(Previous Incident Codes: YEM008USYEM009)

Over a six week period, US Special Forces carried out more than 24 ground raids in Yemen, according to a single credible source, The Nation.

The Nation reported: “By late January 2010, JSOC had been involved with more than two dozen ground raids in Yemen, which kicked off with the December 17 strikes. Scores of people were killed in the campaign, while others were taken prisoner. At the same time, JSOC began operating drones in the country as the covert war expanded.”

The Washington Post contravened this, saying that JSOC was not directly taking part in the raids but was helping to “plan missions, develop tactics and provide weapons and munitions”.

The Post said that, “Highly sensitive intelligence is being shared with the Yemeni forces, including electronic and video surveillance, as well as three-dimensional terrain maps and detailed analysis of the al Qaeda network”. It added that JSOC was operating in a “newly built joint operations center”, also referred to in a secret US cable by Yemen’s President Saleh.

This incident was identified by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and has been included in Airwars’ database even though no casualties are mentioned.