Many evidences have emerged from the role of terrorist outfits in the recent escalation in conflicts in Southern Yemen, via social media, the sources have confirmed.
The concerted propaganda effort is targeted against the country's counter-terrorism forces, particularly those which cooperated with the UAE in their fight against Al Qaeda and the Islamist State.
Several Yemeni social media accounts reveal a rather open coming together of Al Qaeda and ISIS elements on the one hand and Al Islah (Muslim Brotherhood's Yemen arm) activists on the other.
Most of the propaganda and modes of escalation over the past few weeks are aimed at weakening UAE built counter-terrorism capabilities in South Yemen.
The Al Islah call for military escalation originated in Ma'rib and Ibar and was directed to their forces known to have close links to AQAP and ISIS.
The Governor of the Ma'rib province is an Al Islah leader. The motive behind this escalation seems to create disunity in the Arab Coalition and among its allies with a view to neutralising the counterterrorism efforts of the past few years.
The pattern of the assaults seems to be well-calibrated to push the UAE and groups seen as allied to it to the margins.
They are selectively assaulting the Emirati forces and its camps on the ground. There are also indications of secret connivance between the Islamist terrorist nexus on the one hand and the Houthis on the other.
One of the main propagators of anti-UAE messages on social media in line with the Al Islah narrative is Abdul Wahhab Al Humayqani, an internationally wanted terrorist.
His messages on Facebook and Twitter are then amplified on several terrorist channels and websites.
Al Humayqani's social media provides a clear picture of the strong links between underground terror modules and Al Islah.
Sources said that he disseminated detailed information about Al Islah forces and their movements towards liberated areas, especially to areas in which the UAE forces were camped.
Another pressing piece of evidence for Al Islah AQAP (Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) cooperation is the number of social media posts by a notorious member of AQAP Adel Al Hasani. He called upon his supporters to target the coalition and all the counterterrorism forces such as the security belts for attacks.
Even as the militias of Al Islah and their AQAP supporters marched towards various areas in Shabwa and Abyan, they were loyally accompanied by Abdur Rahman Al Masri, the secretary to the Al Islah-affiliated governor of Ma'rib.
The governor's secretary kept updating his team on the onward march of the disruptors and all the brutalities they perpetrated against the UAE and its symbols.
Simultaneously, the journalist Anis Mansour, a man known for his close ties to Ali Muhsin Al Ahmar, Al Islah leader and Yemen's Vice President, has also been instigating violence against UAE-aligned forces.
The Facebook page of the Al Islah activist Abdur Raqib Al Hadyani and a number of videos in circulation hailed the burning of the UAE flags in Abyan and declared the militias would soon enter Aden.
It is now clear from these recent surges in violence that the world's two most formidable terror outfits, AQAP and ISIS, have staged a significant comeback.
The return to the center stage of AQAP and ISIS happened with support from Al Islah, a component in the legitimate Yemeni government is a matter of grave concern not just for Yemen and the Middle East, but for the whole world.
Before the UAE-led forces defeated AQAP in Yemen three years ago, the terrorist outfit was regarded as the most formidable threat to global security - even more dangerous than their counterparts in Afghanistan.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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