Trump is ordering airstrikes at 5 times the pace Obama did
US airstrikes in eastern Yemen over the weekend targeted Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, continuing the effort to disrupt "a terror organization that presents a very significant threat to the" US, a Navy spokesman said on Monday.
The weekend strikes, reportedly about 20 in total and mostly unmanned, brings the total against AQAP since February 28 to 70.
All told, Trump has ordered 75 drone strikes or raids in non-battlefield settings during his first 74 days in office, according to Micah Zenko, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
By Zenko's tally, Obama signed off on 542 such strikes during the eight years — or 2,920 days — he spent in office.
Obama's total works out to about one strike every 5.4 days, the first two strikes coming on January 23, 2009, in Waziristan, Pakistan, and thought to have killed as many as 20 civilians.
In comparison, since Trump took office, he has overseen about one strike a day on average.
Connect With Us