Combating the smuggling of Iranian weapons and drugs.. An international mission coming from Al-Mahra
English - Monday 06 March 2023 الساعة 09:07 am
Al-Mahra, NewsYemen, Private:
Just days after joint US and British naval forces thwarted the smuggling of Iranian weapons and missiles that were on their way to the Houthi militia, Tehran's arm in Yemen, a high-ranking US delegation visited Al-Mahra governorate, which borders the Sultanate of Oman, to discuss efforts to combat smuggling and terrorism.
This is not the first time that small boats have been seized coming from Iran and carrying weapons and drugs on board destined for the Houthi militia by smuggling them to the coasts of Al-Mahra Governorate or Al-Hodeidah Governorate, which are under their control.
In mid-January, the French Navy announced the seizure of a boat loaded with weapons off the Yemeni coast, with guns and an anti-tank missile on board. At the beginning of the same month, the US Navy announced the interception of a fishing vessel in the Gulf of Oman that was carrying Iranian weapons on its way to Yemen.
During the last three months, the Joint International Maritime Forces intercepted about 7 shipments of weapons and drugs coming from Iran towards the Houthi-controlled areas. Many of the thwarted smuggling operations have been linked to a large extent during the past period in the name of Al-Mahra Governorate, which owns a large coastal strip close to the Gulf of Oman overlooking the Arabian Sea, and land borders with the neighboring Sultanate of Oman.
Serious American action
Iran exploited the coasts and ports of Al-Mahrah Governorate, sea and land, as a main point for smuggling drugs and weapons - through its local allies in the governorate and others present in the Sultanate of Oman.
This prompted the leadership of the Joint Naval Forces deployed in international waters in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, led by the United States of America, to take serious action towards securing this point and assisting the Yemeni authorities and the Arab coalition to secure the coastal and land strip in order to confront the widespread smuggling operations led by Tehran in favor of the Houthis.
The leadership of the local authority in Al-Mahrah, represented by Governor Muhammad Ali Yasser, met with the US ambassador to Yemen, Stephen Fagin, and the commander of the US Fifth Fleet, General Cooper, and a number of US officials, to unify efforts to combat smuggling.
The meeting was held at the headquarters of the Arab coalition in Al-Ghaidha, and was attended by the head of the Coast Guard, Major General Khaled Ali Al-Qamali, and focused on efforts to combat the smuggling of Iranian weapons and narcotic substances to Yemen.
The meeting discussed "efforts to combat arms and drug smuggling, in addition to strengthening means of cooperation, coordination and capacity-building for the benefit of the Coast Guard to contribute to strengthening maritime security and international freedom of navigation in the region, especially with Iran continuing to destabilize the security and stability of the region and its export of shipments of qualitative weapons to the Houthi militia, the latest of which was weapons." The qualitative Iranian seized by the British Navy on February 23 in the Gulf of Oman on its way to the Yemeni coast.
Governor Ibn Yasser referred to "the importance of the American role in Yemen in light of the circumstances of the war and its repercussions," praising "the United States' support for Yemen and its standing by the legitimate government in normalizing the situation and establishing peace," according to the media of the local authority in Al-Mahrah.
During the meeting, the US ambassador indicated that "the visit comes to show the United States' support for Yemen and Al-Mahrah Governorate, and to strengthen many aspects, such as support in the security field and combating smuggling and terrorism."
Experts recommend tightening
In the latest report of the team of UN experts of the Sanctions Committee formed by the Security Council on Yemen, it stressed the intensification of efforts to combat the smuggling of Iranian weapons to the Houthis, which he said is taking place at a pace and flow through land and sea routes.
The report of the Group of Experts recommended that the members of the Security Council conduct duly investigations into cases seized by the international navy and coast guard forces in international waters, so that the perpetrators can be brought to justice.
The expert group called on the Security Council to call on member states to improve the exchange of information on maritime seizures of weapons, ammunition and related materials with the government of Yemen, international naval forces operating in the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea, and other concerned parties such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. To allow the legal prosecution of detained smugglers in Yemen.
The team said: The pattern of arms supply to the Houthis remained unchanged in 2022, as the majority of weapons, ammunition and related materials were smuggled using traditional sailing ships and smaller boats in the Arabian Sea, where the team is investigating 7 new cases of maritime smuggling, some of which include fertilizer trafficking and others. It is a chemical that can be used to make explosives and an oxidizer in making solid fuels.
The team explained that, unlike weapons and ammunition that are usually transported to beaches located in areas nominally controlled by the Yemeni government in the southeast - in reference to Al-Mahra Governorate - other materials are smuggled through Djibouti to Houthi-controlled ports in the Red Sea.
He reported that he was investigating the smuggling of anti-tank guided missile launchers concealed inside a commercial truck across the land border with Oman, and that he had identified a network of Houthi-linked individuals in Yemen and Oman that recruited crew members, facilitated their movement across government-controlled territory, and provided them with vehicles and boats.
