Spear Operations Group

Spear Operations Group is a US private military company that was hired by the United Arab Emirates to carry out operations in Yemen to support the Emirati intervention in the Yemeni Civil War. It was founded by Abraham Golan, a Hungarian-Israeli security contractor.^[1]

The company was approached by a representative of the United Arab Emirates government^[2] to carry out assassinations in Yemen as part of the Yemeni Civil War (2015–present),^[3][4][5] which may be a violation of the US War Crimes Act of 1996.^[6]

In 2015, the company embedded a team of US special forces veterans and former members of the French Foreign Legion within the Emirati military, which supplied the team with weapons, uniforms, Emirati military ranks and identity tags.^[7][8] By 2016, Spear Operations Group had replaced the Legionnaires with Americans.^[1]

On 29 December 2015, Spear Operations Group began its operations in Yemen with a failed assassination attempt on Anssaf Ali Mayo, the local leader of Islamist political party Al-Islah.^[9][10]

Though the first operation failed, the team stayed on in Yemen for several more months and claimed credit for a number of other high-profile assassinations.^[11] Their targets included other members of al-Islah, nonviolent clerics, and some "out and out terrorists."^[1]

After Spear Operations Group's assassinations were made public by an October 2018 BuzzFeed News report, US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bob Menendez wrote letters to the State Department demanding answers about Spear Operations Group, focusing on whether the federal government knew about their involvement in the war in Yemen.^[12] Warren also sent a letter to the Justice Department calling for an investigation into the group.^[7][13]

References

1. Roston, Aram (16 October 2018). "American Mercenaries Were Hired To Assassinate Politicians In The Middle East". BuzzFeed News. BuzzFeed. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
2. Shickman, Ittai (2018-10-17). "The Israeli assassin who teamed up with Mohammad Dahlan". Ynetnews. Retrieved 2019-02-21.
3. Lemon, Jason (2018-10-16). "American Mercenaries Worked for Saudi-Led Coalition to Assassinate Clerics and Islamist Political Figures in Yemen". Newsweek. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
4. "Abbas Rival 'Hired American Mercs for Targeted Killings in Yemen on Behalf of UAE'". Haaretz. 2018-10-16. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
5. Avant, Deborah (October 19, 2018). "Former U.S. Special Forces were reportedly hired to kill Yemen's leaders. Did the government know?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
6. Goodman, Ryan; Knuckey, Sarah (October 18, 2018). "DOJ Must Investigate Possible War Crimes by American Mercenaries in Yemen: There is no legal "gray area"—Americans cannot assassinate civilians". Slate.
7. Keller, Megan (2018-10-22). "Warren wants probe into whether former U.S. soldiers worked as assassins for UAE". The Hill. Retrieved 2019-02-21.
8. Trevithick, Joseph (16 October 2018). "UAE Contracted An American Hit Squad to Kill Political Figures And More in Yemen". The Drive. Retrieved 2019-02-21.
9. Clark, James (16 October 2018). "Former US special operators were reportedly hired to assassinate Yemeni political figures". Business Insider. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
10. Uqba, Sana (16 October 2018). "UAE hired Israeli mercenary to lead US death squad on Yemen assassination spree". al-Araby. Retrieved 2019-02-21.
11. "Abbas rival 'hired Israeli mercenary to assassinate UAE's enemies in Yemen'". Times of Israel. 17 October 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
12. "Menendez Demands Answers Following Reports Alleging U.S. Citizens Working as Mercenaries Abroad". U.S. Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey. Newark, New Jersey. February 8, 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
13. Villa, Lissandra (October 22, 2018). "Elizabeth Warren Demands An Investigation Into American Ex-Soldiers' Assassination Campaign In Yemen". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 5 July 2019.

External links