Sheikh Ali Salem Al Huraizi, head of the anti-foreign forces sit-in committee in Mahra province, faced a backlash following his supportive statements of Houthi attacks against American and British ships with ties to Israel, in addition to his call for the departure of Saudi forces from Al Mahra, and his criticism of the Southern Transitional Council (STC).

The campaign was orchestrated by accounts affiliated with the STC and supportive of the secession of southern Yemen. Simultaneously, another campaign emerged to defend Al Huraizi against accusations by STC supporters of arms and drug smuggling, as well as receiving funds from the Sultanate of Oman, amid regional power struggles over the control of Al Mahra.

Al Mahra and Ali Al Huraizi

Al Mahra is the second largest province in Yemen, boasting the country's longest coastline and possessing a wealth of oil resources. Located in the southeastern part of the country, the province has been a field for ongoing struggles for control and influence by regional and international powers, especially Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman. The Southern Transitional Council, backed by the UAE, has sought to tighten its grip on the six southern governorates and has wielded influence over them since its establishment in 2017, except for Al Mahra and parts of Hadramout.

To fulfill its separatist aspirations in the south, the STC has military campaigns in the two provinces, but it does not enjoy widespread acceptance in all the areas. Coordinated online campaigns occasionally emerge in support or opposition to the southern separatist agenda, exchanging attacks against influential figures in the provinces.

Among these figures is Ali Salem Al Huraizi, chairman of the sit-in committee in Al Mahra, who enjoys widespread popularity. Born in the rural area of Hawf in Al Mahra in 1957, he spent a significant portion of his life in the military after joining the military college in November 1976. He then moved across Yemen's provinces and participated in the war between the north and the south starting in 1979.

Al Huraizi transitioned to work in military intelligence in 1981, and with the declaration of Yemeni unity in 1990, he was appointed commander of the border guard forces in Al Mahra. He remained in his position until his dismissal in February 2018, following Saudi pressure on President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, due to his support for the demands of Al Mahra residents to respect Yemeni sovereignty and his call to keep the governorate away from military and political tensions in the country, according to local sources.

Provocative comments

On March 23rd, Ali Al Huraizi made statements during a meeting of the sit-in committee in Al Mahra, hailing Houthi attacks in the Red Sea in light of the war in Gaza, and expressed his anger at the presence of US and Israeli forces in the Socotra archipelago. 

Al Huraizi called for the withdrawal of Saudi forces from Al Ghaydah airport in Al Mahra, saying, "The Saudi occupation commander at Al Ghaydah airport has no right to speak about the security and stability of Al Mahra." He also criticized the STC which is backed by the UAE, saying, "Those who talk about the southern state are living in illusion, and it has become clear to everyone that the transitional council is composed of nothing but spies for the UAE, they have no project or southern state."

In response to Al Huraizi's statements, southern accounts launched a hashtag attacking him, while Yemeni news sites claimed that the Yemeni government in Aden is planning to arrest Al Huraizi.

Between March 27th and April 7th, 2024, the hashtag #AlHuraizi_Serves_Terrorism was used over five thousand times on Twitter. The tweets were viewed over 1.465 million times, with a potential additional reach of around 5.53 million views, according to Meltwater, a leading tool for internet and social media content analysis.

Interaction curve on #AlHuraizi_serves_terrorism - Meltwater

The most influential accounts

Military operations have been ongoing in Yemen since 2015. However, despite the relative calm of military activities within the country [recently], Gulf states have been keen on influencing Yemeni media and virtual space. This includes providing financial resources to establish media platforms and covering training sessions for Yemeni influencers on using social networks.

The total number of accounts participating in the campaign against Ali Al Huraizi reached 2546 accounts, in addition to influential southerners, including government officials such as Fahd Taleb Al Sharafi, an advisor to the Minister of Information, journalists, and heads of journalistic institutions, such as Mohammed Al Dubayani, a journalist and presenter on "Suhail" channel, Anwar Al Tamimi, former advisor at "Al Ghad Al Mushreq" channel, and Saleh Abu Awadh, head of the Eighth Day Media and Studies Foundation in Aden, as well as members of the National Assembly of the Southern Transitional Council, such as Wathiq Al Hasani, and participants in the Riyadh consultations, such as Abdullah Al Humayqani.

Prominent among these names was Wadah bin Attiyah, who we previously highlighted in an investigation at the beginning of 2023 for his role in launching online campaigns. At that time, Wadah launched a campaign concurrently with military movements of the STC aimed at consolidating its influence in the remaining southern Yemeni provinces. This was accompanied by a mobilization of media outlets affiliated with the council, and the campaign was met with a counter-campaign rejecting the spread of council forces in Hadramout which is adjacent to the province of Al Mahra. Wadah is a member of the Southern National Assembly and the Riyadh Consultations delegation on the Yemeni crisis. He is one of the leading initiators of online campaigns advocating for southern secession and promoting the role of the UAE. He is followed by 284 thousand accounts on X (previously Twitter), and he has similar activities on Facebook as well. 

After attacking AlHuraizi in his posts on the hashtag #AlHuraizi_Serves_Terrorism, Wadah stated, "Al-Mahra will only be disciplined by forming elite Mahri forces under the supervision and leadership of the Southern Transitional Council." Wadah was also a significant contributor to the hashtag #UAE_Honors_Mioun, which was active concurrently with the Al Huraizi hashtag, gathering over 17 thousand tweets, reaching its peak on March 28th with 14,500 tweets on that day alone.

