At least one person, believed to be affiliated with Al Qaeda, was reported killed in an alleged US drone strike on a motorcycle in the Al Batha area, Marib governorate, on December 14th, 2020, according to local sources.

Al Arabiya reported that according to a source within the local authority in Marib, “an unmanned drone, likely to be an American, launched a raid on an al-Qaeda operative in the Al Batha area, isolating the forts of Al Jalal in the Wadi Directorate, northeast of the city of Ma’rib.”

@Ywbmmd tweeted that “a drone, believed to be an American, targeted a motorcycle in which a person (believed to be affiliated with Al Qaeda) was travelling in the Al Batha area – the car market in the forts of Al Jalal.” According to @Abolbrahim2018, the victim was a senior leader of Al Qaeda.

Several sources, including Al Hadath Center, reported two killed Al Qaeda militants.  @mobass20 was the only source reporting that the motorcycle was carrying three Al Qaeda militants.

According to Yemen Post, the event took place in the “Al Batha area in the car market in the forts of Al Jalal of the Wadi Directorate.”

Sahaftak wrote that “local sources said that a drone bombed a motorcycle carrying two Al Qaeda operatives in the Al Jalal fortress area in the valley, killing two Al Qaeda operatives and burning the motorcycle.”

@saifbinrashid7 reported that “an Al Qaeda operative was killed in Marib by bombing of an American drone.”

According to Al Sharae News, the identity of the target was unknown. The source added that the killed man’s “body parts were littered with his motorcycle”.

Al Hadath Center reported that “the airstrike resulted in the killing of the target and the burning of his bicycle, without identifying him.”

All sources blamed the United States for the strike.

The incident occured in the evening.

A US drone strike reportedly targeted alleged AQAP militants’ Vitara vehicle in the ‘Irq Al Shabwan area of Al Wadi district in Marib governorate on 27 October 2020 killing between two and three militants and wounding one, according to local sources. Almawqaea Post noted that a local source had named the militants as being members of the Al Suwari family. There were no known associated reports of civilian harm.

Many sources reported that the drone strike totally burned the car, killing two people inside, and critically wounding a third one. However, Aden news agency said that the two killed people belong to the Islah Party “the de facto ruler of the city and its surroundings since late 2015.” Also 7adramout.net said the identity of those killed is unknown.

Multiple news sources reported that the strike was believed to have been carried out by the US, given previous strikes in the area. Most reports referred to two militants being killed, although two sources including Yemen Now News reported that all three were killed.  No reports referred to whether the third may have died from his wounds.

The incident likely occurred in the afternoon, given the time media reports started to publish. One of the first news reports, by Adengad.net, stated that a “drone believed to be an American targeted an Al-Qaeda vehicle in the Ma’rib governorate”, citing local sources as saying that the car was carrying Al-Qaeda operatives. Only one source, AlAyyam, said the incident happened in the evening.

The incident occured in the afternoon.

A US drone strike reportedly targeted alleged AQAP militants in the Wadi Obaida area of Marib city, in Marib governorate, on the evening of June 24th 2020, according to some sources. There were no known reports of civilian harm.

One source, @ksa2030_n, claimed that a senior AQAP leader was killed in the strike.  The Yemen Press Agency reported that the militants were targeted as they attempted to escape from fighting against Saudi-led coalition forces in Qaniyah, in nearby Bayda governorate.

US Central Command told Airwars that no US military strikes were conducted in Yemen during June 2020. It is, however, possible that an undeclared strike was conducted by the CIA, or as part of a clandestine US military operation.

The incident occured in the evening.

A US drone strike reportedly killed an alleged AQAP leadership figure in the Arqoub area of Abyan governorate, on May 16th 2020. There were no known associated reports of civilian harm.

Local sources told Yemen Press Agency that a May 16th strike had targeted AQAP leader Saad Al-Atiqi Al-Awlaki: “An American drone strike on Saturday [May 16th] targeted a senior al-Qaeda leader who was fighting with Saudi-led coalition forces in Abyan province, southern Yemen. Local sources in the province told Yemen Press Agency that US aircraft targeted the al-Qaeda leading member Saad al-Atiqi al-Awlaqi in the Aqaba area, between Laudar district in Abyan and Mokiras district in Bayda province, while [he was] participating in the fighting alongside coalition forces against the Yemeni army and popular committees in Mokiras front.”

Others, such as Aden Press, further suggested that Al-Awlaki had been killed in the strike. AQAP fighters have previously been reported to have fought alongside and integrated into pro-government militant groups.

Some, including News Yemen and Sama Press, instead indicated that the strike took place on May 17th. Witnesses told News Yemen that an “unidentified reconnaissance plane” had flown over the Arqoub mountains earlier on the 17th.

US Central Command told Airwars that no US military strikes were conducted in Yemen during May 2020. It is, however, possible that an undeclared strike was conducted by the CIA, or as part of a clandestine US military operation.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

A US drone strike reportedly killed at least one alleged AQAP militant, possibly a key communications officer, in Al Hazma, in the Wadi Obeida area of Marib governorate, on May 13th 2020. There were no known associated reports of civilian harm.

According to academic Fatima Alasrar (@YemeniFatima), the strike targeted a house, injuring Abdullah Al-Maliki, a communications officer for AQAP, while killing a second alleged militant from Hadramout, named as Sharfan. According to this source, Al-Maliki’s leg was later amputated in hospital, but he was subsequently released.

A “senior US official”, however, later claimed to the New York Times that a CIA drone strike had killed al-Maliki, stating that he was “an important, emerging communications specialist, pushing out Al Qaeda’s message not just in Yemen but globally”. Likewise, “tribal sources” told Omana that a prominent “Saudi” AQAP leader had been killed in the strike. Given these varying reports, Airwars has assessed that, at minimum, one militant was reportedly killed, with a maximum of two. Likewise, a maximum of one militant was reportedly injured.

In a May 18th press conference, the US Department of Justice confirmed that “a counterterrorism operation targeting AQAP operative Abdullah al-Maliki… was recently conducted in Yemen”. Given that no other strikes were alleged to have targeted Al-Maliki, this event is treated as declared. US Central Command told Airwars that no US military strikes were conducted in Yemen during May 2020, effectively confirming that this was a CIA strike.

In that press conference, US Attorney General William P. Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray indicated that information leading to the strike had been acquired from the phones of Mohammed Saeed Al-Shamrani, who had murdered three US sailors in a December 6th 2019 Pensacola shooting. Al-Maliki and Al-Shamrani had allegedly been in direct contact while the latter was in the US.

As the New York Times noted: “The FBI found that the gunman, Second Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, a Saudi Air Force cadet training with the American military in Pensacola, had communicated with leaders of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and had joined the Saudi military to carry out a ‘special operation,’ Attorney General William P. Barr said at a news conference… The evidence found on Mr. Alshamrani’s phone showed that the Pensacola attack was ‘the brutal culmination of years of planning and preparation’.”

“The al-Maliki group has been seriously degraded and I’m very pleased with the results,” Barr said, regarding the strike. A report by SITE Intelligence identified Al-Maliki with “an official AQAP media channel”, named “Abdullah al-Mujahid”.

SITE Intelligence executive director Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) and academic Dr Elisabeth Kendall (@Dr_E_Kendall_) both noted that AQAP media output had severely declined since the strike. Since May 13th, online distribution of a lecture series by AQAP leader Khalid Batarfi had ceased, and the group later failed to issue a standard Eid greeting.

The local time of the incident is unknown.