US President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to intensify the campaign against the terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen. US officials say AQAP, which has been linked to a number of actual or attempted attacks in the West, including the 2015 shootings at the office of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, represents a greater threat to the US homeland than Daesh. Experts believe that Trump's decision to ramp up efforts to halt the extremist group's expansion across war-torn Yemen is indicative of the President's willingness to defer to military commanders on national security.