On 26 February 2018, the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces launched a counter-terrorism operation in Shabwa governorate against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The UAE Armed Forces carried out the operation alongside the Shabwani Elite Forces. The UAE-led operation was launched two days after ISIS in Yemen killed 14 people and wounded 40 while attempting to storm a counter-terrorism headquarter in Aden, southern Yemen. Using Mukalla as a base to retake Shabwa's al-Said district (Wadi Yeshbum). AQAP had used this site—the former area controlled by the influential AQAP leader Anwar al-Awlaki before he was killed in 2011— to recruit and train extremists. The operation was successful in securing control over several areas in the Shabwa governorate.