A high-ranking US military commander says up to a dozen civilians lost their lives late last January, when special forces carried out an attack against a purported position of al-Qaeda militants in the central Yemeni province of Bayda.

A political analyst and former American intelligence linguist believes the US raid was obviously a “huge mistake” that has been covered up by not only President Donald Trump but also the commander of the Central Command (CENTCOM), General Joseph Votel.

“This raid produced absolutely no intelligence. The minimal amount of intelligence that they got at CENTCOM basically is that they got some targeting information and a little bit of training information. This information is very easily obtainable through the regular intelligence that is being collected,” Scott Rickard told Press TV in an interview on Friday.

He also noted that American commandos are being put in harm’s way “for absolutely no necessary reason”, adding that William Ryan Owens, the US Navy SEAL slain during the aerial attack, "was basically killed in a raid that should have never happened."

“This individual died needlessly because of the kind of aggressive nature that the United States is not only putting on Yemen but certainly now they are doubling the size of troops that will be on the ground in combat in Syria,” Rickard said.

The analyst further said that Trump has done a “horrible job” at politicizing this raid, asserting that he has taken advantage of the death of Owens and turned it into a “complete farce” for his family.

Rickard also predicted that there will be no accountability for the Yemeni civilian lives that were lost in the raid, arguing that many countries have suffered casualties from the US “criminal warfare”.