US arms for Saudi Arabia – Review of US military assistance for Saudis – British and US bombs in Yemen – Saudi economic war against Yemen – Starvation and Cholera – Attack at Mekka?
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Propaganda wegen Angriff auf Mekka / Most important: Propaganda on Mekka attack
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
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
cp13b Flüchtlinge / Refugees
cp13c Finanzen / Finances
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
Klassifizierung / Classification
***
**
*
(Kein Stern / No star)
A = Aktuell / Current news
B = Hintergrund / Background
C = Chronik / Chronicle
D = Details
E = Wirtschaft / Economy
H = Humanitäre Fragen / Humanitarian questions
K = Krieg / War
P = Politik / Politics
PH = Pro-Houthi
PS = Pro-Saudi
T = Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
Hungersnot und Cholera cp3 / Starvation and Cholera cp3
28.10.2016 – Reuters (** A H)
Yemen's suspected cholera cases soar to 1,410 within weeks: WHO
The number of suspected cholera cases in Yemen has ballooned to 1,410 within three weeks of the outbreak being declared, the World Health Organization said on Friday, as 18 months of war has destroyed most health facilities and clean water supplies.
But on Friday, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told a Geneva news briefing that as of Thursday there were 1,410 suspected cholera cases in 10 out of Yemen's 23 governorates - mostly in Taiz, Aden, Lahj, Hodeida and Sanaa.
Cholera is only one risk in Yemen's war but a rapid advance of the disease would add a new dimension to the humanitarian disaster which UNICEF says has left 7.4 million children in need of medical help and 370,000 at risk of severe acute malnutrition.
WHO said on Wednesday that only 47 of the suspected cases had tested positive for cholera and the outbreak had spread beyond the capital to nine other governorates – by Tom Miles and Stephanie Nebehay
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-cholera-idUSKCN12S1CT
27.10.2016 – Shadowproof (** B K P)
U.S. Behind Huge Weapons Shipments To Saudi Arabia Prior to Yemen Funeral Attack
The United States shipped hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons to Saudi Arabia just weeks prior to the Saudi-led coalition’s funeral bombing in Sanaa, Yemen, according to a new analysis of U.S. government data conducted by Shadowproof.
In response to a query from Shadowproof about the funeral strike, State Department spokesperson Frankie Sturm replied, “We have regularly expressed our concerns to the Saudi-led coalition, and urged them – as we have urged all sides, including the Houthis – to take all feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians and civilian objects and return to a cessation of hostilities.”
Despite the US government’s purported desire for a “cessation of hostilities” and “concerns” for civilians, Shadowproof’s analysis shows that large quantities of U.S. weapons continue to flow to the Saudi government, impeding a sustained ceasefire and enabling civilian carnage.
In July and August, the U.S. shipped Saudi $8.8 million in bombs, $47.3 million in parts for bombs, 313 guided missiles worth $26 million, one military helicopter worth $15.7 million, and 334 armored fighting vehicles and 19 armored vehicles, which together are worth over $197 million.
From April to July, when peace talks were active, the U.S. shipped $50 million in armored vehicles and $82 million in parts for bombs. Talks broke down in July and were followed by a major increase in coalition air assaults in Yemen.
In fact, over the course of President Barack Obama’s administration, it has approved a staggering $115 billion in weapons sales to Saudi Arabia—including a $1.29 billion sale in November 2015, which included over 19,000 bombs and a $1.15 billion sale of tank components, ammunition, and other weapons.
Back in 2010, U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning disclosed a State Department cable from the same year that showed the U.S. government provided “imagery” of the Yemen border to the Saudi government, despite evidence Saudi aircraft were attacking civilians when attacking Houthis in northern Yemen. Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation Prince Khaled bin Sultan appealed to a U.S. ambassador to give them a Predator drone to help limit civilian casualties.
Another cable from 2009 that was also disclosed by Manning shows the U.S. government approved military assistance for Saudi Arabia or Yemen if aid was not used against Houthis. Since then, the U.S. government has allowed the Saudi Kingdom to pull them into an open-ended war.
With regard to al Qaida, Ahmed noted, “Hundreds of Saudi jets and their allies bombing Yemeni forces have avoided bombing…positions in Yemen of al Qaida.”
The Saudi coalition declared as a target the entire Saada Governorate (measuring 4,000 square miles), which borders Saudi Arabia.
The dire humanitarian crisis resulting from the war has given rise to a great deal of anger in Yemen, according to Arrabyee. “Yemenis see the war as an American war, as the coalition couldn’t carry out the strikes in Yemen without U.S. support. There is a big campaign saying Americans are the ones killing the Yemenis people.”
William Hartung from the Center for International Policy told Shadowproof the U.S. is directly involved in Yemen, even if it’s not the one dropping the bombs.
“Without U.S. support there’s no way Saudi coalition could wage the war at this level,” Hartung said. “The large weapons deals and mid-flight refueling provided by the U.S. play an important role in Saudi’s ability to conduct strikes in Yemen.” – by Paul Gottinger and Ken Klippenstein
https://shadowproof.com/2016/10/27/us-weapons-shipments-to-saudi-arabia-yemen/
26.10.2016 – War on the Rocks (** B P)
What a Real Review of U.S. Military Assistance to Saudi Arabia Would Say
In the aftermath [of the Sanaa funeral bombing], the White House announced thatU.S military assistance to Saudi Arabia does not amount to a blank checkand that it would begin an immediate “policy review” of this aid to Saudi Arabia.
The “policy review” is an old and established Washington technique for avoiding tough decisions. Faced with a choice between unpalatable alternatives, the government initiates a review to study the question in depth. The hope is that by the time the review is finished, the political pressure to take action will have passed. The purpose of a review is often to buy time and create space for an administration to keep doing what it has been doing, not to create clarity or to change policy.
This review of U.S. military assistance to Saudi Arabia will likely not be an exception to this rule.
U.S. officials are visibly uncomfortable with supporting the Saudi war in Yemen, but the U.S.-Saudi relationship is still considered a pillar of broader U.S. policy in the Middle East. Plus, the big-dollar value of arms deals between U.S. firms and the Saudi government means changing U.S. policy would be politically difficult. Buying time with a review seems the only option.
SAVING TIME
But time is not cheap, particularly for civilians in Yemen. The problems created by U.S. policy toward Saudi Arabia generally and this conflict in particular are not new. We don’t really need a lengthy review to understand the tough choices involved in U.S. military assistance to Saudi Arabia. We can say already what a serious and sober review would look like. So here is our effort to save the U.S. government some time, even if that is the last thing it wants.
The key question is this: What does the United States want from the Saudis, and how does U.S. military assistance to the Kingdom help or hurt its ability to achieve these goals?
A NEW APPROACH TO SUPPORTING THE KINGDOM
Given the above, we see three main takeaways from a hard-headed review of U.S. military assistance to Saudi Arabia.
First, U.S. security assistance has bought far less influence over Saudi foreign policy than is commonly assumed.
Second, over the years, the United States has sold Saudi Arabia too many sophisticated weapons that it does not need to defend itself against the external threats it faces.
Third, America should not walk away from its security cooperation with the Saudis. A Saudi Arabia untethered to the United States would be an even more problematic security partner than it is today.
The United States does not need to pander to Saudi views to have an effective security relationship with the Kingdom – by RICHARD SOKOLSKY, JEREMY SHAPIRO
http://warontherocks.com/2016/10/what-a-real-review-of-u-s-military-assistance-to-saudi-arabia-would-say/ = http://carnegieendowment.org/publications/?fa=64960
Comment: A very long and sound article, here only a few excerpts and ideas. Please read in full. I would have appreciated still more strict conclusions, especially to quickly stop the Yemen war.
26.10.2016 – ITV (** B K)
British and US weapons among those used in Yemen
ITV News has seen evidence that suggests British cluster bombs have been used in the war in Yemen.
A Houthi fighter showed us photographs he says he took in March this year showing British cluster bomblets in the front line region of Baqim. The metadata on the photographs support his account and an independent munitions expert has identified the bombs as British-made IBL755s.
On the same phone he showed us other photographs of cluster munitions from various countries including America and video of his team disposing of bomblets by blowing them up.
In the neighbouring governorate of Hajjah we filmed a partially-deployed British cluster bomb found in a field in north Yemen in January. Now sitting in a disused police station the bomb was photographed in situ and verified by researchers from Amnesty International. The photographs they say, clearly demonstrate that the bomb was dropped recently.
The American-trained and UN-funded head of Yemen's mine-clearance group YEMAC also says he believes the use of British cluster bombs here is widespread. Ahmed Alawi told us: "We found three pieces only up to now. "We are sure that if we continue work…we will work in the same areas again and are sure that we will find a lot."
In 2010 Britain agreed to ban these weapons and do everything possible to prevent their use by anyone else. If Britain's close ally Saudi Arabia is using cluster bombs in this war Britain could be accused of violating the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
If the weapons were dropped in a previous war before Britain signed the treaty then the government is in the clear. Yet for this to be true the weapon Amnesty recorded would have had to have lain in the open undiscovered since at least 2009.
ITV News footage shows the bomb in apparently excellent condition. Other bombs we have seen in Yemen show signs of corrosion after just a few months in the open. Likewise the bomblets in the photographs we were shown are also largely free of damage from sun, wind and rain – by Paul Tyson (with film)
http://www.itv.com/news/2016-10-26/itv-news-sees-evidence-british-cluster-bombs-have-been-used-in-yemen-war/ and more cluster bomb images by Paul Tyson:
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/791335203188899841
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/791338149859430401
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/791338602609381377
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/791339066382028800
British BL755 cluster submunitions in #Yemen. @UN funded De-miners say they are: "unstable, very dangerous"
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/791340583629586432
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/791342959572742148
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/791343353682100224
"We can't farm these fields now; this is death..." In a country where children starve this is a terrible sideeffect of cluster bombs
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/791345470773694464
Cluster bomb victims in Hayran Province #yemen holding their medical notes
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/791346637876633600
Three Yemeni de-miners were killed in an explosion in this disused police station. Their boss thinks British BL755 bomblets were responsible
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/791360115253313538
Various submunitions exploded in this room at once so not possible to say if British cluster bombs killed the de-miners
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/791360512906956800
Boss of dead #Yemen de-miners says they were working on British cluster bombs when they died. Other munitions also present in room though
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/791361083390980096
Security guard tells @itvnews he helped carry British cluster bombs into room where de-miners worked. Hours later they were killed
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/791362150602272769
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/791363858501869568
#Yemen de-miners very clear that only 1 type of cluster weapon was used in old wars "not British". UK cluster bombs used in this war
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/791348720004628481
#Yemen de-mining group founded to clear cluster bombs & mines from old wars. They say no British cluster bombs then, their use by SLC is new
https://twitter.com/Tyson585/status/791349232162799617
27.20.2016 – Salon (** B K)
Famine looms in Yemen, as U.S.-backed Saudi bombing intentionally targets food production
U.N. warns "an entire generation could be crippled by hunger," as war leaves 14 million Yemenis short of food
Saudi forces backed by the United States are intentionally targeting food production and the agricultural sector in their bombing campaign in Yemen, according to a leading expert. In some parts of the impoverished country, the Saudi-led coalition is using a “scorched-earth strategy,” says a scholar who specializes in agriculture in Yemen.
“The coalition was and is targeting intentionally food production, not simply agriculture in the fields,” Martha Mundy, a professor emeritus at the London School of Economics, told Salon.
Ablockade imposed by Saudi Arabiahas further exacerbated this crisis, pushing hunger-stricken Yemen to the brink of famine. “An entire generation could be crippled by hunger,” a World Food Program official warned this week. At least14 million Yemenis, more than half of the country’s population, are going hungry.
Meanwhile, the Western-backed coalition is going out of its way to target food sources in the desperate country, according to Mundy, who in recent years has published scholarly articles in English and Arabic on the political economy of food and agricultural policy in Yemen.
“In the first three months of the war the targets were largely military, but when surrender did not result, the pattern of targeting changed,” Mundy told Salon via email.
In a recentThe Independent article, Mundy said the Saudi coalition is “deliberately targeting Yemen’s tiny agricultural sector in a campaign which, if successful, would lead a post-war Yemeni nation not just into starvation but total reliance on food imports for survival.”
Yemeni government statistics and the Yemen Data Project lists “make very clear that roads and trucks carrying food were repeatedly targeted” by the coalition, Mundy told Salon.
“A degree of targeting that can’t be accidental comes through both the data sets on targets of coalition bombing,” Mundy added, noting that she is still conducting a more thorough analysis of the time of the attacks.
On Aug. 12, the coalition bombed and destroyed the main bridge to Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, on a road where roughly 90 percent of U.N. food and other aid is transported from the port city Hodeidah. After the attack, Oxfam issued astatementwarning that the bridge’s destruction “threatens to leave many more people unable to feed themselves, worsening an already catastrophic situation in the country.”
Mundy said that the main road between Sanaa and Hodeidah has been repeatedly hit as part of a larger intentional strategy.
Agricultural infrastructure has been targeted in particular. Given that Yemen is still a largely agricultural nation, with more than half the population reliant on farming in some way, the bombing has had a horrific impact.
At least 357 agricultural targets have been bombed in Yemen’s 20 provinces — a conservative estimate in a report by Yemen’s ministry of agriculture and irrigation that was obtained by Mundy. In addition to markets, stores, factories and food trucks, the Western-backed coalition has bombed farms, animals, water infrastructure and agricultural banks.
Comment: One thing is wrong: In the first two month as well, mainly civilian targets were hit, just see the raids and their effects in http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm (Yemen Images 1–93).
Cp1a Am wichtigsten: Angriff auf Mekka und Propaganda / Most important: Mecca attack and propaganda
28.10.2016 - Daily Brand (** A K P)
“Yemen’s Houthi missile act on ‘Makkah’ is a criminal act”- Arab Parliament
According to the statement issued by a body of the Arab League, Arab Parliament, the rebel Yemeni Houthi-Saleh group’s effort to target and harm Makkah City with a ballistic missile fired from Yemen’s northwestern Saada province is an extremely brutal and a criminal act.
The attack was intended to destroy the sacred city of Islam, including the Grand Mosque on late Thursday night.
Ahmed Mohammed Al Jarwan, Speaker of the Arab Parliament, stated;
“This criminal act of targeting the Masjid al-Haram (Grand Mosque of Makkah) is evidence that these gangs intend to target the holiest sites for Arabs and Muslims to provoke their feelings.”
He further recommended all the Muslim nations “to join forces to prevent the Houthi gangs and their supporters from perpetrating further criminal acts through which they seek to incite sectarian wars that would destroy countries and peoples.” - by Kainaat Maqbool
http://monthlybrands.com.pk/houthi-act-makkah-criminal-act/
Comment: The Saudis did not overwhelm the Houthis neither by fighting nor by misusing the peace talks. Now, they seem to try it by a sort of priopaganda overkill - fully playing the sectarian card. This might be more disastrous than anything else - disastrous not just for Yemen, but for many others as well.
28.10.2016 – AP (** A K P)
Yemen Rebels Deny Their Missile Targeted Holy City of Mecca
Yemen's Shiite rebels and their allies fired a ballistic missile deep into Saudi Arabia, an overnight strike that they said on Friday had targeted an international airport while the kingdom claimed that it flew toward the holy Muslim city of Mecca.
Saudi Arabia said the missile was "intercepted and destroyed" 65 kilometers (40 miles) from Mecca, which is home to the cube-shaped Kaaba that the world's Muslims pray toward five times a day.
Angry Saudis soon denounced the missile fire online with hashtags questioning the faith of Yemen's Shiite rebels known as Houthis, as other Sunni Arab leaders in the Gulf linked the attack to Shiite power Iran.
Invoking Mecca also invigorated support for Saudi Arabia as it leads the stalemated war in the Arab world's poorest country, as well as turned attention away from those starving under a kingdom-led blockade and the civilians killed in its airstrikes.
The kingdom's military said in a statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency that it immediately targeted the area where the missile was launched in airstrikes.
What the missile fired Thursday night targeted, however, quickly became a controversy.
The Houthi-controlled satellite news channel Al-Masirah said the Yemeni rebels had fired a Volcano-1 variant missile at Jiddah's King Abdulaziz International Airport, without mentioning Mecca. That airport is 75 kilometers (45 miles) northwest of Mecca.
The Houthi-controlled SABA news agency said the missile "directly hit" the airport and caused massive destruction, though there were no delays or diversions affecting the airport Friday.
The Saudi military, however, stressed the missile was fired "toward" Mecca, without elaborating — the protection of the holy city is a key pillar of the Saudi royal family's prestige and the country's national identity.
Gulf Arab countries allied with Saudi Arabia immediately began condemning the attack, suggesting the Houthis intentionally targeted the Islamic world's holiest site. Many also immediately linked the attack to Iran, further inflaming regional sectarianism.
"The Iranian regime supports a terrorist group that launched its rockets on Mecca," Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nayhan wrote on Twitter. "Is this regime Islamic as it claims?"
In Iran, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi dismissed the claims that the Houthis targeted Mecca as "ridiculous."
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/10/27/world/middleeast/ap-ml-yemen.html?_r=0 and by the Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-mecca-missile-yemen-houthi-rebels-war-a7384301.html
28.10.2016 – Al Arabiya (A P)
UAE condemns Iran for aiding Yemen militias following Makkah attack
The United Arab Emirates foreign minister has condemned Iran for aiding and supporting Houthi militias in Yemen following an attempted attack on Makkah.
UAE’s Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed tweeted his condemnation on Friday saying that “Iran claims itself Islamic while supporting militias firing of rockets into Makkah”.
Comment: This incident is misused for inner-Muslim sectarian strife, without keeping in mind the disastrous consequences this certainly will have.
28.10.2016 – DPA (* A K P)
Huthi-Rebellen im Jemen: kein Raketenangriff auf Mekka
Die Huthi-Rebellen im Jemen feuern eine Kurzstreckenrakete in Richtung Mekka. Über den Einschlagsort gibt es unterschiedliche Angaben. Haben die Rebellen den internationalen Flughafen getroffen oder sogar auf die heilige Stadt Mekka geschossen?
Die Huthi-Rebellen im Jemen haben nach eigenen Angaben eine Kurzstreckenrakete auf Saudi-Arabien abgefeuert. Die saudische Nachrichtenagentur SPA berichtete am Freitag, die Rakete sei 65 Kilometer von der Pilgerstadt Mekka entfernt abgefangen worden. Angaben über Schäden gab es zunächst nicht.
Ein Anführer der Huthis wies Anschuldigungen zurück, der Angriff habe Mekka, der Muslimen heiligsten Stadt, gegolten. «Wir würden keine heiligen Stätten angreifen», sagte Mohammed al-Becheiti vom Politbüro der Huthis der dpa. Der Angriff ereignete sich den Angaben zufolge bereits am späten Donnerstagabend.
Der rebellennahe TV-Sender al-Masirah berichtete am Freitag unter Berufung auf Huthis und Militärs, die dem früheren jemenitischen Präsidenten Ali Abdullah Saleh nahestehen, die Rakete habe den internationalen Flughafen von Dschidda getroffen und sei eine Reaktion auf die Luftangriffe der von Saudi-Arabien geführten Koalition. Dschidda liegt rund 700 Kilometer von der Provinz Sada entfernt, aus der die Rakete abgeschossen worden sein soll.
Der König-Abdelasis-Flughafen nahe Dschidda ist der wichtigste Knotenpunkt für muslimische Pilger in Saudi-Arabien, die ins rund 80 Kilometer entfernte Mekka reisen. Der Flugverkehr lief zum Zeitpunkt des Raketenabschusses nach Angaben des Online-Dienstes Flighradar24 ohne Störungen weiter.
https://greenpeace-magazin.de/tickerarchiv/huthi-rebellen-im-jemen-kein-raketenangriff-auf-mekka
Kommentar: Es gibt offensichtliche Propaganda, um die Spannungen weiter anzuheizen, keine „unterschiedlichen Angaben“.
28.10.2016 – DPA (* A K P)
Houthi leader: Rebels did not launch missile targeting Mecca
A Houthi leader on Friday denied Saudi allegations that Shiite Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile from a north-western Yemeni province towards Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca the night before.
"We do not target civilians and, in turn, we would not target holy areas," Mohammed al-Bekheity, member of the Houthi political bureau, told dpa.
Al-Bekheity said that the aim behind the allegations is to seek the sympathy of simple Muslims and the international community.
"After Saudi Arabia's crimes against Yemenis were exposed drawing international sympathy towards Yemen, here it is using such allegations to attract attention towards it," he said.
The launch of the missile against Saudi Arabia has been marred with conflicting reports.
Houthi rebels and forces loyal to the country's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh had earlier claimed to have struck King Abdul Aziz airport in the Saudi Arabia's western city of Jeddah with a missile, pro-Houthi al-Masirah TV reported online on Friday.
The broadcaster said that the ballistic missile had hit the airport on Thursday evening, without giving further details.
