Yemeni media circulated a document for the so-called “Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” (Ansar al-Sharia) signed in the name of Khaled Batarfi, showing the assignment to the prominent leader of the organization, Abu Al-Hassan Al-Sulaymani (from Marib) to lead the militants of the organization in Marib.
The document confirms that the terrorists’ organization is actively participating in Marib battles beside the Saudi coalition forces.
The document includes a handwritten letter signed in the name of the organization’s leader, Khaled Batarfi, to the organization’s members in Marib, calling them “to listen and obey to protect the faith, and defend on Islam” facing those as he described “the rejectionists and stalkers for Sunnis,” in reference to Anssarallah.
There was no specific date for the document but the organization has publish the documents and videos of Batarfi without specifying the date, and that has happened since UN report announced that the leader of the organization has been detained since October of last year, although, in his last video recording, he spoke about the events of storming Congress last January.
Al-Sulaymani considered one of the prominent leaders of Al Qaeda, where he came to Marib in the late seventies of the last century from Egypt, and he considered one of the accused in the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. He established a religious center in Marib to teach extremist ideas, and then turned to the military side and training in Al-Shabwani farms, Bin Gharib and Al-Arada family, in top secret.
According to information, a number of Islah prominent leaders (Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen) associated with al-Qaeda were trained by Al-Sulaymani, including Nasser Mabrouk bin Raqeeb, Abu Mursal al-Qatrani, Saleh al-Rousa, Muhammad bin Rasiya and Saeed al-Furaa.
Al-Sulaymani did not reveal his association with al-Qaeda, to stay away from targeting, but most of the organization’s leaders in Yemen received their training on his hands, and then recently emerged as an undeclared leader to the organization in Marib, then as one of the candidates to succeed Qasim al-Rimi before Khaled Batarfi was chosen.
The leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Khaled Batarfi, sent a new message on Tuesday, to the organization’s fighters in Yemen regarding developments in Marib.
In the same context, a southern activist and journalist residing in Shabwah province revealed, earlier, that the coalition had provided air cover to secure the movement of the organization’s convoys towards Marib.