In its war on terrorism in Yemen, the
US government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...
describes
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
as "an important partner in the
global war on terrorism
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...
".
[Background Note: Yemen](_blank)
''US Department of State'', January 2006 There have been attacks on civilian targets and tourists, and there was a cargo-plane bomb plot in 2010.
Counter-terrorism
Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or el ...
operations have been conducted by the Yemeni police, the Yemeni military, and the
United States Armed Forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
.
Attacks on civilian targets
1992 Aden hotel bombings
Limburg attack
In October 2002, near the port of
Mukalla
Mukalla ( ar, ٱلْمُكَلَّا, ') is a seaport and the capital city 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 east of ...
,
suicide bombers
A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...
rammed an explosive-laden boat into the ''
Limburg
Limburg or Limbourg may refer to:
Regions
* Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium
* Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands
* Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...
'', a French oil tanker, killing a Bulgarian crew member and spilling of oil into the
Gulf of Aden
The Gulf of Aden ( ar, خليج عدن, so, Gacanka Cadmeed 𐒅𐒖𐒐𐒕𐒌 𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒗𐒒) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channe ...
. Saudi born
Abdulraheem al-Nashiri, prime suspect of the USS Cole bombing, paid $40,000 to fund the Limburg attack. With that money, the former Al Qaida leader
Abu Ali al-Harithi
Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi a.k.a. Abu Ali al-Harithi ( ar, أبو علي الحارثي ) (died November 3, 2002) was an al-Qaeda operative and a citizen of Yemen who is suspected of having been involved in the October 2000 USS Cole bombing,
an ...
bought the explosives and transported them from his house in
Shabwa to
Mukalla
Mukalla ( ar, ٱلْمُكَلَّا, ') is a seaport and the capital city 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 east of ...
in
Hadramut
Hadhramaut ( ar, حَضْرَمَوْتُ \ حَضْرَمُوتُ, Ḥaḍramawt / Ḥaḍramūt; Hadramautic: 𐩢𐩳𐩧𐩣𐩩, ''Ḥḍrmt'') is a region in South Arabia, comprising eastern Yemen, parts of western Oman and southern Saud ...
.
Civil Aviation, Meteorological Authority and helicopter attacks
On 3 November 2002 there was an attack on a helicopter carrying
Hunt Oil Co. Employees shortly after taking off from
Sana'a
Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Governo ...
. A missile and a machine gun were fired at the helicopter injuring two American citizens. One person was jailed for the helicopter attack as well as for bombing the Civil Aviation and Meteorological Authority building in Sana'a.
Jibla hospital
On December 30, 2002, a suspected Islamic
fundamentalist
Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishing ...
killed three US workers and wounded one in a hospital in
Jibla with a semi-automatic
rifle
A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...
. Two men were eventually convicted and executed for the attack - the gunman
Abid Abdulrazzaq Al-Kamil, and the 'mastermind'
Ali Ahmed Mohamed al-Jarallah, who had also been convicted of the 2002 murder of Yemeni politician
Jarallah Omar
Jarallah Omar al-Kuhali ( ar, جار الله عمر) (1942 in Kuhal, Ibb Governorate – 28 December 2002) was a Yemeni politician, intellectual, and guerrilla fighter. He was trained in Islamic law, but in the 1960s he turned towards Marxism. He ...
.
Al-Salem letter threats
Jews in Yemen reportedly fled their homes due to threats from Muslim extremists.
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
members sent letters to 45 Jews living in al-Salem (near Sana'a) on January 19, 2007, accusing them of involvement in an "international Zionist conspiracy". The Jewish community sent a complaint to President
Ali Abdullah Saleh
Ali Abdullah Saleh al-Ahmar (, ''ʿAlī ʿAbdullāh Ṣāliḥ al-Aḥmar;'' 21 March 1947There is a dispute as to Saleh's date of birth, some saying that it was on 21 March 1942. See: However, by Saleh's own confession, he was born in 1947 al ...
and temporarily moved to a hotel near Sana'a. The Yemeni government promised to protect their homes and reassured them that they could return.
US Embassy
On September 17, 2008, Al-Qaeda militants attacked the US Embassy in
Sana'a
Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Governo ...
. 20 people were killed, including six militants, six policemen and seven civilians. One American was also among those killed.