27.10.2016 – APA (* A K)
Saudi-Arabien fängt bei Mekka Rakete aus dem Jemen ab
Saudi-Arabien hat nach eigenen Angaben nahe der Pilgerstadt Mekka eine von den Rebellen im Jemen abgeschossene Rakete abgefangen. Das Geschoß sei gestern Abend in der nordjemenitischen Rebellenhochburg Saada „in Richtung der Region Mekka“ abgefeuert worden, erklärte die von Riad angeführte arabische Militärkoalition, die im Jemen gegen die Huthi-Rebellen kämpft, heute.
Die saudi-arabische Luftverteidigung habe die Rakete rund 65 Kilometer vor Mekka abgefangen und zerstört. Mekka liegt mehr als 500 Kilometer von der Grenze zum Jemen entfernt. Die Huthi-Rebellen teilten auf ihrer Website Sabanews mit, eine Rakete auf den König-Abd-al-Asis-Flughafen in Dschiddah westlich von Mekka abgefeuert zu haben.
http://orf.at/stories/2364161/ = http://derstandard.at/2000046626492/Saudi-Arabien-faengt-bei-Mekka-Rakete-aus-dem-Jemen-ab
Kommentar: Westliche Nachrichtenagenturen übernehmen unreflektiert saudische Propagandaaussagen. Es ist nahezu ausgeschlossen, dass die muslimischen Huthis ausgerechnet Mekka mit Raketen angreifen, bei aller Feindschaft mit Saudi-Arabien. Solche Aussagen seitens der Saudis sind reine Propaganda, die die Empörung gegen die Huthis anstacheln sollen und es tatsächlich auch tun. Ein Flughafen als Ziel eines Angriffs dagegen ergibt durchaus einen Sinn (wenn man Angriffe im Krieg überhaupt mit „Sinn“ qualifizieren will): Die Saudis haben immer wieder die Flughäfen von Sanaa und Hodeida bombardiert, und seit August haben sie den Flugverkehr zu diesen Flughäfen fast vollständig blockiert.
27.10.2016 – Hussain Albukhaiti (* A K PH)
#Houthi #Yemen army launchd modified #Russia-n ballistic Scud C missile 2King Abdulaziz Int Airprt #Jeddah
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/791759391829680129
27.10.2016 –Yemen's Houthis launch missile toward Saudi holy city, coalition says
Yemen's Houthi militia launched a ballistic missile toward Mecca on Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition intervening in Yemen's civil war on behalf of the government said in a statement.
Coalition forces destroyed the missile 65 km (40 miles) from the holy city before it could do any damage, and retaliated against the launch site inside Yemen, said the statement, carried on the state news agency SPA. Mecca is home to the most sacred sites in Islam, including the Grand Mosque.
The Shi'ite Muslim Houthis confirmed the launch of a Burkan-1 ballistic missile into Saudi Arabia in a statement on their official news agency, but said it had been aimed at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, the kingdom's busiest airport.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-missiles-idUSKCN12S016
Comment: Compare this report (Oct. 28) to Reuters’ first one (Oct. 27, below). Now it is just “coalition says”. What a climb-down! Anyway, I would rather take facts for the headline than propaganda – until I want to spread propaganda myself.
27.10.2016 – Reuters (* A K)
Yemen's Houthis launch missile toward Saudi holy city
Yemen's Houthi militia launched a ballistic missile toward Mecca on Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition intervening in Yemen's civil war said on Saudi state news agency SPA.
Coalition forces destroyed the missile 65 km (40 miles) from the holy city without damage and retaliated against the launch site inside Yemen, the statement said.
The Houthis confirmed the launch of a Burkan-1 ballistic missile into Saudi Arabia in a statement to their official news agency on Friday but said it targeted King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, the kingdom's busiest airport.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-missiles-idUSKCN12S016 and by Xinhua: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-10/28/c_135786031.htm
Comment: It is absolutely improbable that the Houthis being Muslims, even as foe to Saudi Arabia, ever would have had the idea to target Mecca. The effect on public opinion in the whole Muslim world and beyond would have been disastrous. It is evident that the claim “launch missile toward Saudi holy city” is nothing more than Saudi propaganda, trying to cause outrage against the Houthis. It is strange why Reuters is putting such emphasize on this obvious odd propaganda. Targeting Jeddah airport would “make sense” (in brackets as there is no real sense at all in war in general): The Saudis had targeted Sanaa and Hodeidah airport many times, and they block the airports in Houthi-held Yemen since August. – And, dear Reuters, this as well: Mecca is no “Saudi holy city”. It is just a “holy city”. It’ the Saudis themselves who had destroyed great parts of historical Mecca, just by pulling it down and replacing it by a bad taste Las Vegas copy instead.
Comments by Hisham Al-Omeisy: Lost Western public, Saudi spreading lie "Houthis target Mecca Holiest of Hollies" and sensationalizing to appeal to Arabs & Muslims.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/791883488198795264
With Saudi's convoluted lie & logic, "Houthis crossed line, now holy mission to nuke Sana'a in order to protect Mecca" is likely.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/791884362035916801
Comment by Hussam Al-Sanabani: Why all those flights are delayed suddenly at Jaddah Airport? Same timing of Yemeni missile arrivals to king Abdulaziz air base (photos)
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/791816528203288576
Comments by Hisham Al-Omeisy: Just look at Saudi pundits fanning fire now with "ALL Muslims need to rush and defend Mecca from heathen Iranian Houthis".
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/791911363383795712
Cannot stress enough how dangerous Saudi playing Mecca card is. Despicable religious & sectarian ploy prompting an ISIS on steroids.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/791910713996390400
So gullible Houthis, forsook Islam & failed to foresee astronomical backlash bombing Mecca, bcz Iran ordered it! (see images)
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/792017576406740992
Comment by Ammar Basha: Muslim brothers from all over the world r protecting Mecca. I ask them to watch over this holly site, as Saudi want to use it against #Yemen
https://twitter.com/ammar_basha/status/791936258133995520
27.10.2016 – Press TV Iran (* A K P)
A Yemeni TV station says the forces have launched a ballistic missile at an airport in the Saudi city of Jeddah. So far, there has been no report of casualties. Saudi Arabia says its defense system has intercepted a missile fired from the Yemeni province of Sa’ada. But some reports say the missile has hit the airport and a state of emergency has been announced in Jeddah. [interviewed: Scott Bennett]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7fxWX4LAjU
28.10.2016 - Nasser Arrabyee (A K PH)
Yemen army spokesman: Our ballistic missile Burkan1 successfully hit Abdul Azeez airport in Saudi city of Jedda as planned.
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/792047442208456708
28.10.2016 – Saadal Dosari (A K)
Film: This is told to be Jeddah airport burning after hit by missile
https://twitter.com/saadaldosari21/status/791837858982076419
Comment: The one side tells the airport was hit, the other side tells the missile was intercepted and the airport was working normally. So what? But please check this here:
http://airport-departures-arrivals.com/saudi-arabia-airport/king-abdulaziz-international-airport-live-arrivals/ and http://airport-departures-arrivals.com/saudi-arabia-airport/king-abdulaziz-international-airport-live-departures/
27.10.2016 – Al Arabiya (* A K P)
Ballistic missile intercepted 65 km from Makkah
The Arab Coalition fighting in Yemen said on Thursday that it has intercepted a ballistic missile that hit 65 km away from Saudi Arabia's holy city of Makkah, saying it was fired by militias in Yemen.
The missile was fired from Saada province towards Makkah, the coalition said. No damage has been reported.
Coalition forces confirmed that they targeted the sites where the missile was launched from in Saada and destroyed it shortly after the incident.
The firing of the missile received condemnations from several countries with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates reacting with statements condemning Iran and Houthi militias.
Reactions and condemnations
Bahrain condemned on Friday the firing of the missile toward Makkah in a statement sent to Al Arabiya News Channel saying that "the targeting of the Holy Site presents a direct insult toward Muslims everywhere and constitutes a hate and religious crime from the militias’ part.
UAE’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Abdullah bin Zayed tweeted his condemnation saying that “Iran claims itself Islamic while supporting militias firing of rockets into Makkah”.
Qatar responded by saying that launching of the ballistic missile attack on Makkah hampers the efforts to resolve the Yemeni crisis peacefully.
The GCC council said the Houthi attack on Makkah is “evidence of their refusal to comply with the international community and its decisions”.
Comment: The propaganda story is showing its effects.
27.10.2016 – Arms Control Work (A K)
YEMEN’S BURKAN-1 MISSILE
Yemen showed off a new missile called theBurkan-1that looks an awful lot like anExtended Range Scud(aka the Scud D). Aaron and Jeffrey discuss the very ignored missile program of a very ignored country – byJeffrey Lewis (Audio)
http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/1202119/yemens-burkan-1-missile/
cp2 Allgemein / General
28.10.2016 – critical Threats (* A K P)
[Overviews, day by day, from Oct. 28 backwards]
http://www.criticalthreats.org/yemen/gulf-aden-security-review
27.10.2016 – Lowy Interpreter (* A K P)
The focus on civilian deaths in Yemen resulting from the actions of a close American ally is also challenging for those in Washington trying to advocate for military intervention in Syria to stop civilians being killed in Aleppo. If the justification for establishing a no-fly zone or safe zones in Syria under US protection is to stop Washington’s enemies from targeting Syrian civilians, isn’t then there an equally compelling case for establishing the same to protect Yemeni civilians from the incompetent actions of Washington’s allies? Of course this is not going to happen, but to counter this argument, Washington's response to Riyadh's poor handling of its air campaign has to be something more than rhetorical.
Washington has leverage over Saudi behaviour in Yemen that it doesn’t have in trying to influence Russian and Iranian behaviour in Syria. Riyadh is reliant on Washington for its own security, and much of its military training and equipment. And while the National Security Committee’s spokesman has said that US assistance is not a blank cheque, Washington could send a much stronger message to Riyadh by ceasing refuelling support to the air campaign, with a threat to cease future supply of air-delivered munitions.
Stopping refuelling would hinder but by no means stop the campaign, and the Saudis could purchase weapons elsewhere and arguably hit back by seeking other suppliers in the future. But if Washington can do little to stop civilian deaths in Syria because it has no leverage, it should at least do all it can to avoid complicity in civilian deaths in Yemen – by Rodger Shanahan
https://www.lowyinterpreter.org/the-interpreter/no-fly-zone-yemen = http://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2016/10/28/a_no-fly_zone_for_yemen_110276.html
27.10.2016 – WNCY (* B H K P)
Audio: 20 Million People in Need of Humanitarian Aid in Yemen
Adam Baron, a journalist based in Yemen from 2011 to 2014, and currently a visiting fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations and researcher at the Institute for Social Anthropology, explains what this latest failed ceasefire means for the ongoing conflict.
Mohammed al-Asaadi, a father of four living in Sana'a, a rebel stronghold and Yemen's largest city, joined The Takeaway today to describing the burden that war has put on his family. Click here to hear his essay.
Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview.
http://www.wnyc.org/story/failed-ceasefire-fathers-dilemma-yemen-civil-war/
27.10.2016 – Marcel Sardo (A K)
NATO members not to fuel RU Navy b/c could be used in #Syria – while US tanker aircraft refuel Saudi Jets over #Yemen. Funny old world...
https://twitter.com/marcelsardo/status/791657091710812163 and see also https://twitter.com/nsanzo/status/791665666533228544
27.10.2016 – Hope (B K P)
Today: Yemen child died..Vietnam girl still a life. Both burned by US jets (photos)
https://twitter.com/FajerAroma/status/791758914463395840
Comment by Jamila Hanan: #Yemen children were killed by Saudi (probably UK made) jet refuelled by US. Vietnam photo shocked the world : Yemen photo, not really.
https://twitter.com/JamilaHanan/status/791770855642660865
27.10.2016 – US Agency for International Development (A K P)
[Overview, main facts]
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-complex-emergency-fact-sheet-1-fiscal-year-fy-2017 and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/10.27.16%20-%20USG%20Yemen%20Complex%20Emergency%20Fact%20Sheet%20%231.pdf
and map:
Active USG Humanitarian Programs in Yemen (Last Updated 10/27/16)
Comment: USAID also is used for political maneuvers as supporting regime changes.
27.10.2016 – Sputnik News (* B P)
Lavrov Schools European Diplomats in Logic Using Examples of Yemen and Ukraine
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is no stranger to driving a good point home. Speaking to representatives of the Association of European Businesses in Moscow on Tuesday, Russia's top diplomat explained how Western countries have absolutely contradictory approaches to virtually identical problems in Yemen and Ukraine.
Pointing out the difference in approach to Western policy in response to the crises in Ukraine and that in present-day Yemen, the foreign minister effectively schooled Western officials for their illogical behavior.
Lavrov recalled that when Yemen faced a coup in September 2014, and Yemeni President Hadi fled to neighboring Saudi Arabia, Western politicians reacted by demanding the reinstatement of the country's legitimate president. However, facing the exact same situation in Ukraine in February 2014, US and European leaders reacted very differently. "For over two years, the international community has been demanding that President Hadi be returned to Yemen and his legitimacy be reaffirmed," Lavrov noted. "But our European colleagues, who share this view, remain silent when we ask them why the same principled approach cannot be applied to Ukraine."
Apparently, the diplomat suggested, European officials "have more respect for Yemen and its political system than for Ukraine, where experiments can continue it seems. Ukraine has been suffering from this for several decades now."
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201610261046771688-lavrov-comparison-approach-ukraine-yemen/
Comment: He got it and he is absolutely right. I wrote on this subject already March 30, 2015: https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/ukraine-und-jemen-doppelmoral-vom-feinsten . And what is even still worse for the Western approach (and Lavrov even fails to mention it, and I also failed then: Yanukovitch at that time still was legitimate president, while according to the Yemen political system Hadi’s term as legitimate president already had expired a month before).
27.10.2016 – Mother Jones (A H)
Three Unfortunate Facts About Yemen
Six years ago I read a pair of articles about Yemen which predicted that its population would double by 2035; oil revenue would decline to zero by 2017; and the capital city of Sanaa would run out of water by 2015. Today I got curious: How are those forecasts panning out?
Population: On target. Yemen's population has increased from 23.6 million to 27.5 million since 2010—an annual growth rate of 2.58 percent. If this continues, Yemen's population will double by 2037.
Oil revenue: On target.
Water: On target?Adela Jones of USC writes: "Already, Yemenis allocate up to 30% of their annual income towards water....As early as 2017, Sana’a may officially run out of water. Given consumption trends, the rest of the nation may follow."
What happens when they finally pump the last of the groundwater and there's nothing left? – by Kevin Drum
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/10/three-unfortunate-facts-yemen
26.10.2016 – Junge Welt (* A K P)
Das »Great Game« im Nahen Osten
Machtpoker um Syrien, Irak und Jemen fungiert als Neuauflage alter Kolonialpolitik
In Syrien, Irak und im Jemen herrscht Krieg. Die Türkei, Saudi-Arabien und andere Golfstaaten, aufgerüstet und politisch unterstützt von den USA, Israel, Europa und der NATO, wollen die drei Länder aus ihrer regionalen Verankerung brechen und letztlich zerschlagen. Der Iran will wiederum seinen regionalen Einfluss nicht verlieren und verhindern, Opfer der NATO-Kriegsstrategie zu werden. Iran engagiert sich daher militärisch insbesondere in Syrien und dem Irak und wird dabei von Russland, China und den blockfreien Staaten unterstützt.
In dem internationalen Machtkampf um die rohstoffreiche und strategisch wichtige Region hat auch die Bundesregierung ihre einstige Zurückhaltung aufgegeben. An der Seite der USA hat Berlin der Bundeswehr einen Platz an der Front zugewiesen.
Beim Kampf um die nordirakische Stadt Mossul gehe es nicht nur um die Zukunft dieser Stadt, sondern des gesamten Iraks, erklärte der französische Präsident François Hollande beim Treffen von 13 Verteidigungsministern der NATO-Länder – unter ihnen auch Deutschland –, die er am Dienstag nach Paris eingeladen hatte, bevor sie zum NATO-Gipfel nach Brüssel weiterfuhren.
Mossul dürfe nicht nur als »militärisches Ziel« betrachtet werden, die Rückeroberung sei der »Weg, um die Zukunft des Iraks aufzubauen. Wenn wir das schaffen, haben wir nicht nur die Schlacht gewonnen, sondern den Krieg«, sagte Hollande. Außenminister Jean-Marc Ayrault mahnte, man müsse »vorausschauen« und für den »Tag danach« planen. Der Krieg müsse gewonnen werden, um dann auch den »Frieden zu gewinnen«. Dazu sei die die internationale »Anti-IS-Koalition« in der Verantwortung, nicht nur Mossul, sondern auch das nordsyrische Rakka einzunehmen, die »Hauptstadt« des »Islamischen Staats« (IS).
US-Verteidigungsminister Ashton Carter unterstützte Ayrault und teilte mit, dass die Invasion von Rakka bereits geplant werde. Sie werde beginnen, bevor die Eroberung von Mossul abgeschlossen sei – Von Karin Leukefeld
https://www.jungewelt.de/m/artikel/296177.das-great-game-im-nahen-osten.html
Kommentar: Der Jemen ist nur ein kleiner Teil dieses geopolitischen Spiels des Westens.
26.10.2016 – Al Araby (B K P)
Why do Yemen's ceasefires keep failing?
Though the parties to the conflict apparently welcomed the truce, they covertly mobilised their forces, preparing for more incursions and expansion. Accordingly, violations occurred, and accusations of breaching were traded.
This illustrates one fact: The warring sides are still adamant they will continue the fight, and this is for a variety of reasons.
Weapons are abundant
Yemen is a country awash with weapons. Prior to the breakout of the war, civilians had accumulated their own guns just like any other legal property. When the war flared up last year, the use of these weapons began. Additionally, some militants seized state weapons in 2014 and 2015, creating an uncontrollable anarchic situation.
In such a scene of mayhem, a ceasefire is normally doomed to failure.
Many people have lost their job. Today, the labour force has one field in which work is guaranteed: on the battleground.
Funds allocated to the war are available in abundance. Instead of dying of hunger, these men die on mountains, hills, plains, valleys or on their armored vehicles with full stomachs and pockets. Poverty in Yemen is chronic, and it has grown to alarming levels over the 19-month long conflict – by Khalid Al-Karimi
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2016/10/26/why-do-yemens-ceasefires-keep-failing
Comment: And again, there is no reason at all to think of a major Iranian role in Yemen. If Saudi Arabia really had wanted “to protect itself against Iran's ambitious expansion in the Middle East, Yemen just would have been the wrong theater for it.
Comment by Nasser Arrabyee: Ending war in Yemen is Obama's will. UN-declared truces are only to cover more US-backed Saudi war crimes.
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/791335151846432768
Comment by Judith Brown: Well I guess because Saudi Arabia is still buying lots of weapons from greedy arms companies. Any other ideas anyone?
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154847362458641
26.10.2016 – Saba Net (* B K)
Yemen denounces Saudi lies over inhuman blockade
A Supreme Political Council's official denounced on Wednesday the lies made by Saudi aggression spokesman Ahmed Asiri who denied Saudi blockade of Yemen.
"The aggression and its spokesman were always lying and it was not surprise that Asiri denied his country's blockade against Yemen, which all world witness it," the official said in a statement received by Saba.
"Also, it will not be a surprise once Saudi aggression completely denied waging aggression war against Yemen, because Saudis have used to purchase international positions, including human rights organizations to pass their lies and silence to cover for the massacres against Yemeni people," said the official.
The official said the air, sea and land blockade imposed on Yemen since March 26, 2015 by the US-backed Saudi aggression has pushed more than 25 million Yemeni citizens to near mass famine, spread diseases and epidemics that already killed thousands of children and women because of the Saudi prolonged blockade and denial of access medicine and food supplies.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news444851.htm
Comment: Statement by the Houthi / Saleh government, relating to Saudi claims (see YPR 219, cp15). And, the rejection of this odd Saudi propaganda is totally right. If your neighbor places two “gorillas” at your front door and nobody is allowed to enter unless he or she strips to the buff and for a strip search, and the whole procedure is lasting four hours in any case, I would prefer “blockade” to the Saudi wording “control”. I think hardly anybody will visit you anymore, and the postman – I fear so –will just pass by your house. And you will become “happy” having called for the pizza service, a doctor, a plumber or even for the police.
