The coup in Sanaa, and prospects of a new Houthi-led government are unlikely to deter US drone strikes in the country, according to comments made by the administration on Friday.
When asked if there is any talk within the White House of pausing its targeted killing program following the forced resignation of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, spokesman Josh Earnest said he was “not aware of any discussions like this.”
“This administration remains committed to pursuing a counter terrorism strategy against [al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula] to protect the American people and our interests,” he added.
President Obama has authorized more than 100 drone strikes in Yemen since 2009. The operations have killed more than 1,000 people, including at least scores of civilians. In the past, these operations against AQAP have been carried out with the approval of the Yemeni government.
Diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks in 2010 revealed how then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh was not only coordinating drone strikes with the US at the time, but was also claiming responsibility for them.
“We’ll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours,” Saleh told Gen. David Petraeus in an exchange that was documented in a cable from a US diplomat in Yemen.
It wasn’t the only time the former head of state lied to further American interests. According to another cable, after a downed US drone washed up on Yemeni shores in 2007, Saleh’s government publicly said that it was an Iranian aircraft, despite initial protests.
“He could have taken the opportunity to score political points by appearing tough in public against the United States, but chose instead to blame Iran,” US charge d’affaires Nabeel Khoury noted.
In 2012, Saleh was thrown out of office, during the Arab Spring, and replaced by Hadi–another leader sympathetic to US drone operations. His first year in office saw the largest number of US drone strikes in the country.
“The fact is we worked closely with the Hadi government,” Earnest said on Friday, adding, “We certainly want to continue our work with the government of Yemen to pursue this important counter-terrorism effort.
Earnest referred to AQAP as “probabaly the most dangerous al Qaeda affiliate around the world.”
The Washington Post reports that Hadi’s military and intelligence agencies have already been stripped of their authority to coordinate drone attacks with the US. Now in charge are Houthi officials who have, in the past, claimed that US drone operations in Yemen violate their nation’s sovereignty.
When asked if there has been any outreach with the new Houthi government, Earnest said there had not been before correcting himself.
“I don’t have an answer to that,” he conceded.
In the end, a new government in Yemen could look a lot like the old one. There are reports that former President Saleh is an instrumental force behind the Houthi seizure of power. On Wednesday, Saleh made an appearance to publicly call for early presidential and parliamentary elections.
However, the former President may not be in the good graces of the US anymore. Last November, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Saleh for his role in attempting to undermine the Yemeni government.
