The U.S. Fight Against Al Qaeda in Yemen Just Got Harder

Frontline, PBS
By: Priyanka Boghani

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Four months ago, President Barack Obama pointed to the United States’ counterterrorism campaign in Yemen against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) as a model worth emulating. “This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years,” the president said in a speech outlining a strategy to confront ISIS…

FRONTLINE asked four experts to weigh in on what happens next with America’s counterterrorism fight against AQAP.

Adam Baron is a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and previously worked as a journalist based in Sanaa, Yemen.

Laura Kasinof is a former New York Times reporter who covered Yemen from 2011 to 2012, and author of the upcoming Don’t Be Afraid of the Bullets: An Accidental War Correspondent in Yemen.

Martin Reardon is a senior vice president at The Soufan Group. He served in the FBI and specialized in counterterrorism.

Who are the Houthis? Does the United States have any kind of relationship with them as of now? How much truth is there to the assertion that they’re backed by Iran?

Reardon: They’re part of the Shia branch of Islam, Zaydi branch. The Zaydi sect, up until 1962, ruled northern Yemen for centuries. Partly what they’re trying to do is regain the power and prestige that they had in the past. They felt that they were marginalized by the government. They wanted more autonomy in that northern region. …

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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/foreign-affairs-defense/al-qaeda-in-yemen/the-u-s-fight-against-al-qaeda-in-yemen-just-got-harder/