Political assassinations in southern Yemen: the last weapon of the opponents
English - Wednesday 13 April 2022 الساعة 08:13 pm
NewsYemen, South24:
An analytical paper sheds light, for the first time, on the file of political assassinations in southern Yemen, coinciding with the high intensity of assassinations that targeted prominent southern military figures during the past weeks.
The paper, issued by the South24 Center for News and Studies, by researcher Farida Ahmed, explored the massive wave of assassinations, most of which were carried out against influential southern leaders and figures on several levels, including political and military. It discussed several historical periods that preceded the Yemeni unity and followed it after the 1994 war, all the way to the post-2014 war.
It also focused more on the assassinations in southern Yemen by presenting the reasons and motives for this act, with references to some operations in northern Yemen, some of which changed several historical and political tracks.
Background
In Yemen, the paper said, "Political assassinations are not a surprising phenomenon, as modern and contemporary political history is rich in many of them. These operations often occupy the center stage in light of unstable political and security conditions, as some parties adopt them as a last way to silence opponents and undermine their power."
She pointed out that some details of assassinations throughout Yemeni history are still unknown, or registered against an unknown person. With it, the investigation committees stop searching and investigate, and turn into memorial activities and enumerate the virtues of the victim.
The paper pointed out that the severity of these assassinations also came after the "Yemeni regime absorbed some jihadist figures within its structure in the government and army, and led the war on the south in 1994, with the recognition of the Yemeni Prime Minister at the time, Abdul Karim al-Iryani."
The paper also referred to "political assassinations after the 1994 war," referring to the assassination of Dr. "Abdulaziz al-Saqqaf" in 1999 by running him over on Hadda Street in Sana'a. And the assassination of "Muhammad Thabet al-Zubaidi" in 1998, one of the founders of the "Hatam" movement that resisted the "Saleh" regime, in an ambush in the Zabid area in Al-Dhalea.
After the start of the peaceful southern movement in southern Yemen in 2007, the paper said that "the assassinations took a new and intense course, as most of the operations were carried out in broad daylight, some succeed and others fail." Noting that "the number of assassinations carried out by the forces of the former Yemeni regime And its intelligence services, between 1995 and 2007, double the number of those who were assassinated before the 1994 war.” While more than 126 assassinations were carried out from 2009 to 2013, against southern military and security officers.
Motives for the assassinations
The paper indicated the multiplicity of reasons and motives for the assassinations, and that they are distributed between political, religious and revenge motives.
For example, the paper linked the recent escalation of successive assassinations; And between the Yemeni-Yemeni consultations in Riyadh. She claimed that the consultations might lead to "a broader participation of the Yemeni components in the sovereign decision, especially the "southerners", in light of the fact that one political party has controlled the presidential decision for years."
The researcher also touched on the assassinations of thought against extremist religious ideas. It also happened to the two young men, "Omar Batawil" and "Amjad Abdul Rahman", who were subjected to physical liquidation, or a number of religious figures in Aden and Hadramout.
Who are the implementing agencies?
The paper concluded that extremist religious currents were at the top of the list of perpetrators of most assassinations in Yemen. Al-Qaeda and ISIS organizations, along with the Muslim Brotherhood and the Houthis, all fall within the scope of the repeated accusations. as it claims.
She also referred to the role played by "the Yemeni intelligence services, which depend on part of these organizations to carry out some operations, or carry them out independently through their security services."
Summary
The paper called on the southern political and military forces to deal with these events in accordance with the following set of recommendations:
• There is an urgent need for an effective southern security and intelligence framework, to limit the widespread assassinations, mainly concentrated in southern Yemen, targeting southern figures who are influential on the political and military levels. Therefore, developing a strong intelligence service that is completely independent from the previous security services will be important to limit these operations.
• The southern political and security forces must admit that they are also responsible for the aggravation of the assassinations after the recent war in Yemen, as they are currently in the positions of political decision-making as well as the military and security, and their efforts in monitoring, investigation and follow-up on these operations are still insignificant, which requires them to take steps Serious business not just formality steps.
• The potential threats and security challenges in southern Yemen could be a motive for the development of the southern security services. However, failure to respond to the importance of the assassination event or to not interact with it appropriately through investigation, trace its roots and formulate a vision to deal with it, will necessarily lead to the penetration and disintegration of these devices over time.
• The southern political forces should press for the speedy liberation of the telecommunications and internet sector from the grip of the Houthis, who are exploiting it in their war on the south, and through which they target influential political and military figures, through surveillance, monitoring and espionage.
• Southern media and human rights activists should be responsible for following up on the increasing assassination files, most of which are classified as "terrorist" operations in southern Yemen, and transferring them to international forums and mobilizing for them to try to shed light on them in a way that would support local actors to reduce them.
• Neglecting security policies in exchange for interest in strengthening other policies such as economic, social and other, would lead to an exacerbation of the phenomenon of assassinations. It is necessary to work integrative to fortify all policies and achieve the conditions of general stability, especially after the control of the southern military and security forces over most of the geography of southern Yemen.
