US warships off the Yemeni coast: US interfere into the war? – USA, Saudis and war – The Saudis and the war (German) – US double standards – US foreign policy – Health system is broken – Hunger in coastal region – Cholera spreads – USA and Yemen – Emirates and Yemen - Saudi statement on Sanaa air raid
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
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp9 USA
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp13 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propagandacp16 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
14.10.2016 – Der Standard (** B K P)
Krieg im Jemen: "Saudis brauchen einen Sieg"
Riad könnte den Konflikt einseitig beenden, glaubt die saudische Filmemacherin Safa Al Ahmad. Es müsste der Bevölkerung allerdings einen Sieg verkaufen
„Ich bin ehrlich gesagt sehr skeptisch, dass ihre Lippenbekenntnisse zum Massaker vom Samstag sich auch in etwas Reales übersetzen. Die Frage ist, wie die Saudis sich das Ende dieses Konflikts vorstellen. Diese Frage ist wichtiger als ein einzelnes Massaker, weil bereits so viele stattgefunden haben – auf Beerdigungen, Hochzeiten, in Schulen und Krankenhäusern. Wenn wir es aus humanitärer Sicht betrachten, hat sie vorher noch nie etwas aufgehalten
Der Anspruch, den "legitimen Präsidenten" (Abd Rabbo Mansur Hadi, Anm.) zurück nach Sanaa zu bringen, erscheint immer weniger wahrscheinlich. Nur wenige Leute im Jemen glauben, dass er ein guter Präsident ist. Es wird auch schwierig, die Huthis aus Sanaa zu vertreiben ohne tatsächlich hohe Verluste auf saudischer Seite
Ich glaube, es müsste eine pragmatischere politische Lösung geben. Saudi-Arabiens Außenminister Adel al-Jubeir hat in der vergangenen Monaten immer häufiger gesagt, dass die Huthis eine Realität auf jemenitischem Boden sind, mit der man sich auseinandersetzen muss – das sind ganz andere Äußerungen als am Anfang des Krieges, sie haben ihre Erwartungen abgeschwächt. Die Saudis könnten den Krieg einseitig jederzeit beenden, sie brauchen aber einen Sieg beziehungsweise müssten ihrer Bevölkerung einen Sieg verkaufen. Ich weiß wirklich nicht, wie dieser aussehen könnte. Sogar wenn die Saudis den Krieg gestern beendet hätten, gäbe es immer noch lokale Konflikte vor Ort, die weitergehen würden.
Dass die Saudis keinen entscheidenden Sieg erringen konnten, liegt auch daran, dass sie die tatsächlichen Begebenheiten vor Ort falsch eingeschätzt haben – die Stämme, die Dynamiken, die Machenschaften.
In Saudi-Arabien ist das relativ kurzsichtig geworden. Es findet keine anspruchsvolle Debatte über den Krieg statt – weil es verboten ist, den Krieg zu kritisieren, und weil es keinen unabhängigen Journalismus in Saudi-Arabien gibt. Selbst wenn man also etwas sagen wollen würde, das der offiziellen Linie widerspricht, kann man das nicht. Es gibt zwar immer noch Huthi-Angriffe an der Grenze zu Saudi-Arabien, aber diese Gefahr ist natürlich nicht mit der Gefahr Saudi-Arabiens für den Jemen gleichzusetzen – interviewt von Noura Maan
http://derstandard.at/2000045880719/Krieg-im-Jemen-Die-Saudis-brauchen-einen-Sieg
14.10.2016 – Salon (** B K P)
Film: Salon Talks: How Saudi Arabia spreads extremism — Medea Benjamin on the U.S. alliance and Yemen war
Founder of peace group CODEPINK discusses her new book "Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the U.S.-Saudi Connection"
Benjamin discusses the hypocrisy of the U.S. alliance with Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy that brutally represses internal dissent and refuses to grant basic rights to women.
Saudi Arabia spreads its extremist state ideology known as Wahhabism throughout the world. Benjamin notes that ISIS shares a similar fundamentalist ideology. As Salon has previously reported, recently released emails from former secretary of state Hillary Clinton show that, according to U.S. intelligence sources, the monarchies of Saudi Arabia and Qatar have supported the Islamic State.
American politicians and journalists frequently criticize the Iranian government for its rights abuses, Benjamin points out, yet the significantly worse atrocities committed by Saudi Arabia are often ignored.
Ben Norton and Medea Benjamin discuss the recent escalation in the Yemen war, including the coalition bombing of a funeral, which massacred hundreds of people, and the U.S. bombing of territory controlled by Houthi rebels.
Watch the full Facebook Live interview here [there is a 5 min. and a 33 min. version]:
Comment by Judith Brown: The GREAT Medea Benjamin. This 5 minute video is important and please make the time to listen to it
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154803123608641
14.10.2016 – Sputnik News (** B K P)
US Follows Same Standard in Yemen, Syria by Blindly Backing Saudi Arabia
The refusal of the United States to condemn the killing of thousands of civilians by Saudi airstrikes in Yemen is based on Washington’s unquestioning support for Riyadh’s destabilizing policies in both Yemen as well as Syria, US analysts told Sputnik.
"There is no double standard," foreign affairs analyst and commentator Dan Lazare said on Thursday. "The United States acts according to a very simple principle. Whatever the al-Saud want, the al-Saud get."
"If the Saudis want to sponsor Salafist head choppers in Syria, then so be it: Washington will go along. If the Saudis want to bomb Yemeni population centers as part of a misconceived war against Houthi Sunni rebels, then the United States will provide targeting assistance and mid-air refueling," Lazare stated. Since the Saudis are backing the Khalifa royal family in Bahrain, the Obama administration has refused to condemn widely criticized human rights abuses there as well, Lazare pointed out.
"The United States holds its tongue about its ferocious crackdown on mostly Shiite democratic protesters. It feels free to criticize human rights violations elsewhere in the Middle East, but knows that it must keep quiet in this instance because that's what Riyadh wants it to do," he noted.
Criticisms of the US government for applying a double standard to Russian air support operations in fighting terrorists in Syria and another in allowing the Saudis to continue to bomb civilian targets in Yemen failed to understand the single motive behind US policies in both countries, Lazare explained.
"The idea of a double standard is misleading. There is really just one standard, and that is that the US-Saudi special relationship must be preserved at all costs. All other considerations are secondary," he stated.
Robert Naiman, policy director at Just Foreign Policy agreed that the US determination to support Saudi Arabia governed Washington’s policies in both Yemen and Syria. "In Yemen, the United States is supporting the Saudis. In Syria, the United States is also supporting the Saudis," Naiman observed. In both conflicts, US policy was guided by the same single standard of backing Saudi Arabia and the forces, however extreme, that it has funded and protected, Naiman noted. "The standard is: on the one hand, we have the crimes in Yemen by our friends the Saudis, which we are actively supporting. And on the other hand… our adversaries in Syria are attacking the rebel groups supported by the Saudis and the CIA. And that is the difference," Naiman concluded.
https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201610141046316537-yemen-us-policy-saudis/
Comment: You might dislike it – but it’s simply true.
13.10.2016 – Future of Freedom Foundation (*** B K P)
PREPARE YOURSELF FOR BLOWBACK FROM YEMEN
Once again, this time in Yemen, the Pentagon is playing the victim. It claims that it fired its missiles in self-defense after two incidents in which rebels in Yemen fired missiles at a U.S. Navy ship in the area.
But the Pentagon is not a victim and it didn’t fire those missiles and kill those Yemeni radar operators in self-defense. Instead, like its other interventions in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and elsewhere in the Middle East, it is an illegal participant in the ongoing conflict in Yemen.
First, let’s point out the obvious: No one in Yemen has ever attacked the continental United States nor does anyone in Yemen have any interest in doing so. The conflict in that country is a civil war, one that isn’t any business of the United States but which the U.S. national-security establishment has made its business, just like it did more than 50 years ago in Korea and Vietnam.
Second, if a poll were suddenly conducted of the American people as to who is fighting in Yemen and why they are fighting, my hunch is that 99 percent of the respondents would answer, “I have no idea.” Thus, it’s another classic example of how Americans just defer to the national-security establishment — i.e., the Pentagon and CIA — when it comes to foreign interventionism. “They’re the experts on national security,” the sentiment goes, “and so
Third, Saudi Arabia, which has embroiled itself in the conflict by invading Yemen and killing countless people, has done so with weaponry that has been furnished by the U.S. military-industrial complex.
Fourth, by firing its missiles into Yemen, the Pentagon committed an illegal act of war under our form of constitutional government. The U.S. Constitution, which purports to control the actions of federal officials, requires a congressional declaration of war before the Pentagon is permitted to wage war. Of course, that has never mattered to the Pentagon, notwithstanding the fact that it requires its soldiers to take an oath to support and defend the Constitution.
Let’s not ignore the obvious: Rather than fire its missiles at those radar sites, the Pentagon could have just come home and limited its role to protecting the United States, just as the Swiss military does.
Indeed, at the risk of belaboring the obvious, the Pentagon has intentionally stationed its warships near the warzone, knowing full-well of the likelihood that Yemenis might strike at U.S. warships in retaliation for the death and destruction that U.S. partner and ally Saudi Arabia is wreaking on the country with U.S.-provided weaponry.
The Pentagon is not a victim in Yemen and it’s not an innocent party to the conflict. By providing armaments to Saudi Arabia, it has knowingly embroiled the United States in the conflict and is now playing the innocent. It’s another classic example of how the U.S. national-security establishment has operated ever since it lost its official enemies, the Soviet Union and communism, with the sudden and unexpected end of the Cold War – by Jacob G. Hornberger
http://www.fff.org/2016/10/13/prepare-blowback-yemen/
Comment: very worth a full read! The author just hits the spot, exactly showing what US foreign policy is – not only in Yemen and the Middle East, but worldwide.
14.10.2016 – BBC (*** B H)
'Most people here die in silence': Inside the fight to save Yemen's health system
This is the new reality of Yemen's health system, or what is left of it. After two years of war, thousands of people are dying from easily treatable conditions as the system collapses around them. Drugs are disappearing from the market or skyrocketing in price. Mental health care is virtually non-existent. Vital hospital equipment is stuck at ports while medical convoys, ambulances, and entire hospitals are destroyed from the sky.
The UN estimates that 600 health facilities - more than a fifth of the total - have been put out of action by the fighting, leaving 14 million people with no access to adequate healthcare.
"Most people here die in silence," said Mr Boucenine. "They can't get basic treatment. And this is not only about Saada, or Hajjah. In Aden and elsewhere it is the same. The state of Yemen is broken."
At the Al-Jumhori, the local staff is pressing on with the job of treating up to 600 patients a day amid worsening shortages. The hospital has no mental health specialists or psychiatric drugs. The dialysis units that keep Abdullah and 103 other kidney patients alive have officially expired and the dialysis solution is running out. Dr Hajar has ordered 14 new units but they are stuck in Germany, prevented by a Saudi blockade from entering the country.
In the maternity department, the last remaining obstetrics and gynaecology specialist is gone, leaving a dedicated but under-qualified team of midwives to treat women and deliver children.
In the maternity department, the last remaining obstetrics and gynaecology specialist is gone, leaving a dedicated but under-qualified team of midwives to treat women and deliver children.
Mona described a woman who died, along with her baby, on the operating table on a baking hot day in June, days after she needed an emergency Caesarean. She described a woman who bled to death in the back of a car as she tried to give birth on the way to the hospital. And a woman who arrived with two thirds of her body burned and died, with her baby, eight days after her home was hit by a strike.
"This is not some kind of rare tragedy, this happens every day," said Mr Boucenine.
According to Unicef, nearly 600,000 pregnant women are living in areas where healthcare provisions are limited or non-existent.
Poor diets and lack of medical care are known to increase the risk of miscarriage in war zones.
For the babies that survive and the young children of Yemen, the future is uncertain, if not bleak. Unicef estimates that 10,000 extra children will die this year alone, on top of those killed directly by the conflict, because they cannot get treatment for preventable conditions.
Seven million children have no access to adequate healthcare; 2.6 million children are at risk of contracting measles; 1.8 million at risk from diarrhoea; 1.5 million are malnourished; at least 370,000 are severely malnourished - starving, in other words
But there is still a long way to go even for those who find treatment, said Dr Relano: "Even if the children recover and the parents go home, there are no jobs, no income, no way of finding food for their children."
In many respects, Yemen's healthcare crisis is just beginning. The health ministry is approaching the point that it can no longer afford to pay wages or buy supplies, charities warn, and medical staff and students are working dangerously long hours to fill the gaps.
Diseases nearly eradicated before the war, including cholera and malaria, are taking hold again, especially among the more than three million displaced people living in makeshift camps. Thousands will need prosthetic limbs and years of physical rehabilitation.
Mental health is barely an afterthought now in Yemen, leaving the less obvious scars of war untended and untold numbers at risk of post-traumatic stress for years to come – By Joel Gunter & Sumaya Bakhsh
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37512887
13.10.2016 – ITV (*** B H)
Film / Text / Photos: The tiny bodies ravaged by starvation in Yemen's forgotten war
Saida is 18-months-old but she looks less than half that age. Her tiny body ravaged by starvation, she lies motionless and expressionless in her brother's arms.
“We have nothing to give her," said Ali. "She has diarrhoea and she’s vomiting. All she does is cry. She’s just limp like this all the time.”
One-year-old Younis is also wasting away. His father Omar says he is scared his son will not survive. “What can we do” he asks, “who can help us? We have nothing, nothing at all”
They come from a village of Toheita, a community of fishermen and farmers in one of Yemen’s poorest districts but nothing they have suffered in the past comes close to this.
The United Nations says there are 240 children in this village alone with severe malnutrition. Many have died, starved to death within sight of one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
They have no way to feed themselves. The Saudi-led coalition is enforcing a naval blockade on Yemen’s Red Sea coast, searching all shipping for weapons. Delays of days, even weeks drive up prices of vital goods like rice, flour and fertiliser far beyond the means of Ali and his family.
Even in peacetime, Yemen imported 90 percent of it’s food. Now Hodeidah, the north’s main port, has been bombed ships take far longer to unload and capacity is drastically reduced.
The UN brings in aid but in Yemen’s rugged mountainous terrain it is hard to get supplies to those in isolated villages who need it the most.
Bridges have been bombed, adding to the crisis. And the blockade affects even humanitarian supplies - Hodeidah’s port manager told us there are 15 ships with all the necessary UN approvals waiting at anchor to be searched.
In the town’s hospital, 15 minutes drive away, chidren are dying of hunger, 15 in the past fortnight alone.
Doctors say they lack the supplies to help – by Neil Connery (with film)
http://www.itv.com/news/2016-10-13/the-starving-children-of-toheita-yemen/
and
13.10.2016 – Paul Tyson (* A H)
Villagers in Toheita came to the roadside to show us their starving children & ask for help. Heartbreaking (photo)
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/786654851182854144
Saida is eighteen months old. Severely malnourished she looks half that age (photo)
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/786653495592181762
Fishermen can't put to sea because of Saudi attacks. Nets lie useless on the sand while their children starve (photo)
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/786654252060045313
Severely malnourished child in Hodeidah hospital #Yemen. Doctors warns they don't have enough medical supplies to deal with scale of crisis (photo)
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/786658673309417472
Dr Marwan Mohammed warns without medical supplies "they are going to die. Most of them we can’t do anything for them. They are going to die" (photo)
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/786659800025296901
Coalition hold ships offshore to search for weapons. Severe delays push up prices, stop food getting to where it is so badly needed (photo)
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/786664689996537856
Container craned in Hodeida #yemen bombed. Ships now unload slowly with small cranes, reducing capacity to get food to those in need (photo)
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/786661893561847808
13.10.2016 – WHO (** A H)
As of today, 186 suspected cases of #cholera have been reported in #Hodeida, #Taiz, #Lahj, #Aden, Al Bayda & Sana’a
https://twitter.com/whoyemen/status/786570185100505088
Comment: And a few days ago, they still said only a few cases, only at Sanaa, everything under control.
And
14.10.2016 – Alalam (** A H)
Video: cholera at the time of the Saudi aggression
The Ministry of Health in Yemen has announced a number of cases of cholera in the capital Sana'a and Taiz and distributed work teams to curb the epidemic in collaboration with the World Health Organization, which confirmed the presence of 11 cases and 17 suspected case has also allocated operations rooms in the ministry to receive communications and move the teams to monitor the disease and work to prevent it.
http://www.alalam.ir/news/1872463
13.10.2016 – Vice News (*** B K P)
YEMEN ON THE EDGE
ISIS, al-Qaeda, factional fighting, lying politicians, proxy wars, and a small team of U.S. soldiers serving an “indefinite” mission
Aden is a microcosm of Yemen’s complex and constantly shifting political geography. Deals are made and just as quickly break down, eroded by lack of trust, tribal bickering, or money — which is sometimes paid by hard-line jihadists.
The U.S. doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to picking friends in Yemen.
“If Saleh goes, the two likeliest outcomes are anarchy or a government that is not as friendly,” an unnamed U.S. official told The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins at the time. Saleh did eventually step aside, and his longtime vice president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, took over. If anything, Hadi was even friendlier to the U.S. — but the outcome was, indeed, anarchy.
Greg Archetto spent 10 years working for the State Department and the Department of Defense, overseeing U.S. military support for the government of Yemen in the early 2010s before leaving government in 2015 due to what he says are America’s shortsighted counterterrorism policies. He contends U.S. officials were often baffled by the constantly shifting patchwork of alliances and rivalries on the ground in Yemen; even Saleh’s regime, he says, often used the threat of AQAP to secure money and military training from the U.S. that Saleh then used to battle not al-Qaeda, but his rivals, the Houthis.
“I don’t know how you put lipstick on this pig,” Archetto said of the fighting in Yemen. “It’s tribal intrigue. One day people are on your side, and the next they have shifted allegiances.”
Aydrous Zubaidi is the commander of the militias, brought in to Aden from the north to restore order in December 2015, when he was named governor. Within two months, he had already survived at least three assassination attempts.
“The main challenge is terrorism,” he told us in his fifth-floor office at the main government building in Aden. “The infrastructure of the city was destroyed…. [Al-Qaeda] became prominent while people weren’t paying attention during the war.”
Since our visit to Aden, Zubaidi’s men, backed by the UAE, were able to push AQAP out of the city. But their success edged the country closer to a different kind of destabilization: It gave hope to many southern Yemenis who have long wanted to secede from the rest of the country and reinstate the north-south border that divided Yemen until its unification in 1990.
Many southern separatists see the UAE as their most likely foreign ally. The Emiratis were the principal architects of the campaign against the Houthis in 2015
A European diplomat who works on Yemen and would only speak anonymously because he was not authorized to do so told VICE News that the Emiratis “take point” in the south while the Saudis focus on the north.
Leaders of both Sunni countries want to send a signal to Shia Iran, but the UAE has a well-documented antipathy toward political Islamists, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood. Many of the groups fighting the Houthis in the north of Yemen are affiliates of Islah, Yemen’s main Sunni Islamist party, which the Emiratis see as a wing of the Brotherhood. In 2014, the UAE named Islah a terrorist organization.
As the war has dragged on, the Emiratis have quietly begun to develop a contingency plan for southern independence, three people briefed on the matter told VICE News. If a peace deal is agreed to but the issue of southern secession is not addressed — it was not on the agenda in Kuwait — the end of the civil war in the north could lead into yet another civil war over secession that envelops the entire country, pitting forces backed by two regional U.S. allies against each other.
It is into this powder keg that the U.S. has inserted itself with the stated aim of defeating AQAP, seeking to do so by indirectly backing yet another faction: a UAE-trained fighting force made up entirely of men from Hadramawt, a province in southeastern Yemen.
Many Hadrami militias would like to see Hadramawt become an independent state or autonomous region rather than part of a broader southern Yemeni state — a secession within a secession.
“When the threat of the Houthis subsides, it’s far from out of the question that the different groups who have been fighting them turn their weapons on each other,” said Adam Baron, a Yemen expert and a visiting fellow at the European Council for Foreign Relations – by Peter Salisbury
https://news.vice.com/story/what-are-us-special-operations-forces-doing-in-yemen
Comment by Judith brown: A brilliant article - A MUST READ which particularly concentrates of UAE and US operations in South Yemen. It is a really thoughtful article that gives insight into the past, the here and now, and raises questions about the future in Yemen.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154799692428641
13.10.2016 – Al Araby (** B K P)
A double-edged operation for UAE in Gulf of Aden
A year after the liberation of Aden from Houthi control we see the influence of the United Arab Emirates in Yemen, or at least the southern part of it, growing bigger and bigger.
The motivation and extent of the UAE's involvement in this war are not as clear cut as they are for Saudi Arabia (KSA).
Although the narrative of solidarity among the Gulf Council countries is very present in justifying the UAE's participation in this war, it is evident that UAE-KSA worldviews are far from identical. Despite this, they clearly intersect at few crucial points.
Emirati interest in Yemen has grown significantly over recent years, and first manifested itself in 2008 when the Emirati state-owned Dubai Ports World landed a contract to develop and manage the Port of Aden during the reign of Yemen's former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
A deal that was surrounded by allegations of corruption, nepotism and misconduct that eventually led to itscancellation in 2012 after the popular uprising against Saleh and the formation of an interim government whose anti-corruption body asked the parliament to cancel the deal.
It did not take long for the UAE to resurface in the Yemeni public affairs scene. In April 2013 Ahmed Ali Saleh, the son of former President Saleh and then chief commander of the republican guards, was appointed as the Yemeni ambassador in the UAE, where he still resides even after he was dismissed from his post in December 2015.
His appointment can be explained by the Saleh family's large investments in the UAE, and raises speculation around the ties between Saleh's family and the UAE that might have led DP World to win the bid for managing the port of Aden, despite a better bid being put forward by the Kuwaiti port management company KGL.
The priority given to the battle for Aden was rooted in the city's political and symbolic importance, yet the battle for Bab al-Mandab strait and the recapturing of the city of Mukalla (Southeast of Yemen) suggest an economic significance to these battles.
Prior to the liberation of Mukalla from the AQAP loyal fighters, DP World returned to Aden on October 2015 to discuss ways of assisting the local authorities with the development and management of the Port of Aden.
The recent attack by the Houthi militia and forces loyal to their ally, Saleh, on an Emirati Navy vessel in the Red Sea, was strongly condemned by the UAE government as well as the internationally-recognized Yemeni government in an indication of the importance of the security of the Red Sea for the Emiratis.
The incident raised calls for assisting the Yemeni government to regain control of its Red Sea coastline to reduce or rather eliminate the Houthi antishipping threat in the Red Sea.
While the Saudi-led operation in Yemen has declared its main objective is to restore the legitimate government, which would require helping the internationally recognised government regain control over the whole country - the UAE's efforts seem to prioritise securing the coastlines of Yemen in the Red Sea as well as in the Gulf of Aden.
The presence of Dubai-based DP World's investments in the horn of Africa, explain the UAE's focus on securing Yemeni coastlines during turbulent times in the country. In May this year DP World won a bid to manage and develop the Berbera port in Somalia for 30 years – by Amal Nasser
Comment by Judith Brown: A very interesting story if the UAE's past history in Yemen, linking it to its current interest in the Yemen war.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154799640983641
Comment: A very interesting background story we otherwise never heard off.
3.9.2016 – Eyad Al-Mohatwary (** B K)
Must watch video about the US-Saudi war in Yemen.
To my dear friends who always ask me about the Saudi-led aggression on Yemen. You can see a documentary about how Saudi-led aggression commits atrocities everyday.
https://www.facebook.com/EyadIIUM/videos/1364932590202252/ = https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154799829733641
cp1a Am wichtigsten: US-Schiffe vor Jemen / Most important: US ships off Yemen
Earlier reporting see YPR 213, cp1a
15.10.2016 – Fair (** A K P)
Hiding US Role in Yemen Slaughter So Bombing Can Be Sold as ‘Self-Defense’
To hear US corporate media tell it, the US was dragged into a brand new war on Wednesday.
