Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

USYEMTr212

Incident date

September 14, 2019

Location

شبوة, Shabwa, Yemen

Geolocation

14.695997, 46.957239 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Province/governorate level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

One local language social media source, @GawadSalah, claimed, on September 15th 2019, that six Emiratis were killed in an alleged AQAP camp in Shabwa by a US drone strike.

The source seemed to refer to six Emirati soldiers reported, on September 14th 2019, to have been killed in a road “collision” in southern Yemen. Other reports suggested that the six were killed in an armed clash with separatists, or even that they died in Libya.  No other known sources assigned responsibility for the deaths to a US drone strike.

On October 4th 2019, a US Central Command spokesperson told New America that no strikes had been conducted in Yemen since June 24th 2019. It is, however, possible that an undeclared strike was conducted by the CIA, or was part of a clandestine US military action.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]

Reports of the incident mention the governorate of Shabwa (شبوة), for which the generic coordinates are: 14.695997, 46.957239. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

  • Reports of the incident mention the governorate of Shabwa (شبوة).

    Imagery:
    Google Earth

Summary

  • Strike status
    Single source claim
  • Strike type
    Airstrike, Drone Strike
  • Civilian harm reported
    No
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Suspected belligerent
    US Forces
  • Belligerents reported killed
    6

Sources (4) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]

US Forces Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    US Forces
  • US Forces position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Original strike reports

US Forces

On October 4, 2019, United States Central Command (CENTCOM) replied to an email inquiry from New America confirming that “the last strike conducted by CENTCOM in Yemen was 24 June.” Per that statement, there were no CENTCOM strikes in Yemen in September 2019.

The lack of strikes in September makes it more than three months since the last U.S. military counterterrorism strike in Yemen, according to New America’s research. However, it is possible that the United States has conducted covert non-military strikes, and in recent years there have been a small number of strikes attributed by media reports to the United States that CENTCOM has denied conducting

Summary

  • Strike status
    Single source claim
  • Strike type
    Airstrike, Drone Strike
  • Civilian harm reported
    No
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Suspected belligerent
    US Forces
  • Belligerents reported killed
    6

Sources (4) [ collapse]