December 21st, 2009 by Jason

The Washington Post reports that the U.S. “provided intelligence and other assistance to Yemeni forces in attacks Thursday against suspected al-Qaeda targets.”  According to The New York Times, President Obama approved the request for support from the Yemeni government for the raids which killed at least 34 militants. 

Waq al-Waq worries that the U.S. is not only providing assistance against al-Qaeda, but against the Houthis as well, which he calls a “mistake.” In addition, he questions the success of the raids given the high number of civilian casualties,the blowback in the Yemeni press, and the failure to kill the main target, Qasim al-Raymi. Instead, he urges the U.S. to do “a lot more prep work and development work to […] undermine al-Qaeda.” Finally, he points to a report by Alistair Harris and Michael Page that warns against narrowly focusing on al-Qaeda to the exclusion of the other problems that confront Yemen.

Meanwhile, a Houthi spokesman is claiming Saudi air strikes killed 54 civilians, as local tribal sources have informed that the rebel leader Abdul  Malak al-Houthi has been seriously injured. Neither of these reports have been confirmed independently.

Posted in Military, Publications, Terrorism, US foreign policy, Yemen, al-Qaeda |