Yemen war: Explainers – Saudi Arabia (in German) – Arabic Emirates in Somalia – US hypocrisy in Syria and Yemen – Europe und peace in Yemen – Western media and blame for Yemen – and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
cp0 Überblicke / Explainers
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche/ UN and peace talks
cp7a Iran
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp9 USA
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
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
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
Klassifizierung / Classification
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**
*
(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
cp0 Überblicke / Explainers
16.9.2016 – The Guardian (** B K P)
What is happening in Yemen and how are Saudi Arabia's airstrikes affecting civilians - explainer
In March 2015 a Saudi-led coalition began bombing Houthi rebels who had forced Yemen’s president into exile. Analysis of a comprehensive, open source data survey of the campaign shows airstrikes have regularly hit civilian, economic and cultural sites. The air campaign has recently intensified after the collapse of a patchy ceasefire
Comment by Judith Brown: This is a good 'idiots guide' for people who know very little about Yemen. But I just have one thing to add. Hadi had ruled for 2 years without recalling parliament, so the Houthis could hardly dissolve it - and the Houthi-Saleh alliance has in fact just recalled parliament - to an ongoing international protest. But an example of Hadi's lack of respect for parliament ; when Hadi's fixed term as president ended in February 2014 Hadi did not recall parliament to renew his term. He just clung on to power - presidential NOT parliamentary power. This is what made other elites such as Saleh make moves towards replacing him as he was not popular and they fancied the job. He was Saleh's deputy for 16 years so the people who didn't want Saleh didn't want him either because they saw him as tainted. The people who still wanted Saleh to rule didn't want Hadi as his replacement. And the south didn't want Hadi because they considered he had committed treason and when the South was a separate country he was tried in absence and given a death sentence. Funnily enough some southerners are liking Hadi more since he moved the Yemen bank to Aden because they see the chances of separating South from North Yemen is more likely. Oh what a complicated political situation. But of course if Hadi came back to Yemen he knows he would probably be assassinated. All of his bodyguards are non-Yemeni because he is so detested. So he stays In Riyadh making up rules that are making the Yemen crisis even more severe.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155033938403641
19.12.2016 – BBC (** B K)
Film: The Bombing of Yemen | Documentary
BBC Our World documentary about Saudi's bombing of Yemen. In this episode of Our World, it takes a look at Saudi's bombing of a funeral in Yemen, using the 'double tap' airstrike in which the bombs are supplied by USA and UK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz9utHWH-KI
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
22.12.2016 – DEC Charity (** B H)
Film: DEC Facebook Live on the Yemen Crisis with Peter Oborne and guests - Part 1
Peter Oborne presents a DEC Facebook Live session on the Yemen Crisis with guests Neil Connery (ITV Journalist) and Hugh Fenton (Head of MENA, British Red Cross).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0bqhLKqYIg
Film: DEC Facebook Live on the Yemen Crisis with Peter Oborne and guests - Part 2
Peter Oborne presents a DEC Facebook Live session on the Yemen Crisis with guests Peter Salisbury (Senior Researcher Fellow, Chatham house) and Paul-Andre Wilton (Conflict Policy Advisor-Care International)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0bqhLKqYIg
Film: DEC Facebook Live on the Yemen Crisis with Peter Oborne and guests - Part 3
Peter Oborne presents a DEC Facebook Live session on the Yemen Crisis with guests Shane Stevenson (International Development Advisor, Oxfam) and Nawal Al-Maghafi (BBC Journalist)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSdpq1no2L8
16.12.2016 – RT (** B H K P)
Film: Big Picture Interview: Medea Benjamin, Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the U.S.-Saudi Connection/CODEPINK/Global Exchange. As the world continues to look with horror at the situation in Syria - the United States is aiding and abetting a famine in Yemen. Why are we sacrificing the lives of Yemeni children to pad the profits of defense contractors?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhQL7pFvhM8
21.12.2016 – Deutsche Welle (** B P)
Saudi-Arabiens neue Außenpolitik: Anzeichen einer gefährlichen Schwäche
Jahrzehntelang waren Saudi-Arabiens Diplomaten stets auf Ausgleich bedacht, um die Einnahmen aus dem Ölgeschäft nicht aufs Spiel zu setzen. Seit dem Amtsantritt von König Salman im vergangenen Jahr hat sich das geändert. Saudi-Arabiens Armee kämpft seit mehr als einem Jahr im Jemen und auch in der Diplomatie ist der Ton rauer geworden.
Saudische Truppen ziehen in den Krieg. Die gleichen Truppen, die von den USA, Großbritannien, Deutschland und anderen westlichen Staaten ausgebildet und großzügig ausgestattet wurden. Von Kampfjets über Panzerfahrzeuge bis hin zum Repertoire der Militärmusik.
"Auf Sand gebaut", so übertitelt der Islamwissenschaftler Sebastian Sons seine neueste Analyse der größten Monarchie unter den Golfstaaten. Denn Sons sieht Anzeichen dafür, dass die neue aggressive Außenpolitik des Königreichs eher ein Zeichen von Schwäche als von Stärke ist. Grund zur Sorge geben vor allem die unsicheren Zukunftsaussichten für einen Großteil der Bevölkerung.
"40 Prozent Jugendarbeitslosigkeit haben wir derzeit in Saudi-Arabien. Viele saudische Frauen und Männer finden keinen Job, obwohl sie gut ausgebildet sind, obwohl sie im Ausland studiert haben et cetera." – Von Marc Thörner
Mein Kommentar: Der Artikel ist viel mehr, als der Titel erwarten lässt: Eine sehr gute Einführung in Saudi-Arabien, die Sie unbedingt lesen sollten.
21.12.2016 – Wardheer News (** A K P)
Berbera port: UAE presence expands in Africa
The United Arab Emirates has signed an agreement to establish a second foreign military base in the Horn of Africa.
The new base, according to the source present at the negotiations, will be established at the coastal city of Berbera in Somaliland and will be an air and naval base. According to the government source the MoU was signed in the last week of September when a senior Somaliland delegation was in the UAE.
The self governing semi-autonomous Somaliland and the UAE enjoyed close political, economic and military ties since 2012.
The cooperation between the two countries intensified after the UAE’s involvement in the Yemen operations where the region’s strategic location south of the Bab al Mandeb strait proved crucial to their projection capabilities.
An area of 40km sq compromising of Berbera airport and sea front have been provided to the UAE for a period of 25 years and is renewable, the source added.
The base has been provided in exchange for security training, support and protection to the autonomous region, the source added, providing a much needed security blanket to Somaliland which borders Somalia to the south.
According to Alexander Mello, security analyst at New York based Horizon Client Access the UAE’s plan to operate their Eritrean Assab base simultaneously with the Berbera base is quite plausible.
‘Assab is still a pretty austere base, the work the UAE is doing there – especially the the expansion of the hangars and apron and building a new docking facility for UAE vessels 10km north of of current Assab port – is consistent with a long-term UAE presence,’ Mello said.
The UAE has been putting up aircraft shelters and deployed half a squadron of Mirage 2000 fighters to the base in September, Mello added, which again is consistent with a long-term presence.
‘They might be speeding up development of Berbera now to have a base out of Houthi missile range. It’s possible Assab will be focused more on supporting ops in Yemen and Berbera will be primarily used for conducting naval and air ops in the Bab al-Mandeb and Gulf of Aden with the U.S. and Egypt,’ he said.
Shehab al Makahaleh, political analyst at consultancy group Geostrategic Media, said that despite the UAE previously adopting a cautious foreign policy the recent financial chaos, the Arab Spring and Islamic militancy has forced the UAE to safeguard their national security by securing major sea ports in Africa.
‘The UAE is increasingly focused on projecting military power, the unrest has prompted the UAE to have its own base in the Eritrean port of Assab. In 2015, this simple port was built up from empty desert into a modern airbase, deep-water port, and military training facility,’ he said.
Al Makahleh said that ‘the rapid militarization’ in the Horn of Africa by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Iran, China, Russia, the UK, France – and the American presence on the west coast – under the aim to preserve the security and stability of the region has turned out to be a competition for its resources – By Awad Mustafa
http://www.wardheernews.com/uae-presence-expands-in-africa/
Comment: Saudi Arabia and the UAE are taking the entire Horn of Africa: This time it's #Somaliland
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1208893855830309
20.12.2016 – Reader Supported News (** B K P)
US Criminal Hypocrisy at Work in Syria and Yemen
US weeps for a city, all the while backing genocide for a country
In December 13, US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power offered up yet another stark exercise in imperial deceit, shedding crocodile tears for those suffering in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo, while continuing her strategically amoral silence about much greater suffering in the country of Yemen. The basis for this unconscionable choice is simple. Russia, Syria, and Iran are attacking Aleppo. The carnage in Yemen is led by Saudi Arabia, allied with eight other Sunni Muslim states (supported by another seven countries including Canada, UK, France, and Turkey) – but this 16-state war of aggression would be impossible without the exceptional 17th enemy of Yemen, the US: there would be no genocidal war of attrition on the poorest country in the region without US approval, US weapons, US intelligence gathering, US attack planning, and constant US tactical military participation.
War in the Middle East is waged without much regard for the laws of warfare on any side. The norm is set by tribal customs of revenge, brutality, and extermination. What is happening in Aleppo is little different from what is happening in Mosul. Civilians get little special treatment, while the families of the fighters are targeted for execution.
The Saudi-US air campaign has targeted ports and docks, all but cutting off food supplies from a country unable to feed itself in the best of times. These are war crimes and crimes against humanity. This is collective punishment of the civilian population for no reason other than it happens to be there and can’t escape. The US does not talk about this; the US hardly admits its involvement in killing Yemenis; the US hasn’t even succeeded in blocking the sale of cluster bombs (illegal in most nations of the world) to Saudi Arabia and its allies. Power is right: “The perpetrators are hiding their brutal assault from the world willfully.” And in a three-card monte move, she said:
The regime of Bashar Al-Assad, Russia, Iran, and their affiliated militia are the ones responsible for what the UN called “a complete meltdown of humanity.” And they are showing no mercy. No mercy despite their territorial conquests – even now, no mercy….
But in the world of Samantha Power there is only one atrocity worth mentioning:
Our shared humanity and security demands that certain rules of war hold, the most basic. And it is up to each and every one of us here to defend those rules. To the Assad regime, Russia, and Iran – three Member States behind the conquest of and carnage in Aleppo – you bear responsibility for these atrocities. By rejecting UN-ICRC evacuation efforts, you are signaling to those militia who are massacring innocents to keep doing what they are doing. Denying or obfuscating the facts – as you will do today – saying up is down, black is white, will not absolve you.
In effect, Ambassador Power is saying something like “up is black here.”
And when it comes to “denying or obfuscating the facts,” who has done that more defiantly and destructively for a longer period of time than the US? Not only in Syria and Yemen, but Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Honduras, El Salvador, Gaza, Cuba, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam.
Aleppo will join the ranks of those events in world history that define modern evil, that stain our conscience decades later. Halabja, Rwanda, Srebrenica, and, now, Aleppo…. It should shame you. Instead, by all appearances, it is emboldening you. You are plotting your next assault. Are you truly incapable of shame? Is there literally nothing that can shame you? Is there no act of barbarism against civilians, no execution of a child that gets under your skin, that just creeps you out a little bit? Is there nothing you will not lie about or justify?
That is the passage most quoted in news reports, but only occasionally challenged. Ambassador Power’s list of “events in world history that define modern evil” is strangely tame despite its murderousness.
Samantha Power asked the Russians, rhetorically, “Are you truly incapable of shame? Is there no act of barbarism against civilians, no execution of a child that gets under your skin, that just creeps you out a little bit? Is there nothing you will not lie about or justify?” And the Russians mocked her for acting like Mother Teresa.
She hasn’t asked those questions of her fellow Americans. She likely knows the honest answers would be no, no, and yes. There is nothing official America will not lie about or justify. Isn’t that why we torture and imprison people more or less randomly? Isn’t that why we have presidential assassination by drone strikes? Isn’t that why we enjoy our proxy genocide in Yemen? Isn’t that how we make America great again? – By William Boardman
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/40951-us-criminal-hypocrisy-at-work-in-syria-and-yemen = http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/william-boardman/70373/us-criminal-hypocrisy-at-work-in-syria-and-yemen
20.12.2016 – European Council on Foreign Relations (** B K P)
Yemen’s Forgotten War: How Europe Can Lay the Foundations for Peace
Yemen is more impoverished and more anarchic that at any point in its history. The country has effectively fragmented. And swathes of territory are controlled by a wide array of different leaders with divergent, and often competing, agendas. Without any principled and decisive action to end or even mitigate the country’s conflicts, Yemen risks sliding into a continued, accelerated decline. It is rapidly becoming fertile ground for extremist groups and could spur a new wave of refugees into Europe.
It is almost two years since Saudi Arabia launched its Operation Decisive Storm against the rebels in Yemen. The military offensive was unprecedented for Saudi Arabia, and was designed to restore a legitimate government to Yemen by pushing back against the Houthis ― a rebel group made up from the country’s Zaidi Shia minority, and facilitated by the resilient networks of Yemen’s former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Launched after the slow-moving takeover of the country by the Houthis, the military initiative was the first of its kind to be led and planned by Riyadh. It was undeniably ambitious.
As set out by then-Saudi ambassador to the United States ― and soon to be Saudi foreign minister ― Adel Jubair, the operation was not just about pushing back the putschists or securing the Saudi border, but about fighting the “Iranian threat” represented by the Houthis. It was also about restoring a ‘legitimate’ government to Yemen, including, but not limited to, rebuilding state institutions, disarming the rebels, and restoring the unpopular, but internationally recognised, president, Abdo Rabbu Mansour Hadi ― who fled to Saudi Arabia shortly before the start of the offensive in March 2015.
The Saudi operation has pushed the Houthis out of numerous areas of Yemen and prevented them from taking over the southern port of Aden. It has forced them to retreat from most of Yemen’s formerly independent south and many parts of the largely tribal provinces of al-Jawf and Marib in the north-west. Despite the relentless Saudi offensive, the Houthis and their allies continue to maintain their hold over Sanaa ―Yemen’s largest city ―, the country’s northern highlands, and the bulk of the country’s Red Sea coast. The Houthis have also managed to maintain control of much of the central city of Taiz, which was a hotbed of anti-Houthi sentiment even before the battle for Taiz began, in April 2015.
However, having been stifled by continual air strikes and a complex series of initiatives that are best described as ‘economic warfare’, Houthi-controlled areas have slipped into borderline famine. Massive unemployment rates have come amid rising prices for basic supplies, such as food and fuel, pushing many, ironically, to sign up as fighters. Today in Yemen, becoming a fighter in a militia group is one of the few paid jobs available. Despite utopian statements about the restoration of state sovereignty by pro-Hadi officials and spokespeople, as well as reported tranches of funding from the Gulf, areas liberated from the Houthis have remained plagued by chaos and disease. Compounding the issues Yemen faces are al-Qaeda and Islamic State (ISIS)-linked fighters, who have taken advantage of the power vacuum and remain active in many areas where the Houthis have been pushed out.
The internationally recognised government remains largely in exile, unable to move, let alone govern. Even in ‘liberated’ areas of the country, government action is limited to symbolic visits under the heavy guard of foreign coalition forces. Yemen is in a political deadlock as the state continues to fall apart.
The country’s deepening fragmentation points to the need for far wider political engagement, beyond the relatively narrow remit currently pursued by the UN. In a bid to strengthen that effort, European states should look to deepen engagement with all actors, including the Houthis, Yemen-based anti-Houthi resistance factions, and the population in the formerly independent south. In doing so, the EU can set an example, stressing the urgent need for a more inclusive political track that ensures all relevant groups have a seat at the table in peace talks.
