Geolocation
Airwars assessment
In an email to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a US spokesperson stated that a CENTCOM strike had targeted ISIS militants in Al Bayda governorate on November 10th 2017, killing two. This confirmed earlier local reports that a US drone strike had killed two alleged militants in or near Sirar Jusham, in the Qayfa area, on that afternoon. There were no known associated reports of civilian harm.
According to Hunaradaa and Yemen Shabab Net, the strike targeted a room used to guard khat in Al-Masyad, northeast of Sirar Jusham.
Some local-language social media sources suggested that at least one US strike in the Qayfa area had targeted at least one IS or AQAP “training camp”. One, @abwoyousef707, claimed that strikes were launched in the Azla Khubza and al-Namous “region” of Qayfa. It was unclear whether these sources reflected reporting of at least one unique strike event, or described the same strike.
While most sources indicated that those killed were ISIS militants, a few instead suggested that the dead were members of AQAP. Both organisations had previously been reportedly targeted in the area.
Though most gave a death toll of two, some social-media sources, such as @hamrinnews, suggested that “dozens” were killed. As such, Airwars has assessed that a minimum of two were killed, with a maximum of twenty-four, to reflect the claim of “dozens”.
Khabar News reported that a drone had targeted an AQAP site in “Bujsh Al-Hodeidah”, killing two “foreigners”, according to a report by Yemenat. The original Khabar article could not be found by Airwars. One other source, @YemenNewsApp, also indicated that the two killed were “foreigners” affiliated with AQAP, but no further information was given on this claim.
The incident occured in the afternoon.
Summary
Sources (20) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]
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CENTCOM confirmed that a strike killed two ISIS militants in the November 10th strike. According to local sources, the strike targeted a room used to guard khat (Hunaradaa, November 10th 2017)
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention a strike on a small room within the Al Maysad (المصياد) area, allegedly within or in the vicinity of Sirar Jusham (صرار الجشم). Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for Sirar Jusham are: 14.552681, 44.820786.
US Forces Assessment:
Original strike reports
We conducted three strikes against ISIS in al-Bayda Governorate, Yemen Nov. 10-12.
· 10 Nov – 1 strike – 2 EKIA
· 11 Nov – 1 strike – 1 EKIA
· 12 Nov – 1 strike – 2 EKIA