As we recently wrote about Yemen:

The state of Yemen was destroyed by the clueless U.S. sponsored interventions. The Islamic State might get destroyed the same way. But the outcome will not be a new order but, like in Yemen, utter chaos and bloody anarchy.

The chaos and anarchy was added to yesterday, according to the NYT, by a U.S. special force raid somewhere in Yemen:

In a predawn raid on Tuesday, United States Special Operations commandos and Yemeni troops rescued eight hostages being held in a cave in a remote part of eastern Yemen by Al Qaeda’s affiliate there, officials from both countries said.

The freed captives were six Yemeni citizens, a Saudi and an Ethiopian, who were unharmed, Yemeni officials said in a statement. Earlier reports that an American hostage was freed were incorrect, according to Yemeni and American officials.

About two dozen United States commandos, joined by a small number of American-trained Yemeni counterterrorism troops flew secretly by helicopter to a location in Hadhramaut Province near the Saudi border, according to American and Yemeni officials. The commandos then hiked some distance in the dark to a mountainside cave, where they surprised the militants holding the captives.

So why did U.S. special force raid some hostage takers if none of the hostages is American? The Saudi freed may have been the Saudi deputy consul to Yemen who was captured two years ago. But I find it unlikely that the U.S. would risk boots on the ground in Yemen to free a minor Saudi diplomat.

Rumor has had it for a few month that a U.S. marine had been taken hostage by the local al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen. Yesterday's raid may seem to confirm this. But the news about it still much too uncertain to know this.

The BBC says the raid was in the Hajr al-Sayar district of Hadramaut governate. But local lawyer Haykal Bafana finds problems with a raid in Hajr al-Sayar described as in a "remote area" and a rescue from a "cave":

"Hadhramaut mountain cave hostage rescue" claim by #Yemen & #US govts? Shows how easy it is to fool the press, even with a ridiculous story.

What if I tell you Hajr Al Sai'ar district in Hadhramaut is a wadi system with 136 villages & a substantial population of wandering nomads?

Or that Hajr Al Sai'ar district has not a single mountain, and has not been known in its geographical history to have mountainside caves?

Or that Yemen's Al Anad airbase in Lahj, hosting hundreds of US Marines, had a 48 hour period where military ops were clearly taking place?

Nothing happened in Hajr Al Sai'aar district of Hadhramaut : no hostage rescue, no US forces, no helicopters. That all happened in Al Anad.

So the U.S. military, as well as the Yemeni government, are lying about at least the location of the raid.

An earlier AFP report in Pakistani media said that that one U.S. soldier was freed by Yemeni forces soon after al-Qaeda attacked the air base in Al Anad and captured him there:

A US soldier was freed Tuesday by Yemeni forces just hours after being captured in an Al-Qaeda attack on an air base in the violence-wracked country, military officials said.

The American was seized along with seven Yemeni soldiers in the militant assault on Al-Anad base in Lahij province, an official said.

Yemeni forces launched a dawn raid to free the hostages, killing seven kidnappers. One member of the security forces was reported to have been lightly wounded during the rescue.

The militants captured seven soldiers on guard during the night before advancing into the base and seizing the US soldier, the official said.

Though I also doubt the veracity of the AFP report it might be nearer to the truth than the NYT and BBC accounts which are based on U.S. government sources.

Al Anad is indeed a few hundred kilometers away from Hajr Al Sai'aar and the air base there is home to some U.S. drone operations in Yemen.

Iona Craig, an independent journalist in Yemen, has some additional bits of confusing information:

1) Intel suggested multiple foreign hostages held in one location in Hadhramut. American citizen amongst them. #Yemen

2) Intel said some hostages were moved. Unclear which hostages remained. Operation launched in hope US national/others still present. #Yemen

3) Briton(s) also believed to be amongst those held, but in group moved before op. #Yemen

The official story on this stinks from a-z and we do not know what really happened.

What we are told about the hostages and the location of the raid is spin and obfuscation and it is likely that about everything else in the published "official" NYT and BBC versions of the story is also wrong. Was there a raid at all or just some local fighting around Al Anad?