Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi aka Abu Ali al-Harithi (Arabic: أبو علي الحاريثي ) (died November 3, 2002) was an al-Qaida operative and a citizen of Yemen who is suspected of having been the mastermind behind the October 2000 USS Cole bombing. He was killed by the CIA during a covert targeted killing mission in Yemen on November 3, 2002. The CIA used an RQ-1 Predator remote-controlled drone to shoot the Hellfire missile that killed al-Harithi and five other al-Qaida operatives as they rode in a vehicle 100 miles (160 km) east of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
Al-Harithi was traveling with Kamal Derwish (Ahmed Hijazi), a US citizen, and Derwish's killing was the first known case of the U.S. government killing a U.S. citizen during the "War on Terror".
It was reported that the Yemeni intelligence service had monitored them for months, and relayed the information to the Americans. Tribesmen in Marib province said a Yemeni air force helicopter was hovering over the area moments before the explosion occurred.
The Bush Presidency, citing the authority of a presidential finding that permitted worldwide covert actions against Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, considered al-Harithi and his traveling party a justifiable military target. Nonetheless, the targeted killing of al-Harithi was the subject of debate on its legality.