Battle of Al Mukalla (2016)
| Second Battle of Al Makalla | |||||||
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| Part of the Yemeni Civil War (2015–present) and the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 AQAP
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Qasim al-Raymi Khalid Batarfi Mamoun Abdulhamid Hatem † Sa’ad bin ‘Atef al Awlaki Mohammed Saleh al-Orabi |
 Ahmad Bin Bourek (Governor of the Hadramaut Province) Brigadier general Auni Al Qurni (Deputy commander of KSA Special Forces in Yemen) Brigadier general Musallam Al Rashidi (Commander of UAE Force in Hadhramout)
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| Strength | |||||||
| 1,000 fighters | 2,000 soldiers | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 89–91 killed and 30 wounded (by airstrikes) 100–800 killed (ground offensive, Saudi coalition claims) No more than 10 (AQAP claims during ground offensive) 8 - 250 captured |
27 soldiers killed and 60 wounded | ||||||
| 2 Saudi citizens executed by AQAP, 4 civilians killed by drone strike, and 8 killed by Saudi strike (AQAP claims) | |||||||
Yemen Army (pro-Hadi)
The Second Battle of Mukalla refers to an armed conflict between al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the Saudi-led Coalition. The aim of the Coalition offensive was to disable the newly resurgent al-Qaeda Emirate in Yemen by recapturing its capital, Mukalla. The battle led to a Coalition victory, in which the Hadi-led Government regained control of Mukalla and the surrounding coastal areas.
Mukalla is the provincial capital of the Hadhramaut Governorate and the fifth largest city in Yemen. The city and most of the Southern province around it fell to Al-Qaeda control during an Al-Qaeda offensive there in early April 2015. The Islamist group eventually captured Mukalla, leading them to a new headquarter for the group, and allowing Al-Qaeda to steal more than 200 million American dollars from the Mukalla central bank, and to free more than 300 of its fighters from the provincial prison. After the takeover, United States conducted many airstrikes against the group killing a big number of them.
The first incident was reported on May 11, 2015, when a U.S drone strike killed four AQAP militants traveling in a car around the Mukalla, including the commander Mamoun Abdulhamid Hatem.
On June 10, 2015, suspected drone strikes attacked and killed three AQAP fighters, including a commander, at the Mukalla port. Six days later, on June 16, AQAP confirmed that a U.S drone strike had killed its AQAP Emir, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, and that it had replaced him with the group's military chief, Qasim al-Raymi. A day after Nasir's death, AQAP executed two Saudi citizens in its territory after accusing them of being spies of U.S and helping them to find the location of the AQAP leaders.
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Wikipedia