The Yemen Security Belt Forces played a significant role in Terrorism Countering in South Yemen in the last couple of years, the US State Department said in its annual Country Report on Terrorism.

ISIS-Yemen remained considerably smaller in size and influence compared with Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP) but remained operationally active and continued to claim attacks, the report, released on December 16, said.

AQAP remained active in central Yemen, most notably in al-Bayda, demonstrating its ability to move within the country.

“Security Belt Forces loyal to the STC (Southern Transitional Council) continued to play an important role in CT (counter-terrorism) efforts, as they exercised control over significant parts of Aden, Abyan, and Shabwah,” the US State Department report said.

Based on that the State Department reaffirmed that attacks attributed to AQAP and ISIS-Yemen decreased in 2020, compared with 2019.

According to the report, AQAP-ISIS tactics included suicide bombings, vehicle-borne IEDs, ambushes, armed clashes, kidnappings, and targeted assassinations.

The Yemen Security Belt Forces are security troops officially constructed by a presidential decree issued by President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi in May 2016. The coalition-backed troops have been effectively operating in and around Aden and throughout South Yemen where they have been inflicting blows to ISIS and Al Qaeda mainly in the provinces of Lahj, Aden and Abyan.

The Security Belt Forces, backed by the Arab Coalition, fought against Al Qaeda starting from Lahj province where they expelled the AQAP militants from it in 2016 and recaptured the city which was 80 per cent under AQAP control.

After expelling Al Qaeda militants from Lahj province the Security Belt Forces conducted a military operation in which the troops succeeded in driving AQAP militants from Zinjubar city in Abyan province Southeastern Yemen in August 2016.

In March 2018, the Security Belt Forces launched a large-scale operation through which the security troops succeeded in raiding key posts for Al Qaeda in Al Mahfed city eastern Abyan province southern Yemen. Top AQAP leaders were killed during the operation among them Abu Mohsen Basabrein a senior AQAP leader meanwhile other two top leaders captured amid the clashes with the Security Forces.

Analysts demand action

Security experts and military analysts praised the important role played by the Security Belt Forces which operate under the STC command recently.

“The Security Belt Forces under command of the STC were instrumental in helping oust Al Qaeda in joint effort with the US, and Arab Coalition forces, from these important areas. Indeed, STC also was important in the fight against Houthis, which did not stop being an Iran-backed terrorist group just because Bidden removed it from the foreign terrorist organisations list” Irina Tsukerman, an American national security analyst, told The National.

“The STC Security Belt troops were also instrumental in capturing many Al Qaeda cells and conducting successful operations against AQAP hideouts in South Yemen, Mrs Tsukerman said

Mrs Tsukerman said that praise in reports is not enough, and that the US should be engaged more directly in close diplomatic discussions and in supporting STC presence and its forces in South Yemen to deepen a real partnership in the fighting terrorism.

“The international community generally takes the lead from US diplomatic engagement. It is vital that US should convey that STC is one of the important alternatives to the Islamist parties like Al Islah which fuel and feed into the extremist mindset that brings forth terrorist organisations like Al Qaeda, which originated from The Muslim Brotherhood.” Mrs Tsukerman said.

“This requires active engagement, economic support, and formal understanding that some ideologies contribute to the problems plaguing Yemen and need to be actively fought. The current attitude of the international communities — that all stakeholders in Yemen are of equal value and should be treated the same is simply not accurate, because extremist and hateful ideologies lead to terrorism and sectarianism, and run counter to the international community and Yemen's interests” Mrs Tsukerman explained.

Furthermore, Yemeni military analysts argued the US and the international community to support the Terrorism Countering units and the Security Belt Forces which have proved competency in the fight against the terror groups in Yemen.

“The Security Belt Forces and the other troops under command of the STC have proved that they are real partner for the international coalition in the fight against terrorism” Major-General Thabet Hussein Saleh, a Yemeni military analyst, told The National.

“These troops need a tangible support from the US and the international Coalition to keep up the fight against Al Qaeda and ISIS in South Yemen” Maj-Gen Saleh said.