mukalla on 12 April. The airstrike was the first carried out by the United States since it abandoned Al Anad Air Base during the previous month. [22] Al-Rubeish was a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who had been released in 2006, after five years in the military prison camp. [23]
About 4,000 soldiers in the 135th Brigade based in Hadhramaut switched sides, announcing their support for Hadi after previously backing Saleh and the Houthis, on 16 April. [24] Days later, on 19 April, Brigadier General Abdulrahman al-Halily declared the support of the First Military District and at least 15,000 troops belonging to it for Hadi. [25]
In an apparent error by the Arab Coalition Forces, over 70 soldiers loyal to President Abdo Rabu Mansur Hadi were killed and 200 wounded by shelling during the night of 8 July. [26]
In its war on terrorism in Yemen, the US government describes Yemen as "an important partner in the global war on terrorism". There have been attacks on civilian targets and tourists, and there was a cargo-plane bomb plot in 2010. Counter-terrorism operations have been conducted by the Yemeni police, the Yemeni military, and the United States Armed Forces.
Mukalla is a seaport and the capital city 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.
Zinjibar is a port and coastal town in south-central Yemen, the capital of Zinjibar District and the Abyan Governorate. It is located next to the Wadi Bana in the Abyan Delta. From 1962 to 1967, it was the administrative capital of the Fadhli Sultanate, although the royal residence remained at the former capital of Shuqrah. At the time of the 2004 census, Zinjibar's population numbered 19,879 inhabitants. The town supports a small seaside resort and fishing industry. Cotton grown in the area is brokered in the market.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, abbreviated as AQAP, also known as Ansar al-Sharia in Yemen, is a Sunni Islamist insurgent extremist group, which is part of the al-Qaeda network and primarily active in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. It is considered the most active of al-Qaeda's branches 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 cells in Yemen. It is a part of the Global War on Terror.
The Shabwah campaign was a campaign for control of the Shabwah Governorate of Yemen, between the Houthis and Yemen Army units loyal to Ali Abdullah Saleh on one side, and militiamen and Yemen Army units loyal to Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi on the other side. The offensive was also launched during a previously started AQAP offensive.
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 Ja'ar, 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 Southern Abyan Offensive refers to a 2016 offensive that AQAP launched in late February, which ended with a victory for AQAP as Yemeni tribal fighters loyal to president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi were driven out of the Abyan Governorate.
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 Islamic State – Yemen Province is a branch of the militant Islamist group Islamic State (IS), active in Yemen. IS announced the group's formation on 13 November 2014.
The Popular committees, also known as the People's Committees, are armed groups formed by Yemeni tribes on behalf of more professional armed forces.
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 battle of Al Masini valley, code named Operation Al Faisal by the coalition, was an operation to clear the Al-Qaeda controlled stronghold of Al Misini valley in Hadramut province.
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.
Ghalib Ahmed Baquaiti, also known as Abu Hajer al-Hadhrami was a Yemeni jihadist poet and munshid.
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