The arrest of six Western al-Qaeda members in Yemen raises concerns that the country remains a power train for Islamic converts seeking a way to join jihadi terror groups. On October 16, 2006, Yemeni officials arrested three Australians, a Dane, a German, and a Briton, along with two other foreigners suspected of smuggling weapons across the Gulf of Aden to the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) militias in Somalia . All eight arrestees are students at Al-Iman University in the capital, Sana`a. The head of the religious University, Sheikh Abd al-Majid al-Zindani, has been named a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US Treasury Department for his financial backing and recruitment for al-Qaeda operations. US and European counterterrorism officials fear that Yemen may have replaced Central Asia as the central jihadi training headquarters for Europeans and Australians.
Training Camp for Europeans and Australians
The fact that Western terrorists can move across boarders much more freely than those carrying Pakistani, Somali, or other red-flagged country passports, makes it easier for newly converted Islamists to find moral and spiritual support in Yemen. Bernard Haykel, professor of Islamic law and history at New York University and an expert on Yemen, told United Press International that Yemen had served as a ??transmission belt country? for jihadist recruitment of Westerners? (source). Among the three Australians arrested were Mohammed and Abdullah Ayub?the sons of the notorious Abdul Rahim Ayub, former head of Jemaah Islamiah?s (JI) Australian terror cell.
School of Terrorism
Western governments have long considered Yemen fertile ground for extremism. Since the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in the port of Aden , the Yemeni government has been under considerable external pressure to clamp down on extremist elements in the country. A quintessential element in the struggle is the education these young, fresh recruits are receiving. Al-Iman (The Faith) University, founded by al-Zindani, is the ?Ivy League? terrorist university in the region. Graduates from Al-Imam University include: USS Cole suicide bombers, murderers of three American missionaries in 2002 , and the most recent eight arrests for attempting to smuggle weapons to the ICU.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Australian security agencies recently identified a small group of men from New South Wales who traveled to Yemen for religious and military training (source). Although it is not known if this group has any connection to the three Australians arrested, it is clear that these men are also students of the University. Shiekh al-Zindani?s sermons are recorded every Friday and are on sale by that evening, making it more convenient for aspiring terrorists to study his spiritual guidance and stay focused on their jihadist goals.
Political Situation
Although Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh became a solid member of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) after 9/11 and Yemen?s security forces have cracked down on suspected militants a number of times since, Saleh walks a fine line between confronting the hard-core religious sector of Yemen and alienating a traditional Islamist power base. Saleh has had a good, long relationship with Shiekh al-Zindani, making it increasingly more difficult to fight terrorism legitimately along side the West. Blocking the Shiekh?s financial transactions, as suggested by the US, may be the only way to dismantle future terrorists and terrorist attacks.
However, should this happen, the President will be forced to face major tribal resistance. The order of priorities for security in Yemen is not the same as it is in the West. People in Yemen do not care so much if Westerners are arrested. They are much more interested in safeguarding themselves and are more likely to revolt if Islamists in Yemen are treaded upon for the sake of the Western-led war on terrorism. Saleh is less likely to create a scenario where his power base is threatened. As a result, Yemen has adopted a multi-phase strategy, clamping down hard on anyone suspected of plotting attacks inside the country but taking a softer approach to sympathizers or those whose energies are focused outside.
