While American lawmakers in Washington are debating Yemen's terror threat, evaluating whether or not to reopen the embassy to the public, the hunt for terror militants is decidedly intensifying with more reports of drone strikes.
Officials confirmed on Sunday morning that three alleged al-Qaeda operatives were killed in US-led airstrikes in the southern province of Lahj, just north of Aden, Yemen's main seaport and former South Yemen capital. Traveling in two different vehicles, only one of the terrorists' trucks, believed to be ferrying weapons to an al-Qaeda cell was taken down while the other managed to got away.
The attack took place on Saturday in the eastern suburb of Lahj. "Two air strikes were launched by a US aircraft and completely destroyed two cars carrying suspected al-Qaida members in the valley of Bana in Lahij’s suburbs, and killed five. Some of the dead were believed to be foreign nationals," a source told Xinhua under cover of anonymity. The report was later confirmed by local officials.
With drones' casualties on the rise, Yemenis are finding difficult to reconcile with the idea of foreign military intervention in their homeland.
A senior Defense Ministry official confirmed that since July 28, an estimated 34 people have been killed in a dozen drone strikes, noting that about a dozen were innocent casualties.
With such mounting figures and no telling how far, wide and often drones will strike, Yemenis have found themselves united in their fear.