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Airwars Assessment
(Previous Incident Codes: YEM132 USYEM151 )
An alleged US drone strike killed between three and four suspected Al Qaeda militants in a vehicle in the southern province of Shabwa on the 30th of July, 2013. Two Yemenis and one Saudi Arabian, all alleged militants, were killed.
Tribal leaders told the Associated Press the Saudi was a ‘known member of Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen’ though no name was reported initially. Subsequently McClatchy reported Saudi Ibrahim al Rubaish was killed, according to local tribal fighters. Al Rubaish was AQAP’s leading ideologue. The Long War Journal reported Al Khidr Husayn al Jadani – ‘AQAP’s overall commander in Abyan province’ – died in the strike. He reportedly replaced Abdul Munim Salim al Fatahani as commander in Abyan when he died in January 2012.
The strike destroyed one of two vehicles traveling together at dawn, with @asaadalemad identifying the vehicles as ” two Hilux + saloon cars.” ‘The car in which the three were travelling – two Yemenis and a Saudi – was blown to pieces and all of them were killed outright,’ an anonymous source told AFP. Anti War News agency added that two cars were targeted but only one was struck as the other got away, whilst they were travelling on a road between al-Aram and al-Saeed in Shabwa. The attack came two days before President Hadi was due to visit the White House for talks about counter-terrorism and democratic reforms.