Second Battle of Al Mukalla | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Yemeni Civil War (2014–present) and the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
AQAP | United Arab Emirates Contents
Saudi Arabia | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Qasim al-Raymi Khalid Batarfi Mamoun Abdulhamid Hatem † Sa’ad bin ‘Atef al Awlaki [1] Mohammed Saleh al-Orabi [2] | Faraj Salmin Al-Bahsani (then-commander of the Second Military Region) [3] Musallam Al Rashidi (Commander of UAE Force in Hadhramout) [4] Auni Al Qurni (Deputy commander of KSA Special Forces in Yemen) [4] | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
AQAP fighters | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
1,000+ fighters [5] | 2,000 soldiers [6] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
800 killed 30 wounded (by airstrikes) 100–800 killed (ground offensive, Saudi coalition claims) [7] [8] 8–250 captured 10 killed (AQAP claims during ground offensive) [9] Total losses: 137–1,171 | 45 killed 60 wounded [10] [11] Total losses: 87 | ||||||
2 Saudi citizens executed by AQAP 4 civilians killed by drone strike 8 civilians killed by air strike (AQAP claim) Total: 14 civilians killed |
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. [12] [13]
Mukalla is the provincial capital of the Hadhramaut Governorate and the fifth largest city in Yemen. The city and most of the Southern province around it fell to Al-Qaeda control during an Al-Qaeda offensive there in early April 2015. The Islamist group eventually captured Mukalla, leading them to a new headquarter for the group, and allowing Al-Qaeda to steal more than 200 million American dollars from the Mukalla central bank, and to free more than 300 of its fighters from the provincial prison. [14] After the takeover, United States conducted many airstrikes against the group killing a big number of them. [5] [15]
The first incident was reported on May 11, 2015, when a U.S drone strike killed four AQAP militants traveling in a car around the Mukalla, including the commander Mamoun Abdulhamid Hatem. [16] AQAP confirmed Hatem's death in September 2018. [17]
On June 10, 2015, suspected drone strikes attacked and killed three AQAP fighters, including a commander, at the Mukalla port. [18] Six days later, on June 16, AQAP confirmed that a U.S drone strike had killed its AQAP Emir, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, and that it had replaced him with the group's military chief, Qasim al-Raymi. [19] [20] A day after Nasir's death, AQAP executed two Saudi citizens in its territory after accusing them of being spies of U.S and helping them to find the location of the AQAP leaders. [21]
On June 25, a U.S drone strike killed four AQAP militants - including a commander - inside their car outside an AQAP training facility in Mukalla. Another strike hit nearby, but no casualties were reported. [22]
On July 3, four AQAP fighters were killed by a U.S drone strike inside an army base. [23]
On July 10, U.S drone strikes killed 10 AQAP fighters inside a vehicle also carrying a container loaded with weapons, including three senior leaders among the dead. [24]
On August 12, a U.S drone strike killed five AQAP members inside a car, when they traveling to Mukalla. [25]
On September 9, 2015, suspected U.S drone strikes targeted a group of AQAP militants in the Riyan Airport near Mukalla. Reports said that two to four militants were killed, along with four civilians. [26] Some days later, on September 12, five AQAP fighters were killed in another U.S drone strike inside Mukalla.
