dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

WASHINGTON—The U.S. launched a recent drone strike against the leader of al Qaeda’s Yemen branch, although it wasn’t clear on Friday whether he was killed as a result, people familiar with the matter said.

The strike in Yemen was aimed at Qasim al-Raymi, the emir, or leader, of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, long seen as one of the terrorist group’s most potentregional affiliates.

AQAP’s leaders have inspired or directed multiple operations to attack the U.S. directly, including the attempt to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas Day 2009.

The strike aimed at Mr. Raymi, who had been mentioned as a possible future leader of al Qaeda globally, was the latest in a string of high-profile military operations against senior U.S. adversaries.

In October, Islamic State’s ideological leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed in a raid by U.S. special operations force in northwestern Syria. Baghdadi’s spokesman and potential successor was killed in a U.S. airstrike shortly afterward.

On Jan. 3, a U.S. airstrike killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, leader of Iran’s Qods Force. Around the same time, the U.S. also tried but failed to kill a senior Iranian commander in Yemen, Abdul Reza Shahlai.

The drone strike against Mr. Raymi wasn’t carried out by the U.S. military, those familiar with the matter said, suggesting it was conducted by the CIA, which also operates armed drones.

The CIA and the White House declined to comment. Al Qaeda made no announcement about the AQAP leader’s status.

Last week, local media reported a U.S. drone strike had occurred on Jan. 25 in Yemen’s Marib province.

The State Department has offered a $10 million reward for information that would help bring Mr. Raymi to justice.

Mr. Raymi trained militants in Afghanistan in the 1990s, and later returned to Yemen, where he was imprisoned, according to the State Department and terrorism analysts. He escaped jail in 2006, and was a key figure in rebuilding AQAP over the next three years, said Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank.

“He kind of hit the sweet spot in this sense: he was an al Qaeda veteran who was still relatively young,” said Mr. Joscelyn, adding that Mr. Raymi helped al Qaeda battle its rival militant group, Islamic State, in Yemen and oversaw plotting against the West.

The State Department reward notice linked Mr. Raymi to a 2008 attack on the U.S. Embassy in San’a, the Yemeni capital, as well as the 2009 attempt by Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab to bring down a Northwest Airlines flight en route to Detroit with a bomb hidden in his underwear.

Mr. Joscelyn cautioned that the U.S. has targeted the AQAP leader before, without success.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-targets-yemen-al-qaeda-leader-in-drone-strike-11580511550

>>7987975

I remember seeing a news headline

ONE headline that said

"What is Hillary Clinton doing in North Korea?"

shortly after Daddy Kim got heart attacked.

I have searched since and could never find mention of this again.

Wonder if its in SD archives? Would make a good dig

also wonder if it took place with Nancy and the Q CSPAN vid post where she said-

I SEE HOW DEGENERATE THIS ADMINISTRATION OF NORTH KOREA – NOT KIM JEONG IL, HIS FATHER, WAS THERE. THE POVERTY OF SPIRIT. THE HORROR OF IT ALL. PEOPLE STARVING AND THEY CALL THEIR PHILOSOPHY SELF-RELIANCE. WHILE THEY SAVE THE FOOD FOR THEMSELVES AND NOT FOR CHILDREN. THEY DON'T CONSIDER SENIORS. THEY – I FEEL SHAMEFUL FOR THE DIPLOMATS WHO SEE A BETTER LIFE OUTSIDE. YET THEY ALLOW THIS CLOSED SOCIETY TO DEPRIVE PEOPLE OF EVEN SUSTENANCE WHILE THEY LIVE THE HIGH LIFE. I'M CONCERNED ABOUT, REALLY, SOUTH KOREA. BECAUSE THEY HAVE PROXIMITY. AND THREAT OF KIM JONG-UN, AND I THINK THAT THIS IS MY MAIN CONCERN, I WOULD HOPE THAT THE ADMINISTRATION WOULD BE ASKING IN A MORE RESPONSIBLE WAY, AND MAYBE THEY'LL GET TO THAT PLACE. BUT HERE'S MY PROBLEM ABOUT EXPRESSING TO THE PRESIDENT OF SOUTH KOREA WHEN HE WAS HERE A COUPLE WEEKS AGO. WHEN WE WENT TO PYONGYANG, TALKED ABOUT MISSILES AND M.I.A. 'S AND P.O.W.'S, A NUMBER OF SUBJECTS, BUT ABOUT THE MISSILES BECAUSE THAT WAS THE DEVELOPMENT OF MISSILES WAS A NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE OF CONCERN, THEY SAID, LOOK, WE JUST MAKE THESE. YOU WANT TO BUY THEM, WE'LL SELL THEM TO YOU. WHEN THEY DO THEIR ROAD SHOW, THEIR LAUNCHES, IT'S NOT JUST TO SHOW WHAT THEY MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE. THERE'S NOT CERTAINTY AS TO WHETHER THEY HAVE MINIATURIZED THE WEAPON TO GO THE DISTANCE, BUT IT'S ABOUT WHO THEY MIGHT WANT TO SELL IT TO. MAYBE NOT AN INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSILE, BUT SOME OF THEIR OTHER MISSILE TECHNOLOGY. I'M CONCERNED ABOUT NORTH KOREA FOR MANY REASONS. BUT ONE OF THEM IN ADDITION TO MOST OF WHAT YOU HAVE HEARD IS THAT NORTH KOREA COULD BE A PROLIFERATOR. ALL OF THESE DEMONSTRATIONS OF STRENGTH ARE REALLY A ROAD SHOW FOR THEM TO SELL TO A ROGUE NATION OR LONE WOLF OR WHOEVER. SOME VERY DRUG – DANGEROUS TECHNOLOGY. THIS REQUIRES A MATURE LEADERSHIP AND KNOWLEDGEABLE APPRAISAL OF WHAT OUR OPTIONS ARE THERE. THANK YOU-ALL VERY MUCH.