Relief: Germany helps (in German) – Hell of schoolgirl Amal (13) from Taiz – Insecurity at Aden – UK government fake news on Yemen – UK fuels carnage – Cholera – Saudi Arabia – and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche/ UN and peace talks
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp9 USA
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp13 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
Klassifizierung / Classification
***
**
*
(Kein Stern / No star)
A = Aktuell / Current news
B = Hintergrund / Background
C = Chronik / Chronicle
D = Details
E = Wirtschaft / Economy
H = Humanitäre Fragen / Humanitarian questions
K = Krieg / War
P = Politik / Politics
PH = Pro-Houthi
PS = Pro-Saudi
T = Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
15.12.2016 – Aktion Deutschland hilft (** A H)
"Stilles Sterben ohne einen Ausweg"
Unbeachtet von der Öffentlichkeit leiden im Jemen fast 19 Millionen Menschen
"Wovon soll ich morgen satt werden?" Diese Frage stellt sich nahezu jeder dritte Mensch im Jemen, einem Land, das seit über eineinhalb Jahren im Krieg versinkt, was von der breiten Öffentlichkeit kaum wahrgenommen wird. "Fast 19 Millionen Menschen sind inzwischen auf humanitäre Hilfe, also Nahrungsmittel, eine Unterkunft oder auch medizinische Versorgung, angewiesen", beschreibt Manuela Roßbach, Geschäftsführerin von "Aktion Deutschland Hilft", die Lage in dem südarabischen Staat. "Das entspricht einem Viertel der deutschen Bevölkerung." Davon leiden mehr als sieben Millionen Menschen akuten Hunger. Kinder sterben aufgrund von Mangelernährung.
Um das Leid der Menschen zu lindern, sind Hilfsorganisationen von "Aktion Deutschland Hilft" vor allem im Westjemen, insbesondere in den Regionen Hajjah, Ta'izz und Aden, aktiv und versorgen die Bedürftigen mit lebenswichtigen Gütern und Maßnahmen. Um ausreichend sauberes Wasser bereitzustellen, setzt CARE unter anderem Wasseraufbereitungsanlagen instand und verteilt Trinkwasser mit Tanklastwagen. Priorität haben zudem auch die Verteilung von Nahrungsmitteln und die gesundheitliche Versorgung. Neben Lebensmitteln für die notleidende Bevölkerung liefert Islamic Relief wichtiges medizinisches Material an Krankenhäuser. Die Bündnisorganisationen ADRA und Handicap International dagegen schulen lokale Geburts- oder Rehabilitationshelfer, die fortan eigenständig Hilfe leisten können.
Dabei arbeiten die Hilfsorganisationen unter besonders schweren Bedingungen. Durch die anhaltenden Kampfhandlungen und Bombardements werden Gebäude beschädigt und die Arbeitsmöglichkeiten der Helfer stark eingeschränkt. Auch kamen bereits lokale Mitarbeiter zu Schaden oder sind auf der Flucht vor den Kriegsparteien. "Was wir jetzt brauchen, ist eine breite Unterstützung für die notleidenden Menschen im Jemen. Und die internationale Gemeinschaft muss alles dafür tun, um den Konflikt so schnell wie möglich zu beenden", appelliert Roßbach.
Aktion Deutschland Hilft ruft zu Spenden für die Not leidende Bevölkerung im Jemen auf:
SPENDEN
Stichwort "Hunger Jemen"
IBAN: DE62 3702 0500 0000 1020 30 (Bank für Sozialwirtschaft)
Spendenhotline: 0900 55 102030 (kostenfrei aus dem dt. Festnetz,
Mobilfunk höher)
Charity SMS: SMS mit ADH10 an die 81190 senden
(10 EUR zzgl. üblicher SMS-Gebühr, 9,83 EUR davon gehen direkt an
Aktion Deutschland Hilft)
Online spenden unter: www.Aktion-Deutschland-Hilft.de
http://www.presseportal.de/pm/50116/3511826
24.12.2016 – Daily Mail (** B H K)
Hell of schoolgirl living in Yemen's 'forgotten conflict' revealed: Amal, 13, crawls in the dark to avoid snipers and is haunted by the horror of seeing her teacher blown up in a missile strike
Amal comes from war-torn city of Taiz which has been overwhelmed by fighting
Houthi rebels and government forces have been battling there since April 2015
Little Amal, 13, has survived missile and shelling attacks on south western city
She now lives in freezing, bare room in the country's' besieged capital of Sana'a
She has seen snipers shooting civilians and landmines exploding at people's feet
Around 7,000 have been killed, 35,000 injured in the conflict since March 2015
Amal is 13 years-old, a schoolgirl living a never ending nightmare of death, fear, destruction, horror and uncertainty.
In the past four months, the softly-spoken little girl has survived a missile attack on her school that killed a teacher and classmates, burying some alive.
