Overview article (German) – Justifying Saudi slaughter in Yemen – Humanitarian catastrophe due to war – Children: Cholera, malnutrition, measles – Violence against women – Mecca attack propaganda – and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
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
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
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
31.10.2016 – Nachdenkseiten (** B K P)
Wie der Jemen dank westlicher Unterstützung weiterhin in Schutt und Asche gelegt wird
Seit über zwanzig Monaten findet ein Angriffskrieg auf dem Jemen statt. Unter einer von Saudi-Arabien geführten Allianz wird das ärmste arabische Land tagtäglich bombardiert. Westliche Waffenlieferungen und ausländische Söldner tragen ihren entsprechenden Beitrag dazu bei, dass unschuldige Menschen getötet oder zur Flucht gezwungen werden. Doch in der westlichen Debatte spielt all dies keine Rolle. Kein Wunder, denn ein Diskurs findet praktisch gar nicht statt.
Der Krieg im Jemen ist eine humanitäre Katastrophe, deren Realität von der internationalen Staatengemeinschaft nahezu vollständig ignoriert wird. Mittlerweile hat der Konflikt mindestens 10.000 Menschen, hauptsächlich Zivilisten, das Leben gekostet. Millionen von Jemeniten befinden sich auf der Flucht und leiden unter Hunger, Armut und Kriegstraumata. Laut der UN sind Saudi-Arabien und seine Verbündeten für die Mehrzahl der Opfer verantwortlich. Zu diesen Verbündeten zählen nicht nur die genannten arabischen Staaten, sondern auch die Vereinigten Staaten, Großbritannien, Frankreich und Kanada.
Während Frankreich seinen Verbündeten etwa vor allem logistisch zur Seite steht, stechen Kanada und Großbritannien mit Waffenlieferungen hervor. Des Weiteren arbeitet der britische Geheimdienst eng mit dem saudischen zusammen.
An der Spitze der Komplizenschaft stehen jedoch ein weiteres Mal die Vereinigten Staaten. Diese beteiligten sich nämlich nicht nur an all den genannten Verbrechen der genannten Staaten, sondern wirken mittlerweile aktiv im Krieg im Jemen mit. Am 12. Oktober haben amerikanische Raketen zum ersten Mal Stellungen der jemenitischen Houthi-Rebellen bombardiert. Richtig gelesen: Das Weiße Haus befindet sich seit einigen Tagen offiziell in einem weiteren Krieg. Nur interessiert dies scheinbar kaum jemanden. Wäre dem nicht so, wäre die Berichterstattung wohl kaum derartig mäßig ausgefallen.
Zu überrascht sollte man allerdings auch nicht sein. Die indirekte Kriegsbeteiligung der USA am Krieg im Jemen findet nämlich seit Beginn des Konflikts im Schatten der Weltöffentlichkeit statt. Beobachter hoben in diesem Kontext immer wieder hervor, dass das Weiße Haus dem Grauen im Jemen ein Ende setzen könnte – und zwar nur, indem es seine Waffenverkäufe an die absolutistische Monarchie stoppt.
Während führende westliche Analysten den Krieg im Jemen weiterhin als konfessionellen Konflikt zwischen schiitischen und sunnitischen Muslimen herunterbrechen wollen, werden weiterhin zahlreiche Fakten und Realitäten übersehen. Abgesehen davon, dass Sunniten und Schiiten im Land sehr eng miteinander verwurzelt sind und stets harmonisch zusammen lebten, muss beachtet werden, dass hier vor allem ein Krieg der Ungleichheit stattfindet. Der Jemen ist das ärmste Land des Nahen Ostens und wird von den Reichsten der Region lediglich aus machtpolitischen Interessen in Schutt und Asche gebombt.
Es sind Perversitäten, über die nur wenig berichtet wird und das kapitalistische Kriegsmodell unserer Zeit sehr stark deutlich machen. Da gibt es etwa saudische Piloten, die für jeden „Treffer“ mit Luxuswägen belohnt werden oder kolumbianische Söldner, die im Auftrag der reichen Golfaraber morden.
Die Folgen dieser Katastrophe werden sehr bald auch für den Westen sichtbar sein. Denn es gilt immer noch: Wer Waffen sät, erntet Flüchtlinge – von Emran Feroz
http://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=35614
Kommentar: Guter Überblicksartikel.
31.10.2016 – Consortium News (** B K P)
Justifying the Saudi Slaughter in Yemen
Official Washington insists Iran is the main Mideast troublemaker when clearly that isn’t true, but the “group think” explains why a few intercepted arms shipments to Somalia where linked to Iran and Yemen.
The Obama administration has carried out a deliberately deceptive campaign accusing Iran of covertly sending arms to the Houthis by sea, a claim that Washington cites to help justify the Saudi massive air attack against the Houthis that began last year.
By repeating the accusation over and over, the administration has been largely successful in turning a dubious allegation into accepted fact, even though it is contradicted by evidence that is well-documented on the public record.
Secretary of State John Kerry introduced the new variant of the Obama administration’s familiar theme about Iran’s “nefarious activities” in the region two weeks after Saudi Arabia began its bombing in Yemen on March 26, 2015.
Later, the administration began accusing Iran of using fishing boats to smuggle arms to the Houthis. The campaign unfolded in a series of four interceptions of small fishing boats or dhows in or near the Arabian Sea from September 2015 through March 2016. The four interceptions had two things in common: the boats did have illicit weapons alright, but the crews always said the ship was bound for Somalia – not Yemen and the Houthis.
But instead of acknowledging the obvious fact that the weapons were not related to the Iran-Houthi relationship, a U.S. military spokesman put out a statement in all four cases citing a U.S. “assessment” that the ultimate destination of the arms was Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen.
The choice of wording was significant. The intelligence community says that it “assesses” that something is true only when it does not have clear-cut proof on the matter. In the case of the alleged Iranian use of fishing dhows to smuggle arms to the Houthis, the U.S. spokesmen did not cite a single piece of evidence for that “assessment” in any of the four cases. In fact, when asked for some justification for it, the military spokesman refused.
The Obama administration also had sought to promote the charge that Iranian was covertly sending weapons to the Houthis by sea more than two years earlier.
But the 2013 claim was soon exposed as a ruse. A Security Council Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea revealed in a June 2013 report that the crewmembers had told diplomats who interviewed them that ship’s cargo of diesel fuel was bound for Somalia, not Yemen.
And, since the weapons were hidden under the diesel fuel tanks, the weapons could be accessed only after those tanks had been emptied, in other words after the ship docked in Somalia.
The monitoring group learned from authorities in the Puntland region of Somalia, where most of the smuggled weapons have entered the country, that this was a widely used method of smuggling arms into the country.
But the Obama administration has no interest in the considerable evidence gathered by the monitoring group that provides a more credible explanation for the arms found on those four fishing dhows.
Such an explanation isn’t political useful, whereas the accusations of Iranian smuggling of arms to the Houthis fulfilled multiple political and bureaucratic interests, justifying Saudi Arabia’s bloody U.S.-backed air campaign over Yemen and endless Washington alarms about “Iranian aggression.” – by Gareth Porter
https://consortiumnews.com/2016/10/31/justifying-the-saudi-slaughter-in-yemen/
31.10.2016 – Ben Norton (** B K P)
How US-backed Saudi war created humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen — Interview on “Middle East in Focus”
Audio: I spoke about the calamitous war in Yemen on October 23 on “Middle East in Focus,” host Nagwa Ibrahim’s program on Los Angeles’ KPFK public radio. I was joined by human rights attorney Dan Kovalik, a professor of international human rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
We discussed the 19-month Saudi-led bombing campaign, which, with billions of dollars worth of weapons and crucial military assistance from the US and UK, has killed thousands of Yemeni civilians.
Thousands of airstrikes, along with a coalition-imposed blockade on food-insecure Yemen, have plunged the poorest country in the Middle East into what the UN has said is one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in the world — with more than half of the country, 14 million people, going hungry, and with more than 80 percent of the population, 21 million people, in desperate need of humanitarian aid.
31.10.2016 – Save the Children (** A H)
Millions of Yemeni children facing triple threat of cholera, measles and malnutrition
Health system ravaged by war has collapsed, unable to cope with contagious diseases
Millions of Yemeni children are at risk from a triple threat of malnutrition which has left their immune systems low, a spiralling cholera epidemic, and a new outbreak of the highly infectious measles virus.
At least 1.5 million children are already acutely malnourished and millions more are ‘food insecure’, going to bed hungry every night. This is the result of 19-months of hostilities during which imports of essential supplies including food, fuel and medicine have been severely restricted; humanitarian access obstructed; and hospitals and other vital civilian facilities bombed.
Of the 7.6 million people declared to be ‘at risk’ of cholera, approximately half are assumed to be children – around 3.8 million.
One girl named Yasmine (pictured), seven, was treated for cholera in al-Sabeen Children’s Hospital in the capital city Sana’a, alongside her sister and triplet brothers.
Because al-Sabeen Hospital has run out of some supplies, like many hospitals in Yemen, staff have been forced to ask patients to buy their own medicines externally. When available, it is vastly overpriced.
Bashir said: “I called my cousin to lend me some money for the medicine, I got the money, but I didn't find the medicine. I kept driving all night to find potassium for oral intake. I found only one bottle while I need two bottles. So I gave it to my daughter Yasmine first who is in a seriously bad situation.” One bottle cost £15 (4,500 Yemeni Riyal).
Dr Najat, who treated Yasmine, said: “Yasmine suffers from kidney failure owing to severe dehydration which stemmed from cholera, she needs intensive care.
“The situation is very bad here in the hospital, we are really facing a crisis. We are lacking medicines, equipment, doctors and staff salaries.”
Save the Children staff in Yemen have also recorded five cases of measles, a highly infectious airborne virus that spreads quickly amongst those who have not been vaccinated against it.
Dr Najat said: “Further to cholera cases, we received five cases from Sa’dah infected with measles. This is serious because it is a contagious disease and it might spread to Sana’a city.”
Edward Santiago, Save the Children’s Yemen Country Director, said: “The de facto blockade has starved Yemen of food, medicine and medical supplies, including some vaccines. Many health facilities have been damaged and 600 have been closed due to the conflict, leaving millions without very basic healthcare. The country’s health system is on its knees and is no fit state to deal with an infectious disease outbreak.”
Two thirds of Yemenis do not have access to clean water and sanitation services, especially those in cities, further increasing the risk of infection. The conflict has caused thousands of families to flee and camp on the outskirts of Sana’a where conditions are unsanitary and could see the rapid spread of cholera though contaminated food and water.
https://www.savethechildren.net/article/millions-yemeni-children-facing-triple-threat-cholera-measles-and-malnutrition = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/millions-yemeni-children-facing-triple-threat-cholera-measles-and-malnutrition
31.10.2016 – UN Population Fund (** B H)
Violence against women escalates under Yemen's brutal conflict
[Because of the war,] Women are more vulnerable than ever to violence and exploitation.
“The war and its ramifications have impacted all, at all levels, including their personal lives and relations,” said the director of a UNFPA-supported women’s shelter. “We have noticed that domestic violence has increased and the divorce rate is on rise.”
Even before the conflict erupted, gender-based violence was widespread. Some 92 per cent of women said that violence against women was common in the home, according to a 2013 survey.
For women like Ameera*, this brutal conflict has been only the latest chapter in a lifetime of abuses.
“My father passed away when I was in first grade, leaving behind my mother and the three of us. My mom used to beat me a lot. She hated me,” said Ameera, wiping away tears. “She used to tear my books and discouraged me from studying. I did not know why.”
A marriage was arranged for Ameera when she was in the seventh grade. “When I was told that I would get married, I did not give it a second thought. Marriage then meant an escape from the daily violence.”
Her husband took her to his village, and she quickly became pregnant. She was 15 years old.
By age 16, she had a daughter.
But married life was not a reprieve from abuse.
In the spring of 2009, Ameera found the women’s shelter in Sana’a, the capital. Operated by the Yemeni Women’s Union, with support from UNFPA, it was the first shelter of its kind in the city.
“When Ameera came to us, she was devastated and psychologically she was in a really bad place. All I wanted was to save this tiny girl,” said the shelter’s director. “I felt that if we did not help her, then she would be lost.”
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/violence-against-women-escalates-under-yemens-brutal-conflict = http://www.unfpa.org/news/violence-against-women-escalates-under-yemens-brutal-conflict
31.10.2016 – New Matilda (** A P)
Does The Australian National Imams Council Support The Saudi War On Yemen?
The War on Yemen is supported by the Australian Government and, it seems, Australia’s most senior Muslim leaders
It appears the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC), along with the Grand Mufti of Australia, have taken a position on the Saud-GCC-US-UK war on Yemen. They’ve decided to join the many rich and powerful countries partaking in Saudi Arabia’s destruction of the impoverished nation.
On Sunday, ANIC released a statement, announcing that “ANIC and the Mufti of Australia Condemn the attacks by the Hoothi Rebels on the Holy City of Makkah”. They called this a “vicious attack” and “heinous crime”, which they “strongly condemn”, as “this attack targets all Muslims around the world and the principles of Islam.”
Sheikh Shadi Alsuleiman claimed this was “not an attack on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”, it was “an attack on every Muslim”. The Mufti similarly offered a quote about how the Houthis had offended Muslims across the world.
Before I discuss more of the media release, I’d like to note that ANIC’s claims are not based on any real evidence. At best, they are simply uncritically accepting as fact an unproven claim of the Saudi government. At worst, they are disseminating Saudi propaganda, distracting from the barbaric war on Yemen.
The worst part of the ANIC statement is in the penultimate paragraph. It says that ANIC urges all Muslims and Muslim countries to “stand in solidarity and support with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who are the custodians of the sacred cities Makkah and Madina, the Council also commends the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their ongoing care, role and protection of the sacred places of Makkah and Madina and stands strongly with the Kingdom against any attack on the Muslim sacred cities”.
Commending the Kingdom for their “care, role and protection” of the sacred places of the two cities sounds less like it’s directed at the country as a whole, and more like its directed at the Saudi government.
As Australian mercenaries join the war, our Foreign Minister blithely supported the Saudi position twice in 2015, even praising the “important role” the invading coalition of Gulf Arab countries has played in “assisting” Yemen.
Our government has imposed sanctions on the Houthis, not on the invading coalition. Our foreign fighters helping destroy Yemen face no penalties for joining the war if they choose to return to Australia.
In the final paragraph of ANIC’s statement, it asks Allah to “protect all people and Muslim countries around the world from any oppressive attack”. Given their support for the Saudi government, and complete lack of compassion for the people of Yemen, it reads like a sick joke, a parody of their own silence on the oppressive attack on Yemen.
As rich and powerful countries threaten to cripple an entire generation with hunger, backed by the most powerful countries on the planet, Yemen stands friendless. Surrounding Arab and Muslim countries side with Saudi Arabia. ANIC responds by urging Muslims around the world to offer solidarity with the Saudis, one of the most oppressive governments on the planet.
Their sole concern is an unproven missile attack that harmed no-one.
Was a missile fired at Mecca?
To help readers visualise the two claims, I’ve created a map. Mecca has a black arrow pointing towards it, the airport has a red pin, and I labelled Saada.
It is possible that the missile was destroyed on the blue path, or perhaps even the green path, 65 kms from Mecca, and in the eyes of the Saudis, this was near the Mecca area, because it was in Mecca Region. That is, the original Saudi report may be consistent with the Houthis having fired a missile at the airport, and not at Mecca.
It is the basis for all subsequent claims, and it never actually says that the missile was fired at Mecca. It simply alleges that a missile was fired “towards Makkah area”, and it was destroyed 65 kms from Mecca.
Nevertheless, in response to the Saudi government’s claims – which have not been investigated or proven by any kind of independent person or body – various Arab countries have taken turns condemning the alleged firing of a missile at Mecca. Then France and Germany condemned it.
