AQAP'S AL-MASRA NEWSLETTER DISCUSSES "FAILED' US AIRDROP, US OPERATIONS, TRUMP POLICIES IN YEMEN

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06708886
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2022
• Document Release Date: September 19, 2018
• Case Number: F-2017-02575
• Publication Date: March 14, 2017

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142245Z MAR 17
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SUBJ:
(U/744 AQAP's Al-Masra Newlseltter
Discusses 'Failed' US
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WARNING: Topic: FOUO, DISSENT, TERRORISM
SERIAL:TRR20170.30982954324
COUNTRY: United States, Yemen
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SUBJ: (U/7Ft3tiG4-AQAP's Al-Masra Newlseltter Discusses 'Failed' US
Airdrop, US Operations, Trump Policies in Yemen
REF: 1. Yemen: Pro-AQAP Al-Masra Newsletter Publishes 42nd Issue
TRR2017030662786324 Twitter English,Arabic 0000 GMT 06 Mar 17
gy4.pettry
2. Revision: Yemen: AQAP Leader Condemns 'Crusader Raid,' Names
Casualties TRR2017020509670037 Twitter
Feb
17 (U/1-7
SOURCE: Twitter in English, Arabic 06 Mar 17 (U//FOU0)
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AT 1648 GMT on 6 march, Twitter user " Al-lIzzah Web Paneh"
(@Alizzaa2; user ID 827767856578363352) tweeted a link to the 42nd
issue of Al-Masra, a weekly Al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula
(AQAP)
newsletter. Page 3 of the publication contains an article titled "A
Failed American Airdrop Operation in Abyan -- Air Support for
Huthis
in Rada'" that discusses US involvement in Yemen, details an
"American defeat" days after "a failed airdrop operation,". and
calls
for honoring a 2011 anti-US fatwa by150 Yemeni scholars. Below is a
translation Of the article.
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Image included in
American shelling
movements against
Image in article.
American shelling
against Sunnis:"
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article. Arabic text:"Observers stated that the
on Al Bayda in Yemen come as a benefit to Huthi
Sunnis,"
Arabic text reads: "Observers stated that the
on Al Bayda' in Yemen .serves Huthi movements
"A Failed American Airdrop Operation in Abyan -- Air Support for
Huthis in Rada'
"It seems that the new American administration under Trump has not
learned from the setback the 'American Seals' forces suffered in an
airdrop in Yakla, in central Yemen's Qayfah region in January. The
administration has tried to remedy the American defeat with a
number
of operations, including a failed airdrop in the Mujan region in
Wilayah Abyan in southern Yemen.
"In a similar way, the American Army carried out an airdrop last
Thursday at dawn on Mujan village in the coastal region of Shaqrah,
which is east of Zinjibar in Abyan Governorate, aimed at the
al-Qa'ida presence there, using American air cover assisted by Arab
coalition jets led by Saudi Arabia. The source stated that the
organization's members were aware of the airdrop before it took
place, clashed with the American force, and forced it to withdraw.
The source added that following its withdrawal, this region was
shelled. According to the same source, there were no human losses.
It
is not known whether American jets or frigates conducted this
shelling.
"The al-Qa'ida organization issued a statement about the airdrop,
describing it as a failure and as having accomplished nothing. The
organization added in the statement, posted on its Telegram
account,
that the Ansar al-Sharia correspondent in Abyan had reported the
failure of the American troops' airdrop on Thursday dawn on Al
Nakhilah beach on the Arabian Sea coast close to Mujan village in
Abyan. A large number of American spy aircraft as well as Arab
coalition military jets were seen in the skyies over the region.
The
correspondent stated that locals on the night watch saw lights in
the
mountains close to the coast and fired on them.
"The correspondent added that the American soldiers escaped after
understanding they had been discovered, and as American frigates,
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American spy planes,. and Arab coalition military jets randomly
shelled [the area] to provide air cover as they retreated.
'Eyewitnesses said they saw the soldiers' footprints and some of
their
belongings, such as water bottles and other things, in addition to
police dog paw prints.
"In the same context, sources said that Apache jets, most probably
Emirati, launched about 12 missiles on Mujan village. They started
flying over the region at 0130 in the morning and began shelling
the
area from 0200 to 0300 on Friday morning. This is the second time
the
region has been shelled within days. According to the source, there
were no human losses.
