SUMMARY

During year-long campaign to force Saleh to resign, as security forces turned on each other and loyalist forces concentrated on the capital to protect the regime, the governments effective control of the country diminished. al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) took advantage of the situation to greatly expanded its territorial control. In the absence of government forces to protect them, a number of local self-defence groups, called Popular Committees and usually comprising the local tribes, formed. The Popular Committee in Rada'a town, in al-Bayda governorate, was one such group which provided especially effective resistance to AQAP. Following the January 2012 invasion of Rada'a by AQAP, the local tribes of Qayfa, Riyashi and Sarhan formed a joint command to coordinate armed resistance and negotiations with AQAP.

AQAP's local forces was commanded by Tareq al-Dhahab, the preeminent clan of the Qayfa tribe. Tribal negotiations led by Tareq al-Dhahab half-brother, Hizam al-Dhahab, the Sheikh of the Qayfa, secured the withdrawal of AQAP within a few days of fighting. AQAP only withdrew a short distance, occupying Al-Manasih village. Another round of negotiations between Tareq and Hizam al-Dhahab deteriorated into deadly clashes, resulting in the death of both leaders and over twenty of their supporters.