The Group of Experts said: It adheres to its firm position that some of the seized weapons, such as: anti-tank guided missiles seized at the Omani border, are identical in terms of their technical characteristics and markings to those manufactured in Iran, while it is possible that they are weapons, such as assault rifles and ammunition that Seized in December 2021, it was originally imported from other Member States to entities in Iran.
The Brotherhood is Iran's partners in smuggling
The report of the Security Council Group of Experts recommended calling on member states in the region to improve the exchange of information with the government of Yemen regarding the seizure of weapons, ammunition and related materials, and about individuals and entities on their territory involved in smuggling and trafficking for the benefit of the Houthis, to allow the legal prosecution of smugglers detained in Yemen.
During the past years, the name of the Muslim Brotherhood leader supported by the Sultanate of Oman, Ali Salem Al-Huraizy, has been linked to the leadership of vast smuggling networks from the sea and land, linked to the Houthi militia and terrorist organizations.
Al-Huraizy, who held the position of deputy governor of Al-Mahrah Governorate, and after the decision to dismiss him in mid-2018, turned within two years into one of the largest arms smugglers in eastern Yemen, as his militias control all sea and land smuggling outlets connecting with the Sultanate of Oman.
Al-Huraizy established an armed formation in Al-Mahra to take revenge on the Yemeni government and the Arab coalition, and his name was associated with many deals with the Houthi coup militia, especially in terms of smuggling Iranian weapons. Al-Huraizy not only smuggled weapons, but also established training camps for his militias in order to protect the smuggling gangs, and attack the security forces and the Arab coalition that launched security and military operations and campaigns to prevent arms smuggling to the Houthis.
In addition to Al-Huraizy, the arms and drug smuggling gang in Al-Mahrah consists of Abu Bakr Saleh bin Shams Al-Jilani, a leader working with the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization, according to multiple sources. The gang also includes other personalities, including "Abboud Haboud Qumsit", "Ahmed Muhammad Qahtan" and "Kalashat", all of whom are Brotherhood leaders supported by Qatar.
The Brotherhood smuggling gangs deployed in Al-Mahrah contributed to the growing flow of Iranian weapons and drugs to the Houthi militia, and to strengthening the capabilities of these militias militarily and financially.
Al-Huraizy and the Brotherhood gangs manage the Iranian smuggling operations through small wooden fishing boats to avoid the bombing of the coalition warplanes, to anchor in an area between (Nishtun) and (Al-Ghaydah) and between (Qishn) and (Hasween) in Al-Mahra Governorate, then it is transported through a network of smuggling gangs across the desert to Hadramout governorate, and from there to Al-Jawf governorate, where trucks take dirt roads for fear of being targeted by the coalition to support legitimacy in Yemen.
According to the report of the UN Committee of Experts, the Houthi militia relied mainly on Al-Mahra outlets to smuggle Iranian weapons, in addition to the outlets of the city of Hodeidah in western Yemen. The smuggled Iranian weapons include heat and surface-to-air missiles, as well as components for unmanned aerial vehicles.
Coming coordination to close the smuggling ports
Recently, the forces of the Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen contributed to strengthening the capabilities of the government side in Al-Mahrah to tighten its grip on smuggling outlets, and clamped down on arms and drug smugglers, which angered the smuggling leaders in the governorate who run organized smuggling networks in favor of Iran and the Houthis.
According to military sources in the Al-Ghaidha axis, there are upcoming joint coordination with the international forces deployed in the international waters of the Arabian Sea off the coast of Al-Mahrah, as well as with the Arab coalition forces in order to strengthen efforts to combat smuggling coming to the governorate.
She added that the military and local authorities, with the support of the Saudi-led Legitimacy Support Coalition, are serious about tightening security measures and combating smuggling. This is confirmed by the thwarting of serious smuggling operations, the latest of which was last January, after the smuggling of drone engines that were coming from the Sultanate of Oman and under forged documents belonging to the Yemen Mobile Telecom Company in Sana'a, which is under the control of the Houthis, was foiled.
Al-Mahra Media Center had published a lot of data and reports about the governorate's Criminal Investigation Department's ability to thwart numerous smuggling operations, in coordination with the Coast Guard and the Arab Coalition. Among them was the seizure of a boat carrying about 1,000 kilograms of drugs, with six Iranian and Pakistani sailors on board.
In a statement to the Deputy Director General of Security and Police in Al-Mahrah, Colonel Ahmed Ali Raafit, he confirmed that the security services are moving forward in combating this "scourge", and that they are working at a high pace to follow up and arrest criminals wherever they are on land or sea.
Analysts and experts assert that shipments of arms and drugs destined for Yemen definitively confirm Iran's determination to support violence and war in Yemen, and that curbing smuggling operations requires a serious effort by the international community and major countries that have the ability to monitor and monitor trade corridors at sea and off the Yemeni coast.
Despite the intensification of the international security presence in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Oman, and the Arabian Sea, these networks are still effective and active, as confirmed by the United Nations Group of Eminent Experts in its reports for previous years. Experts' reports indicated that these networks have enabled the Houthis to possess "the technology of drones and ballistic missiles that they use to target Yemen, neighboring countries, and Yemeni and global economic interests."
