According to the UN, the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Khalid Batarfi, has been arrested and his number two, Saad Atef al Awlaqi, was arrested during an operation in Ghayda City, Al-Mahrah Governorate, in October. dead. ”
This is the first time that the arrest of Batarfi has been officially confirmed. The UN has not provided any further details on the operation or on the current location of Batarfi. In early October, the SITE Intelligence Group drew attention to ‘unconfirmed reports’ indicating that Batarfi had been arrested by Yemeni security forces in the Mahra Governorate and subsequently handed over to Saudi Arabia.
Batarfi becomes the leader of AQAP in early 2020 after its predecessor was killed in a US air strike. Batarfi, who is in his early forties, comes from a Yemeni family but was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He trained with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan before 9/11 and later joined Al Qaeda’s subsidiary in Yemen. Batarfi became a key ideologue for the group and, according to the UN, helped oversee its external operations before becoming a leader.
The fact that Batarfi captured alive during the raid rather than bring about ‘martyrdom’ like Osama bin Laden will be a great embarrassment to Al Qaeda. In his first speech as AQAP leader in March last year, Batarfi said that ‘according to our methodology, the martyrdom of leaders is a proof of its truth, and that it is a tribute to these leaders,’ according to a translation by the SITE Intelligence. Group.
Since Batarfi was the ’emir’ of one of al-Qaeda’s most important regional subsidiaries, there is unlikely to be a more senior al-Qaeda leader caught alive since bin Laden founded the group more than 30 years ago. Despite the fact that AQAP has spoken out on other matters over the past few months, he has not acknowledged the arrest of Batarfi.
The loss to Batarfi is the latest in a series of setbacks for AQAP. In February 2020, the US government announced that Batarfi’s predecessor Qassim al-Rimi had been killed during an air strike in Yemen. It follows a deadly shooting attack in December 2019 on Naval Air Station Pensacola by a Saudi air force officer who coordinated with AQAP, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“In addition to leadership losses, AQAP is suffering from an erosion in its ranks caused by differences of opinion and desolation,” and has been forced to disperse after a significant military defeat by Bayda Governorate, the UN report said.
It states that the global al-Qaeda network ‘faces a new and urgent challenge to its leadership and strategic direction, following an extraordinary period of its senior leaders’ decline’ in Afghanistan, Mali, Somalia , Yemen and Syria’s Idlib province.
The report states that no member state has been able to confirm the reports of deaths due to natural causes of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in October. Last month, the US government publicly confirmed that its deputy Abu Muhammad al-Masri was assassinated in Iran in August.
According to the UN report, Saif al-Adel, a veteran of Egypt’s Al Qaeda, who, like al-Masri, has long lived in Iran, is likely to take over from al-Zawahiri next.
The report reads: “Should a succession of al-Zawahiri be needed, it could be difficult for the new leader to move to Afghanistan, as such a move could have an impact on the interests of the Taliban, given their peace process obligations. Al-Qaeda expects member states to overcome these challenges, but it is not clear whether they will eventually emerge stronger, under a more dynamic leadership, or where its leaders will eventually find a safe haven to work from. ‘
A potential increase in ISIS terrorist attacks in the future
In its wide-ranging assessment of the global jihadist threat, the UN report warns that, as the restrictions on coronavirus are eased, ‘a result of premeditated attacks could occur’ because ISIS is determined to make global news reports again.
The UN report notes that ISIS had a “prisoner” among Islamic extremists who roamed indoors and spent more time online during the pandemic, which could potentially create an accumulated threat.
Between September and November last year, jihadists carried out a spate of terrorist attacks in France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, highlighting the continuing threat to Europe. Some attackers may have been motivated to act before it became more difficult to target people who gather in public.
A deadly terrorist attack at the end of October in a church in Nice, France, and a deadly shooting attack in central Vienna, Austria, in early November were carried out a few hours before nationwide coronavirus infestations were to take effect in France. tree. and Austria.
According to the report, one jihadi network in Europe is the so-called “Lions of the Balkans”, an international network consisting of elements based in at least Austria, Germany, Switzerland and the Western Balkans. ”
According to the UN, both the Vienna attacker and one of those arrested in connection with an ISIS conspiracy to attack US and NATO US military bases in Germany were foiled by German police last April. connected this network, as well as three jihadists arrested in northern Macedonia in September “noted that he was involved in the final planning phase of a terrorist attack.”
An Eclipse Global Threat
The report warns that ‘Source