Comment by Judith Brown: It makes me really angry when saudi denies the blockade and also damage to the whole food infrastructure- farms, farm animals, cluster bombs on agricultural land, warehouses, food trucks, ports and airports, and the while road network especially bridges. And then because they can oversee anyone who enters Yemen - you have together saudi permission before you can go - then they can restrict access to journalists and investigators. This denial seems to me to be proof that the damage is not accidental.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154846276998641
23.10.2016 – Left (* B K P)
Yemen. La vergogna dell’Europa che alimenta il massacro vendendo armi
Non è solo una “guerra dimenticata”. È anche qualcos’altro. E di peggio. È la vergogna dell’Occidente e in esso dell’Europa (Italia compresa). È la sanguinosa riprova che alla base dello sfacelo mediorientale c’è la pervicace doppiezza di un “mondo libero” che non si limita, e già questo griderebbe vendetta, ad assistere silente al massacro di civili, ma quel massacro lo alimenta vendendo armi, e garantendo in sede Onu la copertura politica, all’attore regionale che attua un terrorismo di Stato. Yemen, la vergogna dell’Europa. Yemen, dove l’Arabia Saudita perpetra da tempo crimini contro l’umanità – di Umberto de Giovannangeli
https://www.left.it/2016/10/23/yemen-la-vergogna-delleuropa-che-alimenta-il-massacro-vendendo-armi/
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
27.10.2016 – World Health Organisation (A H)
WHO releases emergency funds to support cholera response in Yemen
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released approximately US$ 1 million from its internal emergency funds to support the ongoing response to the cholera outbreak in Yemen. Since the outbreak was announced by the Ministry of Public Health and Population on 6 October, a total of 1184 suspected cases of cholera, including 6 deaths, have been reported. 47 cases have tested positive for Vibrio cholerae. However, a chronic lack of funding for Yemen is impeding action by WHO and health partners to effectively control and respond to the current outbreak.
These new funds, provided by WHO’s Contingency Fund for Emergencies and the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Emergency Solidarity Fund, will allow WHO to rapidly scale-up priority response activities to effectively monitor and control the outbrea
Comment: US $ 1 million… that is the cost of 7 minutes Saudi aerial war against Yemen – every 7 minutes since 583 days. Well, that’s obviously the priority the World has.
27.10.2016 – Fatik Al-Rodeini (B H)
After 19 months of Saudi war on #Yemen pix here show you the real situation of IDPs living in the capital Sanaa. Pix taken by @monareliefye
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/791718186672656384
27.10.2016 – Sputnik News (* A H)
Saudi-Led Airstrikes Leave Yemeni Children Starving, Ministry Tells Sputnik
Tamim al-Shami, spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Yemen, spoke to Sputnik Arabic saying that the country does not have enough baby food due to the military operations of the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia in Yemen.
Al-Shami further said that because of the sea, land and air blockade which was introduced against Yemen, there has been a severe reduction in food imports. Similarly, there is a severe shortage of medicine across the country.
“Al-Wadiah is the only functioning crossing point between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The import of goods has decreased by 25% since the beginning of the aggression, which is a record over the past 40 years,” Al-Shami told Sputnik Arabic. Al-Shami added that Saudi Arabia continues to carry out air strikes on hospitals and humanitarian structures, completely destroying them and rendering them useless.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201610271046814132-yemen-starving-children/
27.10.2016 – Premier Christian Radio (A H)
Archdeacon warns war-torn Yemen 'couldn't be more serious', amid famine fears
Fr Bill Schwartz OBE has spoken amid a warning from the United Nation's World Food Programme the nation is on the brink of famine.
The Archbishop of the Gulf told the News Hour: "It couldn't be more serious, in my opinion. There is just nothing but widespread hunger and a lack of organisation to try to meet the need."
Urging Christians to pray for peace in Yemen, Fr Bill added: "Until this fighting erupted, there was a level or normality; children did go to school, food was available."
"Since the fighting has started, all of those basic infrastructures have broken down, including water, electricity and telecommunications." – By Alex Williams
Comment: I never knew that such an office exists – and he’s just right.
27.10.2016 – Doctors Without Borders (* B H K)
Yemen: August 2016. "Airstrike in the hospital now!"
Vera is a nurse who has been working with MSF in Yemen, a country in the midst of a civil war. She looks back to August, to the day she received a fateful telephone call…
I´m inYemen, wrapping up my last weeks of a three month assignment with MSF. It's Monday afternoon and I am in the MSF office, in the process of completing the pharmacy order. At the same time my colleagues, a doctor and the HR coordinator, are in the room next door, doing the last job interviews for staff forthe new clinic for malnourished children.It’s due to open a week today.
The project I have been working in since the beginning of June is in Abs District, in north-western Yemen. MSF started working in this area about a year ago, providing healthcare to internally displaced people who have fled the horrors of war and settled in the area.
More than 16,000 people have come here in search of protection in the last year. Usually they can bring with them only the most necessary personal belongings. Many children and pregnant women are now living in makeshift huts; clean water and food are both scarce.
To provide all-important healthcare a team goes daily into the various makeshift camps to run mobile clinics. They provide patients with consultations and, if necessary, arrange transfers to Abs Rural Hospital, which the Ministry of Health runs, but MSF provides support to.
In the hospital there is an emergency room; an operating theatre; and paediatric, maternity and surgical wards. MSF started supporting the Abs Hospital in July 2015. Since then, we have seen more than 11,000 patients in the emergency room; treated nearly 2,000 people as inpatients; andsupported over 1,500 women as they gave birth.If MSF was not here, thousands of people would be without adequate access to health care.
But back to 15 August 2016. Outside, we hear an aircraft flying past, unusually low, but we don’t think much of it.
Then my phone rings.
At the other end a Yemeni colleague from the hospital is calling, no,cryingout to me: "Airstrike in the hospital! In the hospital! Now!”
http://blogs.msf.org/en/staff/blogs/msf-in-yemen/yemen-august-2016-airstrike-in-the-hospital-now
27.10.2016 – Fuad Rajeh (* A H)
Yemen is hungriest Arab country. 26% of its ppl are hungry & 4.2% of kids have died from hunger. Mauritania second & Iraq third, INRC says
https://twitter.com/fuadrajeh/status/791511826219556864
Comment: 4,2 % have died already by hunger? Please verify.
27.10.2016 – Dr. Karim (A H)
.@monarelief and @Khalsa_Aid tried everything possible to get 8yr old Ghazza out of Yemen for treatment...Ghazza Passed on in Sana'a (photos)
It is with great sadness I announce the demise of Ghazza Al Areqi, while waiting for a flight out of Yemen.
https://twitter.com/RSKarim1/status/791747397806354432 and https://twitter.com/RSKarim1/status/791743141145632768 and https://twitter.com/RaviSinghKA/status/792015641582632961
27.10.2016 – Jamila Hanan (A H)
This little girl with cancer had treatment lined up but #Saudi's stopped flights out of #Yemen so she died. Brother may suffer same fate.
https://twitter.com/JamilaHanan/status/791747912170635264
27.10.2016 – UNICEF (A H)
Where classrooms are damaged or used as homes by displaced people, @UNICEF has pitched tents so that students can continue studying (photo)
https://twitter.com/unicef_yemen/status/791575422244913152
27.10.2016 – AFP (* A H K)
Film: Bürgerkriegsopfer sind im Jemen gefangen
[Blockade des Flughafens von Sanaa; Verwundete können nicht zur medizinischen Behandlung ins Ausland gebracht werden]
https://snacktv.de/videos/buergerkriegsopfer-sind-im-jemen-gefangen/1677755
27.10.2016 – I News (* A H)
Yemen: 18-year-old Saida Ahmad Baghili’s story
Saida, an 18-year-old woman from Yemen, is one of millions of innocent civilians caught in the middle of the conflict in the Arab country. She is still alive, but severely malnourished. The conflict, which is between a Saudi-led coalition propping up Yemen’s government and rebel forces, has left four in five Yemenis in need of humanitarian assistance.
Politics to one side, here are some of the stories of people in Yemen and what they are facing.
Saida, who lives in an impoverished village on the outskirts of the rebel-held Yemeni city of Hodeida, has been sick for five years – before the conflict began 19 months ago. Her family couldn’t afford to get her help and war broke out – worsening her situation. She was finally brought to the Al Thawra hospital on Saturday, where she is now bed-ridden. Her weight plummeted because her throat hurt and she could not eat, her aunt told Reuters. She is surviving on juice, milk and tea.
Ammar, a 44-year-old bus driver from Taiz, fears he will no longer be able to provide for his eight children after his bus and home were destroyed by a rocket. He has sold all of his belongings and now lives with his family in a disused health centre in Batra Taiziyah. He has barely any savings left.
Ghaseb and his family have had to flee their home in Saada after his village was bombed. Now living in a single room in Amran with his family, eating one meal a day, he is struggling to find work – by Serina Sandhu (with photos)
https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/world/the-situation-in-yemen/
28.10.2016 – I News (** A H)
How to help civilians living through Yemen conflict
Photos of an emaciated 18-year-old woman from Yemen, suffering from malnutrition as war rages on, have brought home to many just how desperate the situation is for civilians. A Saudi-led coalition, supporting Yemen’s government, is fighting rebel groups (one of the largest is called the Houthis) backed by Iran. The Houthis want the previous President returned to power. The Saudi coalition is controlling access to the country – they want to stop Iran from arming the rebels. However this means not enough food can get through. Millions of people are starving. Yemen was already one of the poorest Arab countries, but now it has one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world.
The images have prompted i readers to get in touch to ask how they can help – below are a few charities with projects in Yemen. Additionally there are a number of campaigns to get involved with and there are also a few fundraising drives.
SABA (Yemen-dedicated charity): You can donate to a number of projects including supporting children through the orphan sponsorship programme, buying people clothing for Eid and delivering water tanks to areas in the north and south of Yemen. Unicef: Donate money to help provide people with clean water and food, as well as vaccinations against polio for children. The money will also go towards providing an education for young people.
Oxfam: Money given to Oxfam will help provide families displaced from their homes with food and water.
Save the Children: Donate to help deliver food and vitamin supplements to children, as well as to help provide safe spaces for them to learn and play.
Human Appeal: Give money to help aid workers deliver food parcels, safe water and education about the cause and spread of dengue virus. The charity has also helped remove rubbish and resolve sewage problems in some cities.
Amnesty International UK: The organisation says your money will be used to help gather evidence of human rights crimes in Yemen.
Operation Mercy: The organisation has a number of projects in Yemen, including those to reduce poverty and empower women and children.
Some charities and NGOs advise people to fundraise to help people. The money will be used to help people in the countries that need it most, including Yemen.
MercyCorps: You can fundraise with your school or work (the charity provides ideas such as sweepstakes and raffles) to make a difference in 40 countries including Yemen.
Unicef: Unicef has a fundraising kit with ideas and tips for raising money – by Serina Sandhu
https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/world/help-civilians-living-yemen-conflict/
Comment: MONA Relief not to beforgotten: http://monarelief.org/ .
27.10.2016 – The National UAE (* A H)
Facing famine and with nowhere to run, Yemen’s civilians bear brunt of war
[Article relying on Reuters and AFP, these articles already had been linked here].
Comment: Now also the UAE media are reporting about the Yemen humanitarian crisis – off course in a way as if it would have fallen from the sky, not at all naming those who mainly are responsible for all that.
27.10.2016 – CNN (* A H)
Yemen food crisis leaves millions at risk of starving
Saida Ahmad Baghili's piercing eyes look up from a Yemen hospital bed as if pleading for help.
She is 18, but the children's clothes that drape her emaciated body appear too large for her in photos released this week. Baghili is being treated for severe malnutrition at al-Thawra hospital in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida.
As the food crisis grows worse for Baghili and other Yemenis, the UN World Food Programme fears the devastating toll that hunger could have on the war-torn country.
The organization said it has provided food for more than 3 million people each month since February but is beginning to struggle.
It has split these rations so it can reach 6 million people every month, but resources are beginning to run out.
"An entire generation could be crippled by hunger," Torben Due, the program's director in Yemen, said in a statement (with photos).
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/27/middleeast/yemen-world-food-program/index.html and a similar article by Voice of America: http://www.voanews.com/a/half-of-yemen-conflict-ridden-population-living-in-state-of-crisis/3569954.html
Comment: What’s now, USA? Are you aware that these are YOUR starving kids?
26.10.2016 – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (A H)
Yemen Humanitarian response plan - October 2016
The ongoing conflict has severely affected the agriculture sector, causing extensive losses in crops, livestock and fish production. As a consequence, the supply and distribution of locally-produced food to the markets is becoming scarce.
Agriculture must be an integral part of the humanitarian response to prevent Yemen’s dire food security situation from worsening.
FAO urgently needs to scale up its response to improve immediate household availability of and access to food for the most vulnerable people in Yemen. This includes providing emergency livelihood inputs (for crop production, backyard vegetable gardens, poultry, animal feed, farming and fishing tools); increase water supply for farming; support incomegenerating activities through cash and voucher transfers; and assess, monitor and control transboundary animal diseases and pests, including desert locust.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-humanitarian-response-plan-october-2016 and in full http://www.fao.org/emergencies/resources/documents/resources-detail/en/c/449365/ = http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/FAO%20Response%20plan%20Yemen.pdf
25.10.2016 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (* A H)
Yemen: Humanitarian Snapshot - A temporal overview of the conflict and its impact (as of 25 October 2016)
As the conflict in Yemen continues unabated, the trends show a devastating toll on civilians. Since March 2015, the number of people moving within the country in search of safety and livelihood has steadily increased to a staggering 3.2 million. At a time of widespread and worsening food insecurity, food imports remain in short supply, significantly driving up the price of commodities. Health facility based numbers on people killed and injured are now higher than at any other time in 2016. These numbers are believed to be much higher, however, since many injured do not seek help in a health facility and since many that die never make it to a facility. Also, since over half of health facilities, in 16 out of 22 governorates, are partially or totally not working, reporting capacity is functioning at sub optimal levels. The trends also reveal that those engaged in the conflict are not meeting their basic responsibilities, under international law, to respect, protect, and meet basic needs of the civilian population. Through a consistent presence, humanitarian partners have been able to steadily increase their reach to people in need across Yemen.
However, the response does not match the requirements, as less than half of the funding needed has been received.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-humanitarian-snapshot-temporal-overview-conflict-and-its-impact-25-october-2016 and in full with infographics: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/YEMEN_Hum.%20Snapshot_25102016.pdf
Comment by Hisham Al-Omeisy: 21.5M need aid. UN's plan only addresses partial/critical needs. Year almost over & plan not even half funded
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/791263351578001408
26.10.2016 – MONA Relief (A H)
Pix taken by @monareliefye during celebrating of launching a new child friendly space at al-Noor center for blind Sanaa funded by @iom_yemen
https://twitter.com/monareliefye/status/791349550799806464
26.10.2016 – Bild (* B H)
Hunger-Hölle Jemen
Wael Ibrahim (50), Landesdirektor von „CARE International Yemen“ in der jemenitischen Hauptstadt Sanaa, sagte zu BILD, die Lage sei katastrophal. Die Menschen im Land litten unter einer „komplexen Kombination“ aus Arbeitslosigkeit, Nahrungsmangel und zerstörter Infrastruktur.
Auf ein Jobangebot in Sanaa, so Ibrahim zu BILD, kämen etwa 1700 Bewerber. Wer keine Arbeit finde, könne sich keine Lebensmittel leisten, selbst, wenn diese auf dem Markt vorhanden seien. Hinzu käme die durch die saudischen Bombardierungen zerstörte Infrastruktur: „Seit einem Jahr gibt es keine Elektrizität. Fabriken können so nicht arbeiten, auch keine Bäckereien...“
Außerdem könnten Hilfsorganisationen aufgrund der ständigen Luftschläge keine humanitären Hilfslieferungen vornehmen. „Kein Versicherer will die Flugzeuge der Helfer versichern. Darum gibt es keine Hilfsflüge“, so Ibrahim. Dies komme einer „Blockade“ gleich, wie man sie in Aleppo erlebe.
All diese Faktoren ergäben eine „sehr schwierige Situation für die Kinder“ im Land. Der Hunger sei in den verschiedenen Landesteilen unterschiedlich stark, abhängig davon, welche der genannten Faktoren dort wie zusammenvielen – von Julian Röpcke (mit Fotos)
http://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/jemen-krise/hunger-hoelle-48451626.bild.html
Kommentar: Man muss Bild für diesen Artikel danken. Eine Anmerkung: Die wenigsten Waffen der Huthis kommen aus dem Iran. Alte Bestände der jemenitischen Armee und Beutewaffen machen wesentlich mehr aus.
26.10.2016 – Pharmazeutische Zeitung (* A H)
file:///C:/Users/DIETRI~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/07/clip_image001.gif
Jemen: Kriegsfolge Cholera
Im Jemen ist infolge des bewaffneten Konflikts die Cholera ausgebrochen. Bis zum 23. Oktober wurden 644 vermutete und 31 laborbestätigte Fälle gemeldet, drei Menschen sind gestorben. Betroffen sind die Gouvernements Taizz, Al-Hudaida, Aden, Al Baida, Lahj und Sanaa. Wie die Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) informiert, ereigneten sich zwei der Todesfälle in Sanaa und einer in Aden.
Ohne sofortige ausländische Hilfe wird sich die Infektionskrankheit in dem Land rasch ausbreiten, warnt die WHO. Mehr als 7,6 Millionen Menschen leben in den betroffenen Regionen, davon drei Millionen unter hygienisch besonders schwierigen Bedingungen in Flüchtlingscamps. Diese Menschen, die aufgrund des Bürgerkriegs im eigenen Land auf der Flucht sind, seien bereits durch Mangelernährung und fehlender Gesundheitsversorgung geschwächt. Die WHO schätzt, dass ohne Gegenmaßnahmen bis zu 76.000 Menschen in 15 Gouvernements an Cholera erkranken werden, davon 15.200 schwer. Um das zu verhindern, würden 22,35 Millionen US-Dollar (20,46 Millionen Euro) an internationaler Hilfe benötigt, davon 16,6 Millionen US-Dollar (15,2 Millionen Euro) sofort.
Im Jemen sind zwei Drittel der Bevölkerung nicht ausreichend mit sauberem Trinkwasser versorgt. Der Zugang zu sanitären Einrichtungen ist vor allem in Städten begrenzt, was der Verbreitung von infektiösen Durchfallerkrankungen wie der Cholera Vorschub leistet. Zudem funktionieren laut WHO-Angaben aufgrund von Personalmangel und Arzneimittelknappheit nur noch 45 Prozent der Gesundheitseinrichtungen. Um die Ausbreitung der Cholera zu verhindern, will die WHO unter anderem das Überwachungssystem stärken, den Zugang zu Gesundheitseinrichtungen verbessern und nicht zuletzt die gefährdete Bevölkerung über die Erkrankung aufklären
http://www.pharmazeutische-zeitung.de/index.php?id=65823
26.10.2016 – World Food Programme (* A H)
Film: Conflict in#Yemenhas impacted imports and agriculture, leaving a whole generation irreversibly crippled by hunger. Over half of the country's children are stunted & a quarter of the population is severely food insecure
https://www.facebook.com/WorldFoodProgramme/videos/10153851923775178/
26.10.2016 – Deutsche Welle (* A H)
Film: Hungerkrise im Jemen
Nach drei Tagen Feuerpause sind die Gefechte im Jemen wieder voll entbrannt. Zwischen den Fronten: Millionen Menschen, die kaum mehr wissen, wie sie sich ernähren sollen. Rund 2,1 Millionen Menschen - unter ihnen 1,3 Millionen Kinder - sind akut unterernährt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9azBZEAaBNQ
and in English:
26.10.2016 – Deutsche Welle (* A H)
Film: Hunger crisis in Yemen
The poorest country on the Arabian peninsula has suffered nearly two years of fighting between a Saudi-led Arab coalition and the Iran-allied Houthi movement, already costing ten thousand lives. Now the UN says much of the country is on the brink of famine.
http://www.dw.com/en/hunger-crisis-in-yemen/av-36156522
by Jamila Hanan: Are we all used to these images now? May I remind everyone that the UN still has #Yemen under blockade as this famine takes hold.
https://twitter.com/JamilaHanan/status/791183222579355648
Comment: She is right. It is the UN which by its Security Council resolution 2216 created the basis for the Saudi blockade – and still UN refuses to quit this resolution.
26.10.2016 – Yemen Today TV (* A E H)
Film: Starvation in Yemen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNFOwL_id4g
26.10.2016 – Yemen Today TV (* A E H)
Film: Saudi economic war against Yemen, starvation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UkqiFWnQMk
26.10.2016 – Yemen Today TV (* A E H)
Film: Starving children in Tihama region
https://twitter.com/B_yemeni20/status/791399263972499456
26.10.2016 – Aljazeera Arabic (* A H)
Film on cholera, starvation, diseases (Arabic), but with a strange propaganda bias
https://twitter.com/AJArabic/status/791021541601325057
Comment by Hisham Al-Omeisy: AJA: "Ancient epidemics like Cholera & Typhoid after Houthi takeover of Sana'a & besieged cities" Seriously!
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/791273020304351232
23.10.2016 – YM (A H)
Film: Starvation in Tihama region
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154847453243641 = https://www.facebook.com/waledfadhel/videos/vb.100001581695464/1230199823709396/?type=2&theater
26.10.2016 – The Times (* A H)
Millions starving in ‘forgotten war’ as Saudi bombs tear Yemen apart
Millions of people in Yemen are starving, including children who will be crippled for life, the UN has warned as new photographs from areas worst hit by the war show teenagers dying of hunger.
