By Al-Fassel | 2024-05-02

The United States still considers al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) a threat and is committed to combating the terrorist group.

Based in war-torn Yemen's south, AQAP is considered by Washington the al-Qaeda network's most dangerous branch.

Born in 2009 from the merger of al-Qaeda's Yemeni and Saudi factions, AQAP grew and developed in the chaos of Yemen's war.

The group has claimed numerous high-profile attacks in the United States and Europe, including the 2015 assault on Charlie Hebdo magazine in France's capital that killed 12 people.

But internal crises and successful operations targeting AQAP's leadership have weakened the group in recent years.

In the first two months of 2023, drone strikes killed a top AQAP leader, Hamad al-Tamimi, and another man who oversaw media and financial matters.

In February 2020, AQAP suffered a major blow when its powerful leader Qassim al-Rimi was killed in an air strike in the Wadi Obeida district of Yemen's Marib province.

Rimi was replaced with Khalid al-Batarfi, who was in turn succeeded by Saad al-Awlaki in March.

Al-Awlaki is wanted over calls "for attacks against the United States and its allies," according to the US State Department.

Al-Awlaki, a member of AQAP's shura council, has broad internal support from leaders who now look to him to mobilize fighters, Yemeni sources close to the group told AFP.

The new leader has good relations with powerful Yemeni tribes -- particularly in his home governorate of Shabwa, an AQAP stronghold -- that could revitalize the group, a tribal official said.

Washington is offering a reward of up to $6 million for information leading to his identification or location.

In addition to the reward for information on al-Awlaki, the United States is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of al-Qaeda leader Saif al-Adel.

Al-Adel has worked off and on with Iran for decades and is now understood to be based in that country.