(Image Source: U.S. Air Force)

BY BLAKE HANSON

A U.S. drone strike could deal a major blow to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Penninsula. The strike reportedly killed six militants. Fox News has more details.

“One of the dead is reportedly the son of the man you’re looking at there, that is Anwar al-Awlaki. He’s the Al-Qaeda cleric who was killed in a drone strike last month. Al-Qaeda’s media chief in Yemen was also reportedly killed in yesterday’s air strike, which occurred in the Shabwa province.”

Back in June, the New York Times reported the Obama administration was upping their use of airstrikes against militants in Yemen. With the country in turmoil, CBS reports the strikes are a favored tactic.

“The airstrike late Friday in the southeastern province of Shabwa points to Washington's growing use of drones to target al Qaeda militants in Yemen. … Security officials said the drone strike was one of five carried out overnight by American drones on suspected al Qaeda positions ... in Yemen's largely lawless south.”

But self-described conservative blog American Thinker says these high-profile strikes could actually be a sign of the militants’ success in Yemen’s civil war.

“...more worrisome - the fact that we've been successful means that AQAP leadership feels emboldened enough to show themselves in relatively exposed areas. This is a result of the continuing civil war in Yemen and a resulting breakdown in law and order that has allowed AQAP to make advances in towns and villages previously not open to them.”

So will this recent drone strike have a significant impact on the war on terror? NPR talks with an expert who says -- getting rid of the leaders might not play a big role.

“What I found is that certain types of organizations tend to be very resilient to having their leaders removed, so, large organizations, particularly older organizations, certain types of organizations. So religious groups and separatist groups tend to be the most resilient, with religious groups really being the most resilient.”