The chaos in Yemen continues to get worse and the country is moving closer by the day to civil war and becoming a failed state. Al Qaeda is taking advantage of the opportunity to make a comeback. Just last week, Al Qaeda militants freed 300 prisoners with ties to terrorism and now, Democrats are starting to admit the terror group isn't on the run, but instead is making a solid comeback in the region.
California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff said Sunday that Al Qaeda is having a “resurgence.”
"In Yemen the news is really all bad," Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told ABC's "This Week." "Just as we feared in the chaos ... Al Qaeda has had a resurgence."
The Al Qaeda offshoot group in the Arab Peninsula has taken advantage of the turmoil in Yemen since it started several weeks ago, using the chaos and deteriorating government to expand its foothold in southwest Asia.
In September, President Obama touted Yemen as a "success" that should be emulated to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria. During the 2012 presidential campaign the president said Al Qaeda had been "decimated" and was "on the run."
Now, it will take time to eradicate a cancer like ISIL. And any time we take military action, there are risks involved –- especially to the servicemen and women who carry out these missions. But I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil. This counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground. This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years. And it is consistent with the approach I outlined earlier this year: to use force against anyone who threatens America’s core interests, but to mobilize partners wherever possible to address broader challenges to international order.
Earlier this year, the State Department abandoned the U.S. Embassy in Yemen and all U.S. presence in the country has been eliminated.