Yemen now has one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said yesterday. More than 14 million people are going hungry, half of them starving. At least ten of the country’s 21 governorates are close to a famine.
The lack of food in the gulf’s poorest state is largely the result of a bombing campaign and blockade (photos)
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/_TP_/article/millions-starving-as-saudi-bombs-tear-yemen-apart-xdxb23cbb?ni-statuscode=acsaz-307 = http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/the-times/millions-starving-in-forgotten-war-as-saudi-bombs-tear-yemen-apart/news-story/c76bd5e7f12257677aa8cec84ae99afe?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20TheAustralianNewsNDM%20(The%20Australian%20%7C%20News%20%7C
25.10.2016 – 7 Days UAE (* A H)
Deadly cholera outbreak spreads through Yemen
An outbreak of cholera and acute watery diarrhoea in Yemen has now claimed 32 lives as two-thirds of the country struggle to secure fresh drinking water due to the conflict.
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) yesterday said the death toll has risen rapidly since the first confirmed case on October 8. Officials said there are a further 340 suspected cases.
Rajat Madhok, Chief of Communication and Advocacy at UNICEF Yemen, said malnourished children are the most at risk.
He told 7DAYS: “You have children who already have a weak immune system, who are suffering from severe acute malnutrition and they contract something like this, and it can lead to death.
“Look at it in perspective of the crumbling health system and the number of people displaced and the dynamics of how people don’t have access to clean or safe water or health facilities.
“It is spreading but it needs to be contained urgently.”
http://7days.ae/deadly-cholera-outbreak-claims-32-lives-yemen/95039
Comment by Judith Brown: These cholera deaths are directly related to the war but the bodies will not be included in the war death statistics. And the death toll keeps rising.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154846302073641
26.10.2016 – Pars Today (* A H)
Welternährungsprogramm warnt vor Unterernährung jemenitischer Kinder
Nach Angaben des Welternährungsprogramms der Vereinten Nationen könne die Unterernährung im Jemen, die durch die militärischen Aggressionen Saudi-Arabiens ausgelöst worden ist, schließlich zum Ausfall einer ganzen Generation im Land führen.
WFP-Regionaldirektor Muhannad Hadi teilte am Dienstag in einem Bericht, der sich auf den zunehmenden Hunger und die Unterernährung im Jemen bezog, mit: Millionen Jemeniten können nicht ohne fremde Hilfe überleben.
Frauen und Kinder seien die Hauptopfer der saudischen Aggressionen im Jemen, so Hadi weiter.
Nach offiziellen Angaben leiden 14,1 Millionen Menschen unter der Nahrungsmittelunsicherheit im Land, wovon sieben Millionen in einem kritischen Zustand sind. In einigen Provinzen leiden 70 Prozent der Bevölkerung an Unterernährung.
In einigen Gebieten, wie z.B. in Hadida im Westen des Landes, betrage die Unterernährungsrate bei Kindern unter fünf Jahren bis zu etwa 31 Prozent, welches mehr als das Doppelte als bei einer humanitären Katastrophe sei.
26.10.2016 – Huffington Post (* A H)
Film: Starvation in Yemen, scroll down to film
25.10.2016 – Storyful News (* A H)
Film: WFP Warns of Growing Child Malnutrition in Yemen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVrgryUmzA4
30.9.2016 – UNICEF (* B H)
UNICEF Yemen Crisis Humanitarian Situation Report (September 2016)
The nutrition situation in Yemen continues to deteriorate, exacerbated by economic situation and weakened national systems, putting millions of Yemeni children and their families at risk of losing access to basic services.
From 24 to 29 September, UNICEF supported the second round of Integrated Outreach activities for vaccination, health and nutrition services. The campaign was carried out across the country to reach more than 600,000 children under 5 years and over 180,000 pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. Outreach campaigns give some respite to the currently overstretched national health system.
The Back 2 School campaign is ongoing at full capacity.
Furthermore, the liquidity crisis and the recently announced relocation of the Central Bank of Yemen from Sana’a to Aden are expected to worsen the already dire economic and financial situation due to its impact on imports and further disruption of public sector salary payments. Basic commodities are scarce across the majority of the governorates in Yemen due to the low level of imports and limited movement of goods given the security situation. 2 Delivery of humanitarian supplies has also been affected.
The current situation of the national Health system is of great concern for UNICEF and partners.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/unicef-yemen-crisis-humanitarian-situation-report-september-2016 and in full: http://www.unicef.org/appeals/files/UNICEF_Yemen_Humanitarian_Situation_Report_Sept_2016.pdf = http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/UNICEF%20Yemen%20Humanitarian%20Situation%20Report_%20September%20%202016.pdf
24.10.2016 – In the Now (B K)
Film: Yemen says the Saudis intentionally bomb farms to get the starving nation hooked on food imports
Saudis are deliberately bombing farms in Yemen, which may lead to survivors starving when the war is over. 357 strikes in 20 provinces targeted farms, animals, water infrastructure, food stores, agricultural banks, markets and food trucks, with 60% of the population already dependent on food aid. Post-war Yemen may totally rely on food imports most probably coming from Gulf States. According to international law targeting infrastructure objects is a war crime
Yet it’s not stopping Britain and the US from helping Saudi Arabia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRk5ImEukIk
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
27.10.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A P)
Yemen tribesmen Keep outcrying& supporting army with fighters to retaliate for US-backed Saudi warcrimes. ( Wed.Dhammar south Sanaa)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/791700195218194432
27.10.2016 – Saba Net (* A P)
Revolutionary Leader Sayyed al-Houthi calls to complete formation of government
Revolutionary Leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi called to complete the formation of the government, stressing on the importance to the action and serious move to reinforce combat fronts, as well the collection of resources to support the Central Bank of Yemen.
The leader, Sayyed al-Houthi, said: "the Saudi regime's aggression on Yemen is part of subversion movement under the umbrella of the United States, which serves Israel."
"There is no a sign indicating to the immediate end to the aggression, and everyone should take responsibility, and reinforce fronts with men," al-Houthi said, adding that "the aggression is targeting our country's economy which is continuously targeting the people in their livelihoods and preventing the arrival of salaries."
"Who is fighting the central bank?, O you American, Saudi and hypocrites…Yes you are fighting the central bank and seeking to starve thousands of families, and you who deliberately destroying the economic infrastructure and deliberately stealing and looting the resources," the leader Sayyed al-Houthi said.
The leader stressed on the Saudi threat, which he said the Saudis use the money to intervene in other countries' affairs to penetrate those countries, and then destroy their tranquility and stability.
The leader reaffirmed that the Saudi aggression on Yemen has been backed by the United States to serve Israel.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news444962.htm
26.10.2016 – Press TV Iran (* A P)
Saudi commits crimes on global scale with US green light: Houthi
The leader of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement says Saudi Arabia commits crimes across the globe with the US green light.
Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said on Wednesday that the Al Saud family has adopted a hypocritical approach in the Muslim world, the proof of which is Takfiri violence gripping the region.
"When Washington gives the Riyadh regime the green light, sedition sparks in all countries, with the Saudi offensive being in line with such a trend," he added.
The Houthi leader also warned that Saudi Arabia is seeking to damage security in some Arab countries such as Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Iraq through petrodollars and deceptive propaganda works.
Instead of countering the enemies of Islam, including the US and Israel, the kingdom has been engaged in spreading Takfiri ideology and arming terrorists, Houthi noted.
Saudi Arabia committed crimes by the Sana’a attack, but it tried to acquit itself of the assault, Houthi said, adding that there was no clear sign suggesting an end to the Saudi offensive.
He also stressed that Yemenis cannot rely on the United Nations as the world body has not adopted a position regarding the Saudi attack in Sana’a.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/10/26/490812/Yemen-Saudi-Arabia-Abdul-Malik-Houthi
26.10.2016 – Saba Net (A P)
SPC President receives head of ICRC Yemen delegation
President of the Supreme Political Council Saleh Al-Sammad received on Tuesday Head of the Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Yemen Alexander Faite.
Al-Sammad praised the positive role of the ICRC at international level and Yemen’s level, expressing understanding of the pressures it undergoes due to the expansion of its works and the worsening humanitarian situations because of wars and violence around the world.
Al-Sammad pointed out the importance of the continuity of the ICRC work in Yemen to encourage other international organizations to contribute to alleviating sufferings of civilians who undergo siege and airstrikes by the Saudi-American aggression on Yemen.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news444928.htm
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
24.10.2016 – Farea Al-Muslimi (A P)
#Yemen is on a famine. What did exile government do to face it? Bought a VIP plane to facilitate its exile comfort.
https://twitter.com/almuslimi/status/790667730517168128 relying on https://m.planespotters.net/airframe/Boeing/757/28338/UK75700-Uzbekistan-Airways and see also http://www.sahafah24.net/show691153.html
Comment: Bought in Sept. 2016 by Hadi government. The price was US $ 100 million.
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
28.10.2016 – Albawaba (A P)
UAE hails new UN peace plan for Yemen
The United Arab Emirates, a key Saudi ally in its military campaign against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen, has welcomed a new United Nations peace proposal to end the Yemen conflict.
"The UAE supports the efforts of UN [Special] Envoy [for Yemen] Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed knowing that the mission of a mediator is always tough," Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said on his Twitter account on Thursday.
The remarks came two days after the UN envoy submitted the plan to Yemen’s Houthi movement and its allies.
http://www.albawaba.com/news/uae-hails-new-un-peace-plan-yemen-898058
27.10.2016 – Reuters (* A P)
U.N. peace plan for Yemen appears to sideline exiled president
Oct 27 A U.N. peace proposal to end a 19-month war in Yemen appears aimed at sidelining exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and setting up a government of less divisive figures, according to a copy of the plan seen by Reuters.
The latest peace plan submitted by U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed suggests [vice president] Ahmar would step down and Hadi would agree to become little more than a figurehead after a Houthi withdrawal from the capital Sanaa.
It was not immediately clear if the men had been consulted on the plan. But their supporters have in the past insisted that past agreements recognising Hadi as leader must be respected.
"As part of the signing of a complete and comprehensive agreement, the current Vice President will resign and President Hadi will appoint a new Vice President," the document says.
"After the completion of the withdrawal from Sanaa and the handing over of heavy and medium weapons (including ballistic missiles) Hadi will transfer all his powers to a Vice President, and the Vice President will appoint a new Prime Minister ... (who will form) a national unity government," it added.
The proposal would technically confirm Hadi in office, as stipulated by the U.N. resolution, but leave him in reality with only a symbolic role.
A Yemeni government spokesman did not immediately comment on the initiative, but government officials say they are unwilling to legitimise what they see as a Houthi "coup".
"We emphasize our conviction that all proposals are doomed to failure if (they don't reject the) excesses of the coup, which is the mother of all these calamities and the root of the evils," Abdullah al-Alimi, a senior official in Hadi's office, wrote on Twitter.
There was no immediate comment from the United Nations, or from Saudi Arabia, which is leading a military coalition, including the United Arab Emirates, trying to dislodge the Houthis.
But UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash expressed his support for the U.N. plan on Thursday, saying on Twitter that "alternate options are dark" – By Mohammed Ghobari
http://uk.reuters.com/article/yemen-security-idUKL8N1CX3A9 and by Middle East Eye http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/un-peace-proposal-calls-yemen-president-step-down-84740872
Comment by Judith Brown: Well now they are really talking peace seriously. This odious man - whom his own army did not support - escaped from Yemen and went to Saudi Arabia and asked his neighbours to bomb his fellow countrymen. He will never be an elected President of Yemen, almost all Yemenis hate him. This really does have a chance of success - if they are serious.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154849883273641
and
27.10.2016 – Asharq Al-Awsat (* A P)
Yemen Rejects Ideas that do not Conform with Previous Plans
Yemeni leadership had rejected any suggestions or discussions that disagree with the peace references represented by the Gulf initiative and its execution mechanism, as well as the results of the national dialogue and U.N. resolutions including Resolution 2216.
Yemen’s President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi presided a meeting with the advisers committee. The meeting was attended by vice president Army general Ali Mohsen Saleh and Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr to discuss current events and latest developments in Yemen.
The president stressed during the meeting that peace should prevail in Yemen and put an end to the repeated insurgents’ aggression on the southern border of the kingdom including launching missiles at residential areas and their arrogance that toy with the lives of the Yemeni people.
President Hadi said that insurgents are only interested in destroying and looting the country. The prime minister gave a brief presentation on the situation after his visits to several districts including Aden and Hadramout.
According to the Yemeni official news agency, the president reiterated his status as a propagandist for peace founded on national and Arab bases.
Yemen Government’s Spokesman, Rajeh Badi said that any peace proposal must conform to previous plans for Yemen’s political future which are the 2011 Gulf initiative, which eased Saleh from power, 2014 national dialogue conference between political factions and the 2015 U.N. Security Council resolution calling for the Houthis to disarm and quit major cities.
https://english.aawsat.com/2016/10/article55360947/yemen-rejects-ideas-not-conform-previous-plans
Comment: “Yemen” is just the Hadi government and nothing more. In any case, no move at all, back to square 1. The future of the country should depend on the caprices of an old man who does not want to stop playing “president” in 5-star Riyadh hotel. And of course, the whole must be enriched with claiming moral superiority to the other side, what just is void in case of serious peace negotiations should be started.
26.10.2016 – Middle East Monitor (A P)
Saudi: Algeria was not asked to help in Yemen talks
The spokesperson of the Saudi-led coalition yesterday denied media reports that Algeria had been asked to take part in mediating peace talks between warring parties in Yemen.
Rumours have been circulating that the Algerian Deputy Defence Minister and Chief of Staff, Ahmed Gaid Salah, was invited to mediate in future peace talks by his Qatari and Saudi counterparts.
The media reports quoted an anonymous Algerian diplomat.
General Ahmed Al Assiri, the coalition spokesperson, quickly denied the allegations and said that no conversation took place between anyone from the Algerian, Qatari and Saudi defence ministries.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20161026-saudi-algeria-was-not-asked-to-help-in-yemen-talks/
26.10.2016 – Gulf News (* A P)
Yemen rejects rebel calls for president’s resignation
Government says it has yet to receive the UN envoy’s new peace plan
The Yemen government has said that it has not officially been presented with a draft peace agreement to end the war in the country from the United Nations envoy.
According to media reports, Al Houthis and their allies say the new proposal includes the resignation of Yemeni president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, which a government minister categorically rejected in comments to Gulf News.
UN envoy Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad said on Tuesday that he handed over “a written road map that addresses security and political arrangements” to Al Houthis and supporters of ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh aimed at ending more than a year of conflict.
The rebel forces have not decided on the fresh proposal, but some of their affiliates said on social media that the new proposal includes resignation of internationally recognised president Hadi after a handover of power to a new vice president and prime minister.
The deal reportedly also suggests the formation of a team of international observers to supervise the militias’ withdrawal. It proposes a one- to two-year transitional period paving the way for presidential elections.
Mohammad Al Qubati, minister of tourism, said the government is yet to be officially notified about the plan, adding that any new proposal would have to be compatible with previous suggested initiatives during the last round of peace talks in Kuwait to be acceptable.
“All of these initiatives call for Al Houthis to withdraw before tackling the political arrangements. Any proposals outside the framework of the GCC peace initiative, the National Dialogue Conference or the UN Security Council 2216 would not be accepted.” Al Qubati told Gulf News over the phone from Aden.
The minister described Al Houthis’ talk about Hadi’s resignation as “misleading”, adding that the government would not accept discussing transfer of power before ending Al Houthis’ coup.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/yemen/yemen-rejects-rebel-calls-for-president-s-resignation-1.1919298
Comment: Back to square 1. To remember: Hadi’s (extended) term already ended February 27, 1015. – And: “Yemen” in UAE propaganda wording is just the Hadi government (in reality a quarter square mile at Aden or so).
Comment by Judith Brown: Well that seems like a compromise that could work except of course it means the despot Hadi will be relieved of his despotic duties. I guess he'll say no. Well, he would wouldn't he?
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154847423123641
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
27.10.2016 – Ali Alahmed (A K)
#Saudi prince desecrates name of God by writing it on a bomb. This is indeed a discretion in Muslim eyes
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/791772541954166784
26.10.2016 – RT (* B P)
Saudi Arabia poised to be reelected to UN Human Rights Council
Asecret ballot vote at the UN General Assembly on Friday will select the 14 members of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), or a third of its 47 members. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, China, and Japan are running for the four seats from the Asia-Pacific region, and are all expected to secure seats.
Riyadh’s term at the UNHRC would be the third in a row, and its presence at the body has been increasingly puzzling to human rights groups, given its record of twisting arms at the UN to hush up its rights abuses.
In June, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon publicly admitted that Saudi Arabia threatened to withdraw funding from numerous programs due to an upcoming report on violations of children’s rights. The report would list the Arab kingdom among violators over the toll its military campaign and blockade of Yemen has taken on children. The threat resulted in Saudi Arabia’s removal from the blacklist, even though Riyadh’s tactics had been exposed.
“The report describes horrors no child should have to face,”Ban Ki-moon told reporters at the time.“At the same time, I also had to consider the very real prospect that millions of other children would suffer grievously if, as was suggested to me, countries would defund many UN programs.”
“It is unacceptable for UN member states to exert undue pressure,”the secretary-general added, pledging to review the removal of the Saudis from the list.
This incident of Saudi Arabia working against UN human rights efforts is far from being isolated. In Yemen, the kingdom used control of air traffic to prevent foreign journalists, employees of international aid organizations, and UN officials from visiting the war-torn country and reporting on the situation there.
In September, it used diplomatic pressure against the Netherlands after it introduced a resolution at the UNHRC that would launch an independent investigation into airstrikes on Yemen. The Dutch proposal failed and an Arab version was passed, one which entrusted the probe to the exiled Yemeni government, which the Saudis want to put back into power through its military actions.
Domestically, Riyadh’s policies often run against those of the UN human rights body.
https://www.rt.com/news/364209-saudi-arabia-unhrc-election/#.WBDzV73QtHU.twitter
25.10.2016 – Reuters /A E P)
Saudi central bank asks banks to reschedule property loans as austerity bites
Saudi Arabia's central bank said on Tuesday it had asked local banks to reschedule the property loans of citizens whose incomes had been reduced by government austerity measures.
Last month the government said it was cutting the allowances of employees in the public sector, where about two thirds of Saudis work, to save money as low oil prices strain state finances.
Economists estimated the cuts might reduce the income of many people by about 20 percent, making it harder for them to service their property and consumer loans.
At the end of last month, the central bank asked local banks to reschedule consumer loans to help cash-strapped borrowers service them; it is now doing the same with real estate loans
http://www.reuters.com/article/saudi-loans-idUSL8N1CV6SL
Comment: Welcome, Vision 2030!
4.10.2016 – Open Democracy (** B H)
Months later, Saudi still silent on stranded migrants
Until Saudi Arabia takes ownership of the crisis, it will remain responsible for the egregious human rights abuses tens of thousands of migrants are forced to endure each day.
Tens of thousands of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia are starving. They have limited access to clean drinking water, electricity, and medical care. Trash piles up in the dozens of labor camps they are forced to occupy, leading to squalid conditions in their cramped quarters. Everyone is out of work, and their money is running out, if it hasn’t run out already.
It is impossible for them to pay back the exorbitant debts they accumulated in order to move to Saudi Arabia. They are also now unable to send valuable remittances back to their families in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. They are not the only ones who are suffering; without money, their families are also starving, and many have been left unable to pay for their children to attend school.
No one has been paid in months - their employers, neglected payment by the state, have left these workers with nothing.
The Government of Saudi Arabia has a large role to play in this current migrant crisis. In 2014, the drop in oil prices forced the Saudi government to selectively implement strict cuts in state spending.
The kingdom’s subsequent mismanagement of its finances led to an economic depression, which in turn left the state unable to uphold its contractual obligations.
Saudi Arabia contracted many of the construction companies for which the stranded migrants worked.
The Government of Saudi Arabia currently owes Saudi Oger over 30 billion riyals (approximately 8 billion USD) for work that has already been completed. As a result, the company is failing to meet its financial obligations, which include 15 billion riyals in loan payments, billions owed to contractors and suppliers, and over 2.5 billion to more than 30,000 workers for back and severance pay. Saudi Arabia has tabled any efforts to bail out the firm, instead blaming the firm for mismanaging its own funds.
Saudi Oger was also directly responsible for overseeing several labor camps, most of which are now home to the thousands of stranded workers. In addition to not paying its employees, the firm’s management is responsible for cutting off electrical, medical, and food services in the camps, abandoning its former employees and leaving them to fend for themselves. Saudi Arabia’s non-payment to Saudi Oger has created a domino effect, impacting thousands of other migrant workers employed by subcontractors and supply companies.
