Iran-backed Houthis release 59 Al-Qaeda prisoners: Sources

The Iran-backed Houthis released 59 Al-Qaeda prisoners on Friday. Informed security sources said.

The sources indicated that the Houthi militia released Al-Qaeda members after making deals with them to carry out terrorist operations in a number of liberated Yemeni governorates, noting that among the released were 15 members working with Al-Qaeda, Saleh Wadie Al-Haddad.

The Houthis kept a secret a few days ago about the car bombing accured in Haddah area, of Sana'a, that resulted in the killing and wounding of five members of Al-Haddad's supporters and a number of citizens passing by. The sources revealed.

Following the bombing, the Houthi militia imposed a security cordon on the area and prevented anyone from approaching, according to multiple sources.

In November 2021, a reliable source in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, revealed that the Houthi militia had established headquarters, operations rooms, and an intelligence office in Sanaa to manage terrorist crimes and chaos in the liberated governorates, in coordination with ISIS and Al-Qaeda.

In January 2021, the Houthi militia released Al-Qaeda leader Abdullah Ali Alawi Lahmar Al-Barakani, according to secret understandings between the terrorist organization and the Houthis.

The Houthis promised to release more members of Al-Qaeda who have been held in the prison of the Security and Intelligence Service for 11 years, based on the results of terrorist acts that will be carried out in the liberated areas. Security sources said.

In August 2021, the Houthis released Aidarous Al-Masoudi and Abdullah Al-Masoudi, who had been detained in the National Security Prison in Sana'a for several years.

A report submitted by the Yemeni government to the UN Security Council, last March, provided confirmed information and intelligence data about the close relationship between the Houthi militia and both Al-Qaeda and ISIS as an extension of the same relationship between Iran and those terrorist organizations.