Heavy US airstrikes that began Thursday and continued through the weekend have not halted yet, with at least one strike reported on Monday, with the drone strike destroying a car and killing both people within, labeled “suspected terrorists,” though both were burned beyond recognition and unidentified.
On the other hand, we finally do have one identified victim among the flurry of strikes in the past five days, with reports that former Gitmo detainee Yasir al-Silmi was slain. Officials say they think he was part of al-Qaeda, though they say he was not a “high-value” target.
It is still unclear why the US launched this sudden flurry of attacks, though Pentagon officials maintain that the targets were all selected before President Trump’s inauguration, and had nothing to do with the failed January ground raid in the country.
Yemeni officials say they believe the operation will be “sustained,” and “open-ended,” though the dozens of strikes reported on Thursday have been reduced to just a couple a day over the weekend, and by all accounts, just one on Monday.
Reprinted with permission from Antiwar.com.
