Al Qaeda Leader Killed in Air Strike in Yemen

On Sunday, Al Qaeda senior in Yemen operating in the Persian Gulf has been killed in an U.S. drone air strike. Fahd al Quso was involoved in the U.S.S. Cole bombing occurred in 2000. The Yemeni Defense Ministry stated that 16 al Qaeda militants were killed while, 20 soldiers died during a revenge attack. Since President Ali Abdullah Saleh left power in February, the new Yemeni government has stepped up its fight against al Qaeda that developed in the country taking benefit of the last year political turmoil. President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi has committed to his policy to defeat al Qaeda in cooperation with the U.S. According to the Reuters, the Sunday air strike ‘was part of a larger effort to intercept a more advanced “underwear bomb.”‘ ”The person who actually had the bomb is no longer a threat,” said the chairman of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee, Peter King (R-NY).

Meanwhile, Elena White expresses concerns on longevity of Yemen’s unity. White reminds that the Yemen unity was achieved in 1994; after that, Saleh launched an attack that led to a civil because of failed negotiations on the unification process.  As a result, “Sana’a got the best part of the deal” as the north could enjoy the large part of the oil revenue, exploited in the South. It leads to similar situation with Sudan where “southerners were too complaining of inequalities, abuses and corruption, arguing that they were the ones holding the riches,” said Ahmed al-Sofi, a political analyst. The last year politcal crisis gave the opportunity to the southern scesisionnist movement al-Harak to “launch itself once again on the political scene,” however the al-Harak militants also rearmed. White urged President Hadi to engage with al-Harak to find an agreement sustaining Yemen’s unity.