After the Battle of Zinjibar (May–September 2011), the faction had taken control of some cities in southern Yemen in which it has instated emirates. Ansar ash-Shari'a have also claimed responsibility for the 2012 Sana'a bombing and the 2013 Sana'a attack.^[13] As of early 2017, AQAP and AAS were currently in a struggle for territorial control with the Houthi/Saleh forces in the governorates of al-Bayda, Shebwa, Marib, Jawf and Taiz.^[12]


On 4 October 2012, the United States Department of State amended its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations to designate Ansar al-Sharia in Yemen as an alias for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, rather than listing it as a separate organisation. On the same day, the group was also listed by the United Nations 1267/1989 Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee.^[14] New Zealand^[15] also listed it as a terror group.^[16]


In February 2015, it was reported that some members had split from the group and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.^[17]


In January 2020, the group's leader Qasim al-Raymi, who also served as the leader of Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula, was killed in a U.S. airstrike.^[18]