Needless to say, US media followed the Pentagon’s lead. The fact that the United States has been literally fueling Saudi warplanes for 18 months while selling weapons and providing intelligence support to the Gulf monarchy—acts which even the US State Department believes could expose the US to war crimes prosecution—was either downplayed or ignored. Nor did media recall the US’s long history of drone warfare in Yemen
So far, most print media reporting has at least bothered to briefly put the attack and counterattack in broader context, noting the US role in the brutal bombing campaign
the stories’ framing downplayed the US’s history in the conflict. The New York Times (10/12/16), for example, said in the second paragraph of its report on the airstrikes (emphasis added):
The strikes against the Houthi rebels marked the first time the United States has become involved militarily in the civil war
TV news reports, on the other hand, kept the spin and left out the context. They mostly failed to mention that the US has been assisting the Saudi assault on the Houthi rebels for a year and a half, and framed the incident as a US warship being attacked while simply minding its own business in international waters.
[broadly: The events in the US media]
Why are American ships in those waters? Why are Tomahawk missiles “flying”? The conflict is never explained; it’s only brought up so that Maddow can warn that the GOP nominee could make things worse. Of course, it isn’t Trump who backed the Saudis in an air campaign that’s left thousands dead, but Obama—and it’s Hillary Clinton who as secretary of State enthusiastically pushed to sell warplanes to Riyadh (The Intercept, 2/22/16). But such facts would messy up the election-season narrative.
Not only is the US’s backing of Saudi Arabia omitted from all these reports, the word “Saudi” isn’t uttered in any of them. The viewer is given the impression that the war, aside from Iranian meddling, is an entirely internal affair—when it actually involves over 15 different countries, mostly Sunni monarchies propping up the Yemeni government—and that the rebels just randomly decided to pick a fight with the largest military in the history of the world.
As is often the case with war, the issue of “first blood”—or who started the fighting—gets muddied. Governments naturally want global audiences and their own citizens to view their actions as defensive—a necessary response to aggression, not aggression itself. US corporate media are aiding this official spin in their reporting on the US bombing of Yemen – by Adam Johnson
http://fair.org/home/hiding-us-role-in-yemen-slaughter-so-bombing-can-be-sold-as-self-defense/
15.10.2016 – Sputnik News (** A K P)
Self-Defense: A Pretext for US Escalation of War in Yemen – and Elsewhere
Radio Sputnik’s Brian Becker spoke with anti-war activist David Swanson about possible escalation in Yemen.
Swanson, an anti-war activist and the creator of the warisacrime.org website, told Radio Sputnik that US media has presented the strike that destroyed the radar sites as "obviously" conducted in "self-defense," despite the fact that the US has been using drones to bomb the country for years while shipping obscene amounts of arms to Saudi Arabia.
"The bombs are US, the jets are US… US military is involved in every step, including literally fuelling jets in midair," Swanson said, referring to the weaponry the Saudis are using in their war with Houthi rebels in Yemen. "With these harmless good intentions, the US had ships off the coast of Yemen, and someone [shot but missed] these ships, and they retaliated in a proper, proportionate and thereby somehow supposedly legal active self-defense," he added. Swanson compared the narrative to the situation in Syria, where deploying ground troops is being considered with exactly the same "self-defense" justification. "This seems to be a new pattern in the US media speech that the US is able now to defend itself no matter where it is or who it has invaded or what right it has to be there," Swanson said.
"the US wishes to defend Saudi Arabia in the so-called international community from any allegations of so-called war crimes and abuses and atrocities. So Saudi Arabia sees it as it has nothing to lose in going ahead with escalating this war, and the more people who are killed, the better," Swanson said.
All the while, the US claims to fight terrorism, but the country's involvement in conflicts around the world does exactly the opposite, according to Swanson: more and more terrorist groups, many of them affiliated with Daesh or Al-Qaeda, are emerging in the Middle East, including Yemen. "In any state the US does [get involved in], we see the same result, which is the exact opposite of what they claim to be working against," Swanson says.
The crisis in Yemen is being covered by US media as a purely internal "civil war," Swanson notes, adding that the media discusses the "dangers of the US being sucked into a civil war" as though the US had not created the war in the first place by providing weaponry for the Saudis to use and helping them use their American arms.
An escalated war in Yemen is a much-desired outcome for some people in the Pentagon and this administration, Swanson says. Hotheads in the US military clearly want escalation in Yemen, Iraq and Syria, and even with Russia, and "this is a very dangerous situation," he added. Ongoing, intensifying war is profitable: it promises more weapon sales the opportunities for US presidents, whoever they are, to posture as victorious commanders-in-chief. However, Swanson argues, there is no legal, moral or practical justification for escalating the war in Yemen, and the missile attacks against the USS Mason cannot provide one, given the full context of US involvement.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201610151046353192-self-defense-escalation-war-yemen/
14.10.2016 – Al Bab (** A K P)
Will frenzy over Iran get Saudis off the hook?
Saudi Arabia is surely relieved. Less than a week after its coalition warplanes committed the worst atrocity of the Yemen war so far, killing at least 140 people at a funeral and injuring more than 500, the heat is off and the media focus has shifted to Iran.
Fortunately for the Saudis, this may be quickly forgotten amid renewed media frenzy about supposed Iranian machinations.
In the Red Sea earlier this week, three missiles were fired harmlessly towards the an American warship, the USS Mason. The missiles had been launched from Yemeni territory controlled by Houthi/Saleh forces – whom the Saudis have been bombing since March last year. Although the Houthis deny responsibility, the missiles were probably intended as a reprisal for the attack on the funeral.
Almost immediately, US media reports began claiming – on the basis of very little evidence – that the missiles involved had been supplied by Iran. On the right-wing Commentary website, Max Boot (described by Salon magazine as "a hard-line war hawk and self-declared 'American imperialist',") demanded action:
Among those celebrating the American attack was Walid Phares, Donald Trump's "counterterrorism advisor", who tweeted: "At last! The US destroyed Iran backed Houthi controlled radar sites on Yemen coast."
The latest development is a series of (mainly American) news reports suggesting Iran is about to engage the US in a naval confrontation:
Under the headline "Iran Deploys Warships Off Yemen After US, Houthis Trade Fire" Fox News says:
An even bigger problem with the story is that – contrary to what Fox News says – the Iranians did not deploy their warships after the Americans and Houthis exchanged fire: they deployed them before.
Of course, the Iranians could still change the plan and divert their ships into the Red Sea but to suggest they set sail towards Yemen because of developments there is sheer nonsense – by Brian Whitaker
http://al-bab.com/blog/2016/10/will-frenzy-over-iran-get-saudis-hook
Comment by Judith Brown: There seems to be moves afoot to stop the requirement to hold the Saudis to account for their actions in Yemen. Well worth s read.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154803407283641
Comment: There is more propaganda of this type showing up now. I hope I can present it in the next YPR.
15.10.2016 – Xinhua (* A K P)
News analysis: no signs war will expand in Yemen even after U.S. strikes
Strategically, the U.S. wants to guarantee more presence in the region and that is why we should understand that its strikes did not mean it has decided to join the war in Yemen, observers pointed out.
With the strikes, it wanted either to help the Saudi-led coalition "only on Houthi radars and missile launchers" that have targeted several Saudi and UAE warships off Yemen or to send a message to the Houthis that a further war on them will be inevitable if they don't accept peaceful options, observers said.
Some observers argued that the coalition apparently does not have advanced equipment to detect Houthi radars and missile launchers that targeted its ships repeatedly, and that's why the U.S. intervened.
Maybe the coalition asked the U.S. to intervene militarily in order to restore the work on peace efforts after the deadliest airstrikes on a funeral triggered military mobilization by the Houthi-former president alliance, they added.
Adil Al-Shuja'a, a professor of politics at Sanaa University, said the U.S. will not join the war in Yemen to avoid a further deterioration of the humanitarian crisis.
"The real U.S. objective, however, is to control the Bab El-Mandab strait and the Socotra island amid escalating conflict with foes such as Russia," he said.
"Most importantly, it wants to send a message to the Houthis that it is really committed to supporting and defending the GCC allies," he added.
Yaseen Al-Tamimi, a political writer and analyst, said there are no signs the war will expand in Yemen – by Fuad Rajeh
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-10/15/c_135756445.htm
Comment: If the author is true, this would just show how relentless US foreign policy is. It is just Gunboat diplomacy – the greater power just thinks to have the right menacing and bombing other countries just to achieve own political goals. Wkipedia on Gunboat diplomacy: “pursuit of foreign policy objectives with the aid of conspicuous displays of naval power—implying or constituting a direct threat of warfare, should terms not be agreeable to the superior force”. Well, that’s it.
14.10.2016 – RT (** A K)
Film: Jemen: US-Militär greift mit Marschflugkörpern Huthi-Gebiete an, zur „Selbstverteidigung“
Mit der Autorisierung durch Barack Obama hat das US-Militär eine Reihe von „Angriffen zur begrenzten Selbstverteidigung“ im Jemen durchgeführt und damit erstmals aktiv in den Krieg eingegriffen. Nach ersten Einschätzungen des Pentagons sollen dabei drei „Radarstellungen“ im Huthi-Gebiet zerstört worden sein. Zu den Angriffen kommt es, nachdem der Zerstörer USS Mason durch Huthi-Rebellen beschossen worden war.
Laut Washington befanden sich alle Ziele auf entlegenen Gebieten, womit das Risiko von Kollateralschäden gering gewesen sein soll. Das Video zeigt die Angriffe sowie die Zerstörung danach.
https://deutsch.rt.com/kurzclips/41940-jemen-us-militar-greift-mit/
14.10.2016 – New York Times (** A K P)
Yemen Sees U.S. Strikes as Evidence of Hidden Hand Behind Saudi Air War
For the rebels and many others in Yemen, the predawn strikes on Thursday were just the first public evidence of what they have long believed: that the United States has been waging an extended campaign in the country, the hidden hand behind Saudi Arabia’s punishing air war.
For the Obama administration, the missile strikes also highlighted the risks of a balancing strategy it has tried to pursue in Yemen since a bitter sectarian war engulfed the country two years ago.
A year and a half of bombing — along with the deaths of thousands of Yemeni civilians — has stoked anger in Yemen not only toward the Saudis, but also toward their perceived patrons in Washington. This week’s attacks on the Mason, an American destroyer, and the Pentagon’s response show how rapidly the United States can go from being an uneasy supporting player to an active participant in a chaotic civil war.
“The Americans have been patronizing and directing the war from the very beginning,” said Brig. Gen. Sharaf Luqman, a spokesman for the rebel alliance.
More attacks would invite further retaliation, Peter Cook, the Pentagon spokesman, said Thursday. American and allied warships will continue to patrol the strait, he said, but “we don’t seek a wider role in the conflict.”
That may be the case, but the United States now finds itself facing a dangerous situation in a narrow stretch of water where even small incidents run the risk of inciting a broader conflict.
Pentagon officials could not say whether it was Houthi rebels themselves who had launched the missiles at the Mason or whether they had been fired by allied military units loyal to Yemen’s former president, Mr. Saleh, who are fighting alongside the insurgents.
But Mr. Cook said Thursday that the main issue was the threat to American forces and that the retaliatory strikes had disabled the radar installations that had targeted the Mason – by Mark Mazzetti, Ben Hubbard and Matthew Rosenberg
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/14/world/middleeast/yemen-united-states-missiles-radar.html?_r=0
Comment by Judith Brown (***): I said from the beginning this was a new type of war. UK and USA could not get permission from their own electorate for war on Yemen. So they manipulate a dictatorship to do the work for them and buy weapons from them to do it. Then they keep the news of the assault and cruel embargo out of the public arena whilst Yemen is starved, destroyed, and its people murderously killed in uninvestigated warcrimes. They even appoint the perpetrator into a position of authority in the UN human rights department to make a full and fair investigation impossible. Meanwhile my friends and colleagues are dying and suffering, the awesomely beautiful places I love are one by one being destroyed. Heartbroken.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154803803388641
Comment by Judith Brown: The war on Yemen does indeed seem to be a new type of war, as I have maintained throughout. The UK and USA could not get the consent of their own populations to attack Yemen so they manipulate a very undemocratic ally to do it for them and what is more, buy weapons to do so. Anyone who knows anything about the world system will realise that Saudi could not have attacked Yemen on the say so of Hadi (whose term as interim president expired early in 2014 and he is rejected by most Yemeni people) without the specific consent of USA to do so. From day one the military coalition was in place together with British, French and American support - that would have taken many months of planning. And even KSA and UAE cannot sent their own people to fight in Yemen as if they do, their own people would not consent so they have had to purchase mercenaries from Africa and central and South America to fight for them. The double standards employed throughout still apply today when our minister Tobias Ellwood meets with Al. Jubeir the foreign minister of KSA and the justification for the killing and maiming of 700 Yemeni people seems to be forgiven, whereas no-one will listen to the Houthi-Saleh alliance who deny that they used missiles against USS Mason and want an international inquiry.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154804174253641
Comment by Judith Brown: It appears that Tobias Ellwood totally accepts Al Jubeir's sweet talks on their 'innocence' in the attacks on a funeral in Sanaa - even though their jets were caught in video and bits of an American bomb was found on the site. But the Houthis totally deny the attack on USS Mason and ask for an international inquiry prove their innocence. But I guess that will be very unlikely indeed.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154803786603641
14.10.2016 – AFP (** A K)
Pentagon prepares for possible new strikes in Yemen
The Pentagon was preparing for possible new strikes in Yemen on Thursday after US missiles hit Huthi rebel targets, but officials stressed America wants to avoid getting embroiled in yet another war.
The White House also stressed the United States was not stepping up its military role.
“This is not any engagement in the sectarian situation on the ground in Yemen,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.
Republican Senator John McCain said the missiles “likely” came from the Iranian regime.
“Thanks to the successful strikes carried out in response by the USS Nitze,” which launched the cruise missiles, “the United States Navy has delivered a strong message,” he said in a statement.
But the US strikes did not take out Huthi missiles and, though the radar destruction makes it harder to aim the weapons, the official warned rebels could still use spotter boats or online ship-tracking websites to find new targets.
“They do need to knock it off. We will not hesitate” to launch new retaliatory attacks, the official said.
Cook said the United states was “prepared to respond further.”
“But we believe we’ve taken action that will reduce their ability to carry out these kinds of attacks,” he added.
Another defense official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, warned of a continued threat to US and merchant vessels.
“Have we perhaps neutralized (the missile threat) for the time being by taking out their eyes? That’s a possibility, but radar can be brought in pretty quickly. I don’t think anyone here thinks the threat is gone,” he said.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/pentagon-prepares-possible-strikes-yemen-194741079.html = http://www.defencetalk.com/pentagon-prepares-for-possible-new-strikes-in-yemen-68387/ and by Middle East Eye http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-preparing-new-strikes-yemen-1238790017
Comment: That looks like the US would attack further, doing exactly the opposite of what is officially claimed: “The White House also stressed the United States was not stepping up its military role”. That’s exactly what they want to do. Anyway I don’t think that the US will go as far as invading the coast. I think they will just prepare for a later invasion by the Saudis and / or the Emiratis, destroying as much of Houthi / Saleh defensive arms and radars as possible. And also: Whatever the US will attack now, even the most stupid propaganda cannot label this as an act of “self-defense”. It would be just a planned and deliberate attack.
Comment: No need for officiality. America is already involved in the war on #Yemen
The whole story now is on boots on the ground.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1134629729923389
Comment by Judith Brown: There is something fishy about this escalation with USA firing cruse missiles into Yemen. They said it was in response to a Houthi attack on three of their warships in the Red Sea (in Yemeni waters) but the facts don't add up.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154803172973641
14.10.2016 – Press TV Iran (* A K P)
US preparing for invasion of Yemen’s western coast: Houthi
The leader of Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement has warned that the US military is preparing the ground for an act of aggression against the war-torn Arab country.
In a televised speech on Thursday, Abdul Malik Badreddin al-Houthi slammed Washington’s recent missile attacks against three mobile radar sites on Yemen’s Red Sea coast, saying the nation and armed forces should stay vigilant and stand fully ready to face the invaders.
“The US is after laying the groundwork for making an invasive move against [western coastal] Hudaydah Province,” the statement said, adding, “Through this measure, the US is after building up pressure on and harassing the people of Yemen.”
“The Yemeni nation will defend its territory, freedom and independence, seeing it as its right to use any legitimate means against violent invasions,” the Houthi leader said.
Ansarullah on Thursday “expressed readiness to work with any United Nations or international body to investigate these allegations and to punish those behind this, regardless who they may be,” the Saba Net news agency reported.
Spokesman for Yemeni forces Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman denounced US missile strikes, saying Yemen reserves the right to defend itself in the face of such threats.
http://presstv.com/Detail/2016/10/14/488977/Yemen-Ansarullah-US-Houthi-Saudi-Arabia
Comment: If true, they are going to invade one of the regions most affected by famine.
It seems even too surreal to imagine
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1134601489926213
14.10.2016 – CNN (A K P)
US in Yemen: If you threaten us, we'll respond
The danger in Yemen is growing at a time when Congress has reduced US leverage with Saudi Arabia by passing legislation allowing US citizens to sue the kingdom for damages related to the attacks of September 11, 2001. Congress is also increasingly resistant to arms sales to Gulf nations, Riedel notes.
Referring to the Democratic and Republican candidates for president, Riedel added that "whether Clinton or Trump wins in November, they will inherit a damaged relationship in January."
Vice President Joe Biden, speaking after a campaign event for Clinton, said the administration has "been pushing the Saudis as hard as we cannot, not to go in to Yemen and bomb in Yemen. But the Houthis are equally as bad. They're just firing on American ships as well. That's why we're working so hard to get a ceasefire and get a negotiated settlement." – by Nicole Gaouette
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/13/politics/yemen-us-strike-iran-houthis/ = http://www.cnnmobile.com/latest/2016/10/14/us-in-yemen-if-you-threaten-us-well-respond
Comment: Who is threatening whom?? Mr. Biden, the Houthis are as bad as the Saudis because they fire at US ships? Häää?
14.10.2016 – Telepolis (* A K P)
Nach Syrien wird Jemen zum weiteren Brennpunkt der Kriegsgefahr
Nach dem als Kriegsverbrechen bezeichneten Massaker und den US-Raketen auf Huthi-Stellungen schickt Iran Kriegsschiffe und Moskau angeblich einsatzfähige S-300-Luftabwehrsysteme an den Iran
Die USA versuchen nach außen hin ein wenig auf Distanz zu Saudi-Arabien wegen des Massakers auf dem Friedhof in Sanaa zu gehen, wollen aber die autoritäre Monarchie, die seit letztes Jahr mit einer Koalition nach dem Vorbild der USA einen Krieg gegen die Huthis und die mit den aufständischen Schiiten verbundenen Stämme und Teile des jemenitischen Militärs führt, nicht verärgern. Man überprüfe die militärische Unterstützung Saudi-Arabiens, aber gesteht den Saudis zu, dass sie ein "legitimes Sicherheitsproblem mit der Gewalt im Jemen" haben. Die Aufständischen würden Raketen über die Grenze schießen. Der Sprecher des Weißen Hauses vergisst aber dabei, dass diese Auseinandersetzungen erst mit dem Luftkrieg seitens Saudi-Arabiens und des Eindringens von Bodentruppen, meist Söldner, begonnen hat. Überdies würden sie ja selbst eine Untersuchung machen und womöglich Fehler einräumen.
Die iranische Marine schickt vermutlich als Reaktion Kriegsschiffe an den Golf von Aden und Bab al-Mandab, angeblich um Handelsschiffe und Öltanker zu sichern. Das sei nach Resolutionen des US-Sicherheitsrats möglich zur Bekämpfung von somalischen Piraten. Dazu kommt die vor allem in iranischen Medien verbreitete Meldung, dass Russland nun das Flugabwehr-Raketensystem S-300 vollständig an den Iran geliefert hat – von Florian Rötzer
http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/49/49699/1.html
14.10.2016 – America Today (* A K P)
Obama: Yemen strikes were 'limited and proportionate'
President Obama told Congress Friday that the missile strikes he ordered against radar sites in Yemen were a "limited and proportionate" response to threats against U.S. Navy ships in the area.
Obama's explanation came in the form of a notice under the War Powers Resolution, which denotes a significant U.S. intervention in a foreign conflict.
"I directed these strikes in response to anti-ship cruise missile launches perpetrated by Houthi insurgents that threatened U.S. Navy warships in the international waters of the Red Sea on October 9 and October 12," Obama wrote in the one-page notice. "The United States stands ready to take action in self-defense, as necessary and appropriate, to address further threats."
Comment: LOL.
Comment: 'Limited and Proportionate'. ( Are 18 months of refuelling/intelligence assistance/arms sales to Saudis also proportionate?)
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1135168479869514
14.10.2016 – Business Insider (A K P)
Obama to Paul Ryan: US missile strikes on Yemen 'necessary and appropriate'
"On October 12, 2016, at my direction, U.S. Armed Forces conducted missile strikes on radar facilities in Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen," the letter reads. "Initial assessments show that the radar facilities were destroyed by the strikes."
Obama said in the letter the strikes were taken "in self-defense, as necessary and appropriate, to address further threats."
Obama finished his letter to Ryan by saying the document was intended to keep Congress "fully informed, consistent with the War Powers Resolution." – by Jeremy Bender
http://www.businessinsider.de/obama-paul-ryan-letter-missile-strike-yemen-2016-10?r=US&IR=T
14.10.2016 – WGN Radio (A K)
An Air Force Colonel explains why US launched cruise missiles at Yemen
The Director of Public Affairs for the United States Air Force at US Central Command in Tampa, Florida, Col. John Thomas joins Roe Conn to explain why the United States military launched Tomahawk cruise missiles against radar sites in Yemen.
Comment: “Public Affairs” = Propaganda.
13.10.2016 – Moon of Alabama (** A K P)
Alleged "Attack" On U.S. Ships To Justify Continued War On Yemen
It was clear that any attack on a U.S. ship would only increase trouble for the Houthi forces. They had and have no sane reason to commit such an attack.
The Saudis, who had fought earlier wars against the Houthis, do not want them to have a role in any power structure. They claim that Houthi are Iranian proxies. There is no evidence for that at all and the claim is simply false. During some 18 month of war no sign of Iranian help, weapons or personal, has been seen. Even the NYT notes today:
American intelligence officials believe that the Houthis receive significantly less support from Iran than the Saudis and other Persian Gulf nations have charged.
The Sauds want their trusted puppet Hadi back in the presidential role with unlimited powers. He can be endlessly manipulated by them. But while the Sauds are much richer their people is not significantly bigger than Yemen. Yemen has some 26 million inhabitants while Saudi Arabia has some 29 million. Every Saudi attack against Yemenis creates new recruits who will attack Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. supports the attacks by the Saudis and the UAE. It delivers planes and ammunition, its aerial tankers refill the Saudi jets taking part - in total over 5,500 times since the bombing began. U.S. intelligence is used by the Saudis to plan their attacks. U.S. officers consult the Saudi planning cells and U.S. special forces are on the ground. It ships help to blockade the Yemeni coast. Despite such massive support the U.S. officially did not consider itself part of the conflict and even tried to negotiated some powersharing agreement as if it were a "neutral" force. That did not deceive anyone in Yemen but the U.S. public was gullible as ever about this.
That ended as more and more atrocities by Saudi attacks on hospitals, schools, markets and important infrastructure became public. After the recent Saudi attack (vid) on a funeral hall filled with people offering condolences the U.S. ran out of stupid excuses. The bombs used were U.S. manufactured. The attack killed over 200 and seriously wounded many more. The local hospitals are overwhelmed and the Saudis block any evacuation. Many of casualties are tribal elites and generals.
Cholera broke out in Yemen and people are dying of hunger. The U.S. has come under pressure over this and the Saudi attacks. The State Department spokesman was hopelessly trying to explain why the funeral attack was in "defense of Saudi Arabia" and different from less severe attacks in Syria which the U.S. condemns. A significant number of senators are pressing for an end to the support of the Saudi campaign. Moveon has started a petitions against the U.S. support and the Obama administration itself feared legal consequences.
An "attack" on U.S. assets that puts the U.S. into a justified "self defense" position against the Houthis makes all such concerns irrelevant.
Over the last weeks the Saudis have transported sponsored fighters aligned with al-Qaeda in Yemen from south Yemen to Saudi Arabia. These have now started to attack the Houthi areas in the north from the Saudi side of the border. All earlier such attempts miserably failed.
