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http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/yemen-aqap/
Al Qaeda has considerably increased its wealth and power since the Saudi led war against the Houthis and the withdrawl of Yemeni Army units from the South.
Al Qaeda is the controlling power in the Southern Yemeni port town of Mukalla, and controls 373 miles of coastline. Like ISIS in Iraq and Syria, AQ now has its own defacto mini-State.
Al Qaeda looted $100 million from the local banks and taxes ships using the port in Mukalla.
For the locals Al Qaeda is acting like Robin Hood : they help stock the local hospital of medicine , abolished taxes and build infrastructure . They are ingratiating themselves with the locals and not being barbaric like ISIS.
Al Qaeda has obtained better weaponry by raiding the Yemeni army. Anti-aircraft missiles, shoulder fired missiles, C4 are just some of the weapons available to locals with money.
Like ISIS in Iraq, AQ is now making money off Oil smuggling. AQ or its allies now control much of Yemen's crude oil infrastructure.
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" DUBAI/CAIRO – Once 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 country’s third largest port.
If Islamic State’s capital is the Syrian city of Raqqa, then al Qaeda’s 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. "
' A senior Yemeni government official said the war against the Houthis “provided a suitable environment for the … expansion of al Qaeda.” The withdrawal of government army units from their bases in the south, allowed al Qaeda to acquire “very large quantities of sophisticated and advanced weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles and armed vehicles.” '
" Tribal leaders in neighbouring provinces told Reuters that, in the security vacuum, army bases were looted and Yemen’s south became awash with advanced weaponry. C4 explosive and even anti-aircraft missiles were available to the highest bidder. "
" Tribes who work with al Qaeda now control much of the country’s oil infrastructure. Six white oil tanks on a beach between Mukalla and Ash Shihr are linked by pipeline to the Masila oilfields which are estimated to hold more than 80 percent of Yemen’s total reserves."
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I don't think it can be described as "unintended". The Saudis may not support AQ but they aren't exactly eager to get rid of them either. The Saudis surely knew that the war and engaging the Zayidi Shia Houthis (who are enemies of Sunni Salafi Al Qaeda ) would allow AL Qaeda to become stronger.
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Last year Huffpo carried this article:
"Saudi Arabia and al-Qaeda Unite in Yemen"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/giorgio-cafiero/saudi-arabia-and-alqaeda-_b_8184338.html
" In viewing Yemen as an important battleground in the grander struggle against Iran’s expanding regional influence, Saudi Arabia has united with a variety of Yemeni Sunni factions in an effort to crush the Houthi insurgency. This has entailed the kingdom cooperating with Sunni Islamist groups that Saudi Arabia—along with other Arab and Western governments—have designated as “terrorist” organizations. However, as the U.S. continues to wage its War on Terror in Yemen, Riyadh’s strategy is complicating the kingdom’s already chilly relationship with Washington.
Saudi Arabia’s alignment with “terrorist” groups in Yemen was highlighted in June when the Saudi-backed exiled Yemeni government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi sent Abdel-Wahab Humayqani to Geneva as one of its delegates in the failed UN-sponsored roundtable talks. In December 2013, the U.S. Treasury Department designated Humayqani a “Specifically Designated Global Terrorist,” having allegedly served as a recruiter and financier for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and having orchestrated a car bombing in March 2012 that targeted a Yemeni Republican Guard base, killing seven."
Al Qaeda has considerably increased its wealth and power since the Saudi led war against the Houthis and the withdrawl of Yemeni Army units from the South.
Al Qaeda is the controlling power in the Southern Yemeni port town of Mukalla, and controls 373 miles of coastline. Like ISIS in Iraq and Syria, AQ now has its own defacto mini-State.
Al Qaeda looted $100 million from the local banks and taxes ships using the port in Mukalla.
For the locals Al Qaeda is acting like Robin Hood : they help stock the local hospital of medicine , abolished taxes and build infrastructure . They are ingratiating themselves with the locals and not being barbaric like ISIS.
Al Qaeda has obtained better weaponry by raiding the Yemeni army. Anti-aircraft missiles, shoulder fired missiles, C4 are just some of the weapons available to locals with money.
Like ISIS in Iraq, AQ is now making money off Oil smuggling. AQ or its allies now control much of Yemen's crude oil infrastructure.
---------
" DUBAI/CAIRO – Once 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 country’s third largest port.
If Islamic State’s capital is the Syrian city of Raqqa, then al Qaeda’s 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. "
' A senior Yemeni government official said the war against the Houthis “provided a suitable environment for the … expansion of al Qaeda.” The withdrawal of government army units from their bases in the south, allowed al Qaeda to acquire “very large quantities of sophisticated and advanced weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles and armed vehicles.” '
" Tribal leaders in neighbouring provinces told Reuters that, in the security vacuum, army bases were looted and Yemen’s south became awash with advanced weaponry. C4 explosive and even anti-aircraft missiles were available to the highest bidder. "
" Tribes who work with al Qaeda now control much of the country’s oil infrastructure. Six white oil tanks on a beach between Mukalla and Ash Shihr are linked by pipeline to the Masila oilfields which are estimated to hold more than 80 percent of Yemen’s total reserves."
-----------
I don't think it can be described as "unintended". The Saudis may not support AQ but they aren't exactly eager to get rid of them either. The Saudis surely knew that the war and engaging the Zayidi Shia Houthis (who are enemies of Sunni Salafi Al Qaeda ) would allow AL Qaeda to become stronger.
------------
Last year Huffpo carried this article:
"Saudi Arabia and al-Qaeda Unite in Yemen"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/giorgio-cafiero/saudi-arabia-and-alqaeda-_b_8184338.html
" In viewing Yemen as an important battleground in the grander struggle against Iran’s expanding regional influence, Saudi Arabia has united with a variety of Yemeni Sunni factions in an effort to crush the Houthi insurgency. This has entailed the kingdom cooperating with Sunni Islamist groups that Saudi Arabia—along with other Arab and Western governments—have designated as “terrorist” organizations. However, as the U.S. continues to wage its War on Terror in Yemen, Riyadh’s strategy is complicating the kingdom’s already chilly relationship with Washington.
Saudi Arabia’s alignment with “terrorist” groups in Yemen was highlighted in June when the Saudi-backed exiled Yemeni government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi sent Abdel-Wahab Humayqani to Geneva as one of its delegates in the failed UN-sponsored roundtable talks. In December 2013, the U.S. Treasury Department designated Humayqani a “Specifically Designated Global Terrorist,” having allegedly served as a recruiter and financier for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and having orchestrated a car bombing in March 2012 that targeted a Yemeni Republican Guard base, killing seven."
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