Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

USYEMTr119

Incident date

November 22, 2017

Location

قيفه, Qifah, Al Bayda, Yemen

Airwars assessment

US drones “intermittently fired missiles at the mountains” of the Qifah area of Bayda governorate, on the evening of November 22nd 2017, residents told Gulf News. No other known sources reported strikes at that time, and there were no known reports of either civilian or militant casualties.

On the morning of November 23rd, local residents told Gulf News that US drones and fighter jets “from the Saudi-led coalition” had “launched heavy airstrikes… apparently targeting Daesh and Al Qaeda military camps or fugitive militants hiding there”. Given that this source specified US strikes alongside Saudi-led coalition actions, this event has been assessed by Airwars as a single-source claim of a US and/or Saudi action.

In an email to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, US Central Command declared that strikes had taken place in Bayda on November 19th, November 20th, and November 23rd – each accounted for in separate events – but did not declare US strikes on the evening of November 22nd. It is possible that an undeclared strike was conducted by the CIA.

Gulf News reported that recent US drone strikes in the area had “displaced residents and caused panic”. A local activist told Gulf News that a number of alleged US strikes had taken place in the area in the second half of November 2017, including “three separate air strikes” that had killed five civilians during the week of publication. As it appears that the article was updated on November 28th 2017, this report has been accommodated for in events USYEMTr120-C and USYEMTr122-C.

“The air strikes have caused great panic among civilians,” the activist told Gulf News. “The targeted areas have no functioning schools or hospitals.”

The local time of the incident is unknown.

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 attackers
    US Forces, Saudi-led Coalition
  • Suspected targets
    Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), ISIS - Yemen

Sources (1) [ collapse]

Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]

Reports of the incident mention strikes within the area of Qifah (قيفه), north of Rada’a (رداع) town, for which the generic coordinates are: 14.449335, 44.817596. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

  • Reports of the incident mention strikes within the area of Qifah (قيفه), north of Rada’a (رداع) town.

    Imagery:
    Google Earth

US Forces Assessment:

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

Original strike reports

US Forces

This is the most current CENTCOM information on strikes against AQAP and ISIS in Yemen.

· One strike against ISIS in al-Bayda Governorate, Yemen, Nov. 26. killing three terrorists.
· One strike against AQAP in Shabwah Governorate, Yemen, Nov. 25 killing seven terrorists.
· One strike against ISIS in al-Bayda Governorate, Yemen, Nov. 23, killing two terrorists.
· Two strikes against AQAP in al-Bayda Governorate, Yemen, Nov. 19-20. The strikes killed two AQAP terrorists Nov. 19 and five terrorists on Nov 20.

Saudi-led Coalition Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Saudi-led Coalition
  • Saudi-led Coalition position on incident
    Not yet assessed

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 attackers
    US Forces, Saudi-led Coalition
  • Suspected targets
    Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), ISIS - Yemen

Sources (1) [ collapse]