Ahrar al-Najran

The Ahrar al-Najran (Arabic: أحرار النجران‎ ʾAḥrār an-Najrān, "Free Ones of the Najran") movement is an alleged secessionist group in southern Saudi Arabia that arose in response to the Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war that started in 2015. Information on the alleged group has come almost exclusively from Iranian and allied Syrian media, with no independent corroboration on them. Since the summer of 2015 there have been no further reports on the alleged group.[2]

Map of Saudi Arabia, Najran Region shaded
Ahrar al-Najran
أحرار النجران
Participant in the Yemeni Civil War (2015-present) and Saudi Arabian–Yemeni border conflict (2015–present)
ActiveJune 2015–present
IdeologySeparatism
Shia muslims interests
Anti-imperialism
Anti-Zionism
LeadersTribal alliance, thus multiple leaders:
  • Abu Bakr Abi Ahmed al-Salami[1]
Area of operationsNajran Region, Saudi Arabia
Allies Houthis
Opponent(s) Saudi Arabia

History

The Najran Region, as well as the 'Asir and Jizan regions, was previously part of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen and became a part of Saudi Arabia only in 1934, after the first Saudi-Yemeni war. Besides the eastern provinces in the country, the aforementioned province has an important Shia presence. When the Houthi uprising in Yemen started and Saudi Arabia eventually intervened, Najran as a border province became part of the clashes and tribal forces in the region began to form, with Ahrar Al-Najran reportedly being an alliance of them.

gollark: SSDs are still 4x costlier per GB, though.
gollark: Or education in general, really, but particularly that case.
gollark: School is probably not great at educating the sort of people who would go off and selfdirectedly learn electronics.
gollark: That would be nice, certainly.
gollark: So actually I do have an idea.

See also

References
  1. "How Saudi Arabia's aggressive foreign policy is playing against itself". Archived from the original on 29 January 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  2. "Saudi Arabia's Yemen Intervention: A High Risk Gamble?". The Jamestown Foundation. Archived from the original on 2017-02-22. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.