ATAQ, YEMEN – The United States has waged a drone war in Yemen for 16 years, trying to suppress al-Qaida's branch there. But the campaign has had a hidden cost: civilians cut down by the drones' missiles. There is no comprehensive count of civilian deaths because of the difficulty of confirming identities and allegiances of those killed. But in an examination of drone strikes this year alone, AP found that at least 30 of the dead likely did not belong to al-Qaida. That is around a third of all those killed in drone strikes so far in 2018.

This July 11, 2018, photo, shows a fragment of a US-made missile fired from a drone that struck a vehicle, killing all seven men inside on Jan. 26, 2018, instantly ending their lives, shredding their bodies into pieces, in Shabwa, Yemen. ATAQ, Yemen – Al-Qaida was giving away motorcycles up in the mountains -- that's what the kids in town were saying the day Abdullah disappeared. Early that morning, Mohsanaa Salem woke her 14-year-old son to go buy vegetables. The sun had just risen above the mountain ridge, and winter light filled the ravine where their mud brick house sat at the foot of a slope. "Let me sleep," Abdullah groaned from a mattress on the floor, surrounded by his brothers and sisters. One word from his father, though, and the boy was up and dressed, trudging out of the house to the market in a neighboring village. Three hours later, when he still hadn't returned, Mohsanaa and her husband began to worry.

ATAQ, Yemen – Again and again over the past two years, a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and backed by the United States has claimed it won decisive victories that drove al-Qaida militants from their strongholds across Yemen and shattered their ability to attack the West. Here's what the victors did not disclose: many of their conquests came without firing a shot. That's because the coalition cut secret deals with al-Qaida fighters, paying some to leave key cities and towns and letting others retreat with weapons, equipment and wads of looted cash, an investigation by The Associated Press has found. Hundreds more were recruited to join the coalition itself. These compromises and alliances have allowed al-Qaida militants to survive to fight another day -- and risk strengthening the most dangerous branch of the terror network that carried out the 9/11 attacks. Key participants in the pacts said the U.S. was aware of the arrangements and held off on any drone strikes.