SANAA, Yemen — Just a day before Yemen's most significant annual holiday marking the end of a month of fasting, American and British diplomats evacuated the country because of what both governments described as major security threats from al-Qaeda. Since then, the few foreigners remaining in the country have been on lock-down within their homes.

Meanwhile, the capital's streets bustled with Yemeni families shopping for the holiday. Locals remained unaware of the heightened security measures until the noisy sounds of American planes hovering over the capital awakened terrified residents Tuesday morning.

Twitter, Facebook and other media outlets exploded with comments from enraged residents of Sanaa, voicing their frustration with the American and Yemeni governments for allowing US planes to occupy the capital's sky for three days. Yemenis also expressed bewilderment as to the reasons behind the scare, given that the security situation on the ground has remained stable. The capital security measures are even lower than in some days in the past. It remains too obvious that Yemenis don’t understand this sudden evacuation that presented Yemen as the source of evil and threats; especially that they weren’t bothered with anything recently more than with the drones above their heads.

Even more enraged than urban dwellers were villagers living in towns hit by American drones over the past few days. During the most sacred and festive time of year, the US conducted eight different strikes over a week; the highest rate since US started using drones in Yemen. For the last few days, it has been difficult to follow the drone casualty numbers and to differentiate between strikes.