( CNN ) -- Two years after the end of the Iraq war , the U.S. State Department confirmed this week that it is providing the fragile country with sophisticated weapons and drones . Iraq needs help fighting against a growing and serious threat -- al Qaeda . For those who do n't avidly follow the complicated machinations of the globe 's top terror group , this could be confusing . Has n't the line for years from the U.S. government and its allies been that al Qaeda is on the run , that its fiercest fighting ability has been weakened by U.S. strikes ? That truth is far more complex , of course . The terror group 's manpower has increased in recent years , it has gained control of more territory in North Africa and the Middle East and is taking a different approach to death , according to top lawmakers privy to high-level intelligence and experts who have observed al Qaeda 's activities since September 11 . A stake in Yemen . While al Qaeda suffered significant setbacks after Navy SEALs shot and killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011 , and drone strikes have taken out top terrorists along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border , the terror group and its close allies have rebounded in Yemen , the Sinai region of Egypt , Libya , Iraq , and parts of east and west Africa , among other places . Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula , or AQAP , headquartered in Yemen , is particularly concerning . CNN has learned of recent intercepts of messages among senior al Qaeda operatives in Yemen , but the messages do n't name specific targets . One source told CNN that the chatter suggested `` active plotting . '' `` There are multiple indications that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is plotting attacks both within Yemen , against U.S. and Western structures and overseas , '' said Seth Jones , an analyst at Rand Corp . The Yemeni group is already notorious for sending an operative on board a flight into the United States on Christmas day in 2009 with explosives in his underwear . Al Qaeda in Yemen `` are still capable of conducting attacks '' and particularly adept at `` taking down aircraft , '' Jones said . Al Qaeda : We 're sorry about Yemen hospital attack . The U.S. has been fighting back , but not every strike has been successful . This month a drone failed to kill an al Qaeda planner believed to be behind a plot to attack the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa . Instead , the drone hit a wedding party , Yemeni officials said . A powder keg in Syria . Al Qaeda-linked militants have established a formidable foothold in the complicated civil war in Syria . There are up to 11,000 foreign fighters from 74 nations in the conflict that has raged since April 2011 , according to the December report from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalism ( ICSR ) . The majority have traveled from other Arab countries , creating a significant risk of blowback when these fighters return home . `` The concern is that the al Qaeda networks of the future are being created in this jihadist melting pot , '' said Paul Cruickshank , a CNN terrorism analyst who has specialized for years in studying al Qaeda . READ MORE : Cruickshank : Concerns over al Qaeda 's resurgence . An increasing number of them are from Europe -- approaching two thousand , according to the ICSR , an unprecedented number , according to experts . The United States and its allies fear that those fighters will be able to more easily launch attacks in their homelands or against Western targets , said Cruickshank . `` Syria is now the fuel for the jihadist movement and some of the most experienced operatives from Pakistan and Iraq have relocated there , '' he said . `` Syria has helped al Qaeda rebuild its operations in the Arab world , which has always been its intention anyway . '' READ MORE : Al Qaeda-linked group strengthens hold in northern Syria . Cruickshank saiid it 's especially scary to consider that al Qaeda members in Syria could receive training in the terror group 's traditionally sophisticated bomb-making and detonating courses . Consider that the Boston Marathon bombing utilized what are considered low-grade explosives , he said . Al Qaeda generally sets the bar higher for destruction on par with the London attacks in the summer of 2005 . `` It 's possible that new recruits could get training like what we saw al Qaeda in Pakistan giving -- showing people how to make high-explosive bombs made of chemicals bought at beauty or home goods stores and detonate them . '' Cruickshank said . `` All they would need to do is return to Europe , buy what they need to and carry out an attack . '' Flashpoint partners , a U.S outfit that tracks jihadist websites , provided the terror analyst with an al Qaeda video that emerged on Christmas day . It features the Boston bombing and also the slaying of a London soldier in May of this year . The Christmas Day-published video is an updated English language version