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Attitudes in Yemen Toward US Drone Strikes and al-Qaeda
There have been several reports about suspected US drone strikes in Yemen this week, two just today. The BBC’s Yalda Hakim tells anchor Aaron Schachter about local resentment against both Al Qaeda and the US.
Army soldiers atop an armored personnel carrier, securing a road near the southern Yemeni city of Zinjibar June 21, 2012. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Yemen has been on high alert all week for a possible attack by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
The militant group known as AQAP is believed to be al Qaeda’s most dangerous franchise in the region, which is why the United States is targeting its members with so many drone strikes.
The BBC’s Yalda Hakim recently visited the coastal town of Zinjibar in southern Yemen.
“The people there feel helpless,” says Hakim. “They’re dealing with three different fronts. Al Qaeda on the one hand, then they’ve got the Yemeni military who have a grip over the town. And of course these drones hover overhead at any given time. But people there told me that they’re equally as scared, if not more, of the drones than they are of al Qaeda.”