ISIS issued a decision, on Tuesday, appointing Abu Ayyub al-Muhajir as a new Amir (leader) for Yemen.
Pages of the ISIS organization’s activists on social media circulated information and pictures about the appointment of Abu Ayyub al-Muhajir as the “legitimate leader” of the organization in Yemen.
The pictures show ISIS camps in the oil-rich Hadhramout province, in the east of the country.
Audio clips also show al-Muhajir’s lectures to the organization’s fighters, urging them to prepare for combat to confront what he describes as “rejectionists,” referring to the Anssarallah movement, the “Houthis,” who were able to purify its strongholds in Al-Bayda province, central Yemen.
The appointment of al-Muhajir comes amid a financial crisis that the organization is suffering from, which prompted it to target merchants in the areas under its control in the south and east of the country.
Al-Muhajir is a relative of the organization’s financial official, whose arrest Saudi Arabia announced earlier in Al-Mahra province, and the timing of his appointment, according to experts, indicates the organization’s acquiescence to Saudi pressure, especially since the decision coincides with Riyadh’s arrangements for a new military escalation in Yemen.
The ideological motives of the organization and the nature of the fighting of its elements may be one of the most important Saudi strategic cards in its war on Yemen after its failure in conventional wars against the Sana’a forces, as indicated by the Minister of Defense in Saudi-backed government in Aden