The EU and its member states have a moral and strategic interest in ending the conflict. Failure to act could result in Yemen becoming a new hub for globally oriented terror groups, and could spur a new wave of refugees into Europe.
The EU should make the most of its comparatively neutral position in Yemen to pave the way for post-conflict stabilisation and reach out to groups that have, to date, been marginalised in the ongoing peace process. The EU can complement UN efforts and may be faced with the responsibility of filling in for an increasingly isolationist United States – By Adam Baron
http://www.ecfr.eu/publications/summary/yemens_forgotten_war_how_europe_can_lay_the_foundations_for_peace = http://nationalyemen.com/2016/12/20/yemens-forgotten-war-how-europe-can-lay-the-foundations-for-peace/
19.12.2016 – Geopolitics Alert (** B K P)
The Media Doesn’t Cover Yemen Because They Can’t Shift the Blame
Like usual, western media has completely failed to cover the conflict properly– if at all. Despite high numbers of civilian casualties, Yemen gets virtually no mainstream media coverage. On one hand, this has given independent media outlets the opportunity to control the narrative before readers can be bombarded with pro-western propaganda. As opposed to what we see happening with Syria right now. When they DO cover Yemen however, Western outlets have tried to portray the situation as though a small group of rebels (the Houthis) have overthrown a legitimate government. Let’s break this down a bit. The Houthis may be called “rebels” but the fact of the matter is that portions of the Yemeni Military are also fighting in support of the new Revolutionary Committee– it’s essentially an anti-imperialist alliance. These forces control most of what used to be North Yemen including the country’s capital city of Sana’a. Forces loyal to president Hadi control what used to be South Yemen. Ironically enough, al-Qaeda controls territory in this same area. There has been talk of dividing Yemen once again, but the working class people of Yemen know that this will just result in a prolonged civil war.
Military alliances aside, most of the Yemeni people do not support what western media calls the “internationally recognized” government; in fact they consider president Hadi and his cabinet to be nothing more than a puppet government for Saudi Arabia. Indeed, the only entities who seem to recognize Hadi as Yemen’s legitimate president are the global capitalist powers. Which are broadly known as the “Saudi-led coalition.” This Includes the United States, France, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, and so on.
The United States has come under fire from several human rights groups for supplying arms to Saudi Arabia; which has directly contributed to the violence, devastation, and deteriorating situation in Yemen at least since the Arab Spring.
Washington is upping support for the kingdom in other areas including surveillance and border patrol. But most importantly, they have actually increased military support for other countries involved in the Saudi-led assault on Yemen including Qatar, Morocco, and the UAE. Plus, the UK– another important source of weapons– has made no effort to cut-off supplies to Saudi Arabia. It’s just business as usual.
When Donald Trump won the election, I saw Yemenis rejoicing. They knew a Trump presidency would make life harder for Muslims living in America, or Muslims fleeing war in the middle east. But Trump’s isolationist attitude and unfavorable view of Saudi Arabia gave them at least a glimmer of hope.
But most importantly, Donald Trump can’t slow down global capitalist alliances which have caused this conflict, or the global arms trade. This is beyond one person’s control. As I’ve mentioned above, Yemen is very poor– they have little oil and very little resources. However, Aden is an important port city. Resistance control of Aden could drastically alter global trade routes and the flow of capital. But perhaps most importantly, the US and their allies do not want to lose Yemen to an anti-imperialist government as this could threaten the stability of other western-allied Gulf states such as Bahrain– who was not immune to uprisings during the Arab Spring. In fact, the US and their allies are arguably losing control in the region as a whole:
If anyone thinks the Trump administration is going to let the United States lose control of the Middle East to anti-imperialist forces– backtracking on over half a century of foreign policy– they are either naive or simply haven’t been paying attention very closely.
The Yemeni people echo the same attitudes as that of Syrians: if only foreign powers could stay out of our country, us Yemeni people could work this out on our own. They want foreign fighters out and they want the Saudi-led aggression to stop. They also know the west– specifically the United States– is directly to blame – by Randi Nord
http://geopoliticsalert.com/media-doesnt-cover-yemen-cant-shift-blame
cp2 Allgemein / General
22.12.2016 – Reuters (* B K)
U.N. blames Saudi coalition for most attacks on Yemen civilians
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that the Saudi-led coalition military campaign in Yemen appeared to be responsible for a "disproportionate amount" of attacks on civilian areas.
Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein said he had "observed with extreme concern" heavy shelling from the ground and air in areas of Yemen with a high concentration of civilians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, such as hospitals and schools.
He said all parties to the conflict were responsible, "although a disproportionate amount appeared to be the result of air strikes carried out by Coalition Forces." – by Michelle Nichols
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-yemen-security-un-idUKKBN0U51UZ20151222 = http://news.trust.org/item/20151222160143-n8ndg/
22.12.2016 – Middle East Eye (* B K)
Yemen war: Women play growing role for anti-Houthi forces
In spite of conservative nature of society, women are standing at checkpoints all day to inspect female passengers
Shoulder to shoulder with male fighters stand Ra'afa Abdullah and Riam al-Ra'awi at the southwestern entrance to Taiz to inspect the women who come to the city from different areas and provinces.
The checkpoint is the only entrance to the besieged city.
Abdullah and her friend do not need to take up arms. Their duty is to check passengers for weapons and suspicious items.
In September 2015, the Popular Resistance in Taiz began recruiting women. Abdullah welcomed the idea and joined the group to avenge her brother.
She is a mother of two boys, Ahmed, 8, and Ala'a, 4. Both Abdullah and her husband Omar work with the Resistance and rely on the boys' grandmother to take care of the children.
She has worked at several checkpoints throughout the city of Taiz, including one in al-Robaie area, near the frontlines. There, she took up arms, as she was expecting an attack by the Houthis at any time.
More than 30 women, including Abdullah and her friend, received training for using machine guns and inspections.
"We have found different kinds of weapons with female passengers, including bombs," Abdullah said. "We took the suspected women and men to the leadership of the Brigade 17. Some of them were released, and the investigation is still ongoing with others."
Abdullah was a housewife and her husband was a farmer in al-Akhmoor area, 20km from Taiz city. Now they are both full-time members of the Brigade 17.
"I stand all day under the sun to help in the liberation of Taiz, but we cannot live without money," she said. "What we get is hardly enough to take care of our families."
Abdullah and her husband each receive only YR1,000 ($4) a day, she said.
Not all Taiz residents support the work of women in the resistance. Some believe that women have to stay at home and only men should fight.
Wael Hasan, who lives in Taiz city, said he hates seeing women standing at the checkpoints all day.
Abdullah, the female fighter, said other women want to join the resistance now, but the force presently has enough recruits.
She denied that women joined the resistance for the pay.
"All people need money to live, but this does not mean we joined the resistance for money, but for liberation." – by Nasser al-Sakkaf
My comment: I remember how much the Houthis had been blamed by the Hadi supporters for having recruited women – while they do exactly the same.
22.12.2016 – Quartz (* B K)
The “overwhelming evidence” that US and UK weapons are being used for war crimes in Yemen
Yemen’s 21-month war has devastated the country and sparked a humanitarian catastrophe. The UN recorded 4,014 killed and thousands more injured by Saudi-led coalition air strikes between March 2015 and September 2016, carried out with the backing of the US and UK.
That’s a problem for the US and UK, who have been selling weapons to Saudi Arabia. Both countries have signed the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which prohibits the selling of weapons where it is known that they would be used in war crimes. The UK, which has ratified the ATT, is bound by its rules, while the US cannot undermine its objective as a signatory.
“In total, Human Rights Watch has documented the use of US weapons in 23 apparently unlawful coalition airstrikes,” says Priyanka Motaparthy, a senior emergencies researcher for Human Rights Watch. “That’s quite a significant number.” Motaparthy also slams the British government for ignoring “overwhelming evidence” that there is a high likelihood that UK-made weapons “could be used in unlawful strikes.”
So, what does this “overwhelming evidence” look like?
But the US is continuing to provide a huge package of military equipment, assistance, and advice to the Saudi Arabia, Motaparthy explains. And despite the evidence of the coalition using cluster bombs, the UK reaffirmed its support for Saudi Arabia, insisting the weapons were used against “legitimate military targets.”
“The US government is the largest arms exporter in the world, so if even it has reservations then you know it’s time to act,” says Andrew Smith, a spokesperson for Campaign Against Arms Trade. “Like the US, the UK has licensed billions of pounds worth of arms to Saudi forces. Like their US counterparts, UK arms companies have fueled and profited from the destruction taking place.” – by Aamna Mohdin
My comment: Overview article.
22.12.2016 – Shephard Media (* B K P)
Saudi and UAE driving GCC defence
The two military heavyweights of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are driving defence procurement in the region with recent increases due in part to operations against Houthi forces in Yemen.
With an estimated spend of $87.2 billion, Saudi Arabia had the highest military expenditure in the GCC in 2015. In fact, having doubled its spending since 2006, the country rose to third in the rankings of the biggest spenders globally, according to the SIPRI Arms Transfers Database 2015. Though it did have the third largest defence budget for last year – $81.9 billion – recorded figures show that total actual government expenditure has exceeded each annual budget since 2010.
The $5.3 billion military overspend was approximately 17% of the total excess in 2015 and is due largely to Saudi military intervention in Yemen. As operations in Yemen continue in 2016, Saudi Arabia is looking to boost its fleet of M1A2S main battle tanks (MBTs), and replace at least 20 destroyed in combat.
By 2014 the UAE had also increased its military expenditure with 136% growth since 2006. This upward trend in expenditure across the GCC is reflected in international trade. SIPRI stated that arms imports to GCC states ‘increased by 71% from 2005-2009 to 2010-2014’, accounting for 54% of imports to the Middle East in the latter period.
The largest GCC importers, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, were among the largest globally in 2015; Saudi Arabia became the second largest importer of major weapons worldwide in 2010-2015. According to the IHS Global Defence Trade Report 2016, the two countries imported defence systems worth $11.4 billion (17.5% of the global total), an increase of $2.8 billion from 2014 – by Georgina Smith
https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/defence-notes/saudi-and-uae-driving-gcc-defence/
Remark: The same subject especially for Saudi Arabia look at cp8.
22.12.2016 – Greens New Zealand (* B K)
The Atrocity of Yemen – What to do?
Thus a similar Islamic sectarian-political struggle plays out in Yemen to that in Iraq and Syria, with Al-Qaeda and IS profiting through territorial footholds.
The difference is that the UN Security Council gets resolutions through on Yemen, because China and Russia do not veto Western/GCC initiatives.
The reason is that, for Russia, Yemen does not offer the strategic military value that Syria does. It is the opposite: Aden has been a Western military stronghold for decades. So the UN resolutions go through, recognising the Hadi government, and applying sanctions against the Houthi leaders. China does not veto since its doctrinal rationale for vetoing draft resolutions over Syria (interference against the established government) translates into support for the drafts over Yemen (support for the established government in exile).
That is the political-strategic calculus. What it does not explain, or justify, is the continuing egregious breach of humanitarian law that the UN-sanctioned, GCC-led military campaign, has inflicted on Yemeni civilians. The details are reasonably well-known, and do not require description here. Suffice to note that, in January ’16, a UN panel of experts reported to the Security Council that the coalition had undertaken 119 sorties in Yemen that violated international humanitarian law. The report called for an international commission, set up by the Security Council to “investigate reports of violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law in Yemen by all parties and to identify the perpetrators of such violations”.
The coalition, which had opposed such an inquiry, immediately established ‘an independent team of experts’ to investigate and draw lessons from the military campaign.
The refusal to suspend arms to Saudi Arabia is symbolic of the distorted perception, within the UK and elsewhere, of what it will take to diminish the terrorist threat.
Whether it is Russia in Syria, or US/UK in Yemen, so long as the major powers fail in their requirement to secure peace through genuine collective action in the Security Council, and instead ply their strategic trade by proxy in competitive relationship, the civil wars will play out unabated until exhaustion decides the outcome, and terrorism will flourish – by Kennedy Graham
https://blog.greens.org.nz/2016/12/22/the-atrocity-of-yemen-what-to-do/ = http://livenews.co.nz/2016/12/22/the-atrocity-of-yemen-what-to-do/
21.12.2016 – Press TV Iran (* B K P)
Film: Debate: Saudi war on Yemen
In this episode of The Debate, Press TV has conducted an interview with Catherine Shakdam, the director of the Shafaqna Institute for Middle Eastern Studies, from London, and Lawrence J. Korb, a US foreign policy and national security analyst, from Washington, to discuss Saudi Arabia's relentless military aggression against Yemeni people and the humanitarian crisis in the impoverished country. [And with Edward Corrigan!]
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/12/21/500903/Saudi-war-Yemen = https://www.facebook.com/PRESSTV/videos/1361323007242816/ = https://www.facebook.com/Classy.Yemeni/posts/962357307227784
and the main features to read:
Saudis seek to create grand Wahhabi Empire in Yemen: Analyst
Press TV has talked to Catherine Shakdam, director of Shafaqna Institute for Middle Eastern Studies, as well as Lawrence J. Korb, US foreign policy and national security analyst, to discuss Saudi Arabia’s military aggression against Yemen.
Shakdam believes Saudi Arabia is trying to recreate a “grand Wahhabi Empire” in Yemen, adding that the real issue in this war is about sectarianism and the kind of hatred that is coming out of Riyadh.
She also stated that Saudi Arabia has been allowed to conduct“genocide” south of its borders just because it does not feel safe to have a Shia government there who wants to step outside the realm of Riyadh and declare itself free.
The analyst further noted Saudi Arabia “unilaterally” attacked Yemen because the Yemeni people decided to speak against the corrupt regime of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi who was elected in a one-man election in 2012 and was working alongside al-Qaeda.
Shakdam further asserted that the United States seeks to split up countries along sectarian and ethnic lines in order to justify its military interventionism in the Middle East.
The analyst went on to say that Washington is trying to paint Yemen's resistance movement as being some kind of a “rebel” force bound to destroy the country’s democracy.
Elsewhere in her remarks, Shakdam noted the United States will never discuss the humanitarian catastrophe it has helped create in Yemen because that would be admitting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
She also mentioned the humanitarian disaster in Yemen is much more “grave” and “horrible” than the media are covering, asserting that the death toll has been distorted and redacted.
Meanwhile, the other panelist on Press TV’s program, Lawrence J. Korb, opined that the Saudis have acted in “self-defense” because they were concerned that the Houthis might come into Saudi Arabia after they overthrew the legitimate government of Hadi.
He also stated that Saudi Arabia’s military aggression against Yemen has prevented the Houthis from taking over the country. However, he said, all wars are horrible, wishing the Houthis had not backed out from last summer’s peace talks in Kuwait.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/12/22/501945/Yemen-Saudi-Arabia-US-peace-talks-Hadi-Houthis-alQaeda = http://en.abna24.com/service/middle-east-west-asia//archive/2016/12/22/799941/story.html
21.12.2016 – Iran Herald (B K P)
Oppression in Arabia - Why Yemen's Resistance Movement Is Being Denied
Beyond the murderous campaign against Yemen's children, beyond the systematic destruction of a people's history and religious heritage, lies still an offense which has borne heavy on Yemen's heart: the negation of its Resistance movement's legitimacy.
It is not political restoration the Wahhabi Kingdom of Saudi Arabia pursues in Yemen. It is not democracy Riyadh wants to promote! How can we even entertain the possibility that such an aggression on Yemen could ever be justified when millions stand in famine and in fire? How can we fathom that the most brutal of all regimes, a regime which has victimized its own nationals in the name of religious absolutism, could ever think outside the tyranny of its greed, and abomination of its ideology: Wahhabism?
