Trafficking Yemeni children – UN and Yemen – Great Britain and Yemen war – “War on Terror” failed – Kerry’s Yemen plan – Houthis Iranian proxies? – 2014: The breakdown of GCC initiative
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche/ UN and peace talks
cp71 Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp9 USA
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp13a Flüchtlinge / Refugees
cp13b Zentralbank / Central Bank
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
Klassifizierung / Classification
***
**
*
(Kein Stern / No star)
A = Aktuell / Current news
B = Hintergrund / Background
C = Chronik / Chronicle
D = Details
E = Wirtschaft / Economy
H = Humanitäre Fragen / Humanitarian questions
K = Krieg / War
P = Politik / Politics
PH = Pro-Houthi
PS = Pro-Saudi
T = Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
11.9.2016 – The Duran (** B H T)
The sex trade in Yemen: How Al-Qaeda makes millions by trafficking children
In the first in an exclusive series for The Duran, writer Catherine Shakdam exposes how with Saudi collusion, Wahhabi terrorists associated with Al-Qaeda in Yemen traffic children for use as sex slaves
What you most likely don’t know is that Yemen has now become human traffickers’ new playground. What you most certainly will not hear from the mainstream media – God forbid the truth ever passes through their tight headlines! – is that Yemen has been sold out to the abomination of paedophilia.
Never before have criminals who practice it done so so openly, taunting the communities they prey on, confident in the knowledge that since they have powerful patrons this gives them a cloak of immunity for what they do.
More troubling still, Yemen appears to have become yet another domino to fall in a well-organised terrorist system in which human misery is a tradable commodity. If we look at the broader region in its entirety, and more particularly at those countries which have suffered at the hands of Wahhabi radicals, we see a disturbing pattern emerging: Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Iraq, and now Yemen. All these countries have seen vulnerable communities targeted by sex traffickers; their children sold into a system which profits and draws satisfaction from child abuse and dehumanisation.
Whilst such acts of despicable terror unfolded in Iraq and Syria, Nigeria too was gripped by this terrible new phenomenon.
Systemic sexual abuse is conducted by terrorist militants for three purposes: to strike fear at the heart of communities, for self-gratification, and for financial gain. Behind every abuse and every abuser has towered a system which has strived for, benefited from and leaned on sexual enslavement to assert its power and to industrialise its system.
As world powers continue to argue Yemen’s future – often by speaking over Yemenis, rather than to them – a great tragedy has unfolded, unspoken and unchallenged.
For a country which has already lost too many of its sons and daughters to war, seeing its children and young people stolen by the likes of al-Qaeda and Daesh is one abomination too many. Seeing its children and young people traded to sexual predators so that they satisfy their evil desires is where silence must end.
So far, and due to the nature of these crimes, communities have been reluctant to come forward. Stigma, fear of social exclusion, fear of repercussions, shame, and distrust of the media, have driven many families to keep silent. Still, a few brave souls have now decided to break this unspoken code of silence, albeit under the cover of anonymity, so that abusers can be outed and victims rescued.
Hundreds of children – mainly young girls aged 6 to 15 are claimed to have been kidnapped from across Yemen, to be sold as sex slaves by al-Qaeda’s trafficking network. The Mona Relief Organization in Yemen is currently assessing allegations of widespread abuses across several provinces.
Sources in Abyan – a stronghold of al-Qaeda, which also happens to be runaway President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s home province – have confirmed that children have been trafficked out of south Yemen through Mukallah and the seaport of Aden by militants affiliated to al-Qaeda. It is important here to note that Aden is under Saudi control.
A former officer in Yemen’s Central Security Forces, who I will call Abdullah to preserve his identity, explained how many of the children would end up somewhere in
“the GCC* to serve as sexual objects of rich patrons.”
Abdullah is adamant al-Qaeda is operating with the full knowledge of the Saudi-led coalition.
“There is no way the Saudis do not know about this. Bear in mind Yemen is under a massive naval blockade. They must know …!”
He added:
“Those children have been sold into sexual slavery. They will either be sent to Africa through Ethiopia and Djibouti or will be directly transferred to GCC countries. Al- Qaeda has made millions from this trade over the years. The war has allowed for an acceleration. I also believe that Yemen’s youth is being traded to break Yemen’s resolve.”
With the collusion of its Saudi patrons al-Qaeda is building up an entire economy generating millions of dollars through the exploitation of children. The world cannot afford to look away – by Catherine Shakdam
http://theduran.com/sex-trade-yemen-al-qaeda-makes-millions-trafficking-children/
13.9.2016 – Mohammed Humran (**B K P)
Truth is power, so why did the UN not seek the knowledge of what is going on in Yemen, by forming an international committee to investigate war crimes in Yemen.
I think the majority of people around the world are not interested in political issues, but nonetheless there is an international growing lack of trust in the UN as a body.
Out of a population of 25 million Yemeni people, 90% of them are not political nor are they linked to fighting forces, but they have been shocked by attitude of the UN secretary general and UN envoys to Yemen in this conflict.
We hear of UN conferences, statements and announcements on social issues, such as ensuring justice for all and helping the world’s youth. It is almost laughable when this is compared with our reality today.
How exactly will the UN be able to convince Yemeni youths about justice, truth, alleviating poverty, and the need for clear law, whilst the UN was not able to stop a Saudi dictatorship; their support of this regime that those in Yemen believe is associated with a form of religious extremism that spawns hate, revenge, lies, racism and discrimination all over the world.
What we learn is opposite what we live and face on our lives. This important announcement by a Yemen Mental illness team motivated me to write this article.
In the name of freedom and democracy the Saudi-led coalition has only caused chaos and instability. Because of international pressure the UN was not neutral, many of their announcements and decisions appeared to be against the needs of Yemeni people. If we noticed carefully what happened after the Saudi led bombardment began, while the events on Yemen were horrific and deserved concern, the UN was silent.
It seems that the UN Security Council and the UN’s most prominent officials have been influenced by Saudi money and stand behind Saudi policies, rather than standing up to wealth and power. If UN officials don't appear to respect the UN charters, then how can the Yemeni nation and Yemeni people respect UN decisions. We feel powerful GCC nations have flounted UN rules in order to gain advantage
Finally, all Yemeni people clearly understand that Saudi Arabia is backed by the West – by Mohammed Humran
https://www.facebook.com/groups/984493278286041/permalink/1149187985149902/ = http://en.shafaqna.com/news/37193
Comment by Judith Brown: A MUST READ. Many people of many nationalities in the past have questioned the functions of the UN and asked whether it is still fit for purpose. This is a heartfelt plea from Yemen demonstrating a logical yet passionate case for the functions and actions of the UN to be put under scrutiny - especially as the UNSC does not seem to understand the political position of parties in this conflict nor care about the suffering of Yemenis nor the reasons for their suffering. Eloquent, heartfelt, and relevant, and demonstrating clearly the views of ordinary Yemenis. Please read and pass on.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154707172713641
13.9.2016 – Medialens (** B K P)
Menwith Menace: Britain’s Complicity In Saudi Arabia’s Terror Campaign Against Yemen
The 'mainstream' Western media is, almost by definition, the last place to consult for honest reporting of Western crimes. Consider the appalling case of Yemen which is consumed by war and an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe.
Philip Hammond, who was UK defence secretary when the Saudi bombing began in 2015, promised:
'We'll support the Saudis in every practical way short of engaging in combat.'
The British government has been true to its word; in this respect at least.
In a two-part piece for BBC Newsnight last year, Gabriel Gatehouse commendably reported from Yemen on the plight of civilians there, including the Saudi targeting of civilian infrastructure.
Peter Oborne is a rare example of a Western journalist reporting from Yemen, also pointing unequivocally to British complicity in the country's nightmare. Together with his colleague Nawal Al-Maghafi, Oborne notes in a recent article that:
Oborne, who resigned as political commentator from the Telegraph last year, places Western complicity in Yemen's nightmare at the front and centre of his reporting.
Moreover, Britain has supported the UN Security Council resolution backing a Saudi blockade, and the UK has also provided the Saudis with intelligence and logistical support.
To pursue such state policies means initiating war, military interventions, threats, bullying, and other aggressive actions, usually in support of the United States and/or Nato. This global imperialism is dressed up in propaganda garb as 'countering terrorism', 'improving world security', 'working with our allies' and similar pieties propagated by the 'mainstream' media. Curtis lays particular responsibility for such propaganda at the door of the 'liberal' media, notably the Guardian and BBC News.
This 'surreal, Kafkaesque world' - in which Britain shares responsibility for appalling violence, while proclaiming its supposed desire for 'peace' and 'security' - will continue for as long as we do not have an honest media that seriously and consistently challenges brutal state power.
Comment by Judith Brown: An excellent article by media lens, an organisation that challenges media bias in UK. WELL WORTH A READ.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154707217693641
11.9.2016 – The Intercept (** B K T)
Fifteen Years After 9/11, Neverending War
IN THE DAYS after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when Congress voted to authorize military force against the people who “planned, authorized, committed, or aided” the hijackings, few Americans could have imagined the resulting manhunt would span from West Africa all the way to the Philippines, and would outlast two two-term presidents.
Today, U.S. military engagement in the Middle East looks increasingly permanent. Despite the White House having formally ended the wars in Iraqand Afghanistan, thousands of U.S. troops and contractors remain in both countries. The U.S. is dropping bombs on Iraq and Syria faster than it can make them, and according to the Pentagon, its bombing campaign in Libya has “no end point at this particular moment.” The U.S. is also helping Saudi Arabia wage war in Yemen, in addition to conducting occasional airstrikes in Yemen and Somalia.
Fifteen years after the September 11 attacks, it looks like the war on terror is still in its opening act.
The drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan only revealed how little war has achieved and how much damage it has inflicted.
Despite the lack of progress, the last 15 years of war have come at a horrific cost.
Bombing multiple countries in the Middle East has become business as usual, and often goes unreported. On August 1, for example, the day the Obama administration announced a new bombing campaign against ISIS in Libya, American journalists were far more occupied with post-convention election polls than they were with the new war.
All of this foreshadows a war that could stretch 10, 20, or 50 more years. As the U.S. shifts its strategy toward bombing and away from ground troops, media engagement with the wars diminishes, and it is all too easy to forget about our permanent state of war. But the victims of U.S. violence are unlikely to forget, creating a potentially endless supply of new enemies – by Alex Emmons
https://theintercept.com/2016/09/10/fifteen-years-after-911-neverending-war/
12.9.2016 – Ahram Online (** A P)
John Kerry’s Yemen plan
It appears that Kerry sought to strike a certain neutrality between the concerned parties. In the press conference he made no explicit references to the “legitimate”government supported by Riyadh or to the government of the “insurgents”, or even to the Presidential Council recently formed by the Saleh-Houthi alliance in Sanaa.
Kerry’s third point involved a “transitional working plan”. Any forthcoming negotiations will take as their starting point the need to address the problems that caused the previous round of talks to collapse. Essentially these revolved around the prioritisation of the political or security tracks in the process. Kerry proposed that the two tracks proceed simultaneously. He also called for the participation of all concerned parties in the political process in accordance with their respective political weight. He took the opportunity to state that while the Houthis should have an opportunity to be a part of a future government, they should bear in mind that they are a minority in Yemen. He also called for “the swift formation of a new national unity government, with power shared among the parties; the withdrawal of forces from Sanaa and other key areas; the transfer of all heavy weapons, including ballistic missiles and launchers, from the Houthis and forces allied with them, to a third party.”
