New Yemeni al Qaeda leader calls for attacks on United States

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

World | Thu Jul 9, 2015 4:35pm EDT

New Yemeni al Qaeda leader calls for attacks on United States

DUBAI

The new leader of al Qaeda's Yemen branch has called for attacks on the United States in his first speech since taking command, the U.S.-based SITE monitoring group reported on Thursday, citing an audio recording.

Qassim al-Raymi succeeded Nasser al-Wuhayshi as military commander of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) after Wuhayshi was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen's south-eastern city of Mukalla last month.

In the speech, Raymi eulogized Wuhayshi, pledged allegiance to al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, and called for attacks on the United States, SITE said.

"All of you must direct and gather your arrows and swords against it," SITE quoted Raymi as telling Muslims in general in the 14 minute and 9 second recording.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/09/us-yemen-security-alqaeda-idUSKCN0PJ2KC20150709

[Maedhros]

1. Hostilities in Yemen began as opposition to the corrupt dictator Saleh,

and there was little anti-U.S. sentiment among the Yemeni people.

This, of course, changed after the United States began indiscriminately cluster-bombing and drone-striking suspected Al Qaeda targets, killing many innocent men, women and children as "collateral damage."

http://www.thenation.com/article/washingtons-war-yemen-backfires/

The October drone strike that killed Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, a US citizen, and his teenage cousin shocked and enraged Yemenis of all political stripes. “I firmly believe that the [military] operations implemented by the US performed a great service for Al Qaeda, because those operations gave Al Qaeda unprecedented local sympathy,” says Jamal, the Yemeni journalist. The strikes “have recruited thousands.” Yemeni tribesmen, he says, share one common goal with Al Qaeda, “which is revenge against the Americans, because those who were killed are the sons of the tribesmen, and the tribesmen never, ever give up on revenge.” Even senior officials of the Saleh regime recognize the damage the strikes have caused. “People certainly resent these [US] interventions,” Qirbi, the foreign minister and a close Saleh ally, concedes.

Obama's drone policies are giving strength to, not weakening, Al Qaeda.