Raid on Yakla

The Raid on Yakla was a joint United States/United Arab Emirates military operation carried out on January 29, 2017 in al-Ghayil, a village in the Yakla area of the Al Bayda Governorate of central Yemen, during the Yemeni civil war. Prepared by U.S. counterterrorism officials under President Barack Obama, the mission was ultimately authorized by President Donald Trump nine days into his presidency. The mission's goal was to gather intelligence on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and to target the group's leader, Qasim al-Raymi. The raid was led by U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) with resources from U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), and the Central Intelligence Agency, as well as commandos from the United Arab Emirates Army.

Raid on Yakla
Part of the Yemeni Civil War (2014–present)
and the War on Terror
Raid location
Raid location (Yemen)
Date29 January 2017
Location
Al-Ghayil, Wald Rabi' District, Al Bayda Governorate, Yemen
Result

Mission failure

  • Target not found
  • White House and Defense Secretary claim the raid was a success and generated large amounts of vital intelligence
  • Pentagon claims one terabyte of information on AQAP was captured
  • Senior U.S. officials later claim raid produced no significant intelligence
Belligerents
 United States
 United Arab Emirates

al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

  • al-Dhahab Tribesmen
Commanders and leaders
Donald Trump
James Mattis
Raymond A. Thomas
Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan		 Abdul Rauf al-Dhahab †
Sultan al-Dhahab  †
Seif al-Joufi †
Abu Barazan
Strength

 United States

 United Arab Emirates

  • Unknown number of commandos
 Unknown
Casualties and losses
1 killed
3 wounded
1 V-22 Osprey destroyed		 14 killed (U.S. estimate)
10–30 civilian casualties (including at least 10 women and children, and 1 U.S. citizen)

Between 10 and 30 civilians (including Nawar al-Awlaki, the eight-year-old American daughter of the deceased al-Qaeda preacher Anwar al-Awlaki) were killed in the raid along with up to 14 al-Qaeda fighters, as well as American Navy SEAL William Owens. A Bell Boeing MV-22B Osprey was destroyed during the operation.

The raid in Yemen was described as "risky from the start and costly in the end"; the "botched" operation raised questions about the choice to go forward with the raid "without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations".

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