'NY Times': As Saleh's exit looms, Obama administration uses fighter jets and armed drones to keep al-Qaida militants from taking power.
By REUTERSSoldiers at demonstration in Yemen 311 (R)(photo credit: REUTERS)
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has intensified air strikes on suspected militants in Yemen in a bid to keep them from consolidating power as the government in Sanaa teeters, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.A US official confirmed to Reuters that a US strike last Friday killed Abu Ali Harithi, a midlevel al-Qaida operative, which followed last month's attempted strike against Anwar Awlaki, the leader of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.RELATED:Al Jazeera: Yemeni VP is declared acting leader400 wounded in Yemen as protesters, police clashCiting US officials, the Times said a US campaign using armed drones and fighter jets had accelerated in recent weeks as US officials see the strikes as one of the few options to contain al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.With the country in violent conflict, Yemeni troops that had been battling militants linked to al-Qaida in the south have been pulled back to Sanaa, the newspaper said.Yemen's authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, was wounded on Friday and is being treated in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. He appears to have been wounded by a bombing at a mosque inside his palace, not a rocket attack as first thought, US and Arab officials told Reuters.There were conflicting reports about his condition -- ranging from fairly minor, to life-threatening 40 percent burns.There had been nearly a yearlong pause in US airstrikes after concerns that poor intelligence had resulted in civilian deaths that undercut goals of the secret campaign.Click for full Jpost coverage of turmoil in the Middle EastUS and Saudi spy services have been receiving more information from electronic eavesdropping and informants about possible locations of militants, the newspaper said, citing officials in Washington. But there were concerns that with the wider conflict in Yemen, factions might feed information to trigger air strikes against rival groups.
The operations were further complicated by al-Qaida operatives' mingling with other rebel and anti-government militants, the newspaper said, citing a senior Pentagon official.The US ambassador in Yemen met recently with opposition leaders, partly to make the case for continuing operations in case Saleh's government falls, the newspaper said.Opposition leaders have told the ambassador that operations against al-Qaida in Yemen should continue regardless of who wins the power struggle in the capital, the Times said, citing officials in Washington.Al-Qaida's affiliate in Yemen has been linked to the attempt to blow up a trans-Atlantic jetliner on Christmas Day 2009 and a plot last year to blow up cargo planes with bombs hidden in printer cartridges.
