Yemen to 'reassess' US commando operations after Donald Trump's botched raid

Yemen's foreign minister said it has asked for a "reassessment" of a US raid last month that killed several women and children, but denied reports that his government has requested a suspension of American ground operations.

The operation, which had been the first against suspected terrorists to be approved by President Donald Trump - was characterised as a success by the White House. However officials privately admitted that “almost everything went wrong” in the commando raid late last month on an al-Qaeda compound in Baida province.

Navy Seal Team Chief Special Warfare Operator William "Ryan" Owens, 36, was killed and three other US troops were wounded in a fierce gunfight.

The Pentagon only acknowledged several days later that several civilians, including children, had apparently been killed.

The New York Times originally reported that Yemen had demanded a halt to such operations, in what would be a setback for Mr Trump, who had promised a more aggressive approach to tackling Islamist extremism in the region. 

But foreign minister Abdul-Malik al-Mekhlafi said Wednesday that "Yemen continues to cooperate with the United States and continues to abide by all the agreements." He added that the government "is involved in talks with the US administration on the latest raid."

He said reports that Yemen has demanded a halt to US special operations are "not true."

The extremists' base had been identified as a target before the Obama administration left office on January 20, but then-President Barack Obama held off approving a raid, in part because officials said they were not certain the available intelligence was sufficiently reliable. Also, on-the-ground surveillance of the compound was "minimal, at best," one of the officials said.

Mr Trump approved the raid after a discussion with his top national security advisers over dinner, rather than in the Situation Room as is customary. 

US military officials told news agency Reuters that Mr Trump approved the operation without sufficient intelligence, ground support, or adequate backup preparations.

As a result, three officials said, the attacking Seal team found itself dropping onto a reinforced al-Qaeda compound defended by landmines, snipers, and a larger than expected contingent of heavily armed Islamist extremists.

What followed was "a brutal firefight" took the lives of Owens and at least 15 Yemeni women and children. One of the dead was the eight-year-old daughter of the late militant Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed by a 2011 US drone strike.

Some of the women were firing at the US force, Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters.

The International Crisis Group think-tank has warned that operations like the Baida raid risked fanning hostility towards the US among civilians, providing fertile ground for recruitment by al-Qaeda.

“The use of US soldiers, high civilian casualties and disregard for local tribal and political dynamics,” the Brussels-based group said in a report released last Thursday, “plays into AQAP’s narrative of defending Muslims against the West and could increase anti-US sentiment and with it AQAP’s pool of recruits.”

Yemen has also protested against Mr Trump’s executive order banning its citizens of the war-torn country from travelling to the US.