SANAA, Yemen (AP) – The first U.S. drone strike in Yemen since the start of the year killed three suspected al-Qaida fighters on Monday, signaling Washington’s determination to keep targeting the global terror network’s most lethal branch despite the resignation of the Yemeni president, a top U.S. ally, in the face of a Shiite rebel power grab.
Tribal and security officials in the central province of Marib said a missile hit a vehicle carrying three people near the border with neighboring Shabwa province, an al-Qaida stronghold. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.
The drone strike, the first in 2015, was also the first since Shiite rebels known as Houthis last week placed embattled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his Cabinet under house arrest following days of gunbattles in an attempt to force them to make political concessions. After reaching a tentative deal with the Houthis, the president and his government resigned in an effort to thwart rebel attempts to force more compromises.
The Houthis, who claim to only want an equal share of power, had seized the capital of Sanaa and its central province in September and at least eight other provinces, after descending from their northern stronghold.
Critics say the Shiite Houthi rebels want to retain Hadi as president in name only, while keeping an iron grip on power. They also accuse the Houthis of being a proxy of Iran, an allegation the rebels deny.