Some 18 Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) officials have been released by Houthi fighters in a deal struck between the two armed groups, Aden Tomorrow reported today.

The AQAP fighters were released in a deal which would see them assist with an uptick of fighting in Al-Bayda governorate, southern Yemen, between the Houthis, AQAP and the Saudi-led coalition.

However, a statement published via AQAP’s open source network on Saturday claimed the 18 prisoners in Al-Bayda “attacked” prison guards and escaped without any mention of Houthi involvement.

“There was a Saudi-led coalition air strike in Al-Bayda and some Al-Qaeda fighters were killed and others injured – many escaped,” Hussain Al-Bukhaithi, a Sana’a based journalist, told MEMO.

“Saudi has targeted many prisons since the beginning of the war.”

The Houthis and Al-Qaeda are in direct conflict with each other, yet there has been speculation by analysts throughout the course of the conflict that the groups have cooperated at times in Al-Bayda and other areas in Yemen.

Nearly one year ago, Qasim Al-Rimi, AQAP’s commander, clarified that the Al-Qaeda group fights alongside US-backed factions against the Houthis in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition to neutralise territorial threats posed by the Houthi armed group since March 2015. The Kingdom merged the civil conflict’s military objectives with counter-terrorism missions against AQAP in September 2017.

The Trump administration is hoping to secure a commitment from a handful of Middle Eastern states to assemble what is effectively an Arab army for a permanent military “stabilizing force” in Syria that would replace the U.S. military deployment in Syria and prevent ISIS from regaining lost territory in Syria’s battle-ravaged east, like reported by zerohedge.com.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump’s new neocon National Security Advisor John Bolton, only in his second week on the job, has discussed the possibility of contributing troops with Egypt’s top intelligence official – allegedly one of the most influential figures in Egypt’s military-led regime.

And while full-scale commitments from Egypt and a handful of Gulf states remain elusive, should Trump succeed, he’d be able to tout a victory in an area where President Obama failed. Indeed, the Obama administration sought similar troop contributions from Syria’s neighbors but came up empty handed.

The Trump administration is seeking to assemble an Arab force to replace the U.S. military contingent in Syria and help stabilize the northeastern part of the country after the defeat of Islamic State, U.S. officials said.

John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s new national security adviser, recently called Abbas Kamel, Egypt’s acting intelligence chief, to see if Cairo would contribute to the effort, officials said.

The initiative comes as the administration has asked Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to contribute billions of dollars to help restore northern Syria. It wants Arab nations to send troops as well, officials said.

Details about the initiative, which haven’t been previously disclosed, have emerged in the days since the U.S.-led strikes on sites associated with the Syrian regime’s chemical-weapons capabilities.

The security force would have two goals: stop ISIS from reestablishing a presence in Syria, while also stopping Iran or Iranian-backed sources from doing the same (though Israel already has the latter pretty well under control).

While on Monday the White House refuted claims by French President Emmanuel Macron that he “convinced” Trump to agree to an extended US presence in Syria, it has been forced to concede that the US has no immediate plans to pull US troops from Syria, as President Trump recently promised. Raising an army of troops from regional neighbors would allow the Trump administration the best of both worlds: It could safely pull some or all of its troops while ensuring that the region remains protected.

Trump first alluded to his push to recruit regional partners on Friday, as he was launching the missile strikes. Indeed, the plan to recruit regional partners came about following Trump’s insistence that the US pull out as quickly as possible.

Mr. Trump, who has expressed growing impatience with the cost and duration of the effort to stabilize Syria, alluded to the push on Friday night, when he announced the missile strikes.

“We have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing larger amounts of money,” Mr. Trump said.

In early April, Mr. Trump spoke about the need to speed the withdrawal of the 2,000 troops the U.S. has in Syria, a position at odds with many top advisers who worry that leaving the country too soon would cede ground to Iran, Russia, their proxies or other extremist groups. The new administration initiative is aimed at avoiding a security vacuum in Syria that would allow Islamic State to return or ceding hard-won gains to Iranian-backed forces in the country.

The US has reached out to Egypt and the Gulf States, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. Of course, one “Middle East expert” quoted by WSJ claimed that defeating Islamic State in Syria remains a challenge, while assembling a fighting force consisting of Arab troops would face certain challenges.

Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said that assembling a new force would be a challenge because Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. are involved militarily in Yemen, and Egypt would be reluctant to defend territory that wasn’t controlled by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Nor, he said, would Arab states be eager to send forces to Syria if the U.S. military didn’t agree to keep some troops there.

“There is just no precedent or established basis for this shaping into a successful strategy,” he said.

And many questions remain about whether the U.S. military would maintain some involvement in executing such a plan. U.S. troops in Syria, and the Kurdish and Arab fighters they work with, have been protected by American air power. It remains unclear what role, if any, U.S. warplanes might play and who would call in airstrikes if they were needed by a future Arab force.

“It has to be strong enough to face down Assad or Iran if either seeks to reclaim territory, perhaps with Russia’s help,” said Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution, referring to the new force.

Other complications: the Arab troops would be expected to cooperate with US-backed forces like the Kurds and other groups (some of which have extremist views) already operating in Syria. It also remains unclear what role the US airforce would play. Furthermore, the US-backed force would need to counter Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad if he tries to claw back some of his lost territory with the help of Russia or Iran.

Estimates vary, but it’s believed that between 5,000 and 12,000 Islamic State fighters are still operating in eastern Syria.

Erik Prince, the founder of security firm Blackwater USA and the brother of Betsy Devos, told WSJ that he’s been contacted by Arab officials about building a security force that would operate in Syria, but that these countries are waiting to see what Trump will do. Egypt’s willingness to support a fighting force is also far from clear. It has enough on its hands battling ISIS-linked militants in the Northern Sinai Peninsula, who late last year carried out one of the deadliest attacks in the region when they killed more than 300 people at a Mosque. Egypt has rarely deployed troops abroad since the country sent more than 30,000 soldiers to join the American-led coalition fighting Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War. Its government has also occasionally made comments supporting the regime in Damascus. Even if countries didn’t want to send troops, they could help in other ways by supplying money, logistics support or military training.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have already helped pay stipends for US-backed fighters, not to mention directly fund the very Islamic State terrorists that the US is allegedly fighting. And Trump has already asked his Saudi friends to contribute $4 billion to restoring areas of Syria once held by ISIS; so far they have been rather quiet, perhaps hoping to IPO Aramco before committing what is hardly pocket change to fighting their own war.

To be sure, Russia’s response is pending. Perhaps Putin will decide to respond in kind and invite Chinese troops in Syria as part of his own “multinational” response to oppose any new Arab army, assuring that any attacks in the war-torn nation guarantee a new world war.

An Israeli defense official confirmed that it was the Israeli Air Force that struck the T4 air base in Homs, Syria, last week, the New York Times reported Monday.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying, “It was the first time we attacked live Iranian targets, both facilities and people.”

Israel has refrained from making any official statement on the strike, which is believed to have dealt a serious blow to Iran’s drone deployment in Syria.

Syria and its allies, Russia and Iran, immediately accused Israel of carrying out the raid, in which seven Iranian Quds Force members were killed, including the commander of the drone unit, Col. Mehdi Dehghan.

Iran was outraged by the strike and, unlike its traditional downplaying of previous indirect incidents, openly acknowledged its losses and vowed to take revenge.

“The crimes will not remain unanswered,” Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said during a visit to Syria.

The T4 air base, long used by Iranian forces in Syria, is believed to have been the point from where an Iranian drone incursion into Israelwas launched on Feb. 10.

“This is the first time we saw Iran do something against Israel directly, not by proxy. This opened a new period,” the Israeli military official was quoted as saying.

The drone was downed by the Israeli Air Force. Israel retaliated by destroying the drone’s control post and two other Iranian assets in Syria, but the IAF lost an F-16 fighter jet in the process and the Middle East came dangerously close to a regional conflagration.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that the Iranian drone had been weaponized and was sent to attack Israel.

Friedman wrote that the fact that the drone was carrying explosives was alarming as it suggests that the Quds Force, widely considered to be Iran’s black-ops arm, may have been trying to launch an actual military strike on Israel from Syrian soil.

Given the drone incursion and Iran’s threats to destroy Israel, senior Israeli defense officials “have let it be known that if the Iranians were to strike back at Israeli targets, Israel may use the opportunity to make a massive counterstrike on Iran’s entire military infrastructure in Syria,” he wrote.

Eighteen inmates of the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda branch managed to escape from a prison controlled by the Shiite Houthi rebels in Al-Bayda province, an official has said, according to siasat.com.

