At a time when the UN Security Council reports confirm the existence of great coordination between al-Qaeda and the Houthi militia in Yemen, reliable sources in Sanaa revealed to the Saudi newspaper, Okaz, a meeting of Houthi leaders headed by the head of the Houthi intelligence service, Abdul Hakim al-Khaiwani, and leaders of al-Qaeda last week. The sources made it clear that among the leaders of al-Qaeda who attended the meeting was Ali al-Kurdi, an official in the organization located in the Dar Saad Directorate in Lahj Governorate.

The sources reported that the meeting, which took place in a building in Haddah neighborhood, was attended by Iranian military experts. The same sources indicated that preliminary information indicates that the militia demanded al-Qaeda to escalate its operations, pledging that it would provide money, equipment for the manufacture of booby-traps, delivery of explosive devices, commitment to the continuation of oil supplies and other privileges it provides to the organization through a leader nicknamed al-Mihdhar who is responsible for receiving funds from the military region in the Governorate of Dhamar.

The sources stated that the militia pledged to provide 100 million Yemeni riyals per month to the organization as a budget, pointing out that the meeting discussed the release of more members of the organization who are still in prison, those who were arrested by the Yemeni authorities before the coup as part of an exchange deal for Houthi elements detained by the organization.

A recent report to the UN Security Council confirmed the continued threat of al-Qaeda in Yemen and its ambition to carry out international operations, stressing the existence of cooperation between the organization and the terrorist Houthi militia.

The report delivered by the Chairwoman of the Committee on ISIS and al-Qaeda, Trine Heimerbach, to the President of the UN Security Council, said that despite the setbacks the organization has received in the recent period, it still poses a constant threat in Yemen and abroad, noting that al-Qaeda aspires to revive the ability to conduct operations internationally.

The report indicated that there is a close relationship between the leaders and elements of the organization on the one hand and the Houthi militia on the other. The report showed that the cooperation between the organization and the Houthis is represented by the Houthis harboring al-Qaeda members and leaders, releasing prisoners in exchange for their terrorist acts by proxy and providing operational training to some Houthi fighters.

It was reported that al-Qaeda operates through committees, including a military committee led by the so-called Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki (not included in the list) in addition to security, legal, medical and media committees. And the financial committee was dissolved due to losses incurred at the leadership level.

The report estimated the strength of al-Qaeeda in the Arabian Peninsula at a few thousand recruited fighters, primarily from the Yemeni population, supplemented by small numbers of foreign terrorist fighters. It pointed out that revenues are collected from abductions for ransom, looting and theft, in addition to financial transfers coming from relatives of members of the organization abroad.

Confessions of al-Qaeda cells expose their relationship with the Houthi:

Confessions of the terrorist Houthi cell revealed last Monday about the relationship of al-Qaeda with the Houthi and the crimes carried out by the organization by proxy in coordination with Houthi leaders located in the governorates of Hodeidah and Taiz.

The National Resistance had arrested a cell consisting of 6 members headed by al-Qaeda leader Mahdi Ali al-Marqashi while they were trying to carry out a terrorist operation targeting officers and military and security leaders in the joint forces on the western coast of Yemen. In their video-documented confessions, the cell members confirmed that they were planning to carry out crimes of looting military patrols, assassinating officers and targeting civilians and soldiers alike. According to the National Resistance, which published video clips of the confessions, the detainees all come from the Khanfar and Zanzibar Directorates in Abyan Governorate. They had previously joined al-Qaeda before being recruited by the Houthi militia to target the joint forces, especially the Giants Forces.

In the audio recordings, the head of the cell, Mahdi Ali Ahmad al-Marqashi, nicknamed Abu Ali, and the terrorist Awad Muhammad Awad Jawbal, a former member of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, as well as Hamdi al-Azaibi, Muhammad Ali al-Marqashi, Musa Mahdi al-Marqashi and Mazen Fadl al-Haddar have admitted that they had contacted the two leaders in the so-called Houthi Security and Intelligence Service, Faris and Haytham Arik, along with another security leader who is responsible for assassinations in the same terrorist entity.

The terrorist, Awad Muhammad Jawbal, stated that he worked as a sailor in Abyan before he joined the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, then moved to work for the Houthi militia through a terrorist cell that carries out brigandages, looting and assassinations, indicating that his work with the organization began when he got to know one of the sons of his area in the Sheikh Salem area in Abyan, nicknamed Abu Muhammad who his name is Abdel-Moneim Baqash, a terrorist with the mission of attracting individuals to al-Qaeda. He had been involved with the organization for several months, but soon Mahdi al-Marqashi, the leader of the terrorist Houthi cell to work with him in spreading chaos by looting and blocking roads.

He pointed out that they moved to al-Durayhimi Directorate on the western coast of Yemen for working with the Houthi cell in carrying out the looting of cars belonging to officials in the health and military sector, where the looted materials are delivered to Houthi leader Faris Arik who buys it with large sums of money. He pointed out that the Houthi militia pays 20,000 Saudi riyals for each terrorist operation, 60,000 Saudi riyals for looting or burning a military patrol and 100,000 Saudi riyals for each assassination targeting military and security leaders loyal to the joint forces.

The head of the cell, Mahdi al-Marqashi, indicated that he and the leader of the Houthi militia, Faris Arik planned to coordinate a treacherous attack on a military site from behind, with the aim of seizing weapons and capturing the soldiers before the joint forces thwarted the operation and arrested the cell and its terrorist elements. He pointed out that Arik supports them in recruiting poor people with motorbikes to transport elements of the terrorist organization in emergency cases, indicating that the militia ordered them to bomb the main roads between Hays and al-Jarrahi, which were supposed to be opened under the UN truce, stressing the existence of coordination with similar elements in Shabwa governorate to carry out looting, roadblocks and assassinations, in implementation of directives from Houthi leaders.