We could label the fourth point of the Kerry plan as the “final working plan”. The aim is to realise political stability through general countrywide elections. In this regard, it is important to note that Kerry did not allude to any political or administrative subdivisions but rather treated Yemen as an indivisible whole.
On the Saudi viewpoint, it appears that there is a considerable gap between Riyadh and Washington on a number of issues.
But Kerry, while noting that the Houthis were a minority, “and a very small minority”, raised the subject of “power sharing”again. This concept was subsequently translated into a three-part formula that triggered considerable controversy: the legitimate government, the Houthis, former president Saleh. Under such a formula, the Houthi minority allied with the Saleh camp would constitute a two-thirds majority while the government of President Hadi would be reduced to a one-third minority.A political solution does not necessarily eliminate the need for military action, from the Saudi perspective.
In official Saudi rhetoric, the Houthis are a “militia”and not just a demographic majority.
It appears that Riyadh is still bent on compelling the other parties in the Yemeni conflict —the Houthi-Saleh camp —to negotiate on the basis of frames of reference that oblige them to recognise the “legitimate”government of President Hadi. At the same time, it continues to withhold equal recognition to other opposition parties.
The US, for its part, is searching for a last opportunity, one that thinks outside the box of Saudi-Hadi stipulated frames-of-reference. The problem is that the Kerry plan not only faces obstacles from the divergences between key players, but also the pressure of the clock. Any new plan requires time to win consensus and be put into effect. For Kerry, time is not in abundance – by Ahmed Eleiba
Comment: There certainly are interesting elements in this plan. But: It excludes many important players in the Yemen theater, who are essential for peace (Hirak separatists; Islah party); wherefrom Kerry takes his knowledge that Houthis are “a small minority” only? Zaidites are 35 to 40 % of Yemen’s population. Kerry still does not treat all Yemen sides equal. The Houthis should be disarmed and should retreat, while the US further on is arming the Saudis. And above all, the US is partisan in this conflict and unable to play the role of peace broker.
2.5.2015 – The Christian Science Monitor (** B K P)
Reducing Yemen's Houthis to 'Iranian proxies' is a mistake (+video)
The conflict in Yemen is driven by local grievances and competition, not some Iranian plot.
The Houthi movement are not remotely Iranian cat's paws – no more-so than President Abdu Mansour Hadi, currently residing in Riyadh, is a Saudi one.
The Yemeni civil war is driven mostly by domestic competition for power and resources.
[In 2011,] the Saudis with America's blessing concocted a transition plan that saw his vice president, Mr. Hadi, elevated to the big seat. The 2012 deal gave Saleh immunity from prosecution for corruption and abuses of state power and the idea was that a new modus vivendi would be worked out in the country. The Houthis, who draw from the Zaydi Shiite tribes of the country's northwest who had dominated much of the country under the monarchy that fell in the 1960s, were clearly anxious for that. And when it looked like Hadi wasn't going to deliver, they took up arms.
Col. Pat Lang (ret.), who served as the US defense attaché in the embassy in Sanaa in the early 1980s, writes of the dangers of ignoring the real local context. […]
The cartoonish reduction of "Houthi = Iranian proxy" or "Shiites are fighting Sunnis for religious reasons" can nevertheless be found almost everywhere.
Stacy Philbrick Yadav and Shelia Carapacio, both scholars of the region, took on the "age old religious enmity" trope in a piece for the Middle East Research and Information Project at the end of last year. They wrote:
In transposing an all-purpose Shi‘i vs. Sunni simplification from Iraq and Lebanon onto Yemen, this storyline deductively misidentifies all of the Houthis’ adversaries -- from the government to the tribes surrounding Sanaa -- as “Sunni.”
This notion is flat-out wrong
Saudi and the US insist that only Hadi is the legitimate ruler of Yemen, that legitimacy drawn from a 2012 single-candidate referendum that gave him 99.6 percent support. That fig leaf no longer covers much.
And when it comes to Saudi vs. Iranian influence in Yemen, the Sunni monarchy and the US have been far more involved in creating the current mess – and a potential opportunity for Iran – than Tehran could have dreamed of – by Dan Murphy
Comment: Often stated, as to be seen here, already at the very beginning of the war.
Winter 2014 – Middle East Research and Information Project (** B C K P)
The Breakdown of the GCC Initiative
Many outside observers reported the advance of a ragtag militia into Sanaa and beyond as a struggle between the “Shi‘i” Houthis and assorted “Sunnis,” among them Islah. More than sectarian animus, though, the autumn turn of events demonstrated the political appeal of key Houthi positions, including critique of the excesses of Yemen’s established elite and rejection of the transitional mechanism advanced by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Western enthusiasts. It was, as journalist and youth activist Farea al-Muslimi observed, “a breakdown of the Saudi-backed order.”
Most English-speaking journalists and policy analysts have advanced one of two main speculations about the Houthi advance. The first, dominant trope emphasizes the Zaydi roots of the Houthi movement, ahistorically framed as an “Iranian-backed Shi‘i militia.” In transposing an all-purpose Shi‘i vs. Sunni simplification from Iraq and Lebanon onto Yemen, this storyline deductively misidentifies all of the Houthis’ adversaries -- from the government to the tribes surrounding Sanaa -- as “Sunni.”
This notion is flat-out wrong
The second prevalent narrative, advanced from overseas by “brinkologists,” takes the Houthi advance as fresh evidence of Yemen’s imminent collapse. After forecasting state failure for more than a decade, this line of analysis has focused on micro-events.
The Houthi militia’s advance from their base near the Saudi Arabian frontier through Zaydi strongholds in ‘Amran (seat of the Hashid confederation) into Sanaa -- and onward into Shafi‘i-majority provinces like Hudayda (on the Red Sea coast) and Ibb (in the mountainous midlands) -- must be read as positioning, an intent to renegotiate Yemen’s political regime
On another level, Yemen’s convulsions can never be comprehended as separate from the power structures of the Arabian Peninsula, dominated by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the other filthy rich petro-kingdoms of the GCC, which in turn are protected by the US military.
In some ways the Houthis represented subaltern aspirations. All along they objected to the agreement initiated by the self-consciously Sunni petro-monarchies of the GCC, formalized by the United Nations and facilitated by international experts, with its culmination in the National Dialogue Conference of March 2013-January 2014. The Houthis and other dissidents maintained that the GCC initiative sought to demobilize the mass 2011 revolutionary uprising by sanctifying an elite pact between members of the Salih regime and its formal, multi-party, cross-ideological “loyal” parliamentary opposition, the Joint Meeting Parties alliance, or Mushtarak. The Mushtarak, in turn, was dominated by a conservative northern alliance of Islah, the Sanaa old guard and the Hashid confederation. Given the GCC monarchies’ interest in stability in the most restive quarter of the Arabian Peninsula, the agreement contained a number of provisions to undermine populist demands for a democratic transition.
As the largest and most influential member of the Mushtarak, Islah benefited disproportionately from the power sharing deal brokered by the GCC.
In 2011, centrist Islahis like Karman seemed to find common ground with Houthi partisans while camped out in protest squares for months on end to bring down Salih. As the GCC agreement became a reality, however, it was clear that conservatives in Islah, burnishing a “Sunni” philosophy favored by the Gulf monarchies and downplaying Muslim Brother republicanism, were rewarded by the transitional terms. Moreover, Salih’s ruling GPC maintained parliamentary and ministerial clout while he held onto party leadership even after relinquishing the presidency to his deputy. The Houthis were mostly excluded, along with the southern hirak and, for that matter, the millennial generation who dominated the 2011 uprising – by Stacey Philbrick Yadav , Sheila Carapico
http://www.merip.org/mer/mer273/breakdown-gcc-initiative
Comment: Interesting background article from late 2014, still important to understand the situation in today’s Yemen.
cp2 Allgemein / General
13.9.2016 – Telepolis (* B K P)
USA: Weiter Waffen für Saudi-Arabien für mehr als eine Milliarde Dollar
Im Westen wachsen allmählich die Zweifel, ob Saudi-Arabien wirklich der "Stabilitätsanker" ist, als den der damalige Verteidigungsminister und heutige Innenminister Thomas de Maizière das islamistische Königreich 2011 bezeichnet hatte.
In den USA und Großbritannien fragen sich viele, ob man dem Land wirklich weiter bedenkenlos Waffen liefern kann und sollte. Denn bislang konnten sich die Saudis nicht über zu wenig westliche Unterstützung beklagen
Der US-Senat wird sich jedenfalls noch mit der umstrittenen Waffenlieferung befassen müssen. Denn die Senatoren Chris Murphy (Demokraten), Rand Paul (Republikaner), Al Franken (Demokraten), and Mike Lee (Republikaner) haben eine gemeinsame Resolution eingebracht, das jüngste Rüstungsgeschäft zu stoppen. Weil der Krieg im Jemen also ungehindert weiter geht, hat der UN-Sicherheitsrat erneut alle Seiten aufgerufen, zum Waffenstillstand vom 10. April zurückzukehren und Verhandlungen ohne Vorbedindungen zu führen, wie sie der Sondergesandte des UN-Generalsekretärs, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, voranbringen will.
Die letzten Friedensgespräche waren jedoch im August gescheitert. Neuen Schwung könnte ein Vorstoß von US-Außenminister John Kerry bringen. Kerry hatte im August Verhandlungen über eine Einheitsregierung angeregt. Sein neuer Ansatz besteht darin, anders als bisher die Entwaffnung der Houthi und deren Abzug aus Sanaa erst anzugehen, wenn eine Einheitsregierung installiert ist.
Beides ist laut UN-Resolution 2216 Voraussetzung für eine Beilegung des Konflikts. In ersten Reaktionen reagierten alle Seiten prinzipiell positiv auf den Vorschlag – von Dirk Eckert
http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/49/49403/1.html
Kommentar: Überblicksartikel.
12.9.2016 – New York Times (* B K)
It’s Not the Bullets Forcing Yemeni Troops Off the Battlefield. It’s the Pay.
Maj. Mortada al-Youssefi has more to worry about as commander of a government military unit in Yemen than the enemy. He has also had to figure out how to stop hundreds of his own men from walking off the battlefield over not being paid.
He is one of the many Yemeni officials who have been struggling to contain the growing anger of pro-government fighters over payment delays from the Saudi-led Arab coalition
The Saudis may be well financed in their campaign against the Houthis, who come from the north of Yemen, but they are very slow to pay, according to the Yemenis. The soldiers’ protest, one of many recently in government-held cities, and Major Youssefi’s concession to his men underscore the Yemeni desperation to mitigate the crisis, which officials say is lowering the morale and efficiency of their troops, prolonging the war. The Yemenis who make up the bulk of the government forces are young men in their late teens and early 20s, many of whom dropped out of school to join the coalition when war broke out. Most were working on fishing boats, farms and construction sites to support their families, officials said. “Many signed up to fight for their country, but many did join to make a living, especially since there are no salaries in other sectors,” Ezzaldin al-Asbahi, the country’s human rights minister, said in an interview. The coalition had promised each recruit a minimum of about $270 a month — the prewar salary of a university professor with a master’s degree. But once on the front lines, according to several officers, most of the young men found themselves penniless for months on end.
That is a stark contrast with circumstances in the Houthi-held cities, where most fighters contentedly receive $200 to $300 at the end of each month with little delay, Houthi fighters and leaders said – by Saeed Al-Batati and Nour Youssef
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/world/middleeast/yemen-military-houthi-rebels.html?_r=2
12.9.2016 – (not rated B K P)
Audio: Yemen is sinking deeper and deeper into a never-ending civil war
Now, the civil war in Yemen is getting worse by the day. Hospitals are being routinely bombed, some 10,000 people have been killed;, and extremist groups affiliated with Al Qaeda and ISIS have gained a foothold in parts of the country. There is no end in sight.
