CIA activities in Yemen

The United States Central Intelligence Agency has conducted intelligence gathering and targeted killing operations in Yemen as part of the War on Terror.

Drone strikes

On November 5, 2002, Al-Qaeda operatives in a car traveling through Yemen were killed in a targeted killing by a missile launched from a CIA-controlled Predator drone.[1]

On September 30, 2011, in northern Yemen's al-Jawf province, two Predator drones based at a secret CIA base in Saudi Arabia[2] fired Hellfire missiles at a vehicle containing Anwar al-Awlaki, Samir Khan, and two other suspected al-Qaeda members.[3][4][5] According to US sources, the strike was carried out by Joint Special Operations Command, under the direction of the CIA.[3] All four were killed.

On October 14, 2011, a similar drone strike killed al-Awlaki's 17-year-old son, Abdelrahman al-Awlaki and eight others.[6]

2015 reduction

After the closure of the U.S. Embassy in Sana'a, U.S. counterterrorism officials said the CIA was forced to scale back its operations in Yemen. Of the approximately 200 Americans based at the embassy, "dozens" were working for the CIA.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jeffrey Addicott (November 7, 2002), "The Yemen Attack: Illegal Assassination or Lawful Killing?", HTML, retrieved April 26, 2006
  2. ↑ The existence of a secret US drone base in southern Saudi Arabia was first reported by US newspapers on February 5, 2013. On February 7, Wired magazine suggested that the base was the Umm Al Melh Border Guards Airport located in the Rub' al Khali desert near Saudi Arabia's border with Yemen. See Shachtman, Noah (February 7, 2013). "Is This the Secret U.S. Drone Base in Saudi Arabia?". Wired. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  3. 1 2 Griffin, Jennifer. (April 7, 2010) Two U.S.-Born Terrorists Killed In CIA-Led Drone Strike. Fox News. Retrieved on October 1, 2011.
  4. ↑ US official confirms al-Qaida's al-Awlaki killed in Yemen. Jpost.com. Retrieved on October 1, 2011.
  5. ↑ Drones: Obama administration’s weapon of choice in the war on al-Qaida. The Washington Post. Retrieved on October 1, 2011.
  6. ↑ LAURA KASINOF (October 15, 2011). "Strikes Hit Yemen as Violence Escalates in Capital". New York Times.
  7. ↑ Greg Miller and Hugh Naylor (February 11, 2015). "CIA scales back presence and operations in Yemen, home of potent al-Qaeda affiliate". Washington Post.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/29/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.