She has been targeted by snipers, forced to flee through mine strewn booby-trapped streets and seen her uncle and cousin torn apart by shrapnel from a mortar that devastated their home in the besieged south-western Yemini city of Taiz.
Incredibly, Amal survived too when a market area was hit by missiles tearing apart potato and sweet sellers around her in one of the many indiscriminate attacks of Yemen's civil war that have led to allegations of civilians and their homes being targets.
Now she lives with the remains of her family in a freezing, dank, bare room more than 200 miles away in Yemen's capital Sana'a, watching her chronically ill mother fight for life while bombs and explosions from warplanes regularly strike the area around her.
As aid agencies warn of a humanitarian catastrophe and the Disasters Emergency Committee, which represents 13 British charities, launches an appeal that has so far topped £8million, her story provides a chilling insight into the horrors facing families in what has been called 'a forgotten' conflict.
Amal has taken on the role of caring for her family – father Ahmed, mother Fatima, brother Mushir, 11, and nine year-old sister Qamar – as they struggle with no money and few belongings to survive.
Ahmed said : 'Two days after the missile landed, killing our family, I decided we had to leave because I have children and I was worried for their safety. I didn't want them to die.
'We had to crawl out of our house in the middle of the night, around 2am, on our hands and knees. We crawled through the area in silence. We were led by a man who knew where all the snipers and landmines were.
'I felt like we were dying, it was a nightmare. I didn't even believe we had escaped from Taiz – by David Williams (with photos)
Click HERE to help Save The Children's work in Yemen
To donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee, click HERE, or call the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900. You can also donate over the counter at any high street bank or post office, send a cheque, or send £5 by texting the word SUPPORT to 70000.
Comment by Judith Brown: Amazing how the deaths from conflict vary from each source. It has to be far higher than the figure given here - the UN figure is around 11,000 and even that may be an underestimate. But that doesn't detract from the sad story of this child in Yemen - and there are so many like her.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155045751738641
Comment to comment: I a very sure that the real figure must be much higher than these 11.000.
24.12.2016 – AP (** B K P)
Yemen's would-be model, Aden plagued by bombs, instability
The bombings underscore how President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his main backer, the Saudi-led coalition, have failed to bring stability to the southern territories that his government controls in the civil war with Shiite Houthi rebels. Yemen's second largest city and once its commercial hub, Aden was intended to be a model of Hadi's legitimacy.
Instead it has become a sign of Yemen's woes. Multiple armed groups compete for influence, chief among them a force known as the Security Belt, created and funded by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and their allies. Commanded mainly by Muslim ultraconservatives, it has been accused by critics of heavy-handed methods, abusing opponents and resisting Hadi's authority. On Friday, the governor of a neighboring province said fighters from the groups fired on his car as he tried to visit Hadi's palace for prayers.
Hadi's government hoped the restoration of Aden would mark the beginning of the end for the Houthis. But 18 months later, the rebels still control Sanaa and much of the north, while security remains elusive in the south.
Suicide bombings and assassinations, mostly by al-Qaida and the Islamic State group's local affiliate, regularly target top military and government officials, army recruits and senior Muslim clerics.
Aden residents have burned tires and blocked roads in protests against fuel shortages, power cuts, delayed salaries and a lack of services. Others hold demonstrations demanding that southern Yemen, which was independent until 1990, secede again.
Hadi relocated the Central Bank to Aden in September, enabling his government to pay salaries for the first time in nearly four months.
But remnants of the army, police, and intelligence agencies under his Interior Ministry remain poorly equipped and trained. Courts, judges, prosecutors, and policemen have not returned to work out of fear for their safety. The groups of local fighters known as Hirak, who fought off the Houthis, have fragmented after Hadi's promises to integrate them into the army failed to materialize.
The Security Belt force, created by the Saudi-led coalition, presents itself as the new powerhouse to bring security in the absence of state institutions. The force is made up of some 15,000 southern fighters deployed across four provinces and mainly commanded by hard-line Muslims known as Salafis.
Nabil al-Washoush, the Belt's top commander, told the Associated Press that his force receives funds directly from the Saudi-led coalition.
Security officials close to the interior minister said the government has been trying to get all the armed groups under its command but is facing resistance from the Security Belt.
Hadi supporters also see the creation of the Belt as part of tensions between the president and the UAE, which helps finance the force. Earlier this year, Hadi removed a prime minister, Khaled Bahah, who was backed by the Emirates.
Local media report killings and unlawful detentions by the Belt.
Belt fighters at checkpoints often detain and harass anyone believed to be from the north, said Rageh, the radio reporter.
Ali al-Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Hirak fighters, said that the Security Belt doesn't recognize the government's authority.
"They think that they live in a different country with a different president." – by AHMED AL-HAJ and MAGGIE MICHAE
23.12.2016 – Middle East Eye (** B P)
The fake news the UK government has fed us about Yemen
Ministers' misleading statements to parliament provided cover for the Saudi bombing campaign in Yemen, and we are still waiting for answers
Fake news was one of the biggest themes of 2016, and Donald Trump and his supporters on the alternative right were not the only culprits.
