Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation
Yakla Raid: Trump's First Military Operation Kills Civilians and a U.S. Navy SEAL
The Yakla raid was authorized by Trump without the standard national security review process. The operation went wrong from the start: intelligence may have been compromised, the element of surprise was lost, and the ensuing firefight resulted in the deaths of a U.S. service member, three wounded Americans, and between 10 and 30 Yemeni civilians by different counts, including children. Among the civilians killed was 8-year-old Nawar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen — the daughter of cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who had been killed in a 2011 Obama-era drone strike.