A report released on Monday by Abaad Center for Researches and Studies warned of a new terrorist group in Yemen which has stemmed from the alliances made between some militant groups in the country.
It stated that some signs signaling the emergence for such a terrorist network have already appeared in some southern provinces of Yemen, most notably in the port city of Aden.
The new terrorist network is currently trying to find legitimacy for its violence aimed to achieve independence for South Yemen and establish the "Free Southern Army" by planning military defections of some army commanders hailing from the southern region, mostly of those who used to be affiliated with the former regime, said the report.
What distinguishes the 18th anniversary for the fall of Aden into the unity army was the transformation of a peaceful wing from the Southern Movement—which calls for the outright separation—into an armed one that seeks to accomplish its goal for secession through wreaking havoc and stirring chaos, it said. And by doing so, it contradicted the rest of the SM wings which have been calling for rights in a peaceful manner.
Al-Mansoura town, one of Aden towns, has turned from a place dwelling peaceful revolutionaries against the former regime into a sanctuary for prisons' escapees and al-Qaeda militants and a store for the various types of weapons, it added.
Since mid-June, more than ten civilians, including two women, and 12 military personnel, including the Southern Military Area commander Salem Qatan, have been killed in al-Mansoura.
According to the report, the new terror organization has started out its terrorist program three months ago with kidnapping the Deputy Saudi Consul Abdullah al-Kaledi and has ever since managed to rob more than 100 million YR and attack public and private properties…etc.
It went on to accuse the Iran-backed Houthi Movement of seeking to inflame tensions in the southern port city, arguing that the Houthi fighters were found fighting alongside the SM's rebels as well as with al-Qaeda militants in Abyan province, in addition to the exchange of visits between Houthis' and separatists' leaders, and the scholarships granted for some separatists to the Lebanese capital of Beirut, and Tehran. They allegedly go there to receive military training by HizbAllah and Iran.
The report further asserted that the recent events in the south indicate that the armed wing of the SM has put the southern issue at risk, arguing that it has dragged the southern issue into a complex net of regional and international conflict.
It added that Tehran's logistical support for the militant groups in Yemen is not intended to help the southerners achieve independence, rather to gain urgent tactical advantages related to its national security in a region witnessing tremendous, radical changes due to the recent Arab Spring uprisings that have turned the table upside down for Iran whose biggest ally-- the Syrian government-- is probably witnessing its last days at the helm of Syria.
In Yemen, Tehran seeks to gain sway in Aden, where the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait, through which more than three million barrel of oil pass daily, is located, aiming to establish more influence on the international oil crude market, explained the report.
Iran has threatened the west repeatedly of blocking the Strait of Hormoz, and by having more influence over Bab al-Mandab, it would have the ability to virtually stop most of the oil trade in the world and thus cause a huge oil crisis.
Moreover, the report did not rule out that US, Russian, and UK involvement in the festering southern predicament, but said even if so, their role is not as scandalous as Iran's is.
It concluded with upholding the Yemeni Socialist Party's twelve points intended to resolve the southern dilemma and urging the Islamist Party of Islah, the Muslim Brotherhood branch in Yemen, to reconsider its current position on the southern issue, to adopt more open views regarding it that fall in line with the Socialist Party's, and to spread awareness among its members about the southerners' legal rights in order to calm the tensions.