Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Arabic: القاعدة في جزيرة العرب‎) (AQAP) is a militant Islamist organization, primarily active in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. It was named for al-Qaeda, and says it is subordinate to that group and its now-deceased leader Osama bin Laden, a Saudi citizen whose father was born in Yemen. It is an example of the many affiliates, or "franchises," that emerged due to weakening central leadership.^[3]

Ideology and formation

Like al-Qaeda, it opposes the Al Saud monarchy.^[4] AQAP was formed in January 2009 from a merger of al Qaeda's Yemeni and Saudi branches.^[5] The Saudi group had been effectively suppressed by the Saudi government, forcing its members to seek sanctuary in Yemen.^[6][7] It is believed to have several hundred members.^[5]

Transformation into active al-Qaeda affiliate

According to U.S. counter-terrorism officials, Anwar al-Awlaki was the main force behind AQAP's decision to transform itself from a regional threat into al-Qaeda's most active affiliate outside Pakistan and Afghanistan.^[8]

The percentage of terrorist plots in the West that originated from Pakistan declined considerably from most of them (at the outset), to 75% in 2007, and to 50% in 2010, as al-Qaeda shifted to Somalia and Yemen.^[9]

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton formally designated it a terrorist organization on December 14, 2009.^[10] On August 25, 2010, The Washington Post said the CIA believed Yemen's branch of al-Qaida had surpassed its parent organization, Osama bin Laden's core group, as a threat to the U.S. homeland.^[11]

On August 26, Yemen claimed that U.S. officials had exaggerated the size and danger of al-Qaeda in Yemen, insisting also that fighting the jihadist network's local branch remained Sanaa's job.^[12] A former bodyguard of Osama bin Laden warned of an escalation in fighting between al-Qaida and Yemeni authorities, and predicted the government would need outside intervention to stay in power.

However, Ahmed al-Bahri told the Associated Press that attacks by al-Qaida in southern Yemen was an indication of its increasing strength.^[13]

Activities

Yemen played an early role in al-Qaeda's history, as it is Osama bin Laden's ancestral homeland. Al Qaeda was active in Yemen well before the Saudi and Yemeni branches merged.

Al Qaeda was responsible for the USS Cole bombing in October 2000 in the southern port of Aden, killing 17 U.S. sailors.^[4] In 2002, an al Qaeda attack damaged a French supertanker in the Gulf of Aden.^[4]

The Global Terrorism Database attributes the 2004 Khobar massacre to the group.^[14] In this guise, it is also known as "The Jerusalem Squadron".

In addition to a number of attacks in Saudi Arabia, and the kidnap and murder of Paul Johnson in Riyadh in 2004, the group is suspected in connection with a bombing in Doha, Qatar, in March 2005.^[15] For a chronology of recent Islamist militant attacks in Saudi Arabia, see Insurgency in Saudi Arabia.

In the 2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, formerly known as Carlos Leon Bledsoe, a Muslim convert who had spent time in Yemen, on June 1, 2009 opened fire with an assault rifle in a drive-by shooting on soldiers in front of a United States military recruiting office in Little Rock, Arkansas, in a jihad attack. He killed Private William Long, and wounded Private Quinton Ezeagwula. He said that he was affiliated with and had been sent by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.^[16][17][18]

In August 2009, an AQAP suicide bomber tried to kill Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who heads Saudi Arabia's anti-terrorism campaign and is a member of the Saudi royal family.^[4] In 2009, AQAP also carried out a suicide attack in Yemen that killed four South Korean tourists.^[4]

AQAP said it was responsible for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's attempted Christmas Day bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 as it approached Detroit on December 25, 2009.^[19] In that incident, Abdulmutallab reportedly tried to set off plastic explosives sewn to his underwear, but failed to detonate them properly.^[4]

On February 8, 2010, deputy leader Said Ali al-Shihri called for a regional holy war and blockade of the Red Sea to prevent shipments to Israel. In an audiotape he called upon Somalia's al-Shabaab militant group for assistance in the blockade.^[20] AQAP was behind a suicide bombing aimed at the British ambassador in Yemen in April 2010, and a rocket fired at a British embassy vehicle in October 2010.^[4]

