The Raid on Yakla was a United States/United Arab Emirates military operation carried out on January 29, 2017 in al-Ghayil, a village in the Yakla area of the Al Bayda Governorate of central Yemen, during the Yemeni Civil War (2014–present). Authorized by US President Donald Trump, its ostensible goal was to gather intelligence on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula but also to target the group's leader, Qasim al-Raymi. The operation was the first high-level raid of the Trump administration. United States Central Command (CENTCOM) was involved with the Special Operations Command, which oversees US special forces operations, and the CIA.
Between 10 and 30 civilians (including Nawar al-Awlaki, the eight-year-old American daughter of the deceased alleged al-Qaeda preacher Anwar al-Awlaki) were killed in the raid along with up to 14 al-Qaeda fighters, as well as American Navy SEAL William Owens. A Bell Boeing MV-22B Osprey was destroyed during the operation.
The raid in Yemen was described as "risky from the start and costly in the end"; the "botched" operation raised questions about the choice to go forward with the raid "without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations".
Background
The United States has supported an ongoing Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen in their campaign against Houthi militants with weapons, intelligence, advice on operations, maritime operations, and refueling of aircraft. The United States also has an ongoing campaign against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The last US-led ground operation against AQAP in Yemen was in 2014. In 2016, the US and Emirati armed forces sent Special Operations forces to Yemen to monitor AQAP. The US conducted eight drone strikes against suspected AQAP operatives in Al Bayda during 2016, and a further strike on January 21, 2017.
The International Crisis Group reported in February 2017 that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula "is stronger than it has ever been" and is "thriving in an environment of state collapse, growing sectarianism, shifting alliances, security vacuums and a burgeoning war economy" brought on by Yemen's Civil War. In 2011, AQAP created Ansar Al-Sharia (AAS), a Yemen-based affiliate focused on waging an insurgency rather than international attacks on the West. In the view of the International Crisis Group, AQAP is "an internally diverse organisation with varying layers of support among the local population" and many AAS members and allies are not committed to AQAP's international agenda. As of early 2017, AQAP and AAS were currently in a struggle for territorial control with the Houthi/Saleh forces in the governorates of al-Bayda, Shebwa, Marib, Jawf and Taiz.
The principal targets of the raid were members of the al-Dhahab family and their houses, led by Abdelrauf al-Dhahab. Their clan is influential and Abdelrauf reportedly could call on a tribal force of 800 men. A number of the eighteen sons of patriarch Sheikh Ahmed Nasser al-Dhahab have joined AQAP or its armed affiliate organizations, including Tariq, Qaid, and Nabil. Qaid was killed by an August 2013 drone strike. Nabil was killed by a November 2014 drone strike. Tariq died while leading an AAS takeover of Rada'a, which also claimed the life of his half-brother Hizam, fighting on the other side.
Whether or not Abdelrauf was affiliated with Al Qaeda is disputed. As of 2014, Slate reported, Abdelrauf "skirt[ed] the line between an AQAP sympathizer and outright supporter." Abdelrauf al-Dhahab "repeatedly denied belonging to al-Qaida," and publicly pledged to drive them out of Al Bayda province in 2013. Prior to the raid, Abdelrauf al-Dhahab held a five-day meeting with military officials in the US-backed government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. The military reportedly gave him some 15 million riyals (US$60,000) to fight against the Houthi rebels. Hadi government military spokesman Maj. Gen. Mohsen Khasrouf has stated that al-Dhahab was working with the government to retake the city of Rada'a from the Houthis.