of al Qaeda 's central video `` You are Only Responsible for Yourself '' which was first issued in June 2011 . That video featured senior al Qaeda leaders including Ayman al Zawahiri and American-born al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn . It calls for al Qaeda sympathizers to take things into their own hands and launch attacks in the West . Both attacks are called models for the future . An elusive peace in Iraq . Syria borders Iraq . Though the causes of violence in Iraq are many-fold , al Qaeda 's presence there , aided by Syria 's weakened state , is being felt among the fragile nation 's law enforcement and civilian population . Between January and November 2013 , more than 7,000 Iraqi civilians were killed , including 952 Iraqi Security Forces , according to the United Nations . April 2013 was Iraq 's deadliest month in five years . Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein , Sunni Arabs have been politically marginalized and Shiites , who represent a majority of Iraqis , have emerged with more power . That has led to sectarian violence -- constant bombings and various smaller attacks . Al Qaeda is targeting Shiites in an attempt to plunge the country into another civil war and hopes to carve out a larger zone of territory under their control on either side of the Syria-Iraq border , Cruickshank says . Smaller bursts of violence are the hallmark of al Qaeda 's new approach to terrorism , according to the chairs of the Senate and House intelligence committees who appeared on CNN 's `` State of the Union '' in early December . CNN 's Candy Crowley asked House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Rogers if he thought Americans were safer in 2013 than they were a few years ago . He insisted they 're not , and that U.S. intelligence and security officials are having a tougher time than ever before trying to stop so many smaller-scale plots . But does that translate into a threat specifically in the U.S. ? To Rogers , it does . `` All of them have at least some aspiration to commit an act of violence in the United States or against Western targets all around the world , '' he said . However , CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen said earlier this month that the data on al Qaeda-linked or influenced militants indicted in the United States suggests that the threat of terrorism has actually markedly declined over the past couple of years . At least for the moment , `` these al Qaeda groups in Syria and Iraq are completely focused on overthrowing the Assad regime ( in Syria ) or attacking what they regard as the Shia-dominated government of Iraq . And , at least so far , these groups have shown no ability to attack in Europe , let alone in the United States , '' he said in a column published on CNN.com . Bergen : Are we hyping the terror risk ? The new Al Qaeda . What motivates al Qaeda 's newest members ? Sen. Dianne Feinstein told Crowley she thought there is still a pervasive belief among extremists that a caliphate -- an Islamic state governed strictly by Sharia , or Islamic , law -- is possible and should be fought for . `` I think there is a real displaced aggression in this very fundamentalist , jihadist , Islamic community , '' she said . `` And that is that the west is responsible for everything that goes wrong ... I see more groups , more fundamentalists , more jihadists more determined to kill to get to where they want to get . '' Cruickshank points to the disappointment many young men felt over what they perceive as a failed Arab Spring revolution . ( Al Qaeda is still mostly comprised of younger men , though women are taking backseat support roles , he added . ) In 2011 , tens of thousands of protesters staged a revolution in Egypt that unseated longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak . Mohamed Morsy , then a Muslim Brotherhood leader , was elected president in the country 's first democratic election in 2012 . He was deposed by the military last summer . This week Egypt 's military-backed government declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group . On Thursday , dozens of members of the Islamist party were arrested and their property seized , authorities said . `` The great hope of the Arab Spring was that it would liberate the political system . But instead it resulted in increased repression against Islamists , '' Cruickshank said . `` For a lot of young men going into Syria , in some respect , it 's a reaction to that feeling . '' `` They see the Egyptian and Syrian government as tarred with the same brush . They see those governments as blocking the true flourishing of Islam . '' CNN 's Barbara Starr contributed to this report .
Al Qaeda rebounds in Yemen , Egypt 's Sinai region , Libya , Iraq , east and west Africa . Al Qaeda in Yemen is especially concerning . Recently intercepted messages suggest `` active plotting , '' a source says . The terror group has established a strong foothold in Syria in the chaos of a civil war .