An escalating campaign of U.S. drone strikes in Yemen has sparked anger from residents and tribal leaders. The drone strikes, according to the victims’ relatives, not only killed suspected members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) but also killed and injured a number of civilians. The recent escalation comes after the commander of the U.S Central Forces, Joseph Votel, handed ousted former Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi a list of al-Qaeda military commanders and their supporters being targeted by the United States, according to local news outlets close to Hadi.
Last week, a suspected C.I.A. drone targeted a home alleged to contain al-Qaeda leader Qassim al-Rimi in Marib Province, allegedly killing not only al-Rimi but some innocent civilians as well. By Washington’s standards, residents told MintPress, just because they were near the house, those civilians deserved to die alongside al-Qaeda.
The drone strike took place in the al-Hazmah region in the eastern province of Marib on a home that was allegedly used to store weapons. The house, according to local tribal leaders and witnesses, was targeted by more than one airstrike and left no survivors. A local al-Qaeda leader that went by the nickname Qusayleh was also killed in the attack. Many of his bodyguards were killed and injured in another attack that targeted a car near Bin Maieli, outside of al-Hazmah.
Witnesses told MintPress that massive explosions rocked the area in the aftermath of the attack and that al-Qaeda fighters arrived in the area soon after and cordoned it off. The al-Qaeda fighters, according to witnesses, were all Yemeni. According to two local tribal sources who spoke to MintPress on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisals, al-Rimi, the intended target of the attack, was not among the dead.
The latest U.S. airstrikes have been widely reported in local media and online and are a regular topic of discussion at weekly qat chewing sessions across the country. They have also forced civilians in the district to flee their homes and farms and have created fear among women and children in the region.
Just as they did in the tribal areas of Yemen’s south, where U.S. drone strikes regularly target suspected al-Qaeda members, the latest attacks in Marib have caused a marked increase in the radicalization of tribesmen and victims’ relatives. Many tribesmen have already joined AQAP not out of support for its ideology, but out of resentment towards the United States. The majority of residents in the region want to see both an end to U.S. aggression and al-Qaeda’s presence.
The latest U.S. airstrikes have been widely reported in local media and online and are a regular topic of discussion at weekly qat chewing sessions across the country. They have also forced civilians in the district to flee their homes and farms and have created fear among women and children in the region.
Just as they did in the tribal areas of Yemen’s south, where U.S. drone strikes regularly target suspected al-Qaeda members, the latest attacks in Marib have caused a marked increase in the radicalization of tribesmen and victims’ relatives. Many tribesmen have already joined AQAP not out of support for its ideology, but out of resentment towards the United States. The majority of residents in the region want to see both an end to U.S. aggression and al-Qaeda’s presence.
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