Al-Qaeda in Yemen

Al-Qaeda in Yemen
تنظيم القاعدة في اليمن Tanẓīm al-Qā‘idah fī Yemen
Flag used by the group
Founder	Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri (POW)
Leaders	Abu Ali al-Harithi † (1998 – 2002) Muhammad al-Ahdal (POW) (2002 – 2003) Nasir al-Wuhayshi (2006 – 2009)
Dates of operation	1998 – 2003 and 2006 – 2009
Active regions	Yemen
Ideology	Sunni Islamism Salafi Jihadism Anti-Westernism Anti-Americanism Anti-Zionism Antisemitism
Part of	Al-Qaeda
Allies	Al-Qaeda of Saudi Arabia Aden-Abyan Islamic Army
Opponents	Yemen  United States  United Kingdom  France
Battles and wars	War on terror Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen
Succeeded by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

Al-Qaeda in Yemen (AQY),^[a] also known as al-Qaeda in the Land of Yemen (AQLY)^[b] and al-Qaeda in the Southern Arabian Peninsula (AQSAP)^[c] in its later iteration, was a Sunni Islamist militant organization which existed between 1998 to 2003, and 2006 to 2009.

AQY was established in late 1998 as a cell led by Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi member of al-Qaeda central who had convinced Osama bin Laden to fund an attack on a United States military target in Yemen. Bin Laden obliged, appointing al-Nashiri as al-Qaeda's head of operations in the Persian Gulf and leaving him to plan and execute the attack.^[1] Al-Nashiri's plans would come to fruition when AQY bombed the USS Cole while it was docked at the Port of Aden in October 2000. Though it was al-Qaeda's largest success at that point, the bombing, which was followed by the September 11 attacks the next year, would lead to an intense counterterrorism campaign by the Yemeni and US governments which would cripple AQY's operational capacity.^[2] Al-Nashiri was arrested by Yemeni authorities in November 2002, while a US drone strike killed AQY leader Abu Ali al-Haritha in the same month. After the arrest of replacement leader Muhammad al-Ahdal in 2003, AQY was regarded as largely defeated.^[3][2]

In February 2006, a prison break in Sanaa lead to the escape of 23 members of al-Qaeda. The escapees, most notably Nasir al-Wuhayshi and Qasim al-Raymi, would rebuild al-Qaeda's presence in Yemen under the name of AQLY. Though the groups first attack, a pair of coordinated suicide car bombings on two Yemeni oil facilities in September 2006, would end up failing, AQLY would prove to be more resilient and appealable to locals than its predecessor group.^[3][1] AQLY was officially announced as al-Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen in the summer of 2007, with Wuhayshi being named as the groups leader. From there, AQLY launched several high-profile attacks in Yemen against local and foreign targets, most notably a car bombing against Spanish tourists in Marib in 2007 and an attack on the US embassy in Sanaa in 2008. In 2009, AQLY merged with al-Qaeda's struggling branch in Saudi Arabia to form al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

With the rise of the Taliban in the mid-1990's, Osama bin Laden felt it a priority to cultivate ties with the militant group and move al-Qaeda's base of operations from Sudan to Afghanistan, leaving Yemen mostly out of the picture in terms of the groups activities during this time period. This had changed in late 1998 when Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a former Saudi mujahideen who joined al-Qaeda earlier in the year, prosopsed to Bin Laden an attack on a US vessel after observing American ships docked without protection at the Port of Aden. Bin Laden approved of the idea, designating al-Nashiri as al-Qaeda's head of operations in the Persian Gulf and directing him to begin planning for the attack while providing money and operatives.^[4] Abu Ali al-Harithi, a Yemeni militant and close associate of Bin Laden who fled to Afghanistan in 1997, was reportedly ordered to begin attacks in Yemen some time before 2000.^[1][5] Al-Harithi would come to be recognized as the highest ranking leader of AQY.^[6]