One important manufacturer of fake news was the British government, especially when it came to ministerial statements on tragic, war-torn Yemen.
I hesitate to use the term 'lie', but we have learned through experience that British ministers cannot be trusted to tell the truth when they make statements about the Yemen.
The latest manifestation of this pernicious culture of falsehood concerns Philip Dunne, then defence minister, who told parliament in May that "we assess that no UK-supplied cluster weapons have been used and no UK-supplied aircraft have been involved in the use of cluster weapons in the current conflict in Yemen".
This Monday, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon was obliged to tell MPs that British-made cluster bombs had indeed been dropped on Yemen by Saudi Arabia.
Dunne's misleading assertion about cluster bombs is just the latest in a long series of inaccurate written and oral statements to parliament made by British ministers.
The culprits include Philip Hammond, before he was moved from the Foreign Office to the Treasury in the wake of Brexit. Hammond said in February that Britain had "assessed" that there had not been any breach of international humanitarian law in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition.
However, when Boris Johnson became Foreign Secretary in July, he immediately ordered his predecessor's untrue statement to be corrected. In a humbling moment for Hammond, the Foreign Office put out a statement which made clear his remark had been false. No assessment of any kind had been carried out.
There is, therefore, no question that Philip Hammond (and others including the current Middle East minister Tobias Ellwood) systematically misled the House of Commons on Yemen.
The effect of their statements was to protect Saudi Arabia as it led a murderous series of bombing raids which have wiped out weddings, attacked hospitals, funerals, markets and homes, in the process killing thousands of people. As I learned for myself in the Yemen, these tactics are ensuring that many there now hate our country for backing the Saudis.
It is important to remember that misleading the House of Commons is always one of the most serious offenses which any minister can commit - and all the more so when it concerns a matter of life and death.
The false statements put out by ministers to parliament about the British assessment of the carnage being carried out by the Saudi-led coalition bombers on the Yemen were therefore a deadly serious matter.
That is why I am very puzzled why the government has not treated the matter seriously at all. Shockingly, there has been no apology. Shamingly, the corrections in July, which can be read here, were quietly shuffled out on the final day before the summer recess.
There is, however, a very sinister alternative explanation: ministers were deliberately lying in order to cover up the truth about what they knew about the carnage being inflicted on the people of the Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition. There was no inquiry, and no punishment, because nobody had done anything wrong. Perhaps because ministers were following orders.
If that is so, Hammond's statement to MPs last February was not a mistake. It was part of a deliberate attempt to deceive them in order to cover up mass murder carried out by British allies in one of the ugliest conflicts in the world. If that is so, Hammond (and his ministerial colleagues) have got blood on his hands. He has deceived the Commons over a matter of life and death – by Peter Oborne
http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/fake-news-british-government-has-fed-us-about-yemen-206628139
Comment: The most generous construction on the failure to hold an inquiry is that there is an insouciant and careless culture in the Middle East section of the Foreign Office. Ministers feel they can utter untruths regardless of the consequences, their statements are purely weightless and part of a post-truth environment where government statements have no connection with any underlying reality.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1213458495373845
22.12.2016 – Real News (** B K P)
UK Fuels Carnage in Yemen Through Political and Military Support to Saudi Arabia
Theresa May's apologetics for arming Saudi Arabia reflects the arms industry's role in shaping British foreign policy, says Andrew Smith of the Campaign Against Arms Trade. [He is interviewed by Kim Brown]
Questions asked:
Cluster bombs have been banned under international law since about 2010, at least, and what has been the reaction from the British government regarding the use of UK-manufactured cluster munitions by Saudi Arabia?
How do you respond to what you just heard? [Jeremy Corbyn and Therese May on arming Saudi Arabia]
The White House recently blocked the transfer of some munitions to Saudi Arabia, so, in your opinion, how significant is this block?
In your opinion, what is the role of the British weapons industry in shaping British policy, foreign policy especially?
What can you tell us about this recently published report on the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defense and Security Review?
ANDREW SMITH: Well, I think the first thing to say about Theresa May's response, is that while the allegations are being investigated, much of the investigation is being done by leading NGOs, very authoritative NGOs, who are all being ignored by the UK government. Because Amnesty International, Oxfam, MSF, Humans Rights Watch, a number of other NGO's have accused Saudi Arabia of violating international humanitarian law.
The United Nations has accused Saudi Arabia of violating international humanitarian law. However, the only investigations which are being listened to by the UK government, are those being carried out by the Saudi-led coalition itself, which has been carrying out its own studies into if humanitarian law has been broken or not. Now, of course, Saudi Arabia is not going to find itself guilty of violating international humanitarian law, and it's absolutely absurd and ludicrous and ridiculous, that we would ever trust it to do so in the first place.
