Earlier this week Reuters reported that al-Qaeda Yemen releases an audio tape in which senior AQAP official Ibrahim al-Rubayash openly criticised Saudi Arabia’s new set of counter-terror measures, warning that no matter the deterrent Islamists will never shy away from their holy duty. Al-Rubayash then slammed the KSA for allegedly having sold out to the United States of America, having become but Washington’s mere pawns in the region.
"Their employers are the White House,” the AQAP leader stressed, adding, “the Saudi leadership seemed to consider the US authorities as gods."
Defiant, Al-Rubayash stressed that by labelling the Muslim Brotherhood a terror organization did little to disrupt Islamists work in the region but instead comforted and asserted the belief that no western secular power will ever recognise political Islam as a feasible and viable alternative to their model.
He stated, “The listing of the Brotherhood as a terrorist group sent a message for all groups who are softening their processes and abandoning some of their principles that they would never be accepted by the so-called heads of disbelief, as al-Qaeda.”
While clearly Saudi Arabia’s new counter-terror policy rattled al-Qaeda’s cage in Yemen, by jeopardizing its network of alliance within Yemen’s political arena, al-Rubayash message carries in itself a warning that the group is willing to outbid the KSA and its allies in the region. By directly appealing to moderate Islamists by playing to their fear of political ostracization, al-Qaeda is essentially looking to rally more groups to its cause, hoping to exploit fear as its campaign main driving force.