The US military has blamed an “administrative mistake” after conceding it forgot its own admission of the killing of up to 12 civilians during a raid on a Yemeni village in early 2017. Details of the admission feature in the Airwars annual report for 2020<\/a> which published March 2nd.<\/p>\n
The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) admitted the deaths of civilians just days after the assault; and CENTCOM\u2019s then commander General Joseph Votel later told the US Senate he took personal responsibility<\/a> for the deaths of “between four and 12” civilians.<\/p>\n
However in a public statement issued November 5th, in response to Airwars\u2019 recent findings on the Trump administration\u2019s actions in Yemen<\/a>, CENTCOM appeared to row back heavily on Gen. Votel\u2019s earlier admission, claiming only that \u201cthere may have been civilian casualties\u201d during the Yakla raid.<\/p>\n
Bonyan Gamal, a lawyer with the Yemeni human rights organisation Mwatana<\/a>, said the US mistake would be “painful” for the families of those killed at Yakla, many of whom had hoped for an official apology or compensation from the US government.<\/p>\n
“A key criticism in our recent report on US counterterror<\/a> actions in Yemen was of systemic failings in civilian casualty assessments at CENTCOM,\u201d said Chris Woods, director of Airwars, which monitors civilian casualties in multiple conflicts. \u201cIt\u2019s insulting to both Yemenis and Americans that the deaths of so many civilians in a recent botched US raid don\u2019t appear to form a part of CENTCOM\u2019s institutional memory.\u201d<\/p>\n
Years of unaccountable war\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Parts of the country remain fertile territory for Al-Qaeda and more recently, for a local Islamic State franchise. Since 2009 the US has been conducting counterterrorism airstrikes and occasional ground raids. These ramped up significantly during Donald Trump\u2019s presidency<\/a>, with the US military conducting at least 190 armed actions in Yemen – but with at least 86 civilians also allegedly killed, according to Airwars research.<\/p>\n
“We lost a lot on this operation. We lost a valued operator, we had people wounded, we caused civilian casualties,” Votel told the committee<\/a>. “We have made a determination based on our best information available that we did cause casualties, somewhere between 4 and 12 casualties that we accept – I accept\u00a0 – responsibility for.”<\/p>\n
On November 5th CENTCOM then admitted its first civilian harm case since Yakla, crediting Airwars for drawing a September 2017 incident to its attention<\/a>. However Central Command rejected 39 other civilian harm allegations under Trump which had been flagged by Airwars – and claimed only that it “may” have harmed civilians in the notorious Yakla raid.<\/p>\n
Transparency lacking<\/strong><\/p>\n
In 2016, outgoing US President Barack Obama had signed an Executive Order<\/a> requiring the Director of National Intelligence to publish an annual summary of strikes against militant groups, and associated civilian harm, in countries such as Yemen.<\/p>\n
Donald Trump, however, reversed that ruling in 2019<\/a> and critics say transparency around strikes had then decreased.<\/p>\n
President Joe Biden recently announced an end to US support for the brutal Saudi-led air campaign against Houthi rebels. The status of the 12-year long US campaign against al Qaeda in Yemen is less clear – though a recent report<\/a> suggested the entire US covert drone strikes campaign is now in review.<\/p>\n