The entrenchment of the kafala system, which ties a worker’s immigration and employment status to his or her employer, undermines many of the efforts to alleviate the crisis. Under kafala, a worker cannot switch jobs or leave the country without the explicit permission of his or her employer. However, in the current situation, these requirements are impossible to fulfill, as there are no employers.
In response, India distributed 34,000 pounds of food to Saudi Arabia alongside other emergency provisions.
Pakistan is also trying to keep its citizens safe, while working on ways to repatriate them.
However, the governments of the migrants’ home countries are quite incapable of correcting Saudi Arabia’s derogation of responsibility.
Until Saudi Arabia takes ownership of the crisis, it will remain responsible for the egregious human rights abuses tens of thousands of migrants are forced to endure each day. – by Britanny Hamzy
https://www.opendemocracy.net/arab-awakening/brittany-hamzy/months-later-saudi-still-silent-on-stranded-migrants = http://europe.newsweek.com/starving-guest-workers-trapped-saudi-arabia-513221?rm=eu
Comment: Welcome, Vision 2030! The bombing campaign against Yemen costs about US $ 200 million a day. And it’s the 582. day now. That will be a total of US $ 116 billion now. And it’s just 8 billion the Saudis owe to Oger??
13.3.2016 – The Independent (** B P)
PR firm accused of helping Saudi Arabia 'whitewash' its human rights record
Exclusive: Agency deleted reference to client after challenge from human rights group
One of the world’s largest advertising agencies has been accused of helping Saudi Arabia “whitewash” its record on human rights following the kingdom’s largest mass execution for more than 30 years.
A US subsidiary of Publicis Groupe, the French media conglomerate that owns UK brands such as Saatchi & Saatchi, distributed an article in which the kingdom’s foreign minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir implicitly attempted to justify the execution of 47 people.
But in an opinion piece published by the US magazine Newsweek a month after the killings, Mr Al-Jubeir argued that they were part of Saudi Arabia’s fight against terrorism.
The article – entitled “The Saudis Are Fighting Terrorism, Don’t Believe Otherwise” – was distributed by Qorvis MSLGroup, a subsidiary of Publicis that has been working with Saudi Arabia for more than a decade.
On its website, the company stated that its work for the kingdom included “media relations, advertising, government relations, grass-roots action and online communications”.
However, shortly after the UK-based human rights group Reprieve wrote to Publicis raising concerns about the Newsweek article last month, the section about Saudi Arabia disappeared from the Qorvis website.
A cached version, seen byThe Independent, said the firm’s work “has effectively served to strengthen the 80-year relationship between the Saudi and American people and governments”.
In its letter to Publicis CEO Maurice Levy, Reprieve accused Qorvis of helping the Saudis “whitewash serious human rights abuses” by distributing Mr Al-Jubeir’s article, warning that the firm was “dangerously close to helping the Saudi Government defend the execution of non-violent political opponents”.
Last summer, Saudi Arabia’s US embassy launched the website Arabia Now, which it described in a press release as an “online hub for news related to the Kingdom”. The site carries positive articles and blogs about Saudi culture, its fight against terrorism – and economic development – by Chris Green
Saudi Arabia is also active on Twitter.
Comment: I missed these article in March. Debunking: Newsweek takes articles from PR companies. And you think to read a journalistic text, and it is just PR. Newsweek: just for the dust bin. It does not even fit for wrapping fishes.
Comment by Judith Brown: Here's how it's done - lots of money to pay for expensive PR and you can do what you like.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154853018013641
cp9 USA
Every day – US Department of State (** A K P)
[Scroll down and see that the US every day are breaking their own law when supporting Saudi war against Yemen]
http://www.humanrights.gov/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/leahy-vetting-law-policy-and-process.pdf
26.10.2016 – MbKS15 (A P)
Oct. 26: #RSAF F-15SA 12-1003 carrying DB-110 pod during a test flight at Palmdale, CA — by: Thomas Bunce (photo)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/791574900838391808
Special Forces from the #US & #Malaysia will take part in the #Saudi Armed Forces exercise #NorthSpears 2016 in Tabuk (30 Oct - 13 Nov)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/791880976473481216
Comment: Close US-Saudi cooperation.
26.10.2016 – Washington Post (* A P)
The Obama administration rewards repression in Bahrain
26.10.2016 – Paste Magazine (* A P)
America's Addiction to Proxy Wars Like Yemen Will Lead Us to Real War with Iran
The driving force behind President Obama’s motivation to sacrifice a great deal to Iran in the interest of at least temporarily removing nuclear war from the equation is due to the battle being waged in the southernmost corner of the Middle East. This conflict has not been deliberated on by Congress, and it has not been extensively covered in the media. Nevertheless, it is effectively with Iran.
Saudi Arabia, not Israel, has been the centerpiece of American foreign policy for the past few decades. The American economic engine that dragged us from the Industrial Revolution to the Technological Revolution was literally powered by Saudi reserves.
Putting Israel aside, we chose to ally ourselves with the purveyors of the Sunni Wahhabist ideology which produced death cults seeking our extermination.
We pay for the weapons pointed at our soldiers, all while powering them with the oil exchanged for the incoming fire. It’s beyond psychotic, but that’s business as usual in Washington thanks to the oil lobby.
Which leads us to Yemen of all places. Sunni Islam has inspired groups hellbent on world domination like al-Qaeda and ISIS, but there are no proportionate examples of Shia extremist groups. Most Shia insurgencies have regional aspirations and are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Iranian government.
There is a stunning lack of leadership in the world right now. The Middle East is bursting at the seams, with regional hegemons competing for power.
We all contribute to this lack of leadership by maintaining an unrealistic expectation of our military. We believe we can resolve conflicts simply through our air might without ever having to put an American in harm’s way. As long as we maintain our position of “no American ground forces” in the region, we will continue to have proxy wars – By Jacob Weindling
Comment: This article begins quite reasonable. As far as Yemen is concerned, the author exaggerates the role of Iran. But at the end of the article, the consequences the author asks for are strange, dangerous and bloody: MORE US military involvement. – Hillary “the Hawk” already is throwing her shadow onto the scene – look at the following article also:
26.10.2016 – New York Magazine (* A P)
Clinton Adviser Proposes Attacking Iran to Aid the Saudis in Yemen
Michael Morell is a former acting director of the CIA and a national security adviser to Hillary Clinton — one who is widely expected to occupy a senior post in her administration.
He is also an opponentof the Iran nuclear agreement, a defender of waterboarding, and an advocate formaking Russia “pay a price”in Syria by covertly killing Putin’s soldiers.
On Tuesday, Morell added another title to that résumé: proponent of going to war with Iran, for the sake of securing Saudi Arabia’s influence in Yemen.
“Ships leave Iran on a regular basis carrying arms to the Houthis in Yemen,” Morell said, in remarks to the Center for American Progress, the liberal think tank founded by Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. “I would have no problem from a policy perspective of having the U.S. Navy boarding their ships, and if there are weapons on them, to turn those ships around.”
Morell did note, per Bloomberg’s Eli Lake, that this policy “raised questions of international maritime law.”
Which is a bit like saying, “Breaking into someone’s home, putting a gun in their face, and demanding they hand over all their weapons raises questions about armed-robbery law.”
Understatement aside, Morell’s stipulation suggests that he might be dissuaded from initiating a naval war with Iran if the legal issues prove too pesky. But the fact that a person who has Clinton’s ear on national security thinks this proposal makes sense from a “policy perspective” is alarming.
Forcibly boarding another nation’s naval or civilian vessels (outside one’s own territorial waters) and confiscating their weapons can reasonably be construed as an act of war, a point that would be unmistakable if the roles here were reversed.
How many Americans (whose paychecks aren’t directly or indirectly subsidized by Gulf State monarchies) think keeping Yemen within Saudi Arabia’s sphere of influence is a cause worth entering another Middle Eastern war over? – ByEric Levitz
Comment: Crazy, warmongering. That’s what will await us when Clinton wins the election. And whether Trump would be better, just the future would show. That will be the new Clinton politics, I suppose: Based on mere rumors and the own propaganda, new wars will be started.
26.10.2016 – Politico (A P)
New Saudi lobbyist
The Saudis have dispatchedDominique L. Russo, an adviser to the kingdom's General investment Authority, as the country's army of lobbyists prepare a lame-duck push to roll back the law letting 9/11 victims' families sue. Russo, who reports to PrinceSaud bin Khalid Al-Faisaland the investment authority's chairman,Majid A. Al-Qasabi, will work on "maintaining and strengthening commercial relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States" and "policy advocacy pertaining to bilateral economic development and investment issues," according to a new filing with the Justice Department. The Saudis hired lobbying sluggers includingSquirePattonBoggsandBrownsteinHyattFarberSchreckand haveput pressure on major U.S. companieswith assets in the kingdom such asDowChemicalandGeneralElectricto weigh in against the law, known as the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.
http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/politico-influence/2016/10/new-saudi-lobbyist-217071
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
Siehe / See cp1
28.10.2016 – The Guardian (* A P)
The Labour rebels who didn’t back the Yemen vote have blood on their hands
This week, Jeremy Corbyn suffered one of thelargest backbench rebellions of his tenure, as about 100 Labour MPs failed to supporta motionmoved by shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry. Some, like Angela Rayner, were away for legitimate reasons. But scores of others apparently couldn’t bring themselves to support the leadership’s demand that Britain stop backing a brutal Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. That was the point of principle on which they felt compelled to take this stand.
So you might think theLabourleadership’s demand that British support should be suspended, until the Saudis can be shown to be acting in accordance with international law and basic morality, would be an uncontroversial one. Apparently not.
Presenting the motion in the Commons, Thornberry was subjected to a series of ill-judged interruptions from Labour MPs such as Kevan Jones, Toby Perkins and John Woodcock. Indeed, Thornberry received more vocal support in the chamber from the SNP contingent than from her own supposed comrades. According to subsequent reports, some Labour members even tried to work with their Tory counterparts in order to defeat their own party’s motion.
If there is Yemeni blood on the hands of the Saudi-led coalition, then that blood is also on the hands of the coalition’s western backers, enablers and apologists. The Saudis and their allies can only wage this war because the Anglo-American suppliers of their air forces are providing active, material support. And British and American politicians can only collude in these outrages because the political cost on them so far has been low. However, it is in the gift of their constituents – you, the reader – to change that equation – by David Wearing
27.10.2016 – RT (* A P)
‘Two reasons UK supplying weapons to Saudi Arabia: Money and more money’
The UK selling weapons to Saudis is disgraceful, shameful and absolutely disgusting, says Graham Moore from the English Democrats party. It is about profit and about keeping arms companies and the big finance deals going, he adds.
GM: I have heard different things said on this subject including that the supply of arms to Saudi Arabia is keeping people in this country safe on the streets. I can’t see BAE [a British multinational defense, security and aerospace company], for example, or the government spending those profits on CCTV cameras in this country. In fact, all I can see are the Saudis funding sedition via mosques or madrasas in Britain. I don’t understand why we are tolerating them at all. But this isn’t the first time that the British have got involved with this type of the things. Indonesia, East Timor, the British supplied Hawk jets to Indonesia to slaughter the Eastern Timorese. In Zimbabwe, in Yemen. This continues. In recent months and the last two years I believe it is in the region of £2.7 billion that were received from Saudi for these weapons.
Q: Why the reluctance to even consider halting weapons supplies and training?
GM: Two reasons. One is money and the other is money. That’s it, pure and simple. The arms industry, BAE, for example; there are number of others in this country supplying all manner of weapons. It is about profit and it is about keeping those arms companies and the big finance deals going.
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/363897-uk-arms-saudi-arabia/
26.10.2016 – The Guardian (* A P)
Labour call for UK to withdraw support for Saudi-led coalition in Yemen fails
Boris Johnson rejects calls for end to arms sales to Saudi Arabia as it maintains ‘positive diplomatic influence where UK interests are at stake’
A Labour demand for the UK government to withdraw support for the Saudi-led coalition in the 18-month Yemen civil war failed on Wednesday when a substantial number ofLabourbackbenchers either stayed away or abstained.
In a Commons debate, the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, said the government should withdraw support from the Saudi coalition until an independent UN investigation had examined whether the Saudi bombing campaign, which has seen the deaths of thousands of Yemeni civilians, was in breach of international humanitarian law.
The Labour front bench, partly due to resistance from unions with membership in the defence industry, did not explicitly call for a suspension of UK arms sales to Saudi Arabiauuntil the independent inquiry reported. The Labour call for ministers to withdraw support from the Saudi coalition was defeated by 283 to 193, suggesting that scores of Labour MPs did not vote.
The foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, rejected any suspension of arms sales, saying other western countries would “happily supply arms” to Saudi Arabia without the same protections should Britain suspend its sales. He added that suspending arms sales would “at a stroke” eliminate Britain’s diplomatic influence on the Yemen conflict, in which the Saudi Arabian-led coalition has been accused of war crimes. He also said it was right that Saudi Arabia first conducted its own investigation.
Johnson added that if the UK suspended arms sales, “be in no doubt that we would be vacating a space that would rapidly be filled by other western countries who would happily supply arms with nothing like the same compunctions or criteria or respect for humanitarian law. And more importantly, we would at a stroke eliminate this country’s positive ability to exercise our moderating, diplomatic and political influence on a crisis where there are massive UK interests at stake.” – by Patrick Wintour
Comment: The British government as always. And Labour backbenchers just little better, backing local arms industry and just refusing work and making the Yemen cause an anti-Corbyn game. The backbenchers maneuvers are documented in their own articles documented below.
27.10.2016 – Raymond Delaunay (A P)
As abstaining hypocrites undermine him the @EveningStandard calls @jeremycorbyn "the conscience of Parliament on Yemen" (see text in image)
https://twitter.com/raymonddelauney/status/791728426180829184
27.10.2016 – Al Bab (* A P)
War crimes in Yemen: a shameful day for Britain
Britain's parliament yesterday rejected calls for "a full independent UN-led investigation" into alleged war crimes in Yemen and for suspension of British support to the Saudi-led coalition "until it has been determined whether they have been responsible for any such violations".
The Saudi military's apparent disregard for humanitarian law is by no means a new issue: the Americans complained about it in 2010 during the kingdom's previous bombing campaign in Yemen. During the current conflict there has been ample evidence of Saudi warplanes targeting civilians in hospitals, market places, and elsewhere.
The British government's reluctance to acknowledge evidence of war crimes and take a more critical line towards the Saudis is largely a result of the importance it attaches to arms sales.
There are similar attitudes among some Labour MPs because of pressure from trade unions whose members work in the weapons industry – which partly explains their absenteeism during yesterday's vote.
Whatever "compunctions" Johnson imagines Britain has shown in its lethal trade with Saudi Arabia, the possibility of arms sales by other – supposedly less scrupulous – countries does not absolve Britain from complying with the law – by: Brian Whitaker
http://al-bab.com/blog/2016/10/war-crimes-yemen-shameful-day-britain
Comment: Can you imagine more hypocrisy than this? Read here: Syria: UK wants ICC probe of alleged Russian war crimes. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says air strikes on hospitals in besieged Aleppo city are deliberate: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/10/syria-uk-icc-probe-alleged-russian-war-crimes-161011154527735.html. Can anybody tell me how this should fit together???
And another article on this debate:
27.10.2016 – The Independent (* A P)
If we don't sell arms to Saudi Arabia, someone else will, says Boris Johnson
The Foreign Secretary said other countries would step in 'at a stroke' it the UK decided to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia in the wake of allegations they had been used in war crimes
with 52 comments, here a few:
Long ago, some Johnson equivalent would have asserted if we stopped trading in slaves, someone else would.
May we take it ,then,that,if the Thyssens had not manufactured outsize gas ovens and sold them at a tidy profit to Adolf Hitler,Boris Johnson would have been pleased to fill the supply vacuum......for a tidy profit?
Just a minute is this the same person who slagged off the Russians for bombing Aleppo can't be ,,,,can it
A pathetic immoral response from a pathetic immoral man.
"If I don't sell crack to these kids, someone else will"
Boris if asked, should we sell arms to N Korea and Argentina ? Well if we don't, someone else will!
Whilst getting into bed with Saudi Arabia. The same clown has the audacity to criticise Russia
Well the, Boris, when will you start selling arms to ISIS and North Korea? After all, if we don't, someone else will.
Oh dear the wonderfully competent foreign secretary exposes the real justification behind Tory policy. An example to every arms exporting nation, far better we do it than those nasty Russians, whatever the long term consequences.
also:
26.10.2016 – Huffington Post (* A P)
Labour Discontent As 100 MPs Abstain From Party’s Own Vote On Yemen Civil War
The Labour leadership has suffered humiliation in Parliament after more than 100 of its MPs refused to back its own motion calling for the UK to withdraw support for the Saudi-led coalition involved in the Yemen civil war.
Labour’s Shadow Defence Secretary Emily Thornberry championed the motion in the Commons - but it was defeated by 283 votes to 193.
It means 102 Labour MPs abstained or were not around to vote - a highly unusual number for a so-called Opposition day debate - which represents around half of the Parliamentary Labour Party.
Throughout the debate, Thornberry was interrupted by her own MPs expressing disquiet with the motion.
Their unease stems, it appears, not from a refusal to want to do anything to end the conflict that has resulted in famine and thousands, more that the proposal would not lead to fewer casualties - and that the Labour leadership was over-reaching in its intentions.
The motion called for support to be withdrawn from the Saudi coalition until an independent UN investigation had examined whether the Saudi bombing campaign was in breach of international humanitarian law.
The motion did not explicitly call for a suspension of UK arms sales – by Graeme Demianyk
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/labour-100-mps-abstain-yemen-civil-war_uk_58111367e4b0672ea687abc1 and see also http://evolvepolitics.com/heres-a-list-of-labour-mps-who-abstained-on-a-bill-to-withdraw-support-from-saudi-arabias-murderous-war-in-yemen/
27.10.2016 – Politics Home (* A P)
Emily Thornberry hits out at Labour MPs over vote on Saudi-led coalition in Yemen
Emily Thornberry has said she is "disappointed" at the dozens of Labour MPs who refused to back her call for the UK to withdraw support for Saudi military action in Yemen.
Ms Thornberry lost her opposition day motion by 283 votes to 193, with some 102 Labour MPs either abstaining or not around to vote.
Riyadh has come under severe scrutiny after allegations surfaced it was deliberately civilian targets in the conflict.
In a post on Facebook, the Labour frontbencher said yesterday’s vote offered an opportunity to send a “message to the world”.
She also accused the Government of an “abject betrayal of principle” over the matter and expressed her "disgust" that only one Tory MP backed her motion.
“While Saudi Arabia will remain a valued strategic, security and economic ally in the years to come, our support for their forces in Yemen must be suspended until the alleged violations of International Humanitarian Law in that conflict have been fully and independently investigated,” she wrote.
She added: “That would have reflected what we should stand for as a country. And that is why I was so disgusted that all but one brave Tory MP voted against sending such a message, and disappointed that some of my Labour colleagues abstained from doing so.
“But the majority of us did, and over the coming months, we will continue to hold the Government to account for its abject betrayal of principle, and its failure to protect the civilian population of Yemen. And above all, we will continue to press for humanitarian relief, and a lasting peace.”
Ms Thornberry was intervened on by her own MPs in the Commons yesterday, with some expressing concern that the proposal would not lead to fewer casualties in Yemen – by Sebastian Whale
Comment: The backbenchers statements and my comments see more below.
27.10.2016 – The Guardian (* A P)
Labour MPs face backlash over failure to vote on Yemen campaign
About 100 MPs were missing or abstained from vote to withdraw support for Saudi-led coalition
Dozens of Labour MPs are facing a backlash for being absent fromtheir party’s motion to withdraw UK support from Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen,with Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, calling their actions disappointing.
Thornberry said the motion would have sent a message to the government that MPs do not want to back the war without an independent UN investigation into whether the Saudi-led coalition is breaking humanitarian law.
About 100LabourMPs were missing or deliberately abstained from the vote on Wednesday, which failed by 283 votes to 193, although several dozen were given authorised absences by the whips.
In response, Thornberry, who argued for the motion from the Labour frontbench, said she was disappointed with her colleagues for abstaining and disgusted with the Conservatives who voted against withdrawing support fromSaudi Arabia.
One Labour MP, who is not supportive of the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, but voted for the motion, said he was frustrated and upset that a number of his colleagues were “using the issue as a way of trying to beat Jeremy”.
“It is such as serious issue and it’s obviously going on the Tory side as well, but there is a massive humanitarian disaster here. It should not be an opportunity to score political points,” he said.
It is understood some Labour MPs who opposed the motion were orchestrating deliberate abstentions and in discussions with some Conservatives about the chances of defeating it.