Resistance has risen in Yemen in reaction to injustice and opposition to tyranny. Why is it that western nations continue to deny that they have claimed for themselves: the right to political determination, and territorial sovereignty? – by Catherine Shakdam
http://www.iranherald.com/index.php/sid/250359569
20.12.2016 – Laconia Daily Sun (* B K)
U.S. & Saudi behavior in Yemen is a crime against humanity
While it stands to reason that the carnage imposed upon those living in Yemen will simply be ignored because of our lack of ethical concern for Middle Eastern "unpeople" (a term co-coined by Professor Edward S. Herman). The willfully maintained blind eyes of our elite print journals as well as goliath cable-network-based news agencies are rooted in an American tradition much more vulgar. That is to say, the national agenda-setting media organizations ensure the omission of Yemeni horror in a manner similar to that of the East Timorese genocide that the U.S. supported, fueled and funded during the 20th Century. The U.S. continues to play and has played the central role of enabler, informant and financier of the Saudi bombing campaign that began a year-and-a-half ago.
Yet the magnitude of dismay brought about by the Saudi-led cascade of repetitious bombings that transpired on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016, were so deadly and impactful that the screams of the men, women and children incinerated by modern weapons of war were metaphorically heard around the world.
Consequently, the American press was cornered into a position of forced acknowledgment of the blunder (more honestly, the war crime) by way of offering a semblance of commentary. With sporadic reports embedded within the inner pages of various newspapers, these bombing marked the deadliest day in Yemen's civil war
In placing the role of the U.S. into an international context regarding the Saudi-led effort that began in March 2015, Laura Kasinof of Slate correctly asserts, in a piece titled "Yemen Isn't Just a Proxy War Between Saudi Arabia and Iran," the following: "Saudi Arabia's official reason for continuing its assault on its impoverished southern neighbor is to restore the legitimate president of the country, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, which is also the U.S.'s excuse for supporting the war. Hadi fled the capital, Sanaa, in February 2015 and now stays in Saudi Arabia. But Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of backing the Houthis, and the war in Yemen is often cast as a proxy battle between Iran and Saudi Arabia."
Yet Kasinof is hesitant to place responsibility on the shoulders of the U.S. for the plethora of war crimes committed in Yemen via Saudi Arabia. Their proxy is fortunately addressed by Shiv Visvanathan in an article for The Hindu, titled, "A tragedy that Implicates us all." In Visvanathan's opinion piece, he writes: "To reduce Yemen to a surrogate war between Iran and the Saudis explains little. There is an ethics here which transcends politics and asks a deeper set of questions."
Writers like Vijay Prashad and those of the International Crisis Group have captured it competently. They are able to pin down the responsibility of the West and the Saudi government for starving a nation to death. Yet what one misses is a voice of conscience that asks a deeper set of questions. Years ago a Bertrand Russell could create, with great courage, a tribunal to try the U.S. for war crimes in Vietnam. A Noam Chomsky would follow suit, but today few have the courage to demand and label the U.S. and Saudi Arabia for a crime against humanity."
As a result, I am employing this letter to "follow suit" and openly "label the U.S. and Saudi Arabia for a crime against humanity." – by Bryer C. Sousa
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/100588-bryer-c-sousa-12-12-930
2016 – Cluster Munition Coalition (* B K)
Use of cluster bombs
Cluster munitions have been used by over 20 states during armed conflict in over 35 countries
Since March 2015, the armed coalition led by Saudi Arabia has been using cluster munitions in air strikes against Houthi forces in Yemen.
Cluster munitions used in the attacks have been identified as US-made BLU-63 antipersonnel/anti-materiel submunitions and components of a CBU-58 cluster bomb. Each air-dropped CBU-58 cluster bomb contains 650 submunitions. Cluster munitions of this type were exported by the United States to Saudi Arabia between 1970 and 1995.
Since the start of the Saudi-led strikes on Yemen on 26 March 2015, cluster munition use has been documented on several occasions and, despite initial denials of any plans to use cluster bombs, the Saudis have admitted to their use. Civilian casualties were documented as a result of cluster munition strikes carried out between April and August. On 6 January 2016, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a report sharing the evidence they have collected of strikes on several villages in Hajjah governorate. The 6 January strikes were the first identified on Sanaa, Yemen’s capital city. Both Human Rights Watch and OHCHR have collected photo evidence of the cluster bomb attack on Sanaa.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions bans all use, production, sale and transfer of cluster munitions. The Cluster Munition Coalition calls on all members of the Saudi-led coalition to stop all use of cluster munitions and join the Convention without further delay.
http://stopclustermunitions.org/en-gb/cluster-bombs/use-of-cluster-bombs/in-yemen.aspx
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
22.12.2016 – UNICEF (* A H)
Infographs, statistics, figures
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1619018358394152
22.12.2016 – Your ability (A H)
Mayasa, you may recall, is 7 years old and has 3 carcinomas: eye, stomach, brain.
Life, no, is not easy in #Yemen with airstrikes and siege. Imagine if you are a child fighting already a battle as huge as a cancer.
Mayasa received support from Your Ability Organization in Sanaa. The first surgery has been carried out. Still a long way to go.
If you want to help, you may click on the link below.
If you cannot help but want to send her your best wishes, please do so.
Mayasa needs us (photo)
https://www.facebook.com/your.abilities.or/
22.12.2016 – Doctors Without Borders (* B H)
Yemen: Six Months Inside a Forgotten War
Australian nurse Emma Parker spent almost six months at Al-Salam Hospital in Khamir, Yemen. Here she describes her experience working as head nurse
At Al-Salam Hospital in Khamir, MSF is involved in the emergency, surgery, maternity, pediatric, inpatient and intensive care departments, and collaborates closely with the Ministry of Health to improve medical services. We also support the blood bank and laboratory.
During my time there as Head Nurse, we treated many children for malnutrition and severe diarrhea, as well as respiratory infections and malaria. For women, we managed a lot of very complicated obstetric cases. For men, it was trauma: mostly gunshot wounds and road traffic accidents.
The war has intensified in Yemen. It has restricted access to medical facilities (or destroyed them completely). Injuries from airstrikes didn’t discriminate by age or gender. We were seeing more and more people who had traveled from far away; I heard of people walking seven hours to come to the hospital. By the time they reached us, they were often in bad shape.
My official duties were to supervise and support nurses, organize rosters and assist with the running of the pharmacy. In reality, I got involved in a bit of everything. People liked to show me the leaking roof!
Your drive as a nurse is to be with patients, so it was sometimes frustrating to be drawn away to deal with administration. It was always a bit of a balancing act. Of course if there was a large influx of patients or another emergency I stepped in to provide direct care, but otherwise it was about the other value I could add, and the legacy I would leave.
An example is training. The Yemeni nurses are educated
The people were the absolute highlight of my time in Yemen. When you read about the country you get a sense that people are ‘closed’; the women are covered and it appears to be a serious and conservative society. In many ways that wasn’t my experience.
Yes, there is a divide between men and women, and things that are simple in Australia are not simple there because of that. But they are very friendly people.
The women are very affectionate, they give a lot. And I found the men to be quite open to me. I was head nurse but I’m still a young female. People might not think they’d be respectful of that, but they were.
We treated a lot of patients from outside Khamir, including many from the IDP camp. A lot of people are without work and are surviving day-by-day. I spoke to a father about why his young daughter was very obviously malnourished. He told me that his wife had died and he hadn’t been able to bring her to the hospital because there was no one to care for his other five children.
Every patient at the hospital requires a female caretaker but a male signature for consent and discharge. It can make things difficult but that’s the way it is.
No Jobs, No Hospitals: A Forgotten War
Sometimes we had to refer patients to Yemen’s largest city, Sana’a, for further treatment , but because of the worsening conflict there are basically no working hospitals there, only private facilities. People would say to me, “I can barely feed myself, let alone pay one million rial [about US$4,000] to go to the hospital.”
There used to be many public hospitals in the city. But with no electricity, no fuel for generators, no equipment, no drugs, no staff, it becomes impossible.
There are no commercial flights in or out of Sana’a anymore; just humanitarian ones. You look around at the airport and everything has been bombed…the planes, the buildings.
You feel like there’s not much you can do and you worry, because you know the fighting is getting closer and closer to Sana’a.
Yemenis are known to be incredibly resilient. But as the war drags on, you can see the effects. Very few people are working and there are chronic shortages of food, water, energy. People are struggling.
Our national staff in Khamir are among the “lucky ones.” MSF employs more than two hundred at the hospital (as well as ten international staff). Some of the staff were from a nearby IDP camp. That was positive because if someone is employed, it doesn’t just help their family, but others too.
In the town, unless you work for MSF, in a shop, or selling street wares, there’s not really much else. Even the MoH can’t really afford to pay salaries. The Yemeni bank doesn’t have the money to pay. The country has almost ceased to function. One of my Yemeni colleagues said, “No one governs this place.”
Despite all this, the minute you leave the country, you really want to go back. It’s hard to describe…there’s something special about it. All the other field workers I have spoken to have said the same thing – by Emma Parker
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/article/yemen-six-months-inside-forgotten-war = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-six-months-inside-forgotten-war
21.12.2016 – Judith Brown (A H)
Some of the 7 million starving children. Yes that's right 140x more than the men women and children caught up in East Aleppo. To say nothing of the women and children starving to death in Yemen. This is not caused by civil war. It is caused by Saudi strikes on ports, silos, warehouses, transport routes (bridges, roads), airports, farms, water and irrigation plants, food factories, trucks carrying food, markets, food stores, plus a cruel Saudi led embargo. Although responsibility for the embargo was handed to the UN in the summer the situation cannot be resolved because the Saudis have bombed unloading cranes, bridges and roads. Is this genocide? (photos)
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155036234358641
21.12.2016 – MONA Relief (A H)
Al-Khair Foundation of UK signs Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Mona Relief to provide funding and support through 2017 for #Yemen
https://twitter.com/monarelief/status/811558790168453120
21.12.2016 – Fatik Al-Rodaini (A H)
The capital Sanaa is under heavy bombing by Saudi jets, despite that, .@monarelief distributing now blankets, dignity kits to IDPs
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/811512630795964416
Hygiene kits were distributed today by @monarelief in Sanaa funded by @iom_yemen Thank u IOM for ur trust @monareliefye
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/811661583596265472
100 families of IDPs at Wadi Ahmed area in Sanaa were able today to receive blankets and Hygiene kits from @monarelief @monareliefye #Yemen
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/811660247706308610
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/811634999510364160
https://twitter.com/monarelief/status/811679144513835008
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/811670005813231616
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/811886462589435904
20.12.2016 – The Lancet (* A H)
Malnutrition in Yemen: An invisible crisis
The current war in Yemen has exacerbated the country’s preexisting challenges including poverty, poor health, and shortage of basic necessities such as water, fuel, and medications. Severe malnutrition has emerged as a progressively spreading issue in Yemen.
http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(16)32592-2.pdf
20.12.2016 – Action Against Hunger USA (* A H)
Yemen: "Hunger Kills Every Day"
Action Against Hunger warns of an alarming rise in malnutrition in Hodeidah
Action Against Hunger warns that four times more children are at risk of dying of hunger in the Yemen governorate of Hodeidah than when the conflict began. At least 462,000* children are now estimated to be suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Yemen, where a 20-month conflict between the Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition has had a devastating impact on families across the country.
Action Against Hunger staff in Yemen are reporting an extremely alarming deterioration of nutrition status, particularly in Hodeidah governorate, with significantly higher numbers of children attending their clinics in need of urgent inpatient care because of malnutrition and other complications.
“Nearly 40 percent of the children we see in our mobile clinics need treatment,” says Action Against Hunger Country Director in Yemen, Erin Hutchinson. “They are not only suffering from severe acute malnutrition, but also from other complications, such as malaria, pneumonia, and are very ill. Treating malnutrition must be an absolute top priority for the humanitarian community, or many children will die.”
At a clinic in Al Khukha, Hodeidah, 10-month-old Hafida weighs just 10 and a half pounds, as she waits in the arms of her mother for the doctor to examine her.
"At this age, she should weigh nearly 15 and a half pounds," says nurse Ali Ibrahim Abdullah, who explains that in addition to being malnourished, Hafida also has an ear and lung infection. “It’s not uncommon,” he says. “I see more and more children coming to clinic with additional complications.”
Of the 30 consultations conducted that day, 12 young children required immediate inpatient treatment, an admission rate far higher than in 2014. The latest UN estimates suggest one fifth of Yemen’s population – 4.5 million people – need nutritional assistance.
Following the consultation, the clinic refers the most urgent cases of severe acute malnutrition to the nearest stabilization center, one of which is run by Action Against Hunger. At the stabilization center, both the mother and child are taken care of until the child is well enough to be discharged from inpatient care. From there, the child continues treatment on an outpatient basis, with screenings and followup until the child has completely recovered.
At a stabilization center in Hayis, supported by Action Against Hunger and the European Commission, 12 of the 14 beds are occupied. Bra and her mother Saloua fled the fighting that has been raging in Taiz for several months. The nine-month-old girl weighs just under nine pounds, which is a weight more common for newborn babies.
"It was very difficult to find food, so we came here,” explains Saloua. “We need help.”
Access to essentials for daily survival, including food and medicine, is an ongoing challenge for families due to the embargo and restrictions imposed on the country.
"In Al Hali, a shantytown on the outskirts of Hodeidah, many families depend on the generosity of the local baker who gives out bread to people who need it every morning,” says Hutchinson. “But how long can this situation continue?"
Action Against Hunger has published a report on the nutritional impact of Yemen’s 20-month conflict on its civilians. You can find it here.
http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/blog/yemen-hunger-kills-every-day
https://de.scribd.com/document/334638828/Yemen-Fact-Sheet
20.12.2016 – Save the Children (* A H)
Yemen’s health system is on the brink of collapse, according to a new briefing by Save the Children, which includes interviews with doctors and parents in the war-ravaged country. Struggling to Survive: Stories from Yemen’s Collapsing Health System shows child mortality rates are increasing. At least 1,219 children have died as a direct result of the fighting but a chronic lack of medical supplies and staff are causing an additional 10,000 preventable deaths per year, described in the briefing as the "invisible causalities of Yemen’s war."
More than 270 health facilities have been damaged as a result of the conflict and recent estimates suggest that more than half of 3,500 assessed health facilities are now closed or only partially functioning. This has left 8 million children without access to basic healthcare, according to the UN.[1]
There are also critical shortages of qualified staff throughout the country, with many doctors and staff either leaving Yemen or forced to flee their homes and being internally displaced.
"Even before the war tens of thousands of Yemeni children were dying of preventable causes. But now, the situation is much worse and an estimated 1,000 children are dying every week from preventable killers like diarrhea, malnutrition and respiratory tract infections," said Edward Santiago, Save the Children’s Yemen Country Director.
"With parents losing their jobs and livelihoods owing to the chaos of war, many told us they have to sell belongings like jewelry, vehicles, gas canisters and land just to be able to afford the trip to hospital while others have taken out loans. Once there, they often can’t afford the cost of the medicines their children urgently need while many other parents find the facility just does not have life-saving medicines."
Hilel Mohammed al-Bahri, Deputy Manager of Al-Sabeen Hospital in Sana’a, has seen a 300 percent increase in the price of most medicines since the war began in March 2015 making treatment unaffordable to the hospitals and most families.
"We have a lack of medicine and salary for doctors and employees," al-Bahri said. "We count on income from the patients who pay small fees. But if we need maintenance or a spare part for our hospital equipment, we don't have the money. We don't have parts for devices because of the blockade. We can only put babies younger than nine months old in the ICU. We don't have room for the older babies. We have only 20 beds for ICU units yet we are the only children's hospital in the area."
With increasing need but few beds and incubators, many babies and children are being turned away from facilities or, as in Al-Sabeen Hospital, are being placed with highly infectious conditions like measles in the same open wards as non-infected children because the hospital lacks space and equipment for an isolation unit.