It's been interesting because over the last few weeks, the UK has responded to the Russian aggression in Aleppo, and quite rightly, the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have called for any violations of international humanitarian law, to be fully investigated by the UN. They've called for the international criminal courts to get involved, and for those violating the law to be brought to justice. Under no circumstances would the UK ever support Russia in investigating itself for violations of international law. That would just be incredibly stupid, but Saudi Arabia, a regime with a character every bit as bad, if not worse than Putin, is somehow being trusted to investigate itself. If it's a regime, which cannot be trusted to hold free and fair elections, how can it possibly be trusted to investigate itself for war crimes?
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=18006#pop1
23.12.2016 – AFP (* B K)
Human Rights Watch: Saudi-Arabien setzt im Jemen weiter Streubomben ein
HRW: Saudi-Arabien setzt im Jemen weiter Streubomben ein
Die Menschenrechtsorganisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) hat der von Saudi-Arabien angeführten Militärkoalition erneut den Einsatz geächteter Streumunition im Jemen vorgeworfen.
In Brasilien produzierte Raketen mit Streumunition seien am 6. Dezember in der Nähe von zwei Schulen in der Provinz Saada, einer Hochburg der schiitischen Huthi-Rebellen, abgefeuert worden, erklärte HRW heute. Bei dem Angriff waren zwei Zivilisten getötet und sechs weitere verletzt worden, darunter auch ein Kind.
Brasilien müsse sich im Klaren darüber sein, dass „seine Raketen bei unrechtmäßigen Angriffen“ im Jemen zum Einsatz kämen, sagte der HRW-Waffenexperte Steve Goose.
http://orf.at/stories/2372334/
Und, wie fast immer, wesentlich mehr auf Englisch:
23.12.2016 – Human Rights Watch (** B K)
Yemen: Brazil-Made Cluster Munitions Harm Civilians
Saudi-Led Coalition Rockets Nearly Hit Schools in Saada
The Saudi Arabia-led coalition fired Brazilian-made rockets containing banned cluster munitions that struck near two schools in the northern Yemeni city of Saada on December 6, 2016, Human Rights Watch said today. The attack on al-Dhubat neighborhood in Saada’s Old City at about 8 p.m. killed two civilians and wounded at least six, including a child.
The attack came a day after Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and the United States abstained from a vote in the United Nations General Assembly that overwhelmingly endorsed an already widely accepted international ban on cluster munition use. Brazil should join the Convention on Cluster Munitions and cease the production and transfer of cluster munitions, while Saudi Arabia and other coalition members should cease all use of cluster munitions, Human Rights Watch said.
“Brazil should be on notice that its rockets are being used in unlawful attacks in the Yemeni war,” said Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch and chair of the Cluster Munition Coalition, the international coalition of groups working to eradicate cluster munitions.
Human Rights Watch interviewed by telephone four witnesses to the attack and several other local sources. One witness visited the attack site shortly afterward and photographed the damage, while another photographed an unexploded submunition lying where it had landed.
Witnesses described hearing a loud explosion followed by several smaller explosions, which is consistent with a cluster munition attack. Ayman Lutf, a 20-year-old university student, told Human Rights Watch that five submunitions landed on his street, damaging a parked car and a water tank.
Human Rights Watch identified the remnants of ASTROS II surface-to-surface rockets, each containing up to 65 submunitions, delivered by a truck-mounted multi-barrel rocket launcher. Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have purchased ASTROS cluster munition rockets from Brazil, where they are manufactured by Avibrás Indústria Aeroespacial SA. Previously, Amnesty International researchers found remnants of ASTROS cluster munition rockets remaining after an attack on Ahma in Saada on October 27, 2015, that wounded at least four people.
The use of cluster munitions in Houthi-controlled territory that has been attacked by Saudi-led coalition aircraft and by rockets launched from Saudi Arabia on previous occasions suggests that Saudi forces fired the cluster munitions used on December 6, 2016. However, further investigation is required to conclusively determine responsibility, Human Rights Watch said. https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/12/23/yemen-brazil-made-cluster-munitions-harm-civilians = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-brazil-made-cluster-munitions-harm-civilians and shorter as reported by AP: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_YEMEN_CLUSTER_BOMBS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-12-23-02-30-09
22.12.2016 – WHO (** A H)
Weekly update: cholera cases in Yemen
The Ministry of Public Health and Population in Yemen has released updated figures on cholera cases in the country. Since the last update on 13 December, 1496 new suspected cases of cholera and 4 additional deaths have been reported.
As of 20 December, a cumulative total of 11 644 suspected cases of cholera, including 96 associated deaths have been reported across all affected governorates, with a case–fatality rate of 1%. So far, a total 157 stool samples were tested positive for Vibrio cholerae 01. The affected areas include 135 districts in the governorates of Abyan, Aden, Al-Bayda'a, Al-Dhale'a, Al Hudaydah, Al Jawf, Amran, Dhamar, Hajjah, Ibb, Lahij, Raymah, Sana'a, Ta'izz as well as Sana'a City. However, over 65% of the reported cases were from Aden, Al-Bayda, Al Hudaydah and Ta’izz.
