The report sent to the Security Council said that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), based in Yemen, served as a communications hub for the UN-designated terror group as a whole. “Al Qaeda affiliates remain the dominant terror threat in some regions, such as Somalia and Yemen, a fact demonstrated by a continuous stream of attacks and foiled operations,” said the report. UN member-states however see potential for linkups between al Qaeda and IS groups to support each other, warning that in some regions this could be a new threat, the report said. The Islamic State lost its self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq last year but al Qaeda “remained remarkably resilient,” said the UN monitors. In Syria, the Al-Nusrah Front “remains one of the strongest and largest al Qaeda affiliates globally,” with its fighters “using threats, violence and material incentives” to absorb smaller armed groups.

Source: Hindustan Times February 08, 2018 04:52 UTC