On March 30, the Al-Akhbar daily newspaper carried the following report: "The available pieces of information confirm the existence of a high level of coordination between Al-Qa'idah and the Saudi-Emirati alliance. Al-Qa'idah's participation in the battles at the Ma'rib governorate recently alongside the Saudi-supported forces was not a first. This group has and is still participating in all the different fighting fronts since the launching of the war six years ago. However, its participation this time was different in terms of two areas: in terms of the quality of participation, since Al-Qa'idah pushed additional elements to the governorate's ignited fronts, and in terms of coordination, as the available pieces of information indicate the existence of a high level of coordination between the group and the Saudi-Emirati alliance on one hand, and the commanders of the fronts on the other hand.

"This important participation by Al-Qa'idah comes in light of the growing concerns felt by Saudi Arabia and the Reform Party who fear that the Sanaa forces will control the city following the major progress achieved in several fronts over the past weeks. On top of that, the Ma'rib governorate constitutes a historical stronghold for Al-Qa'idah, which is confirmed by a number of events pertaining to the "war on terrorism" file mainly the US drone attacks. If the Sanaa forces were to control the entire governorate, then Al-Qa'idah will lose one of its most important strongholds like the case with other Yemeni governorates. It is also important to indicate that Al-Qa'idah's presence and activities have been reduced over the past years in the Yemeni cities and governorates controlled by the Saudi and Emirati-supported groups…

"Regardless of the importance of the Ma'rib governorate in the eyes of Al-Qa'idah, the group believes that fighting alongside the MBs and the Salafists and fighting against the Ansarullah group is a religious duty as per the statements of some of the group's senior officials… However, Al-Qa'idah's participation on the combat fronts in the Ma'rib governorate is not a mere conclusion based on some religious ideas. This participation was rather confirmed by the organization itself back in 2016 by carrying quasi-daily pieces of news about the battles on the Sarwah Front, in the west of the governorate via the Ansar al-Shari'aa Twitter account.

"Then, instructions were issued by the leaders of the local authority to stop publishing and abstain from brandishing black flags because this would place the Alliance in an embarrassing position in front of the international community. The latter did not hide its concern over the negative repercussions of the Saudi military operation on the file of terrorism in Yemen."