Attacks on tourists
A suicide bomber killed eight Spanish tourists and their two Yemeni drivers in
Ma'rib
Marib ( ar, مَأْرِب, Maʾrib; Old South Arabian: 𐩣𐩧𐩨/𐩣𐩧𐩺𐩨 ''Mryb/Mrb'') is the capital city of Marib Governorate, Yemen. It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of ''Sabaʾ'' ( ar, سَبَأ), which some scholars ...
on July 2, 2007. On January 18, 2008, Al-Qaeda militants opened fire on a convoy of tourists in
Hadhramaut
Hadhramaut ( ar, حَضْرَمَوْتُ \ حَضْرَمُوتُ, Ḥaḍramawt / Ḥaḍramūt; Hadramautic: 𐩢𐩳𐩧𐩣𐩩, ''Ḥḍrmt'') is a region in South Arabia, comprising eastern Yemen, parts of western Oman and southern Sau ...
, killing two Belgian tourists, two Yemenis, the tourists' driver and their guide. In March 2009, four South Korean tourists and their local Yemeni guide were killed. Two attackers also died.
UAE-run secret prisons
In the name of punishment, Yemenis are tortured at the hands of Houthis and Saudi Arabia-led military. According to a report published by the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
, the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
runs a network of secret prisons across southern Yemen, where several hundreds of Yemenis on suspicion of being al-Qaida or Islamic State militants are held.
According to former detainees, families of prisoners, civil rights lawyers and Yemeni military officials, there are at least 18 lock-ups hidden away in military bases, air and seaports, the basements of private villas and even a nightclub. Prisoners are held without any charges, with the Yemeni government having no control over these UAE-run prisons.
Beir Ahmed Beir Ahmed is a prison in Aden, Yemen. In June 2018, The Associated Press reported sexual abuse and torture occurring in the prison.
Operation
The staff of Beir Ahmed are primarily Yemeni, however according to The Associated Press, military office ...
prison in the southern city of
Aden
Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...
is one such prison, where detainees are tortured and sexually assaulted by the UAE officers. Prisoners are electrocuted by their genitals and rocks are hung from their testicles. They are also sexually violated with wooden and steel poles. In March 2018, Emirati officers blind-folded and handcuffed all the detainees of Beir Ahmed prison and made them stand under the sun until noon. The detainees were asked to undress and lie down with their legs spread open. The Emirati forces then touched their genitals and probed their rectums in search of mobile phones.
2010 cargo plane bomb plot
On October 29, 2010, UK Prime Minister
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
said that a device in a package sent from Yemen and found on a US-bound cargo plane was designed to explode on the aircraft. Cameron said that investigators were uncertain of when the device, intercepted at
East Midlands Airport
East Midlands Airport is an international airport in the East Midlands of England, close to Castle Donington in northwestern Leicestershire, between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is () to the south and Lincoln () nort ...
, was supposed to explode. A second device containing explosives was found on a cargo plane in
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
.
In Yemen, police arrested but later released a woman suspected of posting the packages. The devices, which triggered security alerts in the US, the UK and Middle East, were apparently inserted into printer cartridges and placed in packages addressed to synagogues in the
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
area. US President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
discussed the apparent terrorist plot with Cameron by phone, expressing his "appreciation for the professionalism of American and British services involved" in disrupting it.
Cameron said that authorities had immediately banned packages coming to (or through) the UK from Yemen and would be "looking extremely carefully at any further steps we have to take". UK Home Secretary
Theresa May
Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...
said that the government did not believe that the plotters would have known the location of the device when it was planned to explode. Although details of the device found in Britain were not released, photographs emerged in the US media of an ink-toner cartridge covered in white powder and connected to a circuit board. The British government's statements suggested that authorities in the UK and the US remained uncertain about the targets and purpose of the apparent plot. According to Dubai police, the explosives they found were also inside a printer-ink cartridge in a cardboard box with English-language books and souvenirs. The cartridge contained
PETN
Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), also known as PENT, PENTA, (ПЕНТА, primarily in Russian) TEN, corpent, or penthrite (or, rarely and primarily in German, as nitropenta), is an explosive material. It is the nitrate ester of pentaerythri ...
and
plastic explosive
Plastic explosive is a soft and hand-moldable solid form of explosive material. Within the field of explosives engineering, plastic explosives are also known as putty explosives
or blastics.
Plastic explosives are especially suited for explos ...
s mixed with
lead azide
Lead(II) azide is an inorganic compound. More so than other azides, is explosive. It is used in detonators to initiate secondary explosives. In a commercially usable form, it is a white to buff powder.
Preparation and handling
Lead(II) azide is ...