In addition to notable participation from accounts featuring the image of the Emirati Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, such as the "Alliance Supporter" account @jj_skahkn50, and the account of Ali Al Baloushi, who identifies himself as an Emirati journalist @mmaahmood11. In one of the posts from the first account, Al Huraizi was described as "an Omani man in Yemen," and that "his job is a tool to facilitate the smuggling of weapons and mercenaries to the Houthis." The account also shared the image published on Wadah bin Attiyah's account, which is a picture repeatedly posted on the hashtag.

The account Ali Al Baloushi wrote under the hashtag that "Ali Al Huraizi, supported by Iran, possesses internationally prohibited weapons, threatens global interests, and Al Mahra will soon be cleansed of him. If the UAE says, we will act, we have forces ready for the mission, and we will make Al Mahra a model for vital projects like we did in Aden and the rest of the Arab south."

The Al Baloushi account is engaged in campaigns in areas of Emirati influence or countries where the UAE intervenes, such as Yemen and Sudan. Al Baloushi, along with Emirati accounts, participated in attacking Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, following indirect criticisms of the UAE's role in fueling conflicts in the region.

In his posts, which feature the flags of the UAE, Israel, and the United States, Al Baloushi addressed Tebboune, saying, "Your words about the UAE will be paid for in Algeria," and that "those who go tête-à-tête with the UAE will be crushed." He also had posts expressing support for the Rapid Support Forces, which entered into a military conflict with the Sudanese army in mid-April 2023.

High quality repetitive content

In Yemen, most online campaigns are promoted and amplified through the use of carefully curated high-quality content, especially in the south. This is also true in the case of pro-Iranian content in Lebanon and Iraq.

We have noticed the spread of several high-quality video clips on the campaign hashtag against Al Harizi by accounts that usually promote STC policies and the Presidential Leadership Council. Visual materials with musical soundtracks make this content appear as though it was produced in studios or television channels. These repeated clips targeted Al Huraizi, accusing him of being a "terrorist, a traitor feigning patriotism, a leader of chaos in Al Mahra, an arms smuggler serving the Houthis, and a destabilizer of Al Mahra, Hadramout, and Socotra."

The majority of the popular videos on the hashtag did not display the names of the producing entities, but we found some of those entities on social networks, such as the "Ijaz" network, whose Facebook page is managed by five individuals/accounts from Egypt, one from the UAE, and another from Yemen, according to Facebook's Transparency feature. The content on the network's website has a promotional tone in favor of the Presidential Leadership Council.

Some of the posts contained repeated images and phrases in English attacking Al Huraizi, accusing him of deceit and trading in slogans, using protest squares as platforms to spread his venom, and hiding his true objectives behind human rights issues.

Counter attack

In contrast, Yemeni accounts launched a coordinated counter-campaign to express solidarity with the head of the protest committee in Al Mahra in response to the smear campaign against him. Numerous hashtags emerged defending Al-Huraizi, such as #AlHuraiziRepresentsEveryYemeni, #AlHuraiziProtectorOfAlMahra, and #AlHuraiziVoiceOfAllYemenis.

The hashtag #AlHuraiziRepresentsEveryYemeni garnered over 22,000 tweets from 6,866 accounts after a wave of tweeting was initiated by the political activist Adel Al Hasani, the head of the Peace Forum to Stop the War in Yemen.

Al Hasani, whose account is followed by 367,000 users on X, posted 14 tweets under the hashtag. He initiates and participates in virtual campaigns against the UAE's influence in Yemen, and others advocating for Oman's role. The latest was the launch of the hashtag #Oman_Fights_for_Peace, which seems to be a response to the criticisms directed at Oman in the hashtag #AlHuraizi_Serving_Terrorism. The hashtag #Oman_Fights_for_Peace included over 5,850 tweets, with more than 3,600 coming from accounts in undisclosed locations.

Yemeni journalist and head of the "Hona Aden" studies center, Anis Mansour, also played a role in promoting the hashtag #AlHuraizi_Represents_Every_Yemeni by posting 49 tweets featuring the hashtag, leveraging his massive following. His main account, @anesmansory on X, is followed by over 689,000 accounts. Mansour is one of the most prominent influencers in the Yemeni virtual space, known for his involvement in inauthentic online activities - some of which we have previously highlighted. He possesses a network of fake accounts that he utilizes to amplify campaigns across social media platforms, according to several Yemeni reports addressing this issue.

Also standing out under the hashtag defending Al Huraizi is activity by Yemeni journalist Tawfiq Ahmed, @SSSSRR101. His account tweeted 77 times, placing him at the top of the list of most active contributors.

Out of a total of 22,000 tweets published under the hashtag, more than 15,000 were of undisclosed location. Meanwhile, the retweet/repost rate increased to 60%, and replies accounted for 30.2%, while original tweets constituted only 7.3%. These figures suggest coordinated activity.

Type of tweets under the hashtag #AlHuraizi_Represents_Every_Yemeni

Some accounts under the hashtag showed signs of being fake, as their interactions primarily focused on replies and retweets, potentially inflating the hashtag. For instance, certain accounts repeatedly retweeted tweets from Adel Al Hasani's account, while others interjected with tweets containing the hashtag by responding with brief phrases or numbers like "Done, yes." Many of these accounts were created in the last three months, have a low number of followers, and their tweets did not garner significant engagement.