Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

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Situation in 2015:
  • Under the control of Abed Rabbo Mansur Hadi , President-elect of Yemen
  • Under the control of the Houthi rebels
  • Under the control of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

    • Al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula ( Arabic القاعدة في جزيرة العرب, DMG al-Qāʿida fī ǧazīrat al-ʿArab , usually abbreviated as AQAP or QAP after its English name al-Qaʿida on the Arabian Peninsula ) is a regional offshoot of the Islamist terrorist organization al-Qaida , which was formed in January 2009 from a merger of Yemeni and Saudi Arabians Branches of this organization emerged and is now mainly active in southern Yemen . The most important military leaders of the group were or are Nāsir al-Wuhaischī (1976-2015), Saʿīd ʿAlī asch-Schihrī and Qāsim ar-Raimī (1978-2020).

    Prehistory in Saudi Arabia

    Even before the now existing AQAP, there was an organization of the same name in Saudi Arabia between 2002 and 2005. It emerged from a group of young Muslims who met regularly in the late 1980s and early 1990s at a house in the Riyadh area known as Bait Schubrā . They were critical of the scholars of the Sahwa movement, who were too political for them, and primarily concerned themselves with the writings of Juhaimān al-ʿUtaibī , Abū Muhammad al-Maqdisī and certain Wahhabi scholars of the 19th century. The Afghan fighter Yūsuf al-giltUyairī is considered to be the actual founder and first leader of AQAP. In 1998 he recruited the first AQAP leaders such as Chālid al-Hādj and ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Muqrin from his circle of friends. AQAP was actually founded in 2002 on the orders of Osama bin Laden . Several former members of the Bait Schubrā group joined the AQAP in the early 2000s.

    After the American invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003, AQAP carried out a series of bomb attacks against Western facilities in Saudi Arabia, which continued until 2004. As a justification for their attacks, they used the writings of Abū Muhammad al-Maqdisī, in which the latter had declared Saudi Arabia to be an unbelieving state. However, the Saudi authorities were able to successfully combat the terrorist activities of the AQAP. Yūsuf al-ʿUyairī was killed on May 31, 2004 in a clash with the police near Ha'il . Many AQAP militant Islamists then fled to Yemen. In Saudi Arabia itself, AQAP ceased to exist in 2005.

    Fight against AQAP in Yemen since 2009

    Al-Qaeda had been active in Yemen since the early 2000s. There were attacks in 2000 on the bombing of the USS Cole , on the American embassy in 2008 and, in several cases, on foreign tourists. As a result, Yemen came under increasing international pressure to take action against al-Qaeda. After the Saudi and Yemeni branches of al-Qaeda merged in January 2009 under the name AQAP and admitted to the failed attempt to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on the approach to Detroit, there was considerable American involvement in operations against the organization that now had its main center in Yemen. This included training, sharing intelligence with the Yemeni government and deploying "several dozen troops" from the Joint Special Operations Command . At the end of 2009, the Yemeni government also intensified its fight against AQAP.

    The commanders in chief of the Yemeni armed forces were Presidents Ali Abdullah Saleh and Ali Mohammed Mujur . A total of up to 10,000 Yemeni soldiers with a few dozen American forces are fighting 300 Islamist terrorists. In total, over 85 people were killed on the side of the Yemeni government. At most 105 al-Qaeda fighters have been killed since the conflict broke out. In contrast, at least 45 civilians were killed.

    chronology

    • December 17, 2009: Yemeni land and air forces raided Sana'a (13 arrests), Arhab (4 dead and 4 arrests) and an alleged training camp in al-Maajala, Abyan (24–30 dead).
    • December 24, 2009: Yemeni security forces launched an air strike against an alleged al-Qaida meeting in Shabva, killing around 30 people. According to reports, was Anwar al-Awlaki , a target of the attack.
    • January 4, 2010: Yemeni security forces killed two suspected militants north of the capital.
    • January 6, 2010: Yemeni troops arrested three suspected al-Qaida fighters.
    • January 13, 2010: The alleged head of an al-Qaeda cell in Yemen, Abdullah Mehdar, was killed by armed forces during an exchange of fire with security forces in Shabva Governorate .
    • January 14, 2010: According to a statement by the Yemeni security forces, an air strike by the Yemeni army killed six suspected al-Qaida fighters.
    • January 15, 2010: Yemeni security forces combed rugged mountains with the help of helicopters and hunted down around 25 suspected al-Qaida fighters.
    • January 17, 2010: A radical Islamist group claimed that Somali and Yemeni al-Qaeda fighters would switch battlefields. This exchange of fighters shows the close ties between the two countries, claimed an al-Shabab spokesman.
    • January 20, 2010: The Yemeni Air Force bombed the home of an alleged al-Qaeda leader, Ayed al-Shabwani.
    • January 21, 2010: In order to stop “terrorist infiltrations”, the Yemeni authorities decided to only have visas issued by the respective embassies. The practice of issuing visas to foreigners upon entry has been discontinued.
    • February 8, 2010: Local al-Qaeda leader Said Ali al-Shahri published an online audio message calling for jihad in the Arabian Peninsula.
    • March 16, 2010: Abyan Province: Two al-Qaeda fighters were killed in air strikes by the Yemeni Air Force.
    • 2011: US combat drones killed US citizens fighting for al-Qaeda in Yemen, including Anwar al-Awlaki .
    • In January 2012, al-Qaeda fighters led by Tareq al-Dahab captured the city of Rada'a and withdrew after a week.
    • September 10, 2012: Yemeni troops falsely reported (as in December 2009) the death of local al-Qaida leader Said Ali al-Shahri. In fact, al-Shahri was apparently fatally injured in a drone attack in December 2012 and pronounced dead in January 2013.
    • December 12, 2013: A US drone attack in Rada'a killed between nine and 12 militants. The real target of the attack, Shawqi Ali Ahmad al-Badani, escaped wounded.