The cholera taskforce led by WHO, in partnership with the Ministry, UNICEF, OCHA and other partner organizations, continues to strengthen cholera response activities at the national and governorate levels. Medical supplies have been provided to the treatment centres in Al Sabeen Hospital in Sana'a and four of the 26 diarrhoea treatment centres in Ibb and Hajjah governorates.
22.12.2016 – The Concourse (** B P)
Your App Isn't Helping The People Of Saudi Arabia
On March 15, 2002, 15 Saudi girls burned to death inside their school in Mecca. They were not trapped by fallen debris, or unaccounted for by firefighters. The mutaween, Saudi Arabia’s religious police, would not allow the girls to leave their burning school because they were not covering their hair or wearing their abayas.
The mutaween’s job is to root out violations of Saudi Arabia’s strict interpretation of Islam. As such, their ranks attract fanatics who live to tell others what to do, even when those others are schoolgirls trapped in a burning building.
Fourteen years after 15 children were needlessly incinerated, the mutaween have had their wings clipped just a tad. They can still harass women, unmarried couples, LGBT people and anyone else who violates the social tenets of Wahhabism, or simply look like they’re ripe for abuse or extortion. But they can no longer detain people, nor can they interfere with firefighters.
The most powerful absolute monarchy on earth is signaling that they’re going to make a few changes.
I doubt Mohammad bin Salman really wants to change Saudi society all that much, after decades of deliberate effort by his own family to make it as hard to change as possible. I also don’t think the paid ass-kissers and tech masters of the universe truly have any idea how apps could fix a national system designed to treat the majority of a nation’s residents as second-class citizens at best, and defective property at worst. Even if they did have benevolent intentions beyond enriching themselves, the systems and technologies they’re so excited about are already tools for the same hateful takfiris they pretend they’re upending. It’ll take more than a car service app to fix a country that was deliberately driven insane.
But after all this, and despite how hopeless it sounds, I can’t end on a nihilist note. The people who spoke with me were courageous and generous. They opened their hearts and lives up to me. On their feeds, they speak with justified anger not just about their own situations, but also about the plights of black Americans, Palestinians, and every other group in the world that’s gotten the shit end of the stick. I saw enough real courage and compassion in them to believe, one day, that they can make Saudi Arabia less awful for its most exploited and marginalized.
When it comes to forcing social progress, young people who unabashedly want the world to be a better place have a much better track record than apps. They’re just less likely to make lanyard-wearers rich in the process – by Felix Biederman
http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/your-app-isnt-helping-the-people-of-saudi-arabia-1790198445
My comment: A very long article giving a lot of information on Saudi Arabia, very worth reading in full length.
12.2016 – Wikipedia (** B H K P)
Humanitäre Aspekte der Militärintervention im Jemen 2015/2016
Die humanitären Aspekte der Militärintervention im Jemen 2015/2016 behandeln die humanitären Auswirkungen, die Opfer der Zivilisten und Konfliktparteien, die Schäden an historischem Kulturgut und Infrastruktur, die Vorwürfe in Bezug auf Verstöße gegen das humanitäres Völkerrecht und andere internationale Konventionen sowie die Maßnahmen zur humanitären Hilfe während und infolge der Militärintervention im Jemen, die am 26. März 2015 von einer von Saudi-Arabien angeführten und von den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika (USA), Frankreich und Großbritannien logistisch unterstützten Militärallianz unter Beteiligung von Saudi-Arabien, Ägypten, Bahrain, Katar, Kuwait, den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten (VAE), Jordanien, Marokko, Sudan und seit Mai 2015 Senegal begonnen wurde. Die Daten nehmen auch auf den bewaffneten innerjemenitischen Konflikt seit dem 19. März 2015 Bezug, bei dem auf der einen Seite Teile der jemenitischen Armee sowie sunnitische Stammesmilizen den faktisch entmachteten jemenitischen Übergangspräsidenten Abed Rabbo Mansur Hadi im Kampf gegen schiitische Huthi-Rebellen unterstützen, die ihrerseits von Stammesmilizen unterstützt werden sowie von Teilen der jemenitischen Armee, die offenbar loyal zum früheren jemenitischen Präsidenten und Machthaber Ali Abdullah Salih stehen.