Would the Saudis lie about a missile being fired at Mecca? Consider the statement by the Council of Gulf International Relations. They claimed that targeting Mecca confirms “that the battle is not between the legitimacy of Yemen and the alliance of the coup, but between Muslims and those who tried to desecrating (sic) their sanctities and mocking (sic) their feelings”.
That is, in every war, belligerents claim that the other side has done really awful and heinous things. Propaganda is standard to every conflict. In this case, the fact that the Saudi government alleges the Houthis have fired a missile at Mecca is a provocative claim, designed to inflame Muslim opinion against the Houthis.
There is no actual basis for believing it is true, except for those who blindly believe the claims of the Saudi government – by Michael Brull
12.4.2016 – The National Interest (** B K P)
Why Saudi Arabia is Hammering Yemen
To understand the war in Yemen, you have to assume the perspective of a Saudi elite and zoom the camera outwards. Once upon a time, the Shia-majority nations of the Middle East were ruled by monarchs and strongmen who were largely unsympathetic to the idea of Shia power—Iraq under the Sunni Saddam Hussein, Bahrain under the Saudi-backed Khalifa dynasty, and Iran under the Pahlavis. Islam was governed as it had been for centuries, with Sunnis wielding power and Shia awaiting the end times. America viewed the Middle East through the lens of regnant Sunnis, and collaborated with many of them, most notably the Saudi royal family.
That’s all changed over the past thirty-five years, first with the Islamic Revolution in Iran, which produced an aggressively Islamist Shia government, and then with the American occupation of Iraq, which effectively transferred governance away from the Sunnis. As Iraqi Shia queued up to vote and Iranian pilgrims spilled over the border to visit the holy city of Najaf, the Middle East underwent an awakening that gave real autonomy to Islam’s long-oppressed minority (Shia are only 10–15 percent of the Muslim population). Vali Nasr has expertly chronicled this revolution in his 2007 book The Shia Revival.
That revival triggered a ferocious counterreaction from Sunnis, who streamed into Iraq for a chance to spill the blood of heretical Shia. And while the region’s Sunni states didn’t actively oppose the awakening, they watched the course of events with a good deal of nervousness.
So it came as no surprise when the Saudis helped the Sunni monarchy in Bahrain squash a Shia uprising during the Arab Spring.
So when the Shiite Houthi rebels captured the Yemeni capital of Sana in late 2014, a shock was sent through the Middle East’s Sunni nervous system. It mattered little that the Houthis were schismatic Zaydi Shia out of step with Iran’s mainstream Twelver Shiism, or that the Iranians warned that Sana shouldn’t be seized, or that the Houthis aren’t an Iranian proxy in the same way that Hezbollah is. The Saudis immediately blamed Iran. They, along with many of the Sunni states, went to war, pulling their militaries away from the campaign against the Islamic State. Once again, fighting Salafist terrorism was dismissed as an American concern.
The problem for Saudi Arabia now is that its attempt to stymie the Shia awakening has backfired. After over a year of bombing, the Houthis still control Sana, and international sentiment has been roused against the war.
The question now is whether the Saudis can work through this briar patch of crises. But one thing is certain: the Shia are awake and they aren’t returning to sleep anytime soon. The Middle East as we know it has changed – by Matt Purple
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-saudi-arabia-hammering-yemen-15748?page=2
Comment: I missed this article in April. And the question is why at all the West interfered in this conflict, causing blood and destruction by its interference. Why?
16.10.2016 – Middle East Revised (** B H K P)
(Interview) Judith Brown: Yemen Is A Mess & It’s Getting Worse.
The north and south are functioning as at least two separate parts for complex reasons. Firstly, Saudi Arabia and UAE have a difficult relationship and different aims due to the war and this has meant they have largely divided their sphere of responsibilities, with Saudi controlling the war in the north and UAE taking little responsibility for the south militarily, but it is developing commercial interests there.
There is also animosity in both parts, but especially Hadramaut governors made statements about a year ago that they would not accept anyone from the old North Yemen, and many people there have developed an intolerant Sunni position, but they also want to keep free of the effects of the Yemen war.
In Aden the secessionist movement is strong – though not supported by everyone by any means – and the secessionists have said they will not accept any people from the north or even southerners that have lived for a long time in the north. Taiz is more or less on its own. And the old north (less Taiz) is under the control of the Houthis and the old Yemen army.
What is true is that in effect there are two systems of government, one in Sana’a and one mostly in Riyadh (with a few of the Riyadh ministers in Aden). There are two Yemen armies – most of the original army support the Houthis, and the new army is paid for by Saudi Arabia and trained by UAE (KSA are mostly in Aden). There now appear to be two banks as president Abd Rabuh Mansur Hadi moved the central Yemen bank to Aden, with new staff, and the remaining central bank staff who were sacked by Hadi are still in Sana’a. So it’s a mess. As in all wars.
The famine is everywhere in the north, but worst in Hodeida and the north west. It is getting more and more difficult for families to cope – even middle class families who used to have money don’t know how they can afford food. People have used up their savings and there are few jobs and little humanitarian aid getting in. Those with homes and businesses destroyed are not able to get any compensation.
Some people have family and friends overseas who are helping them to survive. The rich Inside Yemen have been very generous – for example providing most of the free water in cities. But even their resources are strained now because there is so much need. Some are just very hungry and some are starving to death, especially the very young. There are very few resources for the displaced.
It is difficult to see how the situation will change unless USA and UK stop their unconditional support for Saudi Arabia. I really don’t know what can be done and I feel desperate sometimes. It is a situation even more complex than Syria and it is escalating as USA seems to have joined in the war and Iranian warships are now openly stating that they are in Yemeni waters. But this is still not in the Western media. I just feel I have to keep on trying to get the story out and do what I can. But it’s not enough – By Judith Brown
https://middleeastrevised.com/2016/10/16/interview-judith-brown-yemen-is-a-mess-its-getting-worse/
and another interview of Judith Brown
31.10.2016 – Press TV Iran (* A H K)
Film: I was interviewed on the situation in Yemen yesterday. Here it is.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154864902173641
cp2 Allgemein / General
1.11.2016 – RT (* A K P)
US calls for ‘end to Saudi-led airstrikes’ in Yemen, but keeps selling arms to Riyadh
The US envoy to the UN has called on the Saudi-led coalition to “refrain from taking steps that escalate violence” in Yemen. Her appeal contradicts Washington’s actions, with the Pentagon continuing to supply arms and provide military support to Riyadh.
https://www.rt.com/news/364935-us-saudi-aistrikes-yemen/
1.11.2016 – Sputnik News (* A K P)
Yemen: Despite Continuing Arms Sales, US Calls for Halt to Saudi Airstrikes
The US envoy to the UN has called on Saudi Arabia to halt its campaign of airstrikes in Yemen amid growing fears over the humanitarian situation in the country. Despite the comments, Washington has also been criticized for its continued sale of arms to Riyadh.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201611011046955079-yemen-us-saudi-airstrikes/
Comment: Both articles from Russia, starting with Samantha Powers hypocritical statement on Yemen (see cp7), in a somewhat detailed way report on Saudi airstrikes, criticism and US hypocrisy.
31.10.2016 – Wikileaks (* A P)
WikiLeaks' #Saudi Cables reveal the Kingdom's foreign media manipulation strategies text)https://(photo)
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/768130503434264576 and link (did not work): https://wikileaks.org/saudi-cables/buying-silence
31.10.2016 – RT (* A P)
Menschenrechte: Weitere Tote im verdrängten Krieg im Jemen
Bei Luftangriffen durch die von Saudi-Arabien geführte Militäraktion auf ein Gefängnis im Jemen starben am Wochenende etwa 80 Menschen. Politik und Medien im schauen weg oder unterstützen die saudische Monarchie bei ihrem Krieg gegen das Nachbarland.
Folgende Meldung hat es bisher in dieser Form in den westlichen Medien noch nicht gegeben:
Westliche Staatengemeinschaft klagt Saudi-Arabien wegen Kriegsverbrechen an
Wen kann es da ernsthaft verwundern, dass in der hiesigen Medienlandschaft bereits vom „vergessenen Krieg“ die Rede ist.
Dennoch scheint es, als ob das absolutistische Königreich Saudi-Arabien über jede ernsthafte Kritik oder gar Anklage seitens der „westlichen Wertegemeinschaft“ gefeit zu sein scheint. Dies mag erstaunlich anmuten angesichts der Tatsache, dass die von Saudi-Arabien angeführte Militärkoalition, durch die USA unterstützt, immer wieder illegitime Ziele ins Visier nahm, darunter Schulen, Krankenhäuser oder auch wie zuletzt eine Begräbnisgesellschaft.
Während die westliche Presse weiter von "Huthi-Rebellen" spricht, wenn sie die reguläre jemenitische Regierung meint, wird die die autoritäre wahhabitische Monarchie weiterhin durch ihre Freunde im Westen hofiert. Dies beinhaltet auch deutschen Waffenlieferungen. Aber es zeigt sich auch in der zynischen Wahl der Monarchie in den Menschenrechtsrat der Vereinten Nationen.
Das Auswärtige Amt zeigt sich indes „besorgt“ und appelliert mit folgenden Worten an die Konfliktparteien:
Wir rufen alle Seiten dazu auf, an einer umfassenden politischen Lösung unter der Ägide der Vereinten Nationen mitzuarbeiten, um die Gewalt zu beenden und der jemenitischen Bevölkerung die so dringend benötigte humanitäre Hilfe zukommen zu lassen.
Ob diese Worte jedoch zu ernsthaften Konsequenzen für die saudische Regierung führen werden, darf indes bezweifelt werden.
https://deutsch.rt.com/der-nahe-osten/42603-verdrangte-krieg-im-jemen/
31.10.2016 – Middle East Monitor (* A P)
EXCLUSIVE: Notorious Bahraini judge appointed to investigate alleged war crimes in Yemen
The army officer assigned to investigate alleged Saudi war crimes in Yemen played a key role in the 2011 crackdown on Arab Spring protesters in Bahrain, MEMO can reveal. In the wake of the start of the ongoing 2011 uprising, Bahrain’s military lawyer Colonel Mansour Al-Mansour presided over the First Instance Court of National Safety, a tribunal set up to process the trial and prosecution of hundreds of peaceful protesters and human rights and pro-democracy activists after they took to the streets calling for urgent reform of the tiny Gulf monarchy.
Al-Mansour now acts as legal adviser to the Joint Incident Assessments Team (JIAT), the body set up by the Saudi-led coalition to investigate bombings against civilian targets. He is playing a key role in assessing whether human rights violations have taken place.
Amongst Al-Mansour’s notorious convictions are the so-called “Bahraini Thirteen”, a group of activists, journalists and politicians who alleged torture, including sexual assault and beatings, during their detention. Several media and foreign human rights monitors were barred from observing their trial, the conduct of which drew strong criticism from the United Nations, European Union, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
Al-Mansour has since specialised in humanitarian law and attended training sessions from the Bahraini Red Crescent Society and the International Committee for the Red Cross, as well as advising his country’s Shura (Consultative) Council in March, on whether to adopt the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.
As concerns have mounted internationally about alleged war crimes committed by the coalition air forces in Yemen, Al-Mansour has played a prominent role in playing down the allegations to local, regional and international media. He appeared in media briefings conducted in Riyadh while wearing civilian clothing.
In August, Al-Mansour claimed that a Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital hit by coalition air strikes had been used as a base by Houthi militias. MSF refuted the story – by Alastair Sloan
Comment: This story as well shows what a great farce the whole coalition investigation of their own war crimes by this ominous JIAT is.
31.10.2016 – Josephjo1221 / Abdul Salam Salah (A K)
Saudi-led coalition held a passenger ship carrying 119 passengers coming from Djibouti & lead them to an unknown destination
https://twitter.com/JosephJo1221/status/792989893026779136 referring to https://twitter.com/abdusalamsalah/status/792986105322868736
30.10.2016 – Telepolis (* A K P)
Saudi-Arabien bombardiert im Jemen Gefängnis und Wohnhäuser
Im Windschatten der Kriege in Syrien und im Irak setzt die von dem Westen unterstützte saudische Koalition weiterhin ihren Luftkrieg fort, durch den zahllose Zivilisten getötet werden
[Überblick über die letzten Tage]
Angeblich haben die Huthi-Rebellen am Donnerstag auf Mekka eine ballistische Rakete abgeschossen Die Huthi-Rebellen bestreiten den Abschuss nicht, sagen aber, die Burkan-1-Rakete sei nicht auf Mekka gerichtet gewesen, sondern auf den Flughafen von Dschidda.
Gestern bombardierten Flugzeuge der saudischen Koalition ein Gefängnis in der von den Huthis seit 2014 kontrollierten Hafenstadt Hodeidah. Angeblich wurde es mehrmals angegriffen und völlig zerstört. Mindestens 60 Menschen seien getötet und mehr als 30 verletzt worden Am gleichen Tag bombardierte die saudische Koalition noch drei Wohnhäuser in der Stadt Salo in der Nähe von Taiz. 17 Menschen seien dabei getötet worden.
Derweil boykottiert der von Saudi-Arabien unterstützte jemenitische Präsident Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, der mit seiner Regierung im saudischen Exil residiert, ein von den Vereinten Nationen ausgehandeltes Friedensabkommen – von Florian Rötzer
http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/49/49853/1.html und noch en Überblicksartikel http://www.fr-online.de/politik/jemen-hauptziel-zivilisten,1472596,34897822.html
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
Siehe / See cp1
1.11.2016 – Shapban (A E H)
#Yemen has been producing 50 thousand barrels of oil per day for the past 3 months. That's around $2.5 million per day at oil price of $50
https://twitter.com/shapban/status/793504577328975873
$2.5 million per day or $75 mln per month or YR23 billion per month which is more than enough to cover salaries of people in #Yemen
https://twitter.com/shapban/status/793505136152903680
1.11.2016 – Aljazeera (* A H)
Film: Yemen’s ongoing war keeps children out of school
Hundreds of thousands of school children in Yemen have been unable to start the new term because of the ongoing conflict.
The UN says more than two million children are now out of school in the country
Al Jazeera’s Emma Hayward reportsHundreds of thousands of school children in Yemen have been unable to start the new term because of the ongoing conflict.
The UN says more than two million children are now out of school in the country
Al Jazeera’s Emma Hayward reports
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKx8dQrj2mE
1.11.2016 – Human Rights Observer (A H)
Film: Starvation in Yemen because of Saudi Arabia –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKr8KdYFE4Y
1.10.2016 – Fatik Al-Rodaini (A H=
.@monareliefye's ground crew distributing food aid now to needy families in al-Qrashia area of Hodeidah More pix will be sent later (photos)
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/793432533157412864
31.10.2016 – Fatik Al-Rodaini (A H)
Again we are here n al-Tuitah area of Hodeidah distributing food aid 2needy families there. @monareliefye makes it again. #Yemen @monarelief (photos)
https://twitter.com/fatikr/status/793184069093916672
Here is @monareliefye's project2feed ppl n #Yemen which im always proud of Footage taken in al-Tuhitah during food distribution. #Hodeidah (photos)
https://twitter.com/fatikr/status/793189838036078592 and more images: https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/793231253516521473 and https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/793224332042461184 and https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/793218611242471424 and https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/793179173485502464
31.10.2016 – Tagesschau (* A H)
Hunger, Krankheit, Angst – Alltag
Kinder - zu schwach zum Weinen. Mütter, denen die Kraft fehlt, um zu helfen. Alltag in Jemens vergessenem Krieg. Ein Mitarbeiter des Welternährungsprogramms war vor Ort - im UN-Sicherheitsrat zeichnete er ein düsteres Bild von Hunger und Hoffnungslosigkeit.
25 Jahre arbeitet Muhannad Hadi jetzt für das Welternährungsprogramm der Vereinten Nationen. Er hat Hunger gesehen. Tod. Unterernährung. Aber nach sieben Tagen unterwegs im Jemen und einem Besuch eines Krankenhauses in der schwer bombardierten Hafenstadt Houdeidah sitzt er im Sicherheitsrat in New York und sagt: "Ich habe Kinder und Bilder gesehen, die ich nie wieder vergessen werde."
