ADEN: Al Qaeda militants in south-eastern Yemen have publicly flogged 10 men in a new sign of their growing control over the lawless region, witnesses and an official said on Friday.

The men were whipped in Al-Shihr, a coastal town in Hadramawt province, after being summarily ‘convicted’ of committing blasphemy and consuming alcohol and drugs, the official said.

Dozens of people attended the flogging. Witnesses said each man received between 80 and 100 lashes.

The official said Al Qaeda militants have been harassing residents by interfering in all aspects of their daily lives.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula controls parts of Hadramawt, including provincial capital Mukalla, which they seized in April.

AQAP has exploited months of fighting in Yemen between Iran-backed rebels and the beleaguered Saudi-backed government to take advantage of the growing chaos.

The United States considers it to be the extremist group’s deadliest global franchise and regularly targets its militants with drone strikes on Yemeni territory.

The Yemeni army, meanwhile, has recruited 4,800 southern fighters following a presidential decision to integrate loyalist militiamen who helped push Houthi rebels out of Aden, according to a military official.

“This brigade has 4,800 fighters, including soldiers and officers. Most of the recruits are former fighters of the Popular Resistance” pro-government militia, Colonel Fadel Mohammed Hassan said at a military base in Aden.

The majority of the recruits come from Aden province, where forces loyal to exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi pushed back the rebels last month, aided by Saudi-led Arab coalition air power.

The Salman Decisiveness Brigade is named after the Saudi king, whose country has led the campaign in support of Mr Hadi since late March.

A correspondent in Aden this week saw new recruits carrying out training drills, dust rising above them as they exercised. A sign on the base’s front gate carried a poster of Gulf leaders, and a sign reading “registration is closed”.

“All members of the resistance have been taken in without any exemptions” following orders from Mr Hadi, said Col Hassan.

In March, Houthi rebels and troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh advanced on Aden, where Mr Hadi had taken refuge after escaping house arrest in Sanaa. Mr Hadi later fled to Riyadh.

Bolstered by heavy weaponry and Gulf troops as well as Yemeni fighters trained in Saudi Arabia, loyalists have retaken Aden and four other southern provinces and are currently fighting for control of Yemen’s third city, Taez.

The Red Cross warned on Friday of the “deteriorating” situation in Taez, speaking of “indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas” and destruction of essential infrastructure.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said the health situation there is “particularly dire” and that a handful of hospitals still functioning are having to deal with large numbers of casualties.—AFP

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2015

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