By: Abdul Salam al-Hatimi

The political assassinations targeting leaders of the Yemeni Islah Party hardly stop until they start again, and the last of these assassinations was the assassination of the leader in the Islah Party and the leader of the popular resistance in Taiz Governorate, Mr. Dhyaa al-Haq al-Ahdal, in front of his house in Jamal Street in the center of Taiz. The crime of assassinating al-Ahdal came after launching an incitement campaign targeting the Islah Party and al-Ahdal personally, as well as targeting the popular resistance and the national army in Taiz in general.

The crime of the assassination of Dhyaa al-Haq al-Ahdal represents an extension of the organized and funded terrorism targeting the Yemeni Islah Party in several Yemeni Governorates, in addition to targeting the Taiz Governorate, its popular resistance and its national army, where the city of Taiz witnessed a number of assassinations targeting political and party leaders, leaders of the popular resistance and military leaders. The most prominent of them was the commander of the 315th Brigade, Brigadier General Adnan al-Hammadi, in addition to the assassination of a number of members of the National Army and their burial in secret graves that were later revealed.

Organized and funded terrorism began targeting the Yemeni Islah Party since the early preparations for the Houthi militia coup against the legitimate authority. It is noteworthy that, prior to and immediately after the coup, the Houthi militias occupied the headquarters of the Islah Party, looted their contents, detonated some of them and turned others into headquarters for them, and this was in conjunction with their pursuit leaders and members of the Party, imprisoning them and taking them as human shields through imprisoning them in weapons depots and other places that were expected to be targeted by the warplanes of the Arab Alliance.

After that, other terrorist groups and groups supported by foreign countries began targeting leaders, members and activists of the Islah Party in several Yemeni Governorates, prompted by their anger at the national role shown by the Islah Party in the war against the Houthi coup and Iranian influence in Yemen, in addition to the Party’s alliance with the legitimate authority and its support for the intervention of the Arab Alliance led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to support the legitimate Yemeni authority against the Houthi coup.

From the beginning of the war until the present time, the Yemeni Islah Party has been paying the price for its patriotic stances in support of the legitimate authority in its war against the Houthi coup. Various terrorist groups and externally supported groups conspired against the Islah Party in the liberated and non-liberated Governorates with the aim of silencing it and neutralizing its role in the battle, but this only increased its determination in its support for the legitimate authority and the Arab Alliance in the war against the coup and restoring the state.

Political assassinations began to target the Islah Party since 2014, and these assassinations intensified during the year 2016, then decreased in intensity during the year 2017. But on the other hand, this year witnessed several terrorist operations that targeted soldiers in the National Army and others who volunteered in the popular resistance in Taiz Governorate in particular, because of their affiliation with the Islah Party, rather some of them were targeted by terrorism just because they suspected that they were affiliated with the Islah Party, even though they were not.

These terrorist operations have raised fears in Taiz Governorate and caused disturbing public tranquility, especially as they took place in several places inside and outside the city. The term "Motorcycles of death" appeared because most of these operations were carried out by masked terrorists on motorbikes. This phenomenon occupied a wide space in media discourses and writings due to the growing phenomenon of terrorism in Taiz directed against the Islah Party in particular, the National Army and the popular resistance in the Governorate in general.

The year 2018 was the deadliest for the Yemeni Islah Party, where terrorist operations that targeted a large number of its leaders and cadres increased during this year compared to previous years, and these operations resulted in the martyrdom of a number of leaders and cadres belonging to the Islah Party and the survival of others. The theater of these operations varied to include several Yemeni Governorates and affected different categories of political, military, educators, activists and politicians leaders, as well as media professionals.

The following are the most prominent terrorist operations that have targeted leaders of the Islah Party in Taiz since 2014:

- November 18, 2014: The assassination of Sadiq Mansour al-Haidari, Assistant Secretary-General of the Yemeni Islah Party in Taiz Governorate, by an explosive device attached to his car.

- July 13, 2016: The assassination of Hamdi Hammoud, a leader in the popular resistance in the city of Taiz.

- July 24, 2016: The assassination of Malik Ahmed Abdullah Khorasan, a member of the Ibb Resistance Military Council, by gunmen bullets in the Al-Asfal Al-Tahrir Street in the city of Taiz.

- March 30, 2018: The assassination of Rafiq al-Akhali, an educator and leader in the Islah Party, while he was leaving after performing Friday prayers from Al-Esaei Mosque in the city of Taiz.

- April 2, 2018: The death of the leader in the Islah party and preacher of Al-Esai Mosque in Taiz, Sheikh Omar Dawkam, succumbed to his wounds, after he was subjected to an assassination attempt while leaving the mosque after Friday prayers on March 30, 2018, which is the same terrorist operation in which the leader in the Islah Party, Rafiq Al-Akhali, was assassinated, and they were both targeted together.

- October 20, 2018: The assassination of Ali Abdullah Muqbel, a leader in the Islah party, in an ambush set by gunmen near Al-Hurriya Market in the Sharaab Al-Runah District in Taiz Governorate.

Finally, the crime of the assassination of Mr. Dhyaa al-Haq al-Ahdal, a leader in the Islah Party and a member of the Popular Resistance Council in Taiz, in front of his house on Jamal Street in the city center, last Saturday morning.

There are several reasons that push terrorist groups and foreign-backed groups to target the leaders and members of the Islah Party with death by various means. These reasons can be measured according to the type of other personalities who do not belong to the Islah Party, who have been affected by the criminality of terrorist groups, and the search for commonalities between these figures and the Islah Party, which are leaders in the National Army, whether they are independent or affiliated with other currents, in addition to some scholars and preachers belonging to the Salafi movement.

Here, we can summarize the reasons and motives of terrorist groups and externally supported groups for targeting the Islah Party and the groups mentioned previously in two main reasons:

The first reason: That these groups target the Islah Party because of its standing by the legitimate authority and the Arab Alliance in the war against the coup and the work to restore the state and the Party’s big role in that, and therefore terrorist groups and others deliberately target the Islah Party and some leaders of the National Army in order to eliminate all those who work in order to restore the state, because the state is the opposite of terrorist groups and primitive racist groups, and therefore these groups fear the establishment of a strong state that works to limit their influence and then eliminate them completely.

The second reason: That the terrorist groups and groups backed by despotic governments of foreign countries are angry at the moderate ideology adopted by the Islah Party because this ideology works to curb and besiege extremist terrorist ideology and contributes to drying up the sources of terrorism. Therefore, terrorist groups seek to eliminate the moderate religious ideology that is working to besiege them, as well as the preachers affiliated with the Islah party who carry this ideology and their companions belonging to the Salafi trend, especially the influential preachers on both sides who are known for their moderation and love of people for them.