The civilian cost of US drone strikes in Yemen is detailed in a new report calling on US President Joe Biden, who has made ending the Middle East country’s wider conflict a foreign policy priority, to also reckon with America's own use of lethal force.

Mwatana for Human Rights, an independent Yemen-based organization, examined 10 US drone strikes and two ground raids targeting suspected terrorists in five Yemeni governorates — Abyan, al-Bayda, Shabwah, Hadramawt and Marib — between January 2017 and January 2019. At least 38 Yemeni civilians, including 13 children and six women, were killed in those 12 counterterrorism operations, according to the report.

Mwatana’s researchers say many of the documented deaths were civilian men who left behind large families dependent on their incomes. The casualties also included teachers, beekeepers, fishermen, drivers and other civilians who “were going about their everyday lives,” the report said. 

Kristine Beckerle, legal director for accountability and redress at Mwatana, said the new report speaks to how wide the “echo effects” are on any particular airstrike.