A number of Labour MPs faced criticism on social media for not turning up to the vote, with lists of names circulating despite some having permission not to turn up for family, health or job-related reasons – by Rowena Mason
27.10.2016 – New Europe (* A P)
British PM May reiterates UK support for Saudi Arabia’s place on UN Human Rights Council
“ If there are legitimate human rights concerns in relation to Saudi Arabia, we raise them. In relation to the actions in Yemen, we want the incidents to be properly investigated. But I want to reiterate that our relationship with Saudi Arabia is a particularly important relationship,” Prime Minister Theresa Maysaid on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister May refused to say if she will withdraw backing for Saudi Arabian membership of the UN Human Rights Council despite the kingdom’s responsibility for airstrikes and human rights violations in Yemen, including the bombing of a funeral that killed 140 people in the capital Sanaa this month.
“Our relationship with Saudi Arabia is an important relationship in relation to the security of the UK and counterterrorism and foiling activities of those, who would wish citizens’ harm in the the UK,” May said replying to the Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who raised the question about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, and cited concerns from Amnesty International over executions, discrimination against women and torture in the country – By Violetta Rusheva
Comment: Shameful. She said: “If there are legitimate human rights concerns in relation to Saudi Arabia…” means she wants to tell us actually there is not. – “Our relationship with Saudi Arabia is an important relationship in relation to the security of the UK and counterterrorism” wants to tell us that this point would justify anything else. This debate already had been held several times.
27.10.2016 – Al Araby (* A P)
Saudi arms sales 'maintain British influence in Yemen'
Boris Johnson has consistently defended arms sales to Saudi Arabia
Johnson: "To those who say, as apparently they now do in this motion, that we should simply disregard those legal procedures, be in no doubt that we would be vacating a space that would rapidly be filled by other Western countries who would happily supply arms with nothing like the same compunctions or criteria or respect for humanitarian law," Johnson said in response to a motion that called for a cessation of arms sales while a proposed UN-led investigation into alleged war crimes takes place.
"And more importantly, we would at a stroke eliminate this country's positive ability to exercise our moderating, diplomatic and political influence on a crisis where there are massive UK interests at stake," Johnson added.
Contrary to the motion, the foreign secretary said that Saudi Arabia should be allowed to conduct its own investigation first.
"The Saudi government has approached this matter with great seriousness, and the seriousness it deserves,” he said.
Comment by Ali AlAhmed: @BorisJohnson just said something like this "If i do not rape this woman, some other guy will, so i may as well" on selling arms to #Saudi
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/791785181858365440
Comment: Nothing to add. Ah, still this: Johnson saying “the foreign secretary said that Saudi Arabia should be allowed to conduct its own investigation first. …The Saudi government has approached this matter with great seriousness, and the seriousness it deserves,” is ridiculous. OK, Mr. Johnson, than please shut up on Russia in Syria and let the Russians invest their Syrian airstrikes as well and just be grateful for the results.
26.10.2016 – Belfast Telegraph (* A P)
Theresa May refuses to withdraw support for Saudi Arabia's place on UN Human Rights Council despite Yemen atrocities
Theresa May has refused to say if she will withdraw backing for Saudi Arabian membership of the UN Human Rights Council, despite the kingdom being accused of civilian atrocities in Yemen.
The Prime Minister was confronted by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who demanded to know if the UK will vote for continued Saudi membership at a crucial ballot later this month.
Raising the issue at Prime Minister’s questions Mr Corbyn said: "Three years ago the United Kingdom backed Saudi Arabian membership of the UN Human Rights councils. On the 28th of October, there are elections again for the UN Human Rights Council.
“A UN panel has warned that Saudi Arabia’s bombing of Yemen has violated international law.”
He then cited concerns from Amnesty International over executions, discrimination against women and torture, before adding: "Will her government again be backing the Saudi dictatorship for membership of that committee? "
Ms May refused to answer the question directly, only saying that where there are "legitimate human rights concerns" over Saudi Arabia, then the UK would raise them with the country.
She added: "In relation to the action in Yemen, we have been clear that we want the incidents that have been referred, to be properly investigated.
"We want the Saudi Arabians, if there are lessons to be learnt from those, to learn lessons from those.
"But I reiterate a point that I’ve made in this House before, that our relationship with Saudi Arabia is an important relationship. It’s a particularly important relationship in relation to the security of this country and counter terrorism."
26.10.2016 – Middle East Eye (* A P)
Film: Labour leader @jeremycorbyn confronts British PM Theresa May over Saudi Arabia 'dictatorship'
https://twitter.com/middleeasteye/status/791361504331300864
27.10.2016 – House of Commons (A P)
Transcript of Wednesday's UK Parliamentary debate on #yemen
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2016-10-26/debates/61DFF92D-1BE0-4909-8020-76FC80CA5136/Yemen
26.10.2016 – Conor McGinn MP: Labour must be consistent in its condemnation of human rights atrocities
Ahead of today's Commons Opposition Day debate on Yemen, Conor McGinn writes for PoliticsHome warning that 'bankrupt thinking on the left' risk diminishing its commitment to human rights and the rule of law.
This week in the Commons we are debating the situation in Yemen. There have been allegations that UK-supplied armaments have been used to commit violations of international humanitarian law and that UK personnel are close to the Saudi-led coalition’s targeting decisions. These are serious allegations and merit scrutiny.
Sadly the problem for left, and Labour in particular, is that too often we have been seen to be picking and choosing whose actions to condemn and why, often for arbitrary reasons or because of ideological baggage. In so doing, our commitment to human rights and international law looks partial, inconsistent and, at times, politically motivated – by Conor McGinn MP
Comment by Judith Brown: Absolutely right. There can be no sucking up to rich absolute monarchies that abuse their powers. War is disgusting but in this debate on Yemen, where we provide weapons and assistance to those who are attacking Yemen, Yemen is the issue and Russia is not part of it.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154846217933641
Comment: In the best way, half-hearted: McGinn does exactly that what he asks not to do: He by no means is “consistent in its condemnation of human rights atrocities”. For him, Russian bombs killing in Syria are “bad bombs”, while American bombs killing in Iraq (and Syria) are “good bombs”. That’s it, if you really would be consistent, you would condemn them all. – And the author got something else totally wrong too: He writes of the US /Western campaigns against the IS as “rules-based interventions against the murderous and barbarous group that styles itself Islamic State”, clearly contrasting this to the Russian campaign in Syria. This is hypocrisy: The US campaign might be “rules-based” only in Iraq, as required by the legitimate Iraqi government. The same is due to the Russian campaign in Syria, anyway, as it was required by the legitimate Syrian government. In contrast to that, any Western / US intervention in Syria is not at all “rules-based”, as it was NOT requested by Syria’s legitimate government. We also might look at Yemen, where it is evident that “president” Hadi had been delegitimized by the end of his presidential term in February 2015, thus delegitimizing also the whole Saudi intervention and air war from its very first day on.
To make one thing clear again: Even if required by a legitimate government, whether in Syria, Iraq or Yemen, all these bombing campaigns are terrible and cannot be justified at all. If he really would be “consistent in its condemnation of human rights atrocities”, McGinn must have stated that. He did not.
Articles like this one might be part of an anti-Corbyn move (see articles below), trying a balancing act between arguing against Yemen war without looking at the background of US interference: Please wash me, but do not make me wet. Part of the same move seems to be the following article.
26.10.2016 – Labourlist (A P)
Empty gesture politics will only make the crisis in Yemen worse
Labour’s frontbench is rightly highlighting the humanitarian crisis in Yemen today. But – as with so much else – we must decide whether we want to champion measures that could genuinely ease this horrendous situation or would rather fall in with anti-West posturing that would have a tragic, opposite effect.
The growing famine in Yemen, with up to 14 million going hungry according to the World Food Programme, has so far scarcely made it onto the radar of British people who feel surrounded with intractable problems, many far closer to home.
In recent weeks the country has mostly entered political debate on the lips of apparently left wing politicians and activists who use it to question the motives of others who are urging the government to do more to stop the systematic slaughter in Aleppo. This vapid whatabouttery was even espoused at the despatch box when shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry told her own MPs they were not allowed to “cry for Aleppo” unless they also supported Jeremy Corbyn’s desire for an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia, the principal military ally of the embattled Yemeni government.
Aside from the juvenility of suggesting you need a fully-stamped disaster pass card before being allowed to care, the sense that there is a symmetry of solutions is as wrong as advising British crowds to protest outside the US embassy rather than criticising Russia for its actions in Syria – by John Woodstock MP
http://labourlist.org/2016/10/john-woodcock-the-crisis-in-yemen-must-not-be-ignored/
26.10.2016 – Middle East Eye (* A P)
Yemen war crimes under spotlight in UK parliament debate
Labour party to hold 'Opposition Day' debate to put government on spot for relying on the Saudis to investigate allegations of atrocities
The Labour party is to use a debate in the British parliament on Wednesday to call the Conservative government to account over British support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
Jeremy Corbyn has called a full-scale "Opposition Day" Commons debate into atrocities committed by all sides in the civil war in Yemen.
Corbyn's intervention comes in the wake of the a recent Saudi coalition attack on a funeral in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, which killed more than 100 mourners.
Corbyn has ordered the debate as the blanket support offered by Britain and America for Saudi Arabia has become hard to defend in the face of repeated atrocities apparently carried out by the Saudi-led coalition.
The shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, will use the debate to demand an independent investigation into violations of international humanitarian law by all sides in the Yemen conflict.
It will, however, stop short of demanding a halt to British arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Britain has sold billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia as the Yemen war has raged.
A spokesman for Thornberry told MEE that the purpose of the debate was to put the government on the spot for its reliance on the Saudis themselves to investigate atrocities against civilians.
He said that out of more than one thousand incidents of air strikes on civilian sites, the Saudis have completed reports on just nine.
Labour is also likely to try to expose the Tory double standards over Yemen at a time ministers have repeatedly condemned Russian air attacks in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo – by Peter Oborne
?– We are Change (A P)
Blair signed secret contract with Saudi oil firm promising him £41,000 a month and a slice of any deals he helped broker
Tony Blair signed contract with PetroSaudi to promote it to Chinese leaders
The firm, founded by senior member of Saudi royal family, proposed fees of £41,000 and a 2% commission on any successful deals he brokered
In turn the Saudi oil firm was told it was not allowed to disclose Blair’s role
It is the first time a detailed contract by his office has been disclosed
Revelations may bring fresh criticism to his role as Middle East peace envoy
Blair’s office maintains work with firm had ‘nothing to do with Middle East’
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
28.10.2016 – HPD (* A K P)
Waffenlieferungen nach Saudi-Arabien noch stärker angestiegen: Deutschland als Kriegspartei
An dem Töten von Zivilisten ist auch die deutsche Rüstungsindustrie beteiligt. DieZeitschreibt über einen Fall, bei demnachweislicheine 1.000-Pfund-Bomben aus der MK-Serie aus den Fabriken von Rheinmetall über eine italienische Tochterfirma an Saudi-Arabien geliefert wurde.
Auf der Webseite des Wirtschaftministeriums ist zu lesen: "Die Bundesregierung betreibt eine zurückhaltende, verantwortungsvolle Rüstungsexportpolitik." Doch davon ist nach den jungen Veröffentlichungen nicht viel zu sehen: Allein in den ersten sechs Monaten des Jahres hat die Bundesregierung den Export von Rüstungsgütern im Wert von 4,04 Milliarden Euro bewilligt. Das ist mehr als eine halbe Milliarde mehr als im Vorjahreszeitraum.
So weist auch Mathias John vonAmnesty Internationalauf die Gefahr hin, dass deutsche Waffen und Munition im Jemen zum Einsatz kommen: "Der neue Rüstungsexportbericht des Bundeswirtschaftsministeriums verrät nicht, ob beispielsweise deutsche Gewehrmunition von US-Spezialeinheiten in Syrien und im Irak verwendet wird oder ob die USA deutsche Munition an Saudi Arabien weiterliefern." – von Frank Nicolai
http://hpd.de/artikel/deutschland-kriegspartei-13704
27.10.2016 – Wirtschaft / u.a. (* A P)
Amnesty: Deutsche Munition darf nicht gegen Zivilisten eingesetzt werden
Angesichts stark gestiegener Exportgenehmigungen für Kriegsmunition fordert Amnesty International von der Bundesregierung Garantien dafür, dass deutsche Munition von befreundeten Staaten wie den USA nicht gegen Zivilisten eingesetzt wird. „Es muss unterbunden werden, dass diese Munition bei Menschenrechtsverletzungen zum Einsatz kommt. Der neue Rüstungsexportbericht des Bundeswirtschaftsministeriums verrät nicht, ob beispielsweise deutsche Gewehrmunition von US-Spezialeinheiten in Syrien und im Irak verwendet wird oder ob die USA deutsche Munition an Saudi Arabien weiterliefern“, sagte der Amnesty-Rüstungsexperte Mathias John der „Neuen Osnabrücker Zeitung“ (Donnerstag).
http://www.wirtschaft.com/amnesty-deutsche-munition-darf-nicht-gegen-zivilisten-eingesetzt-werden/ = http://presse-augsburg.de/presse/amnesty-deutsche-munition-darf-nicht-gegen-zivilisten-eingesetzt-werden/
26.10.2016 – Deutschlandradio Kultur (* A P)
Das Problem Saudi-Arabien
Audio: Max Mutschler im Gespräch mit Axel Rahmlow
Das Bundeskabinett hat den neuen Rüstungsexportbericht beschlossen und lobt die eigene Politik bei der Ausfuhr von Waffen als restriktiv. Max Mutschler vom Internationalen Konversionszentrum sieht ebenfalls Fortschritte – aber nur kleine.
Laut der Regierung wird bei den Genehmigungen besonders auf die Menschenrechte im Empfängerland geachtet. Max Mutschler vom Internationalen Konversionszentrum in Bonn sieht das anders.
Ein Empfängerland wie Saudi-Arabien sei "höchst problematisch", sagte Mutschler.
Die Bundesregierung berufe sich in solchen Fällen auf Kooperationsverträge mit europäischen Partnern, so Mutschler. Demgegenüber stände aber die rechtsverbindliche Abmachung zwischen den EU-Staaten, dass bei einem eindeutigen Risiko der Verletzung humanitären Völkerrechts nicht exportiert werden dürfe. "Dieses Kriterium sehe ich hier verletzt in der Rüstungsexportpraxis der Bundesregierung", sagte Mutschler
19.10.2016 – Arab News (A E P)
Saudi-German strategic ties touch new heights
With complementary needs in trade and investment as well as similarities in positions on regional conflicts and international affairs, Saudi Arabia and Germany are taking their relationship to the next level.
The collapse of oil prices and the Saudi government’s decision to diversify the economy within the framework of ‘Vision 2030’ necessitate the need for intensive consultations and strong partnerships in different sectors between Riyadh and Berlin.
On the other hand, the regional conflicts, which have tossed the whole Middle East into turmoil demands more intensive engagement of the Kingdom’s allies like Germany to help solve crises that have hampered all efforts for peace and security – by GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN
http://www.arabnews.com/node/999726/saudi-arabia
Comment: How nice.
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
27.10.2016 – Middle East Eye (A P)
Saudi and Qatar ask Algeria to join force in Yemen
Delegations from Saudi and Qatar visit Algeria to request participation in Yemen operation after previous refusal
Saudi Arabia and Qatar have asked Algeria to participate in a peacekeeping operation in Yemen, a diplomatic source has told Middle East Eye.
“Riyadh and Doha have contacted Algiers to take part in a peacekeeping force in Yemen,” an Algerian diplomat told MEE.
In 2015, Algiers refused to send its troops to join the Arab coalition that is supporting the government of Abd Rabbuh Hadi against the Houthi rebel group.
General Ahmed Gaïd-Salah, Algerian deputy minister for defence and head of the army, was visited in October by his Qatari counterpart, Ghanem Ben Chahin al-Ghanem, and his Saudi Arabian counterpart, Abderrahmane Ben Salah al-Baniane, who both came with large delegations.
“Saudi Arabia wants to bring an end to the war and implement a peacekeeping force from various countries who are trusted by Riyadh and Doha," the diplomat continued. "Algiers responded that it would consider the proposal, but for the time being, the general feeling is one of refusal.”
The political and military doctrine of Algeria, which adheres to the principles of sovereignty and non-involvement in external conflicts, prevents it from taking part in any military intervention in a third country.
At the outset of the Saudi-led campaign in March 2015, Algiers refused to take part in an Arab coalition against Yemen.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-arabia-and-qatar-ask-algeria-join-peacekeeping-force-yemen-1637044516 and by Press TV Iran http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/10/28/491022/Saudi-Arabia-Qatar-Algeria-Yemen
Comment: What do they actually ask for? Participation in the “Saudi coalition” or neutral peace force like the UN Blue Helmets?
26.10.2016 – Al Monitor (* B P)
Have Turkey's neo-Ottomans abandoned Yemen?
Turkish media ignores Yemen despite mounting civilian casualties, but hard-core Islamists and secular groups blame the neo-Ottoman government for being a pawn of Western and Saudi interests.
In the early 2000s when I started studying Yemen, no one in Turkey seemed to care about the country. Yet by 2010-11, Yemen was a hot topic. Neo-Ottomans loved Yemen, they sang songs about Yemen, they discovered the honey from Yemen, they established schools in Yemen.
The Turkish president and the Turkish press are silent on Yemen.
Where has all the neo-Ottoman love for Yemen gone?
Al-Monitor asked this question to a handful of Yemenis who were willing and able to comment under harsh war conditions. Among these was a Yemeni journalist and translator from Sanaa, Hussain al-Bukhaiti, who succinctly summed up the thoughts and emotions of Yemenis, saying, “There was no Turkish love for Yemen. It was Erdogan’s love for the [Sunni Islamist] Muslim Brotherhood [known in Yemen as al-Islah] after the 2011 revolution when they seized power. That is why Turkey sent guns with silencers — 'assassination guns.'"
He added, “Since the fall of al-Islah, Turkey has not only stopped its so-called help to Yemen, it has actually joined the war on Yemen. People here do not believe in Turkish love for Yemen because that idea is crazy.
One Yemeni businessman who has commercial interests in several countries spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, saying, “Initially, we thought the Turkish bureaucrats would be able to advise the Saudi government to keep their operations limited and be vigilant against civilian deaths. Then we heard Erdogan’s unrelenting support for Saudi Arabia. He was encouraging the war. I am Sunni. I have supported the Islah movement, but now we're under invasion. Several Sunni tribes are now joining Ansar Allah [Shiite Houthi rebel movement in Yemen]. We told the Turkish bureaucrats as well, but they don't seem to care about Yemeni well-being. We now think they only listen to Saudi Arabia.”
Indeed, in re-reading opinion pieces from Turkish media during the Yemeni Arab Spring, we see that not one of their predictions and calculations for Yemen has come true. Only a few Turkish experts seem to understand Yemen at all.
When Al-Monitor asked Dursunoglu for his view on current Turkish policy toward Yemen, he said, “Turkey has no policy on Yemen, only dependency on Saudi Arabia. That is, whatever Saudi Arabia’s position is on Yemen, Turkey takes on that position – by Pinar Tremblay
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/10/turkey-why-neo-ottomans-ignores-yemen.html
25.10.2016 – Redazione CagliariPad (A P)
Italia: Antimilitaristi: "Quereliamo il Ministro Pinotti sulle bombe vendute all'Arabia Saudita"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG9BwLxhn50
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
Siehe / See cp1, cp11
27.10.2016 – Deccan Herald (*B E K P)
Soaring arms sales spur wars in W Asia
Foreign arms sales to West Asia have gained momentum since 2015, a bumper year for profits, and are fuelling wars in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Last year, the US earned $43 billion in overall foreign military sales, $13 billion over the average in previous years, and $17 billion from sales to countries in this war-ravaged region. Such burgeoning sales make the US, which accounts for 33% of global sales, the planet’s dominant arms dealer.
Over the past four years, West Asia’s already high demand for arms soared: sales to Qatar rose by 279%, to Saudi Arabia by 275%, and to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by 35%. Nearly 10% of all US arms sales were to Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia has made deals with all exporters for $10 billion for 2016, the UAE for $3.085 billion, Iraq for $2.283 billion, Egypt for $2.2032 billion, Algeria for $1.754 billion, and Qatar for $1.692 billion. The US also provides four countries in this region with arms on the basis of grants. Israel, naturally, is the top recipient with $3.8 billion, Egypt is next with $1.3 billion, Jordan $350 million, and Iraq $150 million.
Canada has become the second largest arms exporter to West Asia, securing $2.7 billion in sales during 2015. The previous Conservative government signed a deal for a $15 billion sale of armoured vehicles with Saudi Arabia, creating controversy for the current Liberal government which has upheld the agreement.
Britain is not far behind the US and Canada in sales. Since early 2015, Britain has sold to Saudi Arabia $4.56 billion in military hardware, some for use in the Yemen war where a Riyadh-led coalition is fighting Shia Houthi rebels who have seized the north of the country and driven into exile Saudi-backed President Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Britain – which accounts for 12% of global arms sales – secured total orders for $10.08 billion last year.
