Yemen is seeing virtual battles, with some criticizing UAE and Saudi influence in the country, while others attack the Iran-backed Houthi movement and the Islah party. Here are the details of a new campaign targeting Salafi groups in the country.

Yemeni accounts launched a campaign focusing on Salafi groups in Yemen, amid accusations against neighboring countries of importing Salafi ideologies to implement political agendas. These agendas allegedly aim to control southern provinces, exploit their resources, and mitigate criticism. This coordinated campaign became active on artificially amplified hashtags that contributed to the ongoing virtual war between southern Yemeni forces supportive of the coalition and those opposing it. Several accounts interacting with these hashtags show signs of coordinated and inauthentic activity.

What happened?

The Yemeni landscape has been embroiled in virtual battles for years. These battles are between critics of the influence of the UAE and Saudi Arabia in Yemen, and those who attack Iran-backed Houthis and the Islah Party. Critics of the Houthis and the Islah Party also play a significant role in the propaganda machine that supports Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.

This recent campaign that highlighted Saudi and Emirati support for the Salafis in the south is the latest episode in online skirmishes. Between May 10 and May 20, 2024, the hashtag #IntelligenceSalafis featured around 22,000 tweets on "X" (formerly Twitter). These tweets were viewed over 5 million times, with a potential reach of 9 million people, according to Meltwater, a leading tool in internet and social media content analysis.

Activity Times for Hashtag #IntelligenceSalafism – Meltwater

The hashtag #IntelligenceSalafis saw participation from 7,448 accounts, with dozens of influential accounts, each followed by tens of thousands, actively contributing. These accounts posted between 1 to 33 tweets using the hashtag.

Among the most active and influential accounts were: @Adelalhasani, @SSSSRR101, @anesmansory, @M_N_Albukhaiti, @Yamene11, @ibnalmaharh, @Balqee1s, @SRMd126, @salemboket, @A_A_Nabhane, @Aden_newss, @mtahir2, @Alraadie_mahriu, @a1r2s3z4, @MohammadBalhaf, @bdelhmdalmhryy, @Ro_gopa.

Influential Accounts on the #IntelligenceSalafis Hashtag and Their Number of Posts – Meltwater

The campaign was spearheaded by Adel Al Hasani, who identifies himself as a former leader of the "Southern Resistance" and the president of the "Peace Forum" aimed at ending the war in Yemen. However, some supporters of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) claim that his views are aligned with the Islah Party and the Houthi movement.

Al-Hasani is one of the most prominent Yemeni activists known for launching influential social media campaigns, which he describes as "awareness campaigns." He frequently posts negative opinions about the coalition in Yemen. His account, created in December 2018, has 357,000 followers on X and an additional 72,000 followers on his Facebook page, which is managed from Turkey and Oman, according to the platform's transparency data. 

Houthi accounts

The hashtag #Intelligence_Salafis displayed signs of artificial activity, suggesting it was not organically driven, both in terms of interaction volume and posting rates. On May 11th alone, the hashtag had a sudden spike shortly after it emerged, fueled by 9,544 tweets. This unprecedented number of posts in a short period raises suspicions about the nature of the activity. Regarding interaction types, retweets/reposts constituted 55.5% of the total posts under the hashtag, amounting to 12,000 retweets. Additionally, 15,200 tweets originated from accounts with undisclosed geographic locations, indicating potential non-authentic activity to promote the hashtag. In contrast, original tweets directly from accounts represented only 5% of total posts, amounting to just 1,000 original tweets.

Nature of interactions on hashtag #Intelligence_Salafis - Meltwater

Adding to the aforementioned indicators, the appearance of Houthi-affiliated accounts among those engaged in "retweeting" is noteworthy, with interactions from some appearing to be artificial. It is evident that others are part of a network of accounts focused on amplifying discussions on X. This type of accounts have been resharing posts from Al Hasani and some of these accounts persistently share content supportive of the Houthi group, despite them not having a large number of followers. Additionally, some of these accounts do not have profile pictures, while some feature images of AbdulMalik Al Houthi, the leader of the Houthis. Some were created in 2023, while the latest ones were launched this month, such as: sdlnymy718985@ and @BAlmflhy36732.

Some of these accounts include: @AlbdwyMhmd92103, @SAlrdhfany32372, @llly283755, @zaeid_ali18664, @ahmdly062654556, @fahad_almathani, @fahad_almathani, @ArfWny, @NTNC4C, @SAlhsyn36973, @AlmhyryWly66517, @sdlnymy718985, @frhan134120.

What does the content on the hashtag say?

In his call to the campaign, Al Hasani accused the UAE and Saudi Arabia of spreading Salafism in Yemen, especially in the south, alleging their reliance on Salafi figures to carry out assassinations and stoke conflicts to bolster their influence and interventions in Yemen. Al Hasani mentioned that Salafi figures, supported by the UAE, have assumed leadership positions in southern Yemen, such as Hani bin Breik, the Vice President of the Southern Transitional Council, and Abdulrahman Al Mahrami (Abu Zaraa'a), a member of the Presidential Leadership Council. He also claimed there are Saudi efforts to spread Salafism in Al Mahra Governorate in eastern Yemen to extend Saudi influence over the province.

Yemeni journalist Anis Mansour, a prominent figure in online campaigns in Yemen, reiterated Al Hasani’ conspiracy theories which are not supported by any evidence.

Accounts from Yemeni platforms, such as "Southern Yemen, Sons of Aden Platform," also played a role in promoting the hashtag.

Although there is no conclusive evidence of a direct relationship between Al Hasani and Mansour, the two platforms publish remarkably similar content to what these individuals share. These pages are operated from Jordan, Oman, and Turkey, according to Facebook’s transparency feature.

It was noteworthy to observe the activity of these platform accounts coinciding with the emergence of hashtags and campaigns opposing Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Their latest activity was on the hashtag #Socotra_says_no_to|_chaos, which contained criticism of Emirati influence in the Yemeni archipelago located in the Indian Ocean.