In accordance with paragraph 13 of resolution 1822 (2008) and subsequent related resolutions, the ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee makes accessible a narrative summary of reasons for the listing for individuals, groups, undertakings and entities included in the ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List.
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant – Yemen was listed on 4 March 2020 pursuant to paragraphs 2 and 4 of resolution 2368 (2017) as being associated with ISIL for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of Al-Qaida, ISIL, or any cell, affiliate, splinter group or derivative thereof”. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant – Yemen has also been found to have participated in “supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel”, and in “recruiting for” and otherwise supporting acts or activities of ISIL, listed as Al-Qaida in Iraq (QDe.115).
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant - Yemen emerged in November 2014 when then-ISIL emir Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, listed as Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali Al-Badri Al-Samarrai (QDi.299), announced in an audio message that he accepted the oaths of allegiance from a group of fighters in Yemen.
ISIL- Yemen carried out numerous attacks since its formation. In March 2015, the group claimed responsibility for a pair of suicide bombings targeting the Badr mosque in South Sanaa and the Al-Hashoosh Mosque in North Sanaa, which killed 137 people and wounding at least 357. In June of 2015, the group detonated four car bombs in a coordinated attack that killed or injured at least 50 people. In August 2015, the group also detonated an improvised explosive device near the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, which targeted Houthi guards.
In May 2016, the group claimed responsibility for detonating explosives outside a police base in the port of Mukalla, which killed at least 31 police recruits in Southern Yemen. In November 2017, the group claimed responsibility for a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack on the headquarters of the Security Belt in Aden’s Al-Mansoura district, which killed at least six people and injured dozens more.
In February 2018, the group claimed responsibility for a pair of suicide car bombings and gunmen attacking the headquarters of a Yemeni counterterrorism unit in Aden, which killed 14 people and wounded at least 40. In August 2019, the group claimed responsibility for an attack on a police station in Aden, which killed 11 people.