(an explosive commonly used in detonators). Unnamed US officials quoted by the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
said that al-Qaeda's explosives expert in Yemen,
Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, was the likely suspect in the bomb-making. They said that Asiri helped to make the bomb used in the failed Detroit Christmas Day bomb attack and another PETN device used in a failed suicide attack against a top Saudi counter-terrorism official. The White House said that Saudi Arabia provided information which helped identify the threat, and the UK's ''
Daily Telegraph
Daily or The Daily may refer to:
Journalism
* Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks
* ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times''
* ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
'' reported that an
MI6
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
officer responsible for Yemen had been tipped off.
Military and police counter-terrorism operations
After the
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
in the United States, President
Ali Abdullah Saleh
Ali Abdullah Saleh al-Ahmar (, ''ʿAlī ʿAbdullāh Ṣāliḥ al-Aḥmar;'' 21 March 1947There is a dispute as to Saleh's date of birth, some saying that it was on 21 March 1942. See: However, by Saleh's own confession, he was born in 1947 al ...
attempted to eliminate the
Islamist militant presence. By November 2002, Yemeni government troops had detained 104 suspected al-Qaeda members.
In December 2001 a search by government forces for two Yemenis believed to be senior al-Qaeda members hiding near
Ma'rib
Marib ( ar, مَأْرِب, Maʾrib; Old South Arabian: 𐩣𐩧𐩨/𐩣𐩧𐩺𐩨 ''Mryb/Mrb'') is the capital city of Marib Governorate, Yemen. It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of ''Sabaʾ'' ( ar, سَبَأ), which some scholars ...
led to a gun battle with tribesmen which ended in the deaths of 34 people, including 18 soldiers. To defuse the situation, ten Ma'rib
sheikh
Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...
s were detained as hostages of the state in the presidential palace for 35 days, until 43 lesser tribesmen took their place.
At the request of the United States, Spanish troops boarded and detained a ship transporting
Scud
A Scud missile is one of a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was exported widely to both Second World, Second and Third World, Third World countries. The term comes from the NATO reporti ...
missiles from
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
to Yemen in December 2002. After two days, when the United States determined that it had no right under international law to continue detaining the shipment, it was allowed to continue on its way to Yemen.
On July 30, 2009, three soldiers were killed in a clash with al-Qaeda militants in Marib province. On December 17 the village of
Al Ma`jalah was hit by a
cruise missile
A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...
which killed 41 people, including 14 women and 21 children; 14 were alleged al-Qaeda members. While the Yemeni government initially took responsibility, photographs of American components and a
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...
cable suggested that it was carried out by the United States.
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
reported that US
cruise missile
A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...
s were part of the camp bombardment targeting
Abu Hureira Qasm al-Rimi. According to a local official and a tribal source, 49 civilians (including 23 women and 17 children) were among those killed in the strike. That day, a clash between security forces and al-Qaeda members in Abhar left four militants dead.
[ ]
An air raid targeted an al-Qaeda meeting in Wadi Rafadh, Shabwa province on December 24, 2009. Thirty-four al-Qaeda militants were killed in the attack. According to security forces, Saudis and Iranians were among those killed. The number of al-Qaeda members arrested the previous week rose to 29.
US air attacks
The US first said that it used targeted killing in November 2002, with the cooperation and approval of the Yemeni government.
In 2004, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC-TV) international-affairs program ''Foreign Correspondent'' investigated the
targeted killing
Targeted killing is a form of murder or assassination carried out by governments outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield.
Since the late 20th century, the legal status of targeted killing has become a subject of contention within and betw ...
and the involvement of the US ambassador as part of a report entitled "The Yemen Option". The report examined evolving tactics and countermeasures in dealing with al-Qaeda-inspired attacks.
An estimated 98 US drone attacks were conducted in Yemen from 2002 to 2015: 41 in 2012, 26 in 2013 and 14 in 2014.
2002 Al-Harethi killing
Early in 2002 the
Bush
Bush commonly refers to:
* Shrub, a small or medium woody plant
Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to:
People
* Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name
**Bush family, a prominent American family that includes:
*** ...
administration approved sending about 100
Special Operations Forces
Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...
to Yemen.
Six Yemeni suspected al-Qaeda members were blown up in their car in
Marib province in November 2002 by a
Hellfire missile from an unmanned
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
Predator
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
drone. Among the dead were
Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi
Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi a.k.a. Abu Ali al-Harithi ( ar, أبو علي الحارثي ) (died November 3, 2002) was an al-Qaeda operative and a citizen of Yemen who is suspected of having been involved in the October 2000 USS Cole bombing,
an ...
(aka Abu Ali al-Harithi), a suspected senior al-Qaeda lieutenant believed to have helped mastermind the October 2000
USS ''Cole'' bombing.