On the line with me to discuss the current situation in Yemen, the roots of the conflict, and potential opportunities to advance a peace process is Adam Barron, a visiting fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations. Adam goes pretty deep into the historic roots of instability in Yemen, which he traces to the early 1990s, and does a good job explaining the motives of each side of this ongoing conflict – by Mark Leon Goldberg
http://www.undispatch.com/yemen-sinking-deeper-deeper-never-ending-civil-war/
12.9.2016 – NEO Presse (* B P)
Jemen: Aggressoren können keinen Frieden schließen
In einer neuen Erklärung kündigten der amerikanische Außenminister John Kerry und sein saudi-arabischer Amtskollege einen neuen Plan für den Jemen an, der die Grundlage zu einer Politik der „angemessenen und vernünftigen Annäherung“ in dem kriegsgeschüttelten Land sein soll.
So ironisch es auch klingt, Saudi-Arabien, ein Land, welches durch die Vereinten Nationen als Hauptverursacher für die größten Opferzahlen unter der Zivilbevölkerung verantwortlich gemacht wurde, darf immer noch eine zentrale Rolle spielen, wenn es um die Wiederherstellung der Normalität im Jemen geht.
Liest man den UN-Bericht, ist das Land längst kollabiert. Das ausgerechnet Saudi-Arabien nun ein Garant für Frieden sein soll zeigt deutlich, dass der neue Plan nicht wirklich ernst gemeint ist und dass auch die USA, als selbsternannter Meister der Demokratie, keinen Respekt vor den von ihrem Verbündeten ausgeübten Menschenrechtsverletzungen haben. Die Ernsthaftigkeit der neuen Friedensplanungen kann man schon der Tatsache entnehmen, dass während der Gespräche die Luftschläge im Jemen, durch die saudische Koalition, unvermindert weiter gingen.
Vertreter der „Houthi-Rebellen“, die für eine Friedensfindung im Jemen unverzichtbar sind, wurden gar nicht erst eingeladen oder gehört.
Anstatt aufgrund des Leidens, der Proteste und den vielen zivilen Opfern im Jemen Druck auf Saudi-Arabien auszuüben, forderte der amerikanische Außenminister die Houthi-Rebellen auf, die Stadt Sanaa zu räumen und ihre sämtlichen Waffen einer neutralen Drittpartei zu übergeben. Als Gegenleistung sollen die Houthi an einer neu zu schaffenden Einheitsregierung beteiligt werden. Obgleich die neuen Planungen dem Streben der Houthi-Rebellen nach einer Einheitsregierung nachkommen, bleiben die auftretenden Problematiken nach der sogenannten „Drittpartei“ und der vollständigen Entwaffnung offen und unbeantwortet.
Es war deshalb kaum verwunderlich, dass der Plan, kaum war er ausgesprochen, von den Houthi-Rebellen abgelehnt wurde
Die gesamte Diplomatie hinsichtlich des jemenitischen Problems während der letzten 18 Monate [war ein Misserfolg]. Erfolglos, denn im Wege stand immer wieder die Kernforderung der Saudis, eine neue jemenitische Einheitsregierung unter die Führung der alten Exilregierung zu stellen.
Sollte sich nicht ein Entgegenkommen der saudischen Seite ergeben und das Hause Saud ist traditionsgemäß zu solch einem Einlenken ungern bereit, wird ein wahrer Friede mit den Aggressoren eine Illusion bleiben – von Martin Podlasly
http://www.neopresse.com/politik/naherosten/jemen-aggressoren-koennen-keinen-frieden-schliessen/
Kommentar: Weitgehend eine Übernahme von http://journal-neo.org/2016/09/08/yemen-killers-can-give-no-peace/, siehe YPR 194.
12.9.2016 – Near Eastern Outlook (* A P)
The March for Riyadh – Yemen’s War Takes on the Colour of Revolution
Yemen’s war has taken an unprecedented turn … Let me rephrase my statement: Yemen’s war took a turn Saudi Arabia and its many great Western allies never anticipated, let alone planned for.
Let me be abundantly clear here, Yemen’s war is a war of political enslavement and religious indoctrination – talks of democracy, and institutional legitimacy have been but distraction thrown at a gullible public, by an accommodating media. Twice-resigned, runaway President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi could not have possibly warrant such a furious military storm.
Why would foreign powers even attempt to rescue this pale figure of a politician’s presidency, if not to serve their own interests?
Should you still entertain the idea that Yemen Resistance Movement, those warriors Western press labelled rebels to manipulate you into denigrating them, ask yourself what you would do to defend your land, your people, and your national identity?
Finally ask yourself why again your willing media have drowned you in sectarian adjectives, playing maestro to the orchestra of your prejudices. Your governments quite simply did not want you to associate with the Houthis – the carriers of Yemen’s independence.
They did not want you to recognise in Yemen’s Resistance the expression of your own nationalism … because you would then have clamoured for Saudi Arabia to withdraw.
Surely then, you would have called Saudi Arabia’s massacres against unarmed civilians the Terror they truly are, demanding that your governments end all dealings with such grand war criminals.
Sadly the veil of deceit remains as thick as our Western capitals’ greed – by Catherine Shakdam
Comment: Well, a major problem of Yemen is that it is NOT unified as the author tells us, but divided by a lot of different lines into different and changing factions, a situation fueling never ending strife and civil war, giving foreign powers the possibility to intervene and to follow their own agendas – more and more destructing the country.
11.9.2016 – Shafaqna (* A P)
Voices from Yemen – “Saudis were tricked into trying to domesticate Yemeni tigers” says geopolitical analyst
In my opinion, Saudis were tricked into trying to domesticate Yemeni tigers, stepping unknowingly into the quagmire on war.
Saudis don’t have constitutions or foundations on which to develop military prowess, nor do they have a clear strategy and policy to be able to achieve military success, which is bad news not only for Yemen but for the future of Saudi Arabia and its people.
Saudi Arabia depends on purchasing the most expensive weapons and munitions from the West, which they rain down on Yemeni people and institutions, day after day. Their army does not have sufficient courage to fight in Yemen – instead Saudi Arabia has to rely on foreign paid mercenaries. But Yemenis are proud of fighting the war with their own hands, and their own missiles – by By Mohammed Humran
http://en.shafaqna.com/news/37132
Comment: Well, this is a piece of pro-Houthi propaganda, not taking notice of the deep rifts dividing Yemen itself. But the author by right states the missing concept of the Saudis and their military ineffectiveness.
9.9.2016 – Carnegie Endowment (* B K P)
What Does Saudi Arabia Want in Yemen?
What Saudi Arabia has accomplished in Yemen remains unclear, and what it is likely to accomplish is still uncertain. Four experts weigh in on Riyadh’s goals in Yemen.
Saudi and Yemeni perspectives on both of these issues often diverge considerably, and the interpretation of what is at stake – regional geopolitics, Yemeni stability, and factional dynamics – remain contested.
9.9.2016 – Carnegie Endowment (* B K P)
Saudi-Backed Extremism is Fueling Yemeni Outrage – by Nasser Arrabyee
[already presented YPR 197, cp2]
http://carnegieendowment.org/sada/64528
9.9.2016 – Carnegie Endowment (A P)
Zero Tolerance for an Iran-Dominated Yemen – by Manour Almarzoqi
[already presented YPR 197, cp15]
http://carnegieendowment.org/sada/64527
11.9.2016 – Jamila Hanan (* B K P)
What Does Saudi Arabia Want in Yemen?
Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, the youngest minister of defence in the world, is the driving force behind the Saudi bombardment of Yemen. He is described as the power behind the throne of his father, King Salman, and is considered likely to jump the succession line to be the next to claim the throne.
He is considered by some to be a dangerous, calculating megalomaniac; such characteristics are qualities to be found in leaders of genocide. He is ambitious in his plans to rise to power and exert his influence, both within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and also regarding Saudi Arabia's influence on the world.
In the eyes of Prince Mohammad, Yemen is an inconvenience, that he would rather was a part of his own future land. It acts as a hurdle between Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Sea for Saudi's oil exports. Currently Saudi Arabia depends on exports via the Red Sea constricted by the Bab-el-Mandab, or via the Persian Gulf constricted by the Strait of Hormuz, when ideally it would just run a pipeline down through the centre of Yemen. The rise and spread of power in Yemen of northern Yemen's Houthis, long established enemies of the Kingdom, is problematic for Prince Mohammad's plans for Saudi's future.
In addition, there is a paradox in the invincible mindset of this young prince, in that the Saudi royal family feels their hold on power threatened, due to the rise of democracy and calls for equality, as well as a preoccupation with perceived increasing Iranian influences in their vicinity. Driven by the need to exert influence and power, and carried by the fears of the Saudi population who had been led to believe a border invasion was imminent, Prince Mohammed initially thought he could easily bomb Yemen into submission, thus imposing his puppet of choice to run the country. The desired result would have seen a victory awarded to his name, which would have served him well in his ascent to the throne. However, Yemen proved more difficult to conquer than he had imagined, so realizing he could not win this war as initially planned, he has set about destroying all of Yemen's infrastructure in order to weaken the country until it is no longer a threat and is entirely dependent on the generosity of Saudi Arabia in order to survive.
The objectives of Saudi Arabia in regards to Yemen are clear: to squeeze the life out of it, through the blockade of food, destruction of water resources, bombing of bridges, health facilities and all educational establishments, until it is so weakened that it is no longer considered any threat to Saudi Arabia and submits entirely to Prince Mohammad's vision for the region.
Few are convinced by Western expressions of desire to restore any so called 'legitimate government', but instead believe that Western objectives are those of profiting from war, securing lucrative contracts that arise out of Yemen's destruction and the exploitation of natural resources of this impoverished nation. In addition, one may wonder if the long term goal of some powers may actually be the weakening of Saudi Arabia by enabling it to bomb itself into debt and instability. One consequence of the Saudi led bombardment is that whereas the Houthis were not threatening the border of Saudi Arabia before the bombardment, they most certainly are now – by Jamila Hanan
https://jamilahanan.blogspot.de/2016/09/what-does-saudi-arabia-want-in-yemen.html
9.9.2016 – Carnegie Endowment (* B P)
As Riyadh faces a dead end in its war against the Houthis, it must also face the hard political reality of a re-divided Yemen.
Unsurprisingly, the Saudis’ second war against the Houthis soon reached a dead end.
After a year of more or less constant aerial bombardment, the Saudis’ de facto commander-in-chief, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, seemingly concluded that the conflict was irresolvable. There were not enough Yemeni Sunni tribal fighters willing to take the riyal, and he was not prepared to make the mistake Prince Khaled had five years earlier and put Saudi skin in the game, nor would the Sudanese or Eritrean governments send enough fighters to do the dirty work. Consequently, Saudi Arabia decided to talk to the Houthis again.
The United States is now proposing that the Houthis and Saleh forces each have a third of the seats in a Sanaa-based government and Hadi loyalists the balance—something the Saudis will struggle to stomach. Why would the Houthis or Saleh give up the control of arms that allowed them to force this concession? Saleh never lost control of many of the armed forces anyway. A Zaidi Shia like the Houthis, Saleh is part of this Yemeni plurality, but more importantly he uses largesse and tribal nous to keep himself in the game.
The de facto autonomous southern Yemeni entity is once again susceptible to Saudi and Gulf influence.
