The White House continued its defense of the raid on Tuesday, making no reference to the Yemeni reaction. “The raid that was conducted in Yemen was an intelligence-gathering raid,” he said. The Pentagon has tried to start rebuilding its counterterrorism operations in Yemen since then. In response to the raid, Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen urged followers last weekend to attack the United States and its allies in the country. Specialists in Yemeni culture and politics have cautioned that Al Qaeda would seize on the raid to whip up anti-American feelings and attract more followers.

Source: New York Times February 08, 2017 02:05 UTC