There are rumors that the U.S. attack on the radar stations is in preparation of a massive troop landing by UAE and Saudi mercenary forces currently assembling in the UAE rented and controlled port Assab in Eritrea. That is, in my view, quite possible.
Comment: Placing the attack story into a larger frame. Sounds quite serious to me. Many comments below the article.
14.10.2016 – Press TV Iran (* A K)
Missile attack on US warship 'false flag operation': Analyst
The failed missile attacks against American warships off the coast of Yemen bear the hallmarks of false flag operations that the US is known to have staged in the past to justify military action, says a former American intelligence linguist.
“Obviously something may have been fired at a ship in international waters; whether it came from the Houthi [Ansarullah movement] or whether it came from Houthi-controlled areas has not been proven, certainly these kinds of false flags have been used in the past,” Scott Rickard told Press TV’s Debate program.
Rickard said the US has not been able to determine what kind of missile has been fired at the warship and who might have shot it; otherwise it would not have hesitated to return fire.
The analyst said the US is complicit in the destruction of Yemen through the sale of millions of dollars of weaponry to Saudi Arabia.
http://presstv.com/Detail/2016/10/14/488976/US-Yemen-Saudi-Arabia-Warship-Rickard-Mouracadeh
13.1o.2016 – Fort-Russ (** A K)
Did the US just commit a False Flag in Yemen?
The US is a master at creating provocations that lead to war. Many of the Americans’ wars of conquest have begun with alleged attacks on their soldiers or civilians after which the army and navy of one of the most powerful states in the world invades another people’s territory.
The Houthis’ arsenal in Yemen includes “Nur” coastal anti-ship rocket complexes of Iranian production. Each of corresponding missiles has a firing range of 120 km and a payload of around 150 kg. The HSV-2 and Mason destroyer were attacked near the port of Mokha, which is only 50 km away from the shores of Eritrea. How could the rocket have not made it to its target, especially if 2 were launched, and then another 2 were launched two days later? If they had been launched with the help of electronic warfare guidance, i.e., those radar stations, then the US could have simply said the the attack failed or was deflected. But the question here is not about bragging. There were hundreds of sailors on the ship who could spill the beans about what really happened.
If you shoot at a passing destroyer with any close-range missile complex, even at night, then the missiles will, of course, fall into the water, and then the world can talk about the treachery of the Houthis. And the ship’s crew might even have seen what happened. In fact, the port of Mokha is situated close to the front line, and therefore the Houthi supporters of Hadi easily could have produced such a strike.
If the Americans really did bother about these spectacles, then they could have thought through and invented the story from beginning to end.
It also cannot be said that the American ship was attacked by mistake. Dozens of vessels go through the strait daily and not a single one has been hit by a mistaken strike.
Iran and Russia are the enemies of the United States, and it is unlikely that Washington will allow Russia to gain a foothold in the region. Any coastal missile system which can successfully attack an American military ship in the Bab El-Mandeb strait is therefore a threat to them, and needs to be removed.
Hence why they came up with this provocation. Most likely, the American destroyer simply patrolled the area for a few days and waited until the coastal radar station would work, and then struck. In order to cover up this act of aggression against a foreign country in the information space, they came up with the story of a failed attack which no one except themselves knows.
Judging by the Pentagon’s statement, they will continue to patrol the region and strike at radar systems which the US deems dangerous.
Will the Americans launch more strikes? There is too little information to analyze this. But the first and most important step towards this have already been taken. The pretext is the first strike. From now on, it’ll be easier. And after a year, everyone will forget about this – by Yuri Podolyaka
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/10/did-us-just-commit-false-flag-in-yemen.html
Comment by Judith Brown: In case you've forgotten there was another USS warship fired on in an earlier war. By Israel. With rather different outcomes.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154804820648641 referring to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident and film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QocrbaZ7AiU
13.10.2016 – Offguardian (** A K P)
“Remember the Mason!” – US attacks Houthis in Yemen
America is now an active player in the war on Yemen, when before they were simply selling weapons to the Saudis et al.
You might consider it strange that the Houthis, who have not fired on American ships ever before in the nearly 2 years of warfare in Yemen, suddenly decided – just as American support for Saudi Arabia was in question – to launch missiles at an American destroyer.
You might be asking yourself, “Why would the Houthis, who struggle to get any coverage in the Western press at all, let alone sympathetic coverage, launch an attack on America?”
You might consider it strange that the Houthis, already fighting a losing battle against a richer and better equipped enemy, might try and drag America into the war.
It’s not strange. Not in the least. It fits so well with the history of American military entanglements that one might even call it predictable, at this point.
The pattern is set. There are enough articles about “false flags” on the internet to fill a whole library of books, there’s nothing more to add. This is quite clearly another to file in the historical annals between the Reichstag Fire and Operation Northwoods.
That this should happen just as the Western press is waking up to what they now uniformly calling “the forgotten war”, is no coincidence.
In the Telegraph, Con Coughlin – a rather red-faced bombast, unfettered by petty reality, and in favor of starting a war with Russia – writes that the “forgotten war” is all Iran’s fault, and while Saudia Arabia might be killing practically every civilian that has died in the conflict, really it’s all down to Iran’s meddling.
The Guardian takes the tone that we (the West) should “do more”, and again references the mythic American reluctance to get involved. (yes, they are so totally without irony that they can actually claim America doesn’t want to be involved THE SAME DAY they launched missiles into Yemen). Despite some vague chastising of the UK/US, the Guardian agrees that Yemen is almost entirely Iran’s fault, that the Iranians are “exploiting and manipulating” Yemen to their own ends.
The Washington Post echoed that the US “must act” to pull Yemen back from collapse.
The focus, currently, is on the “humanitarian catastrophe”, and all decry the lack of negotiations…but that’s always the way it starts. Emotive language and made up statistics, the declaration that “something must be done”. Then, when the negotiations start the Houthis will either be presented with terms to which they simply cannot agree, or the Saudis will break the truce and the MSM will blame the Houthis and Iran anyway. At that point the “something” which “must be done” becomes a military intervention…in order to stop the war and protect civilians.
The question becomes: Why? Why is the US suddenly committing more resources to a war in Yemen? Why are the press suddenly waking up to their “forgotten war”?
It’s possible that America is seeking to build itself a little hill of highground, having taken a lot of flak recently for their preposterously hypocritical stance of at once denouncing Russia and Syria as “war criminal”, and supporting Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen (including selling them bombs to drop on funerals).
It’s possible that they feel the need to insert themselves into Yemen to head off any Russian involvement there.
Of course, it’s also possible that they need to fire off a few bombs so that they have an excuse to buy more. Fifth homes for ex-senators-turned-arms industry lobbyists don’t buy themselves.
When you’re a power-mad, institutionalised sociopath there doesn’t have to be a grand plan, or a big reason. That’s what makes them so dangerous – by Kit
https://off-guardian.org/2016/10/13/remember-the-mason-us-attacks-houthis-in-yemen/
13.10.2016 – The Guardian (** A KP)
US denies seeking wider role in Yemen war a day after firing missiles
The US has insisted it wants no direct military involvement in the bruising war in Yemen a day after launching its first strikes on territory controlled by the Houthi rebel movement.
As the Iran-backed Houthi rebels denied firing missiles at an American destroyer in international waters, the Pentagon said it did not know who launched the attack on the USS Mason – an act which prompted another destroyer, the USS Nitze, to launch Tomahawk missiles at three radar sites on Yemen’s Red Sea coast.
“We don’t seek a wider role in this conflict,” said Peter Cook, the Pentagon press secretary on Thursday.
Cook said the strikes were a limited reprisal to defend the Mason and the principle of freedom of navigation in the Bab al-Mandeb waterway, “not connected to the broader conflict in Yemen.”
But Cook also suggested the US might not have launched its last strike against Houthi-controlled terrain.
“Should we see a repeat, we will be prepared to take appropriate action again,” he said.
The Houthis have denied any role in the strikes on the USS Mason. Contradicting the US, the Houthis told the Saba news agency that the missiles did not originate from its territory and offered to aid in an investigation of the incidents.
Cook repeatedly deflected questions about Iranian culpability in the attack on the Mason or the missile systems employed in the unsuccessful attempts on the ship, saying that the US was still assessing responsibility.
Adam Baron, a visiting fellow at European Council on Foreign Relations who was previously based in Yemen, said it was unusual for the rebels to deny targeting the US warship because they have frequently exaggerated and bragged about their capabilities. “Either way, it’s quite clear that someone wants to drag the US further into this conflict,” he told the Guardian.
Cook denied that any US military or intelligence assets contributed to the funeral strike.
Rafat Al-Akhali, a former Yemeni minister of youth and sports, said the US decision to target radar sites would further complicate the conflict.
“That’s a concerning development; it just further complicates things,” he said. “We do not understand what exactly happened and what was the attack that prompted this response, and the details are unclear on all sides, but if anything it means that rather than working towards finding a solution and ceasefire and peace agreement, it could signal that things are just getting more complicated.” – by Saeed Kamili Dehghan and Spencer Ackerman
Comment: Al-Akhali is certainly right. If the US themselves seem not to know who targeted the ships (if the really hard been targeted ever, what is very doubtful): why they fired at Houthi held radar sites??
Comment: Houthis are not Iran backed while UK and USA are backing Saudi Arabia. And it shows
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1134100119976350
13.10.2016 – Reuters (* A K P)
Yemen's Houthis warn U.S. against further attacks
Yemen's Houthi movement warned the United States against hitting Yemeni territory again after U.S. cruise missiles targeted coastal radar sites on Thursday in retaliation for failed missile attacks on a Navy destroyer.
"The direct American attack targeting Yemeni soil this morning is not acceptable," Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman, a spokesman for Yemeni forces fighting alongside the Houthis, was quoted as saying by the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency.
"Yemen has the right to defend itself and we would deal with any development with the right steps."
He reiterated a denial that Iran-aligned Houthi forces had carried out missile attacks on the U.S. warship – by Tom Finn
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-usa-houthis-warning-idUSKCN12D276
13.10.2016 – Reuters (* A K P)
U.S. strikes not connected to broader Yemen conflict: Pentagon
U.S. military strikes against coastal radar sites in Yemen were defensive in nature and not a signal of a deepening U.S. role in Yemen's conflict, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
"These strikes are not connected to the broader conflict in Yemen. The United States continues to encourage all parties in the Yemen conflict to commit to a cessation of hostilities and to seek a political solution to that conflict," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told a news conference.
"Our actions overnight were a response to hostile action, the launch of multiple missiles that presented a threat to U.S. Navy vessels, to other ships in the area and to commerce in a strategic international waterway." – by Phil Stewar
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-usa-pentagon-idUSKCN12D2PS
Comment: LOL. The Pope in reality as a woman, and Obama was born in the 16. century.
13.10.2016 – Reuters (* A K P)
Yemen's Houthis say ready to help investigate attacks on international shipping
Yemen's dominant Houthi group denied any role in missile strikes on U.S. warships in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and offered to help investigate attacks on international shipping in the area, the news agency controlled by the group reported on Thursday.
The Houthi group, however, said the attacks on the destroyer Mason did not come from areas under its control, and said it was concerned to protect international shipping in the area, according to Saba news agency, citing what it called a military source.
"These allegations are unfounded and the people's committees have nothing to do with this action," the agency, referring to the Houthi administration, reported the source as saying.
"The spokesman expressed readiness to work with any United Nations or international (body) to investigate these allegations and to punish those behind this, regardless who they may be."
The head of the Houthi group, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, in a speech broadcast by local media, condemned the missile strikes, saying the United States was "preparing for an aggression against (the country's main port city of) Hodeidah."
The party of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, an ally of the Houthi group, said in a statement that al Qaeda was behind the attacks on U.S. war ships, accusing a Saudi-led Arab alliance of using the militants to try to obstruct international navigation and draw the United States into the conflict – by Mohammed Ghobari by Mohammed Ghobari
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-usa-houthis-idUSKCN12D0N3
13.10.2016 – Press TV Iran (* A K P)
Yemeni army, Houthi Ansarullah movement warn US against further attacks
The Yemeni army and the Houthi Ansarullah movement have warned Washington against further attacks on the war-ravaged nation after the US military carried out cruise missile strikes on the country’s coastal radar sites.
Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman, a spokesman for Yemeni forces, on Thursday denounced the US missile strikes as unacceptable and stressed that Sana’a reserves the right to defend itself in the face of such threats.
He also noted that any new attacks by the US forces would be met with the “right” response from the Yemenis.
"The direct American attack targeting Yemeni soil this morning is not acceptable," Yemen's Saba news agency quoted Luqman as saying.
"Yemen has the right to defend itself and we would deal with any development with the right steps,” he added.
The spokesman also denied that Houthi Ansarullah fighters had carried out missile attacks on the US warship.
http://presstv.com/Detail/2016/10/13/488939/Yemen-US-Pentagon-Houthi-Sharaf-Luqman-Saudi-Arabia
13.10.2016 – Yemen on the Threshold (** A K)
US Attack on Yemen: First Degree Aggression
The US premeditated and planned attack on Yemen today is not justified by any legal or military rationale whatsoever.
On October 4, three US warships were sent he Red Sea Bab Al-Mandab Area right after UAE Twist warship was defensively hit by Yemen Naval Forces, it was clear the US was pursuing a more aggressive stance in the illegal war on Yemen waged by the so called “Saudi-led” Coalition of Aggression on Yemen.
On Saturday and yesterday, the US Defense Dept alleged that Houthis were launching missiles against the three US warships off the Yemeni coast. All missed their targets and landed in the water. Not once in these reports did the US DoD state that Yemeni Navy or forces were the source. Of course, Saudi media was quick to blame “Houthis and Saleh militias”.
The Yemeni Navy and military spokesmen categorically denied any attacks against any ships after the attack on the UAE http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/20/politics/iran-united-states-warships-monitoring/.
This serious development in US military engagement in the Coalition of Aggression against Yemen raises many questions and risks complicating an already drastic human tragedy unfolding in Yemen.
The “bogus” unconfirmed missile attacks, (assuming they did occur, at all) could just as well be launched by either US forces stationed in Al-Anad military base or other “coalition” allies launching from areas in Coalition controlled territory in Aden, and other areas.
It is noteworthy to point out that all Yemeni rocket attacks on Coalition Warships were always direct and successful hits and not “misses” as these were said to be by US Department of Defense spokesmen.
If we look at mainstream media coverage of this flagrant aggression by the U, all were acting as mouthpieces for the US Navy and Department of Defense and assumed that the US DoD reports of the “bogus” attacks were gospel truths and insisted that the US aggression on Yemen was right, called for and justified. Not one shred of evidence was presented by the media or the US forces.
Most Yemenis and independent observers are of the opinion that the US is trying to bail out its miserable Saudi partner in the Coalition from all the public outrage regionally and internationally against the bloodbath the Saudis have perpetrated against Yemeni civilians from the start of its sadistic bombing of Yemen since March 26, 2015.
On the other hand, this drastic and risky escalation may be to dilute increased opposition to US role in Coalition of aggression against Yemen, both in Congress and the US press and the obvious war crimes that have clearly been evident, especially as US weapons are thee main killing tools in the aggression.
I am sure that attempts to include a *new” Iranian presence adds more smoke to the cover up especially as the Iranian naval presence in the Arabian Sea was there since the beginning days of the aggression (http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/20/politics/iran-united-states-warships-monitoring/)Is this the review that the US National Security Council intended (but has yet to begin) on the US role in the Illegal and criminal aggression by the KSA led Coalition against Yemen? I imagine Saudi Arabia is holding the checklist of the “Review” Process and of course, the checkbook – by Hassan Al-Haifi
https://yemenonthethreshold.wordpress.com/2016/10/13/us-attack-on-yemen-first-degree-aggression/
Comment by Judith Brown: This makes interesting reading. It is interesting to note that except for three 'misses' in the alleged attacks on US warships, all previous attacks on warships by the Yemeni military had not missed their target (unless there was for different reasons silence on the part of both the intended attacked boats and the attackers in all previous cases). In previous attacks the Yemen military had immediately agreed they were responsible - this time there was a denial for the first time. So was it an attack or was it a set up situation to give the US 'permission' to directly enter the fray, or was it an attack by Saudi Arabia or an ally designed to stop the furore after the dreadful Sanaa attack. It raises interesting questions.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154800622263641
13.10.2016 – Samuel Oakford (A K)
16 years to the day after al Qaeda attacked the USS Cole, the US has bombed areas controlled by the Houthis - enemies of al Qaeda
https://twitter.com/samueloakford/status/786418017861181440
Comment by Mark Sleboda: Obama shifts from military support of the Saudi invasion of #Yemen to overtly attacking the country itself.
https://twitter.com/marksleboda1/status/786451147699593217
Comment by Judith Brown: Well that is a true statement. SS Cole was bombed by al Qaeda - and the first time that America strikes back was to hit targets aligned to the Houthis - the sworn enemies of Al Qaeda. Strange things happen in this war.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154799661338641
13.10.2016 – Haykal Bafana (A K P)
Statement by ex #Yemen President Saleh : US Navy ships attacked by Al Qaeda militants loyal to Saudi, not by Yemeni army or Houthi militia.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/786595977998143488
Statement ex #Yemen President Saleh : AQ militants tasked by Saudi Arabia to attack the ships, to drag the US into Riyadh's war on Yemen.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/786597115434668032
Statement ex #Yemen President Saleh : Saudi Arabia & Hadi regime transported AQ militants from Syria to Aden, & deployed them Bab Al Mandab.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/786596368630501376
Statement ex #Yemen President Saleh : The US government was informed before of these facts through d
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/786598124391313409 and full text of Saleh’s statement in Arabic: http://almotamar.net/news/132784.htm
Comment: Can be true, can be not. So many rumors in this matter.
13.10.2016 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (A K)
Apparently Saudi carpet bombing so bad, it hit everything including schools & hospitals, missed military
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/786457815602921472
Comment by Judith Brown: Hisham Al Omeisy from Sanaa makes the point - if USA targeted 3 military sites to attack today, why did Saudi Arabia miss military targets but pulverise hospitals, schools - and many other civilian targets (including the funeral hit earlier this week).
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154799655333641
13.10.2016 – Living in Yemen on the Edge (A K)
Does anyone believe this narrative of Yemeni air defense still standing after 19 months of war? Air defense and radar site near Mokha targeted by US cruise missile had been destroyed before by Saudi coalition (see image)
and
13.10.2016 – Alex Mello (A K)
Possible the USS Nitze TLAM shoots were just "show of force" re-strikes on abandoned targets...
https://twitter.com/AlexMello02/status/786594860497117184
Comment: Everything is possible.
13.10.2014 – Deutsche Wirtschaftsnachrichten (* A K)
USA greifen erstmals aktiv in Krieg im Jemen ein
Nach wiederholtem Raketenbeschuss von US-Kriegsschiffen vor der Küste des Jemen haben die USA erstmals Ziele der schiitischen Huthi-Rebellen in dem Land angegriffen. Drei Radaranlagen in einem von den Rebellen kontrollierten Gebiet an der jemenitischen Küste seien am Mittwoch (Ortszeit) von der USS Nitze aus mit Marschflugkörpern beschossen worden, erklärte Pentagon-Sprecher Peter Cook. Nach ersten Erkenntnissen seien die Ziele zerstört worden.
Die angegriffenen Radaranlagen seien an den Angriffen auf das Kriegsschiff „USS Mason“ und andere Schiffe in der Region beteiligt gewesen, betonte der Pentagon-Sprecher. Sie seien beschossen worden, um die US-Soldaten und -Schiffe in der Region zu schützen.
Die jemenitischen Rebellen dementierten die Raketenangriffe auf die Kriegsschiffe. Die Vorwürfe seien haltlos, sagte ein mit den Rebellen verbündeter Militärvertreter laut der Nachrichtenagentur Saba. Die mit den Rebellen verbündeten Teile der Armee und die Volkskomitees hätten „nichts mit dieser Sache zu tun“.
13.10.2016 – NZZ (* A K)
Schlittern die USA in den nächsten Konflikt?
Die USA haben sich bisher bemüht, nicht direkt in den Krieg in Jemen hineingezogen zu werden. Doch am Donnerstag gaben sie erstmals Feuer ab, offenbar als Antwort auf Beschuss.
Die USA machen im blutigen Machtkampf in Jemen einen weiten Spagat. Auf der einen Seite wollen sie sich in der Gestalt von Aussenminister Kerry als Vermittler in Szene setzen. Deshalb wollen sie sich auch nicht direkt in den Konflikt hineinziehen lassen. Auf der anderen Seite unterstützen sie die saudiarabisch geführte Koalition der Golfmonarchien, die dem vertriebenen Präsidenten Hadi die Rückkehr an die Macht erlauben will, mit Aufklärung und militärischer Logistik.
Laut inoffiziellen Angaben waren die Radaranlagen während zweier Raketenangriffe auf zwei amerikanische Kriegsschiffe am vergangenen Sonntag aktiv gewesen. Damals war der Zerstörer «Mason» in internationalen Gewässern mit einem Marschflugkörper beschossen worden.
Die «Mason» soll dabei – vermutlich zum ersten Mal in einem Ernstfall – ihr gesamtes Arsenal an Abwehrraketeneingesetzt haben: zwei Missile vom TypSM-2, ein Evolved Seasparrow Missilesowie ein besonders interessantes System namens Nulka, das von einer langsam davonschwebenden Rakete ein elektronisches Radarbild eines nicht vorhandenen Schiffs projiziert, um die gegnerische Zielerfassung abzulenken.
Ob die Abwehrmassnahmen wirkten, ist ungewiss. Auf jeden Fall schlug der betreffende Marschflugkörper in ungefährlicher Distanz zur «Mason» und zu einem weiteren Schiff der US Navy harmlos im Wasser ein. Ein zweiter Marschflugkörper, der eine Stunde später abgeschossen worden sei, habe das Ziel noch weiter verfehlt, ohne dass die Abwehrsysteme der amerikanischen Kriegsschiffe hätten aktiviert werden müssen.
Die Angriffe sind insofern überraschend, als die Huthi-Rebellen, die von übergelaufenen Verbänden der jemenitischen Streitkräfte unterstützt werden, es bisher tunlichst vermieden, amerikanische Ziele anzugreifen.
Das Risiko einer Eskalation scheint begrenzt – im Prinzip. Doch amerikanische Medien berichteten unter Berufung auf die iranische Nachrichtenagentur Tasnim, Teheran, das die Huthi-Rebellen unterstützt, habe nur Stunden nach dem amerikanischen Vergeltungsschlag die Entsendung von zwei Kriegsschiffen in die Meerenge des Bab al-Mandab angekündigt. Es soll sich um einen Routine-Einsatz gegen Piraten handeln, doch ist der Zeitpunkt der Ankündigung merkwürdig – von Peter Winkler
Kommentar: Wahrscheinlich wurden die US-Schiffe überhaupt nicht beschossen.
13.10.2016 – Xinhua (* A K)
Yemen's dominant Shiite Houthi rebels on Thursday denied targeting a U.S. warship off the Yemeni coasts from territories they control, Houthi-controlled state Saba news agency reported.
"These allegations were baseless and the army as well popular forces have nothing to do with targeting the U.S. ship," the Houthis said in a statement carried by the agency.
"The U.S. allegations just came in the context of creating false justifications to pave the way for the Saudi-led coalition to escalate their aggression attacks (against Houthis) and to cover crimes committed by the aggression coalition against the Yemeni people and the all-out blockade," the statement said.
The Houthis said that their army and popular forces are "in full readiness to confront any further aggression" under whatever justification.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-10/13/c_135751607.htm
13.10.2016 – GPC (Party of Ex-President Saleh) (* A K P)
GPC President’s Office:
Saudi Arabia and its Mercenaries are Threatening the Freedom of Navigation in International Waters of the Red Sea and Bab Al Mandab Strait and are Posing Threats to International Trade while Yemenis are Defending their Coasts and Territorial Waters
An official source from the office of the President of the General People’s Congress (GPC) stated that the Saudi regime due to the comprehensive failure in achieving any of its strategic goals in its aggression on Yemen, and after the setbacks of KSA’s mercenaries in achieving any military goals whether those of the Janjaweed or Black Water militants or those belonging to Dyncorp Group and other mercenaries from different places of the world that were paid by KSA and its coalition to gain a competitive edge in their failing offensive and attempt to occupy our Yemeni lands, the evil regime of the KSA made another absurd and irrational attempt that reflects its misery and despair through recruiting a number of AQ and ISIS terrorists who have recently returned from Syria to Aden. These terrorists were deployed through Hadi in posts at Bab El Mandab, Mokha and Hodeidah and assigned with the task of attacking ships passing in the international waters near to the Yemeni coasts to hinder international maritime trade and to throw the blame on the Yemeni Army and the Popular Committees who had nothing to do whatsoever with the attacks claimed to be committed on the Red Sea. Such claims have no basis and are completely incorrect. The Saudi regime has exploited those claims to bring the USA to participate directly in the ongoing conflict in the Red Sea and Bab El Mandab strait where the US ended bombing and attacking our coasts and vital regions with no justification at all.
