Lebanese media is reporting that the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen is opposing the country’s military campaign to eliminate Al-Qaeda. According to an Al Ahkbar report:
Abd Al-Majid Al-Zindani
Despite public support, some parties are opposing the military campaign, which is seeking to eradicate al-Qaeda. Major General Ali al-Ahmar, who had previously joined the revolution against Abdullah Saleh, today became a fierce opponent of Mansour Hadi, standing against decisions affecting the Yemeni Congregation for Reform (al-Islah party) – the Yemeni branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
A media campaign has been launched against the army operation, and newspapers affiliated to al-Ahmar, such as Akhbar al-Yawm, have been publishing daily reports slamming the ‘wrong timing’ of the army’s actions, amid what they called a ‘deteriorating economic situation,’ and warning from an ‘economic abyss.’
Al-Islah also warned of the ‘gravity of current confrontations between the army and al-Qaeda,’ through their media outlets and through prominent figures influencing the poor, such as radical cleric Abel Majid al-Zandani, head of al-Iman school, where a number of individuals involved in suicide bombings were enrolled.
It has been reported that al-Zanadani suggested establishing an advisory committee similar to the religious authority (the police of vice and virtue) in Saudi Arabia. The committee would advise the interim president about the ‘risks of the war against al-Qaeda’ and about the necessity to ‘hold a dialogue with insurgents and to call them to surrender their arms.’ In a statement last week, prominent Wahabi cleric, Abdel Wahab al-Daylami called the timing of the army campaign against al-Qaeda ‘absurd,’ warning that it might further harm the already deteriorating economy.
Abd Al-Majid Al-Zindani is a leader of the Al-Islah Party, identified, as the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen, and in 2004 was designated as a terrorist by the US in 2004, describing him as a “loyalist” and “spiritual advisor” to Osama Bin Laden. In addition to his leadership of the Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood, Zindani also has strong links to the global Muslim Brotherhood including serving on the board of Youssef Qaradawi’sUnion of GoodHamas fund-raising organization and his relationship to Muslim Brotherhood figure Zaghloul el-Naggar of Egypt. In 2011, Yemeni MP’s and politicians were calling for the closure of Al-Iman University, directed by Al-Zindani, and claiming that the University fosters and funds terrorism and provides students with arms and explosives. The university was said to be outside the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education and the Yemeni President was reported to have intervened to protect Al-Zindani and hindered US efforts to arrest or assassinate him.