According to the security source, who preferred to remain anonymous, the escape followed a rebellion that erupted on Saturday inside the Political Security (Intelligence) prison controlled by Houthis in Al-Bayda province, Xinhua news agency reported.

“The guards around the prison who were badly injured failed to resist or put down the prisoners rebellion,” the source said.

“Even the weapons of the guards were seized by the al-Qaida inmates who fled to unknown locations,” the source added.

The Al-Qaeda network mostly operating in eastern and southern provinces, has been responsible for many high-profile attacks against security forces in the country.

Scores of Al-Qaeda militants are engaged in the ongoing fighting against the Shiite Houthis in Al-Bayda province and other Yemeni provinces.

The Islamic State (ISIS) resumed their assault in the southeastern countryside of Homs this morning, striking the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) positions near the town of Muhasah, like reported by almasdarnews.com.

ISIS began their attack by heavily shelling Syrian Arab Army’s positions near Muhasah, prompting the latter to respond with a barrage of missiles and artillery.

Intense clashes would breakout between the Syrian Army and ISIS terrorists shortly after the exchange of missiles and artillery, with the latter taking the offensive in a bid to capture the 16th Air Defense Regiment.

The 16th Air Defense Regiment is one of the Syrian Army’s most important air defense bases in this region of Syria; it was at this location that the Syrian Air Defense was able to shoot down the Israeli F-16 jet.

Royal Navy submarines have reportedly been moved within striking distance of Syria, after US President Donald Trump warned Bashar al-Assad’s Russian backers to “get ready” for missiles, like reported by devonlive.com.

Prime minister Theresa May reportedly ordered UK submarines to move within missile range of Syria ahead of an meeting of the Cabinet four full days before Parliament returns from its Easter break, reports The Mirror.

The Prime Minister will summon top ministers to Downing Street on Thursday to discuss Britain’s response to the Syria chemical attack.

The threat of war loomed as Syrian government forces reportedly seized “full control” of besieged Douma and Russia sent its military police into the city claiming they would maintain “law and order”.

EasyJet and other airlines have re-routed flights near the conflict zone after Europe’s air traffic control agency warned of possible missile strikes.

Russia has put their forces on high alert as the Ango-American axis are readying for potential military action against Bashar Al-Assad by maneuvering attack ships and fighter jets into position off the coast of Syria, like reported by eurasiareview.com.

Following yet another chemical weapons hoax, this time in Douma on Saturday, the USS Donald Cook, a guided missile destroyer is in position for any military action within Syria, while the USS Laboon, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer which was previously deployed to Libya after the Benghazi attack, is also in close proximity as is the USS Georgia submarine.

Meanwhile, an RAF operated KC2 tanker, which is used to refuel fighter jets, is also lurking off the coast of Lebanon.

In a related story, Russia has reportedly put its armed forces on a heightened state of alert in response to increasing tensions over Syria and the ongoing fallout over the Skripal poisoning hoax perpetrated by British Intel.

“Starting to hear isolated reports from within #Russia that the nation has put her armed forces on a heightened stage of alert,” tweeted the Intel Crab account, which is an aggregator for Strategic Sentinel, a national security analysis group.

“Command and control systems have been deployed to major military installations,” a source told TASS, adding that the Russian Air Force is closely monitoring the presence of U.S. warships and submarines from the Russian naval facility in Tartus, Syria.

Meanwhile, Russia has launched massive combat drills across the country.

“Russia’s Defense Ministry said in an online statement Monday that it had launched drills stretching from Siberia to the Urals and the Volga region, as well as in Russian military bases in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan,” reports the Moscow Times.

According to the report, Russian soldiers will put their combat skills they learned in Syria to the test during the nationwide exercises.

President Trump commented on the tensions today when he told the press, “We are studying that situation extremely closely. We are meeting with our military and everyone else that will be making some major decisions over the next 24 to 48 hours.”

The government of Iraq announced that it was considering special forces and ground operations against the Islamic State in neighboring Iraq, a battleground alreadyfeaturing at least ten major military actors fighting each other.

Reuters quotes Iraqi government adviser Hisham al-Hashimi as confirming that the plan exists, but does not yet involve ground troops. The remarks follow a press conference Sunday in which Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi expressed a desire to expand Iraq’s operations “from fighting terrorism in Iraq to fighting terrorism in the region.” He described Syrian Islamic State pockets as “a real danger” for Iraq.

