Al Bilad newspaper Who is the deceased leader of Al-Qaeda in Yemen? Who is his successor? – 2024-03-12 16:45:50

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the organization’s branch in Yemen, announced the death of its leader, Khaled Batarfi, without going into details.

The organization said in its announcement, on Sunday night, that Saad bin Atef Al-Awlaki will succeed Batarfi.

Al-Qaeda published a video clip, showing Batarfi wrapped in a shroud carrying the Al-Qaeda flag in black and white.

The organization did not announce any details about the cause of his death.

Here is some known information about Batarfi:

• It is believed that the leader, born in Saudi Arabia, died in his early forties.
• Batarfi traveled to Afghanistan in 1999, fighting alongside the Taliban during the US-led invasion.
• He joined Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in 2010, and led militants to control the Yemeni governorate of Abyan, according to American sources.
• Batarfi took over as leader of the branch in February 2020, succeeding Qasim al-Rimi, who was killed in a US drone strike, an operation ordered by former US President Donald Trump.
• Al-Rimi claimed responsibility for an attack targeting a US naval air base in Pensacola, Florida, in 2019, in which 3 American sailors were killed.
• During the era of Batarfi, AQAP was influenced by Al-Qaeda leader Saif al-Adel, who is now believed to be leading the organization after the killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri in a US drone strike in Afghanistan in 2022.
• Washington considers the Al-Qaeda branch in the Arabian Peninsula the most dangerous branch of the organization, since its attempt in 2009 to blow up a plane over the United States.
• The United States had announced a reward of $5 million for anyone who brings Batarfi’s head.
• The branch claimed responsibility for the bloody attack on the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris in 2015, but its foreign operations have diminished in recent years.
• A recent United Nations report on Al-Qaeda stated: “Despite the organization’s decline in the Arabian Peninsula, it remains the most effective terrorist group in Yemen, with the intention of launching attacks in the region and beyond.”
• Estimates submitted to the United Nations put the total number of AQAP militants at between 3,000 and 4,000 active and passive fighters.