In another big loss for the military forces in south Yemen, al-Qaeda
carried out an attack against a military base in al-Mahfad District,
overrunning the base, killing at least 19 soldiers, and engaging in a multi-hour firefight from within.
Yemeni officials said that they were vulnerable because of a missile
strike in Aden on Thursday by the Houthis, which hit a military parade.
It’s not clear why this would’ve made the Mahfad base, which isn’t in
Aden, easier to raid.
Officials labeled al-Qaeda’s attack “opportunistic,” and said that
during the multi-hour fight, they were blowing up buildings within the
base, and then safely withdrew their attackers from the base.
While analysts downplayed the ability of the al-Qaeda faction within
Yemen to carry out sustained campaigns anymore, they appear to have been
very successful in the Friday attack, and by all accounts didn’t lose
any fighters.
Al-Qaeda Attacks South Yemen Military Base, Kills 19 Soldiers
Gunmen stormed base, held the area for several hours
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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