However, anything like a formal acceptance of the political reality of a re-divided Yemen would be a difficult loss of public face, and, sadly, not yet a price that the de facto Saudi leader is prepared to pay. We can expect more “war, war” to accompany yet more “jaw, jaw,” as the Saudis will in practice only accept Yemeni power sharing if their local allies control most of the guns – by Neil Partrick
http://carnegieendowment.org/sada/64529
9.9.2016 – Carnegie Endowment (* B K P)
A More Assertive Regional Role
Saudi Arabia’s uncharacteristic military intervention to defend its own security also sends a strong signal to Iran, the United States, and the Saudi public.
Saudi Arabia has a long and mixed track record of involvement in Yemen’s numerous political conflicts, dating back to the early 1960s. Until last year, the kingdom’s inclination was to either use its extensive contacts with political and tribal elements to forge negotiated settlements or to choose a side in the conflict, assist it financially—occasionally provide it with weapons—but not involve its own troops in the fighting. That all changed last year. The prospect of Yemen being in the throes of yet another civil war, in which two equally hostile militant groups—the Iran-supported Houthi rebels in the North and the terrorist group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in the South—would try to impose their will on the rest of the country, was deemed a serious threat to the kingdom’s security.
Saudi Arabia has opened a new chapter in its history that seems intent on not just conveying to the world how the Saudis view their own changing role in the region, but also seems equally determined to compel the international community to think of Saudi Arabia in a whole new light – by Fahad Nazer
http://carnegieendowment.org/sada/64526
Comment: The author takers it more or less for granted that a greater power would have any right to interfere even by a 17 month devastating and killing bombing campaign and invasion in a weaker and smaller neighbouring country to secure its influence against the influence of a rivaling power. If Russia would have done the same in Ukraine – relentlessly bombing all the parts of the country under rule of the US supported Poroshenko government – nobody in the US would have the idea that this would even not be worth a mention. – And as far as Saudi security is concerned: The Houthi / Saleh army attacks against Saudi territory just started SIX WEAKS AFTER the beginning of the Saudi aerial war.
11.9.2016 – Pars Today (* B K P)
Who will answer for Yemen’s suffering?
For months Saudi Arabia has been attempting to shell and bomb Yemen back to the Stone Age over the course of its illegal military aggression against the Yemeni population.
The strategy that Saudi Arabia chose at the start of its intervention closely replicates those that Washington used in Afghanistan, where ground troops captured only key hubs, while the rest of the country was bombed by warplanes in an attempt to suppress any resistance.
This war, according to UN estimates, has already led to the largest humanitarian crisis on Earth.
Despite the fact that Washington has been selling weapons to Saudi Arabia before and throughout the conflict, Riyadh seems to be unable to score a decisive victory in Yemen.
But there’s yet another major player emerging on the stage – Daesh who is claiming its own stake in Yemen. It’s is now clear that neither Saudi Arabia nor its backers in the West had a comprehensive plan of action back when this initial military aggression was launched. Therefore, this conflict can be protracted for decades as is the case for concurrent wars in Afghanistan or Iraq; matters that will eventually become a major problem for the security of Saudi Arabia and its Persian Gulf allies. This war cannot be won by military means. Yemen now faces disintegration, while Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is gradually expanding its influence over territories not controlled by any of the parties of this bloody war. Soon we’ll witness yet another Syria in Yemen.
As is, the US-backed air campaign is designed to help the Saudis and their military re-establish regional position, silence the opposition, and strengthen international prestige.
Here is the final argument though: Under the fundamental rule of International Law, Saudi Arabia and other US proxies have no right to bomb Yemen. They have no authorization from the UN Security Council and they are not acting in genuine self-defense. They offer no explanation for why their aggression would comport with international protocols. Without UN mandate, they have no right to act as unilateral cop or in alliance with certain regimes to strike Yemen. Into the argument, it is wrong to assume that the airstrikes, supported by the US government, are peripheral. They are central to the balance of power within the Arab world, to tensions within the region, and are at the core of fears in the global oil market.
That said, the campaign has failed to affect regime change in the war-torn country. That’s the nature of any illegal war. The popular forces - that are formed of Ansarullah movement and a dozen other large groups who altogether set up the popular committees - and army of war-ravaged Yemen are no proxy of any other countries as alleged by Riyadh. In effect, the Saudi-led warplanes are bombing the civilian infrastructure with little care for civilian life on the ground. They seek to salvage the US imperial policy and maintain the regional status quo. It is past time for the UN Security Council to stop playing politics and start using the leverage it has to stop this madness.
http://parstoday.com/en/radio/middle_east-i26062-who_will_answer_for_yemen’s_suffering
11.9.2016 – Sputnik News (A K P)
‘UN Prefers Not to See’: Saudi-Led Coalition Bombing Yemen Back Into Stone Age
French Yemen-affairs expert François Frison-Roche: He added that those were very conservative figures which, althought giving a picture of what was going on, still failed to reflect the true scope of damage done to the country.”I think that [Yemen] has suffered much more than some people want us to believe. This is because the UN simply prefers not to see what is happening, carefull not to antagonize the Saudis who are the main player here, and also the other oil monarchies of the Persian Gulf.” “Saudi Arabia can keep bombing countries like Yemen only because the US and Britain are selling them weapons.
“This is exactly what the Saudis want: to shove Yemen thirty years back thus making it easy prey for their attempts to subjugate the country and force it do their bidding,” François Frison-Roche emphasized.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160911/1045196732/yemen-saudis-bombings.html
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
13.9.2016 – UN Radio (* B H)
Audio: Children dying "silent deaths" in Yemen
Children in Yemen are dying "silent deaths" according to the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the country.
The recent breakdown of a cessation of hostilities agreement has led to an intensification of fighting in the Gulf state.
30 people were killed on Saturday by airstrikes aimed at a water-well north of the capital Sa'ana, adding to mounting concerns over the "unrelenting attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure."
The deadly attack follows weeks of intensified shelling and ground fighting across the country, including missile attacks from Yemen to Saudi Arabia.
Reem Abaza has been speaking to Humanitarian Coordinator Jamie McGoldrick who's in the capital Sana'a and began by asking him about the current situation there.
12.9.2016 – WAM (A H P)
UAE sends power generation supplies to Yemen
A UAE aid ship today unloaded at the Port of Al Mukalla in Yemen, a shipment of spare parts, filters and fuel oil to run electric generators in the coast of Hadhramout, which is facing repeated power outages.
Provided by the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC), the emergency energy assistance came within the UAE's efforts to address frequent power disruptions in the area due to the deterioration in the electricity network.
Head of the Emirati Relief Team in Hadramout Matar Al Ketbi said the shipment is aimed at maintaining central power generators, as well as dilapidated power stations in the different districts of Hadramout.
https://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates-arab/1395299933867.html
Comment: How many power plants the Saudi coalition had destroyed in Yemen?
12.9.2016 – Shafaqna (* A H)
Dignity for Yemen – Mona Relief Organization’s campaign
This Hajj season the Mona Relief Organization has launched a new campaign aimed at serving the women of Yemen as their dignity stands in the balance. In the grip of abject poverty millions of women in Yemen have not had access to the necessary toiletries and essentials their gender requires.
We are asking you to save women such indignity.
As one of the Prophet’s companions said: “Respect in women the womb which bore you.”
We are asking you today to look on the women of Yemen and see the pride of a people reflect back.
We are what we give to the world … let this Eid be one generosity and kindness. Let this Eid be a time of compassion and mercy.
http://en.shafaqna.com/news/37156
11.9.2016 – Aljazeera (* A H)
Film: Eid in Yemen: Many Yemenis can’t afford to celebrate
Celebrations of this year's Muslim festival of Eid Al Adha are muted in Yemen, as the civil war continues to cripple the economy. Many Yemenis who used to buy festival gifts are being forced their possessions in order to survive.
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
Siehe / See cp1
12.9.2016 – Saba Net (* A P)
President addresses nation, promises granting amnesty to Yemenis misled by Saudi aggression
President of the Supreme Political Council Saleh al-Sammad delivered a speech to the nation on Sunday night on the eve of Muslim Eid al-Adh'ha feast, promising to proceed granting general amnesty to those Yemenis misled by the Saudi-led aggression.
"We repeat our call for those misled people from political forces, parties and military to arbitrate the differences and return to the right path," the president said.
"By taking this chance of Eid feast, the Supreme Political Council announces to proceed with issuing general amnesty to those abroad who strayed off course," he said.
"We tell them our hearts are open to anyone returns back to the right path and that the homeland can accommodate for all of us," he said.
"Let us start with a new page based on the principle of the partnership and the acceptance of the other, and to renounce all kinds of unilateralism, division, scatter, fighting, rivalry and conflicts," al-Sammad said.
"We urged them to go back home to their houses and children and to share the government and responsibility of defending the country.. and to work towards development and moving to achieve the people's aspirations," he added.
The president in his speech also condemned the Saudi continuing crimes against Yemen and Yemeni people for the second straight year of aggression, as well as the restrictions imposed on Yemenis for this year Hajj, warning of such Saudi hostile actions against Muslim nations and Yemenis in particular.
In his speech, al-Sammad also called on the international community, Muslim and foreign countries to stand by Yemeni people and reject the unjust Saudi-led aggression.
He called the international community to hold the aggression countries against Yemen responsible and press them to stop war.
Also, the President highlighted the unique role of Yemeni tribes, the army and popular committees in defending the nation against the Saudi aggression.
The President reaffirmed that the option of comprehensive and just peace is the only and one option that should lead every negotiations without preconditions to end the aggression war against Yemen.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440067.htm
12.9.2016 – Bahai Teachings (* A P) see cp18
Muslims Support the Persecuted Baha’is of Yemen
On 10 August, armed, masked soldiers raided an educational gathering organized jointly by the Nida Foundation for Development as well as the Baha’i community of Yemen on the theme of moral empowerment and service. More than sixty participants were arrested, among them youth and children. Half were Baha’is and, currently, it is believed some fourteen remain in prison, including young mothers.
The raid provoked an unprecedented response from citizens and civil society. Widespread coverage in the region’s media—on television, on the internet, and in print—has also highlighted the constructive endeavors of the Baha’i community and the baseless and illogical nature of the arrests.
Support also has come from tribal leaders and fellow citizens of various backgrounds.
The Nida Foundation and the Baha’i community in Yemen operate programs for the empowerment of youth so that they become oriented towards the social, moral, and intellectual development of society in practical ways. Both have also been concerned with raising the status of women and promoting the concept of equality and, in particular, the education of the girl child.
http://bahaiteachings.org/muslims-support-persecuted-bahais-yemen
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
13.9.2016 – Jihad Watch (A T)
Yemen: Locals break into and rob Christian church
On Friday August 26, unidentified and armed militants broke into and robbed a Christian church, the Church of Banjasar, in Aden south of Yemen. In the words of a local source, “Armed militants accompanied by youths from the village broke into the church after morning prayers and looted the contents of the church.” The source adds that in recent days robbers resembling “armed gangs” had been on the rise.
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/09/yemen-locals-break-into-and-rob-christian-church
13.9.2016 – Shapban (A P)
documents - #Yemen's southern leaders siphon #UAE cash aid & buy luxurious apartments in #Cairo, #Jordan
https://twitter.com/shapban/status/775721862005395456
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
13.9.2016 – Amnesty International (A P)
Geneva: UN Human Rights Council must establish investigation into civilian deaths in Yemen
Amnesty international is calling for the UN’s Human Rights Council to announce the creation of an independent investigation into the conflict in Yemen as it meets in Geneva today.