Auch im Dezember 2016 war kein Ende des Konflikts in Sicht, der den Jemen zum Schauplatz einer der weltweit größten humanitären Krisen gemacht hatte.[26] In Bezug auf die Anzahl der notleidenden Menschen handelt es sich im Jemen nach Angaben des UN-Sicherheitsrats von Februar 2016 um die größte humanitäre Krise der Welt.[27]
Einleitende Zusammenfassung
Die saudisch geführte Militärkoalition und die Vereinten Nationen erlegten dem stark von Importen abhängigen Jemen während der Militärintervention eine als Waffenembargo begründete, nahezu totale De-facto-Blockade des Landes auf, die landesweit zu kritischen Engpässen und enormen Preissteigerungen in der Strom- und Treibstoffversorgung führte.[28][29] Der landesweite Treibstoffmangel führte daraufhin zur Ausbreitung von Krankheiten und Not im ariden Jemen, in dem der Zugang zu Wasser in der Regel von mit Treibstoff betriebenen Pumpen abhängt und in dem über 20 Millionen Menschen – 80 Prozent der Bevölkerung – auf Hilfe von außen angewiesen waren.[28] Menschenrechtsorganisationen kritisierten die saudisch geführte Militärkoalition für ihre Seeblockade des Jemen, die das Land an den Rand einer Hungersnot gebracht habe.[30] Ende Februar 2016 forderte das Europäische Parlament (EP) aufgrund der destabilisierenden Auswirkung der Luftangriffe und Seeblockade gegen den Jemen per Resolution ein Waffenembargo gegen Saudi-Arabien.[31][32][33]
Am 1. Juli 2015 riefen die Vereinten Nationen (UN) für eine vorangekündigte Dauer von sechs Monaten den Level-3-Emergency (Notstand der Stufe 3) für den Jemen aus, die höchste Notstandsstufe der UN.[34] Hilfsorganisationen wie Oxfam verglichen die humanitäre Lage im Jemen wenige Monate nach Beginn der Militärintervention mit der Situation in Syrien nach mehrjährigem Krieg[35][36][37][38] und bezeichneten sie als den Zahlenangaben zufolge weltweit „zurzeit größte humanitäre Krise“.[37][39]
Am 2. Juli 2015 erklärte die UNESCO zwei Welterbestätten im Jemen, die Altstadt von Sanaa und die Festungsstadt Schibam, aufgrund des bewaffneten Konflikts im Jemen für bedroht,[40] nachdem die UNESCO-Generaldirektorin bereits im Mai die Zerstörungen der Luftangriffe in der Altstadt von Sanaa und anderen dicht besiedelten Gebieten verurteilt[41][42][43] und die UNO im Juni 2015 gewarnt hatte, dass das bedeutende archäologische und historische Erbe seit einer Welle von Luftangriffen der saudi-arabisch angeführten Militärkoalition in der Altstadt von Sanaa in Gefahr geraten war.[44]
Bis April 2016 stieg die Anzahl der durch den bewaffneten Konflikt im Jemen seit Beginn der Militärintervention in die Binnenflucht getriebenen Menschen nach UN-Angaben auf rund 2,8 Millionen (über 10 Prozent der Gesamtbevölkerung) an.[45][18][19] Mehr als 168.000 Menschen sind bis Ende 2015 aus dem Jemen nach Saudi-Arabien, Dschibuti, Somalia, Äthiopien, in den Sudan und Oman geflohen, über 23.000 ausländische Bürger wurden aus dem Jemen evakuiert.[46]
Menschenrechtsgruppen haben die saudisch geführte Militärkoalition wiederholt beschuldigt, mit ihren Luftangriffen Zivilisten zu töten und Gesundheitseinrichtungen sowie andere Infrastruktur zu zerstören.[47]
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitäre_Aspekte_der_Militärintervention_im_Jemen_2015/2016
Bemerkung: Das ist der längste Artikel der deutschsprachigen Wikipedia: http://www.chip.de/news/445.430-Zeichen-Das-ist-der-laengste-Artikel-der-Wikipedia_106028003.html
The English version is much shorter:
2016 – Wikipedia (** B H K P)
There have been many human rights violations committed by various groups during the Yemeni Civil War. There are two main groups involved in the ongoing conflict: forces loyal to the current Yemeni president, Abh Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, and Houthis and other forces supporting Ali Abdullah Saleh, the former Yemeni president. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have also carried out attacks in Yemen.[1] All sides of the conflict have been accused of human rights violations.[2]Coalition forces led by Saudi Arabia and backed by the United States and other nations have also been accused of violating human rights and in some cases, breaking international law. The coalition forces intervened at Hadi's request, in an attempt to defeat the Houthis and restore Hadi's government.[3] Coalition attacks, especially airstrikes, have been accused of causing large scale civilian deaths, but Saudi Arabia disputes these claims.[4] The use of force by these groups has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis situation in Yemen, as critical infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed in attacks. In addition to the attacks, blockades of critical resources, such as fuel, to Yemen by Saudi Arabia have hindered the transport of food in Yemen, and the ability of civilians to travel to locations where there are adequate medical facilities.[5][6] The situation in Yemen has been described as "one of the worst crises in the world" by the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen.[7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_violations_during_the_Yemeni_Civil_War_(2015-present)
cp2 Allgemein / General
25.12.2016 – AWD News (* B K)
Made-in-America Weapons, War Crimes, and the Outcry Over Yemen
As the US limits some arms sales to Saudi Arabia, human rights groups present 'overwhelming evidence' pointing back at Washington.
