Aden-Abyan Islamic Army
| Aden-Abyan Islamic Army | |
|---|---|
| جيش عدن أبين الإسلامي | |
| Leaders | Abu Hasan Zayn al-Abadin al-Mihdhar (1996–1998) † Khalid Abd al-Nabi (1998–2009) |
| Dates of operation | 1996–2009 |
| Headquarters | Abyan, Yemen |
| Active regions | Southern Yemen |
| Ideology | Salafist jihadism Islamic fundamentalism |
| Size | 100 |
| Allies | Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Ansar al-Sharia |
| Opponents | Yemen |
| Wars | Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen |
predecessor, preceded by.Using more than one of the following parameters in Template:Infobox militant organization:
successor, succeeded by.The Aden-Abyan Islamic Army (AAIA, Arabic: جيش عدن أبين الإسلامي, romanized: Jaysh ʻAdan Abayyan al-Islāmī) was a Sunni Islamist militant group based in southern Yemen founded by Abu Hasan Zayn al-Abadin al-Mihdhar. The groups goals were to overthrow the Yemeni government and establish an Islamic state, as well as support the jihad of al-Qaeda. AAIA was designated a terrorist organization by Bahrain, Canada and the United Kingdom. AAIA is thought to have organized in southern Yemen in the mid 1990s, with members that include veterans from the Soviet war in Afghanistan. Their stated mission is to "promote jihad in the fight against secularism in Yemen and other Arab States; to establish an Islamic government in Yemen". By 2009, the group's remaining members had subsumed in the newly formed al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.