Last year the Human Rights Commission adopted a watered-down resolution led by Saudi Arabia, which requested that the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights assist a national commission of inquiry set-up by the internationally-recognised Yemeni government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia. So far this commission’s working methods suggest it will struggle to establish the truth or facilitate justice.
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/geneva-un-human-rights-council-must-establish-investigation-civilian-deaths-yemen and similar https://www.amnesty.org/en/press-releases/2016/09/human-rights-council-must-not-squander-opportunity-to-set-up-inquiry-into-war-crimes-in-yemen/
13.9.2016 – United Nations Human Rights (A P)
Opening Statement by Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, at the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council
My Office continues to enjoy broad access in Yemen. But as my recent report has highlighted, the national investigation effort has not been able to provide the impartial and wide-ranging inquiry that is required by serious allegations of violations and abuse. I recommend a comprehensive inquiry by an international independent body. There will be further discussion of this situation later in this session.
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20474&LangID=E
Comment by Hisham Al-Omeisy: UN High Commissioner bashes #Yemen gov investigation, recommends int'l indep body.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/775682369193910272
Comment: You could have known this from the very beginning: Hadi government’s “investigation” is just a sham to prevent a realistic independent investigation.
https://twitter.com/sanambna/status/775494388940214272
cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran
9.9.2016 – Catholic Herald (* B P)
Isn’t Iran a better partner for the West than Saudi Arabia?
The Sunni-Shia conflict forces Governments to make tricky diplomatic choices. Iran seems a better prospect
Indeed, all the indications are that Sunni-Shia rivalry is destined to continue for a long time to come. The current situation in the Middle East nowhere near resembles the situation in Europe on the eve of the Peace of Westphalia. This conflict is going to run and run, and is far from burned out. That is depressing, but seems to be a realistic reading of the situation.
Given the irreconcilable differences between Iran and Saudi Arabia, it follows that our governments in the West have a choice. They can side with one against the other, they can try to be friends with both, or they can keep both at arm’s length
One thing seems certain: the future prospects of Iran seem better than those of Saudi Arabia: in other words, there is a better prospect of Iran developing into a country we could recognise as civilised than Saudi Arabia doing so. The baggage that Saudi Arabia carries is arguably more horrible than that of Iran. Iran allows religious pluralism – there are churches in Iran – and has diplomatic relations with the Holy See as a result. Saudi Arabia does not have any official relations with the Holy See and is a theocratic state which does not allow any other form of worship apart from Islam.
If we have to choose between the two, surely we should choose Iran? – by Alexander Lucie-Smith
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
10.9.2016 – Veterans Today (A P)
Prince Sultan bin Salman: Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is in the Position of King
On Monday Sep 5, 2016 in Kano’s family funeral, Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud said, “Prince Mohammed bin Salman plays a key role in decision makings and development of Saudi Arabia. He directly receives orders from king Salman. His trips to china and Japan and the centrality of Saudis in the G20 Summit shows that Mohammad bin Salman acts as the King himself”.
After his visit to United States, US authorities’ tendency for visiting him as a new government has been increased, Sultan bin Salman added.
Sultan bin Salman also appreciated bin Salman’s efforts and said, “I hope Mohammed bin Nayef gives more chances to Mohammed bin Salman who is in the position of King.
cp9 USA
13.9.2016 – Asia Times (* B P)
US support for Saudi war in Yemen ‘immoral, and unlawful’
Obama Administration’s $1.15 billion arms sales offer to Saudi Arabia has shocked a bipartisan group of 64 lawmakers who are concerned about rising civilian casualties in the war in Yemen where a coalition led by Saudi Arabia is fighting Iran-allied Houthi rebels. They want the US to withdraw support to Riyadh which is intentionally targeting civilians or deliberately indifferent in executing its military operations.
Representative Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) is spearheading a legislation to restrict US arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
As the Pentagon is reducing its military staff in Riyadh in an attempt to distance itself from war crimes in Yemen, regime change enthusiasts in the Beltway are pushing for increasing military intervention in Syria and forging closer cooperation with Riyadh to defend the people from government war crimes of bombing civilians.[5]
Targeting civilians is a violation of the law of armed conflict whether by the Syrian government or Saudi government in Yemen, yet western media has largely ignored the killing of Syrian civilians by US/Saudi-backed jihadists. Moreover, in Yemen the US and Saudis are foreign actors bombing a sovereign country, while in Syria a sovereign government is protecting its land and population from foreign-backed jihadists from over 100 different countries, prompting even Syrian women to now take up arms for self-defense.
The hypocrisy of US sponsoring a foreign “revolution” by utilizing Islamic extremists to conduct “R2P” regime change operations is further underscored by Anthony Lloyd in a new Times of London article. I
Amnesty International finds it less surprising as they’ve documented war crimes of abductions, torture, summary killings, and shelling of civilian areas by US-backed rebel groups.
“There should be a human rights component to the vetting,” said Diana Semaan, Amnesty Syria researcher. “Eligibility [for support] should not just be a matter of who is ready to fight against Islamic State or Jabhat al-Nusra [the Nusra Front].”
However, Semaan and the 64 US lawmakers are apt to be disappointed, as it does not appear US or Saudi Arabia put much stock in human rights these days – by Christina Lin
http://atimes.com/2016/09/us-support-for-saudi-war-in-yemen-immoral-and-unlawful/
11.9.2016 – Real News network (* A P)
Sen. Bob Graham: FBI Covered Up Role of Bandar and Saudis in 9/11 Attacks (Pt.1/2)
Senator Bob Graham, former Co-Chair of the Joint Congressional Committee investigating 9/11, says there is evidence in the "28 redacted pages" that the FBI knew of Saudi Ambassador Bandar's links to Al Qaida terrorists before the attacks
Jay: Bandar had to have known, he had to have been involved. And, in fact, when the 28 pages were released just a few weeks ago, he is very much at the center of those what had been hidden, redacted pages from your report. So in this interview I want to go through the report in some detail. But just first of all, overall what do you come away with as the role of Bandar in either financing or facilitating the 9/11 attacks?
Graham: Now coming back to the question of Bandar, the 28 pages discussed the fact that one of Osama bin Laden's closest associates, a man named Abu Zubaydah, was captured in Pakistan shortly after 9/11. Among his effects was a notebook of telephone numbers. Two of those numbers related to Prince Bandar.
Another example which is one of those things that we learned about after the 28 pages were written is that there were three of the hijackers (including Mohamed Atta, the leader of the 19) who did their flight training in Venice, Florida, a community near Sarasota, and that while they were taking their flight lessons, they had connections with a prominent Saudi family, a three-generational family.
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=17227
Comment: Long and interesting interview, Paul Jay interviews Sen. Bob Graham.
11.9.2016 – RT (* A P)
Saudi Arabia ignores existence of 9/11 victims, ‘very afraid’ of them – survivor
A new law will finally allow the 9/11 victims to move forward in their struggle to bring the people involved in the attacks to justice, William Rodriguez, a 9/11 survivor, told RT.
Rodriguez said that Saudi Arabia still “totally ignores” the 9/11 victims, despite the fact that the release of 28 pages of a 2002 congressional report on the attacks in July proved that “the government of Saudi Arabia was indeed involved, because 17 out of the 19 hijackers were Saudi Arabians and they received money from [officials] at some levels.”
“Saudi Arabia has never accepted anything. What I have seen in the last six months of fighting with the kingdom, with the king himself, with the foreign minister, the minister of trade and the [Saudi] embassy here is that they try to ignore that we exist,” Rodriguez told RT, adding that the Saudis “tried to make us look as if we have no value.”
He also accused the Saudi government of hypocrisy, saying that its officials not only tried to ignore the 9/11 victims, but also “tried to spin the news in the way that they are supporting the fight against terrorism.”
“But if you fight you need to face the victims and the allegations. It would not take long for them to do that and to talk about what happened and to conduct their own investigation but that did not happen,” he stressed.
https://www.rt.com/usa/358933-saudi-ignores-911-victims/ and also http://yournewswire.com/911-survivor-says-saudi-arabia-is-terrified-of-victims-suing/
11.9.2016 – CBS News (* A P)
9/11 victims' families urge President Obama to sign terror sponsor bill
On the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York, a group of family members of people killed that day are calling on President Obama to sign legislation that would allow victims’ families to sue Saudi Arabia in U.S. courts.
“We miss them. And we grieve at what they have missed in lives cut short by terrorists whose immediate targets were innocents and whose ongoing target is everything America has stood for, fought for and promised to protect and defend since our union was formed,” the letter reads. “And we anguish especially as we witness the spread of the poisonous ideology that is determined to ensure that 9/11 was only the beginning.”
The nineteen family members who signed the letter specifically urged Mr. Obama to support the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, which would change the rules for foreign sovereign immunity, which in practice would allow the 9/11 victims’ families to pursue legal action against Saudi Arabia for its’ citizens role in carrying out the attacks – by Emily Schultheis
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/911-victims-families-letter-president-obama-bill-saudi-arabia-lawsuits/
9.9.2016 – Military.com from AP (* A P)
House Passes Bill Allowing Sept. 11 Victims to Sue Saudi Arabia
Congress sent President Barack Obama a bipartisan bill that would allow families of Sept. 11 victims to sue the government of Saudi Arabia, putting lawmakers on a collision course with the White House on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the attacks.
The House passed the legislation Friday by a voice vote, about four months after the measure cleared the Senate despite vehement objections from Saudi Arabia. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals.
The legislation gives victims' families the right to sue in U.S. court for any role that elements of the Saudi government may have played in the 2001 attacks that killed thousands in New York, the Washington, D.C., area and Pennsylvania.
The White House has signaled Obama would veto the legislation over the potential for it to backfire and apprehension about undermining a longstanding yet strained relationship with a critical U.S. ally in the Middle East. The Obama administration has warned that if U.S. citizens can take the Saudis to court, then a foreign country could in turn sue the United States.
Votes from two-thirds of the members in the House and Senate would be needed to override a veto.
Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, said the U.S. government should be more concerned about the families of the victims than "diplomatic niceties." Poe said he doesn't know if the Saudi government had a role in the Sept. 11 attacks – by Richard Lardner
9.9.2016 – Amnesty International (* A P)
Letter to president Obama
01.2006 – Mother Jones (**C)
America's Devil's Game with Extremist Islam
A Timeline of US-Cold War Politics and the Rise of Militant Islamism 1933–2001
It is often difficult to trace the history of the United States' involvement with—and responsibility for—the evolution of radical Islamism around the world; many of the CIA's activities in support of Islamist groups were often covert, and a great deal of misinformation exists. Robert Dreyfuss' new book, Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam, is an attempt at a comprehensive overview of this story, recounting how the CIA, guided by the belief that radical Islamist forces could act as a bulwark against communism, helped fuel the rise of political Islam and militant fundamentalism in the Middle East and Central Asia. Below is a timeline of major events in the U.S. government's 70-year flirtation with and support for the militant forces that would, in the late 1990s and on September 11, 2001, come back to haunt the United States.
1933 – Saudi Arabia grants oil exploration rights to the United States, and the two countries enter into a profit-sharing ownership of the Arabian-American Oil Company, which discovers the first commercial oil well in Saudi Arabia in 1938.
Feb. 18, 1943 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares the defense of Saudi Arabia of vital interest to the United States and makes the country eligible for Lend-Lease assistance.
1945 – The United States and Saudi Arabia sign an agreement that establishes an American military base in Dhahran, which houses American troops until April of 2003. The Saudis also give the United States permission to conduct a thorough survey of the Arabian Peninsula—which recommended establishing an air base.
Feb. 14, 1945 – Roosevelt meets with King Abdel Aziz ibn Saud, the first meeting of an American President with a Saudi monarch.
