President Donald Trump said the US killed al-Raymi from an airstrike in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). al-Raymi is the latest high profile killing after the killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, last month.
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Confirming the news, Trump said, We will continue to protect the American people by tracking down and eliminating terrorists who seek to do us harm.”
Who is al-Raymi?
Qasim al-Raymi, 41 years old, is the Yemen leader of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group that has orchestrated the death of thousands of innocent people.
He has been the leader of the jihadist group since 2015. And according to the White House, he died in a recent US operation in Yemen.
The terrorist leader was linked to several attacks on Western interest since the 2000s. He became the leader of the group after a US drone strike killed his predecessor.
The formation of AQAP
Two separate Al-Qaeda regional offshoots–in Saudi Arabia and Yemen formed AQAP in 2009. Their goal is to frustrate and eliminate any Western influence in the region, including US-backed governments.
There have been rumors of al-Raymi’s death in circulation since late January.
However, AQAP in response released an 18 minutes video on 2nd February. He said AQAP was responsible for a horrific shootout that happened at a Pensacola, a US naval base in Florida, on 6th December.
The shooting occurred in December, and there’s a possibility that they recorded the message earlier.
In the video, he called the gunman a hero and a courageous knight. Mohammed Alshamrani is a Saudi Air Force officer.
Furthermore, Mohammed opened fire in a classroom at the Naval Base. The shooting claimed the lives of three people while injuring eight people, including sheriff’s deputies. One of the wounded sheriff’s later shot him dead.
The death of al-Raymi
A White House statement confirmed the death of al-Raymi but did not state when.
According to the White House statement, His death will hurt AQAP, and Al-Qaeda’s global movement. Gradually, it brings us closer to eliminating this group’s threat to national security.
Furthermore, the statement went on to read, “The United States, our interests, and our allies are safer as a result of his death.”
Moreover, Raymi was previously a trainer in Afghanistan, at an Al-Qaeda camp in the 1900s.
In 2004, he traveled to Yemen. There, he was put in prison for five years due to his connection to a plot planning to attack the embassies of five Foreign countries in the capital city.
Popular opinion believes he’s the mastermind behind the formation of Al-Qaeda in Yemen.
Besides, officials of the US once described AQAP as “the most active operational franchise” of Al-Qaeda outside Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In addition, most of AQAP’s attacks have been in Yemen. They used the country’s political instability that has plaques it for years as an advantage to strike.
Meanwhile, many believe al-Raymi’s men are behind numerous attacks in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. These attacks claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent people. Also, they are behind many sophisticated airline bombs aimed at the US but were narrowly sabotaged.
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