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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow Saudi Arabia's War in Yemen Has Made al Qaeda Stronger - and Richer
http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/36227-how-saudi-arabias-war-in-yemen-has-made-al-qaeda-stronger-and-richerOnce driven to near irrelevance by the rise of Islamic State abroad and security crackdowns at home, al Qaeda in Yemen now openly rules a mini-state with a war chest swollen by an estimated $100 million in looted bank deposits and revenue from running the countrys third largest port.
If Islamic States capital is the Syrian city of Raqqa, then al Qaedas is Mukalla, a southeastern Yemeni port city of 500,000 people. Al Qaeda fighters there have abolished taxes for local residents, operate speedboats manned by RPG-wielding fighters who impose fees on ship traffic, and make propaganda videos in which they boast about paving local roads and stocking hospitals.
The economic empire was described by more than a dozen diplomats, Yemeni security officials, tribal leaders and residents of Mukalla. Its emergence is the most striking unintended consequence of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen. The campaign, backed by the United States, has helped Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to become stronger than at any time since it first emerged almost 20 years ago.
Yemeni government officials and local traders estimated the group, as well as seizing the bank deposits, has extorted $1.4 million from the national oil company and earns up to $2 million every day in taxes on goods and fuel coming into the port.
AQAP boasts 1,000 fighters in Mukalla alone, controls 600 km (373 miles) of coastline and is ingratiating itself with southern Yemenis, who have felt marginalised by the countrys northern elite for years.
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How Saudi Arabia's War in Yemen Has Made al Qaeda Stronger - and Richer (Original Post)
eridani
Apr 2016
OP
leveymg
(36,418 posts)1. AQAP and IS are the creation of KSA. Paramilitary tribes
and very much part of the Saudis global assets. If you want to eliminate them as a threat, you have to cut them off from the King. That means reigning in the Kingdom.
EdwardBernays
(3,343 posts)2. It'd take aot more than that.
It would take cutting off their weapons supplies and breaking it off with them as allies... Which is what we should be doing ad they're the worst players in the region...
Honestly, what we should be doing is aligning with Iran... And finding a path towards peace between the Shia and Israel...
Because the Sunnis states are all in bed with the ISIS/al Qaeda factions now, at least to some degree.