Stability is back to Rada'a, a 150 kilometers city south east of Sana'a, after Al-Qaeda militants left the city which they captured last week, locals told Yemen Post. They said that life returned to its nature, markets, institutions and services centers were reopened, emphasizing that teachers, students and workers resume practicing their normal life.
"Radaa was stabilized and secured as a result of efforts exerted by tribal leaders and dignitaries" said Mohammad Saad, a resident of Rada'a.
The fighters left the town in exchange for the release of their fellow relatives, after forming a committee of 35 dignitaries from seven different Yemeni cities.
Militants led by Tariq Al-Dhahab, a relative of Anwar Al-Walaki, a Yemeni-American cleric who was killed in a American drone strike last fall, had took over the town and positioned inside the archeological castle of Alamiria and its mosque.
Al-Qaeda control on Rada'a raised fears that such expansion would strengthen jihadi groups in the strategic state. The United States and other countries are interested in Yemen for its strategic location.
For several years, U.S. Special Forces and the CIA, with the support of Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, have launched hundreds of drone attacks against alleged Islamists.
Critics of the outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh have said that Saleh used to use Al-Qaeda as a card to blackmail and intimidate the neighboring Gulf Cooperation Council States, the United Sates and other Western States.
They accused Saleh of supporting Al-Qaeda, helping it control Yemeni towns and attempting to show to the world that he is the only man who can defeat Al-Qaeda.