Within three months, the Saudi Arabia-led coalition had been accused of war crimes, including hitting a Médecins Sans Frontières hospital.
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.
So, what does this “overwhelming evidence” look like?
http://awdnews.com/political/made-in-america-weapons,-war-crimes,-and-the-outcry-over-yemen
Remark: Overview article on the Saudi aerial war.
24.12.2016 – RT (* B H K P)
Film: Doppelstandards: Medien konzentrieren sich auf Syrien während sie den Krieg im Jemen ignorieren
Die Bevölkerung Aleppos feiert nach der Befreiung der Stadt durch die syrische Armee. Während dessen spielt sich im Jemen eine humanitäre Katastrophe ab. 70 Prozent der Bevölkerung brauchen humanitäre Hilfe. Über 10.000 Menschen wurden getötet. Die saudische Regierung begeht Kriegsverbrechen. Die westlichen Medien aber ignorieren den Bürgerkrieg.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5VM1gogZWc
24.12.2016 – Press TV Iran (* B K P)
War on Yemen fully supported by US, UK: Activist
An international lawyer and activist believes this is a war against the Yemeni civilians, waged by foreign belligerents with full support from the United States and Britain.
“From the start this has been a contrived illegal belligerent war on the civilians of a sovereign nation and nothing has been done about that,” Barry Grossman told Press TV in an interview on Saturday.
He also criticized the UN resolution imposing an arms embargo on Yemenis, arguing that they are fighting to preserve their own right to self-determination and their nations’ sovereignty.
The activist further noted Saudi Arabia’s military aggression against Yemen is fully supported by the “Atlantic World establishment” which, as usual, is making money from arms sales.
He went on to say there is no willingness to even discuss the imposition of a full arms embargo against Saudi Arabia.
Grossman further stated the world has moved fully into a new era in which the rule of law is essentially dead, adding that what prevails over everything is the rule of policy which is made by corporate-funded private think tanks that offer policies to the political apparatus.
“What we have seen in recent decades is that the very concept of the rule of law, the very concept of human rights, the notion of what is or is not genuine national security interest, what is or is not terrorism is defined by Atlantic World powers, not in accordance with some abstract principles.” he said.
24.12.2016 – Judith Brown (* B K P)
[Judith Brown comments on the article Interviewing Mohammed al-Qadhi, a Yemeni War Reporter in Taiz, http://muftah.org/interviewing-mohammed-al-qadhi-war-yemeni-reporter-taiz/) from July 20, presented here in YPR 172]
Another report from a journalist who is covering the story in Taiz. However the siege in Taiz isn't as disastrous as the Saudi led embargo in other cities particularly Hodeida, Saada and Hajja - I understand that although it's a tortuous route route over mountains carried by men and donkeys food can be delivered in Taiz and at one point there were lots of pictures of Taiz citizens making that journey. My point has always been that UAE and Saudi have from time to time described weapons drops to Taiz militias and Saudi controls the airspace - why don't they drop more food and medical supplies? The political will clearly isn't there.
And recently Amnesty has reported new anti-Houthi militias in Taiz who are even more brutal - local people tell me these the Sa'alik Brigades that contain many foreign fighters - unsubstantiated rumour has it that they have experience in Aleppo as part of the not-very-moderate 'rebels' there, but whether that's true or not their brutality and appearance of foreign jihadists is another disgusting and challenging turn in the dreadful Taiz and Yemen war. So it gets more depressing in the news from this unfortunate city that without doubt has suffered worse from the ground fighting than any other place in Yemen as you can see from this report. The trouble is that so many people have lost so much in Taiz that they won't give up the fight unless they can demonstrate victory, yet in the end compromise is the only way to secure peace.
Polarisation in Taiz is very extreme and reading this report you can see why - the other militias fighting the Houthi-Saleh forces are Islah, Abu Abbas Brigades (Salafists), Al Qaeda, and from time to time Saudi paid mercenaries although I understand they are not there now. UAE troops have also played a minor role in the past but they don't like to fight alongside Islah and Al Qaeda that they see as terrorists (what a meaningless word - it just means anyone you want others to hate as much as you do) so they haven't been there is big numbers. So complicated - how can peace come out of this mess?
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155045243423641
24.12.2016 – Tasnim News (B K P)
Enemies at The Gate – Why Saudi Arabia Needs Yemen to Erect Its Wahhabist Empire
With so many eyes locked on Aleppo, it is unlikely mainstream will identify Yemen as the next war theater, and pending grand battle against Wahhabist Saudi Arabia – and yet it is Southern Arabia which will determine how the kingdom’s ambitions will either rise or implode.
Sectarianism it needs to be said has been wielded as a powerful asymmetrical weapon of war, whereby communities have been labelled as apostate so that their claim to democracy and territorial sovereignty could be shun by the powers that be – Western powers and their Wahhabist allies.