Two-thirds of British arms exports are destined for West Asia. Over the past two years London has agreed to sell the UAE weapons worth $500 million, $222 million to Qatar, $157 million to Oman, and $31.4 million to Bahrain. Over the past three years, Britain has provided $589.5 million in weapons to Turkey and $152 million to Egypt. Between 2010-16, Britain sold $107.4 million worth of arms to Israel.
Since the Syrian war began in 2011, Central and Eastern European countries have supplied Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, and Qatar with $1.35 billion in mainly small arms and ammunition; $93.6 million have gone to Saudi Arabia.
Until recently, the region did not buy from the Balkans, but Amnesty International says this materiel has been diverted to armed groups “accused of committing serious human rights violations.” Patrick Wilcken, a researcher for Amnesty, argues that such “transfers are illegal under the (UN Arms Trade Treaty of 2014) and other international laws and should cease immediately.”
Exporters include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Monte-negro, Slovakia, Serbia, and Romania. Many of these weapons are being transferred to jihadis, notably al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, Ahrar al-Sham and Islamic State. – By Michael Jansen
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/577940/soaring-arms-sales-spur-wars.html
26.10.2016 – Zeit Online (* B E K)
Rheinmetall: Boom mit Bomben
Der Rüstungskonzern Rheinmetall umgeht mit Tochterfirmen im Ausland deutsche Exportkontrollen und verdient prächtig. Auch am Bürgerkrieg im Jemen.
schon früher haben saudische Kampfflugzeuge Bomben eines deutschen Waffenkonzerns über dem Jemen abgeworfen: 1.000-Pfund-Bomben aus der MK-Serie.
Ein Mitarbeiter der Menschenrechtsorganisation Human Rights Watch fotografierte im Mai 2015 im Jemen eine MK 83, die abgeworfen worden war, aber nicht explodierte. Die Bilder zeigen einen auf der Bombenhülle gemalten Code. Dieser weist auf RWM Italia als Hersteller hin, eine Tochterfirma von Rheinmetall, dem größten deutschen Rüstungsunternehmen. Die Firma hat solche Waffen legal an Saudi-Arabien exportiert, das zeigen Recherchen der Internetplattform reported.ly. Deutsche Behörden, die jeden Waffenexport aus der Bundesrepublik genehmigen müssen, waren nicht beteiligt, da der Deal über Italien abgewickelt wurde. Rüstungsgüter, die in anderen Ländern produziert werden, unterliegen nicht der deutschen Kontrolle.
Als saudische Spezialeinheiten im Dezember 2014 mit Blend- und Irritationsgranaten gegen Oppositionelle vorgingen, sollen sie ebenfalls Munition von Rheinmetall-Töchtern benutzt haben – von Hauke Friederichs
http://www.zeit.de/2016/45/rheinmetall-ruestungskonzern-internationalisierung-export-kontrollen = https://www.raa5.com/de/rheinmetall-boom-mit-bomben_971944
cp13b Flüchtlinge / Refugees
27.10.2016 – International Organization for Migration (* A H)
Revised IOM Regional Appeal Yemen (January 2016 – April 2017)
IOM has launched a regional appeal for USD149.96 million as the situation in Yemen continues to deteriorate since fighting escalated in late March 2015.
The recent escalation has exacerbated an already precarious humanitarian crisis characterized by widespread poverty, indiscriminate violence, human rights violations and open conflict. As recently as July 2016, 82 percent (21.2 million individuals) of the population in Yemen, including 2.2 million internally displaced people (IDPs), were in need of humanitarian assistance.
As the conflict has significantly affected Yemen’s neighbours, IOM’s appeal to the international community also covers Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia.
The funds will enable IOM to further provide multi-sectorial humanitarian assistance in the areas of health; protection; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); shelter, camp coordination and camp management (CCCM); non-food relief items (NFIs) and livelihoods.
A significant factor in the ongoing conflict has been that Yemen has remained a transit country for thousands of migrants seeking better economic opportunities in the Arabian Peninsula.
Each month, an estimated 10,000 migrants enter Yemen irregularly, only to find themselves trapped by the fighting. On reaching Yemen, the majority of migrants are exploited and abused by violent criminal networks. Recent developments have also included the detention of thousands of migrants and their expulsion from Yemen to Djibouti.
Migrants in Yemen lack life-saving support, including medical support, shelter, food, water and essential household items.
During 2016, an estimated 100,000 migrants are expected to come to Yemen. Djibouti has become the epicentre of these complex, bi-directional migratory flows across the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/revised-iom-regional-appeal-yemen-january-2016-april-2017 http://www.iom.int/news/iom-launches-usd-150-million-regional-appeal-situation-yemen-deteriorates and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Revised-IOM-Regional-Appeal-for-Yemen-Crisis-26-Oct-2016.pdf
cp13d Finanzen / Finances
28.10.2016 – Shapban (* A E P)
#IMF: it's for the interest of the people of #Yemen for the Central Bank to stay in Sanaa.
https://twitter.com/shapban/status/791893085613596672
#IMF: #Yemen's Central Bank managed to avoid humanitarian crisis in the country for 16 months & it's impartial & independent
https://twitter.com/shapban/status/791892997688426497
#IMF: #Yemen's Central Bank showed great latitude of transparency and efficiency for 16 months & should remain in Sanaa for the good of all
https://twitter.com/shapban/status/791892674068512768
IMF: #Yemen's Central Bank is transparent & very efficient & should stay in Sanaa. Relocating it is very complicated & unpractical
https://twitter.com/shapban/status/791892494728437760
27.10.2016 – Ahmad Alghobary (A E H)
Heartbreaking My neighbor is a teacher in high school,he hasn't received a salary for 2 months,I saw him today works as a Shoeshiner.
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/791685967107293185
27.10.2016 – Al Araby (* A E H P)
Yemen's salary crisis: 'Help me sell my kidney'
As Yemen's warring factions engage in battle, the nation's ongoing salary crisis has pushed civilians to the limit; forcing them to go through extreme measures to survive the deadly conflict.
Thousands of Yemenis have resorted to extreme measures to remain afloat after not receiving salaries for several months, while the two-year conflict continues to drown civilians into further difficulties.
The dire situation has caused suffering for many, including a widow that walked into the local Aden al-Ghad media offices to request assistance in advertising her kidneys so that she could provide for her five children.
The journalists at the office were so moved by the story that they decided to share the tragic plight in a tweet posted on social media platform, Twitter.
Just hours later, the picture of the woman seen hiding tears behind her black face-veil circulated greatly online. Naturally, it gained so much traction that donations came flooding in – "enough money to last her family at least two years," Editor of Aden al-Ghad, Fathi Lazreq told The New Arab.
But although this particular story ends well, figures show more than half of Yemen’s 22 million population is currently living at emergency levels of food insecurity and need urgent relief – especially in remote rural areas that are often overlooked by humanitarian schemes.
In September, the internationally recognised government transferred Yemen’s central bank to Aden after sacking its governor, in what is regarded as an unprecedented move against the Houthis.
President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi demanded the swift relocation to the port city after accusing the rebels of diverting funds from foreign reserves – a claim backed by a UN report that revealed the Houthis were diverting about $100 million from the central bank per month, and that the foreign reserves had dwindled to $1.3 billion from about $4 billion in November 2014.
"The salary crisis is due to this irrational move by the Houthis and their ally Saleh, who used money from the central bank to aid their war efforts," Basharahil argued from the city liberated from Houthi-control last summer.
"The question now is: where is this money, who will search for it and when will it return to the central bank," he asked.
"The reality is this money is being hidden in an undisclosed location and that is what has caused this crisis for millions."
But the region's poorest nation has suffered greatly even prior to the relocation, according to Amal Nasser, economist at the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies.
"As much as we want to blame Houthis for this, we know that the central bank was running out of money (bank notes) since June this year and everybody, including the internationally recognised government, saw this coming," she argued.
Although the country’s finances had already hit employees in Aden, the latest measure to move the bank prompted an immediate halt in salary payments in Sanaa and other regions controlled by the Houthis and their allies of troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
In Sanaa, and across much of Yemen, the familiar script is unfortunately repeated for thousands of families.
Abdullah Sarhan is just one of many forced to find alternative means to provide for his family as the warring factions remain steadfast on fighting.
"I had to sell my furniture to put food on the table for my family and ensure that my two children can continue going to school," Sarhan said.
Professor Jamil Aoun said he abandoned his post at Sanaa University to work in a brick factory.
"We have to earn our living," he explained.
The suspension of salaries is the latest sign of economic deterioration in Yemen since the deadly conflict escalated with the intervention of the Saudi-led coalition in March 2015.
"The implications of the delay in paying salaries are immense since it affects about seven million Yemenis who have been living in hard conditions for the past five years," Amal Nasser said.
"There is the risk of famine," she warned, while noting that it's not an issue of 'suspending' payments but rather an issue of 'inability' to sustain those payments.
Last month the insurgents managed to raise eight billion riyals ($32 million) after launching a crowdfunding campaign aimed at raising funds from the public to cover for the central bank
Economist Saeed Abdulmomen warned "an inevitable disaster is on the horizon" for Yemen's finances.
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/society/2016/10/27/yemens-salary-crisis-help-me-sell-my-kidney
Comment: Remember that the Hadi government blocked an attempt by the Central Bank to have new banknotes printed in Russia sometimes ago.
27.10.2016 – AFP (* A E H P)
Citizens struggle as rebels stop paying salaries
A UN report revealed in August said the Huthis were diverting about $100 million from the central bank per month
Abdullah Sarhan laments having to sell his furniture to feed his family, but he is only one of thousands in Yemen struggling since rebels stopped paying salaries two months ago.
The situation gets worse by the day for the inhabitants of Sanaa, controlled by the Huthi rebels since September 2014 and subjected to 19 months of air strikes and a blockade by a pro-government Arab coalition.
The finances of employees like Sarhan, and those who are retired, deteriorated further in September, when the UN-recognised government transferred the central bank to Aden, the southern city that serves as a temporary capital.
President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi sacked the bank's governor and relocated it to the port city after accusing the Iran-backed Huthis of diverting funds from foreign reserves.
A UN report revealed in August said the Huthis were diverting about $100 million from the central bank per month, and that the foreign reserves had dwindled to $1.3 billion from about $4 billion in November 2014.
The measure prompted an immediate halt in salaries payment in Sanaa and other regions under the control of the Shiite Huthis and their allies of renegade troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
"How can we continue paying rent if we don't have enough to eat," asked Ibrahim Ahmed, who was forced to move his family to live with his parents in the countryside.
Professor Jamil Aoun said he had to abandon lecturing at Sanaa University and work in a brick factory.
The suspension of salaries is the latest sign of economic deterioration in Yemen
"It is the most dangerous measure as it affects the daily lives of seven to eight million Yemenis," who live in rebel-controlled regions, said Mustapha Nasser, head of the Sanaa-based Studies and Economic Media Centre.
"It is a sign of a total economic collapse," he warned, urging the government of Hadi and the rebels to address the situation.
Nasser pointed out that liquidity was a problem even before the relocation of the central bank.
"Even before this decision was taken, the Huthis were not able to pay salaries as they did in the past," he said.
Last month the insurgents launched a fund-raising campaign aimed at raising funds from the public to cover for the central bank.
But despite images of people queueing to offer their own money, the rebels have so far only collected about eight billion riyals ($32 million), a fraction of the 75 billion riyals needed to pay two months' of salaries, said Nasser.
Economist Saeed Abdulmomen warned the lack of an alternative to honour financial commitments could lead to "total chaos".
http://pulse.ng/world/in-yemen-citizens-struggle-as-rebels-stop-paying-salaries-id5664303.html
Comment: The headline and the article put blame on the Houthis for what in reality should be blamed a) the war and the disastrous Saudi air raids in special: breakdown of economy and thus of tax income, which forces to spend reserves and b) the disastrous maneuvers by the Hadi government affecting the Central Bank.
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
27.10.2016 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (A K T)
Keep an eye on ISIS fanatics escaped Mosul & showing up on Saudi border to "defend Mecca against Shiite Houthis". Well played Saudi.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/791887722004750336
27.10.2016 – Anadolu (A T)
Jailed Al-Qaeda leader killed in Yemen's Lahij: Police
Abu al-Mehdar was killed by ‘unknown assailant’ after turning himself in to police, local authorities say
Police in Yemen’s southwestern Lahij province on Thursday announced that an Al-Qaeda leader had been killed by an "unknown assailant" while in police custody.
According to a police statement, Abu al-Mehdar (the authorities did not provide his full name) was killed after turning himself in to police one month ago.
The statement, which did not say when the assassination occurred, suggested that the source of the fatal gunshot may have been a nearby police shooting range.
Last year, Yemeni government forces wrested control of most parts of Lahij – By Mohamed al-Samei
http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/jailed-al-qaeda-leader-killed-in-yemens-lahij-police/673426
27.10.2016 – Reuters (A T)
Five al Qaeda-linked fighters killed in Yemen strike: U.S.
Five members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula were killed in a U.S. military strike last week in Yemen, U.S. Central Command said in a statement on Wednesday.
The strike was conducted in Yemen's Marib Governorate on Oct. 21, the statement said. It did not say how the strike was carried out.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-usa-idUSKCN12Q2Q0
Comment: Note the wording: “Five al Qaeda-linked fighters”. Like always. Who has been targeted, automatically is “al Qaeda-linked fighter”.
17.10.2016 – Vice News (not rated T)
Film: Al Qaida in Yemen [not visible in certain countries]
After 15 years of the global war on terror, al-Qaeda’s Yemeni offshoot finds new ways to stay relevant. VICE founder Suroosh Alvi travels to Aden to discover al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula flourishing.
https://news.vice.com/story/al-qaeda-is-alive-and-thriving-in-yemen-terror-episode-1
cp15 Propaganda
28.10.2016 – MbKS15 (A P)
King of #Bahrain applauds the readiness of #GCC security forces & says this exercise reflects Gulf consensus on goals and a unified destiny
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/791920198467018752
27.10.2016 – Digital Journal (A P)
4 Iranian arms shipments to Yemen stopped: US admiral
Warships from the US Navy and allied nations have intercepted four weapons shipments from Iran to war-ravaged Yemen since April 2015, a US admiral said Thursday.
The United States and Saudi Arabia have accused Iran of arming the insurgents, and while Tehran denies the charges, the coalition has since enforced maritime and air controls over the Arabian Peninsula country.
"Either US ships or coalition ships... intercepted four weapons shipments from Iran to Yemen," said US Vice Admiral Kevin Donegan.
"We know they came from Iran and we know the destination," he told reporters at an undisclosed military base in Southwest Asia.
Donegal said the shipments contained thousands of AK-47 assault rifles, anti-tank missiles, sniper rifles and "other pieces of other equipment, higher-end weapons systems".
Naval officials were able to determine the destination of the boats' by analysing GPS settings and interviewing the crew.
One of the shipments had been validated by the United Nations as being an illegal weapons shipment, said Donegal.
Comment: Seriously taken, a non-news, as all these cases are somewhat back in time. Why then this is showing up now? Because, once again, the anti-Iranian propaganda drum is beaten in the US now (many examples in former YPRs). This is part of a greater campaign preparing a shift in politics towards Iran. – and, please, contrast this to the article in cp1 at Shadowproof.
Those who make the headline at Sputniknews seem to have got it wrong – there actually has not been a new incident: https://de.sputniknews.com/politik/20161028313155379-usa-iran-jemen-huthi/
Comment: Fact is Iran is not this stupid and #Yemen does not need being armed.
Yet, this is a trending news
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1147185555334473
25.10.2016 – Washington Times (A P)
Iran’s proxy missile attacks
The Islamic regime seeks control of Middle East waterways
The recent missile attacks attributed to Yemeni Houthi rebels, with assistance from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah, demonstrate Iran’s classic use of proxies to promote its political agenda. The Houthi rebels denied any involvement in the missile attacks. However, they certainly were not fired by camel herders. The Houthis never would have launched an attack on the U.S. Navy without being ordered to do so by their Iranian sponsors. To think otherwise would be delusional.
Iran has the failed to honor the Obama administration’s nuclear weapons agreement. There is actually no agreement, since nothing has been signed. With Russia’s support in Syria, Iran clearly feels emboldened to challenge the United States directly.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/oct/25/irans-proxy-missile-attacks/
Comment: And this is one more piece of this sort of propaganda in the US. The incident caused by the Houthis – if really – is risen on a larger scale to influence US politics towards Iran. Whatever happens in Yemen, whatever happens to the Yemenis, by the strategists of this politics and propaganda will be treated just as “collateral” – collateral damage if it happens.
27.10.2016 – Al Arabiya (A P)
OPINION: Yemen in the time of cholera
A UNICEF representative in the country said the organization warned of the threat of famine even before war erupted. International organizations have also warned in the past of the threats of famine and outbreak of diseases owing to the lack of water suitable for human consumption.
The situation in Yemen has been bad in the past but seems to be disastrous today. This has coincided with the fall of the capital, Sanaa, at the hands of militias. There is no administrative system that international organizations can count on to understand the humanitarian situation and deliver food and medical supplies.
Cholera and other such diseases take roots due to the inhuman conditions Yemenis find themselves in during the ongoing war.
They’ve already experienced lack of medical and other supplies during the era of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The situation became more difficult when the war erupted especially in areas occupied by rebels, particularly the Houthis, who prevent aid organizations from delivering aid. The legitimate government controls more than one third of the country and the situation in these areas is better thanks to the supplies which the Saudi and UAE governments continue to provide.
But what can be done for the millions of Yemenis who are disconnected from the world in areas controlled by Houthi militias, and forces loyal to Ali Abdullah Saleh?
Since it is all about humanitarian relief, donors will not discriminate even though it might not be an easy task. Someone involved in the military work on the ground told me recently that the Houthis, in particular, have always prevented aid convoys who came from outside Yemen from entering.
He also noted that areas which suffer the most are those which stood up to Houthis and which it managed to control. “They punish these areas by preventing them from communicating with others and by starving them,” he said.
Many areas in Yemen have been deprived as a result of the war and due to the bad economic situation which has lasted for years. Yemen is passing through a humanitarian crisis that escalates with time and requires everyone to perform their humanitarian duties without any discrimination. Yemen is a brotherly country and a neighbor and our responsibility toward it is immense.
It is the Yemenis’ misfortunate that they got rid of an old and unjust regime only to fall in the grip of merciless militias. All this absurd war could have been avoided if they accepted the political system the rules for which were set by the UN and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and which gave everyone the right to participate in governance.
Unfortunately, the deposed president succeeded at sabotaging the new system in order to prevent anyone from ruling after him, and the Houthis allied with him out of their sheer greed for power – by Abdulrahman al-Rashed, former General Manager of Al Arabiya News Channel
https://english.aawsat.com/2016/10/article55360947/yemen-rejects-ideas-not-conform-previous-plans
Comment: This is might-be one of the most awful propaganda articles ever, as it misuses the tragedy of those affected by cholera and starvation for a deliberate anti-Houthi propaganda. The author presumes that the Houthis would bear the full responsibility for the Yemeni human disaster. The disastrous situation would even have “coincided with the fall of the capital, Sanaa, at the hands of militias”. Saudi air raids and Saudi blockade simple do not exist.
Look at “The situation became more difficult when the war erupted especially in areas occupied by rebels” and “areas which suffer the most are those which stood up to Houthis and which it managed to control” – that they are bombed and blocked, is described as if it would be the fault of the “rebels”, not of those doing this.
Nevertheless, the author can be so hypocritical to deplore the “inhuman conditions Yemenis find themselves in during the ongoing war”. What a war?
Again and again he stresses that the Houthis would blockade themselves: “the Houthis, who prevent aid organizations from delivering aid.” And, still better: “They punish these areas by preventing them from communicating with others and by starving them”; “they” means the Houthis, not the Saudis who in fact are doing this since the beginning of the war.
And, not to forget: “Yemen is a brotherly country and a neighbor and our responsibility toward it is immense”. Yes, Saudi Arabia is showing this what it calls “responsibility” by bombing, blocking and starving out – since 19 month. And by spreading such a stupid propaganda, a propaganda which even not shies away from mocking the victims of the own inhumanity.
26.10.2016 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (A P)
AJA: "Ancient epidemics like Cholera & Typhoid after Houthi takeover of Sana'a & besieged cities" Seriously!
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/791273020304351232 related on https://twitter.com/AJArabic/status/791021541601325057
26.10.2016 – BBC Watch (A P)
BBC News still unsure about Iranian involvement in Yemen
In recent weeks the BBC has produced two backgrounders concerning the ongoing war in Yemen.
This is not the first time that audiences have seen the BBC’s apparent inability to inform its audiences whether or not the Houthis in Yemen are backed by Iran expressed in such vague and unhelpful language.
