SANAA, Sep. 16  Yemen’s government on Monday received two U.S. military reconnaissance planes as the first batch of U.S. military support to the Yemeni air forces, official Saba news agency said.

The two single-turboprop Cessna C208 planes, received Monday by Yemeni Defense Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed in the capital of Sanaa, will be used in Yemen’s al-Dailamy Air Force Base, according to Saba.

Washington has escalated its airstrikes on the al-Qaida network in Yemen since it temporarily closed its diplomatic mission in Sanaa last month. Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said that more than 40 al-Qaida suspects were killed in the strikes.

The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, founded in January 2009, is considered the biggest security threat in the region.