Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki, leader of Al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch (AQAP), issues half-hour video threatening US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki, the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), has issued direct threats against US President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk in his first video address since assuming leadership of the terror group last year, The Associated Press reported Saturday.
The half-hour video message, disseminated online by AQAP supporters, also included calls for “lone-wolf terrorists” to assassinate leaders in Egypt, Jordan, and the Gulf Arab states in response to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
The video featured images of President Trump and Musk, alongside US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of State Pete Hegseth. Logos of Musk’s businesses, including the electric carmaker Tesla, were also displayed.
Al-Awlaki, who has a $6 million U.S. bounty on his head for publicly calling for attacks against the United States and its allies, stated in the video, “There are no red lines after what happened and is happening to our people in Gaza. Reciprocity is legitimate.” He succeeded former AQAP leader Khalid al-Batarfi, whose death was announced in 2024.
AQAP has carried out many terrorist attacks in Yemen in recent years and has also targeted the West.
In 2015, the group claimed responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo killings in Paris and then called for “lone wolf attacks” against Western targets.
In 2020, AQAP claimed an attack at a US naval base in Pensacola, Florida, though it provided no evidence.
AQAP, long considered the most dangerous branch of Al-Qaeda, has reportedly been weakened by infighting and suspected US drone strikes. However, the group is now seemingly attempting to leverage the Israel-Hamas conflict, mirroring efforts by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
