U.S. Drone Strike Targets Two Senior al‑Qaeda Members in Marib

American drones carried out a strike in Marib province, killing two senior figures of the al‑Qaeda terrorist organization.

On the evening of Monday, December 8, U.S. military drones targeted a motorcycle near a farm in the al‑Hadhun area, northeast of Marib city. The attack killed Abu Ubaidah al‑Hadhrami, a field commander of al‑Qaeda, and Anis al‑Hasili, a senior intelligence and security operative of the group.

Al‑Hadhrami was a prominent member of al‑Qaeda’s Yemen branch, known for publishing a booklet titled “Thus We Were Killed in the Name of Jihad” criticizing ISIS actions against al‑Qaeda. In recent months, he had also engaged in activities supporting Gaza. Anis al‑Hasili, meanwhile, was a senior intelligence official within al‑Qaeda and maintained close ties with Mabkhout bin Aboud al‑Sharif, head of the Islah Party organization in Marib.

According to Western media statistics on U.S. airstrikes in Yemen over the past two decades, more than 386 operations have been carried out against al‑Qaeda members in the country.