In February 2013, Wired magazine suggested the air base may be a secret U.S. drone base used to carry out drone strikes on targets in Yemen, including the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki in 2011.[4] Although Wired was unable to confirm the claim, both Foreign Policy and Haaretz reported that it was "almost certainly" the secret base.[5][6] The existence of a Central Intelligence Agency-run drone base in southern Saudi Arabia had been revealed by U.S newspapers two days earlier.[7][8][9]