Al-Harethi was on a list of targets whose capture or death had been ordered by US President George W. Bush.
and
Kamal Derwish Kamal Derwish ( ar, كمال درويش; 1973 – November 3, 2002) was an American citizen killed by the CIA as part of a covert targeted killing mission in Yemen on November 3, 2002. The CIA used an RQ-1 Predator drone to shoot a Hellfire missile, ...
(aka Ahmed Hijazi), an American.
["Q&A: Targeted Killings"](_blank)
Eben Kaplan, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', January 25, 2006. Retrieved October 8, 2010.
2010 al-Shabwani killing
In May 2010 an errant US drone attack targeting al Qaeda terrorists in
Wadi Abida killed five people, including
Ma'rib province deputy governor Jaber al-Shabwani (who was mediating between the government and the militants). The killing angered Shabwani's tribesmen and in subsequent weeks they fought government security forces, twice attacking a
major oil pipeline in the province.
2011 airstrikes
On May 5, 2011, a missile fired from a US drone killed Abdullah and Mosaad Mubarak, brothers who may have been al-Qaeda militants. The missile struck their car, and both died instantly. The strike intended to kill al-Qaeda propagandist
Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar Nasser al-Awlaki (also spelled al-Aulaqi, al-Awlaqi; ar, أنور العولقي, Anwar al-‘Awlaqī; April 21 or 22, 1971 – September 30, 2011) was an American imam who was killed in 2011 in Yemen by a U.S. government drone stri ...
, but he was not hit in the strike.
On June 3, 2011, American manned jets (or drones) killed Ali Abdullah Naji al-Harithi, a mid-level al-Qaeda operative, and several other militant suspects, including
Ammar Abadah Nasser al-Wa'eli, in a strike in southern Yemen. Four civilians were also reportedly killed in the strike, reportedly coordinated by American special forces and CIA operatives based in
Sanaa
Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Governo ...
. According to the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
, in 2011 the US government began building an air base near Yemen from which the CIA and the US military planned to fly drones over Yemen. This base is located at
Umm Al Melh, just north of Yemen inside Saudi Arabia. ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' reported that the US previously used a base in
Djibouti
Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...
to fly drones over Yemen, while ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' reported that a US drone base in the
Seychelles
Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...
could be used to fly drones over Yemen.
According to local residents and unnamed American and Yemeni government officials, on July 14, 2011, US manned aircraft (or drones) attacked and destroyed a police station in Mudiya,
Abyan Governorate
Abyan ( ar, أَبْيَن ) is a governorate of Yemen. The Abyan region was historically part of the Fadhli Sultanate. It was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army militant group. Its capital is the city of Zinjibar. This governorate is n ...
which had been occupied by al-Qaeda militants. Yemeni media and government accounts conflicted on the number of fatalities, estimated at between 6 and 50. The same day and nearby, drone missiles reportedly hit a car belonging to Yemeni al-Qaeda leader
Fahd al-Quso
Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso (12 November 1974 – 6 May 2012), also known as Abu Huthaifah, Abu Huthaifah Al-Yemeni, Abu Al-Bara', Abu Hathayfah Al-Adani, Abu Huthaifah Al-Adani, Fahd Mohammed Ahmed Al-Awlaqi, Huthaifah Al-Yemeni, or Abu Huthaifa ...
, but al-Quso survived the attack.
On August 1, 2011, US drones and reported Yemeni aircraft attacked three targets with bombs and missiles in southern Yemen, killing 15 suspected al-Qaeda militants and wounding 17 others. Targeted locations included al-Wahdah, al-Amodiah, and al-Khamilah in Abyan Governorate. One of those killed was reportedly militant leader Naser al-Shadadi. According to the ''Yemen Post'' online newspaper, "At least 35 US drone attacks were reported in Yemen over the last two months". On August 24, unidentified aircraft attacked suspected al-Qaeda militants near Zinjibar. The strikes reportedly killed 30 militants and wounded 40 others.
According to Yemeni officials, as reported in the ''
Long War Journal
''FDD's Long War Journal'' (LWJ) is an American news website, also described as a blog, which reports on the War on terror. The site is operated by Public Multimedia Incorporated (PMI), a non-profit media organization established in 2007. PMI is ...
