US raids in Yemen bolstering al-Qaeda: Think tank

A Belgium-based think tank has warned about al-Qaeda advances in Yemen as a result of foreign military interventions in the country, including a recent deadly attack by elite US forces.

According to Press TV, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a Thursday report on the spread of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) “The Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda is stronger than it has ever been.”

The report was released after Sunday's US air raid ordered by President Donald Trump on Bayda Province in which more than a dozen civilians were martyred in attacks on a school, a mosque and a hospital.

“The first military actions by the [US President Donald] Trump administration in Yemen bode poorly for the prospect of smartly and effectively countering AQAP," read the report.

Although the US has claimed the strike killed at least 14 suspected terrorists and one US Navy force, the ICG said the death toll included “many civilians, including at least 10 women and children.”

The think tank warned that similar attacks could escalate fear and anti-US sentiments among civilians, laying the groundwork for recruitment by AQAP.

“The use of US soldiers, high civilian casualties and disregard for local tribal and political dynamics... plays into AQAP's narrative of defending Muslims against the West and could increase anti-US sentiment and with it AQAP's pool of recruits," it said. 

According to a Yemeni provincial official in Bayda, the US attack on Sunday killed 41 suspected militants and 16 civilians, eight of whom were women and eight children.

AQAP, however, announced in a statement that the strike killed 30 people “only women and children... with some tribal leaders who have no connections" to the group.

The al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen has taken advantage of the chaos fueled by a deadly Saudi military campaign to tighten its grip on parts of southeast Yemen.

The Takfiri Daesh group has also gained ground in and around the main southern city of Aden after the army and their Ansarullah allies were evicted by the Saudi-led offensive launched in support of the former Hadi government.

Riyadh’s attacks have martyred at least 11,400 people in the kingdom’s impoverished neighbor since March 2015, according to the latest tally by a Yemeni monitoring group.

ME