Attacks in Yemen Reflect al-Qaeda’s Global Oil Strategy

By Chris Zambelis

Recent attacks by al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch, Kataeb Jund al-Yemen (Soldiers of Yemen Brigades), against oil facilities across Yemen indicate that al-Qaeda’s larger strategy to strike oil targets remains a top priority. On June 30 the group took credit for rocket attacks against an oil refinery in Safir, located east of the capital Sanaa, in Maarib province. The group later posted video footage of attack on a radical Islamist website. The attack represented the latest in a series of strikes against oil infrastructure and personnel in Yemen over the last year by militants tied to al-Qaeda, including a May 30 attack against an oil refinery in the port city of Aden. In a related incident, the group threatened to escalate its campaign of violence against oil infrastructure and foreign interests in Yemen unless the state released members of its group currently detained by Yemeni authorities. ....