As the Saudi-led coalition boasted recapturing Mukalla, an
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) stronghold, sources on the ground
confirmed to both Reuters and AFP that the forces also managed to take control
of the city of Al Shihr and its oil terminal, the largest hub within the
illegal jihadist oil smuggling empire.
Before the eruption of hostilities last year, roughly 80
percent of Yemen’s oil reserves were exported via the Al Shihr port. In an
effort to resume the oil trade following the outbreak of fighting, according to
earlier reports, the Al-Qaeda linked group even tried to receive permission
from the Yemeni government to export crude oil on its behalf and collect a
share of the profits.
“Al Qaeda sent a mediator to the government to get them
agree to listen to this deal,” the tribal leader in southern Yemen told Reuters.
“Their offer was they need the official documents from the government to sell
crude oil, and they would get 25 percent of the profit, and 75 percent for the
government.”
A fighter jet of the UAE armed forces taking off from an air
force base before raids against Shiite Huthi rebels in Yemen © HO800 jihadists
in Yemen killed, key city captured - Arab Coalition
As the government refused to side with the jihadists, the
extremist cell decided to use the port and conduct trade focusing more on
internal market supply.
“You will find hundreds of oil trucks there smuggling fuel
from one area to another where they are selling it,” Badr Basalmah, a former
transport minister in Yemen’s government, told Reuters earlier this month.
“They sell the fuel to whoever buys it,” said Abdallah
al-Nasi, governor of Shabwa province. “The government-run petrol stations buy
from them and sell it on to the citizens.”
According to an investigation by Reuters earlier this month,
AQAP earned some $2 million daily from goods and fuel trade in the port. In
addition, the jihadists allegedly extorted $1.4 million from the national oil
company after securing large parts of Arabian Sea coast in April that equated
to some 600 km (373 miles).
Furthermore, the Al-Qaeda linked group also threatened a
major oil transit route as Yemen borders the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The strait
which is only 18 miles wide at its narrowest point, serves as a strategic route
for Persian Gulf countries’ natural resource shipments worldwide. AQAP control
of the coast made tankers passing through the strait's two 2-mile-wide shipping
channels, vulnerable to attacks. In 2014, the Strait handled almost 4.7 million
barrels per day (BPD), according to the Energy Information Administration.
Previously, the Arab Coalition command announced that Yemeni
troops allied with the Saudi-led coalition have killed more than 800 Al-Qaeda
fighters in a joint military operation against the terror group in the assault
on the southeastern city of Mukalla and its surroundings.
The Yemeni conflict has been ongoing between two factions
claiming to constitute the Yemeni government since last year. In March 2015 the
conflict escalated when Houthi forces controlling the capital Sana'a and allied
with forces loyal to the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh have clashed with
forces loyal to the government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, based in Aden.
A coalition led by Saudi Arabia launched military operations
by using airstrikes to restore the exiled Yemeni government. According to the
UN, from March 2015 to March 2016 over 6,500 people have been killed in Yemen
including 3,218 civilians.
While a fragile UN- sponsored ceasefire between the Houthis
and President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's government has been in force since April
10, the fight against the AQAP and the Islamic State, who are still in control
of the territory along stretches of the coast, continues.