Save the Children is responding to this dire humanitarian crisis by supporting 60 health facilities with essential equipment, medicine and training across the country. The organization also runs mobile medical teams that provide life-saving nutrition interventions; its programs to support the crumbling health sector have reached 400,000 people this year, more than half of whom are children.
Save the Children is calling upon parties to the conflict to remove all obstacles to the import of essential commercial and humanitarian supplies and to allow rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access throughout Yemen. All parties should also respect their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law and take immediate measures to prevent and end grave violations against children. These include the killing and maiming of children, attacks on hospitals and recruitment and exploitation by fighting forces – by Negin Janati
Comment by Judith Brown: Oh it's so sad and so disgusting and so hypocritical of the West. We can't expect much of Saudi Arabia - it's had a long history of despotism. But countries like U.K. and USA espouse 'values' and criticise others who supply weapons that damage hospitals and child health
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155036060493641
20.12.2016 – Oxfam (* A H)
Oxfam Yemen Situation Report #31, 15 November 2016 ‐ Bi‐weekly
Critical shortages in health sector/Cholera: As of early November there were over 2,000 suspected cases of cholera, with some deaths reported. This public health emergency comes at a time when more than half of Yemen’s health facilities are closed or partially functional. Critical shortages of medical supplies and fuel have further exacerbated the dire situation. Oxfam is preparing to scale‐up its cholera response.
Non‐payment of government salaries: Public‐sector salaries have not been paid (or partially paid) since August. It is anticipated within the humanitarian community that the non‐payment of government salaries over time will increase bureaucratic delays, further shrink access and result in increased crime and lawlessness.
Instability in grain imports: There is increasing evidence from multiple sources that overall grain imports to Yemen have reduced. A number of factors have lead to this including inability to secure lines of credit, bureaucratic uncertainty, blockages at ports and at sea prior to port entrance.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/oxfam-yemen-situation-report-31-15-november-2016-bi-weekly and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Oxfam%20Yemen%20External%20%20Sitrep%20%2331%2015Nov2016_Final.pdf
and film by Oxfam:
In #Yemen, 7 million people are severely hungry and one step away from #famine. You can help them.
https://twitter.com/OxfamYemen/status/811500363975196672
Oxfam crisis appeal:
https://donate.oxfam.org.uk/emergency/yemencrisis?cid=scm_yemencrisis
20.12.2016 – Living in Yemen on the edge (A H)
A message received and glad to share.
Contact details clicking on the picture
''please share to help people in #Taiz - #Yemen
This is a queue for water - people who take water from a tanker paid by charity can take 5litres a day and this is for everything - washing, cleaning, laundry, cooking and of course drinking. It is the only way poor people can get water. Water is no longer pumped direct to homes but those with money can have a tanker deliver to their own individual water tank but it is very expensive indeed now.''
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1208338792552482
20.12.2016 – Middle East Eye (* A H)
Reports suggest Yemen on verge of 'absolute collapse'
Save the Children warned that an estimated 1,000 children currently die every week from treatable diseases
Yemen is on the verge of collapse as poverty and disease, exacerbated by war and a lack of resources, have ravaged the country.
Save the Children warned on Tuesday that tens of thousands of children were dying with the healthcare system crumbling as a result of scarce resources and the flight of medical staff.
At least 1,219 children have so far died as a direct result of the fighting between a Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels, but the lack of medical supplies and staff is currently causing an additional 10,000 preventable deaths per year.
"Even before the war tens of thousands of Yemeni children were dying of preventable causes," said Edward Santiago, Save the Children's Yemen Country Director. "But now the situation is much worse and an estimated 1,000 children are dying every week from preventable killers like diarrhoea, malnutrition and respiratory tract infections.”
“With parents losing their jobs and livelihoods owing to the chaos of war, many told us they have to sell belongings like jewellery, vehicles, gas canisters and land just to be able to afford the trip to hospital while others have taken out loans. Once there they often can’t afford the cost of the medicines their children urgently need while many other parents find the facility just does not have life-saving medicines.”
Eighty-six percent of people in Yemen are thought to be in need of humanitarian aid, a state which a new report by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) described as "borderline famine".
The report said that the children of Yemen were potentially a "lost generation" due to illness, poverty and lack of education and would provide a vital breeding ground for militants groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS), both of whom have a foothold in Yemen.
Nineteen million people are living without safe drinking water and 14.1 million are without food security. $56m pledged by the EU barely touches the $1.63bn gap that needs to be bridged in order to meet Yemen's aid needs.
“Yemen has received a fraction of the international attention accorded to Syria," said the report's author, Adam Baron. "But in many ways what’s happening is now worse than in Syria, in terms of both the humanitarian situation and the vacuum of state control that is giving space to extremist groups."
"The country is rapidly reaching a point of total anarchy and state failure, which will make it impossible for Europe to ignore, not least because of the possible wave of Yemeni refugees that could seek shelter on European shores."
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/new-reports-suggest-yemen-verge-absolute-collapse-737380817
Comment: On the verge? If a child dying every 10 minutes (+ everything else happening) is not absolute collapse, what is it?
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1208388225880872
20.12.2016 – UN High Commissioner for Refugees (* B H)
Q&A: Yemenis face a ‘struggle for survival’
UNHCR’s country representative, Ayman Gharaibeh, warns war is tearing the fabric of Yemen apart and creating a humanitarian catastrophe.
Since war broke out in Yemen in March 2015, the fabric of the country has been disintegrating and the population of 27.4 million suffering untold hardship and misery. The situation there has been described as a ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ and without help many more people, especially children, will die from violence, lack of food and water, illness or disease. Ayman Gharaibeh, UNHCR’s Representative to Yemen, is leading the UN Refugee Agency’s humanitarian operations and response across the country. The experienced humanitarian aid worker previously served in Yemen with UNHCR from 1992 to 1994. Gharaibeh spoke to Public Information Officer Shabia Mantoo about the desperate situation there.
Please describe the situation in Yemen at the moment?
Simply put this is nothing short of a humanitarian catastrophe. Current hostilities are taking place in a country mired by years of successive conflicts, widespread insecurity and under-development, so we now see a devastating mix of civilian casualties, mass displacement, worsening poverty, economic decline, deteriorating conditions, weakened public institutions and limited access to services. Almost two years into the conflict, we are trying to respond to a calamity in which nearly 19 million people across Yemen are in need of urgent assistance and people are suffering in truly abysmal conditions.
What are the most pressing needs for those displaced by the conflict?
The situation facing many displaced Yemenis is essentially a struggle for survival – food, water and shelter are priority needs for those who have been forced to flee elsewhere in Yemen for safety. Many are now enduring miserable and inadequate conditions living in overcrowded or makeshift shelters for months on end and without sufficient protection. More than half the population is without adequate food and health care and this will only worsen. Deteriorating conditions are also facilitating the spread of preventable communicable diseases, such as cholera, which have arisen as a consequence of the conflict.
Where is UNHCR working in Yemen and how are you responding to the crisis?
Is it difficult to deliver aid in Yemen? What are the biggest challenges for UNHCR?
Is humanitarian assistance alone sufficient?
Yemen is often referred to as a neglected crisis. Why is this so?
It is definitely a neglected crisis when compared to other regional crises. If we look at the magnitude and scale of the needs in Yemen, the attention it receives is disproportionate. This is due to a number of factors and, as disastrous as it is, the conflict hasn’t generated huge outflows of Yemeni refugees. So, in the absence of movements from Yemen and onwards to Europe, there is no spotlight on this catastrophe. Furthermore, there is also the misperception that this is only a regional crisis or a neighbourhood problem, and as a result many traditional donors don’t see the need to extend as much support.
Why is Yemen important and why should the world care?
It is very short-sighted to see Yemen as just a regional crisis, it is a global crisis with far-reaching implications. This is one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. What are the implications of a country on the brink? If instability continues to prevail in parts of the country, then proscribed organizations currently present in Yemen will benefit – and that poses a threat to global security. The world cannot afford to let Yemen slip into the abyss. Yemen must be supported and we need to keep on advocating and mobilizing support in every way we can – By: Shabia Mantoo
www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/latest/2016/12/5858eb774/qa-yemenis-face-struggle-survival.html = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/qa-yemenis-face-struggle-survival
19.12.2016 – UNICEF Yemen (A H)
Photos: More than 2000 schools no more can be used. UNICEF is renovating nearly 700.
providing tents to serve as temporary classrooms so that children can learn. This is Almunadhel Girls School in Saada.
https://www.facebook.com/unicefyemen/posts/1257087377690636
31.12.2016 – World Health Organization (* A H)
Yemen: Providing health care to children on the brink of starvation
Even before the current crisis in Yemen, the country faced one of the highest rates of child malnutrition in the world, with more than one million children suffering from acute malnutrition. Almost 20 months into the ongoing conflict, shortages of food, medicine and basic supplies are placing millions of people on the brink of starvation.
Today, more than 4 million people in Yemen are acutely malnourished, including 2 million children. One of the leading causes of civilian deaths in Yemen’s conflict is not trauma injuries, but mothers and children dying due to lack of routine health services. According to the World Food Programme, 10 out of the country’s 22 governorates are classified as reaching emergency levels, one step from famine levels.
Almost 462,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition and at risk of life-threatening complications such as respiratory infections or organ failure. If not immediately treated, these symptoms can reach life-threatening levels or have serious short and long-term consequences on their physical and intellectual growth. With less than 40% of all children in Yemen immunized, those who suffer from malnutrition are also more vulnerable to infectious diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and measles.
As food restrictions continue and health services collapse, mortality rates among Yemeni children are also expected to increase. A recent survey by WHO revealed that 55% of all health facilities in 16 priority governorates in Yemen are closed or partially functioning. Child health and nutrition services are fully available in only 40% of facilities.
Despite being only 24% funded under the 2016 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan, WHO’s response to the health needs of malnourished children remains a key priority.
WHO-supported Therapeutic Feeding Centres in 11 governorates provide severely malnourished children with full treatment, medicines and milk at no cost. The centres also conduct health education sessions for family members attending the facility. Since August 2015, these centres have treated more than 2,700 children. Additionally, 11 mobile nutrition teams supported by WHO continue to conduct integrated outreach activities, offering primary health care and nutrition services.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/health-emergencies-update-september-october-2016 and in full: http://www.emro.who.int/images/stories/eha/WHO_in_emergencies_October_2016.pdf?ua=1 = http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/WHO_in_emergencies_October_2016.pdf
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
22.12.2016 – Saba Net (* A P)
PM: Govt is working seriously to solve delayed salaries problem
Prime Minister Dr. Abdul Aziz Saleh Bin Habtoor confirmed that the government is working seriously to resolve the problem of delaying the salaries payment to the state employees.
Dr. bin Habtoor met on Wednesday in Sana'a with the leadership of the General Federation of Workers' Trade Unions (GFWTU) in Yemen and heads of a number of sub-unions.
The meeting dealt with a number of issues related to the situation of workers in the public, mixed and private sectors.
The difficult living conditions of the workers and employees due to delay of their salaries was discussed in the meeting, as well as the efforts of the national salvation government to address this aspect despite the economic challenges as a result of the continued aggression and siege and the unconstitutional and illegal decision to transfer functions and tasks of the Central Bank of Yemen to Aden.
Sharaf noted that the government started since its first meeting in adoption and implementation of a package of fiscal measures to provide the necessary funds to pay salaries and alleviate the living conditions experienced by the workers and staff.
Prime Minister Dr. Abdul Aziz Saleh Bin Habtoor confirmed that the government is working seriously to resolve the problem of delaying the salaries payment to the state employees.
Dr. bin Habtoor met on Wednesday in Sana'a with the leadership of the General Federation of Workers' Trade Unions (GFWTU) in Yemen and heads of a number of sub-unions.
The meeting dealt with a number of issues related to the situation of workers in the public, mixed and private sectors.
The difficult living conditions of the workers and employees due to delay of their salaries was discussed in the meeting, as well as the efforts of the national salvation government to address this aspect despite the economic challenges as a result of the continued aggression and siege and the unconstitutional and illegal decision to transfer functions and tasks of the Central Bank of Yemen to Aden.
Sharaf noted that the government started since its first meeting in adoption and implementation of a package of fiscal measures to provide the necessary funds to pay salaries and alleviate the living conditions experienced by the workers and staff.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450387.htm
22.12.2016 – Saba Net (A P)
FM: Govt keen to ease humanitarian organizations' work in Yemen
Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf affirmed the National Salvation Government's keenness to facilitate the work of all humanitarian organizations operating in Yemen.
This came during the minister's meeting with the acting resident representative of the World Food Program (WFP) to Yemen Adham Muslim on Wednesday.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450378.htm
21.12.2016 – Saba Net (A P)
Foreign minister meets newly- UNFPA Resident Representative
Minister of Foreign Affairs Hesham Sharaf met on Wednesday with the United Nations Population Fund representative to Yemen (UNFPA ) Anjali Sen.
At the meeting, the UNFPA official handed over a copy of her credential to the foreing minister as a resident representative to the Republic of Yemen.
The minister affirmed that the Supreme Political Council and the National Salvation Government paid more attention to the international organizations working in the field of International humanitarian organizations.
Sharaf confirmed that the Council and the Government would provide all kinds of support to facilitate her new mission in Yemen particularly in these difficult circumstances experienced by the country that undergoing of the aggression and siege.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450341.htm
21.12.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A P)
Yemen Parliament strongly condemns terrorist attack on the Christmas market in Berlin
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/811577253737984001
Yemen House of Representatives Demand the British House of Commons2decisively stop gov from selling any more weapons 2Saudi war criminals
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/811576071036567553
My comment: A working parliament in Sanaa backing the Sanaa government, while “president” Hadi did not consult parliament for two years.
22.12.2016 – International Federation of Journalists (A)
Yemen: IFJ urges prompt investigation into mysterious death of journalist
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate, the Yemeni Journalists´ Syndicate (YJS), in mourning the death in mysterious circumstances of a Yemeni journalist on 20 December.
Mohamed al-Absi was working as an investigative reporter on a number of local and political newspapers and he was a recognised journalist in Yemen.
Reports said the journalist was having dinner with a friend in a restaurant on 20 December in the capital Sana. A few hours later they both felt unwell and were driven to the hospital, where the reporter died, while his friend survived.
Some media have speculated he had a heart attack while the family says he may have been poisoned but the union urged media and all parties not to speculate about the causes of the death.
21.12.2016 – Middle East Monitor (A H P)
Official: 75% of Yemenis in need of humanitarian aid
Some 75 per cent of Yemenis are in an urgent need for the “simplest” humanitarian assistance Moheet.com reported Yemen’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdel-Malik Al-Mekhlafi saying yesterday.
Al-Mekhlafi’s remarks came during an Arab League and European Union meeting in Cairo, Egypt.
“Coup forces in Yemen do not care about the fact that three-quarters of Yemenis, one-third of them children, are in need for the simplest humanitarian assistance, mainly food and medicines,” He said.
He cited the findings of the international reports which indicated that thousands of children, women and elderly people are on the “edge of an imminent humanitarian crisis” and they are susceptible to “famines and epidemic diseases”.
Al-Mekhlafi called on the international community to put pressure on the Houthis and the forces of the ousted Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in order to afford safe passage to delivery humanitarian assistance to the besieged Yemeni cities, as well as to take the needed measures to reinforce confidence ahead of returning to the political process.
The deputy prime minister noted that the Iranian interference in Yemen’s affairs is one of the prime obstacles ahead of reaching a political reconciliation for the conflict.
