Qatar-linked terror list figures ‘arrested in Yemen’

Two Yemeni men who were recently added to the list of terrorists linked to Qatar have been arrested by southern Yemeni forces in Hadramout. Abdullah Mohammed Al Yazidi and Ahmed Ali Ahmed Baraoud, who are accused of having links to Al Qaeda, were placed on the list on Tuesday by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt. They were among the 18 people and entities the four countries isolating Doha said were linked to Qatar and its support for extremism. The two, along with Yemeni Mohammed Bakr Al Dabaa, are Salafi figures and accused by the quartet of having been members of the Hadhrami Domestic Council. That group administered the key port city of Mukhalla for 12 months between 2015 and May last year, when it was under the control of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The US government had identified the council as a cover organisation created by the Al Qaeda affiliate to "help govern territories it controls and to manage issues such as administration, economics, security and building relationships with citizens". The men held roles in "charitable organisations" linked to Al Qaeda and Qatari charities operating in Yemen. The state news agency Wam said Al Yazidi was the president of the Ihsan Charitable Society which has worked with Yemen's Rahma charity – an Al Qaeda front. Qatar's Eid Charity and Qatar Charity "sponsored projects in Hadramout province alongside Al Ihsan charitable society and Abdullah Al Yazidi", Yemen media reported. They say he is a founding member of the Global Anti-Aggression Campaign, which is led by a Qatari who is on US and UN terrorist lists – Abdul Rahman bin Umayr Al Nuaimi. Al Yazidi and Baraoud were detained by Yemeni forces for providing support to Al Qaeda last year, and the terrorist group demanded their release. It is not clear why or when the men were released by security forces in Hadramout. Baraoud was also a manager of Rahma, and in 2014 Eid Charity sponsored an event in Hadramout that featured him as a guest of honour. Wam also reported that Baraoud ran a third charity, Al Balagh Charitable Foundation, in the coastal city of Ash Shihr, east of Mukhalla. Al Dabaa, is accused of being a senior official with Ihsan, and that he in January last year "inaugurated projects in Hadramout province sponsored by Eid Charity and Qatar Charity, alongside Al Qaeda supporter Abdullah Al Yazidi". * Additional reporting by Reuters