Members of the Nusra Front terrorist group gathered forces last month, preparing to attack the city of Ariha, Syria.
After moving troops to southern Yemen, al-Qaeda gunmen immediately launched an attack on Al Mukalla city, seizing many government buildings, stealing millions of dollars from the central bank and releasing prisoners.
Al-Qaeda occupied Yemen’s fourth largest city in April. This step is the clearest evidence that the strength of the organization and its branches is still growing even though a series of senior leaders have been destroyed.
While al-Qaeda’s principle of action is to stay in remote places, act independently and attack the West, a branch of the organization in Yemen and Syria tends to clique with rebel groups.
Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen has in recent weeks allied with a number of local mobsters to fight Houthi rebels believed to be backed by Iran.
The above tactic initially allows al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization that is always at the top of America’s list of enemies, on the one hand to take advantage of the strength of local rebel groups and on the other hand to take advantage of the cover of foreign forces.
Hiding and manipulating
The US has conducted air strikes on many bases of the Nusra Front, including the organization’s headquarters in Idlib, Syria.
Since officially separating from al-Qaeda last year, IS has covered the globe, robbing al-Qaeda of its `halo` by expanding at a rapid pace in both Iraq and Syria, and establishing a state.
Al-Qaeda branches in Syria and Yemen use a completely different strategy.
When they attacked Al Mukalla, they occupied government buildings and stole about $120 million from the central bank, according to Abdul-Qader Foulihan, the bank’s director.
`We are not puppets of al-Qaeda,` Abdul-Hakeem bin Mahfood, the council’s secretary general, said by phone.
While the council provides essential services and fuel distribution, al-Qaeda only maintains a police station to handle disputes, residents said.
April Longley Alley, a Yemen analyst from the Global Crisis group, worries that by linking up with local armed groups, al-Qaeda will be able to take advantage of these forces’ status to claim responsibility.
The Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, has now become an integral part of the rebel force aiming to overthrow the Assad government.
`They are also Muslims, no different from us,` Al Jazeera quoted Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, leader of the Nusra Front, as saying in an interview.
This name emphasized that the Nusra Front had received orders from al-Qaeda supreme leader Ayman al-Zawahri not to conduct attacks abroad to avoid affecting the cause of overthrowing the Syrian government.
The US did not believe in the above statement and continued to bomb.
`The West provides modern weapons to any side to help them carry out their plans and we need them,` said Abu Omar al-Muhajir, a member of the Nusra Front.
People living in areas controlled by the Nusra Front said the group does not impose Shariah law on those who refuse to follow it.
Faced with the change in people’s attitudes, some experts worry that the Nusra Front is building a foundation to impose the group’s will in places they control.
`I fear that after everything the Nusra Front has achieved over the past four months, the local people will finally endure and accept the way they manage the areas under their control,` Hasan al-