Local Editor
The BBC has found evidence in Yemen that troops from a Saudi-led coalition force and al-Qaeda militants are both fighting Houthi revolutionaries in a key battle.
On a visit to the frontline near the city of Taiz late last year, a documentary maker, Safa Al-Ahmad, filmed extremists and militiamen loyal to fugitive former President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, supported by UAE soldiers.
Safa Al-Ahmad spoke to pro-Hadi militiamen on a key hilltop, supported by troops from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who were providing tactical advice.
While there, Al-Ahmad was warned by one group participating in the battle not to film them.
She was told they were members of Ansar al-Sharia, an affiliate of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and that they were angered by the presence of a woman.
Al-Ahmad said it appeared that AQAP - which has exploited the chaos and seized parts of southern Yemen, including the port city of Mukalla - had sent fighters to Taiz to increase the group’s influence and spread its message.
Several reports of coalition forces and AQAP militants battling the Houthis in the same areas in southern Yemen have emerged over the past 11 months.
Some have alleged that the Hadi-government is avoiding direct confrontation with AQAP, which in turn has avoided attacks on pro-Hadi targets.
The Houthis have claimed that Saudi Arabia and its allies are more concerned with checking the influence of Iran, which has denied providing military support to the Ansarullah movement, than combating al-Qaeda.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
