US Raid Kills An 8-Year-Old Girl, Scores More in Yemen

January 30, 2017   |   admintam

(ANTIWAR) Pentagon officials confirmed that Navy SEAL Team 6 attacked what they described as an “al-Qaeda headquarters” in Yemen’s central Bayda Province, bragging of killing “about 14” al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters and taking a cache of information. They reported a single soldier killed.

Absent from the Pentagon’s account of what happened over the course of the raid, which supposedly lasted less than an hour, and left a large number of women and children riddled with bullets, including at least one eight-year-old girl named Nora, the daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, a US cleric who was assassinated by the Obama Administration. The Cairo AP office reported receiving photographs showing the bodies of several young children who were shot multiple times during the raid. Roughly 57 people were killed overall, according to Yemeni officials, though they claimed a lot more AQAP fighters slain than the US reckoning of 14. Either way, a substantial number of civilians were among the slain.

Awlaki’s 2011 assassination was hugely controversial, both because he was a US citizen killed on the orders of the Obama Administration and because the administration declined to charge him with any crimes beforehand, simply presenting his sermons as proof of terrorism. Awlaki’s 16-year-old son was assassinated, again on Obama’s order, two weeks later.

Officials say this raid had initially been proposed to President Obama but wasn’t approved until after President Trump took office and signed off on the plan. Even with the Pentagon ignoring all the slain children, the narrative isn’t exactly one of a super successful first ground raid into Yemen going off without a hitch.

“Pentagon officials confirmed the death of one US soldier in the fighting. Three other soldiers were wounded during the raid, and a fourth was wounded in the initial evacuation attempt, in which the V-22 Osprey crashed into the ground during a failed landing.

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This article (US Raid Kills An 8-Year-Old Girl, Scores More in Yemen) by Jason Ditz, originally appeared on AntiWar.com and was used with permission. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

US Suffers First Combat Loss Under Trump in Yemen Raid

January 29, 2017   |   admintam

(MEE) A US service member was killed and three were wounded in a raid on al-Qaeda headquarters in Yemen on Saturday, the Pentagon said.

It said 14 members of the militant group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula died in the raid, which netted “information that will likely provide insight into the planning of future terror plots,” the US military said in a statement on Sunday.

The gun battle in the rural Yakla district of Bayda province killed a senior leader in Yemen’s al-Qaida branch, Abdulraoof al-Dhahab, along with other militants, local witnesses said.

A fourth service member was injured during a “hard landing” in a nearby location, the US military said. The aircraft, a helicopter, according to local residents and officials, was unable to fly afterwards and was intentionally destroyed, US sources added.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of one of our elite service members,” said General Joseph Votel, commander of US Central Command.

“The sacrifices are very profound in our fight against terrorists who threaten innocent peoples across the globe.”

This was the the first counterterrorism offensive under President Donald Trump, and the first incident of a US service member being killed in action under the new administration.

Al-Qaeda leaders

Yemeni security and tribal officials said the assault in central Bayda province killed three senior al-Qaeda leaders.

The surprise dawn attack killed Abdul-Raouf al-Dhahab (an alternative spelling), Sultan al-Dhahab, and Seif al-Nims, Yemeni officials told the Associated Press.

The al-Dhahab family is considered an ally of al-Qaeda, which security forces say is concentrated in Bayda province.

A third family member, Tarek al-Dhahab, was killed in a US drone strike years ago, reported. It was not immediately clear whether the family members were actual members of al-Qaeda.

Just over a week ago, suspected US drone strikes killed three other alleged al-Qaeda operatives in Bayda province in what was the first-such killings reported in the country since Donald Trump assumed the US presidency.

The tribal officials said the Americans were looking for al-Qaeda leader Qassim al-Rimi, adding that they captured and departed with at least two unidentified individuals.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, long seen by Washington as among the most dangerous branches of the global terror network, has exploited the chaos of Yemen’s civil war, seizing territory in the south and east.

The war began in 2014, when Shiite Houthi rebels and their allies swept down from the north and captured the capital, Sanaa. A Saudi-led military coalition has been helping government forces battle the rebels for nearly two years.

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This article (US Suffers First Combat Loss Under Trump in Yemen Raid) by MEE and agencies originally appeared on MiddleEastEye.net and was used with permission. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.