Saudi-led coalition retakes Yemeni oil export terminal from Al-Qaeda

Yemeni government forces and allies from the United Arab Emirates took back control of Yemen’s largest oil export terminal from Al Qaeda on Monday, security officials said, a day after routing the militantsfrom their nearby stronghold, the southern port city of Al Mukalla.

About 80 percent of Yemen’s modest oil reserves were exported in peacetime from the terminal in Ash Shihr, 42 miles east of Al Mukalla. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula tried last year to export the two million barrels of oil stored there with the approval of Yemen’s government, which refused. The terminal has been shut since Al Qaeda seized the area.

Local Yemeni officials said on Sunday that some 2,000 Yemeni and Emirati troops had advanced into Al Mukalla, taking control of its seaport and airport and setting up checkpoints throughout the city.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is widely considered the militant group’s most dangerous affiliate, was taking about $2 million a day in taxes from the port.

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