SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's president has sacked a governor who was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for his ties with al-Qaida.

The presidential decree by Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi was issued on Sunday. Hadi removed the governor of the central province of al-Bayda, Nayef al-Qaysi, and named Salah al-Rassass as his replacement.

Bayda is a known al-Qaida hotbed, and where the U.S. had carried out airstrikes and raids in the past years hunting the group's operatives.

Al-Qaysi was classified by the U.S. as a "specially designated global terrorist" over allegations that he financed the group.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Yemen affiliate is known, has long been seen as the global network's most dangerous branch, and has been implicated in a number of attempted attacks on the U.S. homeland.