The goal of the booby-trapped packages which were dispatched by air from Yemen was reached, even if they were uncovered before they were detonated on board of a cargo jet, and even if they carried small quantities of explosives which could have had a limited destructive impact. Their dispatchers, who are from Al-Qaeda organization, proved they enjoyed the technical ability to insert explosives in any object and that they accurately knew about the security weaknesses of the local and international network to protect air cargo traffic. They showed they are benefitting from these weaknesses, whether through collaboration or due to some sort of neglect, and that they have a safe place allowing them to plan and implement their terrorist operations and store whatever they need for that purpose. The importance of this process is not diminished by the intelligence infiltration which allowed the detection and dismantling of the packages before they reached their target. However, once again, this reality reveals the existence of areas in Yemen that have turned into safe havens for the organization's elements. This is confirmed by the quasi daily skirmishes and the repeated battles between armed men from the organization and the governmental forces, at a time when this organization is continuing to develop its media machine from Yemen, in order to attract more supporters and elements among the Arabs, the European states and the United States. This reality also means that the organization has re-imposed a new agenda in Yemen, whether at the level of the Sana'a government, the neighboring states or the Western states. Indeed, the military deterrence of Al-Qaeda in Yemen has jumped to first position on the agenda, sometime after the slogans of development, reform and the pursuit of wise governance occupied this very position. Also during the last two days, the talk about the necessity of finding a way to besiege Al-Qaeda returned to the forefront. This talk tackled the ways to achieve this and whether it should be done through foreign military interference – especially an American one – or the increase of the number of experts and intelligence and field coordination with the Yemeni government, as well as the increase of cooperation at the level of protection and monitoring measures in Yemeni airports, ports and passageways. This would practically increase the presence of foreign elements in Yemen, thus allowing Al-Qaeda to exploit these elements in its battle against “foreign presence” in the Arab Peninsula, i.e. the first slogan launched by the organization's founder, Osama Bin Laden. In other words, the renewed activity of Al-Qaeda revives the concerns of seeing foreign troops lured into the country, knowing that the organization basically feeds on the climate of violence, war and instigation against the governments that are confronting it. With the rise of turmoil in Yemen, which is also suffering from other problems - whether in the South in the face of the Southern Movement or in the North with the Houthis amid a complete inability to launch a political and developmental action - the fears are increasing over the transformation of the country into a “failed state.” In this context, many are expecting the situation in it to become similar to the situations in Somalia and Afghanistan, with all that this implies in terms of the repercussions that might affect the Yemeni neighboring states where Al-Qaeda is hoping to plant the seeds of violence and terrorism, especially after the Saudi security forces were able to address harsh blows to it inside the Kingdom. On the international level, the booby-trapped packages “succeeded” in restoring panic at the level of international aviation, thus forcing the European capitals to adopt additional costly measures to them, as well as to air cargo traffic and export-based economies. This means that a package carrying between 300 and 400 grams of explosive substances hidden in a shipment imposed the reconsideration of all that is related to air cargo traffic around the world. This confusion affecting this sector and the financial losses linked to it are exactly what Al-Qaeda organization has been seeking. Just like after the September 11 attacks when Bin Laden imposed new aviation laws and generated billions in losses at the level of global economy, his pupils in Yemen are repeating the same operation by targeting the air traffic movement.