"Supporting Huthis in the North
"On another note, American jets conducted several raids last
Thursday
against many regions in Wilayah Al Bayda where the mujahideen and
Sunni tribes are waging fierce battles against Huthis. Local
sources
in Al Bayda Governorate stated that the air force conducted more
than
25 raids on the center of the As Sawma'ah administrative division
and
the Ja'ir region in the same division, but caused no human losses.
"As part of the American-Huthi collaboration, American jets have
carried out a number of operations lately on the posts of Sunni
tribes and the al-Qa'ida organization in the Qayfah region in
northern Wilayah Al Bayda. These posts were recently reclaimed. by
these tribes and al-Qa'ida from the Huthis. American jets killed
five
Ansar al-Sharia mujahideen and tribal members and wounded two
others
in airstrikes on Al Jasimah, Za'j, and Nufan as well on the Yakla
highway.
"Additionally, four Ansar al-Sharia mujahideen were killed in
American airstrikes on Al Hajib and the Khat al Jawf checkpoint in
the same Yakla region. According to sources, those killed were
identified as Hamzah al7Barad'I, Mu'awiyah al-Jawfi, Abu-al-Hur,
and
another unidentified person.
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"The American-Huthi collaboration incidents were repeated in
[other]
Wilayah Al Bayda regions where [Americans] intervened on behalf of
the Huthis as the latter launched attacks on Sunnis. The latest was
an American unmanned aircraft that last Tuesday destroyed a 23-mm
caliber heavy machine gun belonging to al-Qa'ida that was
positioned
on a hill on the Al Jasimah front in the Qayfah region. The source
added that the destruction of the machine gun took place at the
same
time as a large Huthi campaign against the same region. The
Americans
acknowledged that they carried out these attacks and coordinated
them
with the government and [Yemeni President Abd Rabuh Mansur] Hadi. A
series of tweets posted by the official Twitter account of the
American Department of Defense, the Pentagon, stated that it has
launched more than 20 raids on purported al-Qa'ida posts in the
provinces of Abyan, Al Bayda, and Shabwah. The department affirmed
that the airstrikes it has conducted in Yemen have been in
collaboration with the Yemeni government and President Hadi. It
added: 'The Yemeni government has been a valuable partner in
counterterrorism. The United States plans to continue working with
the Yemeni government to defeat al-Qa'ida.'
"Huthis: America Has To Collaborate With Us
"Addressing the Amercian interference, the [Abd-al-Malik] al-Huthi
group did not let the opportunity of presenting itself as an
alternative counterterrorism partner slip away. Although it has
condemned the American airstrikes, it declared, according to' the
Anadulo Agency, that these airstrikes 'did not bear the desired
fruit' due to the lack of security cooperation with the group. The
Huthi Saba Agency reported, quoting an unnamed Huthi Ministry of
Foreign Affairs official, a member of the party of former President
'Ali Abdullah Salih, as saying: 'The American administration's
unilateral military steps that violated national.sovereignty under
the excuse of countering terrorism will not bear the desired fruit
of
terminating this disease in the absence of security and
intelligence
collaboration with our authorities, which are also countering the
presence of al-Qa'ida and DA'ISH [Arabic acronym for ISIS],'
according to his description- He added that his Huthi-led
government
is 'capable of terminating these groups on the ground and fighting
them in the field, through intelligence, and at the religious
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"Authority Given to the American Secretary of Defense
"In accordance with the new administration's plans, American
officials stated that President Donald Trump is inclined to give
Secretary of Defense General James Mattis authority in the area of
special operations against the [Islamic] State organization and
al-Qaiida. The Daily Beast website said this inclination is aimed
at
simplifying procedures the Barack Obama administration required for
approving critical special operations, which led to the hindrance
or
even cancellation of such operations. The commanders of special
operations need a presidential order for operations to be conducted
in places like Yemen and Libya where American troops are not
officially involved in a war. This is in contrast to regions where
[America] is involved in military operations, in which case
critical
decisions are left to the discretion of military commanders.
Image included in article. Arabic text: "
Image included in article. Arabic text: "The wreck of the American
airplane downed by the mujahideen during the failed airdrop in the
Yakla region in central Yemen."
"Officials say that this new inclination comes at a time when
arguments have been raised about the failing operation in Yemen,
with
Trump blaming the death of soldier William 'Ryan' Owens on his
military commanders. [Owens] was the first American soldier to be
killed, eight days after Trump assumed office.
"The father of the killed soldier requested an investigation be
conducted since the operation, according to his statement quoted in
The Miami Herald, was not necessary and rushed. He also refused to
meet with Trump when his son's body arrived at the Dover airbase.
