From Taiz to Shabwa..a Brotherhood “militarist” with a regional overtone
English - Thursday 22 July 2021 الساعة 10:38 am
Taiz, NewsYemen, special:
The recent clashes that took place in the city of Ataq, the capital of Shabwa governorate, between security forces, shed light on the hidden struggle between the wings of legitimacy to impose hegemony and influence on the governorate, which is rich in its oil and gas resources.
Although the confrontations reflected the features of this conflict between the tools affiliated with the Brotherhood and Representative Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, and the tools affiliated with President Hadi, all within a strong alliance, they carry another dangerous dimension that threatens society in Shabwa, which is the regional or tribal dimension.
The structural defect in the construction of the Special Forces and the Public Security Forces as a result of the policy of tampering and accusations practiced by the Brotherhood and the legitimacy in general, made the confrontations last Wednesday, more like a war of tribes or “gentlemen” of Bayhan, to which the Special Forces Commander Abd Rabbo Kaab and most of the elements of his forces belong, against the tribes Al-Awaliq, to which the director of security, Awad Al-Dahboul, belongs.
This dangerous regional dimension was caused by the Brotherhood’s establishment of the Special Forces as a tool to impose its control over Shabwa governorate due to the weak presence of its members in the public security forces and the army and in the governorate in general, which made it difficult for them to build ideological militias loyal to them.
The influence and presence of the group at the level of the prominent leaders and tribes of the governorate is very weak, and this is what prompted it to rely on some of its leaders from the sons of Baihan and its masters to form special forces to confront this weakness, even if it is limited to one region or tribe.
The seriousness of this Brotherhood’s absurdity is reflected in the statement circulated by media and activists in the name of “Sons of the Awalaq,” in which he strongly attacked the commander of the Special Forces in Shabwa, Brigadier General Abd Rabbo Lakab, and said that he “brought forces from outside the governorate, to support his tyranny and tyranny, and deliberately provoked the sons of Al-Awaliq with power and outside it, He wants to exclude everyone to be unique."
Although the statement did not defend the director of security, al-Dahboul, but rather said that the Ataq clashes “occurred between two factions that have long been united by corruption in the country, and have always united against the oppression of the people,” but it called on the sons of al-Awlaq “in power to unite the ranks and the word, and to stand as one man” against What he described as provocation, and said that "what the Director of Public Security in Shabwa has been exposed to will be exposed to others."
The statement attributed to the sons of al-Awlaq called on the tribes of Bayhan in general, and the Ashraf in particular, to determine their position on what Abd Rabbo Laakab is doing in the governorate, and said: “La’akb has crossed the borders and sought sedition, and we do not want it, but if we are forced, we are for it.”
The seriousness of the matter is due to the sensitivity of the relationship in the Shabwa tribal society between what is known as the coastal tribes, including the Al-Awaliq, and the tribes of the mountains or “gentlemen”, including the Beihan tribes, which were the last areas of Shabwa to be liberated from the Houthi militia. The man is a leader of the Brotherhood, but his affiliation with the Laqmoush tribe explains the reason for this support.
The scene in Shabwa is almost identical to the scene in Taiz, in which the Muslim Brotherhood, through the governorate’s militia, tampered with dozens of militias, and was not free from regional tampering, with militias most of their leaders and members from Sharaab’s sons and pushing them to tighten their control over the countryside of Taiz, or what is known historically as Al-Hajariya, after It failed to form armed militias there for several factors, most notably the strength formed by the 35th Armored Brigade and its leader, the martyr Adnan Al-Hammadi, and also the weak influence in the Al-Hajaria areas compared to the left parties.
Following the Brotherhood’s success in imposing its control over the Hajariya countryside, the repercussions of the Brotherhood’s militia tampering in these areas began to surface, and this was clearly embodied in the events that took place in the Hajariya Center, which is the city of al-Turbah during the past months.
The city witnessed intermittent confrontations over taxes and land looting between the Brotherhood’s militias, represented by leaders from the Fourth Infantry Brigade, led by the Brotherhood’s Brigadier General Abu Bakr al-Jabouli, and leaders from the popular crowd led by Brotherhood leader Hammoud Saeed al-Mikhlafi.
However, the matter quickly took on a regional dimension, and the struggle for influence within the Brotherhood’s wings turned into confrontations between the Zuraiqah tribes, which represent the majority of the Jabouli militia’s strength, and the Makhlaf Sharaab tribes, which represent most of the Al-Mikhlafi militia’s strength.
And Taiz witnessed the same thing last year, transforming the conflict over collections between the leader of the axis, Khaled Fadel, and his advisor, Abdo Farhan Salem, into a regional conflict between the sons of Sharaab, to which Salem belongs, and the sons of Jabal Habashi, to which Fadel belongs.