1951 – An accord between the two countries allows the United States to establish a permanent military training mission in Saudi Arabia.
1951 – The CIA sets up Radio Liberty to broadcast anti-communist programs around the world. In Central Asia, the station is used to incite local groups, many of them Islamic, against the Soviet Union.
1952 – The Saudi-American oil company, Aramco, pays for the printing of religious propaganda in Riyadh – by Melanie Colburn
http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2006/01/americas-devils-game-extremist-islam
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
12.9.2016 – The Guardian (* A P)
Crispin Blunt to intensify row about Saudi arms sales
Chairman of the foreign affairs select committee intends to offer alternative to recent proposal to suspend UK arms sales to Saudis
The battle over UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia is likely to intensify because the chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, Crispin Blunt, is preparing to propose a completely new report into the sales and says the parliamentary system of monitoring arms sales needs to be recast.
A previous draft report prepared by the arms export controls select committee was set to call for a suspension of UK arms sales to Saudi pending an independent investigation into the way the Saudi-led coalition was conducting a bombing campaign in Yemen. There have been accusations of repeated indiscriminate air raids on civilians by the Saudis that amount to a breach of international humanitarian law.
Such a call for suspension of arms sales would represent a huge change to UK foreign policy in the Middle East and cause deep unease in the defence industry.
At a private meeting of the arms export controls committee Blunt led criticism of what he described as a one-sided draft report and was reported to have walked out to prevent some committee members from voting on the draft. His walkout reportedly meant his fellow foreign affairs select committee members could not vote since they lacked a quorum.
In an effort to resolve the impasse, Blunt has drafted his own report and is expected to ask fellow members of the foreign affairs committee to endorse his findings at a meeting on Tuesday. The draft is likely to defer any suggestion of a ban on arms sales at least until a court case on whether the arms sales are in breach of UK law – by Patrick Wintour
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/12/crispin-blunt-to-intensify-row-about-saudi-arms-sales and also read comments there!
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
12.9.2016 – Basellandschaftliche Zeitung (A K P)
Wieder streiten die FDP-Bundesräte über die Ausfuhr von Kriegsgütern
Im April hiess die Regierung Waffenexporte in Golfstaaten gut. Weil der Jemen-Krieg seither eskaliert ist, fordert Aussenminister Didier Burkhalter ein Umdenken.
Im April hat der Bundesrat die Ausfuhr von Ersatzteilen und Geschossen für Fliegerabwehrkanonen nach Saudi-Arabien, Kampfflugzeugen F-5 nach Bahrain und Panzerhaubitzen M109 in die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate gutgeheissen – obwohl die Kriegsmaterialverordnung den Export von Rüstungsgütern in Staaten, die «in einen internen oder internationalen bewaffneten Konflikt» verwickelt sind, untersagt.
Aktuell geht es nicht um die Bewilligung neuer Exporte, sondern bloss um die Beantwortung zweier politischer Vorstösse – von Denis Bühler
12.9.2016 – New Matilda (* A K P)
Why Australia Should Stop Supporting The War On Yemen
Whilst Australia punishes foreign fighters in Syria, we have barely applied any scrutiny to the mercenaries helping the Saudi-led coalition devastate Yemen.
In short, the war on Yemen is an utter disaster. Though Australia traditionally has had a strong relationship with Saudi Arabia, our Foreign Minister has hardly commented on the war.
Signalling support for the Saudi position, Bishop wrote that “Australia recognises the legitimacy of the government of President Hadi and calls upon the Houthis to return to the negotiating table.” She also “recognises the legitimate interests of Yemen’s neighbours in maintaining regional security”.
As for the Saudi-led invasion, Bishop commented: “We note President Hadi’s request for protection and the military action taken in response by Saudi Arabia.”
Whilst Bishop didn’t quite praise the invasion, she recognised the “legitimate interests” of “Yemen’s neighbours” in “maintaining regional security”. Whatever that means
What has mostly passed without controversy is that Australian fighters have gone to fight for the Saudi’s in their war on Yemen. An Australian mercenary, reportedly Philip Stitman, died in the war in December last year. He was part of a group of mercenaries, formerly known as Blackwater, employed and sent by the United Arab Emirates to wage war on Yemen.
Later in December, Middle East Eye revealed that the leader of the UAE force of mercenaries was a former Australian major-general called Mike Hindmarsh.
Donaghy found “numerous results of experienced soldiers – mainly from Australia – who occupy senior roles in the elite force.
Why shouldn’t we deter and prevent people from fighting in Yemen? Why shouldn’t we punish those who do? If it’s not okay to fight in a foreign war for ideological reasons, why is it okay to fight in a foreign war for money?
https://newmatilda.com/2016/09/12/why-australia-should-stop-supporting-the-war-on-yemen/
Comment: Also an overview of the war and it’s background
cp13a Flüchtlinge / Refugees
Siehe / See cp1
13.9.2016 – World Food programme (A H)
ECHO Provides Support for Displaced Families in Yemen
The World Food Programme (WFP) has recently provided urgently needed food for more than 22,000 displaced people in northern Yemen, thanks to support from the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO). It is part of WFP’s efforts to reach vulnerable families in 19 out of Yemen’s 22 governorates, supported by contributions from ECHO.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/echo-provides-support-displaced-families-yemen
12.9.2016 – Echo 24 (A)
Badegäste retten einem Asylbewerber das Leben
Nur der Aufmerksamkeit und sofortigen Reanimationsmaßnahmen anwesender Badegäste verdankt ein 20-jähriger Asylbewerber aus dem Jemen sein Leben. Laut Polizei hielten er und sein 23-jähriger Bruder sich im flachen Bereich des Gewässers auf und kamen wohl versehentlich zu weit zur Seemitte, wo der Boden rasch abfällt.
http://www.echo24.de/region/badegaeste-retten-am-elsenzer-see-einem-aysylbewerber-leben-6740246.html
cp13b Zentralbank / Central Bank
12.9.2016 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A P)
Yemen Central Bank Governor Warns of Upcoming Crisis
Yemeni Central Bank Governor Mohammed Awad bin Hammam has warned that if five billion dollars stacked outside the bank were not returned to the institution, then the problem of lack of liquidity would not be solved.
During an interview with Reuters, Hammam warned the crisis would turn into chaos over the bank’s failure to pay the five-million-worth of salaries for over 1 million and 250 thousand employees.
He explained that the bank was facing several problems including lack of income and halt of production and export of oil.
The governor also said that the bank had to pay for imports of sugar, rice, and wheat.
Hammam said that during his visit to Washington, he spoke with donors and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help the Central Bank because it is difficult for the bank to pay for imports.
According to Hammam, all economic activities in the country had stopped as a result of the war – by Mohamed Ali Mohsen
http://english.aawsat.com/2016/09/article55358213/yemen-central-bank-governor-warns-upcoming-crisis = http://nationalyemen.com/2016/09/12/yemen-central-bank-governor-warns-of-upcoming-crisis/ = http://www.albawaba.com/business/yemen-central-bank-liquidity-crisis-leaves-1.25-million-employees-unpaid-883226
Comment: the Central Bank stays in Houthi-held Sanaa, but up to now was neutral in the war. The hadi government tried to fully pull the bank at it’s side, and wanted to depose the president of the bank. He had rejected all Hadi government’s objections. This Saudi article stays quite sound and objective.
Comment 1 by Judith Brown: This is in a Saudi newspaper but anything to do with the Yemen bank is worrying, as if the bank fails Yemen will fall to the level of a failed state like Somalia.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154704279478641
Comment 2 by Judith Brown: This will make matters so much worse; without their salaries people cannot survive. The bank has done such an amazing job keeping Yemen afloat. They gave served both sides in the war to prevent the economy from failing. But they have limits and when those limits are reached the money will dry up.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154713216048641
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
12.9.2016 – Shapban (A T)
video - allegedly arms factory for #ISIS in #Yaffa, south #Yemen
https://twitter.com/shapban/status/775278517227577344
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
13.9.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Aggression wages over 22 raids on Sa'ada, Jizan
The Saudi war jets launched on Tuesday more than 22 raids on Sa'ada province and Jizan region, a military official said.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440172.htm
13.9.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi fighter jets launch raid on Mareb
The Saudi fighter jets waged on Tuesday an air raid on Serwah district of Mareb province, a local official said.
The official added the fighter jets targeted al-Mashjah area in Serwah, the official added.
On the other hand, the Riyadh's mercenaries intensively pounded citizens' houses and their farms in several areas in Serwah.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440168.htm
13.9.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Aggression launches raids on Jawf
The Saudi warplanes waged on Tuesday two air raids on Jawf province, a local official said.
The official added the raids targeted citizens' houses and their agricultural farms in al-Ghail village in Jawf.
The raids caused huge damage to citizens' houses and their farms.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440165.htm
13.9.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression targets al-Muraisi's stadium in Sana'a
The Saudi warplanes launched on Tuesday raids on the late Ali Mohsen al-Muraisi's stadium in al-Thawra sports city in the Capital Sana'a.
An official at the ministry of Youths and Sports said the aggression targeted the stadium with five rockets, one of the rockets did not explode.
The warplanes targeted a VIP guests gate and masses gates, the official said, adding that the General Yemeni Football Union building and adjacent buildings were damaged.
It is worth to mention that the losses of the sports and youth facilities which targeted by the Saudi aggression amounted to more than 110 billion Y.R.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440153.htmand images: https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/775753029949718528 and https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/775681549610221573
Saudi war jets launch raids on Capital
The Saudi war jets waged on Tuesday a series of air raids on the Capital Sana'a, a local official said.
The Saudi war jets targeted al-Dailami air base with violent air raids in the Capital Sana'a, the official added.
He said that the hostile war jets targeted also a number of zones in Saref, al-Rawdha areas and a Military Academy in the Capital.
The raids caused huge damage to houses and public and private properties, he said.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440143.htm
13.9.2016 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
12-9-2016
Targeting and bombing civilians by the warplanes of Saudi Arabia and its alliance
Casualties and damage (full list)
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=689344311215937&id=551288185021551
13.9.2016 – Reuters (A K)
Coalition hits Yemen factory but businessmen deny alleged war role
An Arab coalition bombed a Yemeni industrial site in the capital Sanaa on Tuesday, damaging what the Saudi-led alliance called a workshop making missile parts but which businessmen said were several plants making pipes and building materials.
Among the buildings struck was a factory used by Yemen's Alsonidar Group to make and sell pumps under a long standing arrangement with Italian water specialist company Caprari, both companies said.
That strike caused a fire that destroyed half the premises and resulted in several million dollars worth of damage, said Caprari managing director Alberto Caprari.
There were no casualties in the attack on the Alsonidar site in al-Rawda district in northern Sanaa, which the Yemeni company said also destroyed a red brick factory and damaged another plant producing metal pipes.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-idUSKCN11J27V and film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsQ5w3gkveM
13.9.2016 - Antiwar (A K)
Italian Company: Factory in Yemen Destroyed by Saudi Strikes Was ‘Purely Civilian’
Caprari, the company in question, fired back, insising that the factory was “purely civilian” and had been operating for over 20 years, producing water pumps for civilian use. The factory was half destroyed in a fire that resulted from the airstrike, and did several million dollars in damage, though employees were not present at the time of the attack, and no casualties are reported.
Still, company director Alberto Caprari slammed the Saudi attack as part of a war that is ruining the “industrial fabric of Yemen,” adding that the conflict was a “forgotten war.” - by Jason Ditz
and
12.9.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A K PH)
Yemen Sunaidar factory of agricultural equipments N Sanaa destroyed 2day by US-backed Saudi war criminals (photo)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/775363721166282752 and also https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/775408912963104768
13.9.2016 – Tweets day at Sanaa (A K)
Suckers are plummenting Sanaa again. House shaken to the core. 2y old Baraa jumbed crying . Yemen.