Remarkably, after over eighteen months of reporting on the conflict in Yemen, the self-styled “standard-setter for international journalism” is still unable to meet its remit of building “global understanding” of this particular “international issue” by producing a backgrounder which tells its audiences whether or not Iran is involved in that war.
https://bbcwatch.org/2016/10/26/bbc-news-still-unsure-about-iranian-involvement-in-yemen/
Comment: This monitoring might be right. But, as the whole article shows, the authors have collected more “evidence” for Iranian interference (which in reality is little more than Saudi and US propaganda) and clearly want to push into one direction. Well, this website is “monitoring BBC coverage of Israel for accuracy and impartiality”. The Israel-Iranian mutual hatred is well-known, but I wonder why this leads to the fact that those who are pro-Israel, as far as Iran is concerned, looking at other parts of the world, like Yemen, themselves are giving up all “accuracy and impartiality” themselves. Piling up bulks of foreign propaganda does not create any reality, anyway.
26.10.2016 – World Jewish Daily (A P)
Wimp: Obama does nothing as Iran targets U.S. warships
We now have proof that Iran targeted U.S. warships off Yemen's coast -- but the Obama White House is doing nothing in response.
When an enemy nation attacks your warships, that's a declaration of war. But not for Obama. He's so eager to court the worst actors in the world that he looks past all bad behavior. He's "above it" in other words. In the meantime, he's giving the same people attacking our warships billions of dollars in sanctions relief. The Iranians know how to play Obama like a fiddle.
http://www.worldjewishdaily.com/iran-targets-warships.php
Comment: Odd, odder, oddest.
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
28.10.2016 – fatik Al-Rodaini (A K)
Now, Saudi jets flying ove the capital Sanaa,after hitting since this early morning Saada,Jouf,Hodeidah,Sanaa,Marib with 29 sorties
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/792022877415636992
28.10.2016 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
27-10-2016
Targeting and bombing civilians by the warplanes of Saudi Arabia and its alliance
Casualties and damage (full list):
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=713243512159350&id=551288185021551
28.10.2016 – Al Masirah TV (A K PH)
Film: Saudi American aggression targeting houses in Beni Saad in Al-Mahwit 27/10/2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve4-cTja9rs = https://www.facebook.com/881240811966559/videos/1143958645694773/
27.10.2016 – Yemen Today TV (A K PH)
Film: Cluster bombs damaged soil farms in the Hajjah province, Abs District 27 - 10-2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgu4TCTAzo8
27.10.2016 – Fatik Al-Rodeini (A K)
Shabwah, Hodeidah, Saada,Dhalae, Sanaa, Jouf, Taiz, Mahweet, and Marib of #Yemen 21 provinces were hit today by Saudi jets with 59+ sorties.
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/791718939667476481
27.10.2016 – Ahmad Alghobary (A K)
15 #Saudi air strikes on Nehm district #Sanaa
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/791681228961447936
27.10.2016 – Adel Lahim (A K)
2 killed, 7 injured after Saudi airstrike jets on the home of a citizen in Althita area in Hodeidah, #Yemen 27/10/2016
https://twitter.com/Allahim_ad/status/791771813835444224
and
27.10.2016 – Fatik Al-Rodeini (A K)
In al-Tuhitah area of Hodeidah n western #Yemen where 10000s starving to death, Saudi jets hit today a resident's house killing&injuring9ppl
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/791725037644636160
27.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression warplanes launch 25 air strikes on Sanaa, targeting mainly farms
Saudi aggression warplanes waged 25 strikes on Nehm district of Sanaa governorate overnight, a security official told Saba on Thursday.
Four strikes targeted Bani Bariq area and al-khawther Mounts and the others targeted several areas in the same district, causing heavy damage to citizens` houses and farms, the official said.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news444959.htm
27.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression fighter jets launch 10 strikes on Saada
US-backed Saudi aggression fighter jets launched 10 strikes on several districts of Saada province overnight, a security official told Saba Thursday.
The strikes targeted citizen`s cars on the roads and the other strikes struck al-Zamah and Takhyah areas in Bakim district.
Furthermore, the warplanes waged five strikes on al-Malahidh area and other two strikes targeted the public road in al-Dhahr district in the same province.
The strikes caused great destructions to private, public properties and roads
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news444961.htm
27.10.2016 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
26-10-2016
Targeting and bombing civilians by the warplanes of Saudi Arabia and its alliance
Casualties and damage (Full list):
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=712901495526885&id=551288185021551
27.10.2016 – Almanar (A K PH)
Three civilians were killed on Thursday by a Saudi-US air strike against Baqem Directorate in Saada province, north of Yemen.
A local source told Almassira website that the victims were martyred when the Saudi-led aggression air force targeted them at the highway of Baqem.
Earlier on Thursday, Saudi-US campaign on Yemen had stroke Al-Safiya neighborhood in Al-Thaher Directorate.
http://english.almanar.com.lb/79462 and film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smb1WVvXY3s = https://www.facebook.com/881240811966559/videos/1143957775694860/
26.–27.10.2016 – Air strikes evening / night (* A K)
3 #Saudi air strikes targeted #Hudidah coast #Yemen
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/791356338026799104
Few minutes ago more than 5 saudi air strikes on yareem city #Yemen by saudi coalition jets
https://twitter.com/midoaaaaa/status/791318492565872640
At least 13 ppl have been killed and wounded in initial statistcs in an attack by Saudi jets on a resident's house in al-Mahweet
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/791373162793476096
26.10.2016 – Yemen Post (A K)
SMOKE of WAR: 65 Saudi airstrikes bombard #Yemen in 24 hours destroying homes/farms & Houthi rockets continue attacking populated Taiz city.
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/791267109871333377
26.10.2016 – Saudi war crimes (* A K PH)
The Aggression and its Mercenaries Crimes during the Past 24 Hours
the Saudi American aggression jets continued to target various governorates of the Republic.
In the capital Sana’a and Sana’a governorate ,the aggression jets launched three raids on Wednesday on Saref areaand areas of AL-Hawl , AL-Madfoon ,Bani Sareq ,Maswarah and Mobda’ah with eight air raids.
In Amran, the aggression jets launched 13 raids on various areas of the province, and in Marib the aggression jets launched 5 raids on Sirwah directorate .
In Saada, it launched more than 10 raids on AL-Boqa desert and the main road in Haidan .
Later it launched four raids on Baqim Directorate and 5 raids on AL-Malahaid directorate.
In Al-Jawf , it launched a raid on AL-Masloob directorate ; in Hajjah , it launched two raids on AL-Dawar area in Mostaba directorate ; and in Taiz it launched a raid on Moaza directorate
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1596013537361301:0
26.10.2016 – Khabar Agency (A K PH)
#Yemen: Over 10#Saudiairstrikes hit al-Buqaa desert in Kitaf district of#Saadaprovince
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1146331428753219
26.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi warplanes target ice factory in port city Mocha
Saudi aggression warplanes overnight destroyed a citizen's home in Sues neighborhood in the port city of Mocha of Taiz province, and targeted an ice factory in the same area, an official told Saba on Wednesday.
The air attack burned the factory to the ground.
The Saudi aggression fighter jets also waged three raids on al-Zahra area in the city, causing huge damage to residents' homes, properties and cars
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news444840.htm
26.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
U.S.-Saudi warplanes launch raids on Jawf
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news444834.htm
26.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression warplanes launch 4 strikes on Jawf
on al-Sakia area and Waqza valley in Maslob district of Jawf province
caused large damage to citizen`s houses and farms
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news444853.htm
26.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression fighter jets launch 16 airstrikes on Nehm
Saudi aggression warplanes launched 16 strikes on Nahm district of Sanaa province over the past few hours, an official told Saba on Wednesday.
The strike targeted a citizen`s house in Maswara area and the other strikes targeted several areas in the same district over the past hours
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news444854.htm
26.10.2016 – A7med (A K)
Film: Sana'a 26 October 2016
https://twitter.com/A7medJa7af/status/791300538671493120
26.10.2016 – Just Security (* A K P)
Who is Responsible for the Yemen Funeral Bombing, and How?
If the targeting of civilians at the funeral were done intentionallyor recklessly, then it would constitute a war crime under international law. Recklessness has been defined by adecisionof the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia as acting “with the awareness of the substantial likelihood that a crime will be committed in the execution” of an order.
Targeting decisions and airstrikes require the participation of numerous actors, including those who collect targeting information, pass it on, evaluate it, make the decision, and execute it. The Saudi-led coalition’sJoint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) has saidthat “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,” and to compound that problem, “[t]he Air Operations Center in Yemen directed a close air support mission to target the location 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.” It sounds, from this, that other individuals committed errors in addition to the “deliberate error.” Assuming these findings were accurate, how would the law apply to these actors and their actions?
Assessing individual responsibility requires examining precisely what each individual who participated in the targeting process did to contribute to the resulting attack on civilians, and particularly what each individualknewand intended at the time. To the extent an individual “breached” procedure or committed a “deliberate error,” the question will be to what extent was that individual aware that as a result of the breach, a substantial likelihood existed of civilians being targeted in the attack.
The nature of the individual’s responsibility will also dictate the appropriate consequences. If the individual acted negligently, that is heshould have knownthat his actions could result in the targeting of civilians but was not aware of a substantial risk that this would happen, then administrative discipline would be appropriate. However, if the individual breached procedure intentionally or recklessly, then criminal prosecution and sanction would ordinarily be required as a matter of international law.
A failure by commanders within the Saudi-led coalition to take adequate measures to punish subordinates who have committed war crimes could result in criminal liability for the commanders themselves under the principle ofcommand responsibility.
Finally is the matter of the legal obligation of states. Each government is legally responsible for the acts of its officials—includingultra virusacts (outside the scope of an individual’s assigned authority) and acts committed through negligence – ByRyan Goodman andAlex Whiting
https://www.justsecurity.org/33872/responsible-yemen-funeral-bombing-how/
Comment: This article certainly is correct from a mostly theoretical point of view, asking : What is, if … is? But in this case, the whole precondition of all questions for individual responsibility are void, as the whole Saudi JIAT report hardly has anything to do with reality and is a poor try of self-whitewashing. The target was well known, it was well known what would take place there at which time, and a) which people and b) generally a great lot of people were to be expected there.
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
Siehe / See cp1a
28.10.2016 – MbKS15 / Farhan
Video shows a #Houthi missile launcher destroyed by the #RSAF near Najran, #SaudiArabia
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/792008559672324098
Appears to have been disguised as a commercial transport vehicle
https://twitter.com/FaisalbinFarhan/status/792009454581678081
27.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army kills 40 Saudi-paid mercenaries, including colonel, in Nehm
At least 40 Saudi-paid mercenaries were killed and others wounded, including top mercenary commanders in Nehm district, when the national army and popular forces fight back the mercenaries` attempt to advance in the area, a military official told Saba Thursday.
The operation took places on Wednesday, during which top mercenary colonel Mansoor Ali Saif was killed by the army and popular forces in the battles.
The slain colonel was head of the religious spiritual guidance of the 314th Brigade, the official added.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news444960.htm
27.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army fires ballistic missile on mercenaries in Dhalee
The army and popular forces fired a ballistic missile, Somood, on Saudi-paid mercenaries at al-Sabrain military camp in Murais area of al-Dhalee province, a military official told Saba on Thursday.
The missile hit the target accurately, killing dozens and wounding more others.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news444964.htm
26.10.2016 – Al Arabiya (A K PS)
Houthi head of missile operations killed in Marran battle
Houthi militia leader and head of their missile operations Nasser al-Kaait has been killed during an operation in Marran, Al Arabiya News Channel’s correspondentreported.
The killing comes as Houthi militias ramp up their indiscriminate missile attacks on populated neighborhoods of Taiz.
26.10.2016 – Fars News (A K PH)
Yemeni Army Blocks Pro-Saudi Attack on Key Region in Sana'a Province
The Yemeni army and popular forces pushed back an attack by pro-Saudi troops to advance towards a strategic region in Sana'a province on Wednesday, inflicting heavy losses on them.
The Yemeni forces managed to drive back the pro-Saudi forces that were backed by the kingdom's fighter jets, stopping their advance towards al-Houl district in the Ninth district of Sana'a province.
The Yemeni army and popular forces also blocked the pro-Saudi forces' advance towards al-Shabaka region in Sana'a province.
In Ta'iz province, the Yemeni army hit a gathering center of the terrorists in al-Jamila region in a missile attack which resulted in the death and injury of several pro-Saudi forces.
In al-Jawf province, the Yemeni army's artillery units hit the Saudi mercenaries in al-Khanjar region near Khob and al-Sha'af regions, inflicting several casualties on them.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950805001415
26.10.2016 – Reuters (A K)
Yemen foes fight in Marib day after U.N. envoy delivers peace plan
Yemeni army units backed by an Arab coalition attacked positions held by Houthi rebels in a strategic province east of the capital on Wednesday, a day after a U.N. envoy delivered a peace proposal to the Iran-allied fighters that control Sanaa.
Yemeni forces fired artillery and dislodged Houthi fighters from towns in Marib province east of Sanaa on Wednesday, said Saudi state news agency SPA.
Capturing Marib, the home of an ancient dam referenced in Islamic history, is important for the Saudi-led Arab coalition which aims to counter the influence of Persian-speaking Iran.
The loyalties of the province are divided: Most of its well-armed clans are now allies of the Gulf states. But the Houthis, mostly members of Yemen's Zaydi Shi'ite sect which is distinct from Iran's version of Shi'ite Islam, and army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, also have friends there.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-marib-idUSKCN12Q1IZ
Comment: The Houthis are no more “rebels”, nor are they “Iran-allied”. And the fighting in Marib province is of totally no importance on “the influence of Persian-speaking Iran”, neither in Yemen nor anywhere else.
26.10.2016 – Yemen Fights Back (A K PH)
Yemeni forces advancing to Al-Kars post in Jizan 10/25/2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjKBtcJ1JWc
26.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi-paid senior mercenary commander killed in Marib
A Saudi-paid mercenary senior commander was killed on Wednesday in a rocketry shelling by the national army and popular forces in the central province of Marib, said an army official.
"Mohamed Nasir al-Nehmi who was the right hand of slain general Abd al-Rab al-Shaddadi was killed in Maib in the national army's missile shelling that targeted him along with his comrades," the official told Saba.
The attack came after a long-time monitoring operation.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news444833.htm
25.10.2016 – Al Mazirah TV (A K PH)
Yemeni forces breaking into Aleeb Saudi post in Najran
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6w6YZnooxQ
26.10.2016 – Yemen Fights Back (A K PH)
Seek and destroy Saudi Qarn post in Jizan 10/22/2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V5A-yEWw6w
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
28.10.2016 – Freedom House (* A P)
Houthi forces carried out dozens of raids on media outlets and detentions of journalists during the year in an attempt to suppress dissent.
At least seven journalists and media workers were killed in connection with their profession, with most falling victim to air strikes by the Saudi-led military coalition supporting Hadi’s government.
Yemen’s media grew increasingly polarized in 2015, with the bulk of functioning outlets becoming virtual mouthpieces for various sides in the ongoing civil war. Both the Hadi government and the Houthi rebels invested significant effort in their media operations, pushing nonpartisan writers and journalists to the margins of the information landscape, partly through dismissals and intimidation. Politicians and officials from each faction overwhelmingly privileged allied media in granting interviews and access.
The Houthis and their allies, who controlled most major population centers for much of the year, cracked down on dissent in the capital and elsewhere. In March, as the Saudi-led military coalition began a campaign of air strikes aimed at halting Houthi advances, the Houthi-occupied Ministry of Information threatened to close media outlets if they published false news or insulted the “popular revolution.” Houthi forces then carried out a series of raids on the media, ransacking the Sanaa offices of Qatar’s Al-Jazeera television network, the newspaperAl-Masdar, and two television stations—Suhail and Yemen Shebab—that are affiliated with the opposition Sunni Islamist party Islah. Scores of similar actions were reported during the year. Internet service providers, apparently acting on orders from Houthi authorities, also blocked numerous online news sources.
The increased threat of violence and arbitrary detention contributed to self-censorship among journalists, as did smear campaigns and other threats. The Houthis repeatedly detained journalists over the course of 2015, including several who were held while reporting on anti-Houthi protests in Sanaa in January. Many of those detained were subsequently released, but nearly a dozen journalists remained in Houthi custody at year’s end. AQAP reportedly abducted three journalists in Al-Mukalla in October as they covered a protest against the group.
Foreign journalists were periodically blocked from entering the country by either the Houthis or the Saudi-led coalition, which controlled Yemen’s airspace and patrolled its coasts and land borders. Two foreign freelance journalists, Raymond Lidal of Norway and Casey Coombs of the United States, were abducted by Houthi fighters in March and May, respectively. Both were released after weeks of diplomatic efforts on their behalf.
At least seven journalists and media workers were killed in connection with their profession in 2015, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists—far more than in previous years.
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2016/yemen
Comment: be aware that US “Freedom House” is far from neutral and objective, it’s serving US government interests, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_House#Criticism.
28.10.2016 – Maritime First Newspaper (A)
Report: Second Attack on Merchant Ship off Yemen
Another merchant vessel was attacked by pirates and fired at off the coast of Yemen while it was transiting the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, Al Arabiya cited Brigadier General Ahmad Hassan Asiri.
Namely, the pirates reportedly fired a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) at the 1997-built oil tanker Melati Satu, which is sailing to the Indian Port of Chennai.
Asiri said that the vessel’s crew sent a distress call and the tanker was soon joined by Saudi Arabian naval vessel Majesty Riyadh. The naval ship accompanied Melati Satu through the Strait.
According to data provided by VesselsValue, the 32,100 dwt tanker is currently underway in the Gulf of Aden. Scheduled to arrive in Chennai on November 5, the vessel started its journey from the Port of Illichivsk, Ukraine.
The incident marks the second attack on a merchant vessels during this week
http://www.maritimefirstnewspaper.com/en/2016/10/report-second-attack-merchant-ship-off-yemen/
26.10.2016 – World Maritime News (A)
Merchant Tanker Fired at off Yemen
A merchant tanker was approached by a small vessel and fired at utilizing a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) off the coast of Yemen, Asket cited reports from crisis management and response consultancy NYA.
All crew members aboard the vessel were reported as safe, and the ship continued its voyage.
The damage sustained during the attack is currently unknown.
The vessel in question is reportedly the 79,166 dwt LNG tanker Galicia Spirit. According to data provided by VesslesValue, the tanker is currently in the Red Sea on its way to Egypt’s port of Ain Sokhna, where it is scheduled to arrive on October 29.
The 2004-built tanker departed Ras Laffan, Qatar on October 19.
World Maritime News contacted relevant parties for confirmation of the details, however, they are yet to reply.
http://worldmaritimenews.com/archives/204992/merchant-tanker-fired-at-off-yemen/
and:
26.10.2016 – Reuters (* A)
Gas tanker attacked near key shipping lane off Yemen
Unknown assailants attacked a gas tanker off the coast of Yemen close to the Bab al-Mandab waterway in the latest flare up in an area through which much of the world's oil passes, shipping and security officials said on Wednesday.
The incident, the first attack on a commercial ship since July, followed missile attacks in recent weeks on military craft, including U.S. navy vessels, which were launched from Yemen that had already raised risks for merchant shipping.
Shipping group Teekay said its LNG (liquefied natural gas) tanker Galicia Spirit "experienced a suspected piracy attack whilst off the coast of Yemen" on Oct. 25.
"No third parties managed to board the vessel during the incident and all crew members are safe and have been accounted for," Teekay said in a statement.
"As a precaution, the vessel had a Djibouti warship in attendance when heading away from the area. She has now left the high risk area without any further issues," it added without further details.
Maritime security sources said the incident occurred near Perim Island, which is about 14 km from the southern Yemeni coast and the site of a lighthouse for ships passing through the Bab al-Mandab.
British maritime security firm MAST said a small vessel had approached the tanker and fired a rocket propelled grenade (RPG).
"MAST understands that the vessel had no armed security team on board, and that the vessel sustained small arms fire as well as the RPG," it said. "It is unclear whether this is a terrorist attack or piracy."
The Royal Navy's UK Maritime Trade Operation said in a circular to mariners and seen by Reuters that the incident was still being investigated "as is the alleged use of RPG" – ByJonathan Saul
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-shipping-attack-idUSKCN12Q1UQ
Comment: Most probably pirates.
22.4.2011 – Yemen Peace Project (* B P)
Yemen’s other Islamists
Our loyal guest blogger in San‘a sends us this well-researched piece on the role and structure of the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen. YPP’s leadership pretends no significant knowledge on this subject. Reader comments, as always, are welcomed.
In Yemen, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) begins to position itself directly within the post-Saleh political structure. While their primary struggle to date has been an internal balance within at-Tajammu al-Yemeni lil-Islah (The Yemeni Congregation for Reform), the two month old anti-government protests have allowed the Brotherhood sufficient opportunities to either split from al-Islah or become the primary ideological force, possibly marginalizing the more radical Wahhabi elements.
http://www.yemenpeaceproject.org/blogpost/politics-religion/yemens-other-islamists/
1917 – British Government
Handbook of Yemen
http://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100023644479.0x00000b
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-219-yemen-war-mosaic-219
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-219: / Yemen War Mosaic 1-219:
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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