All three strikes took place in the province of Shabwa, where AQAP remains entrenched despite an offensive spearheaded by the United Arab Emirates to dislodge the group from southern Yemen.
Hamza bin Laden, Osama’s son, criticizes Saudi Arabia’s intervention in Yemen in a newly released audio message. Hamza claims that the Saudi campaign has aided Houthi rebels by interfering in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s war against them. He calls on Muslims to overthrow the Saudi government.
The US military justified the strikes by noting that AQAP remains a “significant threat” to the United States and its allies.
The Hamza al Zinjibari training camp, which is named after a former senior leader of AQAP, is an extension of various historical al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan according to the group.
ODNI released some information on counterterrorism raids as part of an effort to provide more transparency on these operations. US intelligence claims that between 2,372 to 2,581 combatants and between 64 to 116 civilians were killed in 473 strikes in areas outside of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria since President Obama took office.
The Department of Defense announced the transfer of Abdel Malik Ahmed Abdel Wahab Al Rahabi to the Government of Montenegro. Joint Task Force Guantanamo, President Obama’s Guantanamo Review Task Force, and a Periodic Review Board all previously deemed Rahabi too dangerous to transfer. A PRB cited his “possible” role in an aborted part of the 9/11 plot, but reversed its decision and eventually approved him for transfer.
“We remain committed to defeating AQAP and denying it safe haven regardless of its location,” CENTCOM said while announcing three previously undisclosed drone strikes.
There are now eight Islamic State branches throughout the world designated by the US as terrorist entities – Khorasan, or Afghanistan and Pakistan; the Caucasus; the Egyptian Sinai; Algeria; and Nigeria.
The latest edition of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s (AQAP) Inspire magazine includes an interview with ex-Guantanamo detainee Ibrahim al Qosi, as well as an article authored by Qosi. The former lieutenant to Osama bin Laden discusses al Qaeda’s formative years leading up to the 9/11 attacks.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has published a statement explaining the reasons for its withdrawal from Mukalla, a port city in Yemen that the jihadists ruled for one year. AQAP’s statement illustrates the organization’s strategy for building and preserving popular support in the region.
A Saudi-led Arab coalition has entered the Yemeni port city of Mukalla, which had been a stronghold for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) since April 2015. AQAP reportedly withdrew most of its forces from the city prior to the alliance’s advance. Mukalla is a key part of AQAP’s plan to build an Islamic emirate in Yemen.
The Hidayah Establishment for Media Production released an anti-Islamic State video on Apr. 8 in which a witness claims that the Islamic State has refused to publicly debate. The video includes an image of a letter purportedly written by Nasir al Wuhayshi, who was AQAP’s emir until his demise in June 2015. A follow up statement on Apr. 10 contained similar allegations against Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s organization.
The Defense Department announced the transfer of nine Yemeni detainees from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia on April 16. The transferred detainees include a man who was allegedly one of Osama bin Laden’s bodyguards, the brother of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s (AQAP) current emir, and a jihadist the Obama administration determined was “too dangerous to transfer but not feasible for prosecution.”
While the AQAP commander’s statement may be technically true, it ignores the fact that jihadist groups’ local and foreign operations support each other, and both pose a threat to the West.
The US launched six drone and airstrikes against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula during the Month of March, equaling the total of the previous five months. The intensified airstrikes coincided with the strengthening of AQAP’s hold on southern Yemen.
While the US military said that the strike will deny AQAP “safe haven,” the air campaign waged by the US against the jihadist group since 2009 has done little to halt its advance.
Al Ather “news” agency, which publishes propaganda for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and its front, Ansar al Sharia, has released a series of photos showing a large rally in the city of Mukallah. AQAP captured Mukallah in early April 2015.
In a letter written sometime in 2010 to al Qaeda’s leadership, AQAP emir Nasir al Wuhayshi detailed the areas in Yemen where the group had significant influence. AQAP took control of many of these areas in a 2011 offensive.
AQAP reportedly seized the southern Yemeni town of Ahwar earlier today. Press reports indicated that Ahwar was under the jihadists’ control earlier this month, but it appears operations were still ongoing at the time. The fog of war often makes it difficult to determined which towns and villages are truly in al Qaeda’s possession, but AQAP has begun to advertise its implementation of sharia law and provision of social services throughout southern Yemen.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula expanded the territory under its sphere of influence after capturing five towns in southern Yemen over the past two weeks.
AQAP has published a two-part interview with Nasir al Wuhayshi, who was killed in a US drone strike in June 2015. The interview is a transcript of Wuhayshi’s account of the 9/11 plot. Wuhayshi was Osama bin Laden’s aide-de-camp prior to the hijackings.
Jalal Bala’idi, a prominent AQAP field commander khow is also known as Hamza al Zinjibari, “was killed in a Crusader strike that targeted him while he was amongst the sons of his tribe in Abyan province,” the jihadist organization confirmed.
According to jihadists on social media and press reports, a prominent AQAP commander named Jalal Bala’idi was killed in a US drone strike launched last night. Bala’idi’s death has not been confirmed. He has led AQAP’s forces in a number of key battles and once claimed that his group has trained “thousands” of Sunnis. In December, Bala’idi was seen congratulating his fighters after they overran the town of Jaar.
In a video released earlier this month, an Islamic State defector known as Antar al Kindi claims to expose the group’s “lies.” Al Kindi apologizes to Ayman al Zawahiri and other al Qaeda leaders. The video is part of an ongoing propaganda battle between the Islamic State and al Qaeda.
Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Regional Integration said in a statement that it has accepted two Guantanamo detainees who “have been cleared of any involvement in terrorist activities, and are being released.” But that is not true. Neither one of the detainees was “cleared” by President Obama’s Guantanamo Review Task Force. One of the two was previously deemed a “high risk” by Joint Task Force – Guantanamo.
Problems within the Islamic State’s Yemen Province continue to mount as three senior leaders, including two members of the province’s Security Committee and a member of the Preaching Committee, and 28 more fighters reject the group’s governor.
In a lecture posted online, AQAP leader Qasim al Raymi explains why America is the jihadists’ “real” and “primary” enemy.
Seventy members of the Islamic State’s Yemen “province,” including three members of its sharia committee, its military emir, and its chief of general security, announced their “defection” from the group’s “governor.”
Ibrahim Abu Salih (also known as Abu al Hassan al Hashimi) was featured in a video posted online by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) earlier this month. He has been a jihadist for more than 35 years and, in the early 1990s, al Qaeda’s leaders ordered him to build an arm for their organization in Yemen. Abu Salih later cofounded AQAP. He is currently the group’s security official, as well as a member of its shura council.
A new AQAP video features Ibrahim al Qosi, who was detained at Guantanamo from 2002 until 2012. Qosi is now an AQAP leader and spokesman.