Rund 10.000 Kinder sind seit 2015 im Jemen gestorben: an vermeidbaren Krankheiten, an nicht erfolgten Impfungen, an Infektionen durch Unterernährung. Etwa 370.000 Kinder unter fünf Jahren sind derzeit akut durch den Hungertod bedroht. Nicht aufgrund einer Dürre, nicht durch die Natur, sondern durch menschengemachtes Elend in dem 19 Monate dauernden Bürger- und Bombenkrieg. Und mittendrin der hilflose Helfer des Welternährungsprogramms. "Ich wusste nicht, mit wem ich mehr Mitleid haben sollte: Mit einem unterernährten Kind im Krankenbett, zu schwach und zu müde, um zu weinen. Oder mit der Mutter, zu hungrig und entkräftet, um ihrem Kind zu helfen."
19 Monate Krieg. Eine von Saudi-Arabien angeführte Koalition bombt aus der Luft.
Jemen - der vergessene Krieg. Der UN-Nothilfekoordinator Steven O'Brien appelliert an alle: an die mit Einfluss auf die Saudis, an die Amerikaner und die Briten, die den amtierenden Präsidenten im Jemen, Abed Rabbo Mansur Hadi, unterstützen und auch an den Iran, der die Huthi-Rebellen angeblich militärisch berät und unterstützt. "Sorgt für einen Waffenstillstand. Sofort. Sorgt dafür, dass Hilfe ins Land kann", fordert O'Brien – Von Georg Schwarte (mit Audiodatei)
https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/jemen-hunger-101.html und http://www.deutschlandfunk.de/hungersnot-im-jemen-sorgt-dafuer-dass-hilfe-ins-land-kann.1773.de.html
Kommentar: Interessant auch die Kommentare unter dem Artikel.
Von R: Was fehlt, zeigt die Intention dieser Meldung. Dass der dickste US-Verbündete des Westens in der Region, Saudi Arabien, ein feudalistischer präfaschistischer total amoralischer Unterdrückerstaat ist, ist ja nichts Neues. Deshalb wird Saudi Arabien immerhin auch kurz erwähnt "Eine von Saudi-Arabien angeführte Koalition bombt aus der Luft". Was aber - natürlich! - fehlt: die EU-Sanktionen, das amerikanische Eingreifen mit Marschflugkörpern, die logistische Unterstützung von Saudi Arabien durch Frankreich, Großbritannien und natürlich auch die USA. Wunderbar "vollständig" dieser Bericht.
Von W: Wer hat denn diesen Krieg "vergessen" gemacht? "Der vergessene Krieg in Jemen"
Ich fasse diesen Titel zum Audio nicht. Ja, wer hat denn diesen dreckigen Bombenkrieg der Saudis gegen den Jemen monatelang seinen Hörern und Zuschauern vorenthalten, um den Großinvestor und besten Rüstungsabnehmer für die deutsche Finanz- und Rüstungswirtschaft nicht zu vergraulen?
31.10.2016 – Health Mobilization (* B H)
#USA backed #Saudi aggression against #Yemen affects the #health system in many ways, by its 2 arms; airstrikes & siege as follows:
First: #Airstrikes
(1) Airstrikes destroyed the hospitals & health centers
(2) Overloading the remaining acting health centers and hospitals
(3) Airstrikes resulted in thousands of #injured and wounded patients
(4) Airstrikes resulted in huge numbers of #displaced people
(5) Which affects water sources and #sanitation
(6) Airstrikes even targeted the central water tanks at some provinces
(7) Airstrikes targeted the oil and #fuel sources
Second: #Siege
(1) Resulted in #malnutrition
(2) Thus, affecting the 'immunity' of children and render them more liable to be affected by disease
(3) Reduces the #medication supply and availability
(4) Affects #vaccine availability
(5) Affect the availability of #disinfectants and water #sterilization chemicals (photo)
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1597978430498145 = https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1597978430498145
31.10.2016 – Stephen O’Brien, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (A H)
Where failure of public services is felt most acutely is health: less than 1/2 of rudimentary health facilities remain functional. #Yemen
https://twitter.com/unreliefchief/status/793097032407842816
31.10.2016 – Nurit Zunger (A H)
Film: Tonight: the inspiring story of one 10-year-old girl in Yemen, using her voice to draw attention to the forgotten war. @i24NEWS_EN
https://twitter.com/nuritzunger/status/793133153061830657
Comment by Judith Brown: The gorgeous and eloquent Yara - oh Yara, I hope you become the first female president of Yemen. I would vote for you if I could. She is on USA media tonight. I just love her.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154864679778641
and full
31.10.2016 – I 24 News (* A H K)
Exclusive: The ten-year-old Yemeni girl on a mission to stop the war (with film)
More than 2,000 children have died since the war began, with six children killed or injured daily
As war wages on in Yemen, thousands of children become increasingly afraid to attend school. Thousands, except for ten-year-old Yara Al-Mutwakel.
Yara has a personal mission to make sure the world has not forgotten about the war ravaging on in her country.
She carries out this mission by posting videos on YouTube, talking about life and death, and her hopes for an end to the carnage that has devastated the Middle East's poorest nation.
"Im just a child," she says in one such video. "To be through this, to live this. I need to feel my freedom, like they can feel their freedoms in other countries."
Yara is lucky enough to still have a school to go to, after a number of others were destroyed in the Saudi-led coalition's often-indiscriminate bombing campaigns against Houthi rebels.
"The war changed our lives because we are always scared," Yara says in an interview. "We are scared when we go to school," she continues, explaining that "On Saturday there was a really big bombing near our school and we had to go to the basement. Our parents couldn't come for us because the bombing was so near. We stayed there for the whole day."
Teachers are determined to keep the students in school as much as possible and try a variety of methods to keep the children calm during such strikes, including playing games and songs.
"We play songs that develop the children's' language," says one of Yara's teachers. "We play with them to alleviate their shock when they hear bombings and explosions. It makes the parents feel comfortable to know their children can go out from their depressing homes to a better and comfortable atmosphere at school, so the children become psychologically better and they haven't lost their school year. "
The teachers acknowledge that coming to school poses a risk to the students, but push for the importance that an education holds for the children's future.
"We try to convince the parents that death may happen at school or at home, so what is the point of keeping children in their homes when bad things could happen anywhere?" Yara's teacher asks.
Yara's father, Mohamad, who owns a contracting company, explains that his daughter chose to take on this project after the family of one of her classmates was killed in an airstrike.
"One of Yara's school colleagues lost her family after a bomb targeted their house," he explains. "The girl was out of her house when it happened and when she came back her family had been wiped out. Yara was shocked and it made her realize she could soon lose us too."
"She's not frightened of death, but of losing us," he adds.
Her teachers often describe Yara as self confident, clever and ambitious, traits which shine through in her videos.
Asked about what she hopes to achieve through her video messages, Yara says that "I want the world to stop the aggression on Yemen so all Yemeni children can live in peace, and to stop selling weapons so the war can stop."
"I hope the war will stop because of the videos" – By Gabrielle Weiniger
30.10.2016 – Doctors Without Borders (A H)
Al-Baha, Taiz, lost her entire family. Days after that, a piece of shrapnel hit her house and injured her.” I was home alone when I had to fetch water from the tank on the roof, and shrapnel hit the house. I lost parts of my right-hand fingers as a result and everything inside the house caught fire. I live by myself now in a small house in Al-Anad, Lahj. I have no source of income except for what my neighbors [who are internally displaced too] give me as charity,” said Fatima (photo)
31.10.2016 – Muhammad Ali Carter (A H)
I find it totally bizarre when some journalists and the #UN warn us that
"Yemen is on brink of a famine".
Why the hell have people starved to death now then? The famine started when #Saudi invaded!
https://www.facebook.com/muhammadali.carter/posts/337583586596686
Comment: he is right. Western media still downplay the Yemen famine – as it for a great part is a fault of the West.
31.10.2016 – UNICEF Yemen (A H)
Community volunteers in cholera-affected areas in #Yemen continue awareness raising on preventive measures. Pictures from Taiz city (photos)
https://twitter.com/unicef_yemen/status/793132378789142528
Comment by Judith Brown: Cholera. I saw reports today of water treatment packs being sent to Haiti in case of cholera. Yemen has cholera and its completely ignored. Except in Yemen where they are taking things seriously. Yemenis you are staggeringly great - an inspiration to the world. You don't deserve this horror.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154864658098641
Comment: The same as the statement by carter before. Western media downplay the cholera in Yemen, is it largely is the West’s fault. And: there is no blockade and bombing (here to speak of fault of the West again) at Haiti which would hinder to bring water treatment packs there,
30.10.2016 – Soundcloud (* A H)
Audio: Interview of George Khoury, Head of OCHA Yemen, with RTÉ on 30 October 2016
"We are concerned about a potential colla㎰e of state ㏌stitutio㎱ and their ㏌ability to proⅵde basic social serⅵces"
Comment by Jamila Hanan: It was designed this way. This is exactly what so called political think tanks and ignorant politicians wanted. Bravo @Tobias_Ellwood
https://twitter.com/JamilaHanan/status/793390225284300800
27.10.2016 – UNICEF (* A H)
A mission to save lives in Yemen
Yemen’s crumbling health system has left many children vulnerable to disease and malnutrition. Learn how health workers are using the few remaining health facilities and integrated outreach campaigns to treat the growing number of sick children.
Waleed Noman is the head of operations for the Sana’a office – UNICEF Yemen’s largest field office. We are on our way to a health facility on the periphery of the city where mothers bring their children to have them screened and treated for malnutrition.
“Every day the numbers of mothers and sick children only seems to be increasing, in part because the situation in the country is so dire, and also because we’ve expanded our medical surveillance and outreach programmes across the country,” says Waleed, referring to the conflict that has engulfed the country for the past year and a half. “When mothers know that their children are malnourished, they bring them to these health facilities.”
We walk into the health facility where a sea of mothers with babies in their arms greet us. “They are all waiting to get their children tested for malnutrition,” Waleed says as he points to a child being weighed on a scale.
We follow the next child who is measured for his height and weight. Soon after, a mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) measuring tape is wrapped around his arm. If the tape stops at green, the child is healthy; if it stops at orange, the child is moderately malnourished. Unfortunately, in the case of this one-year-old the tape stops at red, signalling that he is severely and acutely malnourished. None of us are surprised.
UNICEF estimates that 1.5 million children in the country are acutely malnourished, of which 370,000 suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). Sadly, a collapsing health system, non-functional hospitals or health facilities, and critical shortages of medicines and health workers mean this situation is only likely to get worse. SAM children are ten times more likely to die than healthy children if not treated on time.
In this particular case, the one-year-old is immediately prescribed a dosage of medicines to build his immunity, and given Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). With this treatment his recovery is fairly secured, but according to Waleed, there are tens of thousands of children in Yemen are not so lucky.
He continues, “As citizens of this world, it is our responsibility to take care of our children, but we seem to keep failing them. Well not under my watch.” – by Rajat Madhok
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/yemen_92970.html
25.10.2016 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (* A H)
Infographic: Yemen: Organizations 3W Operational Presence (as of 30 September 2016)
http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/3W%20Sep%202016%2031102016.pdf
27.10.2016 – Doctors Without Borders (A H)
Infographic: .@MSF in #Yemen between March 2015 and now
https://twitter.com/msf_yemen/status/791893039409205249
30.9.2016 – International Organization for Migration (A H)
Yemen Crisis Response Situation Report, 1 - 30 September 2016
IOM is providing psychosocial support activities to children/their parents in the Child Friendly Spaces (CFSs) in Sana’a and Aden.
IOM continued providing healthcare assistance to Third Country National (TCN) migrants in Sana’a, Al-Hodaidah, Aden, Lahj, and Shabwah governorates. Health assistance to TCNs included; primary health care, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS), and health promotion services.
Mobile Emergency Units cruising along the Southern Coast of (Aden and Khor Omer, Lahj). The staff encountered 549 new arrivals with 337 men and 212 boys, all received water and dates.
Yemen infrastructure remains in a collapse mood. Airport is closed and only UN flights are granted entry to Sana’a. While in Aden and Mukala, Yemenia is operating with regular flight. Electricity remains unavailable for the exception of few hours every week. Social services are nonexistent at this time. The relocation of Yemeni Central Bank complicated the situation further along with the deterioration of the economy. Government employees are not receiving their salaries at this point of time.
Humanitarian workers face insecurity and movement restrictions. Access has been further restricted following the intensification of conflict. A new threat to the population emerged with the detection of the first cases of Cholera. WHO, MoPHP and IOM are collaborating to fight the epidemic from spreading in these conditions. I
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-crisis-response-situation-report-1-30-september-2016 and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/yemen_6.pdf
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
31.10.2016 – Inner City Press (* A P)
Film: ON #Yemen, ICP asks the fleeing envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed of US fueling warplanes it sold to #SaudiArabia
https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/793142776103899136
Comment by Judith Brown: This is a very interesting news clip - the UN envoy to Yemen is asked if the US sales of weapons is helpful to the UN peace proposals for Yemen - he doesn't answer and escapes the room quickly.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154864672708641
Comment: These few seconds show what a ridiculous figure this man really is. He is not allowed to criticize the real masters of the game.
1.10.2016 – Deutsche Welle (* A P)
USA fordern Saudi-Arabien zur Einstellung der Luftschläge im Jemen auf
Vor allem die Luftattacken, "die Schulen, Krankenhäuser und andere zivile Objekte treffen, müssen aufhören", sagte die UN-Botschafterin der Vereinigten Staaten, Samantha Power, vor dem Sicherheitsrat in New York. Die saudi-arabischen Angriffe hätten oft jemenitische Infrastruktur getroffen, die wichtig für die Versorgung der Bevölkerung mit Hilfsgütern sei. Power verurteilte erneut einen Angriff des saudisch geführten Militärbündnisses auf eine Trauerfeier, bei der in der jemenitischen Hauptstadt Sanaa zuletzt 140 Menschen starben.
Zuvor hatte der UN-Nothilfekoordinator Stephen O'Brien ein düsteres Bild von der Lage im Jemen gezeichnet. Das Bürgerkriegsland stehe kurz vor dem Zusammenbruch. Sollten die Konfliktparteien nicht bald ein Friedensabkommen schließen, drohten ernste Konsequenzen für die gesamte Region, sagte O'Brien dem Sicherheitsrat telefonisch aus Bahrain. 80 Prozent der Bevölkerung, also rund 21,2 Millionen Menschen, seien auf humanitäre Hilfe angewiesen. Über zwei Millionen Jemeniten litten an Unterernährung. "Wir sind nur einen Schritt von einer Hungersnot entfernt", sagte O'Brian. Es sei höchste Zeit, dass die Konfliktparteien das jemenitische Volk an die erste Stelle setzten und einen Friedenspakt erzielten, um zu retten, was von der Infrastruktur, der Wirtschaft und den Sozialdiensten im Land noch übrig sei, mahnte O'Brien.
http://www.dw.com/de/usa-fordern-saudi-arabien-zur-einstellung-der-luftschläge-im-jemen-auf/a-36221449 und auch http://derstandard.at/2000046791655/USA-fordern-Saudis-zur-Einstellung-der-Luftschlaege-im-Jemen-auf
Kommentar: Samantha Power verkörpert damit geradezu die Heuchelei der USA und des Westens. Keinesfalls denken die USA ja daran, ihre Waffenlieferungen an Saudi-Arabien, ihre militärische, logistische und politische Hilfe für die Saudis einzustellen. Man steht halt als Friedensapostel und Menschenfreund besser da als jemand, der einem Mörder die Waffe in die Hand gedrückt hat. Aber schon auf die Milliarden aus den Waffenverkäufen will die USA nicht verzichten. „Wasch mir den Pelz, aber mach mich nicht nass“, so will die USA sich auch hier wieder ein positives Image verschaffen. - Und: ""Wir sind nur einen Schritt von einer Hungersnot entfernt", sagt O'Brien. Die Hungersnot ist längst da, er hat es in Hodeida selbst gesehen, warum redet er das schön???
