Members of the Muslim Brotherhood militias raided a meeting of the General People’s Congress (GPC) party in Jabal Saber, attended by the head of the GPC branch in Taiz, Yemen. The security team of the governor managed to arrest one of the raiders while others fled during the confrontation. The militants stormed the hall and brandished their weapons while the GPC head in Taiz, Sheikh Aref Jamal, was giving his speech on the occasion. This caused panic and fear among the attendees. The militants reportedly threatened the participants at an event organized by the GPC in the Sabir al-Mawadim district to commemorate the party’s 42nd anniversary. They also stormed the stage to remove a portrait of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. A source who attended the event noted the severe discontent among the attendees, who condemned the criminal act as an attack on a significant political entity and the legitimacy system, calling for an investigation into the incident. They expressed surprise at the GPC leadership’s silence regarding the criminal act aimed at terrorizing and undermining the party’s activities. According to sources, the detained raider was released after hours in police custody.
This marks the most prominent appearance of the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen since the death of Yemeni cleric Abdul Majid al-Zindani, a leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen, who passed away at the age of 82 in April 2024 due to a stroke. Al-Zindani had closely linked his call to the political goals of the Islah Party, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Sanaa, dedicating his efforts to promoting the organization as a precursor to „Islamic Caliphate,“ goodness, and prosperity, according to his online sermons. He was known for his intense hostility toward the southern Yemeni leftist forces, whom he referred to as communists. Al-Zindani was widely rumored in Yemen to have issued fatwas in explicit religious terms against southern Yemenis, in addition to various controversial issues politically and religiously. Since 2020, Al-Zindani and his family have resided in Turkey, a country that has become a refuge for many leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood who fled Yemen after the Houthi coup in 2014.
Recently, the movement has been working to ensure its presence amidst the control exerted by the Houthi militia over the Yemeni streets. The Islah Party announced the establishment of what it calls the Unified Council for the Eastern Regions of Yemen, led by Islah leader Abdul Hadi al-Tamimi, who also serves as the Deputy Governor of Hadramout for the valley and desert regions. This revealed a new plan by the group aimed at disrupting the situation in the governorates of Hadramout, Shabwa, Socotra, and Mahra, and fragmenting the south to undermine the Southern Transitional Council. The new Islah plan is backed by prominent Islah leader Salah Batis and Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who is working to maintain the Brotherhood’s influence in eastern Yemen.
According to Yemeni media, the reason behind these developments is the series of political setbacks suffered by the Muslim Brotherhood, making their exit from the political scene in Yemen and southern Arabia a haunting prospect. The Brotherhood believes they may have one last hope in Shabwa or Hadramout and are therefore desperate to retain any piece of land that could be used in negotiations for a final settlement of the war in Yemen and southern Arabia. The local website Al-Ameen reported that the Al-Qrud police checkpoint in Taiz arrested members of the Islah Party involved in selling the bodies of dead fighters to the Houthis in Taiz. The Islah militia controls large parts of Taiz province, while the Houthi militias control the borders adjacent to the governorates of Dhamar and Ibb. Recently, there has been a joint coordination announcement between the two sides to manage the governorate’s affairs and exert pressure on the south. Multiple reports have documented, with evidence, the collaborative operations between the Houthi insurgent militias and Islah elements, including institutional cooperation and some joint economic activities.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s calls in Yemen for cooperation with the Houthi militia under the banner of supporting Palestine are not isolated but part of a broader trend of rapprochement between the Brotherhood and the Houthi group, which controls Sanaa and large parts of Yemeni territory. This alliance has recently surfaced under the guise of supporting the Palestinian Hamas movement in its war with Israel, with the Brotherhood also seeking to share in the propaganda benefits gained by the Houthis from targeting shipping lines in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab, and the Arabian Sea. This is part of plans to align with the stance of the resistance axis countries and prepare for a post-settlement phase in Yemen, which may require establishing a form of partnership that the Brotherhood hopes to secure a place in.
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