Precision US strike crushes Al-Qaeda terrorists in Yemen, undermining Iran’s destabilizing terror networks across region.
A US precision drone strike on Saturday eliminated two Al-Qaeda operatives traveling by motorcycle in the Al-Husoon area of Yemen’s Al-Wadi district, east of the strategic Marib province, according to a local government security source speaking to Xinhua.
The two militants were residents of the district, though their identities have not yet been released. The strike is the latest in a series of targeted US operations aimed at dismantling Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)—one of the world’s deadliest terror networks and a longstanding threat not only to Yemen and the Gulf but also to the West and Israel.
The United States has been conducting sustained counter-terrorism operations across Yemen, striking both Al-Qaeda cells and the Iran-backed Houthi militias that continue to destabilize the region. Neither Washington nor Yemen’s internationally recognized government has yet issued a formal statement.
Marib, an oil-rich and strategically vital province, has become a battleground where Al-Qaeda and the Houthis compete for influence, exploiting Yemen’s civil war—which erupted in 2014 after Iran’s Houthi proxies attempted to overturn the national government.
AQAP has a long record of global terrorism:
– It claimed the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris in 2015.
– It called for “lone-wolf” attacks against Western civilians.
– In 2020, it claimed responsibility for the Pensacola naval base shooting.
Its leader, Sa’ad bin Atef al-Awlaki, has previously issued direct threats against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, marking him as one of the most dangerous jihadist figures still active. In July, the US State Department increased the reward for his capture from $6 million to $10 million.
Saturday’s strike shows the ongoing reach of American counter-terrorism doctrine, denying global jihadists and Iran-aligned factions any safe haven—an effort Israel views as critical to regional stability.
