During the Obama administration, Yemen became the major scene of the American drone campaign. According to American foreign policy decision makers, al-Qaida of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) had become the most dangerous wing of global terrorism and thus the Yemen campaign was accelerated. All along its existence on Yemeni soil the Jihadist organization has found its bases in the southern part of the country thus creating the myth in world media that these are areas where the Jihadist group embraces if not popular support at least tolerance. Whatever news came from that part of the country always mentioned al-Qaida as the underlying reason why no political reforms could be facilitated without the consent of Sanaa. For southern Yemenis the reality has been quite different. That the united Saudi Arabian and Yemeni al-Qaida sought refuge in their territories made many to believe that the terrorist group in actual fact was operated by the late Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Salih. The president’s warnings in the height of the 2011 popular uprising that should he be dismissed al-Qaida will take over seemed like a prophesy that came true once the group and its allies invaded several southern towns in the summer of 2011. During the current Yemen war AQAP has nominally fought the Houthis alongside Saudi Arabia, but in actual fact many of its targets have included southern security and police force. Since the start of the war, the Jihadists have been able to invade southern towns and thus the entire south became securitized, a no-go zone for independent observers to monitor what actually happens in the territories where the war largely has been over since long. Without being able to visit the country where I have longstanding ethnographic fieldwork experiences my studies have recently focused on analysing the political developments in the south with media and social media sources, often facing the dilemmas of whose analysis in the news feed is correct and where lies the responsibility of an academic scholar. The important developments to monitor include a popular revolution demanding the reinstatement of independence that during the recent year has restructured into a national government, and the presence of the United Arab Emirates in operations that should raise world attention.