Obama approved secret operations in Yemen

President Barack Obama approved secret joint U.S. military and intelligence operations with Yemeni troops that began six weeks ago and killed six regional al Qaeda leaders, The Washington Post reported.

Obama approved a December 24 strike against a compound where a U.S. citizen, Anwar al-Aulaqi, was believed to be meeting with regional al Qaeda leaders, the newspaper said in its Wednesday editions.

He was not the target and was not killed but since has been added to a short list of U.S. citizens to be killed or captured by the U.S. military's clandestine Joint Special Operations Command, military officials told the Post.

The American advisers do not take part in raids in Yemen but help plan missions, develop tactics and provide weapons, the paper said.

The United States is also sharing highly sensitive intelligence with Yemeni forces, including electronic and video surveillance, three-dimensional terrain maps and analysis of the al Qaeda network, the Post said.

"We are very pleased with the direction this is going," a senior administration official was quoted as saying about the cooperation with Yemen.

A Yemeni official was quoted as saying the two countries maintained a "steadfast cooperation in combating AQAP (al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula), but there are clear limits to the U.S. involvement on the ground. Information sharing has been a key in carrying out recent successful counterterrorism operations."