Geolocation
Airwars assessment
A US drone strike reportedly targeted a house in the Al Rawda area of Marib governorate on August 1st 2018, killing four and wounding others.
One source, The Yemen, indicating that those killed were civilians: “Today, Wednesday, local sources said that four civilians were killed and others wounded, following a US air strike on a drone that targeted them in the Rawdah neighborhood, south of Ma’rib Governorate. The sources pointed out that a drone strike hit a house in the neighborhood of Rawda, south of the city of Marib, killing four people and wounding others.”
Other sources suggested that the house was inhabited by AQAP militants.
The reports bore a resemblance to those of another alleged strike in the same area on July 22nd (USYEMTr174-C), and may possibly reflect late reporting of that earlier event.
On August 30th 2018, US Central Command stated that “six counterterrorism air strikes” against AQAP had been conducted since May 16th 2018, in “Shabwah, Hadramawt and Al-Bayda governorates”. The declared strikes did not include an August 1st strike; it is possible that this event constituted an undeclared CIA strike.
In its annual civilian casualty report to Congress issued in April 2019, the US Department of Defense stated that it had assessed “no credible reports of civilian casualties resulting from US military actions in Yemen during 2018″.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Summary
Sources (7) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (2) [ collapse]
Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention a house being struck in the Al Rawda (الروضة) area, south of Mar’ib (مأرب) city. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for Al Rawda are: 15.448882, 45.345554.
US Forces Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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C. U.S. military action in Yemen against al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and ISIS During 2018, U.S. forces deployed to Yemen continued to work towards disrupting and degrading the terrorist threat posed by AQAP and ISIS. U.S. forces conducted 36 airstrikes against AQAP and ISIS operatives and facilities in Yemen and supported United Arab Emirates and Yemen-led efforts to clear AQAP from Shabwah Governorate. DoD has no credible reports of civilian casualties resulting from U.S. military actions in Yemen during 2018.