The GPC reconfirms that the Yemeni Army and the Popular Committees were not involved in any way in the claimed attacks and/or any military acts targeting any party on the international waters, and in particular near to the Yemeni territorial waters and that these are mere false accusations made by the media-outlets belonging to the Saudi-led coalition. In fact, the accusations are just another failed attempt for the cover up of the atrocities and war crimes that were committed by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen where the most recent one was the massacre committed by the bombing of the ‘Great Hall’ in Sana’a that was full of mourning civilians.
https://www.facebook.com/Afash.Yemen/posts/1297026180348686 = https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154803540463641
13.10.2016 – The Military (* A K)
US Can't Say Who Launched Missiles from Yemen at Navy Ships
The U.S. has yet to determine who was responsible for the launch of missiles at Navy warships in the Red Sea from areas in Yemen in the control of Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday.
"We don't know who was pulling the trigger," Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said, but the missiles were launched from "Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen. Iran has played a role and been supportive of the Houthi rebels." The Houthis have denied carrying out the attacks.
A Houthi military official said that charges of missile launches by them at U.S. ships were an attempt at glossing over a Saudi airstrike on a funeral service Sunday that reportedly killed more than 150 people, the Houthi-affiliated Saba news agency reported.
[and telling the whole story] – by Richard Sisk
Comment: This would make the whole story even more dubious. Might be there were no missiles at all, or even the Saudis targeted the US ships by error.
Comment by Sam Quhshi: It's in the worlds best interest to investigate these attacks. Bab-Al Mandab is one of the most strategic locations in the world, where millions of oil barrels flow daily. Most of the world powers have their warships parked in this area to ensure safety. These false flags is an attempt to drag the U.S into a major conflict in the region. It's in the worlds best interest to ensure it does not escalate further.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/tribunalgroup4Yemen/permalink/1107801492589987/
Comment: This US navy vessel attack is getting hairy. Now that funeral and US war crimes forgotten, US military said they don't know who fired at thm
https://twitter.com/Arabellastory/status/786992734469025792
13.10.2016 – Esquire (* A K)
This Could Be Why Rebel Missiles Keep Missing U.S. Warships
[For the attack at the Swift vessel on Oct. 1], The Houthis themselves claimed they used a C-802 missile, the export version of a '90s-era Chinese missile. In this case, it might not have been an actual C-802, but rather an Iranian knock-off called the Noor. Based on the USS Mason attack Wednesday, the missile could have been one of the earliest versions the Iranians made. The Iranians first started buying the C-802 in the '90s, but only got a few before international pressure put the kibosh on the deal. So the Iranians began building their own version. After almost 20 years of refinement, they have a "domestic" missile with a range of up to 120 miles and an "export" missile with a stated range of 75 miles. But relevant for today is the range of the first generation Noor missiles—about 18.5 miles.
It is possible that in sending "support" to their Houthi allies, the Iranians also dumped some of their original, out-of-date Noor missiles—those with a much shorter range. This may be why, in the second missile firing on Wednesday, with U.S. ships some 24 miles away, the presumed Noor splashed into the sea.
As for the U.S. Navy's counter-attack, one might wonder why we shot at the radars and not the missiles and their launchers. The reasoning there is simple: The missiles and their launchers are just ammunition to be fired. The "heart" of these systems is the guidance and tracking systems. By taking out the radars and their controllers, the missiles themselves become moot – by Robert Bateman
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a49590/us-navy-attacks-yemen-rebels/
Comment: More theories. It stays doubtful whether really any missile was shot against the US warships, and if, by whom.
More reporting, Oct. 13:
13.10.2016 – Middle East Eye (* A K)
Iran Sends Warships To Yemen Following US Airstrikes
Iran sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden on Thursday, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, establishing a military presence in waters off Yemen where the US military launched cruise missile strikes on areas controlled by Iran-backed Houthi forces.
“Iran’s Alvand and Bushehr warships have been dispatched to the Gulf of Aden to protect trade vessels,” Tasnim reported. The Alvand and Bushehr are both destroyers.
Saudi Arabia accuses Tehran of providing support to the Houthi political movement, a charge it denies.
Tasnim said the Iranian ships will patrol the Gulf of Aden, south of Yemen, which is one of the world’s most important shipping routes.
[and the US vessels bombing the Yemeni radar stations]
https://www.mintpressnews.com/iran-sends-warships-to-yemen-following-us-airstrikes-on-yemen/221392/
13.10.2016 – Foreign Policy (* A K)
Firing missiles into Yemen—and no one in the U.S. seems to care much, even me
Why is that?
I can remember when this sort of thing — launching the weapons of war into a foreign country — was a big story, back before 9/11. When I was a reporter, this kind of thing would be instant front-page news, big headlines, a blizzard of stories assigned about who the shooters were, who were these people we were attacking, how it had come to this.
But I suppose we can get used to anything, even acts of war. Nowadays it seems kind of humdrum.
And by the way: By calling it “9/11,” without a year, did we somehow assign to the event a kind of timelessness? Is that the logo of “forever war”? – by Thomas E. Ricks
cp2 Allgemein / General
15.10.2016 – Almanar (A H K)
Oman Plane to Evacuate 115 Wounded from Saudi Funeral Raid in Yemen’s Sanaa
An Omani aircraft landed in the Yemeni capital on Saturday to evacuate 115 of the most seriously wounded from a Saudi-led coalition strike on a funeral last weekend, a Yemeni source said.
The strike killed more than 140 people and wounded at least 525, sparking an international outcry that obliged the coalition to announce an easing of an air blockade to allow the most seriously wounded to receive treatment abroad.
Oman is the only Gulf Arab state that is not part of the coalition striking Yemen since March, 2015.
http://english.almanar.com.lb/65734
15.10.2016 – Critical Threats (* A K P)
Gulf of Aden Security Review
[Events date by date, from Oct. 14 backwards]
http://www.criticalthreats.org/yemen/gulf-aden-security-review
15.10.2016 – Aargauer Zeitung (* B K P)
Wem das Chaos im Jemen nützt
Die Kriege im Irak, Syrien und Jemen weisen gleiche Muster auf: Die schleichende Erosion staatlicher Autorität begünstigen die Ausbreitung dschihadistischer Gruppen - eine Analyse
Diplomaten in Sanaa sind der Ansicht, dass Saudi-Arabien mit seiner aggressiven Kriegsführung die Huthis in die Arme der Iraner getrieben hat. Ohne viel eigenes Zutun habe Teheran Einfluss in einer Region gewonnen, um die man sich niemals wirklich bemüht habe. Der zweite grosse Profiteur des Krieges im Jemen ist der jemenitische Zweig von al-Kaida.
In seinem 18 Monate andauernden Luftkrieg mit über 9000 Bombenangriffen hat Riad sein wichtigstes Kriegsziel, die Wiedereinsetzung der von den Huthi gestürzten Regierung in Sanaa, nicht erreicht. Die richtigen Schlüsse aus der militärischen Pattsituation werden hingegen nicht gezogen. Konzessionen an die schiitischen Rebellen und «Verbündeten des Iran» empfindet Riad als Gesichtsverlust. Die Huthi ihrerseits haben mit der Bildung einer Gegenregierung in Sanaa für zusätzlichen Zündstoff gesorgt. Da auch brauchbare internationale Impulse zur Lösung des Konflikts fehlen, scheinen weitere humanitäre Tragödien im Jemen daher programmiert – von Michael Wrase
http://www.aargauerzeitung.ch/kommentare-aaz/wem-das-chaos-im-jemen-nuetzt-130643598
15.10.2016 – Die Zeit (* B K)
Saudi-Arabien zerbombt im Jemen jede Hoffnung
Der saudische Luftkrieg im Jemen lässt den Konflikt zu einem regionalen Krieg werden. Der Westen hat Riads Vorgehen akzeptiert und hilft tatkräftig mit.
"Niemals hätten wir gedacht, dass sie eine Trauergesellschaft bombardieren würden", sagt Mahmoud. "Aber offenbar war die Chance zu verlockend, so viele führende Persönlichkeiten der Huthi und anderer Regierungsgegner mit einem Schlag zu treffen. Es ist verheerend. Die Stadt ist immer noch unter Schock. Aber jetzt wird der Ruf nach Vergeltung immer lauter. Viele fordern jetzt zur Mobilisierung für den Kampf an der jemenitisch-saudischen Grenze auf."
Was 2011 als Massenprotest gegen die jahrzehntelange Herrschaft des Diktators Ali Abdullah Salih begonnen hatte, droht zu einem regionalen Krieg zu werden. Dabei hätte man den Jemen-Konflikt ohne die saudische Intervention vermutlich noch eindämmen können.
Dass die Huthis einer Untergruppe der Schiiten angehören, war für Saudi-Arabien Anlass genug, diesen durchweg jemenitischen Konflikt zu einem verkappten Angriff des Irans auf saudische Interessen zu erklären. Für signifikante iranische Unterstützung der Huthis gibt es bis heute keine Anzeichen.
"Riad", sagt Mahmoud, "betrachtet Jemen als seinen Hinterhof, in dem es machen kann, was es will. Und der Westen hat das akzeptiert."
Mehr noch: Er hilft tatkräftig mit – Von Andrea Böhm
http://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2016-10/jemen-sanaa-krieg-usa-saudi-arabien-luftangriffe/
15.10.2016 – RT (* A K P)
Film: Syrien 2.0 - Jemen
Droht Krieg mit den USA? Iran entsendet nach US-Angriff Kriegsschiffe an jemenitische Küste.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myRntHS31gs m
15.10.2016 – New York Times (* B K)
How the U.S. Became More
Involved in the War in Yemen
[Overview on the war and US interference, many photos]
The Obama administration has been pushing for a deal to end the increasingly deadly conflict while quietly supporting the Saudi-led air campaign against the rebels.
Comment: Some of the “normal” mistakes: the Houthis are NOT Shia, and the sentence cited above. That’s just the description of US hypocrisy in one sentence. And you also could ask whether this is some sort of mental illness: You cannot eat the cake and keep it at the same time.
14.10.2016 – Telepolis (* A P)
Die Menschenrechtsorganisation Human Rights Watch hat die Bombardierung des Friedhofs in Sanaa, bei der mehr als 140 Menschen getötet und über 500 verletzt wurden, als Kriegsverbrechen bezeichnet. Die westlichen Staaten werden aufgefordert, keine Waffen mehr an Saudi-Arabien zu liefern, das scharf verurteilt wird: "Nach unrechtmäßigen Angriffen auf Schulen, Märkte, Krankenhäuser, Hochzeiten und Häusern während der letzten 19 Monate hat Saudi-Arabien jetzt ein Begräbnis zu der immer größeren Liste von Missbräuchen hinzugefügt", sagte Sarah Leah Whitson von HRW. Bestritten wird auch, dass Saudi-Arabien die Vorfälle wirklich überprüft. HRW fordert eine unabhängige Untersuchung. HRW identifizierte mindestens eine der Bomben als eine GBU-12 Paveway II, eine Präzisionsrakete, die von den USA an Saudi-Arabien verkauft wurde.
http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/49/49699/1.html
Kommentar: Die Stellungnahme von HRW komplett auf Englisch in YPR 213. Nicht „Friedhof“, sondern Veranstaltungshalle, wo die Trauerfeier stattfand.
14.10.2016 – The Economist (A B K P)
Deaths at a Yemen funeral
The carnage in Yemen is at last attracting the world’s attention
[Short overview]
14.10.2016 – Clearing House (* A K P)
Do Western Nations Care About Yemeni Lives Or Saudi Blood Money?
How much is the life of a Yemeni worth? Not much, according to the Saudi regime that has been bombing and starving the people of Yemen for since March 2015, or to the Saudi’s western backers, particularly the US and UK, which have been supplying the Saudi regime with weapons, military training, logistical support and diplomatic cover for its dirty interventionist war.
On the heels of this attack comes a blistering report by Reuters showing, through Freedom of Information Act documents, that the Obama administration went ahead with a $1.3 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia last year despite warnings from US officials that the United States could be implicated in war crimes for supporting a Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen that has killed thousands of civilians.
What has been the US and UK governments’ response to the funeral bombing? The British government announced UK arms sales to the Saudis is “under careful and continual review”, while the Obama administration issued a statement that US support for Saudis is not a “blank check” and that the US was “prepared to adjust our support so as to better align with US principles, values and interests.”
The “principles, values and interests” of the Western powers, however, have been to buy cheap Saudi oil and make record profits by selling massive quantities of weapons to one of the most repressive countries in the world.
Ever since the founding of the kingdom in 1932, the West has allied itself with a government that beheads nonviolent dissidents, forces women to live under the dictates of male guardians, treats foreign workers like indentured servants, spreads the intolerant Wahhabi version of Islam around the world, funds terrorist groups, crushes democratic uprisings in neighboring countries like Bahrain and now wages a catastrophic war in one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, Yemen.
The time for review and mild statements of condemnation is over – by Medea Benjamin
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article45668.htm
13.10.2016 – 21. Century Wire (* B K P)
Yemen: The Anguish, Bloodshed and Forgotten Heroes in a Forgotten War
It should be personal to all of us. Yemen, regularly portrayed as the poorest nation in the Arab world, is proving itself to be the richest in courage, resourcefulness and resilience.
[some overview]
Saudi Arabia and Washington’s hand-picked puppet leader,Mansour Hadi, who demanded that neighbouring Saudi Arabia to bomb his own people –even after Hadi had resigned twice from an already over-extended presidential term, before fleeing to his alma mater in Riyadh.
This fact has been consistently omitted and waxed over by western political appeasers and ethically challenged mainstream media apologists – and their ignorant and conceded omission is one of the primary reasons why this conflict has been allowed to go from bad to worse.
According to Hassan Al Haifi, writer, academic and political commentator, living in Sanaa, the Saudi attack was deliberate:
“The mourners were paying tribute to General Jalal Al-Rouishan, Min of Int, who hails from a leading family of Khowlan Al-Tayyal Tribe, a leading and powerful Yemeni tribe.”
Al Haifi commented that this was a cynical and brutal attack by the Saudi coalition, intending to kill as many Ansarullah and Ali Abdullah Saleh officials and supporters as possible. A number of Saleh’s closest friends and allies were killed by the strikes along with a smaller number of Ansarullah members. Al Haifi, himself should have been at the ceremony but had been delayed and fortunately was not there when the Saudi jets launched their missiles into the throngs of mourners.
The US State Department immediately swung into damage limitation mode and cranked up their hypocrisy to protect their Saudi coalition military industrial complex clients. John Kirby even deployed the “self-defence” terminology usually reserved for their other regional, arms guzzling ally with close links to Al Qaeda, Israel.
The bloodshed and suffering of the Yemeni people was reduced to an obscene game of semantics by a cold and calculating US State Department, as their multi billion dollar arms industry registered obscene trading levels with the Saudi coalition in 2015.
Saudi’s is a genocidal war of aggression that has already destroyed entire swathes of Yemeni cultural heritage and decimated entire communities, particularly in the northern, traditionally Ansarullah (Houthi) held areas such as Saada and Hajjah. This was by design. By now, we can see clearly how this was yet another ethnic cleansing programme being endorsed, fuelled and defended by the United States and her allies in the UK, EU, Israel, and of course the neighbouring Gulf States, some of whom participated in this dirty war.
The height of US hypocrisy was on full display during a US State Department press briefing where the already discredited US spokesman John Kirby shameless danced around a mass-murder by Saudi Arabia – whose airstrikes are supported logistically by the United States. This is the definition of criminality unchecked – by Vanessa Beeley
13.10.2016 – Paul Tyson (A H)
This is the airport by the way. Aid flights can get in but no commercial flights for weeks now (photo)
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/786668407626301440
10.10.2016 – The Elders (A P)
The Elders call on US, UK to take action to stop civilian deaths in Yemen
Expressing shock and deep dismay over the latest incident of heavy civilian casualties in Yemen resulting from the Saudi-led aerial bombing campaign, The Elders call on the United States and United Kingdom to take decisive steps to prevent further needless deaths.
Kofi Annan, Chair of The Elders and former UN Secretary-General, said:
“Over the past 18 months, civilians have borne the brunt of this bloody conflict. All too frequently, protected locations such as hospitals and civilian gatherings such as weddings and, now, even a funeral have found themselves under attack. This is simply unacceptable. As the principal supporters of the Saudi coalition, we believe the United States and United Kingdom have the main duty to ensure there is no recurrence.”
http://theelders.org/article/elders-call-us-uk-take-action-stop-civilian-deaths-yemen = http://www.kofiannanfoundation.org/annan-work/elders-yemen/
12.10.2016 – International Crisis Group (* A K)
Yemen’s Terrible War Is About to Get Worse
As shock and sadness engulfs Sanaa, some Yemenis are hoping against all odds that the event could serve as a spur for a peace agreement. But this hope is likely misplaced. The bombing killed a number of important political and military personalities supporting a peace deal, among them the mayor of Sanaa, two Yemeni members of the U.N. cease-fire monitoring team, and a general expected to play an important post-conflict security role. Their deaths empower hard-liners over peacemakers while undercutting capacity to implement any future accord.
The U.N. has thus far been a helpless bystander, unable to broker peace or even secure an independent investigation into violations of international humanitarian law by both sides. The United States and Britain, both coalition supporters and arms suppliers, have repeatedly demonstrated a high level of tolerance for potential war crimes by their allies. It is unclear what red lines they have.
In the absence of a negotiated settlement, the country is poised to spiral further into chaos.
The anger and hostility directed toward the Saudi-led coalition in the aftermath of the funeral hall strike will make it harder to contain the regional rivalries unleashed across the Middle East and to convince Yemen’s domestic parties to reach a negotiated settlement – by April Longley Alley
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
13.10.2016 – Oxfam (A H)
Like thousands of other people, Hajj Qassem, 71 years old, was forced to flee his home in Haradh city because of the war. “We survived the conflict but we die here every day from hunger, in order to give the food to our children and grandchildren.”
They now live a very harsh life in a camp in Abs, in Hajjah governorate, praying for the situation to get better. “Every day I finish my prayer with the hope that God is spreading peace and that I return to my land and the land of my grandparents.” (photo)
13.10.2016 – Doctors without Borders (B H)
Dialysis patients in #Yemen struggle to obtain the care they need. More support for dialysis is needed (photos)
https://twitter.com/msf_yemen/status/786606369461919744
@MSF today provided 9 tonnes of life-saving dialysis supplies to Al-Jumhori Hospital in #Taiz
https://twitter.com/msf_yemen/status/786606192516792320
13.10.2016 – Red Cross (B H)
Our support to Yemen's water authorities ensures that millions of Yemenis can access clean drinking water
https://twitter.com/icrc_ye/status/786818268636078080
Comment by Judith Brown: The water situation in Yemen is critical. The people who support these charities include many rich Yemenis. This is how Yemen is - they look after each other.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154803690023641
27.9.2016 – Doctors Without Borders (** A B H K)
Yemen: Crisis update - September 2016
After 18 months of conflict, Yemen is a full-blown humanitarian emergency. After a short ebb in fighting due to the peace negotiations, airstrikes and ground fighting have fully resumed, with enormous consequences for the civilians. All armed actors involved in the conflict, including the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis, are carrying out indiscriminate attacks without respect for civilians or civilian infrastructure such as hospitals. Airstrikes resumed again in July, triggering a disproportionately high level of civilian casualties. An airstrike in Haydan on 13 August killed 10 and seriously injured 28 children.
MSF health facilities alone were hit four times in a 10-month period. The last bombing, an airstrike on Abs hospital on 15 August, resulted in 19 deaths and 24 wounded, including an MSF staff member. MSF was forced to evacuate the teams from six hospitals in Northern Yemen, as the facilities are considered unsafe for both patients and staff, reducing access to quality health care for at least 200,000 people. The UN reports that over 600 health facilities in the country have stopped functioning due to damages or lack of staff/supplies, affecting access to healthcare for millions of people. Taiz city is one of the worst-affected areas of Yemen. With intense fighting – including daily shelling in the densely populated inner city – it has not seen any ceasefire since July 2015.
MSF health facilities hit by airstrikes/missiles
Hospital bombing details
Current activities
MSF has been working in 11 hospitals and health centres in Yemen and providing support to another 18 hospitals or health centres in eight governorates: Taiz, Aden, Al-Dhale, Saada, Amran, Hajjah, Ibb and Sanaa. More than 2,000 MSF staff work in the country, including 90 international staff, making it one of MSF's largest missions in the world in terms of personnel. MSF is currently assessing how it can continue to work in Hajja and Sa’ada to serve the population in a manner that ensures an acceptable level of security for its staff following the airstrike on Abs hospital. In the meantime, MSF continues to support the six hospitals in Hajja and Sa’ada with medications, financial incentives for MoH staff and logistical support. MSF operations in Yemen have a budget of nearly 70 million euro per year.
Key MSF figures, March 2015-August 2016
49,473 war-wounded and victims of violence
23,137 surgeries performed in MSF facilities
112,140 medical consultations provided for displaced people in MSF mobile clinics
18,962 births assisted
267,188 patients seen in the emergency room
More than 1,761 tonnes of medical supplies sent to Yemen
MSF projects
http://www.msf.org/en/article/yemen-crisis-update-september-2016
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
14.10.2016 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (A P)
Houthi's censorship getting ridiculous. After blocking all opposition sites & then some, now social media. Telegram, Skype & Whatsapp
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/787194436757454848
14.10.2016 – Shapban (A E P)
no salaries, no cash in #Yemen. Famine & diseases spreading as #Houthi-Saleh group continue piling cash
https://twitter.com/shapban/status/786954567607062528
15.10.2016 – Saba Net (A P)
National peace-talks delegation comes home safely
The national peace-talks delegation arrived in the capital Sanaa on Saturday, coming from the Omani capital of Muscat, nearly more than two months after the end of peace talks that sponsored by the United Nations in Kuwait.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news443740.htm
and
15.10.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A P)
Yemen peace talks delegation returned to Sanaa 2day after US-backed Saudi war criminals forced them to stay in Oman for 3 months.
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/787240280739241984
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
14.10.2016 – Judith Brown / Mu16M (A P)
This is in Aden - you can see the southern Yemen flags, not the flags of the Yemen republic. They are celebrating on their Independence Day - that celebrates the day South Yemen gained its independence from the British, now with a new impetus. Not everyone in the south wants independence but as the war goes on and more and more of the north is destroyed many see it as a possibility so that they can get on with their lives (photos)
https://twitter.com/mu16m/status/786677799495012352 and https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154803701058641
and
14.10.2016 – hisham Al-Omeisy (A P)
Demos in Aden celebrating 14th of October revolution call for South #Yemen independence (secession from North) (photos)
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/786934507656151040
14 of Oct banner says those who think will divert independence movement towards federalism are disillusioned (photo)
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/786936308870635521
15.10.2016 – AP (A T)
Fünf Tote bei Explosion an Trauerfeier
Bei einer Explosion auf einer Trauerfeier für einen hochrangigen Armeekommandeur sind nahe der jemenitischen Hauptstadt Sanaa fünf Personen getötet und 15 verletzt worden. Der Vorfall ereignete sich am Freitag in der Provinz Marib, wie Regierungsvertreter sagten. Der Kommandeur war vergangene Woche ums Leben gekommen, als er eine Offensive gegen die Huthi-Rebellen östlich von Sanaa anführte.
http://www.nzz.ch/international/angriff-in-jemen-fuenf-tote-bei-explosion-an-trauerfeier-ld.122176
14.10.2016 – Reuters (A T)
Explosion kills six at funeral in Yemen's Marib: agency
An explosion killed six people and wounded 20 as they attended a funeral service in the Yemeni city of Marib, east of the capital Sanaa, the government-run news agency Saba said on Friday.