He noted that the current volatile situation threatens the regional and international safety and security, mainly as it affects the safety of navigation in the Red Sea and the international waters around Yemen.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20161221-official-75-of-yemenis-in-need-of-humanitarian-aid/
My comment: From the Hadi “government” His description of the humanitarian catastrophe is just true. Speaking of that without mentioning Saudi air raids and blockade is just odd. Objecting to the Houthis they block humanitarian aid getting to besieged Yemeni cities is true, but refers just to one city: Taiz. But in this minister’s statement mentioning this is rather odd when he does not even mentioned that while the Houthis block a city, the Saudis block half a country. – Quite stupid also is the relevation that “the Iranian interference in Yemen’s affairs is one of the prime obstacles ahead of reaching a political reconciliation”. Well, Iranian interference mainly is pro-Houthi cheerleading. In this context not to mention the Saudi / Emirati interference although this is the interference which bombs half of the country into ruins and is starving out 3/4 the population, just is a sign of stupid propaganda.
Comment by Judith Brown: Hmmm. Hadi's deputy says that coup leaders don't care about the fate of Yemenis. I would say Hadi doesn't either, judging by his actions.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155036067188641
21.12.2016 – Saba Net (A P)
Health minister meets WHO representative
Minister of Public Health and Population Mohammed Saleh Hafedh met on Wednesday with World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Yemen Ahmed Chadol on the occasion of ending his tenure.
At the meeting, the health minister valued the role played by the WHO representative in Yemen during his tenure and the exerted efforts made by him in order to help the health sector in Yemen.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450354.htm
21.12.2016 – Saba Net (A P)
Health Minister meets EMPHNET's adviser
Minister of Public Health and Population Dr. Mohammed Salim bin Hafeedh met with Dr. Ali Alamadoahi, the public health and communication adviser at the Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET).
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450277.htm
21.12.2016 – Saba Net (A P)
Yemen's Health Ministry, EMPHNET sign MoU
The Ministry of Public Health and Population and the Global Health Development organization represented by the Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET) signed a memorandum of understanding.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450274.htm
21.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (A)
Houthi leader killed by Houthi gunman in Ibb city
Recently, the differences among the Houthis in Ibb have increased and have reached armed clashes.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87331
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
22.12.2016 – Gulf News (A T)
Yemen in broad counter-terrorism sweep
Police forces raid house of Al Qaida operative in Aden seizing explosives
Yemen anti-terror squads have stepped up raids on suspected Al Qaida and Daesh hideouts in the port city of Aden as similar forces announced foiling terror plots against government facilities in the province of Hadramout.
Aden police said in a statement that highly trained forces stormed several houses in the city, leading to uncovering a small factory for making explosive materials and car bombs.
At a house belonging to a fugitive Al Qaida operative, government forces founded explosive vests, IEDs and remote detonators.
Police said investigations with Al Qaida prisoners led to locating the house while its owner fled before the arrival of security services.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/yemen/yemen-in-broad-counter-terrorism-sweep-1.1950340
21.12.2016 – Southern Hirak (A P)
Audio: Clips from BBC Radio4, Dec 15 2016 Yemen: Whats wrong & how to fix it
Sacrificing all in their way,starving kids is a price being paid to elongate war attempting 2 revive "unity" North gov marginalized South, successfully brainwashing North 2 believing"unity"religiously
North #Yemen's greed for forced unity is fuelling war. Innocents dying on both sides as North grasps onto #SouthYemen @BBCRadio4 discussion
https://twitter.com/SouthHirak/status/811614243212492802
My comment: The text giving the view of Southern Hirak separatists.
21.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (A T)
Eyewitnesses: 7 injured in government vehicle explosion in Abyan
Eyewitnesses said on Tuesday that a government forces vehicle was bombed in Lawder city of Abyan governorate, southeastern Yemen.
The witnesses told Almasdaronline that the blast was probably caused by an explosive device, and that 7 persons, including government soldiers, were injured.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87336
20.12.2016 – Ahmad Alghobary (A)
Huge explosion rocks north of #Aden city #Yemen .
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/811319238686285834
20.12.2016 – International Tribunal (A H P)
Mohafith Aliateem from Hajjah governorate,he has traveled to Egypt since four months ago to treatment.There in Egypt performed three operations as you see on the pic.but due to of blockade and closed Sana'a airport,he has been to Yemen last week by Aden airport,but while he was traveling to Hajjah,the mercenaries of Hadi's forces arrested him without any reason only he is from Hajjah,now his life in dangerous,he need to rest and complete the treatment,or he will die. this is the truth of mercenaries and their legality. share this post to releas him to be live and not die (photo)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=709038015921931&set=gm.1170871442949658&type=3&theater = https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155033948893641
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
22.12.2016 – UK UN New York (A P)
The @UN Security Council pauses for a minute of silence to remember those lost to acts of terror in #Berlin, #Ankara, #Yemen, & #Jordan.
https://twitter.com/UKUN_NewYork/status/811229094729945092
Comment by Hisham Al-Omeisy: For 49 killed by ISIS in #Yemen last week? Thanks. Oh BTW, 1,000s were also killed by Saudi in what may amount to war crimes.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/811914898255003648
My comment to comment: Well, simply Western masters of the Universe claim that’s just them who might decide what is labeled “terror” – and what is not.
22.12.2016 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (A P)
#PT Saudi wants to secure de-escalation on border as a separate deal then blame escalation of fighting in #Yemen on local parties. Nice try.
Jordan meeting hiccup - Saudi/Hadi: Priority is de-escalation on Yemen-Saudi border. Houthis/Saleh: Nope, de-escalation across whole #Yemen
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/811910681037602816 and https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/811910033353084928
21.12.2016 – International Crisis Group (A P)
Fifteen Points for the New Secretary-General
The United Nations has seldom faced so many challenges. International Crisis Group offers policy ideas on some of the most important strategic questions and crises confronting incoming Secretary-General António Guterres.
10. Yemen
Prospects look equally gloomy in Yemen. Neither side – the Huthi/Saleh alliance nor the Saudi-led coalition – is fully committed to the UN-sponsored roadmap, which offers the basis for a compromise that would end regional aspects of the war and return it to a Yemeni-Yemeni process. The Saudi-backed government has gone so far as to publicly reject it. Both sides continue to take escalatory steps. These include the Huthi/Saleh front unilaterally forming a new government, launching missiles deeper into Saudi Arabia and firing on U.S. and United Arab Emirate (UAE) ships in the Red Sea. The Huthis’ Iran ties are overstated, but Tehran is happy to keep the Saudis bogged down in Yemen and uses its influence accordingly.
The Saudi-led coalition is attempting to capture Huthi-controlled territory along the Saudi-Yemeni border and preparing to open a new front along the Red Sea coast. Calling for an immediate ceasefire would be unwise without doing the political groundwork first. Better would be to work with the United Kingdom, the UAE and Oman to encourage backchannel communications between (i) Saudi Arabia and the Huthis and (ii) Saudi Arabia and the Saleh family, in an attempt to outline informal guarantees and understandings that would support the UN roadmap. The Secretary-General should, however, launch a humanitarian appeal to alleviate the threat of famine and urge coalition forces to postpone a potential Red Sea coast offensive on this basis. If that cannot be avoided, the UN should negotiate a humanitarian access plan for both the Red Sea coast and the Huthi/Saleh highlands, which could be required if Saudi-led forces make a deeper push.
https://www.crisisgroup.org/global/fifteen-points-new-secretary-general = http://reliefweb.int/report/world/fifteen-points-new-secretary-general
My comment: There are quite reasonable ideas here. But: The “International Crisis Group” sounds very well but is just another Western think tank. The German Wikipedia states in the beginning that it is “mainly financed by Western governments, endowments and companies”. Thus, the pro-Saudi bias – just the Houthis are blamed, Saudi air raids and blockade not even are mentioned – cannot be a surprise. And this is evident: The crisis Group is no neutral advisor, but a means to exercise Western influence.
21.12.2016 – Inner City Press (A P)
On #Saudi admitting use of UK cluster bombs on #Yemen ICP asks #BanKiMoon spox if back on kid killer list. No, up to #NextSG
https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/811625696510545923
21.12.2016 – Inner City Press (* A P)
While in Yemen the Houthis and ex-President Saleh's GNC both announced agreement to a ceasefire, in Riyahd exiled president Hadi indicated he did not agree. The UN on November 16 admitted to Inner City Press that Hadi did not even meet with UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
On December 1, Inner City Press asked the incoming president of the UN Security Council for December, Spain, why Yemen is not even on the calendar for the month, even in the footnotes. Click here for that.
On December 7, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: President Hadi has rejected the envoy's most recent proposal in a letter to the Security Council. And it seems like almost everybody else, even Member States like Saudi Arabia, are, have said that they support this roadmap. US and UK have both said it.
In the same way that it was presented at one time in Syria, that the blockage here seems to be an individual as opposed to, like… does the Secretary-General stand behind the roadmap? And does he intend to speak to President Hadi about the… the continuing bombing that will take place if he, in fact, rejects this roadmap?
Deputy Spokesman: The Secretary-General continues to support the work of his Special Envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, and of the roadmap that Mr. Ould Cheikh Ahmed is presenting to parties.
We're aware of the remarks from President Hadi's side. And, of course, we're aware from past experiences with many diplomatic processes that many times things are said that could be interpreted as a way to influence or shape a process of negotiations as it proceeds.
Mr. Ould Cheikh Ahmed has been in touch with the parties. He will continue to be in touch with the parties, and he will continue to work to make sure that all sides agree to a roadmap out of this crisis.
ICP Question: I know the Secretary-General met with President Hadi, I guess, in September. I saw their meeting upstairs. But has he spoken to him since, since September?
http://www.innercitypress.com/yemen239fishy122116.html
My comment: More than weak.
20.12.2016 – Xinhua (A P)
Yemen's dominant Houthis welcome Kerry's new peace call
Yemen's dominant Houthi-led governing body Tuesday welcomed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's new peace call aimed to achieve a lasting cessation to 22-month civil war in Yemen, said state Saba news agency.
The Houthi-led newly formed body, called "the National Salvation Government" also urged immediate lifting to all-out blockade imposed by Saudi-led military coalition that backed Houthis' foe of the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
"The National Salvation Government welcome the new peace call, including the roadmap proposed by UN envoy Ould Cheikh Ahmed as a basis for positive final negotiations to end war, blockade and reach an honorable comprehensive political compromise," read a statement carried by Houthi-controlled Saba.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-12/20/c_135920493.htm
and
21.12.2016 – Saba Net (A P)
Yemen welcomes int'l peace initiatives to end aggression, lift blockade
The Foreign Ministry welcomed the international peace initiatives to end the aggression war and lift the siege imposed on the Yemeni people.
In its statement, which was issued on Tuesday, the ministry renewed the position of the Supreme Political Council and the National Salvation Government on the peace initiatives, including the peace map proposed by the UN envoy to Yemen, Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
"We can deal positively with it (Ould Chekikh's initiative) as the basis for the final negotiations with a view to an immediate cessation of the aggression and lift the siege imposed on Yemen and reaching comprehensive peaceful political settlement," the ministry said.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450270.htm
Remark: “Yemen” = Sanaa government.
cp7a Iran
21.12.2016 – Fars News (* A K PH)
Source Dismisses Presence of Iranian Military Men in Yemen
Iran has not deployed its military forces in Yemen, a source said on Wednesday, dismissing media reports claiming that an Iranian officer was killed in the Arab country as "baseless".
"The report by sources affiliated to the fugitive Yemeni president, Mansour Hadi, on the death of an Iranian military officer in Yemen is baseless and sheer lie," the informed source said.
"No Iranian military has been deployed in Yemen," the source added.
Sources affiliated to Hadi had earlier claimed that an Iranian officer was killed and two Lebanese engineers were injured in the Saudi-led coalition's airstrikes against Hajjah province in Northwest of Yemen.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951001001023
and
22.12.2016 – Financial Tribune (* A K P)
No Military Presence in Yemen
Iran has no military presence in Yemen, an informed source told ISNA on Wednesday, dismissing as "baseless" recent allegations that an Iranian military officer has been killed in Yemen in an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition.
"No member of Iran's army operates in Yemen. Those who have invited foreign forces and the so-called Arab coalition's troops to destroy Yemen and kill their compatriots realize that they have no credibility among their own people and such news is aimed at covering up their atrocities," the source said.
https://financialtribune.com/articles/national/55923/no-military-presence-in-yemen
21.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (* A K PS)
Government forces: Iranian officer, Lebanese engineers killed by airstrike in Haradh
The Fifth Military Region of the government forces have announced that an Iranian officer was killed and Lebanese engineers wounded while working as members of a Houthi engineering cell in Haradh area of Haja governorate, northwestern Yemen.
The Fifth Military Region Media Centre posted on Facebook, quoting an exclusive source, that the fighters of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition have bombed the Iranian officer's position. The source said that the 47 year-old Iranian Abo Haidra Ridhae and the two Lebanese engineers Abo Emad, 38 years, and Abo Alfadhl, 34 years, were in the targeted location.
The source pointed out that field leaders of the Houthi and Saleh forces were holding a meeting with the Iranian officer when the fighters bombed their position.
"The Republican Guard officer Abdallah Yahia al Mushki and the Lieutenant Himiar Ali Musleh Al Haimi were also killed in the airstrike".
The engineering cell had arrived in Haradh days ago to locate the government forces positions and launch ballistic missiles towards important targets inside the KSA, according to the centre.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87326
My comment: Fact or fiction? The label “Lebanese” wants to make us think of Hisbollah.
21.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (A P)
Iran FM: Iran's influence in Yemen not USA and KSA concern
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Ghasemi, said on Monday that the Saudi Arabia and the USA have nothing to do with Iran's influence in Yemen, hours after the two states have accused Iran of intervening in the Yemeni crisis.
Ghasemi pointed out that the Iran's influence in Yemen does not mean having presence in Yemen, but is linked to the historical and cultural ties since the past.
''The Saudi foreign minister has to know that he has to stop supporting terrorism and terrorists,'' the Iranian Foreign Ministry's spokesman added.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87330
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
22.12.2016 – Reuters (* A K P)
Saudi Arabia to raise military spending 6 pct -budget
Saudi Arabia, at war in Yemen and competing for regional influence with arch-rival Iran, projects a 6.7 percent rise in defence spending in 2017 to 191 billion riyals ($50.8 billion), according to official budget figures released on Thursday.
The kingdom, one of the world's biggest military spenders, forecasts a decline in Security and Regional Administration, a separate spending category that is military-related, to 96.7 billion riyals from 102.3 billion.
Military spending was originally projected at 179 billion riyals in 2016 but actual military spending has been around 205.1 billion. Security and Regional Administration spending will be 100.6 billion in 2016, according to the budget's preliminary estimates.
Riyadh is expected to continue buying billions of dollars worth of weapons, mainly from Western suppliers such as the United States, Britain and France, for its land, sea and air forces in coming years.
Defence Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, pursuing wide economic reforms to reduce reliance on oil, said in an interview in April that military-related spending was a "problem", suggesting some was extravagant.
http://www.reuters.com/article/saudi-economy-budget-military-idUSL5N1EH3CU
My comment: That fits “like the fist onto the eye” to the following article:
21.12.2016 – Reuters (A E P)
Saudi budget to boost spending, raise domestic fuel prices - sources
Saudi Arabia's state budget for 2017, which is expected to be released on Thursday, will boost spending to support economic growth while raising domestic energy prices to ease the government's subsidy burden, sources told Reuters.
The government is expected to announce its budget deficit fell sharply this year to 297 billion riyals ($79.2 billion), the sources, who are familiar with the budget planning, said on Wednesday.
That would allow Riyadh to claim substantial success in its battle to reduce a huge deficit caused by low oil prices. The deficit totaled a record 367 billion riyals in 2015, and the original budget for this year projected a 326 billion riyal gap – By Reem Shamseddine and Marwa Rashad
Government revenues totaled 528 billion riyals in 2016, slightly higher than the 514 billion originally projected, while spending was 825 billion riyals, slightly lower than the 840 billion in the original plan.
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN14A0W7
21.12.2016 – Ali AlAhmed (A H)
#Muslim workers face starvation #Saudi Arabia. Wages unpaid for months.
