A Yemeni lawmaker has filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court that alleges former American special forces operators working as mercenaries hired by the United Arab Emirates tried to kill him as part of a targeted assassination program.
The case was brought in California by Anssaf Ali Mayo, a member of Yemen's parliament and a prominent figure in the Islamist al-Islah party. It was filed under the Alien Tort Statute, which allows foreigners to sue in U.S. federal court for violations of international law.
While the suit is centered around the alleged attempt on Mayo's life, it raises broader questions about the actions of highly trained former U.S. troops abroad as well as the role of the United Arab Emirates — a key U.S. ally — in Yemen's civil war.
The three defendants in the case — Israeli-Hungarian Abraham Golan and Americans Isaac Gilmore and Dale Comstock — were executives or employees of Spear Operations Group, a private military company based in the U.S. They are being sued for war crimes, crimes against humanity and attempted extrajudicial killing.
The lawsuit alleges that the UAE hired Spear to conduct a wave of assassinations targeting the gulf nation's perceived political opponents in Yemen, including Mayo. According to the lawsuit, the UAE paid Spear $1.5 million per month, plus bonuses for successful targeted killings.
"The individuals that were employed by Spear Operations Group, many of them were former U.S. Special Forces, Navy SEALs, Green Berets, who were highly trained by the U.S. government at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer," said Ela Matthews with the Center for Justice & Accountability, which is representing Mayo.
"And they used their skills and the military know-how to sell essentially a killing program to the highest bidder. And they tried to assassinate our client, who is a politician in Yemen."
Court papers say Golan, who resides in Connecticut, founded Spear in 2015 and served as its chief executive officer. Gilmore is a former U.S. Navy SEAL, while Comstock is a former member of the U.S. Army Special Forces.
Court records do not list an attorney for Goland or Gilmore, but indicate Comstock is representing himself. An NPR call to Comstock on Monday went unanswered.
The UAE Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment, but the gulf nation has previously denied the allegations.
Mayo remembers the night he almost died
The lawsuit says the alleged attempt on Mayo's life took place on Dec. 29, 2015.
"The Spear Assassination Team tracked Plaintiff to his political party's headquarters and attempted to assassinate him by detonating a powerful explosive device on the building's front door," the complaint says.
In an interview with NPR, Mayo said he remembers in detail the events of that night. He was at his office in Aden where he was discussing music, art and politics with a group of journalists.
"And then one of the guys in the office came and told me there was some kind of disturbance by the bank nearby," Mayo said. "He said it would be good to leave because the roads might end up being blocked."
Mayo lived just a 5-minute drive away, so he says he packed up and headed home.
"Right before I stepped into my home, that's when I heard the first explosion. And soon after that was the second one," he said.
At the time, he figured it was just armed groups clashing near the bank. Yemen was in the middle of a civil war, and gun battles in the city were not unusual.
But later that night, Mayo says he got a call from a fellow member of parliament who was worried about him after reading online that Mayo had been assassinated.
"I said, 'Thanks for calling, but there's nothing to it. I'm home and I'm fine,' " Mayo recalls.
It was only later that night that he learned the first explosion was a bomb placed at the door of his office, and that he was the purported target. Days later, he fled Yemen for Saudi Arabia.
Spear admits to targeted operation sanctioned by UAE
Three years later, BuzzFeed News reported that former American service members operating as mercenaries were behind the attempt on Mayo's life.
The article included drone footage from the alleged Spear operation to kill Mayo, as well as statements from Spear's founder, Golan, in which says he ran a targeted assassination program in Yemen sanctioned by the UAE.
In 2024, Gilmore and Comstock both spoke with the BBC for a documentary about targeted killings in Yemen. Gilmore, for example, told the BBC that the UAE provided Spear cards that contained information on the kill targets, including a card for Mayo.
While Mayo survived, he said that night marked a turning point in his life. He's lived since then in exile in Saudi Arabia.
"I've been living with fear and anxiety," he said. "This has affected me psychologically but it's also affected me socially and affected my activities as a whole."
He is far from his constituents as a member of parliament. He's also separated from his family.
"The only time I see them is during these short visits when I'm able to bring them to Saudi," he said.
He said the lawsuit is an attempt to get some measure of justice and compensation for the toll the alleged assassination attempt has taken on him and his family.
"I hope that this will prevent such actions from happening to others in the future," he said.
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