On March 23, 2016, a U.S airstrike killed more than 50 AQAP fighters in a camp in Mukalla at dinner time, and injured more than 30. [27]
At 06:30 hours on 6 October, three UAE command centers in Aden were hit by powerful car bombs, 5 Emirati soldiers died as a result of the attack. The UAE struck back almost immediately, when AQAP commanders Abu Salem and Helmi al-Zengi tried to flee the city, an Apache helicopter followed their vehicles until the've reached open desert where there was no risk of collateral damage, the Apache then launched hellfire missiles into the vehicles killing both of them. UAE F-16s also struck three AQAP sites in the city of Zinjibar. [28]
on April 23, 2016, UAE Intelligence received intel from a local agent that hardcore AQAP fighters will gather to coordinate street-by-street defense of Al Mukalla. The building in question was a large warehouse owned by the Yemeni Economic Corporation, located about 500 meters west of Chinese bridge. The building was not occupied by civilians and had been characterised by persistent surveillance as being used solely by AQAP. UAE drones watched about 120 AQAP fighters entering the warehouse. An Emirati F-16 released a single 2,000-lb bomb fused to airburst immediately after piercing the roof. It struck dead centre. Almost everyone in the building was killed, judging by the relatively small number of ambulances that came and went in the hour after the strike. [29]
On April 24, 2016, UAE soldiers entered Mukalla, successfully killing around 30 AQAP fighters. On the same day, Al-Qaeda fighters began withdrawing from the city to other parts of Hadramaut Province. This occurred after negotiations with local tribesmen and clerics, allegedly to avoid injury to civilians and destruction of the city from attacks against AQAP fighters. [30] By April 25, Pro-Hadi Government forces and UAE forces had fully recaptured Mukalla, along with the rest of the coastal regions of the Hadramaut Province. [13] On the same day, coalition officials stated that more than 800 AQAP fighters had been killed in the fighting, but that number was disputed by Yemeni journalists who covered the event, who said that the group retreated after negotiations. By 26 April, Mukalla and the rest of the surrounding towns and cities had been cleared of AQAP forces. [13] [31] [32] [33]
US Defense Secretary James Mattis called the UAE-led operation a model for American troops, citing how the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces liberated the port of Mukalla from AQAP forces in 36 hours after being held by AQAP for more than a year. [34]
Following the battle, the UAE established a primary base of operations against AQAP in the liberated city. [35] The special operations base has enabled the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) to target AQAP’s strongest cells in Yemen and allowed for an enhanced UAE-US cooperation against AQAP. [35]
The United Arab Emirates Armed Forces are the armed forces of the United Arab Emirates. They are also occasionally referred to as "Little Sparta", a nickname that was given by former United States Marine Corps General and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, due to their active and effective military role and power projection in the surrounding region compared to their relative size.
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 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.
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. The group is part of the al-Qaeda network and is primarily active in Yemen and, to a lesser extent, Saudi Arabia. It is considered the most active of al-Qaeda's affiliates that emerged after the weakening of central leadership.
Qasim Yahya Mahdi al-Raymi was a Yemeni militant who was the emir of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Al-Raymi was one of 23 men who escaped in the 3 February 2006 prison-break in Yemen, along with other notable al-Qaeda members. Al-Raymi was connected to a July 2007 suicide bombing that killed eight Spanish tourists. In 2009, the Yemeni government accused him of being responsible for the running of an al-Qaeda training camp in Abyan province. After serving as AQAP's military commander, al-Raymi was promoted to leader after the death of Nasir al-Wuhayshi on 12 June 2015.
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 following lists events that happened in 2015 in Yemen.
The Yemeni civil war is an ongoing multilateral civil war that began in late 2014 mainly between the Rashad al-Alimi-led Presidential Leadership Council and the Mahdi al-Mashat-led Supreme Political Council, along with their supporters and allies. Both claim to constitute the official government of Yemen.
On 26 March 2015, Saudi Arabia, leading a coalition of nine countries from West Asia and North Africa, launched a military intervention in Yemen at the request of Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who had been ousted from the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014 by Houthi insurgents during the Yemeni Civil War. Efforts by the United Nations to facilitate a power sharing arrangement under a new transitional government collapsed, leading to escalating conflict between government forces, Houthi rebels, and other armed groups, which culminated in Hadi fleeing to Saudi Arabia shortly before it began military operations in the country.
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.
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 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 Aden unrest was a conflict between Islamist factions, such as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's Yemen Branch, against the loyalists of president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and later to conflict between UAE-backed and Saudi-backed factions within the coalition. In 2017, fighting also broke out between factions aligned with different members of the Saudi-led coalition namely Saudi Arabia-backed Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and Al-Islah and UAE-backed separatist Southern Transitional Council and Southern Movement.
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 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.
Terrorism in the United Arab Emirates describes the terrorist attacks in the United Arab Emirates, as well as steps taken by the Emirati government to counter the threat of terrorism. Although terrorist attacks are rare, the UAE has been listed as a place used by investors to raise funds to support militants in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the financing of the September 11 attacks. Businesses based in the UAE have been implicated in the funding of the Taliban and the Haqqani network. In the 72nd session of the UN General assembly in New York, UAE foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan affirmed the United Arab Emirates policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism financing.
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.
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