AQY's first major attack came with the attempted bombing of the USS The Sullivans on 3 January 2000.^[7] The attack was a failure, as the suicide boat containing the explosives sank before it could reach the ship.^[8] Al-Nashiri's plan would later come to fruition with the bombing of the USS Cole on 12 October 2000. On that morning, while the Cole was docked at the Port of Aden, two AQY suicide bombers drove a small boat loaded with explosives into the side of the ship, killing 17 American sailors and blowing a 40-foot hole in its hull.^[9] While the bombing was al-Qaeda's most high-profile attack yet, the operation wasn't a full reflection of AQY's power as most of the militants involved in the attack were either more closely associated with al-Qaeda central rather than the cell in Yemen, or played no significant further role within AQY.^[1]

Under significant pressure from the United States due to the Cole attack the previous year as well as the September 11 attacks, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh decided to crack down on jihadists and coordinate counterterrorism operations with the support of the US.^[10][6] AQY would engage in few significant activities or propaganda efforts during 2001.^[1] Al-Harithi along with AQY's chief financial officer Muhammed al-Ahdal would move to the village of al-Hosun in the tribal areas of Marib Governorate in August 2001.^[5][1] There, they would be targeted by Yemeni forces in a raid on 18 December 2001 which would end up failing as both militants escaped and tribal resistance lead to the deaths of 19 soldiers.^[6][11]

On 6 October 2002, AQY launched their second major attack, a suicide bombing targeting the French oil tanker MV Limburg.^[1] In a similar vein to the USS Cole attack, a suicide bomber drove a small explosive-laden boat into the side of the Limburg, killing one crew member and spilling thousands of oil barrels into the Gulf of Aden.^[12] Despite yielding a far less successful outcome, the bombing represented a turning point in AQY as an indigenous movement in Yemen. Funded by al-Nashiri and allegedly endorsed by Bin Laden, the planning of the bombing involved a group of Yemenis, many of them trained in Afghanistan a year prior, travelling to Mukalla in Hadhramaut Governorate to organize and prepare the attack.^[1] Many participants in the Limburg attack would come to hold high-ranking positions in AQY's later iteration.^[10] Fawaz al-Rabayi, a leader in the Mukalla cell, later organized a second cell for the attempted shootdown of a Hunt Oil helicopter using rocket-propelled grenades and small arms on 3 November 2002.^[13][14]

On the same day, the CIA launched a drone strike on a car travelling through the al-Naqaa desert in Marib Governorate, killing four militants from the al-Qaeda-aligned Aden-Abyan Islamic Army, Lackawanna Six member Kamal Derwish and Abu Ali al-Harithi.^[15][16] The death of AQY's leader proved a significant blow to the organization, which subsequently had dozens of its supporters detained by Yemeni authorities through late 2002 and early 2003 and experienced a "precipitous membership decline" by the end of the year.^[1][10] Muhammed al-Ahdal, who allegedly replaced al-Harithi as AQY's leader, was arrested on 25 November 2003 in a sting operation through a tip from an AQY member.^[17] The capture of al-Ahdal effectively signalled the defeat of AQY's first iteration, with most Yemeni militants either jailed or participating in the Iraqi insurgency.^[2][18]

On 3 February 2006, a prison escape freed 23 members of al-Qaeda incarcerated in a Political Security Organization (PSO) detention center in Sanaa. Many observers, including US government officials, believed the escape to be in some part facilitated by members of the PSO or other government officials.^[19][3] Among the escapees included USS Cole bombing planner Jamal al-Bawadi, as well as Fawaz al-Rabayi and al-Qaeda veterans Nasir al-Wuhayshi and Qasim al-Raymi.^[20][21][22] The latter two were the most important in the rebuilding of AQY, as they spent their time in prison building up a network by recruiting fellow inmates, many of whom were arresting for attempting to travel to Iraq.^[23] AQY's revival was first reflected in the groups attempted attacks in September 2006; a pair of suicide car bombings against two oil facilities.^[1] Though both attacks failed, the bombings reflected the most sophisticated operation taken by AQY since 2002, and itself the first instance of VBIED usage on land in the country.^[1][24]

• Islamic Jihad in Yemen
• Aden-Abyan Islamic Army