• Source: 2014 hostage rescue operations in Yemen

In late 2014, the United States and Yemen conducted a series of military operations to rescue multiple hostages held by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). U.S. involvement in the missions were primarily motivated by the captivity of American journalist Luke Somers, who was kidnapped by AQAP in 2013. The first raid, attempted on 25 November 2014, involved American and Yemeni special forces assaulting a cave in Hadhramaut governorate housing the hostages, killing seven AQAP fighters in the process. The raid rescued eight hostages of various nationalities, but they did not include Somers or South African teacher Pierre Korkie, who were moved to another area alongside three other hostages prior to the raid.
Later in December, AQAP released a video threatening to kill Somers, prompting another rescue mission on 6 December 2014 in Shabwah governorate. Navy SEALs attempted to infiltrate the AQAP compound containing the hostages, but they were prematurely spotted by the guards, leading to a firefight. Upon entering the compound, Somers and Korkie were found mortally wounded, while the other hostages were missing. Both Somers and Korkie died while being transported to receive care. Somers' death, occurring five months after the failed rescue attempt of James Foley, resulted in scrutiny over the United States' hostage policy. No other U.S.-led ground operation in Yemen would be officially acknowledged by the American government until 2017 during the Raid on Yakla.




Background


Kidnapping has been a tactic used by groups in Yemen since the 1990's in order to receive concessions from the Yemeni government or the hostages' nation. Yemeni tribesmen have often used kidnappings as a bargaining chip to force the government to improve their living standards and local infrastructure, as well as to release imprisoned members of their tribe. Kidnappings rarely result in the harming or murder of the hostage.
Formed in 2009, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has often used foreigner kidnappings for monetary gain, demanding ransoms for their hostages in order to fund their activities. The group particularly targets foreigners from European states due to their willingness to secure their citizens at all costs, allowing for AQAP to secure multi-million dollar payouts in some cases. Exceptions to the countries include Britain and the United States, which have a hardline policy not to pay ransoms. Ransoming foreigners constitutes a significant portion of AQAP's income, with the group amassing a reported $30 million from kidnappings between 2011 and 2013. Yemeni officials stated in early 2014 that around 30 percent of kidnappings in the country were perpetrated by AQAP. In contrast to the Islamic State, AQAP had never murdered their foreign hostages prior to Somers, instead boasting about their superior treatment of captives and condemning ISIL's beheadings.
Luke Somers, a British-born American citizen and freelance journalist who worked for multiple local news agencies such as the Yemen Times and the National Yemen, was kidnapped by AQAP gunmen while exiting a Sana'a supermarket in September 2013. The American government imposed a media blackout on reports about Somers for the next year, with local news outlets being the ones to initially report his kidnapping. Somers' family was advised by the FBI not to publicly acknowledge his captivity. According to The Intercept, negotiations for the release of Somers were done between AQAP and a mediator, with the talks going as to discuss the ransom price until April 2014, when the United States ceased all discussions and rejected any more mediation from tribal leaders. The group reportedly had no plans of killing Somers prior to the first rescue attempt.
Pierre Korkie, a South African teacher who had been working in Yemen for four year, was kidnapped by AQAP alongside his wife Yolande Korkie outside a hotel in Ta'iz in May 2013. Negotiations between AQAP and South African charity Gift of the Givers resulted in the release of Yolande on 10 January 2014 without any payment. Tribal mediation between the two parties resulted in AQAP lowering their ransom price for Pierre Korkie from $3 million to $200,000. Korkie's release was scheduled to be on 7 December, with him being flown out of Yemen under diplomatic cover to a safe nation to meet his family before being transported to South Africa. On 6 December, the same day as the second rescue attempt, tribal leaders in Aden hosted a meeting to prepare for Korkie's release and reunion with his wife and children.




First raid






= Preparation

=
According to a Yemeni special forces soldier present in the raid, the operation was conceived after Yemeni intelligence identified AQAP members transporting 11 enchained hostages covered in blankets via pickup trucks. The hostages were driven to a cave which was about 10 meters deep and 30 meters wide, and 109 km away from the hamlet of Hajr as-Say'ar in Hadhramaut. The mission was organized within two weeks after Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi contacted the United States government for support in the operation. Hadi may have authorized the mission in an attempt to improve his image and relationship with the United States amid the Houthi takeover of Sana'a just months earlier.




= Raid

=
During the pre-dawn hours of 25 November 2014, a team of thirty soldiers composed of about two dozen U.S. Navy SEALs from DEVGRU leading a small group of Yemeni special forces flew via helicopters into Hajr as-Say'ar district. Dividing into four groups, the soldiers travelled 7 km through the mountainous area until reaching the cave, an AQAP shelter containing the hostages. One group of SEALs, equipped with night-vision goggles, opened fire on seven AQAP fighters 100 yards away from the entrance of the cave, who were caught by surprise from the nighttime assault. After the firefight ended with all seven AQAP guards dead, the SEALs entered the cave and found eight imprisoned hostages, them being six Yemenis, one Saudi Arabian and one Ethiopian, along with AQAP cellphones and documents. The SEALs were extracted with the hostages via MH-60 helicopters piloted by 160th Night Stalkers personnel. The hostages inside the cave informed them that five other hostages, including Somers and Korkie along with a Brit, a Yemeni and a Turk, were moved two days prior to the mission. No American forces were injured in the mission, though one Yemeni soldier was lightly wounded.




