Kuwait won the Gulf Cup on Sunday, beating Saudi Arabia 1-0 in extra time in a tournament played amid heavy security and threats of violence from al-Qaida.

Striker Waleed Aly scored in the 95th minute to give Kuwait its record 10th Gulf Cup title. Saudi Arabia was going for its fourth Gulf Cup crown, but was stymied by a stingy Kuwait defense that yielded only two goals all tournament.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who attended the final, called the staging of the tournament a “a political and moral victory for Yemen.”

Saleh handed the Gulf Cup trophy to the Kuwaiti team, while fireworks went off above the 30,000-strong crowd of mostly Yemeni fans. Fans drove cars wrapped in green Kuwait flags through the streets of Aden, honking horns to celebrate their team’s victory.

The tournament opened last month amid tight security in the southern port city of Aden. Some football federations early on had suggested the tournament might not happen because of safety concerns and worries that hotels and football facilities would not be ready.

Dozens of checkpoints were set up across Aden and security forces established three rings of security around the city. Security remained tight throughout the tournament, which went off without incident.

A few months ago, a separatist movement in southern Yemen had demanded that the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq boycott the competition. The Supreme Council of the Southern Movement said that participating in the 20th Gulf Cup would lend support to Yemen’s government at a time when “the south is bleeding.”

There are almost daily clashes between the military and suspected al-Qaida gunmen, including an attack by suspected militants last month that killed a security chief of a southern Yemeni town and triggered a series of clashes between soldiers and militants that killed eight people, mostly government troops.

Fears of violence at the tournament had to be taken seriously, given that sporting events have been targeted in the past.

Togo pulled out of the African Cup of Nations in January after its team bus was attacked by gunmen in Angola two days before the start of the tournament. A separatist group claimed responsibility for the attack that killed an assistant coach and a spokesman.

Last year, gunmen in Pakistan killed six policemen and a van driver when they attacked a bus carrying Sri Lankan cricketers. Several Sri Lankan cricketers were injured in the attack, which resulted in Pakistan being dropped as co-host of the 2011 World Cup, and barred from hosting any international cricket.

The next Gulf Cup in 2013 will be held in Basra, Iraq.