Yemen/ Saudi update 2/02/2017..WH Says President Made Final Call On Yemen Raid

Pentagon confirms civilian deaths during U.S. military raid in Yemen

WH Says President Made Final Call On Yemen Raid

Crisis Group: Deadly US Raid Bolstering Al-Qaeda in Yemen

The International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a report on Thursday that the commando raid approved by new US President Donald Trump this week may have given al Qaeda in Yemen a propaganda boost in killing civilians.

Local medics said 30 people including 10 women and children were killed in the helicopter-born Navy SEAL attack on a cluster of houses in Yemen’s Southern al-Bayda province, the Star reported.

Al Qaeda said in a statement that a senior leader and an unspecified number of other militants were killed. One US soldier died in the assault, and a Pentagon spokesman alleged some of the women were firing at the US force.

“The raid … is a good example of what not to do,” ICG’s senior Arabian Pensinsula analyst April Alley wrote.

“The use of US troops and the high number of civilian casualties … are deeply inflammatory and breed anti-American resentment across the Yemeni political spectrum that works to the advantage of AQAP,” she added.

Nearly two years of civil war in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country has allowed local branches of al Qaeda and ISIL to expand and carry out new attacks within Yemen.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is one of the global militant group’s most active branches. It unsuccessfully plotted to blow up US-bound airliners and claimed responsibility for a 2015 shooting at the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.

Former President Barack Obama repeatedly killed top leaders in the organisation with unmanned drone attacks but, ICG said, that strategy may not ultimately defeat it.

“It is too early to determine what, if any, broader strategy the Trump administration has in Yemen … But drone strikes have failed to stop its rapid growth, in large part because the opportunities provided by the war outstrip its losses.”

Yemen, and Saudis killed Huthis show mercenaries, their documents and weapons

Yemen forces ( Houthis _ Ansser Allah / Army ) storming
a #Saudi military sites called Almgren in Jazen ,killed soldiers , get weapons

UNICEF: Yemen war erases decade of health gains, many children starving