New assassination in Taiz has Brotherhood’s fingerprints

The assassination of Yemeni resistance leader Sadiq Mahyoub, famously known as Abu al-Saduq, by one of his companions in Taiz, south-western Yemen, on Tuesday appears to be part of a plan to prepare the ground for one sole party to monopolise the military and political decisions of Yemen’s most populated governorate.

The assassination of Abu al-Saduq, who was one of the most influential Salafi leaders in the city of Taiz and a founder of the Eastern Front that resisted the Houthi invasion of the city in the wake of the coup that was carried out by Iran-backed militias nearly six years ago, is aimed at boosting the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood and the pro-Qatar movement in the country, according to observers.

Abu al-Saduq’s assassination came shortly after he criticised leaders of the Brotherhood-dominated Taiz axis, and began speaking about some forces’ plans to resist any efforts to expel Iran-backed Houthis from Taiz, whose administrative centre is still largely under milita control.

Many observers compared Abu al-Saduq’s assassination to previous attacks on military leaders opposing the Muslim Brotherhood's power grabs. Most recently in December 2019, Brigadier General Adnan al-Hammadi, commander of the 35th Armoured Brigade, was killed by close associates.

Information obtained by The Arab Weekly at the time indicated the perpetrators were in contact with a prominent leader of the Islah party, Dhia al-Haq al-Ahdal, who is accused by some activists of overseeing the file of prisons and assassinations in Taiz.

Media sources also indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood had ramped up efforts to weaken the 35th Armoured Brigade in order to infiltrate its units.

In June 2018, Colonel Radwan al-Adaini, commander of the Usba Brigade in Taiz, was assassinated in a similar attack implicating one of his companions, raising questions about the targeting of military leaders who challenge the Muslim Brotherhood in Taiz by those close to them.

Muslim Brotherhood-linked media platforms and activists also launched a campaign targeting the Salafi leader in the Yemeni National Army and commander of the Abu Abbas Brigades, Adel Abdo Farea. The campaign eventually led to armed confrontations that ended with the commander and his forces being expelled from Taiz.

Following the dismissal of former Taiz Governor Amin Mahmoud, the assassination of al-Hammadi and the expulsion of Abu Abbas’s forces from the city, the pro-Qatar Muslim Brotherhood movement, represented by al-Islah party in Yemen, have managed to extend their influence over the liberated areas in Taiz.

Qatari activity in the governorate has also expanded thanks to the role of Islamist leader Hammoud al-Mikhlafi, who established a number of camps to recruit fighters with Qatari funding and cover from military leaders loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Qatari-funded camps in Taiz are situated  in the region of Yafres, where Mikhlafi has set up a camp to receive returnees from the Saudi border fronts. On several occasions, Mikhlafi called on these returnees to abandon the fight against Houthis and join their camps.

Doha also funds the Fourth Brigade, a mountain infantry in the Tor Al-Baha region that has recently turned into a centre to recruit and send fighters to the Abyan front to confront the Southern Transitional Council (STC), while Mikhlafi's son takes command of the 170th Air Defense Brigade.

Observers say they believe there is an unspoken truce between the Houthis and the Muslim Brotherhood in Taiz, despite the overlapping of the lines of contact between the two parties’ forces.

The Muslim Brotherhood forces in the province are reportedly leading a military build-up and political and media incitement against the joint resistance forces in the West Coast and STC forces.

The Islah party, meanwhile, is locked in a bitter struggle, according to observers, to tighten control of the Taiz governorate. For this objective to be met, military and security leaders loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood have begun to push away other Yemeni military factions from the area.

Taiz residents say their governorate is paying the price of its strategic location, which has opened it up to attacks from Iran-backed Houthis who want to use it as a launchpad to threaten the Bab al-Mandeb strait.

Taiz’s strategic location is also very important for the Muslim Brotherhood, which is trying to use its foothold there to secure a role in the future of Yemen, with already flowing Qatari support.

Observers believe that the pro-Qatar and Turkey axis’s primary goal is controlling Taiz due to its geographical importance, political status and population density.

Taiz is also one the first liberated governorates where the Muslim Brotherhood has shown hostility to the Arab Alliance and where posters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan  and Turkish and Qatari flags have been raised during politically motivated demonstrations.