The United States announced that it had killed Qasim al-Rimi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Yemen, who had previously adopted attacks against Westerners.
"On instructions from President Donald Trump, the United States carried out an anti-terror operation in Yemen, and it succeeded in liquidating Qasim al-Rimi, the founder and leader of the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula group," a statement to the White House said yesterday.
Under al-Rimi’s leadership, the statement added, “The organization carried out" acts of violence that are difficult to describe against civilians in Yemen and sought to commit or urge the implementation of several attacks against the United States and our forces. "
He added that Al-Rimi's killing "further weakens al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Al-Qaeda global, which brings us close to eliminating threats from these groups to our national security."
The American administration stated that Al-Rimi joined Al-Qaeda in the 1990s and worked for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula exploited the weakness of the central authority in Yemen to enhance its presence in the south and southeast of Yemen.
According to the American Center for Monitoring Extremist Sites (SITE), "A message in the voice of its commander, Qasim Al-Rimi, was adopted by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in the December 2019 attack at the Pensacola Naval Air Force Base in Florida, which left three Marines dead."