Second raid






= AQAP threat

=
On 4 December 2014, AQAP released a video threatening to execute Somers within three days if the American government failed to meet unspecified demands. The three-minute video depicts AQAP commander and cleric Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi describing in Arabic various "crimes" that U.S. counterterrorism has inflicted upon the people of Yemen, Iraq, Somalia and Pakistan. It then shows a 30-second English statement by Somers pleading for help. Al-Ansi criticizes the U.S. government for their "failed operation" in Hadhramaut which killed seven of their "elite group of mujahedeen," warning the United States against conducting any other "foolish action." Analysts noted the three-day deadline and open threat against a foreign hostage as unusually hostile for AQAP. The same day, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby officially acknowledged the United States' involvement in the raid in November as well as their inability to retrieve Somers. Somers' mother and brother also broke their silence on the kidnapping, uploading a video on YouTube pleading AQAP to release Somers and spare him punishment for the rescue attempt, which they said they were not aware of.




= Preparation

=
On 5 December, U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel determined that Somers' life was in "imminent danger" and that the government had enough intelligence on the location of the hostages to conduct another raid to free the captives. The raid was approved mid-morning on December 5. The U.S. government was aware of another hostage being held with Somers, but they didn't know that it was Korkie or that prior negotiations had his release set to be December 7.




= Raid

=

On 6 December 2014 at approximately 1:00 a.m. AST (UTC+3), a group of forty DEVGRU soldiers were transported in two V-22 Ospreys from the USS Makin Island to the Wadi Abadan in Nisab District, Shabwah, about 10 km from the compound where Luke Somers and Pierre Korkie were being housed. Despite U.S. officials stating that only their forces were present in the raid, the Yemeni government and local residents reported Yemeni soldiers participating in the operation. The compound was a house belonging to suspected AQAP member Saeed al-Daghari in Dafaar, a remote, mountainous village that had 20-40 homes within it. The compound was being guarded by about half a dozen AQAP gunmen. After hiking to Dafaar, while the SEALs were about 100 yards away from the site, an AQAP member relieving himself outside or a barking dog may have alerted the guards, leading to a firefight that lasted for about 10 minutes. Tribal leader Tarek al-Daghari al-Awlaki stated that DEVGRU soldiers raided four houses in the area during the operation, killing an AQAP commander identified as Jamal Mubarak al-Hard al-Daghari al-Awlaki along with two other AQAP members, as well as eight civilians including a woman, a 10-year-old boy and a 70-year old man. Once the SEALs killed the militants and entered the compound they found Somers and Korkie with several gunshot wounds, possibly inflicted by an AQAP guard who ran into the house shortly after being alerted to the DEVGRU raid before returning to the firefight. American medical personnel treated the wounded hostages on the ground before they left on Ospreys to the USS Makin Island for further treatment. Korkie died while being operated on during the flight and Somers died while undergoing surgery abroad the vessel. The entire operation took 30 minutes, with American forces killing six AQAP fighters and suffering zero losses.




Hostages






Aftermath






= Government reactions

=
In a written statement released after the second raid, Barack Obama offered condolences to the families of Somers and Korkie and condemned their execution by AQAP, labeling it a "barbaric murder". He reaffirmed the United States' counterterrorism and hostage rescue policy and the American government's opposition to negotiating with terrorists. While on a visit to Afghanistan, Chuck Hagel praised the operation as "extremely well-executed" while acknowledging its risk. He defended the decision to go through with the rescue mission as there were "compelling reasons to believe Somers' life was in imminent danger." U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that the execution of Somers and Korkie was “a reminder of the brutality of the terrorists.” On 8 December 2014, while delivering a speech at the 2014 Saban Forum in Washington, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden offered condolences to the family of Somers while praising U.S. Special Forces for their "incredible job" and the Yemeni government for their cooperation. The same day, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said to reporters that Obama "does not regret at all" his decision to authorize the mission to rescue Somers, citing AQAP's intent to execute Somers by the day of the raid. Chuck Hagel later stated that the U.S. would not review their hostage rescue policy despite acknowledging it's "risk" and "imperfection."
South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation issued a statement expressing their "deepest condolences" to the families of the victims, announcing that Korkie's body would be returned to South Africa by December 8. At a press conference in Pretoria, Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane defended the United States' attempt to free the hostages, stating that "the intentions were good, but the result was not what we wanted." Shadow foreign minister of the Democratic Alliance party Stevens Mokgalapa called upon the South African government to “urgently engage with American representatives to get to the bottom of the circumstances that led to Mr. Korkie’s death.”




= Mediators and victim families

=
At the time of the raid, US special operations forces were unaware of the identity of the second hostage, Pierre Korkie. Korkie's release was imminent and had been negotiated by the South African organization Gift of the Givers. The organization's leader Dr. I. I. Sooliman said that the failed rescue had "destroyed everything".
In a statement released on 8 December 2014, Somers family said they did not give the green light for the rescue operation and the ordeal could have been solved with more dialogue and less fighting.




= AQAP

=
On 12 December 2014, AQAP released a video through their al-Malahem Media Foundation in which they blamed Obama for making the "wrong decision", stating that the American government ignoring negotiations and proceeding with the rescue mission lead to Somers' death.




See also


Captive, documentary series in which the Pierre Korkie hostage situation was featured.
List of journalists killed in Yemen
2014 American rescue mission in Syria




References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• 2014 hostage rescue operations in Yemen
• 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne)
• Hostage Rescue Team
• Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war
• Israel–Hamas war hostage crisis
• Captive (2016 TV series)
• December 1998 tourist kidnappings in Yemen
• Timeline of United States military operations
• 2014 American rescue mission in Syria
• Joint Special Operations Command