2014 hostage rescue operations in Yemen | |||||||
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Part of Yemeni Crisis (2011–present) | |||||||
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel at a rescue mission press conference. [1] | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
First raid only: Both raids: United States | al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Unknown | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
1 Yemeni soldier wounded [4] 1 American civilian killed | 13 fighters killed (7 in first raid, 6 in second raid) | ||||||
1 South African civilian killed 8 Yemeni civilians killed [5] |
The 2014 hostage rescue operations in Yemen were missions to rescue hostages held by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen. The first attempt on 26 November 2014 rescued 8 hostages, but five hostages, including the American journalist Luke Somers, were moved by AQAP to another location prior to the raid. The second attempt by U.S. Navy SEALs once again attempted to rescue the hostages, but Luke Somers and South African teacher Pierre Korkie were killed by AQAP during the raid in Shabwah Governorate of Yemen. Although the majority of hostages had been rescued, the operation was still seen as a failure in the West.[ citation needed ] The media particularly criticised the inability of American forces to rescue Somers.[ citation needed ]
On 26 November 2014, a reinforced troop of U.S. Navy SEALs from DEVGRU supported by US-trained Yemeni special forces launched nighttime hostage rescue mission on a small number of caves in Hadhramaut Governorate. They landed at an off-set helicopter landing zone several kilometres away and patrolled on foot to the target area. In their assault on the cave, they killed 7 AQAP terrorists with one Yemeni SOF operator minorly wounded. [6] 8 hostages, none American, were freed, but Luke Somers and four others had been moved to another location by AQAP prior to the raid. [2] [3] The nationalities of the eight hostages rescued were six Yemenis, one Saudi, and one Ethiopian or Nigerian. The SEALs conducted SSE and MH-60 helicopters flown by Nightstalkers extracted them. [7] [6]
On 4 December 2014, AQAP threatened to execute Somers within three days if the US government failed to meet unspecified demands. [8] [9] AQAP also said that Somers would be killed if another attempt to rescue the hostages was launched. [10]
On 6 December 2014, after time sensitive intelligence indicated that an American hostage would be immediately executed by AQAP, 40 SEALs from DEVGRU used V-22 Ospreys to land 10 km from the compound in the Abadan Valley, where Somers and Korkie were kept at about 1 a.m. local time, according to a senior defense official. An AQAP fighter spotted them when the SEALs were less than 100 yards from the objective [11] whilst relieving himself outside, a counter-terrorism official with knowledge of the operation told ABC News, beginning a firefight that lasted about 10 minutes. [12] According to CBS News, dog barking could have alerted the hostage takers of the operation. [13]
Both the American and South African hostage were immediately shot, while the DEVGRU assault team breached into the compound. The SEALs killed 6 AQAP terrorists [11] When the American troops finally entered the building where Somers and Korkie were kept, they found both men alive, but gravely wounded.
While a JSOC medical unit who had inserted with DEVGRU began stabilising the wounded hostages, the SEALs secured the area for their extraction. [11] The US forces pulled Somers and Korkie onto the Ospreys and medical teams began performing surgery in midair. Korkie died during the flight and Somers died after the Ospreys landed on the USS Makin Island. [8]
The entire operation took 30 minutes. Six AQAP fighters were killed, US officials said. No American troops were killed or injured in the raid.
A video posted on a Jihadi website showed the fire fight between the Navy SEALs and AQAP fighters. [13]
Information "indicated that Luke's life was in imminent danger," said US President Barack Obama. "Based on this assessment, and as soon as there was reliable intelligence and an operational plan, I authorized a rescue attempt." He condemned the "barbaric murder" of Somers. "The callous disregard for Luke's life is more proof of the depths of AQAP's depravity, and further reason why the world must never cease in seeking to defeat their evil ideology," Obama said in a statement. [9] [14] [15]
At the time of the raid, US special operations forces were unaware of the identity of the second hostage, Korkie. Korkie's release was imminent and had been negotiated by the South African organization Gift of the Givers. The organization's leader Dr. I. I. Sooliman said that the failed rescue had "destroyed everything". [16]
In a statement released on 8 December 2014, Somers family said they did not give the green light for the rescue operation and the ordeal could have been solved with more dialogue and less fighting. [17]
In its war on terrorism in Yemen, the US government describes Yemen as "an important partner in the global war on terrorism". There have been attacks on civilian targets and tourists, and there was a cargo-plane bomb plot in 2010. Counter-terrorism operations have been conducted by the Yemeni police, the Yemeni military, and the United States Armed Forces.