31.10.2016 – AP (* A H P)
Jemen am Rande des Kollaps
Dem Jemen droht aus Sicht des UN-Nothilfekoordinators Stephen O'Brien der Kollaps, falls die Konfliktparteien nicht bald ein Friedensabkommen schließen. 80 Prozent der Jemeniten, also rund 21,2 Millionen Menschen, seien auf humanitäre Hilfe angewiesen, sagte O'Brien dem Sicherheitsrat telefonisch aus Bahrain. Über zwei Millionen, darunter 370 000 Kinder, litten an Unterernährung.
„Aus dem menschengemachten brutalen humanitären Desaster ist nun die Katastrophe geworden, von der ich vor 18 Monaten bei meinem ersten Briefing vor diesem Rat sagte, dass sie sich 'abzeichne'“, warnte O'Brien. „Es ist höchste Zeit, dass die Parteien das jemenitische Volk an die erste Stelle setzen und einen Friedenspakt erzielen, um das zu retten, was von der Infrastruktur, der Wirtschaft und den Sozialdiensten in dem Land noch übrig ist.“ Ansonsten drohten ernste Konsequenzen für die gesamte Region.
O'Brien warnte außerdem vor der Ausbreitung von Krankheiten im Jemen. In dem Land gebe es schon jetzt 61 bestätigte Fälle von Cholera und 1700 Verdachtsfälle.
http://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/international/un-nothilfekoordinator-jemen-am-rande-des-kollaps/14765602.html = http://www.nzz.ch/international/nahost-und-afrika/uno-nothilfekoordinator-jemen-ohne-friedensabkommen-am-rande-des-kollaps-ld.125532 und dpa: http://www.nzz.ch/zuerich/angaben-der-uno-jemen-droht-der-kollaps-ld.125566
31.10.2016 – UN Security Council (* A P)
Conflict, Humanitarian Situation Worsens in Yemen, as Parties Reject Road Map, Cession-of-Hostilities Agreement, Senior Officials Tell Security Council
The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen told the Security Council today that he had presented the parties with a comprehensive road map to end the conflict, consistent with Security Council resolution 2216 (2015), the Gulf Cooperation Council Initiative and its Implementation Mechanism, and the Outcomes of the National Dialogue Conference.
Briefing the Council on the situation in Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said that road map foresaw the creation of military and security committees which would supervise withdrawals and the handover of weapons in Sana’a, Hodeida and Taiz. Under that road map, a new Vice-President would be appointed and a Government of National Unity would be formed.
However, he informed the Council that he had been informed unofficially that the parties had rejected the proposal. It was time, he stressed, for those involved to realize that there could be no peace without concessions and no security without agreement. The road map proposed was widely supported by the international community.
He also noted that the conduct of the parties was contrary to the commitments made previously to engage fully and constructively in the United Nations-mediated peace process. He had called on the parties to recommit to the 10 April Terms and Conditions for the Cessation of Hostilities and had been able to gain a 72-hour pause. However, both sides had been involved in significant violations of that agreement.
He went on to say that there should also be a commitment from all parties, including the Government of Yemen and the Houthis-General People’s Congress, to collaborate and ensure the continued functioning of the Central Bank and a rapid resumption of salaries throughout the country. However, the parties continued to embark on unilateral actions, including, among others, the recent request by the High Political Council established by the Houthis-General People’s Congress for Abdel Aziz bin Habtou, the former Governor of Aden, to form a new government. The Council needed to give its full support of the peace plan and for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a release of detainees.
Briefing the Council on the humanitarian situation, Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said the conflict had exacerbated and exponentially increased suffering there, particularly the 50 per cent of the Yemeni population who already suffered from dire and extreme poverty. Thousands of Yemenis had been killed, tens of thousands injured, more than 3 million had been forced to leave their homes and 7 million suffered from food insecurity. He reminded all parties that international humanitarian law was an obligation, not an option, stressing the need for effective, independent investigations into allegations of war crimes and the prosecution of suspects.
The fighting had prevented humanitarian workers from doing their work, he continued. With the economy in shambles, humanitarians did not have the capacity or the resources to provide services. Less than half of rudimentary health facilities remained functional, resulting in Yemenis dying every day. That included 10,000 children under the age of five who had died from preventable diseases since March 2015.
Muhannad Hadi, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, World Food Programme (WFP), said humanitarian needs were reaching a critical stage, while assistance was not keeping up.
In the ensuing debate, speakers condemned the 8 October attack on a funeral in Sana’a and asked that those responsible be held accountable. The representative of Uruguay called it a “terrorist attack” carried out by sophisticated aerial bombs that could not be acquired on the black market. Responsibility was borne by the one who pushed the button and by the one who supplied the weapons.
http://www.un.org/press/en/2016/sc12570.doc.htm = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/conflict-humanitarian-situation-worsens-yemen-parties-reject-road-map-cession and Chinese statement http://www.china.org.cn/world/2016-11/01/content_39613364.htm
Comment: Very long, take also notice of the debate. Of course, the representative of the Yemeni government (Hadi government) just blames the Houthis repeating the will-known old propaganda. Western representatives show all signs of a full-range hypocrisy.
and more articles on this session, and the singular statements also are published.
1.11.2016 – Alwaght (* A P)
Saudi Attack on Yemen ’Terrorist Attack’; US, UK Weapon Providers: Uruguay
The Uruguay permanent representative to the United Nations condemned an attack by Saudi jets on the Yemeni capital of Sana'a that killed tens of civilians in a funeral ceremony.
During a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, the Uruguayan representative slammed the Saudi attack on a funeral ceremony as a “terrorist attack”.
Saudi jets attacked a funeral ceremony for the father of Yemeni Interior Minister on 8 October and killed more than 140 people including the city’s mayor.
“The 8 October attack on a funeral in Sana’a was a terrorist attack, carried out with areal launched bombs fit to penetrate a bunker,” said Uruguayan representative in UNSC, Elbio Rosselli.
In an indirect reference to the US and UK as the main providers of weapons for the Saudi regime, he said “those bombs could not be acquired on the black market. Responsibility was born by the one who pushed the button and by the one who supplied the weapons.”
The top diplomat slammed the UNSC for its inability to even release a press statement on the massacre and said “the Council had not even been able to agree on a press statement. Those responsible should be held accountable.”
http://alwaght.com/en/News/72742
Comment: He’s just right. That just might sound strange to those who are accustomed to Western media propaganda bias not labeling facts as they are, but rather as they fit to the propaganda narrative: The US always is the good guy; if US allies are not, let’s look the other way.
31.10.2016 – Reuters (* A P)
Yemenis held hostage to 'personal, reckless' decisions -U.N. envoy
The people of Yemen are being held hostage to "personal and reckless political decisions," the United Nations special envoy said on Monday as he appealed for the U.N. Security Council to back a peace plan that both parties have unofficially rejected.
U.N. mediator Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed told the council that the dismissal of the plan "demonstrates that the political elite in Yemen remains unable to overcome their differences and prioritize national, public interest over personal interests."
The U.N. peace plan would sideline Hadi, who is currently exiled in Riyadh, and set up a government of less divisive figures.
"It is now the responsibility of the delegations to prioritize peace, rather than partisan agendas," said Ould Cheikh Ahmed, adding that he would return to begin consultations with both parties despite their "unofficial" rejections.
British U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told the 15-member council he would draft a U.N. resolution calling on the parties to return to negotiations on the basis of the U.N. peace plan and implement an immediate truce.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, described the U.N. plan as "credible and balanced."
"The road map is a basis for a negotiation, it is not a take it or leave it proposition," she told the council. "Now is not the time for any of the parties to hedge, stall or add new conditions. The parties should engage with the special envoy."
"Yemen is one step away from famine," U.N. aid chief Stephen O'Brien told the Security Council.
He said the parties and those with influence over them - Saudi Arabia, regional countries, the United States, Britain and Iran - "can arrest this war and this suffering."
"The United States will continue to underscore to the coalition the need to take all feasible measures to reduce civilian casualties and target precisely, including verifying targets against a no-strike list," Power said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/yemen-security-un-idUSL1N1D119E
Comment: “Yemen is one step away from famine". ??? Famine is already there, why this fact still is downplayed by such a wording??? – And be aware of the hypocrisy of the representatives of those countries which supply the arms for the Saudi aerial carnage and fully supported it (politically, logistically), US and UK. Just stop arming Saudis and keep away from this conflict.
31.10.2016 – UN (A P)
31 October 2016, Security Council briefing on the situation in the Middle East, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed
What Yemen is witnessing today contravenes the commitments made by the parties to the United Nations to peace. The security situation is dire, and the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate despite the efforts of the humanitarian agencies.
With regards to security, the Grand Hall in Sana’a witnessed a tragic attack on 8 October, where nearly one thousand Yemenis were gathered to pay their condolences at a funeral, left more than 140 dead and 550 injured. I visited the site of the attack several days ago together with family members of the victims, and saw for myself the shocking scale of destruction. The Mayor of Sanaa, Abdel Kader Hilal, a seasoned politician known for his bravery and commitment to peace until his last day, and two members of the De-escalation and Coordination Committee (DCC) were among the victims of the attack. The bombing of a funeral is contrary to all Yemeni norms and traditions and the perpetrators must be held accountable. I extend, once again, my deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to those who were wounded in this attack. I commend the statements by the families of the victims, which called for restraint and thorough investigation of the incident. This is a clear demonstration of their sense of nationalism and their commitment to peace.
The Arab Coalition has taken responsibility for the attack and its Joint Incidents Assessment Team conducted a rapid preliminary investigation, which recommended action against those involved and a revision of the Coalition’s rules of engagement. It will be very important to complete the investigations and to ensure accountability of those involved.
Continue reading:
http://www.un.org/undpa/en/speeches-statements/31102016/Middle-East
Comment: A walking on eggshells for not to blame the Western masters of the Universe he is speaking to, and their Saudi and GCC allies. What to say when the greatest sponsors are the greatest criminals?
Comment by Nasser Arrabyee: UN envoy to Yemen while briefing #UNSC forgot to mention the 20-month of US-backed Saudi war crimes. But, mentioned Mecca under missiles!!
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/793388915084431360
31.10.2016 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (* A H)
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O'Brien Statement to the Security Council on Yemen, 31 October 2016
There can be no humanitarian solution to the conflict in Yemen. There needs to be a political solution, beginning with an immediate cessation of hostilities. I echo the Special Envoy’s call. All parties and all with influence over them must work towards peace. Each day that this war continues, it is civilians who suffer. Each day that the conflict drags on, we inexorably are propelled ever closer to an entire generation of Yemenis whose formative years are spent in the chaos of combat.
This humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen is a man-made disaster, where conflict has exacerbated and exponentially increased the suffering of the 50 per cent of the Yemeni population who already were in dire and extreme poverty. Repeatedly over the past 19 months, the people of Yemen have been robbed of their lives, their hope and their right to live in dignity. Thousands have been killed, tens of thousands have been injured, more than three million have been forced to leave their homes, and seven million suffer the daily anxiety of not knowing where their next meal might come from.
I have recently returned from Sana’a and Hudaydah and in my previous visit I reached Aden as well - I saw the desperation, fear, and resignation in the deep-sunken eyes of people I met who have lost all hope – either moved to anger or powerless despair.
In short, since my last briefing to the Council, the humanitarian situation has become worse and 80 per cent of Yemenis, 21.2 million people, are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance. Humanitarian actors are being asked to fill the void left by the political power vacuum, but this is not a viable solution.
The drawn out nature of Yemen’s conflict is having a devastating effect on public institutions, which are increasingly unable to provide basic social services. A quarter of the population depends on those employed on the public payroll. Yet paychecks are coming with less regularity and the ability to withdraw cash is disappearing amidst a liquidity crisis. This is a foreshadowing of the impending collapse of Yemen’s economy, already desperately poor as well as hollowed out by corruption. The Central Bank has unilaterally been moved to Aden. Humanitarians do not have the capacity or the resources to provide services to a population of 26 million Yemenis. Our joint appeal is less than half funded.
Where the failure of public services is felt perhaps most acutely is the health sector.
Yemen is “one step away from famine”.
This man-made brutal humanitarian disaster is now the catastrophe which I said was “looming” in my first briefing to this Council 18 months ago.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/under-secretary-general-humanitarian-affairs-and-emergency-relief-coordinator-10 and http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/ERC_USG%20Stephen%20O%27Brien%20Security%20Council%20Statement%20on%20Yemen%2031Oct16%20CAD.pdf and summarizing reporting: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/official-yemen-verge-collapse-43196752 and http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/yemen-on-verge-of-collapse-un-humanitarian-chief-warns-761910.html and http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-01/yemen-10,000-children-dead-from-preventable-diseases-un-says/7982474
Comment: Yemen is “one step away from famine”. Nor, this is downplaying the problem. Famine actually is there.
31.10.2016 – AFP (A P)
UN envoy seeks Yemen peace deal in coming weeks
The UN envoy for Yemen said Monday he will return to the region for talks on reaching a peace deal in the coming weeks, even though both sides have rejected his proposals.
"The ball is in the court of the Yemeni parties," Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed told the Security Council.
"What are the parties waiting for to sign a political agreement? Have they not understood that there are no winners in wars?"
31.10.2016 – Diwan (* A P)
(New) Yemen Road Map: Translation of (draft) agreement by UN Special Envoy
Translation by Rehab A.
As posted (Arabic) by Nabil Ali al-Soufi (27 Oct. 2016)
Below is the order and timeline for the (proposed) interim period in order to reach an inclusive and (comprehensive) agreement, which will represent the new foundation for conflict resolution in Yemen, and eventually (leading to parliamentary and presidential) elections in one year.
The UN Envoy (Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed) shall immediately begin talks (negotiations) with all parties to reach an initial agreement, which includes security and political arrangements in order to build trust and ensure all parties the agreement will be executed. The collaboration of these efforts shall produce a (comprehensive) agreement; the main topics to be agreed upon during negotiations shall include:
(Immediate) withdrawal from Sanaa, Taiz and Hodeida. Considering Sanaa as the focal point that will enable the formation of a new government.
After negotiations, the agreement shall name a (new) Vice President. The VP has to be accepted by all parties, and be able to deal with the responsibilities and challenges of the (interim) period.
Naming a new Prime Minister.
Local and international guarantees to secure the agreement.
The Quartet and the GCC shall pressure all parties to resume talks with the UN Envoy in order to reach a peaceful solution. These talks shall be held within the Gulf initiative (framework), NDC outcomes and all UN Security Council related resolutions including 2216. In support of efforts by the UN envoy, the Quartet and GCC States shall stress upon all parties to abide by and respect the conditions and provisions of the agreement on cessation of hostilities from 10thApril 2016. Withdrawal by Houthi – Saleh forces from Saudi territories and (maintain) a buffer zone of 30km in order to prevent any future (clashes within) Saudi territories.
Following preliminary negotiations, supported by the UN and the Group of 18 embassies, parties shall meet again (within) a period no longer than a week to add the final details to the comprehensive agreement and sign it.
Upon signing, the UN shall announce the formation of a National Unity Government within 30 days, provided each party has fulfilled their obligations.
Upon signing, the current VP shall resign, and president Hadi shall appoint the (consensus) new VP (as per the agreement).
According to the hierarchy of the political and security points/steps negotiated and agreed upon, Houthi – Saleh forces shall being the agreed withdrawals from Sanaa, surrender heavy and medium weapons, and the Yemen Government backed by the Coalition, shall implement the political points agreed upon earlier. Houthi-Saleh forces shall withdraw all missile launchers and hand them to a third party. (President) Hadi shall appoint members of Security Committees to oversee execution of the security arrangements (within a 30 day period beginning the day following the signing of the agreement).