"Military commanders may find time to rethink the nature of these
operations after being blamed for failure in Yemen, although Trump
asserted that the operation was successful and that the special
division collected Important information that helps understand how
the al-Qa'ida organization thinks and acts in Yemen. However, the
NBC
network said that what has been examined one month after the
operation has provided very little security information, something
that has been denied by the White House.
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"This change of course in the management of special operations is
being considered because Trump wants to operate like a private
corporate manager who delegates assignments to co-managers.
Officials
in the previous administration said that President Obama gave
authority to field commanders after the failed 2014 operation to
rescue American hostages James Foley, Steven Sotloff, and Kayla
Mueller, who were being held by the State organization. The special
operations division arrived shortly after they had been transported
to another location. Officials stated that Obama gave wide, but not
absolute, authority to field commanders. They added that in some
cases, as in the operation that killed al-Qa'ida leader Usama Bin
Ladin in Abottabad in 2011, he approved the delegation of
authority.
These officials add that Obama used to give Mattis advance
permission
to act in some cases, but not all, when the latter was in charge of
Central Command.
"Concerning the authority given to Mattis, giving him advance
permission to delegate decisions about critical operations to
three-star generals running the joint special operations forces,
such
as involving the rescue of hostages or unmanned airstrikes against
preapproved targets, this meant that if this team saw an
opportunity
to hit a valuable target included on the White House target list,
they could move forward and make a decision after notifying the
National Security Council about-the operation, but without a need
to
wait for a presidential order to be issued.
"The Fatwa of Yemeni Scholars
"Following repeated American interventions and the silence of the
agent Yemeni government, activists on social media reposted a fatwa
signed by 150 prominent Yemeni scholars calling people to arms and
to
wage jihad against Americans back in 2011 when there was news about
a
[possible] American intervention.
"Activists reminded the scholars of their fatwa highlighting the
need
to wage jihad, issued after a group of them convened in San'a on 28
Muharram 1431 Hegira [corresponding to 14 January 2010] to discuss
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a
major event that concerned the land of faith and wisdom. At that
time, Shaykh Muhammad Bin 'Ali al-Anisi opened his statement by
emphasizing the high status of scholars and the importance of their
stance in times of peed to direct the ship; this is why God
commanded
the ummah [community of Muslims worldwide] to follow their path and
obey them. The shaykh warned against foreign statements that would
push Yemen into the same abyss other countries never managed to get
out of. Due to the importance of that meeting and the goal behind
it,
Shaykh Abd-al-Majid Bin 'Aziz al-Zand made a statement on behalf of
Yemeni scholars. The shaykh sharply criticized those complaining on
satellite channels about the silence of scholars, saying that they
were in fact reviewing and studying the situation. He discussed the
[true] reason behind mobilizing large forces to Yemen's coastal
areas, claimed at the time as intended to fight pirates, but
happening at a time when both local and foreign newspapers were
talking about the government's failure and claiming it had
mobilized
these forces as rapid response troops in the event things got out
of
hand.
"The shaykh harshly warned against the custodianship being plotted
by
Great Britain and others for Yemen in international conferences. He
added: 'The honorable s cholars are keen to develop a*unified
stance
concerning any foreign intervention that would breach Yemen's
sovereignty and its internal affairs.' At the end of that assembly,
Shaykh 'Arif al-Sin i read the statement signed by 150 Yemeni
scholars. The statement highlighted the rejection of any foreign
intervention in Yemen and warned against its consequences. It also
rejected the establishment of any [foreign] military bases and
urged
the sons of Yemen to obey God's sharia. 'God is great' shouts
resonated at the end of that convention after the statement was
read
out and reminded all Yemenis of the mandate of waging jihad in case
of an American intervention. The statement also urged Yemenis to
pray
God would not allow strife in Yemen and that He would reform the
nation and His.worshipers.
"Years after this fatwa was issued, the American intervention has
not
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stopped. It began with shelling Sunnis with unmanned drones, but
has
recently evolved into airdrop [operations] in which American
infantry
has landed in many Yemeni regions, assisted by Emirati forces. The
American Navy mobilized the USS Cole toward Yemeni coasts, which
means even more American intervention in the country. Twitter users
urged scholars to renew their stance and their call to arms and
jihad, exposing the government that gave the Americans the green
light to kill innocent people and establish its military bases."
To view the vernacular of the tweet in PDF format, click .
To view the vernacular of the article in PDF format, click
(Attachment not included: AlMasra42ArticleOnPage3.pdf) here.
[Description of Source: Twitter in English, Arabic -- Website
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