The 2010 cargo plane bomb plot was discovered on October 29, 2010, when two explosive-laden packages bound for the United States via cargo planes were found, based on intelligence received from government intelligence agencies, in the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. The packages originated from Yemen, and were addressed to outdated addresses of two Jewish institutions in Chicago, Illinois, one of which was the Congregation Or Chadash, a LGBT synagogue.^[21] On October 30, 2010, On November 5, 2010, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula took responsibility for the plot.^[22] It posted its acceptance of responsibility on a number of radical Islamist websites monitored by the SITE Intelligence Group and the NEFA Foundation, and wrote: "We will continue to strike blows against American interests and the interest of America's allies." It also claimed responsibility for the crash of a UPS Boeing 747-400 cargo plane in Dubai on September 3; U.S. and United Arab Emirates investigators had said they had not found any evidence of terrorist involvement in that incident. The statement continued: "since both operations were successful, we intend to spread the idea to our mujahedeen brothers in the world and enlarge the circle of its application to include civilian aircraft in the West as well as cargo aircraft."^{[22][23][24][25]} American authorities had said they believed that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was behind the plot.^[21] Officials in the United Kingdom and the United States believe that it is most likely that the bombs were designed to destroy the planes carrying them.^[26]

In November 2010 the group announced a strategy, called "Operation Hemorrhage", that it said was designed to capitalize on the "security phobia that is sweeping America." The program would call for a large number of inexpensive, small-scale attacks against United States interests with the intent of weakening the U.S. economy.^[27]

The group also publishes the online magazines Voice of Jihad and Inspire.

U.S. drone attacks

The White House, in an effort to increase the pressure on al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen, is considering adding the CIA's armed Predator drones to the fight, two U.S. officials said. The drones are among CIA resources that could be assigned to an existing mission by U.S. special operations forces. The official said such options were in the planning stages, and would be put into effect only with the cooperation of the Yemeni leadership in Sanaa.

A CIA targeted killing drone strike killed Kamal Derwish, an American citizen, and a group of al-Qaida operatives in Yemen in November 2002. Drones became shorthand in Yemen for a weak government allowing foreign forces to have their way.^[28]

On September 30, 2011, a U.S. drone attack in Yemen resulted in the death of Anwar al-Awlaki, the group's leader, and Samir Khan, the editor of Inspire, its English-language magazine. Both were U.S. citizens.^[29]

Alleged members

In February 2006, 23 prisoners suspected of being al-Qaeda members escaped from a Yemeni high-security prison, reportedly with the aid of some Yemeni security forces. One of the prisoners, Naser al-Wuhayshi, was announced as the leader of AQAP.^[5] He was once a close associate of bin Laden.^[4] Another prisoner, Qassim al-Raimi, became the AQAP military commander and the third-highest-ranking figure in the group.^[17] Analysts credit his talent for innovation, organizational skills, and ability to recruit for establishing a powerful, cohesive unit.^[30] He has also been able to take advantage of Yemen’s "slow collapse into near-anarchy. Widespread corruption, growing poverty and internal fragmentation have helped make Yemen a breeding ground for terror."^[30] Yemeni security officials announced that al-Raimi and five other al-Qaida operatives were killed in an airstrike on January 16, 2010.^[17][31]

The next year, Wuhayshi made Said Ali al-Shihri his deputy after he was released from six years' incarceration in Guantanamo Bay in December 2007 to a Saudi rehabilitation program, from which he disappeared. Another Guantanamo detainee released to a Saudi rehabilitation program, Ibrahim Suleiman al-Rubaysh, also disappeared and is now described as the mufti, or theological guide, to AQAP. Anwar al-Awlaki also plays a crucial role for AQAP.

Gregory Johnsen, of Princeton University, an expert on Yemen, said there was evidence that al-Qa'ida was building a powerful support base among the tribes, even marrying into local tribes.^[32] Another Yemeni analyst, Barak Barfi, discounted claims that marriage between the militant group and Yemeni tribes is a widespread practice, though he agrees that the bulk of AQAP members hail from the tribes.^[33]

Reportedly, as many as 20 Islamist British nationals traveled to Yemen in 2009 to be trained by AQAP.^[34]

The following is a list of people who have been purported to be AQAP members. Most, but not all, are or were Saudi nationals. Roughly half have appeared on Saudi "most wanted" lists. In the left column is the rank of each member in the original 2003 list of the 26 most wanted.

References

External links

• Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Council on Foreign Relations
• AQAP in Yemen, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
• Al-Qa‘ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), U.S. National Counterterrorism Center
• Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• “Al-Qaeda” in Yemen: Timeline of Strikes and Statements, Jane Novak, Armies of Liberation, September 21, 2008
• Profile: Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, BBC News, 31 October 2010
• Factbox: AQAP, Al Qaeda's Yemen-based wing, Reuters, 22 March 2011
• Will Yemen protests boost Al Qaeda?, Erik Stier in Sanaa, Christian Science Monitor, 25 March 2011