Yemen asks America to suspend drone attacks

Yemeni security patrol the streets in Halmayn in the southern province of Lahij Sanaa – Ali Rabea Yemeni military sources said on Saturday that Sanaa has asked the United States of America to ?temporarily suspend drone strikes in the country, to placate popular anger following several attacks by US unmanned aircrafts over the last two weeks.?
The news comes the day after a drone strike, the ninth since the end of July, killed two suspected Al-Qaeda members in Yemen, a local official said.
Friday's attack in the southern province of Lahij targeted a car, wounding two other people while a fourth one escaped unharmed, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Nine drone attacks since July 28 in eastern, southern and southeast Yemen have killed 38 people, including al-Qaeda members from Saudi Arabia. They are thought to be carried by the United States, the only country in the region to have drones.
Friday’s drone strike came as Washington said it would reopen 18 embassies and consulates it shut this week in Muslim-majority countries over Al-Qaeda threats - except for its Yemen mission which will remain closed.
On Wednesday, Yemen said it had foiled a plot by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to storm a Canadian-run oil facility at Mina al-Dhaba on the Arabian Sea coast.
The Yemeni military source, who declined to be named, said Yemeni Defence Minister General Mohammed ?Nasser Ahmed had asked the US Deputy Chief of Mission in Yemen, Karen Sasahara, to temporarily suspend drone attacks to ease the growing popular anger that has followed the intensification of the strikes.
 General Ahmed also asked the diplomat to decrease the United States’ level of security warning in Yemen, given it was reopening its embassies in other countries, the source said.
Spokeswoman for the American Department of State Jane Bsaki said the US will continue to ?evaluate the threat level in Sanaa and Lahore, where its embassy also remains closed.?
The official Yemeni news agency confirmed the meeting between the defence minister and US diplomat , reporting that the pair discussed a number of issues of common interest in the ?Ministry of Defence Headquarters in Sanaa?
The meeting addressed cooperation between Yemen and the US on anti-?terrorism, and enhancing Yemeni efforts to confront this international threat, the agency said.?
It added that General Ahmed  emphasised the importance of the logistical and technical support ?given by America to the Yemeni armed forces, in exchange for ?expertise and information to help the USA combat terrorism?.?
According to Yemeni government sources, Karen Sasahara expressed the USA’s ?support for Yemen and its political leaders in overcoming this exceptional phase, and highlighted the need to support Yemeni efforts to fight terrorism, and ?enhance the defence abilities of the Yemeni armed forces.?

Additional source: AFP