The blast occurred as condolences were being paid after the death of Abdulrab al-Shadady, an army general in Marib who was killed a few days ago in fighting with Houthi militia, local officials told Reuters.
Among those killed in Friday's blast was Salem al-Shadady, the older brother of the general killed earlier, Saba said – by Mohammed Ghobari
http://in.reuters.com/article/yemen-security-marib-idINKBN12E1O4 = http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-marib-idUSKBN12E1P3 and by AP http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_YEMEN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-14-12-46-28 and https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154803667793641 (photo; but it was no air strike) and https://twitter.com/yemen_updates/status/786987229457645568 (it was no Houthi / Saleh strike: https://twitter.com/JosephJo1221/status/787004893303373824 )
Comment: Certainly a Al Qaida attack.
And
14.10.2016 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (A T)
Funeral for 3rd regn commander killed battling Houthis. Local reps say it was an IED & at least 6 ppl killed.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/786988668896542720
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
13.10.2016 – NBC News (* A P)
John Kerry Working to Broker 72-Hour Cease-Fire in Yemen
As the U.S. launched missile attacks Thursday on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, behind the scenes Secretary of State John Kerry has been trying to negotiate a temporary cease-fire and reinvigorate a political process to end the country's civil war.
"What the Secretary has been pushing hard for is to get back … to a cessation of hostilities, a 72-hour cessation of hostilities which can at least then create some kind of climate where a political dialogue or a dialogue can begin again," State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner said Thursday.
"We need to de-escalate obviously given the events of the past week and that is where the priority is right now," Toner said – by Abigail Williams
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/john-kerry-working-broker-72-hour-ceasefire-yemen-n666141
14.10.2016 – Daily Caller (A P)
After His Many ‘Successes,’ Kerry’s Working On Another Ceasefire
The Department of State’s rhetoric is almost exactly reminiscent of failed U.S. efforts to broker a ceasefire in Syria. The U.S. tried implementing a ceasefire with Russia in September that called for a week-long halt to Russia and Syria’s bombing campaign. The ceasefire folded at almost the exact same time it began, and spectacularly collapsed with the worst bombing the city of Aleppo has seen in the five years of Syria’s civil war.
Toner acknowledged, “It’s hard and I agree that it does sound similar,” to U.S. rhetoric surrounding Syria, but doubling down on the strategy saying “the formula is what we believe is the right one.”
http://dailycaller.com/2016/10/14/after-his-many-successes-kerrys-working-on-another-ceasefire/
Comment: How ever Kerry could show up as a “broker”, as the US – now more than ever before – is party in the war?? And how ridiculous it is when Kerry says "We need to de-escalate”, when in the moment the US is escalating the conflict more than all other warring parties??
Comment by Judith Brown: The ubiquitous John Kerry. Still trying to pretend he likes peace when in the end his country sells the weapons that kill and destroy. Not much hope here.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154803496273641
13.10.2016 – Inner City Press (** A P)
The Saudi led coalition bombed the funeral of the father of Yemen interior minister Jalal al-Roweishan in Sana'a on October 8, the same day the UN Security Council met about airstrikes in Syria.
Inner City Press asked Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the UN Abdallah Yahya A. Al-Mouallimi to confirm it was an Saudi strike and explain it. He said, "I am not aware of it." Vine video here.
Inner City Press asked three separate Ban Ki-moon spokespeople:
"Beyond the other pending questions, what is the Secretary General's comment on the United States' announced Tomahawk missile firings into Yemen? Please list the highest Saudi officials USG O'Brien met in his most recent trip to Riyadh, and who he requested to meet with."
Even by the next day, October 13, at noon there had been no answer. So at the October 13 noon briefing Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript here:
On October 12 in the UN's Third Committee, the US speech on Children and Armed Conflict didn't mention Ban's dropping of Saudi from the list. The UN's Cristina Gallach's DPI didn't put the video online, eight hours later.
And where was Ban's envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed? In Saudi, and silent. This is Ban's UN
On October 10 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon held a two-question stakeout and spoke about the airstrike -- he did not, however, say that he was putting Saudi Arabia and the Coalition back on the Children and Armed Conflict annex he took them off of. Inner City Press asked audibly, Are you putting them back on the list? Vine here. Ban did not answer.
On October 11, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript here:
At the October 10 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric what it would take. Beyond the Vine video here. It remains unclear. Ban's envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed is delaying his briefing of the Security Council from October 20 to the 31st -- some urgency -- and when Inner City Press asked about the Interior Minister's critique of the envoy, Dujarric insisted the envoy has no control – by Matthew Russell Lee
http://www.innercitypress.com/yemen209fishy101316.html
Comment: Nobody will be astonished that the Saudi ambassador just is telling fancy stories. The UN related to Yemen in just one word: abject.
10.10.2016 – United Nations Human Rights (B K P)
Film: The international community has a legal & moral duty to react robustly to the increasingly horrific levels of civilian casualties in Yemen.
https://www.facebook.com/unitednationshumanrights/videos/1511680332182102/
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
15.10.2016 – New York Times (* B P)
Rise of Saudi Prince Shatters Decades of Royal Tradition
He has a hand in nearly all elements of Saudi policy — from a war in Yemen that has cost the kingdom billions of dollars and led to international criticism over civilian deaths, to a push domestically to restrain Saudi Arabia’s free-spending habits and to break its “addiction” to oil. He has begun to loosen social restrictions that grate on young people.
The rise of Prince bin Salman has shattered decades of tradition in the royal family, where respect for seniority and power-sharing among branches are time-honored traditions. Never before in Saudi history has so much power been wielded by the deputy crown prince, who is second in line to the throne. That centralization of authority has angered many of his relatives.
His seemingly boundless ambitions have led many Saudis and foreign officials to suspect that his ultimate goal is not just to transform the kingdom, but also to shove aside the current crown prince, his 57-year-old cousin, Mohammed bin Nayef, to become the next king. Such a move could further upset his relatives and — if successful — give the country what it has never seen: a young king who could rule the kingdom for many decades – By MARK MAZZETTI and BEN HUBBARD
14.10.2016 – New York Times (** B E P)
Saudi Arabia, Where Even Milk Depends on Oil, Struggles
to Remake Its Economy
Low crude prices and the war in Yemen have sent a shock through the kingdom’s budget
and forced it to revise its social contract even as it seeks to diversify its businesses. Low oil prices and an increasingly costly war in Yemen have torn a yawning hole in the Saudi budget and created a crisis that has led to cuts in public spending, reductions in take-home pay and benefits for government workers and a host of new fees and fines. Huge subsidies for fuel, water and electricity that encourage overconsumption are being curtailed.
Prince Mohammed’s plan for an economic overhaul has sent tremors through a nation whose citizens have long enjoyed a cosseted lifestyle underwritten by the state.
Rewriting the social contract carries high risks for the 31-year-old deputy crown prince, who has staked his reputation on transforming the economy.
Crude oil does more than deliver billions of dollars in profits to Saudi Aramco, the state oil company, and Sabic, the chemical giant; it also buttresses energy-intensive sectors like cement production and aluminum smelting.
Saudi Arabia burns barrel after barrel of crude oil for electricity, one of the few countries to do so in large quantities.
“It is striking the extent to which every major industry relies on cheap energy, whether directly or indirectly,” said Glada Lahn, co-author of a study for Chatham House, a London think tank,
The budget deficit was nearly $100 billion last year. The country’s foreign reserves have dropped by a quarter since oil prices started falling in 2014.
Less spending by government, businesses and increasingly strapped consumers means less growth and fewer jobs. The only way to create more jobs for Saudis in such an environment may be by getting rid of foreign workers and replacing them with locals. That policy, known as Saudization, has been pursued at least since the early 1980s and always failed, with the number of foreign laborers ballooning from roughly one million to 10 million – By NICHOLAS KULISH
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/14/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-oil-prices-economy.html
13.10.2016 – Forbes (* A E P)
Saudi Arabia Wants To Be One Of The World's Biggest Tech Investors
Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, has signaled he will put the kingdom’s money where his mouth is—teaming up with billionaire Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank to start a potentially massive $100 billion technology fund.
The public investment fund of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, is considering investing as much as $45 billion over the next five years in the new SoftBank Vision Fund, according to an announcement made on Thursday. Japan’s SoftBank itself plans on investing at least $25 billion over the next five years in the fund.
A little more than a year after Prince Mohammed became a powerful force, the 31-year-old son of the king is moving fast in his effort to move Saudi Arabia’s economy beyond oil. As part of this effort, Saudi Arabia launched its Vision 2030 program in April, which includes potentially issuing debt or selling shares in giant Saudi Aramco, raising funds to jump-start a new economy – by Nathan Vardi
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1135140856538943 and film also http://www.forbes.com/video/5170213311001/ = https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1135140856538943
14.10.2016 – Noto Wahabism (A P)
Film: #Saudi Preacher Abdullah al-Maliki: "Ruler is allowed to kill 1/3 of the population to keep the other 1/3 safe"!
We know that1/3 is Royal family and 2nd 1/3 are those people who must be killed. But where's the third 1/3?!!
https://www.facebook.com/NotoWahabism/videos/994810430647539/
14.10.2016 – Lobelog (* B P)
Saudi Charm Offensive in Europe
Saudi Arabia has launched what seems like a charm offensive following the historic vote by the European Parliament (EP) demanding an arms embargo on Riyadh because of the grave violations of the international humanitarian law by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. When Mohammad Al-Jefri, the deputy speaker of the Shura Council of Saudi Arabia, addressed the EP foreign affairs committee on October 11, it was the second high-profile Saudi visit to the capital of the EU in three months – after Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir visited Brussels at the end of July.
In this context, the Saudis are naturally turning their attention elsewhere in search of new allies. The EU has obvious attractions.
However, despite an understanding in Brussels that the EU and Saudi Arabia need to work together to fix the Middle East, the narratives on root causes and next steps fundamentally diverge.
As the meeting with Al-Jefri in the European Parliament showed, the standard Saudi line describing the crises in the Middle East as a fight between good and evil, and singling out Iran as the ultimate “evil,” does not persuade Euro MPs
Yemen is another example of fundamentally divergent perceptions. Although the Saudi official tried to portray the Riyadh-led coalition’s actions in that country as necessary to bring stability and counter the omnipresent “Iranian threat,” MPs focused on the continuing violations of international humanitarian law by this coalition. Indeed, this concern led them to demand an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia in the first place.
At the end of the session, Al-Jefri admitted that the debate revealed a need for further frank dialogue between the EU and Saudi Arabia. It is difficult to disagree with this conclusion. But European perceptions of Saudi policies will not change for the better unless there is a profound and genuine change in the Saudi policies that give cause for criticism in the first place.
As European officials have emphasized repeatedly, and as the new EU Global Strategy states, the interests of the EU in fighting terrorism, curbing migration flows, stabilizing the Middle East, and seeking new economic opportunities require cooperation with both Saudi Arabia and Iran – by Eldar Mamedov
http://lobelog.com/saudi-charm-offensive-in-europe/
13.10.2015 – Dollar Vigilante (* B E P)
The Campaign to Undermine Saudi Arabia and the US Dollar
It is not reported on very much, but Saudi Arabia is gradually being cut adrift by the Anglosphere that created it in the first place.
The banking cabal that runs the West is determined to create a global currency – and sooner rather than later.
The Saud family propped up the US petrodollar all these years by demanding payment in dollars for its oil. This forced other producers to do the same.
Now it seems there are forces in the West that have decided the best way to destabilize the petrodollar is to destabilize Saudi Arabia.
This is why so many in the Saud family are buying huge farms in Nigeria. This is the reason for the extreme paranoia that has overtaken the Saudi regime of late.
The Saud family has always carried the water of the Anglo-American establishment. In turn, that establishment made the family rich beyond the dreams of avarice. But by playing with the evil empire you live by the sword and die by the sword. The West has a rich history of making friends with brutal rulers when it suits their agenda and then dispatching them at a later date.
Just ask Saddam Hussein who had a happy arrangement with Donald Rumsfeld when the US wanted to sell them arms, and chemical weapons… and then when his usefulness ran out he was brutally hung in what looked like a dungeon.
But the Anglosphere is unforgiving when it comes to achieving its goals. And now it wishes to destabilize and reduce the power of the dollar as well as cause as much chaos in the Middle East as possible as an excuse for why the dollar and US markets collapse.
Suddenly fracking has become popular, even though it is an old technology. Suddenly, a barrel of oil is worth far less than it used to be – by Jeff Berwick
Comment: Interesting, but sounds a little bit like conspiracy theory to me.
Comment by Judith Brown: A must read article that puts the survival of Saudi Arabia into a perspective. I have been saying for some time that the similarities between Saudi and pre-Gulf war Iraq are striking and I think the Yemen war will threaten the survival of Saudi Arabia in its current form. This article puts meat on the bones of that theory.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10153847512193641
cp9 USA
15.10.2016 – The Guardian (*A K P)
The US just bombed Yemen, and no one's talking about it
What if the United States went to war and nobody here even noticed? The question is absurd, isn’t it? And yet, this almost perfectly describes what actually happened this past week.
The cruise missile salvo ramps up the already significant US military involvement in deeply divided and desperately poor Yemen.
this particular military engagement has the potential to drag the US straight into a protracted and escalating conflict. And, as everyone knows, America has an uncanny ability to enter protracted and escalating military conflicts.
Yet we’ve heard absolutely nothing about this from our presidential candidates.
If we investigated, we would find that the Pentagon justified this attack as retaliation. Last week, missiles were fired on two separate occasions at another navy destroyer off of Yemen’s southern coast. Those missiles fell harmlessly into the water, but they were enough of a provocation that the navy responded with its own bombardment.
The Trump show has managed to bump all the serious and necessary policy debates not just off the table but out of the room. Presidential foreign policy discussions, for example, are now basically limited to who hates Isis more, who said what 13 years ago, and who believes Vladimir Putin is in charge of a roomful of hackers.
It’s not enough. All the current polls point to Hillary Clinton winning the presidential election, and there’s a desperate need for substantive answers regarding her policies. Will she merely continue Obama’s Yemen strategy, which has not only failed to end the war but could also soon escalate it? – by Moustafa Bayoumi
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/15/us-bombed-yemen-middle-east-conflict
15.10.2016 – Boston Herald (A P)
Markey warning of ‘proxy war’ in Yemen
A U.S. warship returning missile fire on Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen threatens to mire the United States in a “proxy war” for which the United States lacks a clear strategy, U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey warns.
The Massachusetts senator said the lack of an organized push for negotiated peace has him “very concerned” the conflict could spiral out of control — all with the U.S. pinned between backing its Saudi allies and opposing the Iran-supported Houthi rebels.
“With each step, we are getting deeper and deeper into this conflict in Yemen and I think we need a better understanding of what our strategy is,” Markey told the Herald yesterday. “Otherwise we are going to end up neck-deep in a mess without any idea of how to get out of it.” – by Chris Villani, Brian Dowling
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2016/10/markey_warning_of_proxy_war_in_yemen
14.10.2016 – Reuters (A P)
U.S. official calls attack on Yemen funeral gathering 'egregious'
A weekend attack on a funeral gathering in Yemen widely blamed on Saudi-led warplanes was "egregious," a senior U.S. official said on Friday in one of Washington's strongest condemnations of the incident.
A second U.S. official who briefed reporters in a telephone conference call made clear that all U.S. assistance to the Saudi-led coalition was under review. He said this included intelligence, logistics and refueling but did not give details.
"The strike on the funeral was really, really hard to swallow ... We thought that was particularly egregious," said one of the U.S. officials briefing reporters about U.S. policy toward Yemen.
"We just thought there was absolutely no justification for the strike," the second official said. "It pales next to anything else that had been done ... As a result there was a consensus that we needed to look at the full scope of the assistance that we provide to the coalition that impacts the war, and so that’s what we have under way."
The first official also stressed that some of those killed in the attack were more open to reconciliation within Yemen – by Arshad Mohammed and Phil Stewart
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-usa-idUSKBN12E2EF
Comment: Just words, nothing will change.
14.10.2016 – The National Interest (* B K P)
Entanglement in Yemen and the Logic of War
We are seeing today in Yemen a demonstration of how easily a supposedly limited U.S. involvement in an armed conflict becomes less limited, and how such involvement creates new enemies of the United States.
The deleterious entanglement of the United States in civil war in Yemen was already a major problem even before the events of the past week.
Several aspects of the logic of war often cause external intervention to escalate beyond what was originally intended or desired. One involves making additional effort to achieve objectives that were declared at the time of the original intervention but have still not been achieved. Another involves responses to escalation on the other side that in turn was a a response to the original intervention.
Yet another, very much in play in this week's events, involves the desire to protect and defend one's own forces. The Pentagon described this week's cruise missile strikes as retaliation necessary to protect U.S. vessels
That is a valid explanation, but it carries little weight with Yemenis who simply see the United States firing deadly weapons at their nation.
In short, the United States did not previously—before getting involved in this war—have an enemy in the Houthis. Now, as a result of getting involved in the war, it does.
The usually cited rationale for opposing the Houthis is a relationship with Iran.
The Iranians evidently have supplied the Houthis with some munitions, although most of the Houthis' arms have come from within gun-saturated Yemen itself. That's about as far as the relationship goes, beyond the partial religious affinity that may have been one of the motives for Iran giving some aid. The Houthis are not proxies of Iran.
What is being demonstrated in Yemen, besides being a serious problem in its own right, carries important lessons for policy toward internal conflict and external interventions in other places, such as Syria.
Yet another lesson concerns the folly of defining Middle Eastern politics in terms of some grand alignment of opposing forces and then getting directly involved in any conflict that can be construed as being a clash of such forces. Even if the Yemeni civil war were a front in some kind of Iranian-led regional offensive—and as noted above, it isn't—getting dragged into that war is less likely to serve U.S. interests than Iranian ones. Letting its regional rival Saudi Arabia bleed in the quagmire that the Saudi intervention has produced may have been another motive for whatever aid Iran has given the Houthis. There certainly is no advantage for the United States in being involved as well – by Paul R. Pillar
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/paul-pillar/entanglement-yemen-the-logic-war-18045
14.10.2016 – Oxfam (* A K P)
U.S. Support for the War in Yemen Is Indefensible
'Deference to Saudi Arabia has cost America its moral footing'
Not even funerals are sacred in a time of war. This [bombing of funeral, Oct. 8] is not an isolated incident but rather the latest tragedy in Saudi Arabia’s military intervention—facilitated by U.S. intelligence sharing and aerial refueling.
These are your tax dollars at work.
The humanitarian impact of the bombing campaign is staggering—no civilian is left unaffected.
We live in a world where the rules of war are continually flouted and the U.S.-supported Saudi-led campaign in Yemen is no exception.
Now, in the wake of Saturday’s attack, the U.S. announced that it will immediately review its support to the Saudi-led coalition. This review cannot be a smokescreen for inaction or a place holder for responsibility. As of now, it is unclear how the review will unfold, what the timeline is, and who will be responsible for carrying it out. And U.S. support for the coalition will continue even though the very need for a review casts a long shadow on anything that takes place until it is finalized.
the U.S. is only supporting one side.
In the end, one has to wonder how this will ultimately reflect on President Obama’s legacy. He and his foreign policy leadership will surely look back upon the decisions they’ve made about Yemen with regret in light of the carnage and the daily assault on human dignity.
Each day the U.S. supports this war, with every air strike that hits a civilian site, every civilian killed, maimed or going hungry; with every U.S. weapon used in Yemen and every warplane refueled that kills or wounds civilians, the U.S. tarnishes its reputation in the world. Some things should still be sacred – by Ray Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America.
http://time.com/4531649/yemen-conflict/
14.10.2016 – The American Conservative (* A K P)
Increasing Support for the War on Yemen Is Obviously Insane
The Wall Street Journal publishes another shameless pro-Saudi editorial. This part stood out.
Even by the WSJ‘s standards, this is an insane position to take. The funeral massacre last week was obviously not carried out by “mistake.” The coalitionrepeatedly hit the same target to maximize casualties, and it chose the target because many high-ranking political and military figures were in attendance. The coalition wanted to hit the target, and it did so several times in a row. They weren’t concerned about the hundreds of civilians killed and injured in the process, and it is absurd to claim that they were. When presented with an obvious atrocity committed by a U.S. client, the WSJ predictably ignores the evidence and insists on even more aggressive support for the offending government.
There is also no realistic prospect of a Saudi victory in Yemen. The coalition’s original goals were to drive the Houthis out of the capital and reinstate Hadi. Even if the coalition could somehow manage to do the former, it would come at an excruciating cost for the civilian population. The latter goal has always been hopeless. Hadi had scant domestic support when the war began, and now he has none. There is no chance that the coalition can “win,” and so it makes absolutely no sense for the U.S. to increase support for the war in the hopes that they do. Yemen has been wrecked and its people brought to the brink of famine because of the foolish belief that the Saudis could “win.” Intensifying support for the war will produce more attacks on civilian targets and more misery for the people of Yemen – by Daniel Larison
14.10.2016 – Reuters (** A K P)
Commentary: To stop bloodshed in Yemen, Obama must cut back Saudi support
But the Saudi coalition is not the only party in Yemen facing scrutiny for potential war crimes. The funeral attack has refocused attention on the United States’ deepening involvement in the Riyadh-led war. In addition to providing intelligence assistance and refueling support, Washington has rushed billions of dollars worth in smart bombs and spare parts to help the Saudi air force continue its bombing campaign.
After the attack on the funeral hall, President Barack Obama’s administration pledged to conduct “an immediate review” of its logistical support for the Saudi coalition
The United States and other Western powers have not heeded previous international criticism of Saudi actions in Yemen.
Today, the war is creating more extremism, allowing militants affiliated with Islamic State and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – the most dangerous of al Qaeda’s offshoots – to establish new safe havens.
While Saudi leaders criticize Obama for “abandoning” his traditional allies in the Middle East, and shifting U.S. foreign policy toward Iran, his administration has sold more weapons to the kingdom than any previous U.S. president.
More broadly, the kingdom’s increased military spending – and willingness to publicly express anger at U.S. leaders – reflect a more aggressive Saudi foreign policy being spearheaded by the new King Salman and his inner circle.
Last week’s attack on the funeral in the Yemeni capital should be a turning point for U.S. policy. As the Yemen war grinds on and civilian casualties are mounting, the Obama administration must answer for its support of the Saudi campaign, which is prolonging the conflict. Even if Saudi Arabia balks at ending its air strikes, it can’t keep up the war without U.S. weaponry, intelligence and logistical help. The Obama administration can stop this bloodshed – by Mohamad Bazzi, journalism professor at New York University and former Middle East bureau chief at Newsday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-arabia-obama-commentary-idUSKCN12D2GC
Comment by Nasser Arrabyee: Obama "Reviewed" his support to Saudis With cruise missiles.
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/786870224310112256
14.10.2016 – PRI (A P)
US involvement in the Yemen war just got deeper
"Of course the escalation in the Red Sea looks as though it plays in sequence with the escalation [of the Yemeni civil war] on land," says Katherine Zimmerman, research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC. "But when you zoom out a little, it plays into the increasing Iranian-Saudi tensions."
In case you're wondering, why Iran? It's that the US and Saudi Arabia accuse Iran of supporting the Houthis, who are a Shiite Muslim group. Iran denies this.
"And we look at what Iran itself is doing and the increasingly aggressive behavior that we're seeing from the Iranian navy [in the Persian Gulf], sanctioned by top-level Iranian officials."
The United States is looking closely at its relationship with the Saudis and weighing the consequences of its support. Following the attack on the funeral, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price told Reuters, "US security cooperation with Saudi Arabia is not a blank check. ... We have repeatedly expressed our deep concern about airstrikes that allegedly killed and injured civilians and also the heavy humanitarian toll paid by the Yemeni people."
But, Zimmerman says, we should not expect the US to pull out of its military relationship with the Saudis. "The assumption is that if we stop that support, then Saudi Arabia will stop the war, and I think that's false," she says.
