SUMMARY

In 2018 and 2019, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Islamic State (IS) clashed on several occasions in Yemen. In addition to the clashes, the two groups continuously accused each other of escalating tensions and used their respective media channels to issue conflicting accounts of the clashes.

The conflict between the two groups should be understood in the context of the broader al-Qaida - IS conflict. The splintering of IS from al-Qaida opened up ideological divisions between the two Salafi-jihadist groups, which importantly differed in their views over the establishment of a contemporary caliphate and on who could be called an apostate (takfir) from Islam.

The non-state conflict between AQAP and IS is first included in UCDP data in 2018. In November that year, clashes between the two groups had resulted in more than 25 battle-related deaths.