• Navy SEAL Raid in Yemen: Ally of U.S.-Backed President Killed
• As Robert Harward turns down Trump’s national security adviser offer

US President Donald Trump said Thursday the United States faces a host of problems at home and abroad, declaring: “I inherited a mess.”

Trump, speaking at his first solo news conference, said jobs were pouring out of the country to Mexico and other places, and mass instability was prevalent overseas.

“To be honest, I inherited a mess. It’s a mess. At home and abroad. A mess,” he said

“Low pay, low wages. Mass instability overseas no matter where you look. The Middle East a disaster. North Korea. We’ll take care of it, folks. We’re going to take care of it all.” He made the remark after presenting Alexander Acosta, a former federal prosecutor from Florida, as his nominee for to lead the Department of Labor.

Acosta was tapped after Trump’s first nominee for the post, Andrew Puzder, withdrew under pressure over his business record and other past controversies in his personal life.

Meanwhile, the main figure killed in last month’s U.S. raid in Yemen targeting al Qaeda was a tribal leader who was allied to the country’s U.S.- and Saudi-backed president and had been enlisted to fight Yemen’s Shiite rebels, according to military officials, tribal figures and relatives.

The government connections of tribal chief Sheikh Abdel-Raouf al-Dhahab raise further questions over the planning of a raid that turned into a heavy firefight with casualties on both sides.

One U.S. Navy SEAL was killed, six American soldiers were wounded and a military aircraft suffered a hard landing and had to be destroyed in the assault, which took place days after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Survivors and witnesses say at least 25 Yemenis were killed, including 10 children and nine women, raising outrage in Yemen and prompting the government to ask Washington for a review of the Jan. 29 assault on the tiny village of Yakla.

The raid illustrated the murkiness in distinguishing al Qaeda in Yemen, where the terror group has built up ties of one degree or another with the country’s many tribes — and has often used anger over civilians killed in American airstrikes to gain recruits.

Al Qaeda has also emerged as a de facto ally of the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his backers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates against the Shiite rebels in a grueling civil war that has wreaked devastation, caused widespread hunger and killed more than 10,000 since late 2014. The result has been a tolerance for the militants after several years of the government cracking down on them.

In Yakla, there was some al Qaeda presence. At least six of those killed in the raid were al Qaeda fighters, according to a list put out by the group’s leader, though some witnesses said they arrived on the scene after the battle started. Also, a female Saudi al Qaeda militant who fled her homeland in 2013 was being sheltered in the home of a tribesman whose son was also a member, according to tribal leaders and officials.

But all appeared to be low-level operatives. Also among the dead was an elderly sheikh trying to win the release of a fellow tribesman abducted by the terror network.

A senior U.S. defense official said the assault was not targeting a particular individual and was geared toward — and succeeded in — capturing intelligence. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the operation.

U.S. Central Command said 14 al Qaeda militants were killed. It counted among them al-Dhahab and his brother Sultan, calling them “top operational planners and weapons experts.”

In the meantime, US President Donald Trump’s choice for National Security Adviser has turned down the job offer.

Retired Vice-Admiral Robert Harward was widely tipped for the post after Mr Trump fired Michael Flynn on Monday.

A White House official said Mr Harward cited family and financial commitments, but US media said the sticking point was he wanted to bring in his own team.

Mr Flynn had misled US Vice-President Mike Pence over his conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the US.

The latest setback emerged hours after Mr Trump robustly denied media reports of White House disarray, insisting his administration was running like a “fine-tuned machine”.

Mr Harward told the Associated Press the Trump administration was “very accommodating to my needs, both professionally and personally”.

“It’s purely a personal issue,” added the 60-year-old former Navy Seal who is currently based in Abu Dhabi as an executive for US defence contractor Lockheed Martin.

Asked about reports that he had asked to bring in his own staff at the National Security Council, Mr Harward said: “I think that’s for the president to address.”

Mr Flynn, a retired army lieutenant-general, was ousted amid claims that before he was even appointed as national security adviser he had discussed sanctions with a Russian envoy.

This would have potentially breached a law banning private citizens from engaging in diplomacy.

Mr Flynn initially denied having discussed sanctions with Sergei Kislyak, Moscow’s ambassador to Washington.

But on Monday, Mr Trump asked for his resignation following revelations that Mr Flynn had misled the vice-president about his conversations with the diplomat.

Leading Republicans have called for an investigation into intelligence leaks that led to Mr Flynn’s resignation.

Nigerian Eye with additional report from NBC and BBC