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/811510001298796544 referring to
21.12.2016 – eayan alyawm at Youtube (A H P)
Film: Death threatens 170 workers in the Saudi company
In the middle of the desert, they can not get out of their isolation, stays finished, and the salaries are not paid, hunger and thirst caught up.
At a site, which lies 35 minutes from the city of Jeddah, in addition to the nearly 7 kilometers into the desert
All workers have been explained in the site they are without food or water days ago, stressing that they are sleeping in the courtyards of the non-availability of electricity and the end of the diesel and the lack of money to buy it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjHrhQ6DKT4
21.12.2016 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A H P)
Blocking roads & Police shooting Employees Bin Laden group did not receive salaries from a year ago. Non Saudis therefore no care in KSA.
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/811689630848471040 and https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/811694013921296384
21.12.2016 – Noto Wahabism (A P)
Film: Wahhabi TV presenter (Safa) tells caller that Shia Muslims must be killed and slaughtered, "the way sheep are slaughtered"
https://www.facebook.com/NotoWahabism/videos/1066022660192982/
20.12.2016 – Ali AlAhmed (A P)
Breaking: unknown no of deaths after #Saudi Monarchy police iowbs fire on 1000s unpaid workers #Makkah
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/811351431634710528 referring to https://twitter.com/1ksaman1/status/811307625023410178 (film)
20.12.2016 – BBC (* B T)
Is Saudi Arabia to blame for Islamic State?
Is Saudi Arabia to blame for the rise of the so-called Islamic State (IS or ISIL)? It is commonly claimed that Wahhabism, the strict form of Islam originating in the Kingdom - and the Saudi state's aggressive promotion of it - has fuelled terrorism.
Saudi Arabia is also accused of funding IS, either directly or by failing to prevent private donors from sending money to the group.
But Saudi Arabia rejects both accusations, and has announced the formation of a new Islamic anti-terrorism coalition.
Five experts share their views.
Professor Bernard Haykel: IS theology directly linked to Wahhabism
Professor Madawi al-Rashid: Wahhabism led to Islamic awakening
Aimen Dean: Salafism has been greatly misunderstood
Matthew Levitt: IS is financially self-sufficient
Mohammed Yahya: Saudi Arabia poses a significant threat to IS
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35101612
My comment: Thus, the majority of this expert selection thinks Saudis should not be blamed. I doubt on that very much. IS did not fall from the sky. And on this topic, also read: WikiLeaks: Hillary Confirms Saudi Arabia Sponsor ISIS: http://yournewswire.com/wikileaks-hillary-confirms-saudi-arabia-sponsor-isis/ and WikiLeaks Cables Portray Saudi Arabia As A Cash Machine For Terrorists: http://www.mintpressnews.com/wikileaks-cables-portray-saudi-arabia-as-a-cash-machine-for-terrorists/210038/
cp9 USA
20.12.2016 – MbKS15 (A K P)
Boeing T-X trainer on its maiden flight, yesterday in St. Louis. Notice those 5 F-15SAs parked under the shelters — by: @Chaser__22 (photo)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/811442500422483968
My comment: US-Saudi complicity in pictures.
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
22.12.2016 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A P)
A humanity call from #Yemeni civilians to UK MPs (in image)
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/812024170913665024
21.12.2016 – Al Araby (* A P)
Gulf activists focus ire on May after courting GCC
The British prime minister is facilitating human rights abuses across the Middle East by investing in Gulf states and their militaries
Human rights activists from the Gulf have strongly criticised British Prime Minister Theresa May for attending a meeting of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) monarchies earlier this month in Bahrain.
At the summit, May promised stronger security and economic ties with the GCC and £3 billion in defence spending over the next decade, prompting criticism from activists who believe Britain is ignoring - and in some cases, enabling - human rights violations against political dissidents in the region.
May's government is already under fire for tacitly supporting a bloody bombing campaign in Yemen led by the GCC's most powerful state, Saudi Arabia, with rights groups accusing the British and American-backed coalition of committing war crimes and fuelling a massive humanitarian crisis.
Gulf activists say Britain is helping to foster a climate of impunity for their allies in the region, even as they engage in wide-scale political repression and destructive conflicts in Yemen and elsewhere.
Government repression has targeted everyone from Bahrain's largest political society - now banned, with its leader behind bars - to human rights defenders, journalists and protesters. The spiritual leader of the Sunni-ruled country's Shia majority also had his nationality revoked in June.
Al-Khawaja says Britain - once a colonial power in the Gulf - has emboldened Bahrain's rulers to take stronger measures against the opposition.
"This is part and parcel the same policy they used back in the day - enable the government to do what it needs to to do to put down dissent," she says. "By selling them arms, by doing business with them, by blocking initiatives to try to have any form of accountability for the Bahraini government, Britain is treating Bahrain like it's still a protectorate." – by Daniel Wickham
My comment: May’s priorities related to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states: First priority: Selling them weapons. Second priority: Selling them weapons. Third priority: Selling them weapons.
21.12.2016 – South Wales Argus (A P)
UK 'cannot sit on its hands' over Yemen conflict says Caerphilly MP Wayne David
http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/14980672.Caerphilly_MP__39_s_concerns_over_Yemen_conflict/
My comment: He asks for an independent investigation of war crimes in Yemen. The allegation that both sides would have “using banned ‘cluster weapons’” is not true anyway.
21.12.2016 – Inner City Press (A P)
On Yemen, ICP Asks UK Rycroft About Saudi Use of Cluster Bombs from UK
Inner City Press: On Yemen, now that Saudi Arabia has admitted using UK cluster bombs – it seems like the UK has acknowledged that this did happen. What’s the next step? What is the UK’s position on whether it was appropriate or not? And any further review of sales?
Amb Rycroft: Well, the UK keeps our arm sales under constant review, including to Saudi Arabia. And we make sure that very strict guidance is adhered to in how and when those weapons are used.
http://www.innercitypress.com/yemen239fishy122116.html and film: https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/811587874349051905 (longer) and https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/811594746061848576 (main)
My comment: LOL. A group of parrots.
19.12.2016 – Oxfam (A P)
Yemen: reaction to Government statement on UK cluster bombs
In reaction to the Minister's statement on UK cluster bombs in Yemen Oxfam GB's Chief Executive Mark Goldring said:
"The announcement that UK cluster bombs will not be used in Yemen is a small step in the right direction but there remains a long way to go.
"The Government's international credibility is being mangled under the weight of evidence of international humanitarian law violations in Yemen. It cannot possibly expect to be taken seriously while it continues to ignore the breaches of the rules of war and sell arms that fuel this brutal conflict. The mounting civilian casualties in Yemen, the millions forced to flee their homes, the collapse of health care and the economy, all point to the same simple conclusion; it is imperative to end arms sales and military support to Saudi Arabia now and bring the warring parties to the negotiating table."
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/2016/12/cluster-bombs-in-yemen
20.12.2016 – The Guardian (* A P)
Now is a good time for the UK to tell Saudi Arabia some unpalatable truths
We cannot say we abhor the use of weapons against civilians in Aleppo, yet supply such weapons for use against civilians in Yemen
Do we know – or sufficiently value – what the UK gains from its relationship with Saudi Arabia? This is the question posed here recently by Professor Rosemary Hollis after the revelations that UK-made cluster bombs were used in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition.
That is an effective argument, and in principle often a valid one. But, like other arguments that pre-empt debate, it is too effective, and perhaps in consequence gets used too often.
It is, of course, also the case that it is the Saudi state and its relationship with Wahhabi and Salafi Islam that is a major contributory factor in the rise of the Islamic terrorism that Saudi intelligence cooperation is supposed to be helping us to resist. It’s bit like whacking someone on the leg and then offering a bandage to make it better.
It may seem arrogant to say that ideas matter and money and economics ultimately don’t, but it is actually true. A country or a political system has to be based on an idea. The fundamental question is whether the idea of al-Qaida and Isis, of intolerance and hatred, and their kind of justice, is superior to our idea of freedom, tolerance and justice. I don’t think so. But the 7/7 bombers, and too many others since then, did – and do.
Or, put another way, alongside what we get from our relationship with Saudi Arabia, we also have to try to calculate what we lose. If we lose some credibility, that is bad. But if we lose our own integrity, that is a great deal worse, and potentially disastrous.
We cannot say we abhor use of weapons against civilians in Aleppo, and supply such weapons for use against civilians in Yemen.
We are not, ultimately, being a good friend to Saudi Arabia or UAE or Bahrain if we simply take their money and tell them what, in their fear and paranoia about their region, and their own insecurity about their uneasy hold on their own rule, we think they want to hear. The Saudis are in a difficult position, and their war in Yemen is not making things better. They need to hear some hard messages, and it is our job to tell them. We are in a rather good place to do it –by Michael Axworthy
My comment: “We cannot say we abhor the use of weapons against civilians in Aleppo, yet supply such weapons for use against civilians in Yemen”: The author is right, but exactly that is the main feature of Western foreign politics.
20.12.2016 – The Guardian (A P)
Cutting defence ties with Saudi Arabia would come at a price
Saudi use of British cluster bombs in Yemen has reignited this debate, but how many people know what we get in return for this relationship?
Defence secretary Michael Fallon has admitted that British-made cluster bombs were used by the Saudi armed forces in Yemen. He claimed though that the bombs had been used against “legitimate military targets”. Even if technically correct, this assertion will not assuage mounting concerns, not least in parliament, about British complicity in Saudi military action.
Having signed the convention on cluster munitions that bans their use and which came into effect in 2010, Britain asserts that it opposes the production and deployment of such weapons.
Since Saudi Arabia is not, however, a signatory to the convention, it seems it cannot be held to account – and nor can the British for originally supplying the bombs decades ago. According to Fallon, meanwhile, we can be reassured: “The Saudis believe that in this particular instance they did respect international humanitarian law.” Plus, the Saudis claim, a decision to use old stocks (previously declared defunct) was made by a battlefield commander without clearance from above.
Fallon was unable to say what would happen to the remaining stocks, how many cluster bombs had been used or how many were left. But apparently the Saudis have assured the British that they will make no further use of the weapons
Since at least the 1980s the UK has occupied a subsidiary role which has assured British manufacturers a niche market that is essential to its defence industry.
Without lucrative contracts to supply the Saudi armed forces over the years, it would not have been possible to keep the production lines rolling as the transition was made from Tornado to Typhoon fighter jets at BAE Systems. So not only are British jobs at stake but also Britain’s independent arms production capability. And to maintain its niche in the market in the face of fierce competition, Britain has undertaken to provide training and maintenance packages that place its technicians at the heart of the Saudi defence establishment.
Alongside this, for years the British have developed a high level of cooperationwith the Saudi intelligence services which successive prime ministers have claimed helps to keep British citizens safe from terrorists. When awkward questions are asked – whether by MPs or human rights campaigners – about the Saudis’ humanitarian record, their rulers have only to remind the British government of the defence contracts and security cooperation.
This is the uncomfortable reality, not just for the government but for British citizens. If presented with a detailed tally of the actual costs of a break with Saudi Arabia to the British defence industry, jobs, the economy, intelligence and security, it may well emerge that British enthusiasm to take the moral high ground will waver – by Rosemary Hollis
My comment: You must really let sack it after having read this. Just asking this seems like the mentality of a robber or a rapist. My benefit is what counts, if I want this, I just take it.
7.9.2016 – BBC (A P)
Film: Those changes to the parliamentary report on UK arms sales to #Saudi Arabia, spelled out by @ggatehouse
https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/773639540841943040
My comment: A reminder.
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
21.12.2016 – Americans for Democracy etc. (* A P)
Bahraini Authorities refer Nabeel Rajab to Prosecution for Letter Published in Le Monde
Bahraini authorities have today interrogated imprisoned human rights defender Nabeel Rajab on allegations stemming from a letter he recently published in the French newspaper Le Monde. The undersigned NGOs condemn in the strongest possible terms any further legal action against Rajab for exercising his fundamental right to free expression and call on the Government of Bahrain to secure his immediate release.
According to a spokesperson for the Department of Anti-Corruption, Economy, Security, and Electronics, the Ministry of the Interior’s Cybercrime Unit has removed Rajab from custody in order to question him over the contents of a Le Monde article published in his name on 19 December. The Cybercrime Unit has accused Rajab of using the article to “spread false information and tendentious rumors” that “insult Bahrain and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states” and harm their relations.
In the article, Rajab writes: “In September, when I wrote an open letter to the US administration, the Bahraini government brought new charges of damaging Bahrain’s reputation against me.” He added, “France and Germany, you need to reassess your relationship with these monarchies, which actively work against democracy and human rights and fan the flames of violence and extremism…My trial is not exceptional, it is ordinary. Thousands of Bahrainis are in prison for voicing criticism and demonstrating against the government, and thousands more have been murdered across the Arab world for daring to exercise their right to self-determination. That is truly appalling.”
Sayed Ahmed AlWadaei, Director of Advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) said, “As Nabeel Rajab exposes the thin skin of the Bahraini government he continues to pay the price for exercising his right to free opinion. If France does not speak up against Bahrain’s outrageous actions, its silence will be seen as a betrayal of human rights by the supposed champions of free speech in Europe.”
http://www.adhrb.org/2016/12/11534/
21.12.2016 – Middle East Monitor (A P)
Egyptian contempt for Saudi as media calls King Salman a traitor
The Egyptian campaign against Saudi Arabia has reached new heights when a newspaper loyal to coup President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi described the Saudi monarch, King Salman Bin Abdelaziz, as a traitor. In the meantime, pro-Sisi parliamentarians have launched a sharp attack on Saudi Arabia, expressing contempt for it. One of them said: “We want to position Saudi Arabia where it deserves to be placed.”
Yesterday, the human rights committee of the post-coup parliament witnessed a stormy attack on the visit made on Friday to Ethiopia by Saudi officials and what has been reported of Saudi funding for the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is said to reduce Egypt’s share of the waters of the Nile.
MP Said Shababik, one of the committee’s members, said: “We want to position Saudi Arabia where it deserves to be placed.”
21.12.2016 – European Union, League of Arab States (A P)
Joint Statements: Declaration 4th Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the European Union (EU) and the League of Arab States (LAS), 20 December 2016
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the European Union (EU) and of the League of Arab States (LAS), gathering at the League of Arab States headquarters on December 20, 2016 in Cairo, Egypt
26. Yemen
The Ministers affirmed their commitment to the unity, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Yemen and their support to the aspirations of the Yemeni people for freedom, democracy, social justice and development. They reiterated their support to the legitimate Government led by President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi while insisting on the urgency of the restoration of legitimate state authority through a peaceful settlement to the conflict, in accordance to GCC Initiative and implementing mechanism, the outcomes of the National Dialogue Conference, the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and in particular resolution 2216, as well as the proposals of the ongoing UN led peace initiative. In this context the Ministers commended the efforts of the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General in Yemen, Mr. Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
The Ministers called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and cessation of hostilities as a first step for the resumption of an inclusive Yemeni political process.
The Ministers condemned all unilateral measures, such as the formation of the so called “National Salvation Government” in Sana’a, formed by the Houthis and Saleh, which violate international resolutions and jeopardize the peace process efforts.
The Ministers recalled the devastating humanitarian and economic impact of the conflict and urged all the parties to the conflict to allow safe and unhindered access for humanitarian workers and supplies, to facilitate access for and distribution of essential goods and services throughout Yemen and to ensure respect for human rights and international humanitarian law.
The Ministers also expressed their support for the Yemeni Government’s efforts to combat terrorist organizations and fight against extremism and radicalization.
My comment: A totally one-sided statement, fully adopting the Saudi viewpoint: Imagine: Saudi bombing and blockade are not mentioned at all. The only thing for which any side is directly blamed is the formation of the Sanaa government (which was formed with approval of the legitimate parliament, don’t forget this). That means: For the Europeans, bombing and starving out a country is less condemnable than forming a parliamentary government. That’s really great.
