Asharq Alawsat‘s Editor in Chief, Tariq Alhomayed, writes about the threat growing in Yemen as Al-Qaeda retreats from Iraq. While in Iraq, Al-Qaeda and its related organizations did pose a threat to Saudi Arabia. That threat was mitigated to some degree by the fact that the Iraqi government did not want it there and sought to purge it from the country. Of course, having the US military in Iraq generally helped—after it initially hurt Iraq by turning it into ‘fly paper’ for terrorism.

In Yemen, though, Al-Qaeda will have far fewer constraints on its organizing and its operations. Not only is the Saudi-Yemeni border longer than the Saudi-Iraqi border, but the government in Sanaa has a much weaker hold over its own territory. Further, Yemen has an extensive, and mostly unguarded coastline which would permit illicit movement of men and materiel to go on unchallenged.

The stability of Yemen is now of even greater concern for the Saudis.

Al-Qaeda… In Sanaa and Beyond
Tariq Alhomayed

Al-Qaeda’s attempt to storm the U.S. embassy in Sanaa is an indication that the terrorist organization is regrouping and reestablishing its power in Yemen, where it is utilizing various factors and circumstances in order to create a safe haven for itself there.

With increased military operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan and the endeavors of the Iraqi Awakening Councils against it, the Al-Qaeda organization has started fleeing to Yemen in order to escape and regroup there. Moreover, A Yemeni source told Newsweek magazine that the authorities are aware of this fact and of the threat members of the organization returning from Iraq pose, who are now better trained and more dangerous.

The choice of Yemen is grounded in many factors, including the fact that many members of al-Qaeda are Yemeni in origin; they joined the organization in Afghanistan and were part of Osama Bin Laden’s entourage and provided his personal security. Bin Laden has always considered Yemen a base for mobilization, exploiting many conditions, most notably geography. Nabil al-Soufi, editor of News Yemen, argued that al-Qaeda “looks at Yemen as a logistical supply base”, as it benefits from two factors: “A fertile environment for the growth of al-Qaeda’s ideology, and a State that is not in control of the arid and mountainous regions of the country, where al-Qaeda can establish training camps, without anyone noticing”.
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