SANA'A: Yemen al-Qaeda leader Fahad al-Qasa'a announced on Friday that his group would “fight al-Islah,” dubbing the party the “new American tool.” Al-Qasa'a, who is on America's most wanted list, accused the Islamist party, which is led by Sheikh Sadeeq al-Ahmar and Mohamed Qahtan, prominent political figures in the country, to be serving American's interests rather than those of Yemen. Al-Islah played an important role in Yemen's uprising as it organized and coordinated the protests in “Change Square,” in the capital, leading the negotiating process with the regime. Many of its members and loyalists are now sitting on the new coalition government, making al-Islah the second most powerful political force after the General People's Congress. In a recent interview to the press, al-Qasa'a revealed that in his opinion President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi was merely a pawn of the American political game in the region, stressing that the true rulers of Yemen were the GCC countries and the United States. He also vehemently criticized Gerard Feierstein, the US ambassador to Yemen, over his involvement with the county's internal affairs, accusing him of imposing his country's rule in the same manner a colonial force would. “The leaders of al-Islah are the appropriate tools of the expansionist American policies at the present time,” said al Qasa'a. The al-Qaeda leader also stressed that following clashes last year with the government's armed forces, displaced families were now heading back to the southern province of Abyan, where he said they would find shelter and protection. “We are not fighting the people of Yemen, quite the contrary; we are here to defend their rights against the American invaders.” Further in his critic of the government, al-Qasa'a declared that the coalition government was entering dangerous ground as it continued to bow to American pressure, allowing the White House to gain more control over state institutions. As proof, he argued that drone attacks were still being carried out on Yemeni territory, since President Hadi seemed he said to have renounced all rights to territory. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/2ai8a Tags: Al Qaeda, Attacks, Islah, Pawn, United States Section: Latest News, Yemen