When withdrawal from Sanaa is completed, the heavy, medium weapons (and ballistic missile launchers) are submitted, Hadi shall move all his authorities to the new VP. The VP shall appoint the new PM who shall take over responsibilities (within 30 days, following the signing of the agreement).
Continue reading:
Comment: This still is old wine in new bottles. This peace plan still is based on UNSC resolution 2216, which was provided by Saudi Arabia and its Western backers and simply is fulfilling Saudi wishes. – The GCC cannot play any role as peace broker as it just is a warring party war. – “Houthi-Saleh forces” is treated as a unit here. It is not. And what “Saleh forces” really should be? There exists no Saleh militia at all. These so called “Saleh forces” just is a part (and even the larger one) of the regular Yemeni army, which stayed loyal to ex-president Saleh and positions itself against the flimsy and expired Hadi government. Why any units of the regular Yemeni army should withdraw from anywhere and hand their arms to anyone? Why, on the other hand, apart from the Houthis, there is no other of the many militias fighting in Yemen mentioned in this document and required to withdraw and hand over its arms as well? Why all these militia fighting against the Houthis should keep everything? If they really want to make Yemen free of militia, why these militia should stay, and the regular Yemeni army should withdraw from anywhere? – Why only the Houthi-Saleh forces should respect a buffer zone at the Saudi-Yemeni frontier (30 km within Yemeni territory), and the Saudis on their side of the frontier are not required to do the same? Why just the Houthi-Saleh forces are required to withdraw from foreign territory, and not all foreign forces on Yemeni territory as well? – Why just this Houthi-Saleh withdrawal is required, but a stop of any air strikes is not mentioned in this peace plan? Why there is not required a no-fly-zone for any military aircraft over Yemen? – This peace plan – as all the old ones – again does nothing more than claiming one side to capitulate and giving a full supremacy to the other – as it still is based on one-sided preconditions set by the UN Security Council resolution 2216. The truth simply is: No new and neutral resolution, no peace.
31.10.2016 – Press TV Iran (A P)
UN peace plan for Yemen, completely fraudulent: Pundit
James Fetzer, professor at University of Minnesota Duluth, has described the newly-proposed UN peace plan as “unreasonable” and “completely fraudulent”, adding that it does not deserve respect.
“This is not a reasonable proposal. It is appropriate to be rejected. The United Nations ought to be paying attention to Saudi Arabia’s illegal attacks in Yemen,” Fetzer told Press TV in an interview on Monday.
He also noted the United Nations has toned down its rhetoric against Saudi Arabia’s war crimes in Yemen because of United States’ covert influence.
“This is outrageous. Once again we find the United States on the wrong side of history supporting the forces of totalitarianism and authoritarianism not those of democracy and freedom,” he said.
31.10.2016 – Arab News (* A P)
Reasonable ideas for peace in Yemen
The Yemeni government has strongly denounced the peace plan proposed by the United Nations Envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed and rejected what it deemed a bad idea.
Nevertheless, I believe that we can positively reflect on many of its ideas and negotiate the details. Its main positivity is protecting legitimacy and rejecting the rebels’ projects that undermine the Yemeni ruling regime.
The initiative states that rebels should withdraw their troops from the main cities; the capital Sanaa, Hodeidah and Taiz and handover their arms. The withdrawal of militias and arms achieves civil peace and validates the government troops’ legitimacy. It can also measure the rebels’ seriousness on the ground, not only through negotiators.
The UN’s envoy compels the Houthis to create a buffer zone with Saudi Arabia by withdrawing all militants in the Saudi-Yemeni border areas, to beyond 30 kilometers to prevent any engagement.
The legitimate government was too quick to denounce the peace initiative and considered it a reward for the rebels. It objects to shifting the powers of the president to a newly appointed vice president. It sees that as a prelude to handing in the power to the rebels, and disempowering the president to a partial or symbolic rank. The example of Lebanon comes to mind.
While we cannot undermine this legitimate concern, we know that pushing for reconciliation requires both sides to pay a price.
In my opinion, the most important solution comes after the end of the interim agreement, which needs to be relatively short. Then, the Yemenis can decide their next ruler through elections.
It’s up to the majority Yemenis to choose the General People’s Congress or the Houthi, or even a third party outside their two base camps — which proves our position right.
After all, it’s their country and their call not the Gulf states’ or Iran’s.
Is the peace initiative a reward for the rebels as officials in the Yemeni government say? If there’s an international mechanism to oversee the implementation of the initiative, then it’s not a reward for the Houthis and Saleh but a common ground between both parties.
It’s worth mentioning that the offered proposals since the Gulf Initiative till after the coup never ignored the Houthis’ right of sharing power, nor the party of Ali Abdullah Saleh, with the exception of a list of banned figures including Saleh himself.
The new element in Ould Cheikh’s initiative is that the vice president could be a Houthi, yet this is just a temporary job just as the rest of the interim government’s officials until elections date, which should be set by the UN envoy – by Abdulrahman Al-Rashed, former general manager of Al Arabiya news channel
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1004626/columns
Comment: This is a very interesting article by one of the harshest and most important Saudi propagandists. And even he criticizes “president” Hadi for just rejecting the new UN peace plan. Even Al-Rashed now days Hadi’s retreat would be a necessary sacrifice for peace. – And, furthermore, Al-Rashed clearly states that the Yemenis must have the right to determine freely and by themselves alone, who will rule them, and there could not be any influence of Iran and the Gulf States in this matter. That’s definitely new. We just can ask why, for the last 19 month, the Gulf States did not care for that and preferred to bomb half of Yemen to the ground just to reinstall an expired president, who lacked support by almost all Yemenis, for different reasons, whether in the North or in the South?
And there remain some more problems.
First. There is no mention of foreign troops on Yemeni ground. There could not be any place for them in the future, they must move out of the country within the same period in which any militia remove from any place. The only foreign troops acceptable in Yemen in the future are UN Blue Helmets. If Algeria really would be willing to contribute to a peace corps in Yemen, they certainly would be welcomed, as any other nation which had not been involved in this war.
Second. There are many different militias fighting in Yemen. It would be unserious to insist that just the Houthi militia should retreat from any place they hold and surrender arms. The same claim must be valid for all militia fighting in Yemen. There are many militia fighting against the Houthis, like those called “Popular resistance” and affiliated to Islah party. They cannot be treated better than the Houthis, they must retreat and disarm as well. – The problem will be: Even if these militia in the moment are fighting against the Houthis, only the naïve could imagine they are “pro-Hadi” or even controlled by “president” Hadi. They simply are not, they have their own goals and ideas, and they simply will not fulfill any such claims of a peace agreement. And by that, any one-sided retreat and disarming of only the Houthis is getting void.
Third. To whom the militia shall surrender their arms, and who should fill the gap they leave when retreating? Be aware that there are two Yemeni armies now. In the southern parts of Yemen, the army of “president” Hadi simply was unable to fill any of these gaps. Simply, Al Qaida did. Not even in their “capital” city Aden they were able to achieve control and security. In the northern part of Yemen, the army is loyal to former president Saleh and allied to the Houthis. There is some sort of balance between the Houthis and the Saleh army and party now. To whom the Houthis would surrender their arms, who would fill the gaps they would leave? That only could be the Yemeni army loyal to Saleh. The retreat of the Houthis would just strengthen one side and one man: ex-president Saleh. Who really wants that??
Forth. There is just no possibility that any of the forces now fighting against the Houthi / Saleh alliance – whether foreign forces (Saudis, Emirates, mercenaries as the Sudanese), the Hadi army (which already is totally overstrained in the South, in Aden alone) or any anti-Houthi militia would have any chance to proceed to the north to fill any gap left by the Houthis. The hatred is enormous after 19 month of aerial war and destruction, that means that any advance of pro-Hadi, anti-Houthi/Saleh forces would be a continuation of the war, with all those who can fighting against any such advance.
Fifth. There is still the problem of Al Qaida, who certainly would target the UN peace corps in a great style with roadside bombs, suicide attacks, large bombings of headquarters and barracks, as they did against Houthis (Sanaa mosque attacks in 2014) and pro-Hadi forces in the South (very often).
So how to solve all these problems?
And there was a letter to the publisher published by Arab news as well:
31.10.2016 – Arab News (A P)
I read with interest the article “Reasonable ideas for peace in Yemen” (Oct. 31) by Abdulrahman Al-Rashed. I do agree with the writer that the peace initiative should have been accepted. All stakeholders in Yemen need a starting point to move toward restoration of lasting peace.
All major stakeholders in Yemen still have time to act in the interest of their country and countrymen. Sharing power with each other is after all not such a bad idea. We, however, do understand that Houthis’ claim to power is weak but sometimes we all need to swallow a bitter pill to achieve something. That is what the Hadi government should do before it is too late – by B. H. Abdi
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1004931/letters
and a similar article by the same author Al-Rashed, with somewhat different emphases, sounds somewhat more harsh:
31.10.2016 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A P)
Yemen’s Peace Roadmap: Feasible
http://english.aawsat.com/2016/10/article55361191/yemens-peace-roadmap-feasible
Comment: See above. Elements of the well-known propaganda of course cannot miss here.
Comment by Judith Brown: This is thought provoking - in Saudi Arabia's most prominent English language newspaper an opinion piece challenges Hadi's decision to turn down the latest UN peace plan. Could be that a difference is emerging between Hadi and his hosts.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154863351238641
27.10.2016 – InnerCity Press (* A P)
On Yemen, As Saudi-Led Coalition Increases Bombing, Al Hudaydah Slaughter, National Delegation Response
The Saudi led coalition bombed the funeral of the father of Yemen interior minister Jalal al-Roweishan in Sana'a on October 8, the same day the UN Security Council met about airstrikes in Syria.
Inner City Press asked Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the UN Abdallah Yahya A. Al-Mouallimi to confirm it was an Saudi strike and explain it. He said, "I am not aware of it." Vine video here.
After Saudi Arabia was re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council on October 28, with the votes of 152 of the 193 member states, the Saudi-led Coalition's bombing of Yemen picked up pace, including killing detainees in Al Hudaydah.
With an open meeting of the UN Security Council scheduled for October 31, one wondered how not only envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed but also UN Relief Chief Stephen O'Brien would testify.
InnerCityPro.com obtained and published the National Delegation's response to Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed's proposed roadmap, here. Watch this site.
On October 27, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: Wanted to ask you about Yemen. Seems that the Secretary-General's envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, has put forward a roadmap which would involve the Vice President, Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, stepping down and Mr. [Abd Rabbuh Mansour] Hadi transferring his powers to a new Vice President – by Matthew Russell Lee
http://www.innercitypress.com/yemen214fishy103016.html
30.10.2016 – AFP (A P)
Yemen rebels say UN peace plan 'basis for discussion'
Yemen's Huthi rebels said Sunday that a new UN peace plan was a "basis for discussion" despite containing "fundamental flaws".
The plan to end the country's 19-month-old war is "a basis for discussion... but contains fundamental flaws in general, in the details and the timeframe," the rebels said in a statement.
They said the plan by UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed did not include a "total, permanent ceasefire" or foresee lifting the blockade against areas they control.
They said that they would put their objections to the UN envoy when he visits Sanaa in the coming days
http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/30/10/2016/Yemen-rebels-say-UN-peace-plan-basis-for-discussion and by Middle East Eye http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-houthi-rebels-say-un-peace-plan-basis-discussion-1079972927 and film: Saudi UN ambassador asked: https://vine.co/v/5gI9BnwXUFM
30.10.2016 – Inner City Press (* A P)
From Yemen, National Delegation’s Response to UN Envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed’s proposed roadmap
[seems to be a quite bad Google Translator translation]
31.10.2016 – Middle east Monitor (* A P)
The UN has sunk to a new low in terms of human rights
British Prime Minister Theresa May was asked in Parliament last week about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record and she wavered and obfuscated before saying: “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.”
Sadly, Britain, like so many other Western countries, is gutless when it comes to defending human rights in the face of cash rich and oil-rich regimes like Saudi. Its track record of standing up to Russia is equally lacklustre when you consider how Vladimir Putin seems to dictate his terms without too much resistance.
The big mystery in all of this is why Saudi wants to sit on the UN’s Human Rights Council when it clearly has no regard for anyone’s rights at home or abroad. The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has already admitted responsibility for the bombing of a funeral that killed 140 people and wounded 600 more, blaming the “wrong information” for the massacre.
Riyadh’s views on women’s rights are abhorrent, but while this was used as an excuse by Britain and America to invade Afghanistan in 2001 and overthrow the then ruling Taliban, the so-called major powers are prepared to look the other way when it comes to Riyadh behaving badly. The Saudi Air Force continues to be trained by the British while other security departments benefit from similar programmes; in addition, the British government has licensed £3.3bn worth of arms to the Saudi government since March.
f you are a torture victim in Egypt, Saudi, China or Iraq, or are being held in Guantanamo with neither charge nor trial, who do you turn to for justice? Even the allies of these countries will probably look the other way and turn a deaf ear to avoid losing trade agreements, arms deals and the flow of oil.
Human rights, it seems, have become a luxury item that few can afford and even fewer are prepared to defend and uphold. A close check of some of those sitting on the UNHRC reveals exactly how low the world has sunk in terms of morality, justice and equality. As the international body meant to promote such values, the UN should hang its head in shame. It is failing us all – by Yvonne Ridley
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20161031-the-un-has-sunk-to-a-new-low-in-terms-of-human-rights/
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
1.11.2016 – Almanar (A E P)
Saudi Arabia Replaces Finance Minister to Deal with Deficit Increase amid War on Yemen
http://english.almanar.com.lb/83884
31.10.2016 – Kenneth Roth (A P)
Saudi ShuraCouncil voted 65-62 to study "appropriate environment to allow women to drive cars” but 76 needed to pass
https://twitter.com/KenRoth/status/793208442890625025 referring to (Arabic) http://www.alriyadh.com/1544545 and see also https://www.facebook.com/NotoWahabism/photos/a.446760528785868.1073741828.446357405492847/1009467692515146/?type=3
Comment by Marwan Al-Munyfi: So ridiculous, how could be possible 4member of #UN HRCouncil defending human R ,while No #WomenRights in its social system.
https://twitter.com/marwan18/status/793234175633522688
30.10.2016 – British Government, Foreign Office (* A P)
Foreign travel advice: Saudi Arabia
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office advise against all travel to within 10km of the border with Yemen and against all but essential travel between 10km and 80km of this border.
On 27 October a SCUD Missile was fired from rebel-held territory in Yemen, apparently targeting Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport. It was intercepted by Saudi air defence systems.
The Saudi authorities have declared ‘out of bounds’ a zone of 20km from the entire northern border of the country, and from the border in the Hafr Al-Batin and Khafji areas in the Eastern Province. Violations are punishable by up to 30 months’ imprisonment and a SR 25,000 fine. Land border crossings remain open and the authorities have announced that signs are being placed in areas where vehicles are allowed to cross.
Tourist trips to military zones or border posts are banned by the Saudi Tourism Authority.
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/saudi-arabia
Comment: The propaganda smoke seems to disappear. Even the British government now writes: “apparently targeting Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport”.
23.10.2016 – Borderless News (* B H)
Exposing UNICEF’s dirty laundry: Why the UN won’t punish Saudi Arabia for its child marriage problem
Saudi Arabia continues to have one of the highest child marriage rates in the world. But the United Nations Children’s Fund — known as UNICEF — is looking the other way, and has even praised the Saudis. Estimates vary widely, as there are no official statistics on the issue. But some hold that the number of child marriages have reached into the hundreds of thousands during some years.
UNICEF and the United Nations Office of Human Rights are responsible for documenting child marriage around the world, and for taking measures to prevent it. But when it comes to child marriage in Saudi Arabia, the UN has remained silent.
Director of the Washington-based Institute for Gulf Affairs Ali Al-Ahmed believes the UN has remained silent on Saudi child marriage in order to continue receiving millions of dollars from the Saudi government.