'', US airstrikes in southeast Abyan province from August 30 to September 1 killed 30
AQAP militants reportedly engaged in combat with Yemeni military forces. Two airstrikes by US-operated aircraft on September 21 reportedly killed four AQAP fighters in Abyan and seven AQAP fighters in Shaqra. On September 30 US drone-launched missiles killed four people, including al-Qaeda propagandist
Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar Nasser al-Awlaki (also spelled al-Aulaqi, al-Awlaqi; ar, أنور العولقي, Anwar al-‘Awlaqī; April 21 or 22, 1971 – September 30, 2011) was an American imam who was killed in 2011 in Yemen by a U.S. government drone stri ...
, in
Al Jawf Governorate
Al Jawf ( ar, الجوف ') is a governorate of Yemen. Its capital is Al Hazm.
Al Jawf Governorate borders 'Amran Governorate to the west, Sanaa Governorate to the southwest, Ma'rib Governorate to the south, Hadhramaut Governorate to the east ...
. The strike also killed Samir Kahn, the American-born editor of ''
Inspire
The following is a thematic list of Directive (European Union), European Union directives:
For a date based list, see the :European Union directives by number
Numbering
From 1 January 1992 to 31 December 2014, numbers assigned by the General ...
'' magazine. It was the first known time that the US deliberately targeted US citizens in a drone attack.
A reported drone strike in Zinjibar on October 5 killed five AQAP militants. Yemeni government officials said that an October 14 US airstrike killed seven AQAP militants, including Egyptian-born AQAP media chief Ibrahim al-Bana. Eight militants were reportedly killed in an airstrike near Jaar on December 17; a December 22 drone strike near Zinjibar reportedly killed Abdulrahman al-Wuhayshi, a relative of Yemeni al-Qaeda leader
Nasir al-Wuhayshi
Nasir Abdel Karim al-Wuhayshi ( ar, ناصر عبد الكريم الوحيشي'; also transliterated as Naser al-Wahishi, Nasser al-Wuhayshi) alias Abu Basir, (1 October 1976 – 12 June 2015) was a Yemeni Islamist, who served as the leader o ...
.
2012 airstrikes
A reported US airstrike on January 31, 2012, near the city of Lawder in Abyan province killed 11 AQAP militants. The dead reportedly included Abdul Monem al-Fahtani, a participant in the USS ''Cole'' bombing.
Drones engaged in three attacks in three days on March 9–11, 2012. The first strike targeted an AQAP hideout near Al Baydah, Baydah province, reportedly killing local AQAP leader Abdulwahhab al-Homaiqani and 16 of followers. The second strike, on Jaar in Abyan province, reportedly killed 20 AQAP fighters. The third strike, also on Jaar, reportedly killed three AQAP militants and targeted a storage location for weapons seized by AQAP after it overran a Yemeni military base in Al Koud the previous week. A fourth drone strike, on March 14 in Al Bydah, reportedly killed four AQAP militants in a vehicle.
On April 11, 14 militants were killed in a drone strike in the town of Lauder (northeast of Zinjibar in Abyan province). An April 22 drone strike in the Al Samadah area, near the border of Marib and Al Jawf provinces, killed AQAP senior leader Mohammed Saeed al Umda (also known as Ghareeb al Taizi). A suspected US drone strike killed Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso and another al-Qaida militant in southern Shabwa province on May 6.
2013 Rada' wedding convoy strike
On December 12, 2013, 17 people in a wedding convoy were killed in the
Rada' District
Rada'a District ( ar, مُدِيْرِيَّة رَدَاع) is a district of the Al Bayda Governorate, Yemen. As of 2003, the district had a population of 56,382 inhabitants. The district's largest city is Rada'a, east of Dhamar, as the crow fl ...
of the
Governorate of Al-Bayda'. The US drone mistakenly targeted the wedding convoy after intelligence reports identified the vehicles as carrying suspected AQAP members. Although five of the killed were suspects, the remainder were civilians.
2014 airstrikes
On March 3, 2014, an airstrike believed carried out by an American drone killed three suspected AQAP members. Mujahid Gaber Saleh al Shabwani, one of Yemen's 25 most-wanted AQAP operatives, was thought to have been one of those killed. According to a statement released by the Yemeni Interior Ministry, on April 20–21 three US drone strikes killed at least two dozen suspected AQAP members and destroyed one of the group's training camps in southern Yemen. Five civilians were wounded and three killed in the attack. A June 13 suspected US drone strike targeted a car in the Mafraq al-Saeed region of Shabwah province, killing the five alleged AQAP operatives inside.
See also
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List of drone strikes in Yemen
United States drone strikes in Yemen started after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, when the US military attacked Islamist militant presence in Yemen, in particular Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula using drone warfare.
Wit ...
*
Yemen model
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Terrorism In Yemen
21st century in Yemen
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
Human rights abuses in Yemen