The first counter-terrorism raid authorised by U.S. President Donald Trump over the weekend targeted al-Qaeda in Yemen. How effective was the operation, and what is known about the new administration’s broader strategy on Yemen?
The raid in al-Bayda, a key battlefront in Yemen’s civil war where al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and its local affiliate Ansar al-Sharia (AAS) are embedded in the conflict, is a good example of what not to do. The use of U.S. troops and the high number of civilian casualties – local sources report that at least ten women and children were killed – are deeply inflammatory and breed anti-American resentment across the Yemeni political spectrum that works to the advantage of AQAP.… Seguir leyendo »
La reciente y dramática crisis en Yemen ha provocado un debate sobre si la administración del presidente estadounidense Barack Obama cometió un error al declarar que su estrategia de lucha contra el terrorismo en dicho país – centrada en ataques con aviones no tripulados o “drones” – es un éxito. En los hechos, tal como muestra un nuevo informe titulado “Muertes causadas por drones”, incluso si la crisis actual no hubiese entrado en erupción, los daños causados por los ataques con aviones estadounidenses no tripulados a los civiles yemenís deberían ser suficientes como para llevar a EE.UU. a repensar su estrategia.… Seguir leyendo »
News that the United States has suspended operations at its embassy in Yemen -- and reports that Houthi rebels have seized U.S. Marines' weapons -- have laid bare the failure of U.S. policy in the country.
The Houthis -- a Shiite insurgent group backed by Iran -- are now the key power brokers in Sanaa, Yemen's capital. They have also extended their presence far south of their historical northern stronghold, advances that prompted Yemen's entire executive branch to resign on January 22, following a successful siege of the presidential compound.
In the process, the Houthis have destroyed Yemen's legal government, thrown out its draft constitution, infiltrated its intelligence services and security forces, and demanded that all sides in Yemen's complex and acrimonious socio-political-economic system play by their rules.… Seguir leyendo »
President Obama says the United States is looking to its Yemen policy as a model for what to do in Iraq and Syria. But what the president labels the “Yemen model” has not been as successful as the White House claims; indeed, it is in danger of collapse. Attempting to replicate it in much more challenging conditions in Iraq and Syria will almost certainly fail.
A little background: The United States partners with the government of Yemen against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, which remains the most imminent direct al-Qaeda threat to the U.S. homeland. AQAP’s top leadership includes Osama bin Laden’s former secretary, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, now reportedly al-Qaeda’s general manager; former Guantanamo detainee Ibrahim al Rubaish; and its innovative bombmaker, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, who continues to target the United States and U.S.… Seguir leyendo »
Somewhere in Yemen are about two dozen individuals whom the U.S. is looking to capture or kill. These are al-Qaeda’s senior operational leaders, the men administration officials think are plotting to attack the U.S. and its interests abroad.
To kill them, the U.S. has carried out dozens of air and drone strikes -- the most conservative estimate puts the number at 91 -- over the past 3 1/2 years. Few strikes have been successes. They have killed a lot of people but very few of the top commanders.
Since December 2009, the U.S. has killed somewhere between 632 and 1,231 people in Yemen.… Seguir leyendo »
Yemen is a sanctuary for al Qaeda terrorists that is barreling into civil war and instability. Add into this the fact that tens of thousands of Yemenis hold U.S. passports, and Yemen emerges as the perfect habitat for a new al Qaeda threat: the American terrorist.
Three high-profile terrorists with U.S. citizenship have been killed in Yemen. Kamal Derwish, also known as Ahmed Hijazi, was killed in Yemen in 2002 while traveling with other al Qaeda operatives, including the organizer of the USS Cole attack. Derwish was the reported leader of the Lackawanna Six, the group of Yemeni-Americans from New York who traveled to Afghanistan in early 2001 to attend al Qaeda training camps.… Seguir leyendo »
Osama bin Laden's death was cheered, I suspect, by 99.99% of Americans. But there was that 0.01% — and a slightly higher number abroad — who doubted the legality of simply pumping two bullets into the Al Qaeda leader rather than trying to arrest and Mirandize him.
Likewise, amid the general rejoicing over the death of Anwar Awlaki, one of the leaders of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a few civil libertarians are raising questions about whether the U.S. government had the right to kill an American citizen without a trial. And it wasn't just the New Mexico-born Awlaki, a dual citizen of the U.S.… Seguir leyendo »
Several recent attempted terrorist attacks – including the discovery late last month of printer cartridges packed with explosives on board two cargo planes bound for and, as now revealed, targeted at the United States – have put the spotlight on Yemen, the country from which the plot originated and where the suspected bomb-maker is believed to be hiding.
In addition to this most recent plot, the failed attempt to destroy a Northwest Airlines flight over Detroit in December 2009, and the failed attempt to detonate a car bomb in Times Square in March 2010, have some connection to the impoverished land at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula.… Seguir leyendo »
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