Monday Papers: Every Action has a Reaction

Al-Mansurah Prison in Aden, which hosts a number of different prisoners including al-Qaeda suspects, has recently increased security. Al-Mansurah last featured in some al-Qaeda media releases back in 2008 when Hamza al-Qu’ayti started making noise about the prison while at the same time labeling Ghalib Mutahir al-Qamish “Yemen’s Ariel Sharon.”

The fallout from the recent blacklist of arms dealers continues with one of the arms dealers, Abdullah bin Mu’ayli, who also happens to be an MP for the GPC, and Hadi Muthni set up a checkpoint that led to a gas crisis in Yemen. The two reportedly received help from Hamad bin Jalal, who is a member of the majlis al-shura. Jalal is an ‘Abidah shayk from the Al Jalal clan, which is located in and around al-Husun in Marib.

Readers with a deep sense of AQ’s history in Yemen will remember Shaykh Hamad’s important role in an early attempt to arrest Abu Ali al-Harithi and Muhammad Hamdi al-Ahdal, which ended rather poorly for the Yemeni government back in December 2001. (I deal with this incident more fully in a forthcoming publication.) As always in Yemen, numerous conflicts are grafted on to one another.

This incident – the checkpoint/roadblock – illustrates, at least to me, how Yemen’s multiple different crises are playing off of one another and exacerbating one another.