Al Qaeda says U.S. strike kills man who claimed Paris killings

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said on Thursday a U.S. air strike had killed the senior figure who issued the group’s claim of responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, according to a report. The SITE Intelligence Group quoted al Qaeda as saying in an online video that AQAP ideologue Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi was killed with his eldest son and other fighters in Yemen. Ansi’s reported death suggests the covert U.S. drone program against the Yemen branch of the global militant group is continuing, despite the evacuation of American military advisers from the country amid a worsening civil war.

He was jailed in Yemen and released after six months, and in 2011… joined AQAP.

according to SITE Intelligence Group

Meanwhile, Saudi-led forces said on Thursday they would respond harshly against Yemen’s Houthi rebels following attacks on citizens in border areas, hours after the kingdom offered a five-day humanitarian truce if the Shi'ite militia stopped fighting. Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said the Houthis had changed the situation by targeting cities in recent days, and vowed that the coalition would go after leaders of the rebel group. Asseri said Saudi-led forces would keep all options open, but declined to say if a ground offensive was being planned.

The Houthis are now targeting the borders of the kingdom and the situation is that we will defend our citizens.

Asseri told Reuters