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/775609626356289536
Thanks God we survived three 700m away Saudi-led airstrikes. Shattered windows, scared kids #Yemen #Sanaa (photos)
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/775681549610221573
12.-13.9.2016 – Tweets night at Sanaa (A K)
#Saudi airstrikes in #Yemen's capital just started .. huge explosion heard all over the city
https://twitter.com/shapban/status/775429584997216256
I can confirm. it was a big explosion! N sanaa Yemen
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/775426565698101249
And a twin, followed by a third explosion now. In case wondering. Second #EidAlAdha under bombardment
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/775431078735667200
The 3rd and so far the biggest explosion... New to these airstrikes is the jet sound comes very late compared to earlier bombing.
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/775428525750910976
Hope you enjoy #Eidaldha, we enjoy being bombed in Sanaa now. 4th explosion
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/775429265311531009
series of explosions in #Yemen's capital now as #Saudi airstrikes begin on Eid night
https://twitter.com/shapban/status/775430953783132160
22 bombs dropped on Sana'a tonight. On Eid's night. Saudi jets still in sky going for some bombing record. World's silence deafening.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/775463867736584192
Bombing into smithereens... Lost count of explosions...while jets in sky N Sanaa
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/775431918632525825
Eid mubarak silent world Massive explosions rocking the capital Sanaa now, as Saudi jsets continue flying over the sky of the city
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/775435115388407812
Nights of FIRE: 7 Saudi airstrikes in 15 minutes attack #Yemen capital forcing children off beds crying & in fear.
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/775434100039684096
BREAKING NOW! #Yemen - #Sanaa 13 blasts reported so far. Use #YemenHell to report! Our #Yemen TL is being censored!
https://twitter.com/teddy_cat1/status/775455220335677441
more in timeline of https://twitter.com/JamilaHanan/
12.9.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi raid kills two in Baqem
Two people were killed on Monday in a Saudi air raid on Baqem district of Sa'ada province, a security official said.
The hostile war jets targeted al-Dahal area in the district with a raid, the official said, adding a citizen was critically injured in the raid.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440074.htm
12.9.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi warplanes launch raids on Serwah
caused huge damage to citizens' houses and agricultural hand
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440054.htm
12.9.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi war jets wage raids on Sana'a
The Saudi war jets launched on Monday six raids on Sana'a province, a security official said.
The official added that the war jets targeted each of al-Arqob area in Khawlan district and al-Madfon and al-Majaweh areas in Nehm district with three raids.
The raids caused huge damage to agricultural land, he said.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440043.htm
12.9.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi warplanes launch raids on Belad al-Arous
The hostile raids targeted telecommunications towers in Naqeel Yasleh with two raids and the third raid with a cluster bomb, the official added.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440037.htm
12.9.2016 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
11-9-2016
Targeting and bombing civilians by the warplanes of Saudi Arabia and its alliance
Casualties and damage (full list):
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=688958874587814&id=551288185021551
12.9.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Hostile raids kill eight, injure six in Sa'ada
At least eight people were killed on Monday in Saudi raids in al-Safra district of Sa'ada province, a security official said.
The hostile warplanes targeted two houses in al-Mahadhr area in al-Safra with two raids, the official said, adding that six other people were injured.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440064.htm
and
Death toll from aggression airstrikes against Saada's al-Mahadhir area rises to 12
The death toll from Saudi aggression airstrikes against al-Mahadhir area in Sahar district in Saada governorate on Monday rose to 12 civilians and many others were wounded, a security official told Saba.
The warplanes launched seven strikes against residents houses and farms in al-Mahathir area, said the official.
The unrelenting air attacks also targeted the areas of al-Matjaraf, Wadi liyh in al-Dhahir district, as well as another airstrikes hit al-Sawh area in Kutaf district and Husama area in Shada district, causing large damage to the residents' homes and properties, the official added.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440094.htm
and
12.9.2016 – Yemen Post (A K)
Holiday MASSACRE: 17 civilians killed & 23 injured by 2 Saudi airstrike attacks in #Yemen region Saada today on Eid (photo)
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/775373460604420096
12.9.2016 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
-On the day of Eid, Saudi Arabia warplanes and its alliance launched 7 airstrikes on #AL_Mahadhet_area #Saada_Province.
-The airstrikes killed 14 civilians and injured others.
-The warplanes also targeted #Baqem and #Sheda districts and killed 4 civilians (with graphic photos)
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=688964041253964&id=551288185021551
photos:
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/775392577738727426 (one [right side, middle] definitely from a 2015 airstrike)
and film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwOsUlaWzaU = https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/775476089900699648 = https://www.facebook.com/881240811966559/videos/1102437219846916/
12.9.2016 – Dr. Karim (A K)
Today #Eidaladha: 12 civilians killed, 10+ wounded in Saudi-led airstrikes on Almahather of Sahar #Saada
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/775252497288036353
12.9.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A K)
Yemen death toll raised to 22 civilians By US-backed Saudi war criminals jets bombing 2houses in Mahader of Saada north, morning of Eid.
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/775247660303474688
12.9.2016 – Dr. Karim (A K)
..and 2 more civilians killed in Saudi-led airstrikes on #Saada's Baqem.
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/775253339030294529
11.-12.9.2016 – Tweets Night at Sanaa (A K)
First explosion heard in #Sanaa War planes do not come all the way to Yemen for no reason. Airstrikes to follow Eid in #Yemen
https://twitter.com/Living_Yemen/status/775092886836801536
Happy EID bombing ....first one Yemen Sanaa
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/775087656913006592
Second explosion N Sanaa #Yemen... jets sound laps time seconds to minutes
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/775088691123552260
3rd and louder explosion N Sanaa... What an Eid eve!
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/775091118740533248
Blasts huge by aggression Saudi on sana'a #Sana 'a under the death
https://twitter.com/sageralsurbi/status/775091608224165888
Raids air dense in the meantime, after midnight in the night Eid. Sana'a under the bombing By Saudi aggression
https://twitter.com/sageralsurbi/status/775090799923064832
A Saudi airstrike has reportedly hit the gate of Air Defense HQ and another one targeted a brick factory in Bani Alharith district
https://twitter.com/Shuaibalmosawa/status/775096478641577984
Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes on Al-Dailami Air Force Base by Sanaa Int'l. Airport moments ago.
https://twitter.com/yemen_updates/status/775090834559627264
I hear now voice ambulances there victims because of raids aggression Saudi
https://twitter.com/sageralsurbi/status/775096269597511680
11.9.2016 – Saba News (A K PH)
Saudi jets launch 10 raids on Baidha
The Saudi war jets waged on Sunday ten raids on al-Sawadeyah district in Baidha province, a local official said.
The official added the hostile raids targeted telecommunications towers , an electric station of the 26th brigade and in the vicinity of the district.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news439950.htm
11.9.2016 – Saba News (A K PH)
Saudi aggression launches 10 raids on Taiz
The Saudi fighter jets launched on Sunday raids on Taiz province, a local official said.
The official added the fighter jets targeted schools complex in al-Akbosh-al-Ahkom area in Haifan district with six raids.
The fighter jets targeted also a school in La'akawesh village, he said.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news439955.htm
11.9.2016 – Saba News (A K PH)
Saudi warplanes launch raids on Jizan, Sa'ada
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news439957.htm
12.9.2016 – Der Standard (* A K)
30 Tote bei Luftangriff auf Brunnen im Jemen
Luftangriffe auf einen Brunnen im Norden des Jemen haben nach UN-Angaben 30 Zivilisten getötet. Weitere 17 Unbeteiligte seien beim Bombardement des Dorfes nördlich der von Rebellen kontrollierten Hauptstadt Sanaa verletzt worden, erklärte der humanitäre Koordinator der Vereinten Nationen für den Jemen, Jamie McGoldrick, am Montag. Unter den Toten seien auch zwei Kinder und Helfer, die nach der ersten Attacke am Samstag zu dem Brunnen geeilt waren. Friedensverhandlungen zuletzt wieder gescheitert McGoldrick betonte, er sei "tief beunruhigt" über die Angriffe auf Zivilisten. Er nannte keine Verantwortlichen für die Tat. Es ist allerdings bekannt, dass nur das saudisch geführte Militärbündnis Luftangriffe in dem Bürgerkriegsland fliegt
http://derstandard.at/2000044256033/30-Tote-bei-Luftangriff-auf-Brunnen-im-Jemen
12.9.2016 – AP (* A K)
UN says airstrikes on Yemen water well reportedly kill 30
Saudi-led airstrikes on a water well in northern Yemen have reportedly killed 30 people and wounded 17, a U.N. official said Monday, making it one of the deadliest attacks since peace talks collapsed a month ago.
The U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, said in a statement that the casualties in the village of Beit Saadan included first responders and children. The strikes took place on Saturday, on the eve of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Witnesses said an initial airstrike killed 13 people, but then a number of rescuers were killed in subsequent airstrikes. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
The U.N. statement said it based its findings on its own sources and media reports. The Associated Press was unable to independently verify the death toll.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2016/Sep-12/371664-un-says-airstrikes-on-yemen-water-well-reportedly-kill-30.ashx and the statement by McGoldrick: http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/statement-behalf-humanitarian-coordinator-yemen-jamie-mcgoldrick-deeply-concerned = http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Yemen%20HC%20Statement%2012%20September%20EN.pdf
12.9.2016 – BBC (* A K)
Witnesses said warplanes first bombed workers drilling for water, then hit a crowd gathered at the scene.
The coalition said all its operations in the area had targeted Houthi rebels.
Residents of Beit Saadan, a rebel-held village in the Arhab district north of the capital Sanaa, said coalition warplanes targeted workers drilling for water on Saturday, apparently mistaking their machinery for a rocket-launcher.
When locals rushed to the scene to help the victims, the aircraft returned and bombed the site again, killing and injuring more people, they added.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37340484
Comment: It’s just not possible to mistake a water drill for a rocket launcher. – “Houthi rebels” drilling for water? Taxi drivers flying fighter jets? See lions nesting on top of church towers?
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
13.9.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
The Riyadh's mercenaries intensively pounded citizens' houses and their farms in several areas in Serwah.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440168.htm
13.9.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
2 Saudi enemy soldiers killed in army shelling against Jizan: official
The Army and popular committees fired artillery and missiles against a number of Saudi enemy sites in Jizan region on Tuesday, killing at least two Saudi enemy soldiers, an army official at the scene told Saba.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440187.htm
13.9.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army kills 14 hirelings in Serwah
Around 14 Riyadh's hirelings were killed by the army and popular committees in Mareb province, a military official said Tuesday.
The army and popular committees launched a unique military operation to cleanse a number of sites in Serwah district in Mareb, the official said, adding that one of the leaders of the Brigade 203 the so-called Ali al-Marhabi was also killed in the district.
The official added that 16 other hirelings were injured in the military operation in Serwah.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440162.htm
13.9.2016 – Sputnik News / National Yemen (A K)
Saudi-Led Coalition’s Airstrike Kills Several Houthi Leaders in Yemen
Several leaders of the Houthi rebels were killed by the Saudi-led coalition’s airstrike close to the Yemen-Saudi border, local media reported Tuesday.
