Gulf of Aden Security Review

Yemen: Saudi-led coalition claims the al Houthi movement’s Iranian-supplied ballistic missiles originated in Lebanon; senior al Houthi official implores UN Special Envoy to Yemen to move office to Yemen; al Houthi forces launch a ballistic missile targeting Saudi ARAMCO facilities in Jizan province, Saudi Arabia; reported U.S. airstrike kills four AQAP militants in al Bayda governorate

Horn of Africa: Al Qaeda emir calls on East Africans to join the jihad; Somali security forces foil al Shabaab VBIED attack targeting former al Shabaab leader near Baidoa city, Bay region; President Trump nominates a new U.S. ambassador to Kenya

Yemen Security Brief

Saudi-led coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al Maliki said that the al Houthi movement received ballistic missiles from Iran and that these missiles originated in southern Beirut, Lebanon in a March 29 interview with CNN. Col. Maliki described  the missiles as being transported from Lebanon through Syria and then Iran before being shipped to al Hudaydah port on Yemen’s Red Sea coastline. The Saudi-led coalition has described this weapons smuggling route to the al Houthis previously.^[1]

The president of the al Houthi’s Supreme Revolutionary Council Mohammed al Houthi implored UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths to move Griffiths’ permanent office from Amman, Jordan to Yemen during a meeting in Sana’a on March 29. Al Houthi promised Griffiths security and support for the peace process. Griffiths stated he would return to Yemen in mid-April to continue discussions with all Yemeni actors. Griffiths met with al Houthi movement leader Abdul Malik al Houthi on March 28. Griffiths also met with Mujahid al Quhali, head of a Sana’a-based political organization, and al Houthi Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein al Azzi on March 29.^[2] 

Al Houthi forces launched a Badr 1 short-range ballistic missile targeting Saudi ARAMCO facilities in Jizan province in southwestern Saudi Arabia on March 29. Saudi air defenses intercepted the missile, according to the Saudi Press Agency. Al Houthi forces launched a Badr 1 at ARAMCO facilities in Najran province in southern Saudi Arabia on March 22.^[3]

A U.S. airstrike killed four al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militants in al Sawma’ah district in southeastern al Bayda governorate in central Yemen on March 29, according to a Pentagon statement. The U.S. has carried out seven airstrikes in Yemen in March, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.^[4]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri urged Muslims in East Africa to participate in jihad in a statement released by al Sahab Media Foundation on March 21. Zawahiri outlined East African history in the “southern battlefront of Islam” against European conquest. Zawahiri also encouraged East African Muslims to fight the corrupt leadership on the battlefields in their regions and to kill apostates, shaming East Africans who have decided not to fight. The statement was Zawahiri’s first message addressed to East Africans in 2018.^[5]

Somali security forces foiled an al Shabaab vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) attack targeting al Shabaab’s former deputy leader Mukhtar Robow (Abu Mansur) in Baidoa in Bay region in south-central Somalia on March 29. Mukhtar Robow arrived in the area at the same time as the attempted VBIED attack. Robow defected to the Somali Federal Government on August 13, 2017. Robow’s defection prompted some al Shabaab militants to follow suite, al Shabaab declared Robow an apostate in January 2018.^[6]

U.S. President Donald Trump nominated Illinois State Senator Kyle McCarter to be the next U.S ambassador to Kenya on March 28. Senator McCarter will replace Ambassador Robert Godec if confirmed. Godec’s tour of duty expired after six years in Kenya. McCarter founded the Each One Feed One International charity in Kenya and served as the charity’s director from 1984-1989. McCarter has served as Illinois state senator since 2009, but did not seek re-election last year. Republican members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation recommended McCarter for the position in March 2017. McCarter’s confirmation hearing will occur within the next few weeks.^[7]