U.S. airstrikes conducted in Yemen overnight

More than 20 airstrikes were launched Thursday morning, targeting al Qaida militants, equipment and infrastructure in Bayda, Shabwa and Abyan provinces.

Egypt-born al-Masri, 59, was one of the most prominent figures in Al-Qaida to have roots in the era before the September 1, 2001 attacks, according to the Soufan Group, a private security and intelligence consultancy.

“I know there have been reports of firefights, raids”.

“In some ways, you could say we already have a civil war within the civil war”, the senior defense intelligence official said.

The U.S. military said that 14 AQAP fighters were killed in the raid. That would bring the two-day total to more than 30 strikes. Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula, or AQAP, has seeped into Yemen’s ungoverned spaces where they plot, direct and inspire attacks against USA and allied targets, Davis said.

USA forces conducted a series of airstrikes against purported Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militants and infrastructure in the provinces of Abyan, Al-Baida and Shabwa.

Moreover, the official pointed out that the “ferocity” with which AQAP jihadists defended their compound is an indicator of the value of the information they were fighting to protect.

A USA official told AFP that Thursday’s strikes had been planned months ago and were unrelated to the botched raid, which the White House has repeatedly claimed was a success that yielded crucial intelligence. Davis disputed those accounts, saying “there have not been any” USA forces in direct combat on the ground since the January 29 raid that led to the death of Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owens. It was the first counterterrorism operation he had authorized.

White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, said the change was “a philosophy more than a change in policy”.

Al-Qaida has seized large swaths of land in Yemen and entire cities starting in 2011 with the mass uprising that ended with the ouster of longtime ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2012.

The US defense official said losing Mukalla degraded AQAP but also cautioned the group did not leave its money or many of its recruits behind.

AQAP has been a persistent concern to the United States government since an attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day 2009 that was traced back to the militant group. Other new insights concern Al Qaeda’s regional and global network, and training techniques that give clues to attacks it could carry out in the future. Reports also suggested that no valuable intelligence had been recovered, and Yemen, concerned by the civilian casualties, prohibited the United States from conducting ground missions against suspected terrorist groups in the country.

Davis said the strikes were conducted in coordination with Hadi’s government.