Former US congressman Ron Paul has criticized President Barack Obama’s drone policy in Yemen, saying the airstrikes kill civilians rather than militants.

“The US government has killed at least dozens of civilian non-combatants in Yemen, but even those it counts as ‘militants’ may actually be civilians,” Paul wrote in an article published in his website.

“That is because the Obama administration counts any military-aged male in the area around a drone attack as a combatant,” he added.

Paul slammed US interventionism in the Middle East, saying it is making Americans “less safe and less free.”

The former presidential candidate believes that Obama’s drone campaign in Yemen is a failure that led to the recent collapse of the government in Sana’a.

“The disintegration of Yemen is directly related to US drone policy. The disintegration of Libya is directly related to US military intervention. The chaos and killing in Syria is directly related to US support for regime change. Is there not a pattern here?” he asked.

The US military has conducted similar airstrikes in several Muslim countries, including Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Paul concluded that the lesson from Yemen was not to stay the course that has failed so miserably.

“It is to end a failed foreign policy that is killing civilians, creating radicals, and making us less safe,” he said.

The United States acknowledges using drones as part of its targeted killing campaign in Muslim countries to eliminate what it regards as militants. However, it does not comment publicly on individual cases of the aerial bombing campaign.

The US administration claims that the drones target al-Qaeda militants, but local sources say civilians have been the main victims of the airstrikes.