Abadi emphasized, however, that Iraqi forces would not be “trespassing over our border or attacking neighboring countries.”

Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesperson Tahseen Ibrahim also confirmed on Tuesday that no Iraqi military actions have taken place within Syria’s borders, only intelligence gathering.

In the event that the Iraqi armed forces would be interested in executing plans to attack the Islamic State in Syria, the Syrian Defense Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed coalition largely made up of members of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG/YPJ), have expressed interest in cooperating with Baghdad. The YPG is one of the most successful militias in fighting ISIS and participated in defeating the terrorist organization in its “capital,” Raqqa.

“Iraq is a neighboring state and is also suffering from Daesh [IS] terrorism. Daesh [ISIS] is present in the shared area between us, and this points to the possibility of conditions arising that would pave the way for joint actions against Daesh,” Aldar Xelil, a co-chair of the Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM) governing Syrian Kurdistan, said this week. The YPG is the military arm of the Syrian Kurds attempting to establish a state in northern Syria, known as Rojava to the Kurds.

Iraq has very recently began to soften its stance on the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) a separate entity from the Syrian Kurds sometimes at odds with their political leaders. After forcing the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga out of areas near Kirkuk, the Islamic State began to take advantage of their absence and the relatively week Iraqi army. Baghdad announced this week that it would allow the Peshmerga to participate in the ISIS fight once again.

In Syria, Xelil also objected that the Turkish invasion of Afrin, Rojava – dubbed “Operation Olive Branch” – had distracted from eliminating the remaining factions of ISIS in the area and allowed the group to “revive.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched “Operation Olive Branch” to remove the Syrian Kurds from Rojava, which shares a border with Turkey. The Turkish government has designated the YPG a terrorist organization, indistinguishable from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Marxist group also designated a terrorist organization by the United States. Washington treats the YPG as a separate entity and cooperates with it in the fight against ISIS.

On Thursday, Turkish presidential spokesman İbrahim Kalın asserted that Turkish troops would not leave Afrin. “Operation Olive Branch will continue until the whole region around Afrin, including Tal Rifaat, is cleared of terrorist elements,” he announced, referring to the Kurds.

In addition to facing pressure from the United States and the Kurds to leave Afrin, the Iranian government has attempted to negotiate with Turkey so that the land falls into the hands of its proxy, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Erdogan has also called Assad a “terrorist” and declared that the “only reason” Turkish troops would enter the country is to “end the rule of the tyrant Assad, who terrorizes with state terror.”

“In order to more swiftly deliver humanitarian aid in Syria, pressure on the [Bashar al-Assad] regime must be stepped up by Iran and Russia,” Kalın added, suggesting Turkey was ready to deliver humanitarian aid to the areas it had invaded.

Turkey hosted a trilateral meeting between Erdogan, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in which the leaders discussed strategy in Syria.

French military personnel have been deployed to Syria and are now patrolling areas in northern parts of the country under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Kurdistan 24 news agency, reported.

Citing the Joint Chief of Defense for Syrian Kurdistan, Razan Gilo, Kurdistan 24 claimed that at least 50 French soldiers entered the Syrian border town of Tal Abyad.

The French soldiers were said to have also deployed to northeastern Aleppo town of Manbij, which is also controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces.

On March 29, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to send troops to the area to deter any Turkish aggression, according to daily newspaper Le Parisien.

The newspaper also claimed that the deployment of troops from the French Army to Syria was being coordinated with the US, which already operates a number of military facilities throughout SDF-controlled parts of Syria.

US has deployed more forces to Manbij, in northeastern Syria near the Turkish border, and more troops will be deployed there soon, said a senior official according to basnews.com.

“We have set up several new bases for the US forces in Manbij, ready to react to any offensive that Turkey may start on the region,” Shiyar Gardi, a senior member of the Manbij Military Council, told Kurdistan 24.

“Most of the newly deployed troops are from the US, in addition to other nationalities, including French and British,” Khalil Mustafa, an MMC officer, told Kurdistan 24, noting that they all operate in accordance with the US-led International Coalition Against the Islamic State (IS).

Manbij was freed from the extremist group of IS in 2016 by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the International Coalition.

Turkey started attacking the region since it has taken over the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in Syria, urging the US to pull out its forces from the area.

In last January, Turkey and Syrian rebels began an operation on Afrin. They entered the city through a military incursion on March 18.