21.12.2016 – Egypt Independent (A H P)
Forty-five Egyptian fishermen detained in Yemen
Forty-five Egyptian fishermen who were aboard three boats were announced detained in Yemen over violating the Yemeni territorial waters on Tuesday.
Captain fisherman Abdo al-Refaie in Matariya said the detained fishermen went fishing from al-Baranis port in Suez on December 1. They contacted their families on a regular basis until 4 days ago, due to bad weather. It was during this period that they were arrested.
The three boats have fishing permits valid for international waters, according to Refaei.
Due to bad weather, the boats drifted to the Yemeni territorial waters and apparently there is were the fisherman were arrested.
Yemeni authorities demanded a large fine for their release, which the fishermen cannot afford, explained Refaei.
The head of the independent fishermen's union in Matariya, Taha al-Sheridy, called on the Foreign Ministry to intervene with Yemeni authorities for the release of the detainees.
http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/forty-five-egyptian-fishermen-detained-yemen
20.12.2016 – Living in Yemen on the Edge (A P)
Francois Fillon, French Presidential Candidate, refuses to meet Mohammed bin Salman in Paris
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1208528342533527
20.12.2016 – Vice News (*A K P)
Unexpected admission
Canada admits in court that the armored vehicles it's selling to Saudi Arabia could be used in the fighting in Yemen
Canada’s $15 billion military export deal to Saudi Arabia could help the Middle Eastern monarchy wage war in Yemen, according to Ottawa’s own legal arguments, heard in court this week.
This marks the first time that the Canadian government has admitted that the weaponry it is selling to Riyadh could be used in the fighting in Yemen, which has claimed the lives of thousands of civilians.
The Trudeau government is being sued by Universite de Montreal professor Daniel Turp, who is alleging that Canada is breaking domestic regulations and international law by selling heavily-armed vehicles to the autocratic nation.
Canada’s legal defense, filed in a federal courtroom in Montreal, contends that Minister of Foreign Affairs Stephane Dion has the authority to decide what does and doesn’t constitute a legal weapons sale — not the court. That principle stands, they contend, even if it means the Canadian-made Light Armored Vehicles (LAVs) could be used to fight a war in Yemen that Ottawa has repeatedly condemned.
It marks yet another shift in the government’s rhetoric on the issue. The Globe & Mail forced the minister to admit that the contract — drafted by his predecessor, but signed by the Trudeau government — was not a “done deal,”as he had suggested.
VICE News, meanwhile, showed that it was the Canadian government, not defense contractor General Dynamics, who actually signed the deal, undercutting Dion’s assertion that it was a deal between a private company and a foreign government.
The legal defense cites a number of arguments — political, diplomatic, economic — but ultimately underscores that Riyadh is free to use the military vehicles to fight the war in Yemen.
The language in the court documents appears to contradict Dion’s condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the Yemen conflict, which the United Nations says has the hallmarks of war crimes.
Nevertheless, Canada remains sure that the Ontario-made vehicles, which can come outfitted with machine guns and anti-tank weaponry, won’t be used to abuse human rights.
“This decision was taken based on a variety of political and economic considerations based on international relations, foreign policy, Canada’s defense interests, and economic benefits coming from these exports,” the Canadian government’s legal arguments read – By Justin Ling
https://news.vice.com/story/canada-admits-the-weapons-it-sells-to-saudi-arabia-could-be-used-in-yemen-civil-war and by RT: https://www.rt.com/news/371151-canada-arms-saudi-court/
My comment: vehicles like these also can be used in Saudi Arabia itself to abuse human rights – to put down unrest and rebellion in the eastern Shiite regions for instance – or at neighbouring Bahrain. The Canadian government itself admitted that its “variety of political and economic considerations” were just based on own benefit.
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
20.12.2016 – Faisal Bin Farhan / MbKS15 (A K)
Role out ceremony for the joint Ukrainian/Saudi developed AN-132 (photos)
https://twitter.com/FaisalbinFarhan/status/811192959689523200
50 Saudi engineers worked on the design & development of the project. @KACST owns %50 of the program and will coproduce the AN-132 in Taief
https://twitter.com/FaisalbinFarhan/status/811195671525072896
In addition to the #AN132D, there is also a potential joint development of both AN-148 & AN-178 between @KACST, Taqnia, & @AntonovCompany (photos)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/811272237005291521
My comment: More on Ukrainian-Saudi arms deal YPR 242.
19.12.2016 – Almanar (B K P)
US decision to cut arms sales to Saudi nothing but “poetic move”
The spokesman for Campaign Against Arms Trade, Andrew Smith, said in an interview amid reports that the United States is halting arms sales to Saudi Arabia in response to civilian casualties in the Kingdom’s airstrikes on Yemen that he is cautiously optimistic about Washington’s decision to scrap its arms sales to Riyadh, Al Manar reported.
But while some sales are being reportedly scaled back, the US said it will continue to provide Saudi Arabia with intelligence focused on border security.
Commenting on the matter, Andrew Smith told Sputnik that the United States’ decision to cut arms sales to Saudi Arabia is “poetically significant” but that it will not add to a shift in Washington’s arms sales policy on Saudi Arabia.
Much will depend on US President-elect Donald Trump’s position on the matter, and his entering office may “definitely change” the “situation for the better,” according to Smith. In any case, Washington halting arms sales to Saudi Arabia will not result in significant changes in its foreign policy on this country,” he reiterated.
http://english.almanar.com.lb/138642 = http://en.abna24.com/service/middle-east-west-asia//archive/2016/12/20/799590/story.html
20.12.2016 – Defence Web (B K)
Sudan’s SAFAT Aviation Group pushes exports
Sudan’s state owned SAFAT Aviation Group, SAG, is making a push for export sales of its domestically developed light aircraft and smart bomb.
The group largely acts as a maintenance, repair, and overhaul contractor for the Sudanese Air Force and regional clients, but in recent years has begun to manufacture light aircraft and helicopters, as well as develop and produce rocket launchers and a precision guided bomb.
The Burkan Smart Bomb and the SAFAT 03 (based on the UTVA 75), as well as its maintenance activities show the growing sophistication and capabilities of the state owned Military Industrial Corporation (MIC) of which SAG is a part. Sudan’s defence industry has become a symbol of the country’s defiance in the face of international sanctions.
SAFAT’s Chief Test Pilot, Major General Salah Abd Alkhalig Saeed Asad, said the Burkan had been dropped by the Sudanese Air Force contingent he commanded in support of Saudi Arabia in striking at Houthi rebels in Yemen – by Jonathan Katzenellenbogen
My comment: Sudan is supporting the Saudi war against Yemen; there are many Sudanese soldiers fighting for the Saudis.
cp13b Flüchtlinge / Refugees
20.12.2016 – International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies (A H)
Djibouti / Yemen unrest: DREF Operation n° MDRJ002 Operational Review Report, 16 - 20 November, 2015
The escalation of fighting between opposition groups in Yemen from 26th March, 2015 affected close to 2 million people as at August 2015. 1,439,118 persons were internally displaced and 100,661 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 neighbouring countries that had opened its borders to those fleeing Yemen.
In May 2015, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) released CHF 66,180 from the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Djibouti Red Crescent Society (DRCS) respond to the needs of the affected population. This DREF operation intended to meet the survival and immediate needs of the targeted population through the provision of essential health, water, sanitation and hygiene promotion services, targeting a total of 2,000 arrivals at Djibouti port and Al-Rahma and Omnisport Stadium sites in Obock. In June 2015 following a detailed assessment the EPoA was revised targeting 3,800 refugees and the budget increased to CHF 160,629.
An end of operation review was carried out jointly by IFRC and DRCS from 16th to 20th November 2015 to assess the successes, challenges and lessons learnt from the implementation of DREF operation.
http://reliefweb.int/report/djibouti/djibouti-yemen-unrest-dref-operation-n-mdrj002-operational-review-report-16-20 and in full http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Djibouti%20DREF%20Review%20Final%20Report.pdf
15.12.2016 – Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat (* A H)
Desperate Determination: A record number of migrants arrive in Yemen in 2016
With one more month until the end of the year and despite the ongoing war in Yemen, a record number of migrants and asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa have arrived in Yemen in 2016. Never, since monthly monitoring of migrant arrivals started in 2006, have so many migrants arrived in Yemen in one year.
As of the end of November 2016, 111,504 migrants and refugees are estimated to have arrived in Yemen in 2016. This number surpasses the previous record of 2012, when a total of 107,532 migrants were estimated to have arrived in Yemen. Among the arrivals in 2016 are 92,768 Ethiopians (83%) and 18,736 Somalis, who travel overland to the coastal towns of Obock (Djibouti) and, primarily, Bossaso (Puntland, Somalia) assisted by smugglers to cross the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden to Yemen.
Amidst all focus on the European ‘migration crisis’, this ongoing migration flow of migrants from the Horn of Africa to Yemen (and in most cases onward to Saudi Arabia or other Gulf States) is often neglected, but all the more remarkable given the current situation in Yemen.
Yet, despite the conflict, the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation and these already complex and dangerous migration dynamics, Ethiopian migrants (and asylum seekers), who comprise the majority (approximately 85%) of these flows, are still determined to make the crossing to Yemen. Not many intend to stay in Yemen though. Almost all Ethiopian migrants clearly express the intention to move onwards to Saudi Arabia.
Why are these, primarily Ethiopian, migrants still so desperately determined to migrate to Yemen, despite the situation described above? Anecdotal evidence indicates that only a small minority is not aware of the ongoing war in Yemen.
The fate of Ethiopian migrants arriving in Yemen remains unclear.
That so many Ethiopians are still making the crossing to Yemen, is a strong indication that most are in fact succeeding in reaching Saudi Arabia. If not, stories of failed attempts would have reached potential migrants back home. It also shows that there is a sufficient number of jobs available for migrants in Saudi Arabia who are rewarded for their determination – by Bram Frouws
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/desperate-determination-record-number-migrants-arrive-yemen-2016 = http://regionalmms.org/index.php/component/spsimpleportfolio/item/56-desperate-determination-a-record-number-of-migrants
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
22.12.2016 – News (* A K T)
Seven Pakistanis killed in rocket attack on cargo ship off Yemen coast
At least seven Pakistanis are reportedly killed in a rocket attack on a cargo ship off Yemen coast, Geo News reported on Thursday.
All the members of crew of the Iranian ship were Pakistani nationals and an officer identified as Kabir is said to have rescued his life by jumping off the vessel as it started sinking after catching fire.
The ship MV Joya was heading to Dubai from Egypt when it came under attack in Yemeni waters. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack.
Meanwhile a prominent Pakistani human rights activist Ansar Burney issued a statement on his facebook page with regard to the incident, saying The unfortunate cargo ship "MV JOUYA-8" having flag of Iran was heading towards Gulf from Egypt via Sea of Hodeida Yemen where a strayed or aimed rocket hit the ship which caused destruction of the ship.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/173725-Seven-Pakistanis-killed-in-rocket-attack-on-cargo-ship-off-Yemen-coast and also https://www.geo.tv/latest/124659-Seven-Pakistanis-killed-in-attack-on-cargo-ship-off-Yemen-coast (photo)
My comment: Pirates? Al Qaida or other terrorists? Saudi Arabia? Until further recording, classified here.
22.12.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee / Sayyed Zaydi (A T)
Yemen foreign minister Hesham Sharaf warns from transferring terrorists of Aleppo to south Yemen
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/811798993357434880
Saudi Arabia's defeated alQaeda terrorists in Aleppo planning to move in safe heaven, presently under control of Saudi coalition in Yemen
https://twitter.com/zaibx/status/811870006774468613
My comment: Foreign minister from Sanaa government.
Comment: This news has been circulating for quite some time in #Yemen: ISIS terrorists being transferred to Yemen via #Aden (the 'liberated' city).
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1209906845729010
21.12.2016 – Gulf News (A T)
In the province of Shabwa, residents said that a suspected US drone fired missiles at a car carrying suspected Al Qaida militants in a remote area near the giant Balhaf gas export terminal on Tuesday night. Aden Al Ghad said that the drone destroyed the car and killed and injured several militants.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/yemen/154-yemeni-fishermen-held-in-eritrea-released-1.1949980
My comment: “suspected Al Qaida militants”: always the same. All those who were killed by drones are “suspected Al Qaida militants”, because of the fact that they were killed.
and
21.12.2016 – AFP (A T)
A drone strike, likely carried out by US forces, has killed three suspected Al-Qaeda members in southern Yemen, local security sources said on Wednesday.
The strike on Tuesday night targeted a vehicle in Shabwa province and incinerated the bodies of the three suspected militants, one of the sources said.
Washington is the only government to operate drones over Yemen, but the United States only sporadically releases statements on its long-running bombing campaign against the country's powerful Al-Qaeda branch.
http://www.brecorder.com/world/middle-east/332800.html
18.12.2016 – Haykal Bafana (A T)
Suicide bomber who killed 52 in Aden today is Yemeni, but was born and grew up in #Saudi Arabia. Only returned to #Yemen when war started.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/810510136250953728
cp15 Propaganda
20.12.2016 – Al Sawah /A P)
PM: We will go on fighting terrorism, drying up its sources
Yemen Prime Minister Ahmed Obaid Bin Daghar has urged the members of the government to redouble their efforts to fight terrorism and pursue terrorist operatives, stressing that the government will go on fighting terrorism and drying its sources.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-1610
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
22.12.2016 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
21-12-2016
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=745697765580591&id=551288185021551
21.12.2016 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
20-12-2016
Targeting and bombing civilians by the warplanes of Saudi Arabia and its alliance
Casualties and damage (full list):
22.12.2016 – Yemen Post (A K)
New WAR CRIME: Intl banned cluster bombs dropped by Saudi on #Yemen villages in Saada today threatening lives of 100s civilians.
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/811954197361000449
My comment: The photo from earlier raid.
22.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Warplanes of Saudi American aggression waged five raids on Alab district directorate of Neham using cluster bombs
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58466&lang=en
22.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi aggression warplanes launch raids on Sana'a
The US-Saudi aggression warplanes waged on Thursday a series of air raids on several parts of Sana'a province, a security official told Saba.
The hostile warplanes targeted al-Qatab, al-Majaweha and al-Manar in Nehm district with 15 air raids, using cluster bombs, leaving huge damage to citizens' farms, the official said.
The official added that the US-Saudi aggression warplanes waged an air raid on Dabwah area in Sanhan district, causing great damage to citizens' houses.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450427.htm
22.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi aggression warplanes launch raids on al-Masloub
The US-Saudi aggression warplanes waged on Wednesday three air raids on al-Masloub district of Jawf province, a local official told Saba.
The US-Saudi aggression warplanes targeted citizens' houses and their farms in Waqaz, al-Saqeyah areas in al-Masloub, the official said.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450408.htm
22.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi warplanes kill 4 civilians in Sa'dah
Four citizens were killed and two children injured in raids by US -Saudi aggression warplanes on Bakem district of Saadh province overnight, a security official told Saba on Thursday .
The airstrikes hit the house in Aslan area of the district, killing four residents, including a woman, while two children were critically wounded.
Meanwhile, the Saudi aggression warplanes launched 12 strikes on several other areas of Bakem, causing heavy damage to houses and farms.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450384.htm
and
21.12.2016 – Al Masirah TV / Hussain Albukhaiti (A K PH)
Film / Photos: #Saudi #UAE CO strike kild 4ppl today mornin n Baqim #Saada N #Yemen several inj inc kids
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7omuxl3ovi8 and https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/811692330449309697
21.12.2016 – Basheer Aglan (A K)
Pictures of the remnants of a cluster bomb on the campus of Sanaa University, College of Agriculture launched p neighborhoods near the university
https://twitter.com/AglanBasheer/status/811702983285178372
21.12.2016 – Al Masirah TV (A K PH)
Entisaar lost her eye alone survivor aft #Saudi #UAE strikes on her home 2days ago #Saada
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK3OPIt7Srk
21.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression jets launch 9 raids on Sa'dah
US-Saudi aggression warplanes launched nine raids on several areas of Saada province overnight, a security official told Saba on Wednesday.
