The Trump administration seems to have abandoned the possibility of a diplomatic resolution to the Saudi-led destruction of Yemen. In his first few weeks in office Trump approved a disastrous Navy SEAL raid in the interior, parked a guided missile destroyer with history in Yemen off its coast, and now might approve major arms shipments to Arab Gulf states currently under scrutiny for war crimes in the country.
Five days after being sworn in, Trump approved a Navy SEAL operation over an intimate dinner with aides that would later rain bullets down on a rural Yemeni town. Although the White House promoted the operation as a “success,” it looks more like a very public, very tragic failure.



Not only was the primary al-Qaeda target not there, but a chaotic shootout unfolded that reportedly ended up killing 25 civilians, including nine children under the age of 13. One of the SEALs, Chief Petty Officer William Owens, was also killed. On top of that, the Yemeni government responded by withdrawing permission for future counterterrorism operations.
The New York Times reported that Yemen issued an outright ban on U.S. commando operations, a report that was later watered down by the Washington Post. It nonetheless signaled that the new administration needs to tread carefully in the future, lest they jeopardize regional counterterrorism objectives.