Jan. 4, 2010

© 2010 WorldNetDaily

Editor's note: The following story is adapted from a report in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. Subscriptions to G2 Bulletin are available for $99 a year or for $9.95 per month for credit cards users.

The United States is getting involved in fighting al-Qaida in Yemen to the extent that it may need to commit more forces – not only in Yemen but throughout the entire Arab Peninsula.

Security experts increasingly see the U.S. commitment of assistance to Yemen as potentially opening up additional fronts in the war against al-Qaida to stop its spread in the Arab Peninsula – which includes Saudi Arabia – and even into North Africa, also referred to as the Islamic Maghreb.

Until now, forces from the U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have focused on fighting al-Qaida in Afghanistan and into Pakistan, which remains off-limits to their hot pursuit of the terrorist group.

But many al-Qaida fighters have left Afghanistan and Pakistan for Yemen, where al-Qaida has been present for some time. Ironically, most of the Islamist militants at Guantanamo are from Yemen. Some who have been released back to Yemen have been involved in planning new attacks against the U.S.

Now, Yemen has emerged as the hub of al-Qaida for the region in what appears to be a resurgence that has begun to spread into the Horn of Africa, especially in East Africa's unstable Somalia, which has an ineffective government and Islamic pirates wreaking havoc.

Indeed, al-Qaida in Yemen has assisted Islamic rebels trying to topple the Somali government. According to U.S. officials, the Somali insurgent group Al-Shabab is considered an al-Qaida proxy in East Africa and has supplied fighters and weapons through Yemeni smugglers across the narrow Red Sea between the two countries.

Yemeni government troops have been battling al-Qaida, but the terrorist group has increased in strength. Known by the longer name "al-Qaida in the Arab Peninsula," it re-emerged in Yemen under the leadership of Nasser al-Wahishi in 2007.

At the same time, Yemen also has become a battleground for a resurgence of Iranian-backed Shiites fighting against the Sunni Yemeni government, which has dragged Saudi Arabia into the fray to halt the spread of the Shiite Houthis.

As a consequence, the Yemeni government has had to divert troops from fighting al-Qaida to battle the Houthis, who appear well-trained.

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The Houthis are from the Zaydi sect, which follows a strict form of Shiite Islam. Supported by training and arms from Iran, the Zaydis seek to restore the Zaydi imam, who was overthrown in 1962. The Houthis are named after their founder, Badreddin al-Houthi, who was killed in 2004 by the Yemeni army.

Iran has vowed to take over the Arabian Peninsula with the rise of Shiites in the various Arab nations there and create the Republic of Eastern Arabia.

In addition to Saudi Arabia, Iran wants to include Oman and Yemen in this republic. Besides these countries, Iran also wants to take advantage of the Shiite resurgence in the Persian Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

All of this raises the question whether al-Qaida and Iran – despite their basic religious differences – have merged their efforts against their common foes: the U.S. and its ally, Saudi Arabia.

Such an alliance in Yemen would not be the first time they have joined forces. It also happened in Bosnia during the 1990s.

The U.S. has supported the Yemeni government, which has tried to assist in the fight against terrorists since the 9/11 attacks. The government is considered weak, however, and sometimes has allowed al-Qaida terrorists to remain in the country.

According to security experts, some Yemeni-based corporations have also helped fund the al-Qaida network there. Indeed, Yemenis affiliated with al-Qaida have targeted U.S. interests in Yemen, such as the October 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden, killing 17 U.S. sailors.

Nevertheless, the U.S. considers Yemen an important component in the fight against al-Qaida and has decided to double its $70 million in counter-terrorism assistance. That assistance, however, may be too little, too late.

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