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Airwars Assessment
(Previous Incident Code: YEMT209)
A few local-language Twitter sources suggested, on December 7th 2019, that US drone strikes had targeted “Muslim Brotherhood” militias, also described as “terrorists”, in the mountains of Al Arqoub in Abyan governorate. No other known sources reported US strikes, and there was no known information on alleged casualties.
The first known report of the strikes, from Twitter account @moam8888849 at 1:34 AM on December 7th, only reported that drones were bombing “unknown targets” in the mountains of Arqoub. A second account, @8k3b82LEv96mpzC, appeared to assign responsibility to the US for the strikes, which @salem_Alshaiba [perhaps recirculating the above] described as an “intense bombardment” by American forces.
On January 2nd 2020, US Central Command told New America that no US military strikes had been conducted in Yemen since June 24th 2019. The alleged strikes came amidst continued clashes between southern separatist forces and pro-government forces in southern Yemen, including in Abyan governorate.
Key Information
Geolocation Notes
Reports of the incident mention the vicinity of the Arqoub (زنجبار) area, for which the generic coordinates are:13.468889, 45.763889. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.