    In addition to the nationwide fight against Sunni al-Qaeda in several provinces, Shiite insurgents are also fighting in northern Yemen, and separatists are gaining ground in the south, see South Yemen uprising .

    Attack on Charlie Hebdo

    In January 2015, al-Qaeda confessed to the terrorist attack on the editorial office of Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015 in the Arab Peninsula in Yemen .

    See also

    literature

    • Thomas Hegghammer: Jihad in Saudi Arabia. Violence and Pan-Islamism since 1979. Cambridge [u. a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2010. pp. 186-226.
    • Joas Wagemakers: A quietist Jihadi: the ideology and influence of Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi . Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge [and a.], 2012. pp. 120-144.
    • Roel Meijer: “Yūsuf al-ʿUyairī and the Making of a Revolutionary Salafi Praxis” in Die Welt des Islams 47 (2007) 422–459.

    Web links

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ See Laurent Bonnefoy: Salafism in Yemen. Transnationalism and Religious Identity. Hurst & Company, London, 2011. p. 255.
    2. ↑ See Wagemakers: A quietist Jihadi . 2012, p. 122.
    3. ↑ Cf. Meijer: "Yūsuf al-ʿUyairī". 2007, p. 431.
    4. ↑ See Wagemakers: A quietist Jihadi . 2012, p. 126.
    5. ↑ See Wagemakers: A quietist Jihadi . 2012, p. 128.
    6. ↑ See Wagemakers: A quietist Jihadi . 2012, pp. 126, 129.
    7. ↑ See Wagemakers: A quietist Jihadi . 2012, p. 137.
    8. ↑ Cf. Meijer: "Yūsuf al-ʿUyairī". 2007, p. 431.
    9. ↑ See Laurent Bonnefoy: Salafism in Yemen. Transnationalism and Religious Identity. Hurst & Company, London, 2011. p. 255.
    10. ↑ See Wagemakers: A quietist Jihadi . 2012, p. 120.
    11. ↑ a b Dana Priest: US military teams, intelligence deeply involved in aiding Yemen on strikes. The Washington Post , January 27, 2010, accessed January 27, 2010 .
    12. ^ Yemeni troops target al-Qaeda. Al Jazeera , January 5, 2010, accessed January 23, 2010 .
    13. ^ Yemen says may harbor up to 300 Qaeda suspects. Reuters, December 29, 2009, accessed January 23, 2010 .
    14. ↑ Yemeni government casualties: In Yemen, soldiers kill al-Qaeda leader and militant ambush kills 2 troops , Yemeni troops target al-Qaeda
    15. ↑ http://www.criticalthreats.org/yemen/aqap-and-suspected-aqap-attacks-yemen-tracker-2010
    16. ↑ al-Qaeda casualties: Yemen Tribe Protecting American-Yemeni Islamic Cleric , Yemen Says It Killed 2 Militants in Arhab , In Yemen, soldiers kill al-Qaeda leader and militant ambush kills 2 troops , Yemen says al-Qaeda militant killed in clash
    17. ↑ a b Hugh MacLeod and Nasser Arrabyee: Yemeni air attacks on al-Qaida fighters risk mobilizing hostile tribes. Retrieved February 5, 2015 .
    18. ^ Civilian casualties
    19. ^ In the poorest Arab state, war against terror is war without means. Irishtimes.com, January 20, 2010, accessed September 12, 2010 .
    20. ↑ Sudarsan Raghavan: Yemen asserts 34 rebels killed in raid on Qaeda. In: The Washington Post. The Boston Globe, December 18, 2009; accessed January 27, 2010 .
    21. ↑ Jack Healy, Scott Shane: Yemen Says It Attacked a Meeting of Al Qaeda. The New York Times , December 24, 2009; accessed January 27, 2010 .
    22. ↑ Yemen bắn hạ hai thành viên al-Qaeda ( Memento from June 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
    23. ^ Yemen 'arrests al-Qaeda suspects' wounded in raid. BBC News, January 6, 2010, accessed March 3, 2010 .
    24. ^ Yemen forces 'kill al-Qaeda chief'. BBC News, January 13, 2010, accessed March 3, 2010 .
    25. ^ Middle East - Yemeni al-Qaeda suspects 'killed'. Al Jazeera English, January 16, 2010, accessed March 3, 2010 .
    26. ↑ Yemen intents to Fight al Qaeda All Alone. Pravda.Ru, January 15, 2010, accessed March 3, 2010 .
    27. ^ Martin Plaut: Somalia and Yemen 'swapping militants'. BBC News, January 17, 2010, accessed March 3, 2010 .
    28. ^ Yemen 'bombs house of suspected al-Qaeda militant'. BBC News, January 20, 2010, accessed March 3, 2010 .
    29. ↑ Yemen 'stops issuing visas at airports'. BBC News, January 21, 2010, accessed February 8, 2010 .
    30. ^ Yemen's al Qaeda calls for jihad in region: report. Reuters, February 8, 2010, accessed February 8, 2010 .
    31. ↑ Yemen says militants died in raid. BBC News, March 16, 2010, accessed March 16, 2010 .
    32. ↑ Islamist militants quit captured Yemeni town
    33. ^ 'Yemen says key al-Qaeda chief Said al-Shihri killed'. BBC News, September 10, 2012, accessed September 10, 2012 .
    34. ↑ http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/01/22/261891.html
    35. ↑ http://world.time.com/2013/12/20/us-officials-drone-strike-that-hit-yemen-wedding-convoy-killed-militants-not-civilians/
    36. ↑ http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/charlie-hebdo-al-kaida-101.html