Yemen – Page 5

New statement from al-Qā’idah in the Arabian Peninsula: “To Be Absolved Before Your Lord and Perhaps They May Fear Him”

Posted on September 5, 2023September 16, 2023 by Aaron Y. Zelin

UPDATE 9/15/23 4:20PM: English translation:

al-Qā’idah in the Arabian Peninsula — To Be Absolved Before Your Lord and Perhaps They May Fear Him (En)

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The title of this release is in reference to 7:164. Here it is is in full: “And when a community among them said, ‘Why do you advise [or warn] a people whom God is [about] to destroy or to punish with a severe punishment?’ they [the advisors] said, ‘To be absolved before your Lord and perhaps they may fear Him.'”

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al-Qā’idah in the Arabian Peninsula — To Be Absolved Before Your Lord and Perhaps They May Fear Him

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Source: Telegram

To inquire about a translation for this statement for a fee email: [email protected]

New video message from al-Qā’idah in the Arabian Peninsula: “From the Archives of the Mujāhidīn in the Arabian Peninsula #51″

Posted on August 22, 2023August 23, 2023 by Aaron Y. Zelin

For prior parts in this video series see: #50, #49, #48, #47, #46, #45, #44, #43, #42, #16, #12, #11, #10, #9, #8, #7, #5, #4, #3, and #1.

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Source: Telegram

To inquire about a translation for this video message for a fee email: [email protected]

The Islamic State’s Fourth Bayat Campaign

Posted on August 6, 2023August 16, 2023 by Aaron Y. Zelin

Previously, I tracked the bayat campaign for Abu Ibrahim after Abu Bakr’s death, then for Abu al-Hasan after Abu Ibrahim’s death, and then for Abu al-Husayn after Abu al-Hasan’s death. This post will do the same with the announcement of Abu al-Husayn’s death and Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Quarashi as the new leader of the Islamic State. As I said in the original post:

There are two main reasons for this: 1. pledges are leader-specific rather than group-specific and thus need to be renewed with each succession and 2. it is a way to legitimize al-Qurashi’s rule and create a media event so that the group can promote itself as it transitions to a new phase.

The first reason is also something that IS pointed to when it began to overtly feud with al-Qaeda (AQ) in 2013, by saying that following Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi’s death, his successor Abu Hamzah al-Muhajir gave baya to the newly created Islamic State of Iraq’s leader Abu ‘Umar al-Baghdadi and even after Abu ‘Umar was killed, when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi took over in 2010 and then Usamah Bin Laden was killed in 2011, Abu Bakr never publicly gave baya to Ayman al-Zawahiri, even if al-Zawahiri claims he gave it to him privately. Therefore, from the perspective of IS this whole process is not trivial, but important for legitimacy of its leadership and to potentially weed out any insubordination before it manifests into something larger as it already did in the past vis-a-vis AQ.

This post will be updated with the latest official pledges.

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August 5, 2023:

Wilāyat al-‘Irāq