US terror drone strikes breed sympathy for militants in Yemen

According to a recent report by the US daily, the increasing US airstrikes in Yemenhas resulted in stirring sympathy for militants and driving tribesmen to follow suit.

In 2009, when US President Barack Obama authorized a missile strike on Yemen, US officials said there were no more than 300 'al-Qaeda-linked' members, but now after three years of the escalating US campaign in the country, the number has grown to 700 or more, Yemeni officials and tribal leaders say.

Tribal leaders and Yemeni officials say, the US aerial attacks in southern Yemen are also angering powerful tribes that could prevent the militant group from gaining strength. This comes as the group seized control of large swaths of southern Yemen last year.

“There is more hostility against America because the attacks have not stopped al-Qaeda, but rather they have expanded, and the tribes feel this is a violation of the country’s sovereignty,” said Anssaf Ali Mayo, the Aden head of Yemen’s al-Islah party, which is now part of the coalition government. “There is a psychological acceptance of al-Qaeda because of the US strikes.”

In September, a US airstrike killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a senior militant leader in southern Yemen. The Yemeni-American preacher was from the Awlak tribe, one of the most influential in the area.

The following month, another US strike killed Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, also an American citizen, generating outrage across Yemen.

Awlaki tribesmen are businessmen, lawmakers and politicians. But the strikes have pushed more of them to join the militants or to provide the militants with safe haven in their areas, said tribal leaders and Yemeni officials.

Tribal leaders and human rights activists say as civilians have been killed in the airstrikes, mostly from unmanned aircraft, there is a strong shift in sentiment toward militants.

“The drone strikes have not helped either the United States or Yemen,” said Sultan al-Barakani, who was a top adviser to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. “Yemen is paying a heavy price, losing its sons. But the Americans are not paying the same price.”

In some cases, US strikes have forced civilians to flee their homes and have destroyed homes and farmland.

Washington has been using its assassination drones in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia and claims that it is targeting terrorists, but civilians have also been killed in the attacks.