Dubai: The US military is deepening its involvement in Yemen, with escalating counterterrorism strikes targeting an Al Qaida affiliate that’s gained ground in the chaos of the country’s civil war.
US forces carried out more than 30 strikes by airplanes and drones in the past week in southern and central provinces, said Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman. The strikes followed the first commando operation Donald Trump approved as president, a January 28 raid against the terrorist group by the Navy’s SEAL Team 6 in which a US serviceman was killed.
Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, known as AQAP, has taken advantage of more than two years of fighting between Iran-backed Al Houthi rebels and President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, Davis said.
AQAP remains among the top terrorism threats to the US, according to another defense official who briefed reporters. The group continues to release propaganda advocating attacks against the US and has captured much weaponry - mostly from the Yemeni government - since the war broke out. That includes light antiaircraft weapons and possibly manpads - portable air-defense systems - said the defense official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of ongoing operations.
The January raid has provided helpful information, including phone numbers and contact details, on building out the group’s network with potentially actionable intelligence, the official said.
Though there are gaps in the US’s understanding of the group after US officials pulled out of Yemen amid the violence, the official said that AQAP’s members are estimated to be in the “low thousands,” made up predominantly of local Yemenis.
Currently, AQAP has retreated deep into ungoverned provinces after being driven out of the port of Al Mukalla, which it had seized.
Although attention in the fight against terrorism by the US and allies has focused on Daesh militants in Iraq and Syria, “AQAP is the organisation that has more American blood on its hands,” Davis told reporters Friday at the Pentagon.
“US forces will continue to target AQAP militants and facilities in order to disrupt the terrorist organisation’s plots and ultimately protect American lives.”
The Al Qaida affiliate has orchestrated numerous high-profile terrorist attacks, including the failed “underwear bomber” attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009.
The group claimed responsibility for the attack on the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris in 2015, in which gunmen killed 12 people.
The Navy Seals in the commando raid encountered fierce resistance, according to the Pentagon, and Chief Petty Officer William Owens was killed. Trump called the raid a success and recognised Carryn Owens, the commando’s widow, when he addressed Congress Feb. 28. She received the longest standing ovation during the speech.
In an interview with the Miami Herald, though, Owens’ father criticised Trump for ordering the raid and questioned whether the operation was well-planned. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Feb. 27 the administration is “very comfortable” with how the mission was executed, saying it uncovered information that will help prevent future attacks.
The raid also killed civilians - including an eight-year-old US citizen: the daughter of former Al Qaida strategist Anwar Al Awlaki, an American killed in a US drone strike in Yemen in 2011.
Yemen’s government denied US reports that it had ceased allowing American forces access to its territory for raids, but the country’s embassy in Washington issued a statement that “the government of Yemen reiterates its firm position that any counterterrorism operations carried out in Yemen should continue to be in consultation with Yemeni authorities and have precautionary measures to prevent civilian casualties.”
Davis said the air strikes were carried out in cooperation with Hadi’s government.
Targets included militants, equipment infrastructure, heavy weapons systems such as artillery, and fighting positions, he said. US forces go “in and out of Yemen” to support partner forces, he said, without providing details on the number or location of troops.
Local media reported intensive US air raids, from drones and fighter jets, in Abyan, Shabwa and Al Bayda provinces with several Al Qaida militants being killed.
In Shabwa province, resident Ahmad Faiz said in a phone interview that strikes targeted the house of Sa’ad Atef, an Al Qaida leader in the district of Al Saeed, on Thursday night.
Saturday, a US drone strike in Ahwar, in Abyan province, killed two suspected Al Qaida members on a motorbike, the news website Al Monitor reported.
Davis rejected tying the timing of the recent military actions to Trump taking office, saying planning “goes well back into last year,” as commanders worked with partner forces to develop the proposal.
The legal authority for carrying out the January raid and recent strikes “was delegated by the president through the secretary of defense” to US Central Command, he told reporters.
