“Yemen Drone Strike ‘Kills al-Qaeda Militants’ in East”
“Massive and Unprecedented US Drone Strikes in Yemen”
Yemeni Military Checkpoint
The first article talks about how the Yemeni army has conducted a major offense again AQAP strongholds. While the Yemeni offensive and US drone strikes have been successful at pushing militants out of various areas, such as town in Shabwa and Abyan provinces, the AQAP members were able to regroup after they retreated to rural areas. Since late April in 2012, militant groups have stepped up attacks on government and security personnel. A suicide bomber blew up a car outside of a police station in the city of Mukalla, killing 11 police officers and wounding another 15. Militants have also been attacking soldiers at various security checkpoints. US also shut down operation temporarily in their embassy in Sanaa due to a gunman opening fire on 3 French security guards that were working for the European Union.
The second article describes the on going use of drone strikes against various al-Qaeda forces and strongholds. However, due to the structure in which they are set up, attacks that kill leaders and other personnel more than likely do not weaken them as much as one would think. Due to the attacks though, militants have retaliated by plotting assassinations against officials within the government and military. Gunman shot dead four senior officers, assassins riding motorbikes in the capital, Sanaa, killed 2 colonels in the military intelligence and 1 in the military police, and the director of intelligence was shot in Harib in central Yemen.
These two article both show the ability of the AQAP. While attacks against them are successful in that they are able to kill leaders and destroy strongholds, the AQAP is able to regroup due to the structure in which they are set up. When they are pushed back, they have successful at regrouping and have even retaliated. Should the attacks take a different approach on how to dissolve them? Should the attacks focus more on supply lines than it does on leaders? This is something that the US and Yemeni government must consider if the AQAP continues to regroup after being pushed back.
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