What is the real challenge for Yemen's Hadrami Elite forces?

One year after al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) took over Mukalla, the capital of Hadramaut governorate, in early April 2015, the Yemeni exiled government backed by Gulf countries announced it was regaining control of the city. To sustain its control and keep al-Qaeda at bay, the government created a new security entity: the Hadrami Elite, which is supervised by United Arab Emirates' (UAE) security personnel, funded by Saudi Arabia and supported technically by US forces.

The Hadrami Elite forces are composed of the tribal fighters who sided with the Yemeni government in exile as well as local recruits from Hadramaut, some of whom initially worked with Sons of Hadramaut to install security in the governorate. The main defining feature of this force is that it is purely composed of Hadrami locals, which means that Yemenis from other regions are not allowed to join. The newly created security force, which is governing the second military zone of the main coastal areas, is being trained by UAE and Jordanian security officers and has been provided with tanks, arms and logistics paid for mostly by the Saudis.

The United States also provides the Hadrami Elite tactical and technical anti-terrorism support, including trained police dogs. However, it is unlikely for the newly created force to succeed. Today, this elite security forces' main challenge is not keeping AQAP away from Hadramaut, but rather the Islamic State's (IS) branch in Yemen, which has claimed responsibility for several of the attacks since the Yemeni government took over Hadramaut in April.

To the Hadrami, the aggressive IS is a feared terrorist organization compared to AQAP, which not only had a local name — Sons of Hadramaut — associating with the locals, but also provided much-needed services such as fuel, water, electricity and most importantly security in a time when the official government failed to do so.