DUBAI: Forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognized government said on Tuesday they had repelled an attack by Al-Qaeda in the country’s south that left nine people dead on both sides.
“Our forces managed to foil a large-scale terrorist attack launched this morning by members of the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization against the headquarters of the government complex... in Abyan province,” Nasr Atef Al-Machouchi, commander of the targeted brigade, said in a press release.
He said the attackers detonated two car bombs, before infiltrating the compound where they were confronted.
“Five suicide bombers wearing explosive belts” were killed along with four soldiers, he added.
A medical source in Abyan confirmed the deaths of the four soldiers to AFP and reported 15 people wounded.
Yemen’s internationally recognized government established itself in the southern city of Aden after Iran-backed Houthi rebels drove them out of the capital Sanaa in 2014.
Washington once regarded the group, known as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), as the militant network’s most dangerous branch.
Born in 2009 from the merger of Al-Qaeda’s Yemeni and Saudi factions, AQAP grew and developed in the chaos of Yemen’s war, which for over a decade has pitted the Iran-backed Houthi rebels against a Saudi-led coalition backing the government.
But attacks by the jihadist group, both against government forces and rebels, have decreased in recent years.
9 dead as Yemen repels deadly Al-Qaeda attack
https://arab.news/m8fcn
9 dead as Yemen repels deadly Al-Qaeda attack
- Our forces managed to foil a large-scale terrorist attack launched this morning by members of the Al-Qaeda, says Nasr Atef Al-Machouchi, commander of the targeted brigade
The art of war: fears for masterpieces on loan to Louvre Abu Dhabi
- UAE paid more than €1 billion to borrow priceless works, but experts in France want them back
PARIS: The Middle East war has raised fears for the safety of priceless masterpieces on loan from France to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the museum’s only foreign branch.
The Abu Dhabi museum, which opened in 2017, has so far escaped damage from nearly 1,800 Iranian drone and missile strikes launched since the conflict erupted on Feb. 28.
However, concerns are mounting in France. “The works must be removed,” said Didier Selles, who helped broker the original agreement between France and the UAE.
French journal La Tribune de l’Art echoed that alarm. “The Louvre’s works in Abu Dhabi must be secured!” it said.
France’s culture ministry said French authorities were “in close and regular contact with the authorities of the UAE to ensure the protection of the works loaned by France.”
Under the agreement with the UAE, France agreed to provide expertise, lend works of art and organize exhibitions, in return for €1 billion, including €400 million for licensing the use of the Louvre name. The deal was extended in 2021 to 2047 for an additional €165 million.
Works on loan include paintings by Rembrandt and Chardin, Classical statues of Isis, Roman sarcophagi and Islamic masterpieces: such as the Pyxis of Al-Mughira.
A Louvre Abu Dhabi source said the museum was designed to protect collections from both security threats and natural disasters.