The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), abbreviated as 160th SOAR (A), is a special operations force of the United States Army that provides helicopter aviation support for special operations forces. Its missions have included attack, assault, and reconnaissance, and these missions are usually conducted at night, at high speeds, low altitudes, and on short notice.
Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa (OEF-HOA) is a component of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). The Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) is the primary military component assigned to accomplish the objectives of the mission. The naval components are the multinational Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) and Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151) which operates under the direction of the United States Fifth Fleet. Both of these organizations have been historically part of United States Central Command. In February 2007, United States President George W. Bush announced the establishment of the United States Africa Command which took over all of the area of operations of CJTF-HOA in October 2008.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, abbreviated as AQAP, also known as Ansar al-Sharia in Yemen, is a Sunni Islamist insurgent extremist group, which is part of the al-Qaeda network and primarily active in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. It is considered the most active of al-Qaeda's branches that emerged after the weakening of central leadership.
Qasim Yahya Mahdi al-Raymi was a Yemeni militant who was the emir of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Al-Raymi was one of 23 men who escaped in the 3 February 2006 prison-break in Yemen, along with other notable al-Qaeda members. Al-Raymi was connected to a July 2007 suicide bombing that killed eight Spanish tourists. In 2009, the Yemeni government accused him of being responsible for the running of an al-Qaeda training camp in Abyan province. After serving as AQAP's military commander, al-Raymi was promoted to leader after the death of Nasir al-Wuhayshi on 12 June 2015.
The Baraawe raid, code named Operation Celestial Balance, was a helicopter assault by United States Special Operations Forces against the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and associated al-Shabaab militants near the town of Baraawe in southern Somalia.
The Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen is an ongoing armed conflict between the Yemeni government, the United States and their allies, and al-Qaeda-affiliated cells in Yemen. It is a part of the Global War on Terror.
The following lists events that happened during 2014 in Yemen.
Luke Daniel Somers was a British-born American photojournalist who had been held hostage by the militant Islamist group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen. He was a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States. He traveled to Egypt before settling in Yemen.
United States drone strikes in Yemen started after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, when the US militant attacked Islamist military presence in Yemen, in particular Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula using drone warfare.
Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi was a senior leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) based in Yemen. Al-Ansi appeared in many of AQAP's propaganda videos, claiming the kidnap of US photojournalist Luke Somers and the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris. On 7 May 2015, AQAP announced that al-Ansi was killed in a US drone strike.
The Shabwah Governorate offensive is an insurgent campaign by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) forces to take control of Shabwah Governorate during the Yemeni Civil War.
The Second Battle of Mukalla refers to an armed conflict between al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the Saudi-led Coalition. The aim of the coalition offensive was to disable the newly resurgent al-Qaeda Emirate in Yemen by recapturing its capital, Mukalla. The battle led to a coalition victory, in which the coalition forces gained control of Mukalla and the surrounding coastal areas.
The Raid onYakla 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.
The raid on Al Hathla was a military operation launched by the United States military, against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula forces in Ma'rib Governorate in Yemen on 23 May 2017. The attack occurred in an Al-Qaeda compound that was used as a training facility for new combatants.
The Hadramaut insurgency was an insurgency in Yemen launched by AQAP and ISIL-YP against forces loyal to president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi.
The Abyan conflict was a series of clashes between forces of AQAP loyal to Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, and forces loyal to Southern Movement for the control of Abyan between 2016 and 2018.
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