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AFP - Saudi Arabia has provided fighter jets to assist the United States with its drone strikes against Al-Qaeda targets in Yemen, the London Times reported on Friday.

US drones are backing Yemeni forces combating militants of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The group's Yemen branch is considered by Washington to be the most active and deadliest franchise of the global jihadist network.

The Times cited a US intelligence source as saying that "some of the so-called drone missions are actually Saudi Air Force missions".

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My Comment: I am not surprised by Saudi Arabia's involvement .... the last thing that they want is an Al Qaeda bastion on their border. What I am surprised about is that people are talking about it.

Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen is offering a bounty of gold worth $160,000 to anyone who kills Gerald M. Feierstein, the U.S. ambassador to Yemen.

According to the Associated Press, the group announced that it will pay tens of thousands of dollars to anyone who kills the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa or an American soldier in the country.

The group offered 3 kilograms of gold, worth about $160,000, for killing Feierstein, and said it will pay 5 million Yemeni riyals ($23,000) for anyone who kills an American soldier.

The offer is valid for six months, the AP reported.

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Update #1: Al Qaeda offers bounty for killing U.S. diplomat -- CBS/AP
Update #2: Al-Qaida offers bounty for US ambassador in Yemen -- RT

My Comment: I guess the U.S. and its Ambassador are having an impact against Al Qaeda in Yemen.

DHAMAR, Yemen: A rickety truck packed with 14 people rumbled down a desert road from the town of Radda, which al-Qaeda militants once controlled. Suddenly a missile struck flipping the vehicle over. Then a second missile hit the truck.

Within seconds, 11 of the passengers were dead, including a woman and her seven-year-old daughter. A 12-year-old boy also died that day, and another man later died from his wounds.

The Yemeni government initially said that those killed were al-Qaeda militants and that its own Soviet-era jets carried out the September 2 attack. But last week US officials acknowledged for the first time that it was an American strike and that the victims were civilians.

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My Comment: This is one of those "damn if you do, damn if you don't" situations. For the past few years Al Qaeda in Yemen has plotted (and tried) to carry out terror attacks against the West .... the West in turn had to respond .... hence the civilian casualties. But blow-back is a double edge sword .... Al Qaeda expects us to respond with their attacks, but we in turn must also be ready for their response after we have struck .... including from those who are caught in the crossfire in our conflict with Al Qaeda.