US Drone Strike Kills Two in Yemen

Defense Officials Confirm Deaths But Decline to Offer Details

A US drone fired a missile at a car in southern Yemen today, killing two brothers who local officials termed as suspected militants. The strike is the first confirmed drone attack in Yemen since 2002, though US missile strikes have happened on and off during the Obama Administration.

The attack camed in the Shabwa Province, and the deaths were cofirmed by the Yemeni Defesnse Ministry, though the officials declined to provide any details about the attack.

Yemen has resisted the drone strikes for quite some time, expressing fear that it would harm the Saleh regime’s credibility domestically. Since that time massive pro-democracy rallies have grown nationwide, and the regime has lost control of several provinces.

Officials have warned al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has grown into a massive threat, and have used this to justify massive increases in aid to Saleh’s government. At this point, however, much of the country is entirely out of their control, and the US attack seems to suggest an unwillingness to wait for the off chance that Saleh’s successor can regain control.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.