In an interview with Borderless News Online, Al-Ahmed said there have been many cases in which the UN failed to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its child marriage problem. Al-Ahmed, a Saudi national who is critical of his country’s government, contended that Syrian refugee girls are often forced to marry older Saudi men.
Al-Ahmed believes it is important to decrease child marriage in Saudi Arabia since the country has a heavy influence on the Muslim world. This is particularly true for poorer Muslim countries, in which, he said, people tend to view Saudi Arabia as a model to which they should aspire, given Saudi’s truckloads of cash and shiny new shopping malls.
“This is part of Saudi Arabia’s public relations strategy, to say they are ‘the kingdom of humanity’ in order to spread their influence,” he said – By Tara Abhasakun
cp9 USA
31.10.2016 – United States Mission to the UN (* A P)
Remarks at a UN Security Council Briefing on Yemen
Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, U.S. Mission to the United Nations
Although these voices [of Yemeni children on the war] are not with us enough, whether here in the Council or in our media – international media, regional media – when we do hear from people on the ground, people like Kholoud, Asma, and Haneen, they’re pretty consistent. They demand, or they plead, for an end to their suffering.
We, as members of the Security Council, need to make the same demand, and we need to be united in doing so. The parties must stop escalating their attacks. They must, at long last, commit to peace. And we need immediate progress on three fronts: an immediate cessation of hostilities; a humanitarian surge, the likes of which we haven’t seen in Yemen for the life of this conflict; and a prompt return to political talks.
First, the United States calls on the parties to recommit immediately to the cessation of hostilities, which means halting all military actions on the ground, in the air, and at sea. That includes an end to shelling and an end to airstrikes. A sustained cessation of hostilities is necessary to give the Special Envoy the space he needs to engage the parties on the terms of a political solution to the conflict.
There is very little good news in Yemen, but one small piece of good news is that we have seen that the parties can reduce the violence in Yemen when they show the will to do so.
But since the Kuwait talks ended nearly three months ago, the parties have intensified their attacks. Last Friday, forces loyal to the Houthi and former President Ali Abdullah Saleh reportedly launched a missile from Yemen toward Mecca and Jeddah, one among several recent missile launches. The United States condemns these missile launches in the strongest terms. These attacks on Saudi territory are an obvious attempt to derail the political process, and they must cease. As we have emphasized, every country has a right to defend itself, and the United States remains fully committed to the security of Saudi Arabia.
It is also incumbent on the Saudi-led Coalition and the forces of the Yemeni government to refrain from taking steps that escalate this violence and to commit to the cessation of hostilities. After 19 months of fighting, it should be clear that there is absolutely no military solution to this conflict.
Airstrikes that hit schools, hospitals, and other civilian objects have to stop.
That brings me to my second point, the need for a humanitarian surge of a different order.
So let’s focus on how we can respond. All member states should demand – here at the UN and in our bilateral relationships and conversations – that the parties allow complete and unfettered humanitarian access. That means authorities on the ground need to approve the UN’s plans to distribute aid and let convoys through checkpoints. It also means that the roads, bridges, and ports that are vital for delivering aid need to be protected from the fighting.
The UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism, UNVIM, has helped facilitate imports of basic food and medicine into Yemen, and as Mr. O’Brien noted, it deserves all of our continued support and full cooperation from the parties.
But some additional steps that should be taken – the parties need to reopen the airport in Sana’a to civilian flights once again, allowing critically injured Yeminis to leave and Yeminis who are stranded abroad who wish to return, to get back to their homes. And when fuel and medicine do enter Yemen, the parties need to allow these goods to reach hospitals in all parts of the country. The cranes at Houdeida port need to be repaired and the parties should facilitate the UN’s plans to repair them, to restore capacity at what had long been a vital port and source of influx of many, many goods.
At the same time, one has to stress that no amount of aid can make up for the void left by Yemen’s collapsed economy. And that is why we are concerned about the consequences of the Yemeni government – its decision to move the Central Bank – and we call on the government to continue paying salaries nationwide.
My third point, and final point, is on the urgent need for a political solution. The Special Envoy has presented both parties with a credible and balanced roadmap for ending the conflict, together with a security plan for Sana’a.
http://usun.state.gov/remarks/7520
Comment: When reading this you really could forget that the US is the state which had supported the Saudi war, blockade and politics from the very beginning, thus being largely responsible for all what has happened. Well, the appearance of children killer and destructor is not estimated by the Western public – thus the US ambassador gives the appearance of humanity and concern. A greater lie hardly could be imagined; the US even is not willing to stop selling arms to the Saudis and refueling their fighter jets, thus guaranteeing that they can further bomb, kill and destrct.
31.10.2016 – Inner City Press (A P)
On #Yemen, US State Dept is asked about Saudi Oct 8 bombing of Sana'a, says its up to #Saudi to speak. #StillRefueling
https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/793163333134344198
31.10.2016 – The Guardian (* A P)
US calls for end to Saudi airstrikes in Yemen
Ambassador tells UN security council meeting it should be clear there is no military solution to conflict
The US has called for an end to airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen at a UN security council meeting, but critics pointed out that Washington continues to supply arms and provide other military support to Saudi Arabia.
The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, condemned missile attacks by Yemeni Houthi rebels on Saudi Arabia and said the kingdom had a right to defend itself.
But she added: “It is also incumbent on the Saudi-led coalition and the forces of the Yemeni government to refrain from taking steps that escalate this violence and to commit to the cessation of hostilities.
“After 19 months of fighting, it should be clear that there is absolutely no military solution to this conflict. Airstrikes that hit schools, hospitals and other civilian objects have to stop. In many cases these strikes have damaged key infrastructure that is essential to delivering humanitarian aid in Yemen.”
Despite severe criticism of Saudi Arabia, the US and the UK continue to supply it with munitions and provide airborne refuelling for its warplanes. Over eight years, the Obama administration has offered a total of $115bn (£94bn) in arms sales to the kingdom – by Julian Borger
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/31/us-calls-for-end-to-saudi-airstrikes-in-yemen
Comment: She is right, but – why it took 19 month to realize that??? And how hypocritical all this is, taking into concern the last two sentences cited above. Please wash me but don’t make me wet. Pay for my bombs but don’t use them???
Comment by Judith Brown: At last this woman is calling for a weapons embargo. But her country is selling the weapons. Along with Uk. She suddenly seems to have noticed that Yemenis are suffering. Pity she didn't notice last year.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154864745613641
Comment by Nasser Arrabyee: Obama must stop lying about his Saudi war crimes in Yemen. Saudis would stop,if Obama really, wants them to stop
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/793355792292388865
Comment by Jamila Hanan: US is calling itself to stop refuelling jets and selling bombs to drop on #Yemen? No, I don't think so.
https://twitter.com/JamilaHanan/status/793202592553852928
Comment by Ali AlAhmed: . @AmbassadorPower called today on #Saudi Monarchy to pummel #Yemen so it submits. News took it as a call to end bombing. @guardian
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/793260429208322048
Comment to comment: He is right. Power mentions “the kingdom had a right to defend itself”, by this statement putting upside down. Daudi aerial war began as there were absolutely NO Houthis attacks against Saudi territory. Houthi missile attacks just began 10 weeks AFTER the Saudis had started their aerial war. Western propaganda just is based on misusing that most people don’t know the simple facts.
30.10.2016 – RT (* B K P)
‘Saudi Arabia one of top repressive countries’: What’s behind US special ties with Riyadh?
Chris Hedges discussed US-Saudi relations with Medea Benjamin.
Medea Benjamin: Yes, certainly the relationship was started out on the basis of oil when the Saudi Kingdom was first established in 1932, then oil was discovered in the 1930s, and then for 12 different administrations, Republican and Democrat, a close relationship with the Saudis based on oil. But as the years went by, the US produced more of its own oil, imported more from Canada, and so oil is not as important as it was. The US wants to be able to control where that oil goes to other countries. But the relationship has really started to shift in terms of what is the big focus, and I think the big focus is now that they have become the number one purchaser of US weapons by far. $115 billion over the last eight years – that is just under the Obama administration alone. It is a staggering sum, and it is amazing that it has been 43 different deals just under the Obama administration, and Congress has just rubber-stamped every single one.
MB: One of the most repressive countries in the world, where there is no freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, no political parties, no unions allowed, where dissent is treated as treason.
RT: Let's talk about Yemen. Saudi Arabia has sealed off the country, they are using cluster bombs, they are attacking power plants, water purification plants, schools, factories that make potato chips, health clinics, they have just bombed a mourning hall. What are they doing there?
MB: They took the country that was already one of the poorest in the Arab world and they have turned it into a catastrophic situation. We count the 10,000 plus people who have died but it is way more than that if you look at people who have died because they can't get food and they can't get medicine. And 80 percent of the population now is depending on humanitarian aid, they import most of their food and they can't get it in. There is a blockade that the Saudis are imposing, so this is just a catastrophic situation.
RT: What is this relentless bombing campaign of Yemen about?
MB: It's all about their nemesis with the Iranians and their fear that the tribal group, Houthis, that is closer to the Shia, they fear that this will give the Iranians a inroad on their border, and this is all about fighting Iran through a proxy war with US weapons, with US logistical support, with US refueling their planes in the air, with US intelligence and with US diplomatic cover.
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/364742-saudi-arabia-us-yemen-weapons/ and film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ5KeXaVdYg
27.10.2016 – Fusion (* A P)
Film: Can you name all the countries the U.S. is currently bombing? (Spoiler alert: You can't. Nobody can.)
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1150810908305271
26.10.2016 – Bloomberg (* A P)
Clinton's Allies Promise a Tougher Line on Iran
The next president has an opportunity in the Middle East to reassure wavering allies, to tell them: “We’re back and we’re going to lead again.”
That sounds like something you might hear this month in an alternate reality, from the Rubio-Cheney campaign. After all, President Barack Obama would argue that he is already leading in the Middle East.
But that is a quote from Michael Morell, a former deputy and acting director of the CIA and an adviser to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. He said this on Tuesday at the Center for American Progress, a think tank founded by the Clinton campaign chairman, John Podesta, and headed today by the policy director of the 2008 Clinton campaign, Neera Tanden.
Morell, who is likely to be tapped for a senior post in a Clinton administration, outlined a more robust role for the U.S. to counter Iran in the Middle East. For example, Morell said the U.S. should consider a new set of sanctions against Iran to punish its “malign behavior in the region.” The Obama administration, on the other hand, has opposed efforts from Congress to impose new sanctions on Iran after the nuclear deal that lifted many of them.
Morell also proposed a new policy for the U.S. Navy to board Iranian ships that are assisting its proxy war in Yemen. “Ships leave Iran on a regular basis carrying arms to the Houthis in Yemen,” he said. “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.” – By Eli Lake
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-10-26/clinton-s-allies-promise-a-tougher-line-on-iran
and also:
31.10.2016 – Reason (* A P)
Top Hillary Clinton Adviser Thinks U.S. Should Attack Iran To Benefit Saudi Interests In Yemen
Indications point to more and grander military interventions under a President Clinton.
One of Hillary Clinton's top national security advisers, Michael Morell(who also happens to be the former acting director of the CIA), told the staunchly pro-Clinton think tank the Center for American Progress that the upcoming U.S. presidential election provides a "great opportunity for the next president of the United States to go to the Middle East and say 'We're back, we're going to lead again.'"
And what might the leadership that the Hillary Clinton administration imposes on a region halfway around the world look like?
Morell brought up the fact that Iran arms the Houthi rebels who have seized control of Yemen's capital city Sanaa, to the great displeasure of nominal U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, which has spent much of the past two years bombing both military and civilian targets with U.S. support in an all-out effort to defeat the rebels and return to power the Saudi-allied President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.
Juxtaposing against what he must perceive as a lack of leadership from his former boss, President Barack Obama, Morell said:
Make no mistake, what Morell just proposed is an act of war.
While some might still be in denial that Clinton is a staunch hawk even neoconservatives can adore, Morell's comments provide much-desired candor about Clinton's foreign policy ambitions. The Democratic nominee has been able to remain infuriatingly vague on military matters throughout the campaign thanks in part to her opponent's flailing incoherence and her general refusal to give press conferences.
But if one of her most senior national security advisers is willing to openly engage in this kind of saber-rattling while smilingly declaring, "We're back," it's fair to expect more and grander military intervention under a President Clinton than we've experienced under President Obama – bby Anthony L. Fisher
http://reason.com/blog/2016/10/31/hillary-clinton-adviser-attack-iran
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
31.10.2016 – Tobias Ellwood (A P)
We need a peaceful solution in #Yemen. Attacks like Houthi missile aimed at Mecca province last week is unacceptable, reckless and dangerous
https://twitter.com/Tobias_Ellwood/status/793153330143002625
Comment: Even FCO says missile was aimed at Jeddah, not Mecca. Your silence on Saudi 20 months of bombing #Yemen is obscene now. @Tobias_Ellwood
https://twitter.com/longitude0/status/793166712770289665
Comment: Foreign office statement see cp8. Ellwood is one of the most relentless backers of Saudi Arabia in the British government. His hypocrisy on Yemen is really overwhelming and excels almost all other of his collegues.
31.10.2016 – Matthew Rycroft, British Ambassador to UN (A P)
I pledged to #UNSC today that UK will continue working with partners on resolution in support of @OSESGY & his Road Map efforts in #Yemen
https://twitter.com/MatthewRycroft1/status/793108913507950594
and in full:
31.10.2016 – British Government (A P)
Statement by Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations, on Yemen in the UN Security Council
As you have all highlighted, the sheer scale of the crisis facing the people of Yemen means that there can be no let up in our efforts. It is a political crisis, a humanitarian crisis, a crisis where the violence simply won’t end. As a result, civilians continue to suffer, with over 14 million people now food insecure and over 21 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. That is the tragic cost of the ongoing conflict in Yemen.
In response, we all know what needs to happen. First, the violence must stop. There needs to be an enduring, meaningful Cessation of Hostilities. I was proud of the UK’s efforts to help secure a ceasefire earlier this month, but it is clear that three days is simply not enough. So we call on the parties to renew their commitment and implement an immediate, sustainable ceasefire.
In support of that goal, we also need to make sure that the De-escalation and Co-ordination Committee has the support, training and resources that it needs. The Committee is a crucial mechanism for building trust and addressing violations. If the Yemeni parties are serious about peace they should engage with it fully.
Sadly, any signs of de-escalation have been elusive of late. Only last week, a long range missile was fired from Saada into Saudi Arabia, reportedly at the King Abdulaziz International Airport, north of Jeddah. This attack by the Houthi and Saleh loyalists was provocative and unacceptable.
All sides need to show restraint. We were shocked and appalled by the terrible loss of life in the airstrikes on a funeral hall in Sana’a earlier this month. We immediately underlined our deep concerns at Ministerial level with the Saudi government.
Continue:
Comment: This is how Western hypocrisy looks like. Covering with a cascade of peaceful sounding words the simple fact that it’s the UK is one of the main actives who just made possible all this slaughter by its own interference – which of course should not come to an end. Please do wash me, but don’t make me wet. This simply doesn’t work. All British persons in power have Yemeni blood at their hands. And it cannot be washed of once again, how nice ever the word bubbles they release will actually be.
Security Council Resolution 2216 on Yemen, fully backed by UK, is totally one-sided, was fully adopting Saudi wishes. And, as comments correctly say:
Comment by Jamila Hanan: UK just needs to stop supporting Saudi bombardment of #Yemen. That's all.
https://twitter.com/JamilaHanan/status/793130288435957760
31.10.2016 – Consented (* A P)
YEMEN SHOWS WE STILL HAVEN’T LEARNT FROM HISTORY
Last Wednesday 100 Labour MPs abstained or simply didn’t show up for a vote on whether to challenge the government’s foreign policy on Yemen.
History will again prove the government and these MPs as having been on the wrong side of history, just as it did with the Iraq war and the military intervention in Libya, but when that time comes no doubt these MPs will pretend they didn’t understand what was happening, even though it’s all well documented.
