ABSTRACT
The Gulf of Aden and Bab al-Mandeb, the waterways connecting the Arabian and Red Seas, are the gateway to the Suez Canal and of the most lucrative and strategically vital naval routes in the world. The anticolonial forces of Arab Nationalism that drove the British Empire from Egypt also followed them to Aden. The port of Aden had become the meeting place and training grounds for terrorist groups including the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Baader-Meinhof Gang – a far-left West German militant organization. The Southern Movement, which became known popularly as al-Hirak, began with daily protests in Aden in 2007 demanding equal rights for southerners, the restoration of lost employment given instead to northerners, and retirement benefits for a generation of military officers nearing the ends of their careers.