"Even though the United States is under increasing pressure for its support of Saudi Arabia," Zimmerman concludes, "to simply withdraw may actually make the situation a lot worse. We lose our leverage, and really do unleash the Saudis inside of Yemen in a way that could be much more detrimental than we're seeing today." – by Stephen Snyder
http://www.pri.org/stories/2016-10-14/us-involvement-yemen-war-just-got-deeper
Comment: That are really strange reasons to continue supporting Saudi Arabia.
13.10.2016 – Military Times (A P)
Yemen's stalemate war threatens to entangle U.S.
The U.S. attack on the Houthis came 16 years to the day after al-Qaida militants in Yemen bombed the USS Cole, killing 17 American sailors. Though against a different enemy now, the missile strike comes as al-Qaida holds territory in eastern Yemen amid the vacuum created by the civil war. The Islamic State group has a presence as well. The strike also suggests any further attack on U.S. warships will draw retaliatory American fire. And while backing away from helping the Saudi-led coalition, the U.S. still sells billions of dollars' worth of weaponry to the kingdom. Saleh, Yemen's former president, once described the challenge of governing Yemen as "dancing on the heads of snakes." Now it seems the U.S. faces the same dance in Yemen, with partners it can't ignore. – by Jon Gambrell
http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/yemens-stalemate-war-threatens-to-entangle-us
13.10.2016 – The Daily Sheeple (* A K P)
MORE SABER RATTLING? IRAN JUST DEPLOYED WARSHIPS OFF YEMEN IN RESPONSE TO US NAVY BLOWING UP THREE RADAR SITES
The US claims it has intelligence proving Iran is funding Yemen’s Shiite rebels and they were provoking America. The US, as many readers know, is underwriting the Sunni agenda headquartered in “ally” Saudi Arabia.
It’s another step in the march toward world war which the Pentagon seems to be heading straight toward by the hour.
Again, we only know what we’re being told by our establishment media and their always unnamed officials. Average American citizens have no idea what’s really going on over there. They said similar things about The Gulf of Tonkin incident to launch us into a bigger war in Vietnam and that turned out to be completely fabricated.
13.10.2016 – Boston Globe (* A P)
Are we at war in Yemen?
For over a year, the United States has played a key, supportive role in the war in Yemen, providing weapons and logistical support for the Saudi Arabia-led bombing campaign. But Thursday, we stepped into the foreground.
Until now, the United States has mostly managed to evade criticism by keeping its involvement out of view. That may change with the news that US destroyers fired on Houthi targets Thursday, potentially marking a new phase of direct conflict between the United States and the rebels.
But with President Obama counting down his days as commander in chief, any major shift in approach may have to wait for January.
At that point, a new president will decide the future of America’s role in Yemen. Neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump has discussed plans for the country, but whoever wins the Oval Office will face a choice: withdraw support for Saudi Arabia in order to force all parties back toward the negotiating table or expand US involvement to help bring a military end to this long battle – by Evan Horowitz
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/10/13/are-war-yemen/131eD7nkYqq8KBmUoKQE2I/story.html
Comment: “Until now, the United States has mostly managed to evade criticism by keeping its involvement out of view”: Certainly this is not true.
13.10.2016 – The National Interest (* A K P)
The Obama Administration Needs to Stop Fueling the War in Yemen
If the United States Government required more concrete evidence that war crimes are being committed in Yemen on a near daily basis, then last weekend’s reported Saudi airstrike on a building full of mourners should finally put the debate to rest.
These kinds of attacks on civilians and civilian objects have been occurring throughout eighteen months of warfare.
When administration officials are asked to explain why the United States is assisting the Saudi campaign, we generally hear the usual, tired refrain about the duty and obligations of the U.S. having the backs of our allies. Very rarely do we hear anything specific to the situation in Yemen, an omission that is a reflection of how poorly served the United States truly is in getting involved in this civil war.
Official U.S. policy states that only a diplomatic resolution between Hadi, the Saudis, the Houthis, and supporters of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh will end the war. The Obama administration likes to constantly say the phrase, “there is no military solution to the conflict,” but that phrase just so happens to be accurate in Yemen’s case.
Saudi Arabia is in fact an ally of the United States. But, as NSC spokesman Ned Price has said, even allies aren’t entitled to blank checks. It’s well past time for the Obama administration to stop fueling the war, push through a new resolution at the Security Council mandating an international commission of inquiry and a full arms embargo on the country, and devote itself wholeheartedly to a U.N.-negotiating process that has been spoiled repeatedly by Hadi’s unrealistic demands and the Houthis’s aggressive political behavior – by Daniel R. DePetris
Comment: “the Houthis’s aggressive political behavior”, what might this be? “Aggressive behavior” – well, ok, but “political”??
Comment by Micah zenko: Senior US Admin official: "The strike on the funeral was really, really hard to swallow." That is callous given US complicity.
https://twitter.com/MicahZenko/status/787114304373940225
13.10.2016 – Washington Post (* A P)
U.S. support to Saudi Arabia to hinge on Yemen cease-fire
Future American military assistance to Saudi Arabia will hinge partly on whether the gulf kingdom embraces a U.S.-backed cease-fire with Houthi rebels in Yemen, officials said Thursday, as the Obama administration intensifies efforts to distance itself from a bloody bombing campaign.
“It’s not going to help sustain any support . . . if they don’t accept the unconditional cessation of hostilities that we think is absolutely, urgently needed, now more than ever,” a senior official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
In a sign of tensions with a core Middle Eastern ally, officials issued the blunt warning to Saudi Arabia as the White House begins a top-to-bottom review of military aid for the kingdom, including both a massive, long-standing program of arms sales and more-limited assistance for the extended air war over Yemen.
“We are telling the Saudis that supporting their territorial integrity, their sovereignty, that’s one thing. But their campaign inside Yemen is something else, particularly if they’re not prepared to accept the unconditional, immediate cessation of hostilities that we’ve called for,” the official said. “That will obviously be a factor in our assessment.”
Officials said reductions in or changes to arms sales, not just to support to the Yemen campaign, would be under discussion during the high-level review.
“Everything is on the table,” the official said. The United States has already halted new sales of cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia.
While support for change appears to be growing, some officials within the Pentagon and State Department continue to stand up for Saudi Arabia, stressing the severity of the Houthi threat the country faces on its borders – By Missy Ryan
Comment: I think this is little more than appeasement propaganda. In effect, nothing will change.
12.10.2016 – Telepolis (* A K P)
Zweierlei Maß: Lehrstunde der US-Diplomatie im Nahen Osten
Der Sprecher des US-Außenministers musste gestern wieder einmal erhebliche Anstrengungen unternehmen, um die Feindbilder aufrechtzuerhalten, Saudi-Arabien nicht zu verärgern und die Duldung von al-Qaida in Ost-Aleppo zu übertünchen
John Kirby, der Sprecher des US-Außenministers, hatte gestern während der Pressekonferenz eine schwierige Aufgabe. Schon gleich zu Beginn wurde er gefragt, ob die US-Regierung einen Unterschied zwischen der Bombardierung der Begräbnisgesellschaft in Jemen durch Saudi-Arabien und dem sehe, was Washington den Russen und Syrern in Aleppo vorwirft - abgesehen davon, dass Washington Saudi-Arabien unterstützt, aber nicht Russland und Syrien. Nach Bekanntwerden hatte das Weiße Haus eine Erklärung veröffentlicht, in der es hieß, dass die Unterstützung der saudisch geführten Allianz gegen die Huthi-Rebellen im Jemen keinen "Blankoscheck" darstelle. Mit größeren Konsequenzen wurde aber nicht gedroht (Trauergemeinde im Jemen offenbar von US-Bomben getroffen).
Es gebe schon Unterschiede, sagte Kirby. So hätten die Saudis öffentlich gesagt, sie würden den Vorfall untersuchen, da die Bombardierung "falsch ausgeführt" worden sein könnte. Das hätten Syrien und Russland nach Vorwürfen noch nie gemacht: "Nicht ein einziges Mal. Nicht ein einziges Mal." Die Saudis würden es aber machen und bereit sein zuzugeben, "dass dies ein Fehler gewesen sein kann".
Die Konsequenz: "Daher gibt es einen Unterschied." Im Fall von Saudi-Arabien käme noch hinzu, dass saudische Bürger durch Raketen aus dem Jemen bedroht seien, die vom Iran an die Huthi-Rebellen geliefert wurden: "Es gibt also eine dringende Notwendigkeit der Selbstverteidigung." Die könnte man freilich auch für die syrischen Regierung sehen, wo immerhin die "Rebellen" bereits Teile des Landes selbst kontrollieren und auch Raketen auf Menschen abfeuern, die sich im Gebiet aufhalten, das von der Assad-Regierung kontrolliert wird.
Überdies seien die Saudis von Regierung Jemens eingeladen worden, was er aber nicht für Russland und Syrien gelten lassen sollte - und der fragende Reporter wollte sich hier offenbar auch nicht in die Nesseln setzen. Kirby sagte, dass die USA den Vorfall "sehr, sehr ernst" nehme. Man werde, wie schon angekündigt, die Unterstützung für Saudi-Arabien überprüfen. Auf die Frage, ob nicht die Jemeniten auch durch die saudischen Angriffe bedroht seien, die mit Bomben aus den USA ausgeführt werden, antwortet Kirby, das sei schon ein Problem, um noch einmal darauf hinzuweisen, dass man ja die Unterstützung überprüfe. Die Überprüfung habe bereits begonnen, versicherte er. Zeitlich gebe es aber keine Vorgaben. Und überhaupt würde man die Unterstützung stets routinemäßig überprüfen
Um eine Antwort auf die Frage, ob der Angriff absichtlich erfolgte, drückte sich Kirby herum, gab sich aber sofort und ohne jede Untersuchung sicher, dass die syrisch-russischen Angriffe gezielt waren. Die Forderung Russlands nach einer Untersuchung des Angriffs auf den Hilfskonvoi, den die USA Russland oder Syrien anlasten, könne man nicht wirklich ernst nehmen. Und in Aleppo würde es um die gewaltsame Einnahme der Stadt gehen: "Das ist keine ungerichtete, zufällige Bombardierung der Infrastruktur." – von Florian Rötzer
http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/49/49682/1.html
Kommentar: Unsäglich, siehe kompletten Film im Folgenden- – „Im Fall von Saudi-Arabien käme noch hinzu, dass saudische Bürger durch Raketen aus dem Jemen bedroht seien“: das scheint eine der Standard-Begründungslügen der westlichen Unterstützer der Saudis zu sein. Wichtig ist hier zu wissen, dass die Huthis erst 10 Wochen NACH dem Beginn des saudischen Luftkriegs gegen Jemen überhaupt erst mit der Beschießung von Saudi-Arabien mit Raketen begonnen haben. Dass der Luftkrieg der Saudis gegen Jemen eine „dringende Notwendigkeit der Selbstverteidigung“ sei, ist also schlichtweg eine Lüge.
12.10.2016 – US State Department (* A P)
US State Department | October 11th 2016 | Pinnacle of Hypocrisy
Spokesperson Kirby on Syria and Yemen – in full
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WMNo9G__Wo
13.10.2016 – ABC News (A K P)
The US Role in Yemen: What You Need to Know
ABC News looks at the complex role the U.S. has played during this bloody war.
U.S. Support of Saudi Arabia is Tested
The U.S. Targeting of al-Qaeda in Yemen
Other U.S. Interests in Yemen
The U.S. has a strong interest in ensuring the safety of commercial shipping and the 3-to-4 million barrels of oil that travel through the vital waterway each day.
U.S. Navy ships have often been deployed to the waters off Yemen to prevent a military or terrorist threat to the key shipping lane.
A stable government in Yemen is important to Gulf countries wary of Iran’s military support and influence with the Houthis. Gulf countries fear an Iranian military presence in the Arabian Peninsula, a concern that would exacerbate the already tense relationship with Iran because of the threat its nuclear program has posed to the region.
The U.S. has also contributed more than $327 million in humanitarian assistance to Yemen in fiscal year 2016, according to the State Department.
U.S. Hostages
What’s Next for the U.S. in Yemen?
The Houthi's actions highlight the long-range missile threat they can pose to neighboring countries and U.S. warships in the waters off Yemen. It is unknown if the missiles were Soviet-era missiles they took over from government forces or if they were new missiles that Saudi Arabia claims have been provided by Iran to the Houthis.
But it’s unlikely the U.S. will seek broader military involvement with the Houthis in Yemen. Yesterday’s U.S. strike was retaliatory in nature and not necessarily indicative of a broader military operation in the country.
The White House seems content with allowing and enabling the Saudis to continue to lead this fight – by Elizabeth McLaughlin and Luis Martinez
http://abcnews.go.com/International/us-role-yemen/story?id=42780004
Comment: Overview. A US-centric point of view quite a lot would to be said about.
7.4.2015 – Democracy Now (* B K P)
Are Obama's Record Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt and Iraq Fueling Unrest in Middle East?
As Saudi Arabia continues U.S.-backed strikes in Yemen and Washington lifts its freeze on military to aid to Egypt, new figures show President Obama has overseen a major increase in weapons sales since taking office. The majority of weapons exports under Obama have gone to the Middle East and Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia tops the list at $46 billion in new agreements. We are joined by William Hartung, who says that even after adjusting for inflation, "the volume of major deals concluded by the Obama administration in its first five years exceeds the amount approved by the Bush administration in its full eight years in office by nearly $30 billion. That also means that the Obama administration has approved more arms sales than any U.S. administration since World War II." Hartung is the director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy, and author of "Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex."
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/4/7/are_obamas_record_arms_sales_to = https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1135724219813940
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
15.10.2016 – IRNA (A P)
UK involved in Saudi war crimes, says British activist
In a recent interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency, John Rees slammed the UK government for supplying weapons to the Saudi leaders involved in crimes against humanity in Yemen.
The British broadcaster and writer, who is a national officer of the Stop the War Coalition, said that the British government is complicit in the war crimes committed by Saudi Arabia in Yemen.
Q. When there is so much evidence pointing to Saudi killing of civilians in Yemen, why is Britain still selling arms to this country?
A. Because it has always had the closest relationship with the Saudi regime. No human right’s concerns are allowed to intervene with the relationship with the Saudis.
It is taken as given that the Saudi regime will have British support and is the biggest market for British arms manufactures.
So, the British government regards this as an absolutely key economic and political ally and therefore no criticism to Saudi regime is ever taken very seriously, even when its made by the parliamentary committees.
Q. Would you say that the British government is complicit in the war crimes in Yemen?
A. Yes I do. If you compare the publicity given to the attacks in Syria and its quite justifiable to point out those attacks and their effects on civilians, but similar scale of attacks in Yemen are totally ignored by the British press and the British government and of course the British government and arms manufacturing companies are supplying weapons which are being used in Yemen.
http://www.irna.ir/en/News/82267768/
14.10.2016 – Sputnik News (* A P)
Warum Johnson saudische Bombardements im Jemen nicht untersuchen will - Medien
Die Aussagen des britischen Außenministers Boris Johnson über die Luftangriffe in Syrien und dem Jemen haben die Heuchelei der britischen Politik im Nahosten zur Schau gestellt, wie der Kolumnist Andrew Smith in der Zeitung „The Independent“ schreibt.
Am Dienstag hatte der britische Außenminister Boris Johnson Russland vorgeworfen, „Kriegsverbrechen" in Syrien verübt zu haben und zu Protesten vor der russischen Botschaft in London aufgerufen. Das russische Verteidigungsministerium hatte die Vorwürfe zurückgewiesen, Johnsons Aussagen als „russophobe Hysterie" bezeichnet und Johnson aufgefordert, die Beweise für diese Behauptungen vorzulegen.
„Johnson war nicht annähernd so streng und prinzipientreu, als er auf die humanitäre Katastrophe im Jemen reagierte, die durch Aktivitäten der von Saudi-Arabien geleiteten Koalition entstanden war", schreibt Smith.
Johnson sei zwar durchaus berechtigt, zu einer Ermittlung im Falle der Bombenangriffe in Syrien aufzurufen, sollte dann aber dasselbe in Bezug auf die Lage im Jemen tun. Als bei einem Luftangriff auf eine Trauerfeier in Sanaa am Samstag mehr als 155 Menschen getötet und weitere 500 verletzt wurden, sei die einzige öffentliche Reaktion des britischen Außenministers ein Tweet gewesen, in dem er jedoch nicht etwa dazu aufgerufen habe, die Bombardements an Zivilisten zu stoppen und die Verantwortlichen vor den Internationalen Strafgerichtshof zu stellen.
„Das Leben der Menschen im Jemen ist ebenso wertvoll wie das in Syrien. Warum war die Reaktion dann bedeutend schwächer?", empört sich Smith. Johnsons Zurückhaltung sei offenbar darauf zurückzuführen, dass London Riad seit langem nicht nur politisch unterstütze, sondern auch Waffen und Militärausbilder bereitstelle, ergänzte er
https://de.sputniknews.com/politik/20161014312945286-warum-johnson-saudische-bombardements-im-jemen-nicht-untersuchen-will-medien/ = http://de.azvision.az/Warum_Johnson_saudische_Bombardements_-22567-xeber.html
14.10.2016 – Mark Curtis (** B K P)
Britain’s Seven Covert Wars
Britain is fighting at least seven covert wars in the Middle East and North Africa, outside of any democratic oversight or control. Whitehall has in effect gone underground, with neither parliament nor the public being allowed to debate, scrutinise or even know about these wars. To cover themselves, Ministers are now often resorting to lying about what they are authorising. While Britain has identified Islamic State (among others) as the enemy abroad, it is clear that it sees the British public and parliament as the enemy at home.
Syria Iraq Libya
Yemen
Britain has been widely reported (outside the mainstream media) as supporting the brutal Saudi war in Yemen
The UK is of course arming the Saudi campaign
A secret ‘memorandum of understanding’ that Britain signed with Saudi Arabia in 2014 has not been made public since it ‘would damage the UK’s bilateral relationship’ with the Kingdom, the government states. It is likely that this pact includes reference to the secret British training of Syrian rebels in Saudi Arabia, which has taken place since mid-2015. Operating from a desert base in the north of the country, British forces have been teaching Syrian forces infantry skills as part of a US-led training programme.
Afghanistan Pakistan and Somalia Drones The Gulf Kenya and Turkey
The web of deceit
When questioned about these covert activities, Ministers have two responses. One is to not to comment on special forces’ operations. The other is to lie, which has become so routine as to be official government policy. The reasoning is simple – the government believes the public simply has no right to know of these operations, let alone to influence them.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told parliament in July that the government is ‘committed to the convention that before troops are committed to combat the House of Commons should have an opportunity to debate the matter’. This is plainly not true, as the extent of British covert operations show.
There are many other examples of this straightforward web of deceit. In July 2016, the government issued six separate corrections to previous ministerial statements in which they claimed that Saudi Arabia is not targeting civilians or committing war crimes in Yemen. However, little noticed was that these corrections also claimed that ‘the UK is not a party’ to the conflict in Yemen. This claim is defied by various news reports in the public domain.
British foreign policy is in extreme mode, whereby Ministers do not believe they should be accountable to the public. This is the very definition of dictatorship. Although in some of these wars, Britain is combatting terrorist forces that are little short of evil, it is no minor matter that several UK interventions have encouraged these very same forces and prolonged wars, all the while being regularly disastrous for the people of the region. Britain’s absence of democracy needs serious and urgent challenging – by Mark Curtis
http://markcurtis.info/2016/10/14/britains-seven-covert-wars/
14.10.2016 – Tobias Ellwood (A P)
Thanks @AdelAljubeir for frank briefing on funeral attack. As partners of #Saudi able to discuss all issues including Yemen and region
https://twitter.com/Tobias_Ellwood/status/786851411929817090
14.1o.2016 – Living in Yemen on the Edge (A P)
British Minister" Elwood" expressed his thanks to the leaders of Saudi Arabia coalition during a meeting in # Riyadh that take into account the details of bombing on a funeral in # Yemen, which consider for him as great attack, hopefully he is waiting to see dozen of victims in a report.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1134971733222522
Comment: Ellwood is one of the most extreme backers of the Saudis in Britain. He does everything at least to win time – time in which the British can continue to assist the Saudis in their war against Yemen and to sell arms to the Saudis worth billions of Pounds. And now he praises Saudi “partners”.
14.10.2016 – AFP (A P)
Großbritannien will in UN-Sicherheitsrat auf Waffenruhe für Jemen dringen
Nach dem verheerenden Luftangriff auf eine Trauerfeier in Sanaa will Großbritannien im UN-Sicherheitsrat auf eine Waffenruhe für Jemen dringen. Der britische UN-Botschafter, Matthew Rycroft sagte am Freitag, er werde einen Resolutionsentwurf einbringen, der zur sofortigen Einstellung der Kämpfe und zur Wiederaufnahme der Verhandlungen aufruft. Der Text werde umgehend den 15 Ratsmitgliedern vorgelegt und solle in den kommenden Tagen zur Abstimmung gestellt werden.
Kommentar: Die Heuchelei der britischen Regierung ist schon extrem hier cp10). Die Briten haben die Saudis rückhaltlos unterstützt und führen sich jetzt als Friedensengel auf.
14.10.2016 – AFP (* A P)
Britain to present UN resolution demanding Yemen ceasefire
Britain will present a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council demanding an immediate ceasefire in Yemen following the deadly air strike on a funeral ceremony, the British ambassador said Friday.
"We have decided to put forward a draft Security Council resolution on Yemen calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a resumption of the political process," British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters.
The draft text which will also press for access for humanitarian aid is expected to be circulated to the council's 15 members in the coming days, diplomats said.
The decision to seek a formal resolution came after Russia blocked a statement drafted by Britain that condemned the air strike, apparently carried out by the Saudi-led coalition, that killed more than 140 mourners.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the statement was "wishy-washy," and called for "some very serious thinking" on how to address the deteriorating situation in Yemen.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/britain-present-un-resolution-demanding-yemen-ceasefire-143037391.html and similar https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2016/10/14/uk-demands-yemen-ceasefire-amid-another-day-of-bloodshed and by The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/yemen-conflict-latest-united-kingdom-saudi-arabia-ceasefire-un-resolution-a7361811.html
Comment by Judith Brown: The UK demands have rather unreasonable conditions apparently - they want the Houthis to step down and Hadi to come back to rule Yemen in exchange for everyone including the Saudis to be cleared of war crimes.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154803833608641
Comment by Jamila Hanan: Can imagine what is in it: Houthis surrender all weapons, accept Saudi legitimate puppet + everyone has immunity from war crime prosections
https://twitter.com/jamilahanan/status/786942675756998656
Comment to Comment by Judith Brown: This apparently is the British idea. It means that Yemen will have Hadi imposed on them - like it or not - and the Houthis will be e really more marginalised and their lives will be at risk, so that saudi can get off any war crimes charges I guess. Johnson and May cannot be serious.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154803720683641
Comments by Hisham Al-Omeisy: How about a resolution lifting Saudi-imposed blockade & open ports? Since #Yemen imports 90% food, 100% drugs, 82% need aid, medevac etc
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/786950197238702081
I have a bad feeling about this. Past few resolutions served as carte blanche for Saudi & Co to devastate #Yemen
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/786949187078356992
Comments by Jamila Hanan: I'm not expecting anything good out of this, @BAESystemsInc is making too much money out of your suffering to end it here.
https://twitter.com/JamilaHanan/status/787031036622495744
I'm expecting impossible terms that Houthis will have to break so that UK can then use to justify bombing you too. Sorry.
https://twitter.com/JamilaHanan/status/787031593298829313
10.10.2016 – The Telegraph (* A P)
Britain stands behind Saudi air campaign in Yemen even as strike on funeral prompts US to review its support
Britain will continue to support the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen, the government said today, even after an airstrike that killed more than 140 people at a funeral prompted the White House to announce a review of US backing for the operation.
The UK government said the carnage caused by the strike was “shocking” but that it had not prompted any equivalent review of British support for the Saudi-led coalition.
“Even as we assist Saudi Arabia regarding the defense of their territorial integrity, we have and will continue to express our serious concerns about the conflict in Yemen and how it has been waged,” the White House said.
