Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ( or , Tanẓīm Qā‘idat al-Jihād fī Jazīrat al-‘Arab, "Organization of Jihad's Base in the Arabian Peninsula"), abbreviated as AQAP, also known as Ansar al-Sharia in Yemen (, Jamā‘at Anṣār ash-Sharī‘ah, "Group of the Helpers of the Sharia"), is a militant Sunni Islamist terrorist group primarily active in Yemen and Saudi Arabia that is part of the al-Qaeda network. It is considered the most active of al-Qaeda's branches that emerged after the weakening of central leadership. The U.S. government believes AQAP to be the most dangerous al-Qaeda branch. The group established an emirate during the 2011 Yemeni Revolution, which waned in power after foreign interventions in the subsequent Yemeni Civil War. The group has been designated a terrorist organization by the United Nations and several countries and international organizations. Ideology and formation Like al-Qaeda Central, AQAP opposes the monarchy of the House of Saud. AQAP was formed in January 2009 from a merger of al-Qaeda's Yemeni and Saudi branches. The Saudi group had been effectively suppressed by the Saudi government, forcing its members to seek sanctuary in Yemen. In 2010, it was believed to have several hundred members. The group also seeks for the destruction of the Israeli state and the liberation of the Palestinian territories. Transformation into an active al-Qaeda affiliate The number of terrorist plots in the West that originated from Pakistan declined considerably from most of them (at the outset), to 75% in 2007, and to 50% in 2010, as al-Qaeda shifted to Somalia and Yemen. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton formally designated al-Qaeda in Yemen a terrorist organization on December 14, 2009. On August 24, 2010, The Washington Post journalist Greg Miller wrote that the CIA believed Yemen's branch of al-Qaeda had surpassed its parent organization, Osama bin Laden's core group, as al-Qaeda's most dangerous threat to the U.S. homeland. On August 26, 2010, Yemen claimed that U.S. officials had exaggerated the size and danger of al-Qaeda in Yemen, insisting also that fighting the jihadist network's local branch remained Sanaa's job. A former bodyguard of Osama bin Laden warned of an escalation in fighting between al-Qaeda and Yemeni authorities and predicted the government would need outside intervention to stay in power. However, Ahmed al-Bahri told the Associated Press that attacks by al-Qaeda in southern Yemen was an indication of its increasing strength. Operations and activities as al-Qaeda in the Arabian