“Drone Strike ‘Kills Yemen al Qaeda Officials'”
“Al-Qaeda says attack on Saudi Arabia to avenge drone strikes in Yemen”
Both of these articles talk about more attacks by drones that are targeting more al-Qaeda officials located along the Arabian Peninsula. In Yemen, Shawki al-Badani, a leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) was labeled a “global terrorist” by the US and was on of the individuals targeted. Badani was linked to at least two plots against the US embassy and well as the 2012 suicide bombing in the Yemeni capital that killed more than 100 soldiers. They also talk about how the AQAP is attacking various points on the border points along Saudi Arabia due to the Gulf state providing the US drones “land and sky” to target their organization. While the US says the attacks are effective, Omar Al Saleh reported that even though killing the leaders could cause a big blow to al-Qaeda’s network, it does not mean that they are necessarily weakening it because the network is not dependent on single individuals. This made me wonder if the US is taking the correct approach to fighting these threats. Should they take on a different strategy, such as cutting off resources, instead of just focusing on eliminating individuals.
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