“In light of this and other recent incidents, we have initiated an immediate review of our already significantly reduced support to the Saudi-led coalition and are prepared to adjust our support so as to better align with US principles, values and interests.” – by Ralph Sanchez and Christopher Hope
Comment: “Shocking” is also the British governments behaviour. Crazy is mentioning the “defense of their [Saudis] territorial integrity” in this context, which absolutely has nothing to do with the Saudi bombings. Houthi attacks against Saudi territory just started 10 weeks AFTER the beginning of the Saudi aerial war – so how the Saudi bombings against Yemen can have anything to do with ““defense of their territorial integrity”????
10.10.2016 – Amnesty International (A P)
Yemen: funeral hall killings are another reminder of need for UK to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia
Responding to the twin air strikes on a crowded funeral hall in the Yemeni capital Sanaa at the weekend - attacks that reportedly killed at least 140 people and injured as many as 500 others - Amnesty International UK’s Head of Policy and Government Affairs Allan Hogarth said:
“Saturday’s bloodbath at the funeral hall in Sanaa is just the latest atrocity in this appalling conflict and it’s long overdue for the UK to halt arms sales to members of the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition while proper investigations into this and other air strikes are conducted.
“Thousands of Yemeni civilians have already been killed and injured in devastating Saudi Arabia-led airstrikes on hospitals, schools and homes - what clearer demonstration of the risk of sending more arms to Saudi Arabia does the Government need?
“Ministers are flouting a clear legal duty to suspend arms exports where there’s a clear risk of UK weaponry being used to commit human rights violations.”
10.10.2016 – International Business Times (** B K P)
Meet the British firms helping arm Saudi Arabia as it drops its bombs on Yemen
How many more will have to die before the UK government finally says that enough is enough?
As the death toll in Yemen increases, and the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate, the UK's biggest arms company, BAE Systems, has justentered negotiations to sell even more fighter jets to the Saudi forces. Unfortunately, they are being helped every step of the way by UK government Ministers and civil servants.
Last week BAE told the Stock Exchange that "Discussions between BAE Systems, the UK government and the Saudi Arabian government are progressing to define the scope and terms of the next five-year Saudi-British Defence Co-operation Programme." The deal will almost certainly be on the agenda when Liam Fox is expected to visit Riyadh later this month.
BAE is not alone in supplying Saudi. Raytheon UK provides the Paveway IV bomb, which Human Rights Watch and others have linked to attacks on civilian infrastructure and businesses. In 2014 it signed a deal with the Saudi forces worth over £150 million.
Of course the government keeps on assuring us that it has one of the most 'rigorous' and 'robust' arms export systems in the world, and that it won't sell arms where there is a 'clear risk' that they 'might' be used to violate international humanitarian law.
With increasing scrutiny in parliament and from NGOs and the media, there is more pressure than ever before for Whitehall to revisit its relationship with Saudi Arabia.
The bombing of Yemen proves that nothing could be further from the truth. Around 100 UK companies have applied for arms export licences to Saudi over recent years.
These companies have enjoyed no shortage of support from, or access to, the upper echelons of government. Many of the largest companies, including both BAE and Raytheon, sit on advisory bodies like the Defence Growth Partnership and Defence Suppliers Forum which give them direct access to Ministers and senior civil servants. These groups bring together ministers and the chief executives of arms companies to formulate policy on a range of issues, ranging from domestic investment in the industry to selling weapons overseas – By Andrew Smith
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
14.10.2016 – NZZ (*A P)
Der omanische Sündenbock
Hat sich Maskat im Jemen-Konflikt auf die Seite Irans geschlagen? Saudiarabien vermutet, dass Teheran den Huthi via Oman Waffen liefert.
[Der saudische Vize-Kronprinz] Salman beschuldigt Oman, im Konflikt um Jemen auf die Seite der Huthi und Irans gewechselt zu haben.
Die Saudi sollen umgehend dargelegt haben, dass sie der Ansicht sind, das Sultanat vernachlässige den Schutz seiner Grenzen und lasse es zu, dass für die Huthi bestimmte Waffen über die Grenzprovinz Dhofar nach Jemen gelangten. Einheiten Riads haben laut eigenen Angaben nur wenige Tage vor Beginn des Treffens des Golfkooperationsrats zusammen mit ihren jemenitischen Verbündeten sechs in Oman zugelassene Lastwagen abgefangen. Diese hatten angeblich Mittelstreckenraketen des Typs geladen, mit dem regelmässig das saudische Militärhauptquartier von Khamis Mushaitbeschossen wird. Nach Auffassung Riads werden der Flughafen von Salalah, der grössten Stadt Dhofars, sowie kleinere Inseln vor der Küste benützt, um iranisches Militärmaterial zwischenzulagern – von Ulrich Schmid
Kommentar: Propaganda gegen neutrale gibt es immer. Die Saudis meinen freilich, alles müsste nach ihrem Willen gehen. Da passen Neutrale nicht dazu.
14.10.2016 – Al Araby (* A P)
Oman denies Iranian weapons smuggled to Houthis through country
In an interview with Saudi Daily Okaz on Thursday, Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi said “there is no truth to it. Weapons did not cross over our borders… we are willing to clarify this for our brothers in Saudi Arabia.”
In September Yemeni authorities loyal to President AbdRabbuh Mansour Hadi found weapons bound for Iran-backed Houthis on trucks with Omani licence plates en route to the Houthi-held capital of Sanaa from Hadramout province. However, no evidence of any link to Omani authorities were found. Iran officially denies that it is arming the Houthis.
Oman has distanced itself from the Saudi-led coalition which began launching airstrikes in Yemen against Houthi targets in support of the Hadi government in March 2015. Instead the Sultanate has adopted a mediatory role between the two disputing parties.
However, the Hadi government and its backers in Riyadh hold that Oman has failed to remain impartial, has harboured Yemeni rebels and become an important facilitator of communication with Iran.
cp13 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
14.10.2016 – Reuters (* A H)
Destitute migrants pile up in Djibouti as Yemen sends boats back
Thousands of Ethiopians trekking through desert heat and war in Yemen for the sake of a low-paid job in Saudi Arabia risk getting stuck in an overcrowded migrant camp in Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.
Three boatloads have recently been returned from the Yemeni port of Aden, potentially closing a route used by 10,000 migrants per month, mainly Ethiopians from the Oromia and Tigray regions and Somalis.
"If they increase deportations we are going to get people stuck here," IOM's regional director Jeffrey Labovitz told reporters in Geneva by phone from Djibouti.
The transit camp at Obock, comprising some tents and corrugated metal sheets and concrete blocks, has swollen from a few hundred people to 600 or 700, and IOM fears another 3,000 deportees could arrive within days.
"If you look at our numbers right now, 600-700 is not huge, but with 10,000 plus per month, if returns start happening, it could very soon get huge," Labovitz said.
Both sides in a civil war afflicting Yemen have detained thousands of migrants. IOM has been asked to provide 4,000 held by Iran-aligned Houthi fighters and estimates several thousand more are held by Yemenii government forces which are backed by a Saudi-led military coalition – By Tom Miles
http://af.reuters.com/article/djiboutiNews/idAFL8N1CK492?feedType=RSS&feedName=djiboutiNews
14.10.2016 – International Organization for Migration (* A H)
IOM to Issue Urgent Appeal to Confront Unfolding Migration Crisis in Horn of Africa
IOM is preparing an urgent appeal to donors in response to a migration/refugee emergency unfolding in Yemen and Djibouti, impacting across the Horn of Africa region, including Ethiopia. The initial amount of the appeal will be in excess of USD 10 million, according to IOM Director for Operations and Emergencies Mohammed Abdiker.
“We are currently getting hundreds of migrants deported to Djibouti. Our Obock (Djibouti) centre cannot cope with the numbers. Nor can our voluntary return programme. We believe that another 3,000 migrants may be deported to Djibouti in the coming days,” said Abdiker.
“Djibouti has become the epicentre of these relatively unknown, but yet complex, bi-directional migratory flows across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, with around 500 migrants crossing daily,” observed IOM Director for East and Horn of Africa Jeffrey Labovitz, during a visit to Djibouti this week.
According to Labovitz, the migrants include men, women and children, many of whom are vulnerable on a journey that expose them to extreme climate conditions and unsafe land and sea transport. The largest group are from Ethiopia’s Oromia and Tigray regions. They include unaccompanied child migrants, who account for almost 30 percent of the migratory flow into Djibouti.
The Migration Response Center (MRC) in Obock managed by IOM in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior is currently hosting over 600 stranded Ethiopian migrants (among them 86 unaccompanied migrant children and five women). They were deported from Southern Yemen to Geherre and Khor Angar, 30 km from Obock, Djibouti. They suffered badly in Yemen and on the journey to Obock and have asked IOM for voluntary return assistance to Ethiopia.
https://www.iom.int/news/iom-issue-urgent-appeal-confront-unfolding-migration-crisis-horn-africa = http://reliefweb.int/report/djibouti/iom-issue-urgent-appeal-confront-unfolding-migration-crisis-horn-africa
14.10.2016 – UN High Commissioner for Refugees (A H)
Djibouti: Inter-agency update for the response to the Yemeni situation #47 (1 – 30 September 2016)
3,732 Refugees currently hosted in Djibouti pending further physical verification exercises
1,634 Registered females
1,339 Registered children and adolescents
- According to the latest available statistics from IOM and the Government of Djibouti, a total of 36,162 persons of mixed nationalities have arrived in Djibouti as of end of July 2016 (since 26 March 2015). Of those, 19,636 persons (54 per cent) are Yemeni nationals, 14,562 (40 per cent) are transiting migrants and 1,964 persons (6 per cent) are Djiboutian returnees.
- As at 30 September 2016, there are 3,732 refugees currently in Djibouti (pending forthcoming verification exercises in Obock town and Djibouti city). Markazi camp hosts around 1,400 refugees.
http://reliefweb.int/report/djibouti/djibouti-inter-agency-update-response-yemeni-situation-47-1-30-september-2016 and in full: http://reporting.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/Djibouti%20Inter-Agency%20update%20for%20Yemen%20Situation%20-%201-30SEPT16.pdf = http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Djibouti%20Inter-Agency%20update%20for%20Yemen%20Situation%20-%201-30SEPT16.pdf
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
Siehe / See cp6
10.10.2016 – Common Dreams (* B T)
'Homegrown Terrorists' Are Mostly Motivated by US Atrocities Abroad: Secret FBI Report
Secret 2012 report also finds that prison time, military service, international travel did not "significantly contribute" to radicalization
Anger over U.S. military operations abroad was the most commonly cited factor in motivating "homegrown terrorists," according to a secret FBI study reviewed by The Intercept on Tuesday.
The study, conducted in 2012 and titled Homegrown Violent Extremists: Survey Confirms Key Assessments, Reveals New Insights About Radicalization, also found that there was no clear path to "radicalization" and that predicting future attacks remained effectively impossible.
A unit in the FBI's counter-terrorism department interviewed agents and analysts responsible for almost 200 cases throughout the U.S. involving "homegrown violent extremists," finding that they "frequently believe the U.S. military is committing atrocities in Muslim countries, thereby justifying their violent aspirations."
The Intercept's Murtaza Hussain and Cora Currier write:
Online relationships and exposure to English-language militant propaganda and "ideologues" like Anwar al-Awlaki are also cited as "key factors" driving extremism. But grievances over U.S. military action ranked far above any other factor, turning up in 18 percent of all cases, with additional cases citing a "perceived war against Islam," "perceived discrimination," or other more specific incidents. The report notes that between 2009 and 2012, 10 out of 16 attempted or successful terrorist attacks in the United States targeted military facilities or personnel – by Nadia Prupis
Comment by Judith Brown: I guess we all know this but our nasty leaders like testing their grotesque weapons on innocents before selling them to other warmongers that they call 'moderates'. Like Saudi Arabia.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154804854428641
cp15 Propaganda
15.10.2016 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A P)
Asiri: We verify every intell info, Impossible to targeted non military target. Every strike data is documented
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/787350959546626048
Comment: That are ridiculous lies: „Impossible to targeted non military target” when they permanently target them.
15.10.2016 – Middle East Monitor (*A K P)
Saudi to compensate Yemen funeral strike families
Despite US support following the mistaken attack [at funeral in Sanaa, Oct. 8], the Houthis responded by launching missiles into Saudi Arabia near Islam’s holiest city of Mecca, and fired missiles on a US warship stationed off the Yemeni coast, prompting retaliatory strikes against what Washington said were Houthi radar sites.
The Houthis’ response has been denounced by many on social media, particularly as missiles they used to attack Saudi Arabia came dangerously close to striking Mecca.
The Houthis have been known to strike civilian targets using indiscriminate shelling and missile attacks, as well as cross-border raids into Saudi Arabia.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1135880949798267
Comment: What a propaganda! The Houthi shelling at Saudi Arabia had nothing to do at all with Mecca – this propaganda tries to claim that the Houthis would have endangered Mecca. How many km the real target was away from Mecca? – And also using the phrase “mistaken attack” for this relentless 4-tap strike is a very bad propaganda.
15.10.2016 – Gulf News (A P)
UAE’s exemplary role in rebuilding Yemen
Restoring 20 hospitals bears testimony to nation’s humanitarian campaigns as part of its foreign policy
The UAE Government and its people have never shirked from their responsibilities towards their Arab brothers in Yemen. The UAE is a proud member of the international coalition that is led by Saudi Arabia and has a United Nations Security Council mandate to restore the legitimate government and administration of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi from illegal and rebellious factions that have seized control of parts of the country.
The military phase of this campaign is largely complete and were it not for the continued intransigence of Iranian-backed Al Houthi rebels and their unwillingness to recognise the rule of law, and turn over their heavy weaponry, peace would have been restored to the people of Yemen long before.
Right now, because of the lawless elements and their activities, the people of Yemen are suffering, and their position remains tenuous. What is needed is to rebuild a united, peaceful and lawful government and administration — one that has the support of the full international community at large and not just the short-term political and sectarian motives of Tehran. That task of rebuilding Yemen is huge. It means constructing new bridges and roads, bringing stable, clean water supplies, building an electricity grid that can deliver power to the schools and hospitals and building those schools and hospitals so that every Yemeni can enjoyed a quality of life that their Arab brothers and sisters are entitled to.
Last week, the UAE teamed up with the World Health Organisation to restore 20 hospitals across Yemen
http://gulfnews.com/opinion/editorials/uae-s-exemplary-role-in-rebuilding-yemen-1.1913035
Comment: The most horrendous article from the factory of lies of the Coalition.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1135888616464167
Comment: What a crazy propaganda! And even false in the basics: A “United Nations Security Council mandate” for the Saudi coalition simply does not exist. Even UNSC resolution is not such a mandate. It condemns the Houthis and just states that the Saudis and their allies fight against the Houthis, but does not give any mandate to anybody.
13.10.2016 – Jerusalem Post (A P)
From Yemen to Turtle Bay
How Iran is driving the U.S. out of the Middle East
Off the coast of Yemen and at the UN Security Council we are seeing the strategic endgame of Barack Obama’s administration. And it isn’t pretty.
Since Sunday, Iran’s Houthi proxies in Yemen have attacked US naval craft three times in the Bab al-Mandab, the narrow straits at the mouth of the Red Sea. The Bab al-Mandab controls maritime traffic in the Red Sea, and ultimately controls the Suez Canal.
Whether the Iranians directed these assaults or simply green-lighted them is really beside the point. The point is that these are Iranian strikes on the US. The Houthis would never have exposed themselves to US military retaliation if they hadn’t been ordered to do so by their Iranian overlords.
The question is why has Iran chosen to open up an assault on the US? The simple answer is that Iran has challenged US power at the mouth of the Red Sea because it believes that doing so advances its strategic aims in the region – by Caroline B. Glick
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Column-One-From-Yemen-to-Turtle-Bay-470097 = http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/264508/yemen-turtle-bay-caroline-glick
Comment: The Iranians are not the overlords of the Houthis. This article is odd propaganda based on conspiracy theories.
Comment: A very disturbing article on Iran's supposed role in Yemen with Houthis being the puppet of the Persian State, attacking US ships under Iran's command and America's right to defend itself.
All facts are wrong but media is powerful and people end up believing Yemen attacked America.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1134604799925882
13.10.2016 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A K P)
Forty Iranian Warships Violate Yemeni Territorial Waters
High-ranking Yemeni sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that around forty Iranian warships violated on Wednesday Yemeni territorial waters. According to Yemeni government sources, there is a huge probability that these warships were smuggling weapons for the Houthis and transporting mercenaries from some African countries to join the insurgents.
“The Yemeni cabinet session, on Wednesday, discussed this issue and the way to protect Yemeni territorial waters; the government asked the Arab coalition forces to help guard the Yemeni waters and decided to address the U.N. and Security Council on the repeated violations by the Iranian warships,” reported the sources.
The Minister of Fisheries Wealth Fahd Salim Kafayen said that the violation of the Iranian warships was the second in one month, adding that the Yemeni naval forces lack capabilities to intercept them.
“The Iranian flags were not raised on the warships but their structure and matching with previous Iranian warships that were caught in the Yemeni waters, prove that they are Iranian warships,” Kafayen added.
Comment by Hisham Al-Omeisy: I bet even Fox News facepalmed reading Saudi's Asharq: "FORTY Iran warships violated #Yemen waters on Wednesday"
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/786973209941962752
Comment: Ridiculous propaganda. For this, the Iranians must buy some more vessels first. There are actually two Iranian warships heading for Yemeni waters, not 40. Look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_ships_of_the_Islamic_Republic_of_Iran_Navy and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navy_of_the_Army_of_the_Guardians_of_the_Islamic_Revolution#Watercraft:_Total_50.2B (which mostly seem very small for a journey to Yemen)
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
15.10.2016 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
11-10-2016
Targeting and bombing civilians by the warplanes of Saudi Arabia and its alliance
Casualties and damages (full list):
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=706226012861100&id=551288185021551
15.10.2016 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
12-10-2016
Targeting and bombing civilians by the warplanes of Saudi Arabia and its alliance
Casualties and damages (full list):
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=706228959527472&id=551288185021551
15.10.2016 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
13-10-2016
Targeting and bombing civilians by the warplanes of Saudi Arabia and its alliance
Casualties and damages (full list):
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=706231966193838&id=551288185021551
15.10.2016 – Sanaa in the evening (A K)
Saudi fighter jets screaming thru Sana'a sky. Everyone, pray whoever gave them intel for airstrikes now is not another psychopath.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/787314523929653248
Two airstrikes in Sana'a so far. I guess Saudi sincerely trying to show us how sorry they're for airstrikes last Saturday.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/787315396168650754
Fourth airstrike. Saudi's rapid bombardment out of compassion & to drive point home after stmnt today being sorry for civ casualties.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/787316093178130433
Six airstrikes is about average of usual air raid. We should have a break now till next go. Popcorn, anyone?
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/787320489676972032
Saudi warplanes hit the capital Sanaa minutes ago with more than 9 sorties.
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/787323389652467712
they hit Nuquim and Haffa mountains just minutes ago with more than 9 sorties
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/787326877828603904
More "protect citizen" bombs, celebrating one week since "a mistake" that they are deeply (double-tap) sorry for.
https://twitter.com/mkearley2008/status/787319662283329536
15.10.2016 – Sudan Tribune (** A K)
Saudi-led coalition kills Eritrean fishermen off Yemen coasts : group
An Eritrean opposition group on Friday alleged that scores of Ethnic Afar Eritrean civilians in small vessels have been Killed by Saudi-led coalition off the Coast of Yemen.
Citing to several reliable sources the Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization (RSADO) affirmed to Sudan Tribune that the Saudi -led coalition planes have “indiscriminately” and “deliberately” hit Eritrean Afar small fishers’ boats near the Mokha port of Bab Al-Mandab strait off Yemen.
According to opposition officials the fishing boats were carrying livestock and civilians.
The boats had left for Yemen from the Dankalia Region of Eritrea to import basic food commodities, household items, clothing and footwear to meet their basic needs.
“At least 5 civilians were indiscriminately killed and 10 other people injured, including women, children and elderly people,” said Ibrahim Haron, leader of RSADO, an armed opposition movement based in Ethiopia.
This type of air attack against a civilian boat the opposition leader said is "a serious violation of international humanitarian law".
RSADO deplored the attacks by the coalition forces saying it was indiscriminate air strikes with foreknowledge of their indiscriminate effect – by Tesfa-Alem Tekle
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article60542
Comment: The freedom of international shipping, Saudi style.
15.10.2016 – Alwaght (A K PH)
Saudi Airstrikes Kill 8 More Yemenis
The Saudi warplanes killed another 8 people in their newest airstrike against neighboring Yemen on Friday.
The strikes targeted the residential Hidan district in the northern Saada province killing two civilians and injuring three others.
The Shadaa district in the province was also hit by Saudi missiles on the same day killing a woman. The Saudi warplanes also raided the Saada region in Bagim and Zahir. There was no immediate report on possible causalities.
In another deadly attack, Saudis pounded a family house in Harf Sufyan in the northern Amran Province killing all four members of the family.
Furthermore, another Yemeni civilian was killed and three others were wounded in a Saudi airstrike on a district in the southwestern province of Ibb
http://alwaght.com/en/News/70832
15.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression warplanes launch 12 strikes on Saada
Saudi aggression fighter jets launched 12 air strikes on a number of areas in Saada province overnight, a security official told Saba.
The warplanes carried out the strikes late on Friday night, targeting al-Thoaban , al- Muharraq and Shoaib areas in Baqim district seven time and al-Safia area in Zahir district two times, the official added.
Two further raids hit main road linking al-Zahir and Haydan districts and other more strike struck al- Ruoss village in Maran area , damaging citizens' property and farms, No casualties were reported.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news443710.htm
and
14.10.2016 – Ahmad Alghobary (A K)
#Sadaa is under heavy #Saudi air strikes now
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/786960634344828928
14.10.2016 – Fatik Al-Rodaini (A K)
In #Ibb and #Amran governorates and due to Saudi strikes on residents there,5 ppl were killed &3 others wounded today.
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/786903159218266112
15.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Four family members killed by airstrike against their house in Amran
Four people were killed in an air raid by the Saudi-American aggression against their residence in Harf Sufian district on Friday, Amran governorate.
A local source in the governorate told Saba that the hostile warplanes launched an air raid against a residence in Harf Sufian killing four family members, including three children.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news443702.htm
and
14.10.2016 – Hussain Albukhaiti (A K)
#Saudi #UAE CO strikes on a home in Harf Sufian NE #Amran province N #Sanaa #Yemen kild 4Ppl inc 3 childre
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/786960332044562432 and film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhR0FwMYGoc = https://www.facebook.com/881240811966559/videos/1131566246934013/
15.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
A citizen martyred, others wounded in Saudi two air strikes on Ibb
One person was killed and others were injured on Saturday by Saudi aggression two air strikes on Ibb province, a security official said.
