While most of us have
heard a great deal about al-Qaeda, particularly since September 11, 2001, the
group's offshoot, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), is less well-known.
In this posting, I will provide a bit of background on AQAP that I've drawn from
several sources, where AQAP came from and what it has done since it was formed
in 2009.
Since Yemen is the
current home base for AQAP, we need to put everything into context. Over
the years from the early 1990s to the late 2000s, Yemen was a significant
producer of oil as shown on this
map:
...and this graph:
Declining oil production in Yemen is related, in large part, to the nation's difficult security environment, an
issue that could have a significant impact on the nation's ability to become a
player in the world's liquified natural gas business. In 2013, there were
at least 10 attacks on Yemen's natural gas and oil pipeline system with some
reports suggesting that there were as many as 24 attacks. However,
despite the nation's declining oil production, its geographic location is key
to the transportation of a significant quantity of the world's oil since more
than 3.4 million barrels of oil passed through the Bab el-Mandab located in the
southwest corner of the nation at the outlet between the Red Sea and the Gulf
of Aden as shown on this map:
If this 2 mile-wide chokepoint were to
close, this oil would have to be transported around the southern tip of Africa
to reach European, North American and South American markets.
It is also important to
recall that Yemen did not support the United States against Iraq in the First
Gulf War but that Yemen's President Saleh was one of the first of the world's
foreign leaders to pledge his support to the United States after the September
11, 2001 attacks.
AQAP was founded in
January 2009 through a merger of the Yemeni and Saudi branches of al-Qaeda.
If we go back in time, we find that in the later 1980s, North Yemen's
Saleh regime repatriated thousands of Yemenis who had fought against the Soviet
Union in Afghanistan, fighters who were regarded as heros. These mujahideen
were brought home to fight the U.S.S.R.-backed Marxist government of South
Yemen in an attempt to reunify the two Yemens. Among the returnees were
other Arab fighters, namely Osama bin Laden who promoted Yemen as a key in the
global Muslim war. Over the years there have been three main jihadist groups in Yemen;
Islamic Jihad in Yemen from 1990 to 1994, the Army of Aden Abyan from 1994 to
1998 and al-Qaeda in Yemen or AQY from 1998 to 2003. Some of you may
remember the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole while it was moored in the
port of Aden; this attack was spearheaded by members of AQY.
After the attacks on the
World Trade Center, President Bush II pressured President Ali Abdullah Saleh to
take counter-terrorism moves against AQY. The first U.S. drone strike in
the region took place in 2002, killing AQY's leader Abu Ali-al-Harithi.
By 2003, it appeared that AQY had been defeated and was largely
irrelevant. In November 2005, the United States announced
that, despite the co-operation of the Saleh regime in the fight against
terrorism, Yemen would lose its $20 million in USAID assistance. On top
of that, the following day, the World Bank cut aid to Yemen from $420 million
annually to $280 million. In February 2006, 23 political prisoners
"escaped" from a political security prison in the capital, Sana'a,
among them, 39 year old Nasser al-Wuyashi who heads the AQAP today. These
"escapees" worked to bring al-Qaeda back to life. In March
2007, al-Qaeda officially announced its re-emergence with al-Wuyashi as its
commander. In late 2008, a crackdown by the Saudi government led the
membership of the local al-Qaeda franchise to flee to Yemen and unite with the
Yemeni al-Qaeda, forming what we now know as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
or AQAP.
Here is a list of some of
their key "accomplishments" since the group was resurrected:
In January 2008, it
targeted Belgian tourists with suicide bombs.
In April 2008, it bombed
a Japanese oil tanker.
In September 2008, it
launched an assault on the U.S. embassy in Sana'a.
In March 2009 it targeted
South Korean tourists with suicide bombs.
In August 2009, it
attempted to assassinate Saudi Prince Muhammad bin Nayif, using a 23-year old
suicide bomber with a bomb concealed in his rectum.
On December 25, 2009,
there was an attempted attack on Northwest Airlines flight 253 flying from Amsterdam to
Detroit, Michigan. (i.e the Underwear Bomber)
In April 2010, AQAP was
also responsible for an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the British
Ambassador.
In October 2010, there
were two attempts to down Chicago-bound aircraft with bombs disguised as
printer cartridges. As well, AQAP failed in their attempt to target a
British Embassy vehicle with a rocket
In May 2012, a suicide
bomber killed 90 Yemeni soldiers and injured more than 220 people in total at a
rehearsal for a military parade in Sana'a.
Land mines laid by AQAP
during 2012 in parts of Yemen have killed 72 residents in the towns of Zinjibar
and Jaar.
According to the U.S.
State Department, AQAP had an estimated one thousand members in 2013. This shows
fairly dramatic growth since 2009 when there were an estimated 200 to 300 members.
It is also believed that
Saleh allowed 70 al-Qaeda prisoners to go free from a political security prison
in Sana'a in 2011, again in an attempt to bolster support from the Americans.
Since December 2009, the
Obama Administration has carried out attacks against AQAP in Yemen, primarily
using drones but also implementing the use of covert operations. It is
estimated that there were 13 to 15 drone strikes in Yemen during 2014
accompanied by one additional "other operation" which killed a
reported 82 to 118 people.
To al-Qaeda, the more
chaotic Yemen becomes, the better it is for al-Qaeda. Many experts feel
that AQAP is the most virulent franchise of the al-Qaeda brand and the recent
actions of AQAP in France would suggest that they are not far from wrong.
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