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 SunniIslamist 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.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4][3]
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 suicidecar 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.[4][2] 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.
History
1998–1999: Establishment
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.[5]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.[2][6] Al-Harithi would come to be recognized as the highest ranking leader of AQY.[7]
AQY's first major attack came with the attempted bombing of the USS The Sullivans on 3 January 2000.[8] The attack was a failure, as the suicide boat containing the explosives sank before it could reach the ship.[9] 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.[10] 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.[2]
2001–2003: Pressure and decline
Under significant pressure from the United States due to the Cole attack the previous year as well as the September 11 attacks, Yemeni PresidentAli Abdullah Saleh decided to crack down on jihadists and coordinate counterterrorism operations with the support of the US.[11][7] AQY would engage in few significant activities or propaganda efforts during 2001.[2] 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.[6][2] 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.[7][12]
On 6 October 2002, AQY launched their second major attack, a suicide bombing targeting the French oil tankerMV Limburg.[2] 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.[13] 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 from Afghanistan a year prior, travelling to Mukalla to organize and prepare the attack.[2] Many participants in the Limburg attack would come to hold high-ranking positions in AQY's later iteration.[11]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.[14][15]
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.[16][17] 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.[2][11] 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.[18] 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.[3][19]
2006: Revival
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.[20][4] Among the escapees included USS Cole bombing planner Jamal al-Bawadi, as well as al-Rabayi and al-Qaeda veterans Nasir al-Wuhayshi and Qasim al-Raymi.[21][22][23] 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.[24]
AQY's revival was first reflected in the groups attempted attacks in September 2006; a pair of suicide car bombings against two oil facilities.[2] 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.[2][25] Al-Rabayi, who oversaw the training of the bombers, was killed in a military raid in October 2006.[26][2]
2007–2008: Resurgence
In March 2007, AQY assassinated the chief criminal investigator in Marib, Ali Mahmud al-Qasaylah, for his alleged role in the 2002 drone strike which killed Abu Ali al-Harithi.[27] The group officially announced its reemergence on 21 June 2007 under the name of "al-Qaeda in the Land of Yemen (AQLY)".[28][2] The audio recording narrated by al-Raymi declared al-Wuhayshi as the leader of the group.[2] A month later, AQLY launched their first major attack, a suicide car bombing targeting a group of Spanish tourists in Marib. In January 2008, AQLY gunmen attack a convoy of Belgian tourists in Wadi Dawan, killing four people. Within the same month, the group launched Sada al-Malahem, a bimonthly e-magazine, though which it would announce its redesignated as "al-Qaeda in the Southern Arabian Peninsula (AQSAP)" in March 2008.[4][3] In September 2008, AQSAP launched an attack on the United States embassy in Sanaa.[29] Although it was immediately claimed by Islamic Jihad in Yemen, AQSAP later claimed responsibility for the attack through a statement in Sada al-Malahem.[30]
Soldiers Brigade of Yemen
In February 2008, a group known as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula–Soldiers Brigade of Yemen (AQAP–SBY, SBY) announced its presence through a statement posted on an Islamist website.[31] The statement claimed the attack on the Belgian tourist convoy the previous month, as well as the Marib car bombing in July 2007 and the oil facility attacks in September 2006.[19] Led by Mukalla cell member and 2006 prison escapee Hamza al-Quaiti, SBY would launch at least 16 attacks throughout 2008 either directly claimed by the group in a statement or of a similar style to its tactics.[2] SBY launched multiple mortar attacks against Western targets, such as one against the US embassy and a Western housing complex in Sanaa in March,[32][33][2] and another against the Italian embassy in April.[33] The group claimed attacks against French and Chinese oil pipelines in March (despite the Yemeni government denying that any attacks occured),[19] and one against an Aden oil refinery in May.[31]
The groups attacks were of a significantly worse quality than that of AQSAP, with most of them causing minimal damage or casualties, though a car bombing against a military base in Seiyun in July which killed four people could be considered an exception.[34][2][35] SBY's relationship with AQLY/AQSAP was uncertain, though Gregory D. Johnson CTC Westpoint suggests that the groups were "loose cells of the same organization than separate entities altogether". He cites a video in which the suicide bomber of the 2007 Marib attack appears to use the names of AQLY and SBY interchangeably, suggesting that the names were "synonymous for the members of al-Qaeda in Yemen."[36] SBY's spate of attacks would end in August after a raid by Yemeni forces killed al-Quaiti, essentially ending the group.[37][2]