The two raids targeted an educational center in al-Saira district of Ibb province, killing a resident and injuring others, as well causing complete destruction to neighboring residential buildings, the security official said.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news443735.htm
and
14.10.2016 – Crimes of Decisive Storm (A K PH)
Photo Effects aviation bombed this morning. The educational center of mass Benjd. Directorate Sbrh, Ibb province
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/videos/1591613164468005/ and https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1591514004477921
13.10.2016 – Abla Hamoud (A K)
Peace tourist resort - vase ... consists of 36 cottages six chalets were ready ... The last Pantzarallmsat for the opening reception of tourists ... and ... and ... the people of Yemen in the city of Hodeida At Tuhayat District vase village on the Red Sea
But a year after the attack on the tourist resort on October 9, 2015 The resort offers a second time yesterday morning October 12, 2016 the eighth hour and a half in the morning to seven raids, which led to its destruction and injuring two people
Yemen Hodeidah Althita (photos)
One photo clearly shows a US bomb, the same as was used at the Sanaa funeral attack!!
https://www.facebook.com/abla.hamoud/posts/1184178521621398 = https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1591527827809872
13.–14.10.2016 – Sanaa at night (A K)
Photos: two raids at Nqum mount
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1591329114496410
Picture comes from Sana'a Now. Jets of Saudi-led coalition still hovering & bomb Sana'a. Hard live.
https://twitter.com/JosephJo1221/status/786707304573964289
Now, Saudi jets bomb Sana'a #Yemen. No one can sleep... As every day. (photo)
https://twitter.com/JosephJo1221/status/786706474428923904
massive explosion rocks #Yemen's capital now. It's: 1:36 am. #Saudi or #US warplanes are hovering over the city.
https://twitter.com/shapban/status/786697094681731072
Near 2am in #Yemen capital Sanaa : 3 airstrikes by Saudi jets. Large explosions near Nuqm mountain.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/786705751251255298
Sanaa 2:00AM Friday, October 14 2016 Photo by \ Husam Safwan
https://twitter.com/A7medJa7af/status/786726013506031617
BREAKING NEWS: - #Yemen was hit by 2 #Saudi airstrikes since 1:34 a.m. local in northern #Sanaa. Warplanes still circling. Photo
https://twitter.com/teddy_cat1/status/786706121142697984
Pix from the capital Sanaa taken now following Saudi bombs on Nuquim mountain. #Yemen
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/786699470926909440
Photos AM 2:00
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1591502607812394 and https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/787161059836780545
13.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression warplanes launch 13 strikes on al-khuba
Saudi aggression fighter jets launched 13 air strikes on two sites of al-Khubah area in Jizan province, a military official told Saba on Thursday.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news443613.htm
13.10.2016 – Ahmad Alghobary (A K)
#Saudi air strike targeted a civilian car in Baqem district #Sadaa and killed the driver
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/786594581940998149
13.10.2016 – Almasirah TV (A K PH)
Film: Saudi air raids targeting Taiz coastal region
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbhKeV_d0gY = https://www.facebook.com/881240811966559/videos/1131144276976210/
cp16a Saudischer Luftangriff auf Sanaa, 8. Okt. / Saudi air raid at Sanaa, Oct. 8
15.10.2016 – Spiegel Online (* A K P)
Saudi-arabische Allianz übernimmt Verantwortung für Angriff auf Trauerfeier
Mindestens 140 Menschen waren bei dem verheerenden Angriff auf eine Trauerfeier in Jemens Hauptstadt Sanaa getötet worden. Jetzt hat die von Saudi-Arabien geführte Militärkoalition erstmals zugegeben, für den Luftschlag verantwortlich zu sein. Bei der Attacke am vergangenen Samstag waren auch mehrere Hundert Menschen verletzt worden.
"Falsche Informationen" der jemenitischen Verbündeten hätten zu dem Angriff geführt, hieß es in der Mitteilung einer Untersuchungskommission, die von der amtlichen saudi-arabischen Nachrichtenagentur verbreitet wurde. Gegen die Verantwortlichen solle juristisch vorgegangen, den Opfern eine Entschädigung bezahlt werden.
Kommentar: Glauben die Saudis wirklich, sich damit rechtfertigen zu können?
15.10.2016 – Tagesschau (* A K P)
Militärkoalition gesteht Angriff auf Trauerfeier
Das saudi-arabisch geführte Luftbündnis im Jemen hat erstmals zugegeben, für den verheerenden Angriff auf eine stark besuchte Trauerfeier mit knapp 140 Toten und mehr als 600 Verletzten verantwortlich zu sein. Ein vor der Koalition eingesetzter Untersuchungsausschuss teilte mit, dass falsche Angaben zum tödlichen Bombardement in der jemenitischen Hauptstadt Sanaa durch ein Flugzeug des Bündnisses geführt hatten.
Die fehlerhaften Informationen hätten von einer Partei gestammt, die "mit der jemenitischen Präsidentschaft des Generalstabschefs verbunden" sei. Wer damit genau gemeint war, blieb unklar. Diese Partei habe erklärt, dass am Versammlungsort etliche Anführer der schiitischen Huthi-Rebellen anwesend seien, hieß es demnach in der Erklärung. Es sei darauf beharrt worden, dass der Ort "ein legitimes militärisches Ziel" gewesen sei. Der Ausschuss erklärte nun, es müssten "angemessene Maßnahmen" gegen die Verantwortlichen getroffen und eine Entschädigung an die Familien der Opfer gezahlt werden.
http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/jemen-anschlag-trauerfeier-107.html
15.10.2016 – NTV (* A K P)
Tod von 140 Menschen war "Irrtum"
Die von Saudi-Arabien angeführte Militärkoalition hat zugegeben, dass eines ihrer Kampfflugzeuge am 8. Oktober "irrtümlicherweise" eine Trauerfeier in der jemenitischen Hauptstadt Sanaa bombardiert hat. "Wegen der Missachtung der Einsatzregeln und -prozeduren der Koalition sowie der Herausgabe falscher Informationen hat ein Flugzeug der Koalition irrtümlicherweise den Ort angegriffen und damit zivile Tote und Verletzte verursacht", erklärte der von der Koalition eingesetzte Untersuchungsausschuss in Riad.
Der eingesetzte Ausschuss erklärte nun, es müssten "angemessene Maßnahmen" gegen die Verantwortlichen getroffen und eine Entschädigung an die Familien der Opfer gezahlt werden. Der Ausschuss beschuldigte das Umfeld des jemenitischen Generalstabs, einen sofortigen Angriff angefordert zu haben, weil bewaffnete Huthi-Kämpfer versammelt seien.
http://www.n-tv.de/politik/Tod-von-140-Menschen-war-Irrtum-article18864681.html und Sputnik News: https://de.sputniknews.com/panorama/20161015312955542-koalition-saudis-schuld-jemen-angriff-trauerzug/
15.10.2016 – Washington Post (* A K P)
U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition claims responsibility for Yemen funeral attack that killed more than 150
A Saudi Arabia-led investigation into an airstrike on a Yemeni funeral last week has concluded that Saudi-led coalition jets “wrongly” bombed the ceremony, killing more than 150 people, after receiving faulty information and not following proper procedures.
In a statement on Saturday, the Joint Incidents Assessment Team based in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, said that “a party affiliated” with the chief of staff of Yemen’s President Abed Rabo Mansour al-Hadi “wrongly passed information that there was a gathering of” armed rebel Houthi leaders on Oct. 8 in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.
The party, the investigators said, “insisted that the location be targeted immediately as a legitimate military target.”
But investigators said the coalition’s air operations center ordered the attack “without obtaining approval from the Coalition command to support legitimacy and without following the Coalition command’s precautionary measures to ensure that the location is not a civilian one that may not be targeted.” A coalition aircraft then “carried out the mission.”
“JIAT has found that because of non-compliance with Coalition rules of engagement and procedures, and the issuing of incorrect information a Coalition aircraft wrongly targeted the location, resulting in civilian deaths and injuries,” investigators said in a statement – By Sudarsan Raghavan
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-backed-saudi-led-coalition-claims-responsibility-for-yemen-funeral-attack-that-killed-more-than-150/2016/10/15/43a3adea-92bf-11e6-a6a3-d50061aa9fae_story.html and very short by Reuters: http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN12F090
Comment: It was well known that this was a funeral; the funeral had been announced a long time before. And, again: In this war, there does not exist any “legitimate military target”. The whole Saudi aerial war is a war of aggression, thus the whole war by itself is illegal. Attacks against which targets ever, whether military or not, are war crimes.
15.10.2016 – AP (* A K P)
Saudi-led coalition blames Yemeni party for funeral bombing
A Saudi-led coalition on Saturday blamed "wrong information" for the bombing last weekend of a packed funeral hall in the rebel-held Yemeni capital that killed at least 140 people and wounded some 600.
The coalition's Joint Incidents Assessment Team, or JIAT, said a "party" affiliated to Yemen's General Chief of Staff headquarters had provided intelligence that the hall in Sanaa was filled with leaders of the Shiite Houthi rebels, whom the coalition has been targeting since March 2015, when it intervened in Yemen's civil war in support of the internationally recognized government.
The unidentified party insisted the site was "a legitimate military target," the English-language statement said. The Air Operation Center in Yemen, it added, directed a "close air support mission" to target the site without approval from the coalition's command.
The investigators called on the coalition to immediately review the rules of engagement and recommended that compensation be offered to the victims' families.
"JIAT has found that because of non-compliance with Coalition rules of engagement and procedures, and the issuing of incorrect information, a Coalition aircraft wrongly targeted the location, resulting in civilian deaths and injuries," it said.
The coalition, which had initially denied any responsibility, said it accepts the results of the investigation and has started to implement the recommended changes.
"The coalition command expresses its regret at this unintentional incident and the ensuing pain for victims' families," it said in a statement.
The Yemeni government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has yet to publicly comment on the Oct. 8 bombing – by Maggie Michael and Ahmed Al-Haj
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5f8f8de35d6646d39a5b86dffd36476e/saudi-led-coalition-blames-yemeni-party-funeral-bombing?nc=1476526608329 and Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/articles/saudi-led-coalition-to-blame-for-yemeni-funeral-bombing-group-finds-1476539276
Comment: The whole matter shows that Saudi claims regarding their air strikes are simple lies. At first, they told they had not targeted the funeral at all, and blamed Daesh, Al Qaida, and later they admitted but told this strange story.
Comments:
They said yes we did it We killed everyone there assuming houthi leaders were there based on false information
https://twitter.com/basheerMoh/status/787241299950927872
I mean honestly I am dumbfounded. How many strikes would be attributed to false intelligence given by #Yemen army?
https://twitter.com/RashaMoh2/status/787232198827081728
By far the dumbest saddest scapegoating ever. Really Saudi? Blaming goons you're backing on ground! No shame.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/787227382730063872
Double tap airstrikes, targeting 1st responders, bad intel too? Saudi's mockery of our intelligence insulting
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/787239256079142912
Report doesn't mention triple tap attack that ensured max # killed including rescuers & it implies Saudi army takes orders from Yemen gov
https://twitter.com/SultanetZman/status/787242126232915968
What was the mistake? They stroke 4 times a funeral gathering instead of a hospital? A market? A school? Homes?
15.10.2016 – Middle East Monitor (*A K P)
Saudi to compensate Yemen funeral strike families
The JIAT statement said investigators were still assessing whether casualty counts were accurate as it believed that there were reports that the number of victims had been inflated by the Houthis, possibly in order to gain a media victory against Riyadh.
The Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT), a body set-up by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz as a way to limit civilian casualties in Yemen, said in a statement that the coalition’s Air Operations Centre also failed to obtain approval for the strike from commanders, a violation of protocol.
The JIAT called for a review of the rules of engagement, and for compensation for the families of the victims. It also said “appropriate action” should be taken against those who caused the incident, without elaborating.
As the JIAT was established by the King himself, its recommendations are expected to be carried out swiftly.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20161015-saudi-to-compensate-yemen-funeral-strike-families/
Comment: No money can ever compensate the damage done by this war
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1135880949798267
Comment: Saudis think with money they can buy everything. This just does not work.
15.10.2016 – Al Arabiya (* A K P)
Yemen army’s wrong intel led to funeral strike
Below is the official statement by JIAT on the Great Hall incident in Sanaa:
The JIAT examined all related documents, and assessed evidence, including the rules of engagement (ROEs) and the testimonies of concerned personnel and those involved in the incident, and has concluded that a party affiliated to the Yemeni Presidency of the General Chief of Staff wrongly passed information that there was a gathering of armed Houthi leaders in a known location in Sanaa, and insisted that the location be targeted immediately as a legitimate military target.
JIAT has found that because of non-compliance with Coalition rules of engagement (ROEs) and procedures, and the issuing of incorrect information a Coalition aircraft wrongly targeted the location, resulting in civilian deaths and injuries.
JIAT is still gathering and analyzing data related to the incident, namely reports about some sides that used this erroneous bombing to increase the number of victims, in coordination with the relevant agencies of the legitimate Yemeni government and concerned states, and will announce the results as soon as its investigations are complete.
Comment by Sophie McNeill: What about the #Saudi coalition attacks on hospitals, schools, homes, bridges? How do they reflect a goal to "protect civilians" in #Yemen?
https://twitter.com/Sophiemcneill/status/787317939296927744
15.10.2016 – BBC (* A K P)
Growing pressure to end war: Frank Gardner, BBC Security Correspondent
The findings of this Saudi-led investigation will come as no surprise and little consolation to those caught up in the devastating air strike on a funeral in Sanaa.
Already social media postings have suggested that blaming a senior Yemeni military officer for ignoring the rules is a case of scapegoating.
But for Saudi Arabia, which was already looking for ways to extricate itself from the Yemen conflict, this could be a watershed moment.
Beyond sacking those responsible for this catastrophic breach of its targeting rules and compensating the victims' families, the Saudi-led coalition is immediately reviewing its rules of engagement. Will this be enough to silence those calling for the UK and US to curb their arms sales to Saudi Arabia?
Unlikely. As long as air strikes continue over Yemen civilians will continue to die, while Houthi rebels continue to fire their missiles across the border at Saudi villages. So the pressure to end this unwinnable war is greater than ever – by Frank Gardner
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37666698
15.10.2016 – British Government (A P)
UK welcomes initial report into airstrike on funeral hall in Yemen
The UK welcomes the release of the initial investigation into reports of an airstrike hitting a funeral hall in Sana’a, Yemen on 8 October
The UK welcomes the release by the Coalition’s Joint Investigations Assessment Team (JIAT) of the outcome of an initial investigation into reports of an airstrike hitting a funeral hall in the Yemeni capital Sana’a on 8 October. We expect further detail to be provided in a subsequent report. Our consideration of the reports will be used to contribute to our overall view on the approach and attitude of Saudi Arabia to International Humanitarian Law, as part of all the information available to us. This, in turn, informs the risk assessment made against the arms export criteria. We welcome the commitments to take action against those responsible and to review rules of engagement and compliance procedures.
Comment: The release of the Saudi committee is hardly acceptable; this British statement is also not. It is unacceptable to label this strike as a “mistake” when four times accurately the same building was hit. The British government accepts all Saudi stories, how strange ever they might be, as they will support the Saudis whatever happens.
15.10.2016 – The Guardian (* A K)
'Heinous crime against humanity': how Saudi airstrikes have devastated Yemen
Man whose son died in attack on funeral in Sana’a hits out at ‘unjust war’ as kingdom condemned over human rights violations
At 25, Sadeq Abdullah Saleh al-Guraizea was close to finishing his education and looking forward to the future.
Last Saturday, still in Sana’a, he accompanied his 56-year-old father, Abdullah, a security officer, to the city’s al-Sala al-Kubra community hall for the funeral ceremony of a well-known sheikh, the father of the Houthi-led government’s interior minister, Galal al-Rawishan
“We went there to offer condolences,” his father told the Guardian. “I sat in the right side of the hall and my son was approximately 5 metres in front of me.” Among the crowd were senior military officials, but also hundreds of civilians.
At about 3.30am, the first Saudi strike hit. “The roof fell and I got injured. I jumped out of a window to get out, thinking that my son had gone out before me,” Abdullah Saleh recalled. “Then I went to look for my son inside; it was impossible to see amid the devastation and fire, it was then that the second missile landed.”
“My son was scheduled to go back to Malaysia a week after his marriage,” Saleh said. “My son like many other students had nothing to do with this unjust war. He wanted to return to Malaysia in order to complete his study, and continue a PhD - to achieve his dreams.”
“It’s catastrophic and bitter, I don’t believe that I have lost my son; it’s an incident unlike any other,” he said. “It is a heinous crime against humanity, and the oddest thing is that this crime was committed by an Islamic country, the so-called Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the father said.
Yemeni analyst Farea Al-Muslimi said that the funeral attack has had a significant effect domestically and is likely to push the conflict further from prospects of peace. He said the conflict risked making Yemen another Syria or Libya – by Saeed Kamali Dehghan
13.10.2016 – Alternet (** A K)
Did the U.S. Assist the Disastrous Bombing of a Funeral in Yemen?
Did the U.S. directly assist the Saudi-led coalition aerial bombing of a funeral in Sanaa, Yemen this weekend, reported to have killed over 140 people and injured as many as 600? A renowned combat aircraft engineer and former Pentagon official, Pierre Sprey, says the evidence suggests the U.S. did exactly that.
As Sprey explained to AlterNet, “If that Saudi fighter was based at the main Saudi base near Riyadh, Prince Sultan airbase, then it was almost certainly refueled by USAF [U.S. Air Force] tankers.” Though there is an airbase located close enough to Yemen to not require refueling, King Khaled airbase, Sprey told AlterNet, “I doubt they are stationing very many fighters there these days, given that the Houthis [rebel group that overthrew Yemen’s government in 2014-2015 following protests against a deeply unpopular fuel subsidy cut] have successfully hit that base with Scud missiles on at east one occasion (and could readily overrun it on the ground, given the dismal performance of Saudi ground units).”
In an interview with the Huffington Post, Sprey estimated that even if the Saudis’ F-15s launched from a base bordering Yemen, they would have only five to 15 minutes of time over the closest rebel territory. Alternatively, if the jets were to target the rebel cities in the southwest of Yemen, they would have only five minutes over those cities. This is hardly the kind of time necessary for the strafing runs of a bombing operation.
Asked if the aircraft involved in the Sanaa funeral bombing launched from an airbase bordering Yemen, U.S. Air Force spokesman Shane Huff told AlterNet, “I must refer you to the Saudi Defense Forces on that question.”
Sprey told us that USAF handles “the vast majority of refueling” for coalition fighters. According to Huff, the U.S. has offloaded fuel to 5,730 receiving coalition aircraft since April of 2015 – By Ken Klippenstein, Paul Gottinger
http://www.alternet.org/world/did-us-assist-sanaa-bombing
15.10.2016 – Living in Yemen on the Edge (A K)
Film: A little girl cried on her Father's body ,funeral hall attacks
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/videos/1135886143131081/
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
15.10.2016 – Business Insider (* B K)
This graphic shows the ratcheting up of the ongoing missile war in Yemen
The Missile Defence Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies published the following timeline illustrating the interceptions of ballistic missiles in Yemen.
Since the March 2015 launch of the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council’s military Operation Decisive Storm, missile attacks launched from Houthi-held territory have accelerated.
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/yemen-missile-war-graphic-2016-10
Comment: And it clearly shows that the Houthi / saleh missile attacks against Saudi territory began just about 10 weeks AFTER the beginning of the Saudi aerial war, that means they were retaliate, the aerial war could not have been an act of “self-defense” as always is claimed.
15.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army purges strategic sites from mercenaries in Marib
the army and popular committees seized weapons and quantities of ammunition from Saudi-paid collaborators
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news443733.htm
14.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Military source affirms killing, injuring mercenaries in Taiz
A military source has affirmed that a number of mercenaries of the Saudi-American aggression were killed while some injured in an attack by the missiles and artillery forces against their groupings in Thubab in Taiz.
The source told Saba that the missiles forces of the army and popular committees targeted the mercenaries’ groupings at the outskirts of Thubab city.
It pointed out the attack resulted in human and material losses in the side of the mercenaries.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news443701.htm
14.10.2016 – Almanar (A K PH)
Yemeni Army, Popular Committees Kill 40 Saudi-led Mercenaries in Boqa’a Exit
A special operation was carried out by the Yemeni army and popular committees in the border area of Boqa’a exit against the Saudi aggression forces, killing 40 mercenaries.
The military media circulated a video which shows the operation and broadcasts the voices of the Yemeni fighters who expressed their full readiness to defeat the Saudi aggression.
The Yemeni forces also attacked a number of Saudi military sites in Jizan, inflicted severe damages upon them.
http://english.almanar.com.lb/65503 and by Press TV Iran 60 killed http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/10/15/489140/Yemen-Saudi-Arabia-Najran-Jizan
Comment: Is this the same incident than the following? The one side reports 40, the other side 1 killed???
14.10.2016 – Reuters (A K)
Saudi soldier killed by Houthi fire in southern border area: TV
A Saudi soldier was killed on Friday when Yemen's Houthi group attacked across the border into the kingdom's southern Jizan province, state television al-Ekhbariya reported.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-idUSKBN12E1F6
and a film seems to be from the same place:
14.10.2016 – Almasirah TV (A K PH)
#Houthi ambushed S #Yemen-i fighters fightin4 #Saudi near Albuga borderCrossing S #Najran
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Li32rVAC84
13.10.2016 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (A K T)
AQAP vs Houthis fight concentrated in alBayda now, where Hadi apointd governor is named by US as AQAP financier and facilitator.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/786814474103746560
13.10.2016 – Press TV Iran (A K PH)
Yemeni forces shoot down Saudi reconnaissance aircraft
According to a report by Yemen’s al-Masirah television, the Saudi spy drone was downed by Yemeni armed forces over Qaviya base in the kingdom’s southwestern region of Jizan on Thursday.
In another development, a Saudi soldier was killed by Yemeni army snipers in the al-Rabuah area of Jizan.
Elsewhere in the same region, a Saudi military vehicle came under fire by Yemeni forces.
http://presstv.com/Detail/2016/10/13/488894/Yemen-Saudi-Arabia-Jizan
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
15.10.2016 – AFP (A)
Two US citizens held in Yemen freed: Oman state media
Two US citizens "held" in Yemen have been freed and were taken to Oman on Saturday after mediation by authorities in the Gulf nation, the state-run Oman News Agency reported.
The agency, quoting an Omani foreign ministry spokesman, said the two Americans were brought to Oman aboard an aircraft that earlier Saturday flew to the Yemeni capital to evacuate those wounded in air strikes on a funeral in Sanaa last week.
He said Omani authorities secured their release "in coordination with Yemeni parties in Sanaa", the capital which is under the control of the Shiite Huthi rebels and their allies, supporters of ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/two-us-citizens-held-yemen-freed-oman-state-175627595.html and by Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-hostages-idUSKBN12F0QW
14.10.2016 – Kurier (* B K P)
Der übersehene Krieg im Jemen
Die saudische Journalistin Safa Al Ahmad rüttelt mit ihren Filmen auf.
"Es ist sehr schwierig, aus dem Jemen zu berichten", erzählt die junge saudi-arabische Dokumentarfilmerin Safa Al Ahmad, die sich als eine von weltweit nur ganz wenigen Journalisten vor Ort wagt. "Aber auch nicht schwieriger als aus Syrien – und von dort hört man in Europa viel mehr." Einen Grund dafür sieht sie darin, "dass es von Jemen aus keine Flüchtlingsströme nach Europa gibt". Zwar seien auch hier Millionen Menschen auf der Flucht – "aber innerhalb des Landes. Sie sitzen fest, können nicht raus.
Zuletzt war Safa Al Ahmad vor zehn Monaten im Land. "Seither wurde alles noch schlimmer. Und schon damals gab es in den Spitälern kaum noch Medikamente. In einer belagerten Stadt, die ich kurz besuchen durfte, lebten die Menschen nur noch von geschmuggelten Tomaten und Erdäpfeln. Die Stadt wird von den Hutis belagert, das ganze Land aber wiederum wird von Saudi-Arabien belagert."
Ein absehbares Ende des Krieges im Jemen erwartet sie nicht. Dazu müsse erst Saudi-Arabien, das den Jemen als seinen Hinterhof betrachtet, aufhören zu bombardieren. "Das Königshaus in Saudi-Arabien will, dass der von den Hutis gestürzte Präsident Hadi wieder die Regierung übernimmt", sagt Al Ahmad. "Und das ist für mich die Ironie an der Geschichte: Die Saudis pochen auf die Wiederrichtung der legitimen Regierung und der Demokratie – und glauben doch selbst gar nicht an Demokratie." – von Ingrid Steiner-Gashi
https://kurier.at/politik/ausland/der-uebersehene-krieg-im-jemen/225.269.020
4.10.2016 – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations A)
Bulletin sur le Criquet pèlerin No. 456 (septembre 2016)
La situation relative au Criquet pèlerin est restée très préoccupante au Yémen en septembre et il y avait des signes de développement d’une résurgence en Mauritanie. Au Yémen, des groupes et des bandes larvaires, ainsi que des groupes d’ailés ont continué à se former. On s’attend à l’apparition de davantage de groupes d’ailés et peut-être de quelques petits essaims, qui déplaceront vers la côte de la mer Rouge, dans les zones adjacentes de l’Arabie saoudite et peut- être la Corne de l’Afrique où une reproduction entraînera une nouvelle augmentation des effectifs acridiens. Des opérations de lutte aérienne et terrestre contre des groupes et bandes larvaires et des groupes d’ailés ont été réalisées dans les zones côtières adjacentes d’Arabie saoudite.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/bulletin-sur-le-criquet-p-lerin-no-456-septembre-2016 and in full http://www.fao.org/ag/locusts/en/info/info/index.html = http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/DL456f.pdf
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-213-yemen-war-mosaic-213
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-213: / Yemen War Mosaic 1-213:
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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