Al Qaeda and southerners in Yemen

Separatists in southern Yemen and Al Qaeda could end up uniting against the Yemeni government if the US pushes for more armed actions against Al Qaeda in Yemen and the Yemen government uses this opportunity to attack separatists. Separatists and Al Qaeda could unite to face a common enemy:

Any melding of the Southern Movement and al-Qaeda is far from established, he said. But that could change if the U.S.-backed war deepens without Washington pressuring Saleh to stop repression in the south. Angry southerners, meanwhile, have accused the government and the United States of killing a few dozen civilians in an airstrike last month. Yemeni officials say they killed militants and their relatives.

"It will change the sympathies if they have a common enemy in the United States," Wilcke said. "Al-Qaeda will become more of an ally. This is exactly what we don't want to get into."