Many politicians have said they were duped into believing Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when voting in 2003 yet UN weapons inspectors had long refuted these claim and the UN also said that the allied forces had no grounds to invade. MPs backed the decision to go to war anyway.
There just aren’t mechanisms to hold politicians in the West to account with the International Criminal Court having long criticised for lacking teeth.
But where is the justice when British MPs are not only failing to act on Yemen but are actively encouraging the Saudi intervention through the supply of weapons and military support.
We need to acknowledge that contrary to popular common-sense beliefs many of these politicians are vindictive characters. They represent a political class who are pro-war and pro-arms sales.
This mentality was perfectly highlighted by former Telegraph columnist Peter Oborne in the Middle East Eye when he said that “the party of war” have been in power for the last 15 years. Essentially a pro-war Labour right and the Tories:
In the end we need far greater mechanisms to hold politicians to account. Unfortunately, what happened in Parliament last week represents the continuation of a long line of devastating decisions made by an unaccountable pro-war political class. No amount of Corbyn rallies is going to stop that. We need deep structural changes to the way we do politics to prevent this from happening again – by Amit Singh
http://www.consented.co.uk/read/yemen-shows-we-still-havent-learnt-from-history/
30.10.2016 – Tasmina Sheikh MP (A P)
I spoke in debate on #Yemen last week. There is a both a moral and a legal case for the UK to halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia now.
https://twitter.com/TasminaSheikh/status/792800564400754688
Comment: Just watch the Labour backbencher behind her.
29.10.2016 – Middle East Eye (A P)
Film: We spoke to Jeremy Corbyn about foreign policy and this is what he had to say
https://www.facebook.com/middleeasteye/videos/1164177926980927/
Comment by Judith Brown: Oh wouldn't it be wonderful if all of our politicians spoke like this.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154864805663641
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
28.10.2016 – Kölner Stadtanzeiger (* A P)
Rheinmetall Tochterunternehmen sollen Waffen an Kriegsparteien verkaufen
Pünktlich zur Vorlage der frischen Quartalsbilanz des größten deutschen Rüstungskonzerns Rheinmetall am kommenden Montag (31.10.) prangern Menschenrechtler und Investigativmedien die Exportpraxis des Düsseldorfer Unternehmens an: Laut verschiedenen Quellen verkaufen ausländische Tochterfirmen des deutschen Konzerns Munition und Waffen an Kriegsparteien, die ihre Waffen in akuten Krisenregionen einsetzen – derzeit zum Beispiel an die saudi-arabische Militärallianz, der Kriegsverbrechen im Jemen vorgeworfen werden. Auch die Opposition im Bundestag sieht Handlungsbedarf.
So hat die Menschenrechtsorganisation Human Rights Watch den Abwurf von 500-Kilo-Bomben aus der MK-Serie durch saudische Kampfflugzeuge dokumentiert, etwa im Mai 2015. Ein Code auf der Bombenhülle verweist demnach auf RWM Italia als Hersteller hin: eine Tochterfirma von Rheinmetall. Auch die US-Enthüllungsplattform reported.ly berichtet von Fällen, in denen Rheinmetall auf diese Weise ganz legal deutsche Rüstungskontrollregeln umgehen konnte.
Tatsächlich müssen deutsche Behörden zwar jeden Waffenexport aus der Bundesrepublik genehmigen. Nicht zuständig sind sie freilich für Ausfuhren aus Italien, selbst wenn der Besitzer der italienischen Rüstungsproduktion in Deutschland sitzt.
Die Opposition im deutschen Bundestag sieht da eine Gesetzeslücke: „Wenn ein deutsches Schiff italienische Waffen nach Saudi-Arabien transportieren will, braucht es eine Transportgenehmigung nach dem Kriegswaffenkontrollgesetz“, sagte der Linken-Verteidigungsexperte Jan van Aken dieser Zeitung. „Ich finde, die Rechtslage sollte so geändert werden, dass das auch für die Eignerschaft der Produktion gilt.“ – von Steven Geyer
28.10.2016 – RT (* A P)
In der Sendung 451o unter „Griff ins Klo“ über Julian Reichelts „Bild“-Artikel über gute und böse Bomben (Klo ist für Reichelts Artikel noch geschmeichelt)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOTgb60tX9c&feature=youtu.be&t=1177
28.5.2015 – Jung und Naive von der Bundespressekonferenz (* A P)
Außenamtssprecher Schäfer zu Saudi-Arabien: Eiertanz und Lachnummer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flplY7tjqYU&feature=youtu.be&t=189
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
31.10.2016 – IENE (* A K P)
Film: GIARRUSSO: L’Italia ha le mani sporche di sangue
Continua la nostra inchiesta sulla guerra in Yemen e delle responsabilità italiane mentre la Ministra Pinotti continua a non rispondere alle nostre domande.
Kommentar: Nur Italien?? Die Firma auf Sardinien, die die Bomben für die Saudis herstellt, gehört dem deutschen Unternehmen Rheinmetall.
31.10.2016 – France at UN (A P)
#Yemen "We are deeply worried by both the humanitarian situation & the attacks against civilians" Amb Delattre
https://twitter.com/franceonu/status/793106805870190592
Comment: Western hypocrisy. France took part in supplying Saudis with arms and in political support for Saudis at UN. Thus, by all “deeply worried”-phrases France cannot wash away Yemeni blood from its hands any more.
31.10.2016 – Iran Daily (A H P)
Iran’s humanitarian aid ship arrives in Yemen
Head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRSC) said an Iranian cargo ship carrying humanitarian aid to the people of Yemen has arrived in the impoverished Arab country.
Iran’s relief aid has been delivered to Yemen’s Red Crescent Society indirectly, Seyyed Amir Mohsen Ziaee said, Tasnim News Agency reported.
Iran’s Nejat (Rescue) Ship carried the aid cargo to the impoverished Arab country, he added.
Ziaee further said one of the Islamic Republic’s rescue flights was recently allowed to collect Yemenis injured by Saudi airstrikes and give them medical treatments.
He stressed the IRSC’s readiness to offer more support to the Muslim country by sending medicine, medical equipment and trained manpower to the war-hit country.
http://www.iran-daily.com/news/171308.html
31.10.2016 – Yemen Peace Project (A P)
Uruguay's rep is repeatedly calling KSA's 10/8 bombing of San'a funeral "a terrorist attack," stresses double-taps targeting responders.
https://twitter.com/yemenpeacenews/status/793104421790023680
Comment: Must you just be the government of a small remote country like U. to call black black and white white? Seems so.
31.10.2016 – Sputnik News (A P)
Teheran ist empört über US-Anschuldigungen und wirft Pentagon Lüge vor
Teheran hat dem Pentagon Lügen und doppelte Standards vorgeworfen, nachdem ein Vertreter der US-Navy den Iran beschuldigt hatte, Waffen aus eigener Produktion an den Jemen zu liefern.
„Solche lügnerischen Erklärungen werden gemacht, während die schutzlose Zivilbevölkerung des Jemen, Schulen und Krankenhäuser mit Bomben und Raketen aus amerikanischer Produktion beschossen werden“, zitiert die Zeitung „Rossijskaja Gaseta“ den Sprecher des iranischen Außenministeriums, Bahram Ghasemi.
„Die Welt wird Augenzeuge erschreckender Militärverbrechen und barbarischer Luftangriffe auf das jemenitische Volk. Bestimmte Kräfte unterstützen diese Aktivitäten des saudischen Regimes“, sagte Ghasemi.
https://de.sputniknews.com/politik/20161031313170994-iran-usa-vorwuerfe-luegen-doppelte-standards/
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
Siehe / See cp111, 12
31.10.2016 – Sputnik News (A K P)
Tehran Denies US Accusations of Supplying Weapons to Yemen
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said that a large number of lethal weapons, bombs and US-made missiles used by the Saudi-led coalition were targeting the Yemeni civilian infrastructure and population.
Tehran has denied claims of the US officials alleging that Iran has been supplying weapons to the conflict-torn Yemen, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said Monday
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201610311046910709-iran-yemen-un-us/
cp13b Flüchtlinge / Refugees
31.10.2016 – International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies (* A H)
Djibouti - Population Movement (MDRDJ002): DREF Operation Final Report
121,801 left Yemen to seek refuge in Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Oman and Saudi Arabia (UNHCR).
Djibouti continued to receive the majority of refugees and was one of the rare neighboring countries that had opened its borders to those fleeing Yemen. IFRC released CHF 66,180 from the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) in May, 015 to support Djibouti Red Crescent Societies (DRCS) respond to the needs of refugees/returnees for a period of 3 months on first aid, water, sanitation and hygiene promotion. The DREF Emergency Plan of Action (EPoA) was however revised in June 2015 with an additional allocation of 94,449 Swiss francs and the timeframe extended to 31 October 2015. Please refer to the operations update no. 1 to see changes in planned activities and implementation.
http://reliefweb.int/report/djibouti/djibouti-population-movement-mdrdj002-dref-operation-final-report and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/MDRDJ002fnr.pdf
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
1.11.2016 – Saba Net (A T)
Three people were killed when an explosive device went off in Damt district of al-Dalea province, a Security official said on Tuesday.
The explosive device was planted by unknown group in one of the streets of Mris area, said the official.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news445417.htm
Comment: In Hadi’s “liberated” part of Yemen.
cp15 Propaganda
Siehe / See cp1 (alleged Mecca attack)
1.11.2016 – The Intercept (* A P)
Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Vows to Keep Hitting Yemen, “No Matter What”
“WILL YOU CONTINUE to use cluster weapons in Yemen?” we asked Prince Abdullah Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States.
“This is like the question, ‘Will you stop beating your wife?’” Al-Saud responded, letting loose a bellowing laugh.
We continued to ask with the same question, and the ambassador grew tired of our persistence. “You are political operators!” he accused. “I’m not a politician.”
At last week’s Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference — bankrolled by oil companies Chevron, ExxonMobile, and ConocoPhillips, and weapons contractors Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing — the Saudi ambassador was the keynote speaker.
The Saudi-led coalition bombing Yemen had “righteousness, legitimacy, a lot of support,” and would keep bombing “no matter what it takes,” he told the audience, which included U.S. military officials as well as defense contractors and oil executives.
“If anyone attacks human lives, and disturbs the border, in whatever region, we’re going to continue hitting them, no matter what,” said Al-Saud.
“Anyone who wants to solve the Yemen problem should understand who is making all the problems,” he said, ducking Saudi responsibility for the suffering in Yemen. “We will not at all allow anything to develop in the future like this no matter what it takes.”
When asked by The Intercept why Saudi Arabia continued to strike civilian targets, the ambassador responded, “We have no interests in doing these things. If it was just a military victory without care for human life, we would have bombed Saada [a Houthi stronghold].”
Eli Massey of In These Times asked the ambassador if he disputes the fact that most civilian casualties in Yemen come from the Kingdom’s airstrikes. “You are really, you’re a heckler. You’re a politician,” he said, dismissing Massey. When The Intercept repeated Massey’s question, he responded “Yes! Yes!” When we asked him to prove his claim, he grew more dismissive. “You are a political operative,” he said.
Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak, the ambassador to the United States from Yemen’s exiled government, also told the audience that Saudi Arabia was not to blame for the suffering in Yemen. “Yemen is suffering from all sorts of serious problems – all of which have been caused by the irresponsible actions of Houthi rebels,” Mubarak said – by Zaid Jilani and Alex Emmons
Comment: What a poor reaction when asked serious questions. – Again the tale of self-defence: ““If anyone attacks human lives, and disturbs the border, in whatever region, we’re going to continue hitting them, no matter what”: These Houthi attacks at the Saudi border started 10 weeks AFTER the Saudi started bombing Yemen – thus simply the Saudi aerial war cannot be a reaction to Houthis attacks and cannot be self-defense. – “If it was just a military victory without care for human life, we would have bombed Saada”: be aware of “would have” – that’s funny because they actually did, for many times, leaving Saada as a field of ruins. – And the parrots of the Hadi government just blame the Houthis for everything; even the air raids?
1.11.2016 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A P)
Opinion: Yemen- How Should We Deal With the Houthis?
The relationship between a small group of Houthis living in north Yemen and Iran began nearly two decades ago with the encouragement of the then president Ali Abdullah Saleh. This was part of the game to establish balance in the context of other religious denominations like the Salafis competing against each other in the region. After a few years, the Iranians turned the Houthis into a proxy group that was politically loyal to them, and they become a problem for the government of Saleh who linked them to religious groups in Iran and got them involved in five wars.
Perhaps the most important question that should be asked is about the future of the Houthis because they are a dangerous team and are serving Iran’s interests in a large regional game. Iran is using its proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain and Palestine in this game.
The first thing they did after the coup was to seize the Yemeni army’s weapons cache and transport it to their region. Overnight they became the owners of a large military arsenal. It is clear that the Iranians had been preparing them for this day, and there are reports that confirm that Hezbollah trained about 3,000 Houthi fighters in the period that followed their war with Saudi Arabia in 2009.
It launched television stations and websites and helped them to manage their local areas. The Iranians are trying to manipulate the Houthis’ situation in Yemen so that they become like Hezbollah in Lebanon; a loyal military force that is managed from Tehran. The Houthis are an Iranian project in Yemen and southern Saudi Arabia – by Abdulrahman Al-Rashed, general manager of Al-Arabiya television.
http://english.aawsat.com/2016/11/article55361269/opinion-yemen-deal-houthis and a similar article by the author here: https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/11/01/The-challenge-of-dealing-with-Houthis-in-Yemen.html
Comment: And again and again, the iran story is told, here even stating “The Houthis are an Iranian project”. That’s far from any reality – even if you repeat a thousand times that the earth is flat, it is not and also will not flatten. It’s really annoying to argue again and again in this matter. Here, just read the articles in cp1 in Consortium news and the National Interest, and in YPR 221, cp1, the article in Veterans Today. And there would be much more. I wonder for what reason the author had written this rather stupid propaganda, just a short time after a more reasonable article, here to be found in cp7.
1.11.2016 – Gulf News (A P)
Yemen’s Hodeida declared a disaster area
Governor says province is in urgent need of 351,000 food baskets monthly and 100,000 meals daily
The governor of Yemen’s Hodeida has declared the Red Sea province a disaster area due to the ballooning cases of famine in some districts.
Abdullah Abu Gayeth told reporters on Monday in the Saudi capital that the internationally recognised government, currently based in Aden, couldn’t send humanitarian aid to the hunger-ravaged areas in the province of Hodeida due to restrictions by Al Houthis who control the large province since late 2014.
The province of Hodeida that received 300,000 displaced people who fled their war-torn cities have turned into “a disaster area as a result of high level of insecurity and famine that is ravaging some of its district,” the governor said at the press conference.
Despite generating 15 billion rials ($1 = YR300) to the rebel movement treasury, the province has been beset with hunger, the governor said. Al Houthis blamed the Saudi-led coalition for causing the famine by bombing Hodeida seaport and allegedly banning ships from docking at the city.
But local activists told Gulf News that the rebel forces have harassed some aid workers who crossed into the hungry areas to deliver aid. “They have recently seized a female doctor for hours as she tried to take aid to the areas.” an activist from Hodeida said on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. The governor said the province is in urgent need of 351,000 food baskets monthly and 100,000 meals daily in addition to children milk and drugs.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/yemen/yemen-s-hodeida-declared-a-disaster-area-1.1922489
Comment: This “governor” seems to be a figure of the Hadi government, a governor lack-province, who resides not at his province, which is controlled by the Houthis, but in Riyadh. – Yes, Hodeidah province is a disaster area. This propaganda piece really tries to blame the Houthis for what is a consequence of a) Saudi blockade (no more food being imported) and b) Saudi aerial bombing (fishermen on the coast can no more go fishing, as the Saudis bomb fisherboats). – Of course, hindering aid workers is not tolerable. Bombing is worse. – Money is fine, but you cannot eat it.
