Deadly Yemen raid missed its main al Qaeda target

The Pentagon acknowledged that civilians, including children, were “likely killed” in the assault. The operation also resulted in the death of Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owens.

Meanwhile, the White House and the Pentagon appear to be sticking to their stories.

“It’s absolutely a success and anyone who suggests it’s not does a disservice to Ryan Owens”, said Spicer.

“I think anyone who undermines the success of that raid owes an apology and a disservice to the life of Chief Owens”, said Spicer.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer later added, “The he raid that was conducted in Yemen was an intelligence-gathering raid”.

“But, I think this is really a local Yemeni problem”, he said. NBC News’s Hallie Jackson asked.

McCain also said that “We must continue to take the fight to our enemies wherever they are while recognizing that risk is inherent in war”.

“Because the mission failed did not in any way diminish their courage and willingness to help their fellow Americans who were help captive”. The raid on al-Qaida militants was the first such operation ordered by Trump since he took office on January 20.

Following news of the raid, the military had said the goal of the mission was to gather intelligence on AQAP.

But the USA military’s Central Command said last week that it only asks for operations it believes have a good chance of success based on its planning.

Trump released a statement classifying the raid as a success and expressed his sympathy for the fallen SEAL.

Yemen has also protested against Mr Trump’s executive order banning its citizens of the war-torn country from travelling to the US. Swathes of the Yemen’s south are held by AQAP, al Qaeda’s affiliate there.

On Sunday the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels reportedly tested and fired a ballistic missile that struck a Saudi military camp west of the capital Riyadh. One of the dead was the eight-year-old daughter of the late militant Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed by a 2011 U.S. drone strike. According to a statement published by the official Yemeni news agency saba, the missile was sacked “in response to the continued America-Saudi aggression and its bloody massacres” against the Yemeni people and “more is yet to come and stronger”.

The government of Yemen has withdrawn permission for the U.S.to launch Special Operations ground missions inside the country.

In response to a question about whether al-Rimi had previously been a focus of the raid, a Defense Department spokeswoman told the Daily News that he was “never at any point” been a target in the operation.

“We needed to know what happened”, he said.