Hadhramaut Governorate in the context of Tarim, Yemen

Hadhramaut (Arabic: حَضْرَمَوْت, romanized: Ḥaḍramawt pronunciation; Hadrami Arabic: حَضْرَمُوت, romanized: Ḥaḍramūt pronunciation) is a geographic region in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula which includes the Yemeni governorates of Hadhramaut, Shabwah and Mahrah, Dhofar in southwestern Oman, and Sharurah in the Najran Province of Saudi Arabia, and sometimes the Aden, Abyan and Lahij governorates of Yemen at a more stretched historical definition. The region's people are known as the Hadharem. They formerly spoke Hadramautic, an old South Arabian language, but they now predominantly speak the Hadhrami dialect of Arabic.

Though the origins of the name are unknown, the name Hadhramaut is traditionally explained as a compound word meaning "death has come" or "court of death," derived either from the Arabic ḥaḍara ("he came") plus mawt ("death"), a folk nickname for Amer bin Qahtan, the region's legendary first settler, or from the Biblical Hebrew ḥaṣar ("court" or "dwelling") plus māweṯ ("death") as seen in Hazarmaveth. The name is of ancient origin and is reflected in the name of the modern-day Yemeni governorate of Hadhramaut.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Arabic: تنظيم القاعدة في جزيرة العرب, romanized: Tanẓīm al-Qā‘idah fī Jazīrat al-‘Arab, lit. 'Organization of the Base in the Arabian Peninsula'), or AQAP is a Sunni Islamist militant organization which seeks to overthrow the Yemeni government and establish the Islamic Emirate of Yemen. Part of the al-Qaeda network, the group is based and primarily active in Yemen, while also conducting operations in Saudi Arabia. It is considered the most active of al-Qaeda's affiliates that emerged after the weakening of central leadership.

Established in 2009 as a merger between al-Qaeda in Yemen and al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, the group took advantage of the 2011 Yemeni Revolution to seize and establish several emirates in southern Yemen, including in Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan governorate. After being driven out through a government offensive in 2012, the group returned to an insurgent campaign rather than holding territory. AQAP would again capitalize on political turmoil in the country when the Yemeni civil war broke out in 2014. AQAP would reach its territorial peak in 2015, with the group seizing much of southern Hadhramaut governorate, including its capital Mukalla, recapturing their emirates in the south, and establishing a presence across multiple fronts in the civil war against the Houthis, most prominently in Aden, al-Bayda governorate and Taiz. Its strength has since waned due to internal struggles and operations waged against them by multiple parties in the civil war, as well as through an ongoing drone campaign by the United States which has killed many of its senior leaders and members.

Mukalla, officially the Mukalla City District, is a seaport and the capital city district of Yemen's largest governorate, Hadhramaut. The city is in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula on the Gulf of Aden, on the shores of the Arabian Sea, about 480 kilometres (300 miles) east of Aden. It is the most important port city in the Hadhramaut region. It is also the sixth-largest city in Yemen, with a population of approximately 595,000 as of 2023. The city is served by the nearby Riyan International Airport.

Shibam (Arabic: شِبَام, romanized: Shibām), officially the Old Walled City of Shibam (Arabic: مدينة شبام القديمة وسورها), is a town in Wadi Hadhramaut in eastern Yemen with about 7,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Shibam District in the Hadhramaut Governorate. It is known for its mudbrick-made high-rise buildings, with some of the buildings reaching as high as 11 stories. The design centred around protecting the residents of the city from Bedouin attacks.

The city was founded around the 3rd century and became the capital of the Kingdom of Hadhramaut in 300 AD. Its strategic location along ancient trade routes contributed to its prosperity. Shibam has been continuously inhabited for an estimated 1,700 years. In 1982, Shibam was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its unique architecture and cultural significance. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Manhattan of the Desert" (مَانْهَاتَن ٱلصَّحْرَاء) or "Chicago of the Desert" (شِيْكَاغو ٱلصَّحْرَاء).