The warplanes hit Kahlan area of Saada district six times, waged two raids on AL-Magram area and further air strike on al-Souh area, both areas in Kutaf district.
The strikes caused heavy material damage to citizens' properties.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450275.htm
21.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression jets waged 2 strikes on Nehm
he US-backed Saudi aggression fighter jets launched two strikes on Nehm district of Sanaa province overnight, a security official told Saba on Wednesday.
The warplanes hit al-Asarat valley and Bani Hajail areas, causing damage to citizens' properties and farms.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450255.htm
21.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi aggression warplanes continue bombing Yemen's areas
US-Saudi aggression warplanes continued on Wednesday targeting citizens' houses and their properties in a number of the republic's provinces in the past 24 hours.
A military official said to Saba that the Saudi aggression targeted a women gathering on a water well in Tallan area in Haidan district in Sa'ada province.
US-Saudi aggression warplanes waged two air raids on al-Magram area in Baqem district in Sa'ada, an air raid on al-Sawh area in Kutaf district, the official said.
The warplanes targeted the coastal defense zone in al-Jabana area in al-Salif district of Hodeida province with four raids, he added.
He said that US-Saudi aggression warplanes launched two air raids on Hodeida international airport , an air raid on Kahbob area in Lahj province.
US-Saudi aggression warplanes launched waged four raids on Midi desert in Hajjah province, he added.
The aggression warplanes launched an air raid on Ayeal Mohammed area in Nehm district, three air raids on al-Ghail, Mahali village and Ramaha areas, two air raids on Wadi al-Asarat and Bani Hagel area, and an air raid on al-Mabrak site in Jizan, he said
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450306.htm
21.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
The US_Saudi aggression launched today morning, a violent raid on Hodeidah city center.
A Local sources said, the raid targeted on a populated area downtown and caused losses and damage to property.
The source add, there was no reports of casualties so far and still fly continuously in the sky of yemen and targeting citizens.
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58367&lang=en
21.12.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee / Saudi war Crimes (A K PH)
2 Yemen sisters Shawka&Safya Salah ( 10, 13) killed 2day by remnants of cluster bombs while pasturing sheep in AlAzhor Razeh Saada north
The explosion of a cluster bomb from the Airline aggression residues in Alozhor Brazh border area while they were herding sheep ... (photos)
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1618696425093012 and https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/811632545980960768 and https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/811620210457411584
21.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
# Hodeidah: Flighter jets of Saudi American aggression waged a raid on a coastal defense in Al Jabana area
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58361&lang=en
21.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Coalition fighters launch seven airstrikes on Houthi positions in Saada
The fighters of Saudi-led Arab Coalition launched on Sunday evening seven air raids targeting Houthi and Saleh forces sites in Saada governorate, northern Yemen.
A local source told Almasdaronline that the coalition fighters have launched four air raids on Houthis positions in Barakan area in Razih district.
The source added that the air raids destroyed military equipment and a military supply vehicle in one of the Houthis sites in al Khubah front.
The fighters also launched an air raid on a Houthi site in al Hajlah area and two raids on a checkpoint in Razih district.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87324
My comment: That’s what pro-Saudi records (or propaganda) tell us about the Saudi coalition air raids. And that is how the killed Houthi fighters look like (graphic): https://www.facebook.com/881240811966559/photos/pcb.1202277939862843/1202277859862851/?type=3&theater
and that happened:
21.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Aggression Targeting Gathering of Women on a Water Well in Saada
Fighter jets of Saudi American aggression targeting today morning a gathering of women on the well Water in directorate of Haydan, Saada province.
A military source said , the Saudi American aggression targeted a gathering of women at the well water on directorate of Haydan without any injuries, while the bombing make a state of extreme fear among women.
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58358&lang=en
20.12.2016 – Ahmad Alghobary (A K)
2 #Saudi air strikes targeted #Alhudyidah airport #Yemen .
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/811290502784057346
20.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
US-Backed Saudi Coalition Wages 2 Cluster Bombs on Jawf Governorate
Fighter jets of the US-backed Saudi coalition waged two cluster bombs on Maloub district, Jawf governorate, using international forbidden cluster bombs.
Two cluster bombs targeted the civilian farms in the region of Malaha in Masloub district, local source confirmed.
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58287&lang=en
20.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression wages raid on Serwah
The US-backed Saudi aggression fighter jets launched on Tuesday an air raid on Serwah district of Mareb province, a local official told Saba.
The official said the raid targeted al-Makhdra region in Serwah, indicating that Saudi-paid mercenaries continued bombing houses and citizens' farms in different areas in the district.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450232.htm
20.12.2016 – Almasirah TV / SA war crimes (A K PH)
Film / Photos: Saudi air raid at Alqarn Mont, Nahm directorate, Sanaa province: US cluster bombs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=punSWf-kEuY
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1618448298451158
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
22.12.2016 – Al Arabiya (A K PS)
Huge losses for Houthi militias in Taiz and Al Bayda
22.12.2016 – Al Sawah (A K PS)
Yemen's National Army liberates positions in Saadah
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-1727
Remark: „Yemen's National Army“ = pro-Hadi fighters.
22.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
The Saudi-paid mercenaries pounded an intense artillery bombardment on several areas in al-Masloub district.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450408.htm
22.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army's missiles target mercenaries in Jawf
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450364.htm
22.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army, popular forces kill many Saudi soldiers in Jizan
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450382.htm
22.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army, popular forces foile mercenaries' infiltration in Baidha
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450383.htm
22.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army recaptures 5 military sites in al-Dhalee
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450385.htm
22.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Mercenary artillery rounds destroy homes at Mareb village
US–Saudi aggression mercenaries fired artillery rounds on the houses of residents at Al-Zaidi village in Serwah district of Mareb province, an official told Saba on Thursday.
The shelling completely destroyed the house of Ali Hussein a l-Zaidi, one of the village's residents, and partly damaged adjacent homes.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450388.htm
22.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army kill dozens of Saudi mercenaries in Mareb
www.sabanews.net/en/news450390.htm http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450390.htm
22.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army's artillery bombards mercenaries' gatherings in Taiz
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450391.htm
22.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army repulses attempt to advance in Serwah
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450406.htm
22.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army kills three Saudi soldiers
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450413.htm
22.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army launches missile on Saudi-paid mercenaries' gathering in Karesh
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450419.htm
21.12.2016 – Gulf News (A K PS)
Local media reports in Yemen said a senior military figure loyal to the ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed in a Saudi-led coalition air strike in Al Houthis heartland in northern Yemen. Al Masdar Online reported on Wednesday that Colonel Abdul Khaled Saleh Al Bayadhi, a commander in the elite Special Forces, was killed in Saada several days ago. Saleh’s supporters on social media mourned the death of Al Baydhi and claimed he was killed in clashes wish the Saudi army in the Saudi province of Najran.
Military sources in the southern city of Taiz said that a senior Al Houthis commander called Hussain Ali Al Yarie was killed in clashes with the government forces on Monday on eastern suburbs of the city.
On Tuesday, Mansour Al Hassani, a spokesperson for the government loyalists, told Gulf News that 41 Al Houthis were killed in two days of intensive fighting in Taiz.
In the province of Shabwa, residents said that a suspected US drone fired missiles at a car carrying suspected Al Qaida militants in a remote area near the giant Balhaf gas export terminal on Tuesday night. Aden Al Ghad said that the drone destroyed the car and killed and injured several militants.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/yemen/154-yemeni-fishermen-held-in-eritrea-released-1.1949980
21.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army shells Saudi military bases in Najran, Asir
www.sabanews.net/en/news450254.htmhttp://www.sabanews.net/en/news450254.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58383&lang=en
21.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army, popular forces kill 30 mercenaries in Taiz
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450256.htm
21.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army kills 67 Saudi mercenaries in Nehm
www.sabanews.net/en/news450265.htm
21.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Some Saudi-paid mercenaries killed in Serwah
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450316.htm
21.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Kill More Than 30 F Mercenaries and Wounded 50 in Taiz
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58353&lang=en
21.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Army and Popular Committees Targeting Hypocrites in Marib
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58363&lang=en
21.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (* A K PS)
A child killed, woman injured in Houthi bombing in al Dhali'
Local residents in Murais district of al Dhali' governorate, southern Yemen, said that a young girl was killed and a woman injured on Monday in an artillery shelling launched by the Houthi and Saleh forces.
The residents told Almasdaronline that the Houthis and allied forces were shelling with heavy and medium weapons Soun and Alrahabah villages of Murais district, and are imposing a siege on the civilians.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87325
20.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army, popular committees achieve more victories in different fronts
www.sabanews.net/en/news450243.htm
20.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Mercenaries of the coalition launched artillery bombardment on houses and farms of citizens in Masloub and Maton districts, Jawf province, leading to serious damage.
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58287&lang=en
20.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Saudi Mercenaries Target a Civilian House in Taiz
Mercenaries of the US-backed Saudi coalition targeted a civilian house using a mortar shell near Al Qasr in Taiz.
A mortar shell launched by Saudi mercenaries aimed at a citizen’s house in Taiz, military source confirmed.
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58302&lang=en
20.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Yemeni Made Zelzal 2 Missile Hits Saudi Mercenaries in Jawf
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58321&lang=en
20.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
About 30 Saudi Mercenaries Killed and 50 Wounded in Taiz
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58325&lang=en
20.12.2016 – Yemen Today (A)
Film: Conflict of interests & killing associate recriminations driven a Brigadier in Hadi mercenaries to surrender to #Yemen army in Al-Twal front
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/811328705314299906
20.12.2016 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A K PH)
Film compilation: The thin end of wedge. A footage of some #Yemen army & militia attacks on Saudi troops inside KSA.
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/811306127753441282
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
21.12.2016 – Saba Net (A H P)
Eritrea releases 154 Yemeni fishermen
A total of 154 fishermen arrived to Al Khawkhah coastal district in the Red Sea governorate of Hodeidah after they were released by Eritrean authorities following several months of arrest.
Chairman of the General Authority for Fishing in the Red Sea, Abdul Qader Mohammed Al-Wadi'i told Saba on Tuesday that the authority, under orders from the ministry of fisheries wealth, arranged the transfer of the fishermen to their homes.
Al-Wadi'I also said that the Yemeni authorities are working to bring back the rest of Yemeni fishermen to the homeland and secured their return to their families.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450279.htm
and the same incident by Gulf News:
21.12.2016 – Gulf News (A H P)
154 Yemeni fishermen held in Eritrea released
A territorial dispute between the countries over Zukur-Hanish archipelago led to Eritrean invasion of Hanish Island in 1995
Yemen’s Minister of Fisheries said that Eritrean authorities have released 154 Yemeni fishermen who were arrested in the Red Sea months ago and they are now in a coastal region in the southern province of Lahej.
Fahed Kafayen told Gulf News on Wednesday that his ministry formed a committee to look into whether the fishermen were subjected any kind of mistreatment during detention in Eritrea.
“I have asked local authorities in Lahj to help the fishermen reunite with their families,”
A territorial dispute between the countries over Zukur-Hanish archipelago led to Eritrean invasion of Hanish Island in 1995.
Yemen regained control of the islands three years after the Permanent Court Arbitration ruled that they belong to Yemen, but gave the Eritreans the right to fish in their waters.
Hundreds of Yemeni fishermen have been detained in the last several years on charges of fishing in the Eritrean waters. Kafayen said: “ Fishery associations told us that the Yemeni fishermen did not cross into the Eritrean waters. We seek to establish a mechanism with Eritreans to put an end to the repeated detention of the fishermen.”
The minister said his ministry is still receiving reports about missing fishermen in the Red Sea and he suspects they might have been detained by Eritrea.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/yemen/154-yemeni-fishermen-held-in-eritrea-released-1.1949980
My comment: Both Yemeni governments seem to claim that they played the important role of bringing back these fishermen – here we just can state both reports.
21.12.2016 – National Geographic (D K)
War-Torn Yemen Is Letting Its Zoo Animals Starve to Death
The 265 animals in Yemen’s Taiz zoo, including rare leopards, haven’t been fed for days. The government is rejecting proposals to save them.
What happens when you can’t leave? That’s the story of abandoned zoos in wartime. It’s the story unfolding now for the animals in Yemen’s Taiz Zoological Gardens, neglected in the cross fire of the country’s civil war. Here 28 Arabian leopards, critically endangered in the wild, haven’t eaten in six days. They and nearly 240 other animals face imminent death if they aren’t fed very soon.
The story began early this year when the Yemeni government, which runs the zoo, stopped paying the staff and abandoned the facility in the face of escalating violence. In February, after a media flurry drew international attention to the deteriorating conditions at the zoo, SOS Zoo and Bear Rescue—a rescue organization established on Facebook by Chantal Jonkergouw—began raising funds to cover the cost of food, water, and care for the animals. According to Jonkergouw, who lives in Sweden, SOS has raised more than $125,000 from individual donors during the past ten months.
On November 30 she made the agonizing decision to stop feeding the animals until the government agrees to release them to rescuers. She says they’re still getting fresh water every day.
A local Good Samaritan then stepped in to bring the leopards and other meat eaters food, but he hasn’t been seen since December 16—the last time the carnivores were fed. The zoo’s herbivores have been subsisting on a rapidly diminishing supply of rotten vegetables. According to Bassam Al-Hakimi, SOS’s project manager in Taiz, many of the animals are showing signs of extreme weakness – By Natasha Daly (with photos)
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/12/wildlife-watch-taiz-zoo-animals-starving-leopard-war/
19.12.2016 – Drafts Delma (* C P)
Principles of Negotiation: Part IV Yemen
In hindsight, the 1994 civil war between North and South Yemen was somewhat inevitable. Any diplomatic efforts that aimed to bridge the widening divide between then Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his deputy Ali Salem Al Baydh were destined to fail, primarily because both actors concluded that the best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA) was an unequivocal military victory. The perceived benefits of pursuing a military track, particularly for Saleh, far outweighed the gains of engaging in diplomacy.
The 1994 civil war contributed to what have now become nearly insurmountable grievances felt by Southerners as a result of their political and economic marginalisation by Northern powerbrokers. Lingering disputes over perceived Northern land grabs are seen as one of the results of the failed unification experiment.8The unification, and civil war, continue to be viewed by many Southerners as symbols of the North’s de facto ‘occupation’ of the South.
This powerful narrative has instilled in some Southerners a deep-seated hatred towards the North, and has helped create a volatile ‘us-versus-them’ dichotomy. Meanwhile, staunch Northern supporters of unification have interpreted the outcome of the 1994 civil war as delivering the final nail in the coffin of Southern secession.
These opposing narratives are at the heart of the North-South divide, which has widened year after year since 1994 and became more apparent after formation of the Southern secession movement – commonly known as Hirak – in 2007. Across the broad spectrum of Southern secessionist leaders, factions, and activists that make up Hirak, there is a desire to address the imbalance of power between the North and South. By late 2008, Hirak began calling openly for Southern secession. These demands have continued ever since, and are currently being made amid Yemen’s latest civil war – By Rose Murad and Anthony Biswell
http://drafts.delma.io/en/principles-of-negotiation-part-iv-yemen
My comment: To better understand the inner Yemeni rift and the desire for secession of the South.
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-242-yemen-war-mosaic-242
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-242: / Yemen War Mosaic 1-242:
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 / and http://yemenwarcrimes.blogspot.de/
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