31.10.2016 – WAM (AP)
Emirates Red Crescent distributes school bags in Yemen
The Emirates Red Crescent has distributed some 600 school bags to underprivileged students in Al Buraiqeh, a district of the governorate of Aden, southern Yemen.
http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates-international-aid/1395302073201.html
and
31.10.2016 – MONA Relief (A P)
Emirates Red Crescent distributes 600 school bags in Yemen and its all over the world @monarelief has distributed over 10K where's the news?
https://www.facebook.com/monarelief/posts/349509005402619
Comment: That’s how propaganda works: selective.
31.10.2016 – IQNA (A P)
Arab Media’s Propaganda Campaign against Yemen’s Houthis
Saudi daily al-Sharq al-Awsat and a number of other outlets claimed on Sunday that the Houthis have prevented a charity society in the city of Amran, west of the country, from holding Quran teachings sessions in the city.
They alleged that the Ansarullah movement has told the society they can teach everything except memorization of the Quran.
The movement has denied the accusations.
31.10.2016 – Milli Gazette (* A P)
Saudi bid to limit damage after bombing funeral killing 140 in Yemen
In an apparent bid to limit damage caused by its bombing of a funeral gathering in Sanaa, Yemen, killing 140 mourners and injuring hundreds, Saudi Arabia has claimed that the Houthis have targeted the holy city of Mecca with a ballistic missile that was "intercepted and destroyed" 65 kilometers from Mecca.
The Houthis and their allies, including forces loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, have a stockpile of Soviet-era Scud missiles and locally designed variants.
The Associated Press pointed out that 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.
Gulf Arab countries allied with Saudi Arabia immediately began condemning the attack, suggesting the Houthis intentionally targeted the Islamic world’s holiest site, the Kaaba. Many also immediately linked the attack to Iran, further inflaming regional sectarianism.
In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi dismissed the claims that the Houthis targeted Mecca as “ridiculous.”
Going back to the Saudi claim of Houthi’s missile attack on Mecca where Islam’s holiest place is located, it will be instructive to relate the real attacks on Kaaba in the past. In recent history, the Kaaba seizure occurred during November and December 1979 when insurgents calling for the overthrow of the House of Saud took over the Kaaba – by Abdus Sattar Ghazali, Chief Editor of the Journal of America
Comment by Judith Brown: This Indian news outlet points out that the accusations of bombs aimed at Mecca could be a means of drawing attention away from the huge massacre in Sanaa. And in case we are in any doubt that the world's attention was drawn away we now have an almost complete silence on the new civilian massacre in Hodeida.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154863362058641
31.10.2016 – Dr. Karim (A P)
Saudi lie about missile aimed at the holy City of Makkah is a dangerous spin of recasting the Yemeni conflict in overtly sectarian terms!!!
https://twitter.com/RSKarim1/status/793186656694177793
Comment: That’s 100 % true.
31.10.2016 – Arab News (A P)
Condemning the Houthi attack is not enough!
The recent — and ongoing — global condemnation of the recent Houthi missile attack, which was intercepted near the holy city of Makkah, send a comforting message that the international community has finally begun to understand the barbarity of this fanatic militia.
However, it is a shame that it took a missile — which was downed only 65km away from the Kaaba — for the world to understand what the legitimate Yemeni government, Saudi Arabia and the Arab coalition were trying to explain for over a year and a half.
Even if we were to believe what the Houthi militias are claiming in some media reports, that they were not actually aiming at Makkah, but Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport was their target; this is still an unacceptable and preposterous crime that should not go unpunished.
Just a reminder, King Abdulaziz International Airport not only welcomes thousands of civilian visitors and transit passengers every day, but is also the only aerial gateway for millions of Muslim pilgrims who come to perform Haj and Umrah every year.
The fact remains that this was the second time in less than a month that a missile was fired in Makkah's direction.
Personally, I believe that regardless of how strongly-worded the condemnations are, actions will always speak louder than words.
The fact remains that the Houthi militias don’t have the funds or the capabilities of manufacturing these weapons; as such, the matter becomes a question of following the money trail.
With all fingers pointing at Iran, it is only reasonable to expect all countries — which have condemned the attack — to walk the talk and give Tehran an immediate ultimatum of choosing between continuing their support to the Houthis or cutting off diplomatic ties.
After all, when a missile falls near Islam’s holiest site, merely talking the talk is certainly not good enough! – by Faisal J. Abbas, editor in chief of Arab News
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1004316/columns
Comment: Interesting: even after admitting that the missile really could have been directed against Jeddah airport, the Mecca attack propaganda spin is kept. And now it is tried to enlarge the sainthood and immunity of Mecca itself to the whole of Saudi Arabia lying in this direction. And: If targeting Jeddah airport would be an “unacceptable and preposterous crime”, as the author writes, why not the same for Sanaa and Hodeidah airports??? And again, the author tries to pull a larger benefit out of this story by blaming Iran generally for supporting the Houthis, and also warming up the old story of Iranian arms for the Houthis (who get most of their arms from the black market, by looting the enemy, from old army deposits), while Saudi Arabia itself is the worldwide largest importer of arms. And: The author asks for action: What action? One more war???
Comment by Judith Brown: A view from Saudi Arabia. Almost could have been written by MsB himself. [MsB = Saudi deputy crown prince Salman]
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154864784838641
31.10.2016 – Saudi Gazette (A P)
OIC urged to take collective action against Houthis
The International Organization of Muslim Scholars (IOMS) has called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to invite all its members to collectively stand against Houthis and their supporters.
The statement of IOMS, which is a Muslim World League wing, came in response to Houthis’ attempt to target Makkah. Thursday’s failed attack on the Holy City has shocked and angered Muslims worldwide.
“Saudis have learned to expect anything from Houthi militias being backed by Iran, but attacking the Holy City which belongs to all Muslims was something new and shocking to all of us, even the non-Muslim,” KSA9 News Channel editor Abdullah Al-Zahrani told Al Arabiya English.
“Just the willingness to harm the people and places in Makkah says a lot about how this group of people are not Islamic in nature because no Muslim would ever consider attacking such sacred places,” President of Kuwait’s Sharia Supervisory Board Dr. Sayed Mohammed Al-Tabtabai told Al Hadath.
Many social media users expressed their anger at the attempt to target Makkah. They created a hashtag questioning the faith of the Houthi rebels – BY SHAHD ALHAMDAN
http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/oic-urged-take-collective-action-houthis/
Comment: Propaganda and willingly created outrage about this alleged attack still ravaging. See YPR 221, cp1b.
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
1.11.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi jets raid Moton
Saudi fighter jets waged two raids on Moton district of Jawf province on Tuesday morning
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news445447.htm
1.11.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi jets raid Serwah
Saudi aggression fighter jets resumed striking Serwah district in Marib province on Tuesday
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news445443.htm
1.11.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi warplanes wage raids on Bani Matar of Sanaa province
causing great damage to public and private properties
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news445452.htm
1.11.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi warplanes launch raids on capital Sanaa
US-backed Saudi aggression warplanes resumed bombing the capital Sanaa on Tuesday morning, targeting residential areas, an official told Saba.
The strikes targeted al-Hafa residential area in al-Sabeen district south of the capital two times, causing large damage to citizens' houses, public and private properties, the official said.
The fighter jets continued hovering over the capital for hours with opening sound barrier.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news445450.htm
31.10.–1.11.2016 – Sanaa at night (A K)
#Breaking NIGHT Attacks: 2 Saudi airstrikes rock #Yemen capital #Sanaa before midnight waking up 100,000s civilians in fear (photo)
https://twitter.com/b33yemen/status/793186210072133633
#Airstrikes on #Sanaa targeted Faj Attan mountain. Presumably for the millionth time
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1151118621607833
Two #Saudi Airstrikes right now in #Sanaa and jets still hovering after UN envoy @OSESGY announced his failure
https://twitter.com/dwipas2020/status/793183008450904065
Breaking: A huge explosion just heard which shook the entire city.
https://twitter.com/AdelKhulood/status/793182709992554497
It's 11pm #Sanaa time, I can hear #Saudi jets hovering back & forth Anything could be hit, civilians houses for example ..any thing!!
https://twitter.com/Ahmed2I3h/status/793184155374800896
Another huge explosion by a Saudi airstrike just heard in capital Sana, Yemen.
https://twitter.com/Shuaibalmosawa/status/793191497776697344
Airstrikes are getting closer. Trying to sleep folks. I had a long day and another long one is awaiting me tomorrow. #Sanaa
https://twitter.com/alasaadim/status/793191700885798912
Oppsss, sorry I forgot to tell you that #Sanaa under bombardment half hour ago until now.. Huge explosions by Saudi aircrafts
https://twitter.com/A7medJa7af/status/793192315800223749
Of course 6 Air strikes. On Sana'a And 3 on Baratan (Haraz) road between Hodidah & Sanaa. And 3 in Hodidah coastal road.
https://twitter.com/M_alkotf/status/793195822980730880
31.10.2016 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
31-10-2016
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=715655068584861&id=551288185021551
31.10.2016 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
30-10-2016
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=715244051959296&id=551288185021551
31.10.2016 – Almasirah TV (A K PH)
Film: Saudi air raids at homes and streets in Saada province
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plRWuE-e4c0
1.11.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi warplanes launch raids on Manakh
US-Saudi aggression's warplanes waged three raids on Manakh district in Sanaa province late on Monday night, an official told Saba.
The strikes targeted, Brtan and Msmar regions, causing large damage to citizens' houses, public and private properties, as well destroying the road linking Sanaa with al-Hodeidah, the official added
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news445429.htm
and also
31.10.2016 – Living in Yemen on the Edge (A K)
We just received this picture from #AlMahwit where, yesterday, the Saudi led Coalition bombed a road to cut off the area from the world in Al Ahjeer.
Isolating villages and areas to break the people is a war crime.
Isolating #Sanaa for a definitive fall is a war crime.
Bombing roads, bridges is a war crime.
Blockading a country is a war crime
#War on #Yemen is becoming a genocide
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/photos/a.961595153893515.1073741828.961126490607048/1150723291647366/?type=3 and film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt6R76BZvnE = https://www.facebook.com/881240811966559/videos/1147997291957575/
31.10.2016 – MbKS15 (B K)
#Kuwait Air Force F/A-18 Hornet during a mid-air refueling from an #RSAF KC-130 tanker — #OpRestoreHope (image)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/793061841509507072
31.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression war jets launch 4 strikes on Marib
Saudi aggression war jets launched four strikes on Serwah district of Marib province overnight, an official told Saba on Monday.
The aggression strikes targeted al-Hajlan area in the same district, causing large destruction in citizens` properties
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news445359.htm
31.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi warplanes launch raids on Blad al-Rous
US-Saudi aggression's warplanes waged three raids on Blad al-Rous in southern Sanaa province on Monday morning ,a Security official told Saba.
The strikes targeted, Naqil al-Abs, causing large damage to public properties
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news445340.htm
30.10.2016 – Almasirah TV (* A K PH)
Film: Saudi air raid at Aldirihma, Hodeida province
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ0M35O7a9c
1.11.2016 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
29-10-2016
#AL_Hodeida #AL_Zaidia_District
- Legal Center for Rights and Development documented the crime of AL_Zaidia Administration in AL-Hodeida.
-At 9:00 P.M, Saturday, the Saudi Arabia and its alliance still commit gross crimes till today. The warplane committed a new crime by launching 3 airstrikes on the prison and the building of the Security Administration in AL-Zaidia district, which considered as a central prison for nine other districts. The first airstrike targeted the non-criminal building inside the Security Administration. The Second airstrike targeted the prison. After ten minutes, they targeted the offices of the administration and destroyed them and spoiled the files of the prisoners. The rubble covered their scattered and burnt bodies.
- The airstrikes killed 64 civilians and injured 37 others (with new photos)
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=716021835214851&id=551288185021551
31.10.2016 – Legal Center(* A K)
Photos of Hodeidah prison air raid also here, up to now best quality:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=715258715291163&id=551288185021551
31.10.2016 – Living in Yemen on the Edge (* A K)
US made bombs found at the scene of the massacre in #Hodeida (photo)
31.10.2016 – Almasirah TV (A K PH)
Film: The injured of the Hodeidah prison air raid in hospital
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqckoLSpqsw = https://www.facebook.com/881240811966559/videos/1147972645293373/
31.10.2016 – New York Times (* A K)
Film: Panorama 360o: In the rubble of an airstrike in Yemen [Sanaa funeral strike, Oct. 8]
31.10.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A K)
10 unidentified victims of US-backed Saudi Holocaust against Yemen Sanaa funeral,buried 2day. Hard to wait relatives anymore! (photos)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/793372254335827968
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
1.10.2016 – Al Arabiya (A K PS)
Coalition targets Houthi missile launch pads
Iran-backed Houthi militias have incurred major loses in their military equipment in both Hajjah and Sanaa provinces following the Arab Coalition’s airstrikes against the militia group, killing dozens of its members, Al Arabiya News Channel reported on Tuesday.
In the northwestern province of Hajjah, the coalition targeted missile launch pads and armed vehicles in the Haradh district.
The coalition has also targeted launch pads for ballistic missiles west of the capital Sanaa.
Military sources also said that the coalition’s jets pounded arms storage sites in Bani Mater district - west of Sanaa - in addition to weapons depots in Jabal Naqam and Al-Haqa military camp east of the capital.
Meanwhile, the operation to target Houthi militias’ arms also continued in Sarawih frontier west of Maarib city, 20 km east of Sanaa.
The coalition also targeted militia forces in the northern al-Jawf province, bordering Saudi Arabia. Houthis’ military sites in the western coastal area of al-Hudayda were also targeted.
So far, figures of the damages were not disclosed.
31.10.2016 – Saudi Press Agency (A K PS)
Projectiles from Yemen fall in Najran, wound a woman
The official spokesman for Directorate of Civil Defense in Najran region, Captain Abdul Khaliq Ali Al-Qahtani has said that the civil defense teams received a tip today on the fall of projectiles launched by Houthi elements from Yemeni territories on Al-Hodhn neighborhood in Najran city, resulting in the injury of a woman, who was admitted to a hospital for treatment.
http://www.spa.gov.sa/viewstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1553958
31.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army, popular committees target mercenaries’ grouping in Lahj
The artillery forces of the army and popular committees targeted on Monday mercenaries’ groupings in Lahj governorate.
A military source told Saba that the artillery forces of the army and popular committees targeted mercenaries’ grouping in the eastern part of Kahboob area in Lahj governorate and killed and injured a number of them
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news445412.htm
31.10.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army, popular forces repel mercenaries` infiltration in Taiz
The army and popular forces repelled mercenaries’ attempt to advance toward al-Dhaif Mountain in Taiz province, a millatary official told Saba on Monday.
The operation took places on Sunday when the mercenaries carried out attacks in order to infiltrate toward the army and popular forces` sites, killing dozens of the mercenaries and wounding others, as well destroying several of their vehicles
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news445361.htm
31.10.2016 – Press TV Iran (A K PH)
Yemeni forces launch rocket attack at Saudi mercenaries’ positions
Yemen’s army and volunteer Popular Committees have fired rockets at the positions of Saudi-backed mercenaries near the capital, Sana’a, destroying a weapons warehouse used by them.
Yemen’s al-Masirah website reported that the Yemeni forces’ rocket attack destroyed the weapons warehouse in the Fardhat Nihm district, northeast of Sana’a, at dawn on Monday.
A military source said the attack on the arms depot caused heavy explosions and a massive fire.
A vehicle of the militants was also destroyed in the area as the Yemeni troops targeted it with a missile.
On Sunday night, the Yemeni forces had destroyed a military vehicle of the Saudi-backed mercenaries in the same area. A military source told al-Masirah that Yemeni forces fired a rocket at the military vehicle in Fardhat Nihm, also killing those on board.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/10/31/491464/Yemen-mercenaries-arms-depot
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-221-yemen-war-mosaic-221
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-221: / Yemen War Mosaic 1-221:
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/
Was ist Ihre Meinung?
Kommentare einblendenDiskutieren Sie mit.