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Al-Shabaab Hits Popular Somali Hotel

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By William Tucker

The Somali militant group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for a car bombing at the Hotel Muna in Mogadishu on Wednesday. Local officials told the media that 15 people were killed in the blast and further 20 were wounded. Hotel Muna is popular with Somali politicians and was the target of another attack in 2010. The attack comes one day prior to a video announcement from al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri formally bringing al-Shabaab under the al-Qaeda umbrella. Although al-Shabaab has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda in the past, the Somali group has undergone a leadership coup meaning that Zawahiri may be recognizing the leadership change. Despite many setbacks over the past few months, al-Shabaab has shown that it has successfully shifted from a light infantry style fighting force into a structure that is more consistent with guerilla style warfare. Such a change will give the TFG government in Mogadishu room to breathe, but it doesn’t mean that al-Shabaab is finished as a major threat to the region.

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U.S. Drones Return to Yemen

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By William Tucker

According to local reports, 11 people were killed in an airstrike near Lawdar, Yemen in Abyan province. One tribal leader speaking to Reuters claimed that four of the deceased were leaders of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The same individual speculated that the airstrike was carried out by an unmanned U.S. aircraft. There is no independent confirmation of the identities of those killed at this time.

Yemen’s Unraveling

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By William Tucker

Yemen is not a failed state, but it is failing. This doesn’t mean that the state is facing an imminent collapse, but it does mean that Yemen is in trouble. Before the massive uprising that gripped the country over the last year, Yemen was in dismal shape and the situation in the country has now deteriorated to the point that the writ of the state doesn’t extend beyond Sana’a.

AQIM Claims to have Libyan Weapons

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By William Tucker

In many ways it was inevitable, that is if this claim by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is indeed true. Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a commander in AQIM, made the claim to the Mauritanian news agency ANI that his group has benefited from receiving some of Libya’s loose weapons, but did not offer any evidence to back up his claim.