US has launched ‘more than 100 strikes against AQAP’ so far this year

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US has launched ‘more than 100 strikes against AQAP’ so far this year
By Bill Roggio | September 18th, 2017 | admin@longwarjournal.org | @billroggio

Last week, after the US launched an airstrike in Yemen against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), FDD’s Long War Journal noted that US Central Command (CENTCOM) has consistently maintained since April 2017 that it has conducted more than 80 attacks against the terror group.

Over the weekend, we inquired with CENTCOM to see if that number has changed, and received a response that “To date, the US has conducted more than 100 strikes against AQAP militants, infrastructure, fighting positions and equipment.”

In addition to the updated strike total for Yemen, the response is interesting as it notes that AQAP operatives are not the only target of the air campaign: the US military is also hitting the entirety of the network. This is important as AQAP is not merely a grouping of cells with a leadership that can easily be decapitated; it is a networked jihadist insurgency that seeks to overthrow the Yemeni state. This jihadist insurgency operates hand in hand with AQAP’s desire to attack the West.

Continued at: https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2017/09/us-has-launched-more-than-100-strikes-against-aqap-so-far-this-year.php