U.S. military personnel aided Yemeni forces Tuesday in a hostage rescue mission that left numerous al Qaeda fighters dead.
A defense official told Voice of America on Wednesday that the U.S. “supported and cooperated with Yemeni forces” in an operation that the Pentagon had refused to comment on a day earlier.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that roughly two-dozen commandos took part in the operation.
“These are high-risk missions. They require very precise intelligence,” Brian Michael Jenkins, a senior adviser at the Rand Corporation and a former Green Beret, told VOA. “It requires an opportunity, a true opportunity to rescue the hostage. And as we’ve seen, in many cases it simply doesn’t work.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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