Qasim al Raymi, the new head of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), reaffirms his allegiance to Ayman al Zawahiri in a newly-released audio message. It is al Raymi’s first message as AQAP’s emir.
Qasim al Raymi was appointed the new top leader of AQAP following the death of his predecessor earlier this month. His younger brother has been held at Guantanamo for more than 13 years. Files written by Joint Task Force-Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) provide details concerning Qasim al Raymi’s career, including his time in pre-9/11 Afghanistan.
AQAP executed two men on a beach in Mukallah after accusing them of serving as spies for the US and Saudi Arabia. According to jihadists on social media, the two men helped locate AQAP leaders killed in drone strikes this year. The Long War Journal cannot independently verify these claims.
AQAP has confirmed that its emir, Nasir al Wuhayshi, was killed in a US drone strike earlier this month. The group’s new leader is Qasim al Raymi, who previously served as AQAP’s military commander.
AQAP has confirmed that Nasser bin Ali al Ansi was killed in a US drone strike. Al Ansi was a senior AQAP official, as well as al Qaeda’s deputy general manager. He was considered one of Osama bin Laden’s “special ones.”
The Islamic State’s attacks on Houthi civilians are part of a deliberate strategy. AQAP tries to avoid such operations, but the permissibility of deliberately killing Shiite civilians is still debated in jihadist circles.
Documents recovered in Osama bin Laden’s compound reveal that Nasser bin Ali al Ansi, a senior Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) official, was appointed as one of al Qaeda’s deputy general managers. It is highly likely that he continues to serve in that role underneath Nasir al Wuhayshi, who is both AQAP’s emir and al Qaeda’s global general manager.
Before his own death on Jan. 31, Harith al Nadhari, a senior AQAP sharia official, recorded an audio eulogy for the leader of Ansar al Sharia Libya, Mohammed al Zahawi. Nadhari noted that Zahawi had met with Osama bin Laden in the mid-1990s.
The Ansar al Din Front in Syria has released a statement mourning the death of Harith al Nadhari, a sharia official in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who was killed in a US drone strike on Jan. 31. The statement is further evidence that Ansar al Din is, at a minimum, closely allied with al Qaeda’s international network.
Jihadists aligned with al Qaeda’s international network mourned the death of Harith bin Ghazi al Nadhari, a senior AQAP sharia official, shortly after AQAP confirmed that he had been killed in a US drone strike.
Harith bin Ghazi al Nadhari, a senior sharia official in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was killed in a US drone strike on Jan. 31. Al Qaeda had consistently elevated Nadhari’s media profile, meaning he was considered a key ideologue for the global organization.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has released a report including two infographics that detail its attacks over the past three months. The group claims credit for 205 operations, including the massacre at Charlie Hebdo’s offices in Paris.
Harith al Nadhari, a senior AQAP sharia official, sets forth six recommendations for suicide operations in a newly-released video.
In a newly released video, a senior AQAP official states his organization planned the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo’s offices. AQAP chose the target and financed the operation, he says.
Various jihadist groups around the world have commented on the terrorist attacks in Paris and have lauded the terrorists as “heroes.”
A senior AQAP official praises the Charlie Hebdo attack in a new audio message. Unverified statements also claim that AQAP ordered the attack.
One of the brothers responsible for the attack on Charlie Hebdo claimed to have met with Anwar al Awlaki. The other may have met with Awlaki as well. Meanwhile, another terrorist responsible for the siege of a kosher market claimed he was a member of the Islamic State.
Two of the suspects are brothers who recently returned from Syria. One of the brothers was previously convicted and sentenced to prison in France for recruiting jihadists to fight for al Qaeda in Iraq.
The State Department today added Ajnad Misr, an Egyptian jihadist group, and Ibrahim Rubaish, a senior al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) official, to the US government’s list of specially designated global terrorists.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed credit for the double suicide attack today that killed at least five soldiers at the First Military Command base in Hadramout province.
Harith bin Ghazi al Nadhari, a senior AQAP sharia official, directly responds to a Nov. 13 speech by the Islamic State’s Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. Nadhari says that Baghdadi’s caliphate is illegitimate and criticizes him for trying to split the jihadists’ ranks around the world.
In a pair of videos released in late October, two leading AQAP ideologues preached jihadist unity in the face of the US-led coalition’s bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria. One of the videos also included thinly-veiled criticisms of the Islamic State’s declared caliphate.
On Oct. 20, AQAP released a biography for Mustafa Ali, an Egyptian who was killed in a US drone strike in late 2013. The group says he sought “knowledge” from Mohammed al Zawahiri, the younger brother of Ayman al Zawahiri, while imprisoned in Egypt.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has released a statement once again calling on jihadists in Syria to unite against their common enemies, especially the US. AQAP and other jihadists are portraying the US-led bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria as part of a “Crusade” against Muslims.
Nasser bin Ali al Ansi, an AQAP leader, is featured in a new video calling on rival jihadists in Iraq and Syria to unite against their common enemies. Al Ansi says the jihadists should form a “coalition” to strike America.
The Treasury Department targeted six al Qaeda financiers and facilitators yesterday. Their work spans the globe, covering more than 10 nations from the Middle East to Southeast Asia.
AQAP and AQIM have issued a joint statement encouraging the jihadists in Syria to unite in the face of the American-led opposition. However, the statement should not be read as an indication that they are breaking ranks from al Qaeda. The two groups also offer their condolences for the Ahrar al Sham leaders who were killed earlier this month.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has congratulated its “brothers” in al Qaeda for creating a new branch in the Indian subcontinent. AQAP offers “special congratulations” to “our Sheikh and good Emir,” Ayman al Zawahiri.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has released a new English-language magazine titled, “Palestine, betrayal of the guilty conscience.” As in past AQAP publications, the magazine includes instructions for building pressure cooker bombs and car bombs.
Hani Sibai, a longtime ally of Ayman al Zawahiri, has called on al Qaeda to issue a statement regarding the Islamic State’s announced caliphate.