Coalition’s attacks hit the cave where the leaders were hiding on Sunday, Al Arabiya broadcaster reported. Coalition’s command has not confirmed the information yet.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160913/1045260687/saudi-arabia-houthis.html = http://nationalyemen.com/2016/09/13/saudi-led-coalitions-airstrike-kills-several-houthi-leaders-in-yemen/
Comment: Such a vague brief news: 'Several' Houthi 'leaders' hiding in a cave at the Saudi Yemeni border
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1108758902510472
13.9.2016 – RT (A K)
Katar verliert drei Militärs im Jemen
Katar hat bekanntgegeben, drei Soldaten bei der von Saudi-Arabien geleiteten Militäroperation im Jemen verloren zu haben. "Wir bedauern zutiefst den Verlust derjenigen, die ihr Leben in Ausübung ihrer Pflicht gelassen haben", steht in der Mitteilung der katarischen Militärbehörde
https://deutsch.rt.com/newsticker/40574-katar-verliert-drei-militars-im-jemen/
13.9.2016 – Qatar Armed Forces (A K PS)
News No :37 News Date :13/09/2016 News Time :12:14 AM
The Qatari Armed Forces today announced the martyrdom of three of its soldiers during the line of duty within the Arab coalition forces for restoring hope in the Republic of Yemen .
http://www.qna.org.qa/en-us/News/NewsBulletin and Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-qatar-idUSKCN11J0MJ
Comment by Jamila Hanan: No they weren't 'restoring hope'. They were just killing, in a country that wasn't their own. #Yemen
https://twitter.com/JamilaHanan/status/775606745439797248
12.9.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army foils mercenaries' advance on Serwah
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440080.htm
13.9.2016 – Almasdar (A K PH)
Houthi forces capture several sites in northern Yemen
The Houthi forces, backed by the Yemeni Republican Guard, continued their large-scale advance in the northern Yemen countryside, capturing several sites inside the Marib Governorate.
According to Al-Masdar's Yemen War correspondent Tony Toh, the Houthi forces captured a number of military sites at the village of Al-Rabiah in the Sirwah District, killing 22 Hadi loyalists and wounding 34 other militants after a fierce battle.
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/houthi-forces-capture-several-sites-northern-yemen/
12.9.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army fires Katyusha rockets on mercenaries' gathering in Jawf
The Katyusha rockets targeted al-Aqba, al-Mazareq and al-Sabrin areas in the district, the official said, adding a number of the mercenaries were killed or injured.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440069.htm
12.9.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army launches missile on Khalid Air Base in Asir
The missile force of the army and popular committees fired on Monday a ballistic missile on Khalid bin Abdulaziz Air Base in Khamis Musshiat area in Asir region.
A military official said that the missile of Qaher-1 type hit its target accurately.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440061.htm
12.9.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army shoots four Saudi soldiers in Najran
A sniper unit of the army and popular committees shot dead on Monday four Saudi soldiers in Nahoqa military site in Najran region, a military official said.
A Saudi military vehicle was also destroyed when the army and popular committees targeted it with a missile in the site, the official said.
The official added the missile force pounded gatherings of Saudi soldiers behind Nahoqa Control site with more than 15 shells.
The missile force targeted also Saudi reinforcements were on their way to Nahoqa military site, he said.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news440050.htm
12.9.2016 – Afrah Ateiq (A K PH)
The Yemeni army and popular committees break into the Saudi military base "Al-Fawaz" overlooking Najran city. (photos)
https://www.facebook.com/Classy.Yemeni/posts/894845033979012
12.9.2016 – Living in Yemen on the Edge (A K PH)
Ansarullah Forces Capture Saudi Military Camp in Jizan
Local sources said Ansarullah forces and their allies managed to capture the Al-Farida Military Camp in the Jizan region after a fierce battle with Saudi-led Coalition forces, the Tribune of Yemen reported.
In addition to capturing this military site, the Ansarullah forces and their allies confiscated the Saudi Army's heavy weapons and Abrams Tanks that were left behind
https://www.facebook.com/Classy.Yemeni/posts/894844720645710
12.9.2016 – AP (A K)
Saudi Air Defense Shoots Down Missile Fired From Yemen
The Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen says Saudi air defense forces have shot down a ballistic missile fired at the kingdom from Yemen.
A statement issued by the coalition says the missile targeted the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait but was intercepted before dawn on Monday. It says the coalition air force struck the missile's launching pad area.
No damage or casualties were reported.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/saudi-air-defense-shoots-missile-fired-yemen-42024789
11.9.2016 – Fars News (A K PH)
Yemeni Army Captures 2 Saudi Intelligence Officers, 48 Military Men in Najran Province
Battlefield commanders announced that the Yemeni army and popular forces have held captive tens of Saudi military men, including senior intelligence officers.
"The Yemeni forces have captured 50 Saudi military men, including two senior intelligence officers, in a special operation conducted against the kingdom's troops in Najran province," Senior Ansarullah Commander Ali al-Hamzani told FNA on Sunday.
Al-Hamzani noted that the Yemeni forces could also take full control over a Saudi military base, including its tanks and armored vehicles.
"The Yemeni army and popular forces also managed to explode all watch-towers along the border region and torch their armored vehicles in the Southern part of Saudi Arabia," he added.
Al-Hamzani reiterated that a large number of Saudi military men fled the battlefield after several hours of clashes
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950621000383
11.9.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Dozens of mercenaries killed, injured in Serwah
Dozens of Riyadh's mercenaries were killed or injured when the army and popular committees repulsed their advance towards Serwah district of Mareb province.
A military official said Saturday that the army and popular committees foiled eight progresses through the district during the past three days.
The fourth battalion commander in the 103th brigade the so-called Qasim Ali al-Futaini was killed in the military clashes, the official said.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news439947.htm
11.9.2016 – Almasirah TV (A K PH)
Films: Yemeni forces stormed new #Saudi military site Called Hinjr and get weapons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3o2pKYkR9c
Houthis vs Saudis | September 10th 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcgOa7ZnfVw
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
13.9.2016 – Rudaw (* B P) see cp5
Yemen’s Baha’is face persecution as they struggle to practice their faith
Hamed Kamal Muhammad bin Haydara disappeared into the labyrinth of Yemen’s National Security Bureau three years ago. His crime: being a Baha’i. His wife says the last time she called him and spoke to him was in December 2013.
Since his disappearance, Haydara has been accused of “apostasy”, “insulting Islam”, and calling on Muslims to “embrace the Baha’i religion”.
New York-based Human Rights Watch says that the prosecution in Haydara’s trial has asked for the death penalty for him. It says that. “Most of the charges against Haydara relate to his practice of the Baha’i faith.”
“The Baha’i faith is not recognized in the constitution, the tradition or by Islam. Therefore, it is a forbidden religion. If a Yemeni renounces his religion and declares himself a Baha’I, this is a crime to be tried at court.” an official from the ministry of justice said.
“But if the person is from a foreign country and visits us, they can practice their religion at home in private, and this is not a crime and will not be punished,” he explained.
Yemen has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) since 1987, safeguarding the freedom of religion.
“Yemeni authorities have committed an injustice by prosecuting Haydara for his religious beliefs and compounding that injustice by seeking to execute him,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director of HRW. “The charges should be dropped and Haydara should be released.”
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/13092016
13.9.2016 – Vanessa Beeley (A P)
UN HRC in Geneva trying to prevent entry for Yemeni TV Al Masirah.
Accreditation was applied for on 12th August yet officials are claiming they have not received it.
Saudi $$$ at work.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155534341378868&set=a.96554553867.106987.667683867&type=3
12.9.2016 – Jennifer (A)
Dear #Yemen We're under attack on Twitter! Please use #YemenHell for updates!
https://twitter.com/teddy_cat1/status/775457427260968960
12.9.2016 – Reuters (* B H)
In Yemen's remote mountains, war - and progress - remain distant
In villages perched high on a mountain in western Yemen, residents are a safe distance from a conflict raging through most of the country, but they endure a hardscrabble existence little changed from hundreds of years ago.
Long used to a livelihood without electricity or running water, they have felt little impact from the 18 months of civil war which have cut those essential services to many of Yemen's 28 million people.
Dinner is still cooked as usual on an open fire, and dawn light heralds the start of work in the fields.
But far from a country idyll, the sunny days in the crisp green hills are a medieval struggle for survival.
Agriculture remains the mainstay of most villagers and the area is known for beekeeping and its distinctive honey is sold around the country.
If calamity strikes, however, the villages' remoteness can become a curse when residents need medical attention in faraway clinics.
Pregnant women suffering complications and immobile patients are lucky to survive the eight-hour journey carried on men's shoulders in makeshift stretchers - by Abduljabbar Zeyad
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-village-idUSKCN11I1E1 and more images from this mountain village https://widerimage.reuters.com/story/living-on-a-mountaintop or http://defence.pk/threads/living-on-a-mountaintop-in-yemen.449393/ and some more http://www.n-tv.de/mediathek/bilderserien/panorama/Leben-zwischen-Bergen-und-Krieg-article18630576.html und http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/unmoegliche-reisen-im-hochland-des-jemen-fotostrecke-141016.html (Deutsche Kurztexte)
12.9.2016 – Press TV Iran / Alalam (A P)
Saudis Hajj Handling Reminiscent of Israel Policy on Aqsa Mosque: Yemen’s Houthi Leader
The leader of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement has lashed out at Saudi Arabia for mishandling of the Hajj rituals, saying restrictions imposed on Muslims for this year’s Hajj are reminiscent of Israel’s repeated desecration of the al-Aqsa Mosque.
In his message to the Yemenis on the occasion of the Eid al-Adha (the Feast of Sacrifice) which fell on Monday this year, Abdulmalek Badreddin al-Houthi said Saudi Arabia has deprived a large number of Muslims from this year’s Hajj due to political reasons like the way many Palestinians are being barred from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds.
He said Saudi rulers have no right to claim full control over Ka'aba and the Grand Mosque in Mecca and block the access of pilgrims to the places, adding that there is no justification for the kingdom’s move to prevent Muslims from performing the religious duty of Hajj.
http://presstv.com/Detail/2016/09/12/484348/Yemen-Houthis-Saudi-Hajj-Mina-Iran- = http://en.alalam.ir/news/1860951
11.9.2016 – The Oslo Times (* B K P)
Increasing danger for journalists working in Yemen
Sept.11, NY: Since the start of the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, the Saudi-led military coalition has conducted a number of attacks on schools, hospitals, houses, and factories. In the past month, the Saudi coalition attacked a school in Saada province, killing ten children and wounding dozens. Days after the school bombing, Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes on a hospital in Abs province that killed a reported 19 people, including patients and medical staff. In 18 months, UN officials estimate that approximately 10,000 people have died since the beginning of the crisis in Yemen.
As the Saudi-led coalition and other forces continue to destroy Yemeni infrastructure, there have also been a number of attacks on journalists. Eight journalists have been killed since the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen began. Another two individuals who worked as media support staff have also been killed since the start of the crisis.
The Saudi-led coalition and its allies are not the only actors violating the rights of journalists; Houthi forces have abducted several reporters since the start of the conflict.
The targeting of journalists during wartime is a crime.
The rights of journalists to freely report news without fear of being killed or being subjected to reprisals for their work must be respected by all government and non-government actors operating in Yemen.
http://www.theoslotimes.com/article/increasing-danger-for-journalists-working-in-yemen
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-197-yemen-war-mosaic-197/
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-197: / Yemen War Mosaic 1-197:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose oder / or
http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm
Der saudische Luftkrieg im Bild / Saudi aerial war images:
(18 +, Nichts für Sensible!) / (18 +; Graphic!)
http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm und / andhttp://yemenwarcrimes.blogspot.de/
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