Aden Airport’s Bombing Challenges the De-escalation Attempts

Aden (Sputnik) 

The bombing that hit the Aden Airport Saturday is the latest in a series of incidents which challenge the attempts to de-escalate the tension in South Yemen according to Sputnik. 

These incidents, over the last weeks, mean that South Yemen turned to be a hotbed for such operations which attract big local and international media attention, and stir a lot of questions about the messages and motives behind them, the identity of the culprits, how long they will last, and whether they have terrorist or political dimensions.

Over the last two weeks, South Yemen has witnessed several bloody incidents that led to tens of deaths and injuries in Crater and Al-Tawahi in Aden, in addition to Seiyun bombings in Hadramout. It is worth noting that they come in conjunction with the return of the Prime Minister.

Yemeni Political Analyst Ali Al-Khulaki told “Sputnik” that the latest bombing which targeted the International Aden Airport “is a reflection of the hostile activities that aim to hit the security and the stability of the governorate, and to reverse the prior successes made by Southern Security Forces in controlling the situation”, noting that “the occurrence of those operations often intersects the periods of calmness”.

Civilians’ harm

“Unfortunately, the latest bombing harmed the common people, as it targeted the nearby adults and children. This reveals the core identity of who stands behind those operations. I think that this should act as a message to the security forces to continue their campaign of collecting all kinds of weapons, and to extend it to houses, not just dubious places”, he added.

Al-Khulaki indicated that Aden turned to be as an armory over the last years, which “facilitated the task of the brute forces to use weapons at any time if there is lack of a continuous security operation to launch raids against the terrorist groups’ dens and to combat armament”.

As for the connection between those bombings and the political Southern disputes, Al-Khulaki believes that he can’t exclude any possibility amid such circumstances, adding that the aim behind these bombings is “probably an attempt to prove that Aden is unsafe under the STC’s control. They are concerned that the governorate, over the last weeks, hosted the European Envoy meetings, as well as the return of the government and the UN Envoy’s visit”.

Fertile terror environment 

For his part, Abdulaziz Al-Kasem, a leader in the Southern Movement “Hirak” told “Sputnik” that the ongoing war and the political disputes are fertile environment for such criminal and terrorist bombings.

“There is no doubt that the European Envoy’s visit to Aden two weeks ago, the Saudi-sponsored rapprochement between Tariq Saleh Forces and the STC’s Forces, as well as the statements by the STC’s President to Okaz (a Saudi newspaper) are all reasons why such bombings could happen again” he added. 

Al-Kasem stressed that the situation is actually unstable as there are some elements who don’t want stability for Aden. Moreover, talks about settlement could push some rival parties to aggravate the situation”

The Southern leader described the situation as “complicated”, adding that “there is a need for urgent and clear settlement apart from allies and partisanships that harm all parties”.

On Saturday night, the Security Committee in the interim capital “Aden” said that it made necessary measures related to the investigation into the latest bombing’s circumstances. It releases pictures for the car bomb (Toyota Hilux) used in the incident which occurred near the first security checkpoint in the Airport.

In a statement, the Supreme Council of the Revolutionary Movement for the Liberation and Independence of the South (Hirak’s Revolutionary Council) denounced the “criminal incident”, calling for “immediate detection of the perpetrators and those who are behind them”.

The Council pointed out that there are several local and regional parties which want Aden to remain unsafe amid different loyalties which control the security and military scene. 

- Source: Sputnik
- English translation: South24 Center
- Photo: The aftermath of the explosion that occurred Saturday, October 30, near Aden International Airport (Reuters)