Khaled Hussein Al-Yemany

While some news agencies reported that Sanaa suspended any counterterrorism operations in Yemen with the US government, subsequent reports suggested that it did not, as evident from a statement issued by Yemen’s UN ambassador.

For its part, News Agency tried to get comment from the Yemeni government’s spokesperson who received our question but did not reply as to what his government’s actual position is.

In a statement, Yemen’s Ambassador to the UN, Khaled Hussein Al-Yemany, said: “Yemen is, and has always been, a strategic ally in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism with the assistance of the international community. The Yemeni government reaffirms its commitment to strengthening international cooperation to prevent and combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.”

He added: “Yemen will continue to cooperate and coordinate with the international community, including the US, in carrying out counterterrorism operations in Yemen against all terrorist organizations, especially Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula .”

Earlier, the New York Times quoted American officials as saying that “Yemen had withdrawn permission for the US to run Special Operations ground missions against suspected terrorist groups in the country.”