Until Wahhabism developed a power-house over the Hijaz, sectarianism was not an Islamic reality, rather an aberration denounced by both Sunni and Shiite Islam. It is Wahhabism which came to define the Islamic world in division and exclusion. Maybe we ought to look into history to find where it is that we all faltered.
It is our inability to see through political manipulations which has allowed Riyadh to establish itself a tyrant over Yemen – suffocating an entire people so that it would renounce its sovereign rights and allow for its inheritance to be bartered at al-Saud table.
Without Yemen as its anchor, the kingdom will not withstand the test of time – especially now that nations across the Middle East have spoken against imperialism and foreign powers diktat.
With Wahhabism on the run, Saudi Arabia will likely throw its entire weight into Yemen to secure the one victory it so absolutely depends on to erect its empire. Without Yemen, Riyadh remains a kingdom in isolation and in a financial dire straight – by Catherine Shakdam
My comment: “I would personally argue that Syria and Iraq were fought so that none would come to Yemen’s aid”: No, I don’t believe that.
24.12.2016 – Muftah (B K P)
The Folly of Saudi Arabia’s Campaign Against Yemen
It is true the situation in Yemen is complicated. But, there is nothing complicated about valuing and protecting human life.
In addition to suspending arms sales, there must be an independent investigation by international bodies so the responsible parties are held accountable. Activists in the United States should pressure their governments to push for such investigations. Independent NGOS should be allowed to enter the country, to perform their own investigations, and aid organizations must be allowed to enter areas most in need of humanitarian assistance. On the political side, the situation can and must be resolved diplomatically, with all sides meeting to discuss the distribution of power and reinstituting stability, with a focus on protecting civilians – by Asad Dandia
http://muftah.org/folly-saudi-arabias-campaign-yemen/#.WF5zvPnhCUl
Remark: Short overview.
24.12.2016 – Asharq Al-Awsat (* B P)
Yemen’s Ambassador to the U.N.: 4,000 Arrested by Houthis
Yemen’s ambassador to the U.N. Khalid Hussein al-Yamani said the total registered number of detainees and abducted by the Houthi and Saleh militias reached 4,414 – According to Yamani, the arrested are activists, politicians and journalists in addition to some workers.
Yamani, in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said that there are around 204 children among the kidnapped in addition to around 91 from the academics and instructors. He also said that Sana’a recorded the highest rate of kidnapping by the militias with around 2,973 abducted.
The letter sent by Yamani to Ban Ki-moon also triggered the sufferings of the abducted, knowing that their number is increasing because arresting operations have not stopped in regions ruled by Saleh and Houthis militias. Most of the arrested face no charges, he affirmed.
“During the previous period, I continued to receive messages from children who were deprived from their fathers – Mariam, 7, is one of these children and she is telling me about her father journalist Abdul Khaleq Umran,” Yamani said in his letter.
He continued, “Unfortunately no progress has been achieved in this case and none of the kidnapped was released – as a matter of fact, arrests increased. Unfortunately, this topic was not paid enough attention by international organizations and media.”
http://english.aawsat.com/2016/12/article55364406/yemens-ambassador-u-n-4000-arrested-houthis
My comment: There had been abduced and detained many people by the Houthis. But, for this subject the Hadi “government” and Asharq Al-Awsat are very dubious sources – especially if any figures are mentioned.
23.12.2016 – France Culture (* B K)
Yemen. Comment évaluer l’étendue et les conséquences de la guerre civile ?
essayer de donner des clés de compréhension d’un conflit hautement meurtrier (c’est un véritable désastre humanitaire, on parle de trois millions de déplacés internes), qui risque de transformer le pays en État failli, ce qui n’est de l’intérêt de personne.
Remark: This article links to quite a lot of important films (many of them in English) explaining and showing the Yemen war and its consequences. And with Audio Podcast (10 min, in French)
23.12.2016 – Get Up Stand Up ( B K)
Just a reminder: Driving through Harad, Northern Yemen
https://twitter.com/riseup75/status/811728223197396997
22.12.2016 – The Mark News (* B P)
Yemen’s civil war has cost at least 10,000 lives, devastated infrastructure and pushed 16 million people to the brink of hunger, but an end to the conflict will only be possible if key international players push hard to get the warring parties back to the negotiating table.
Hopes that an end to Yemen’s punishing civil war might be within reach were briefly ignited last month. They faded almost as quickly as they came, when the government of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi rejected a plan put forward by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
The Hadi government’s opposition to the plan, which apparently enjoyed the support of the insurgent Houthis and key members of the Saudi-led military coalition that seeks to return Hadi to power, is consistent with its rejection of similar proposals that have called for moving forward simultaneously on both military and political tracks rather than adhering to the terms of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2216, which calls for the Houthi rebels to surrender all heavy weapons and give up territory they have seized before political discussions begin.
Now, with the clock ticking down on the Obama administration and European governments increasingly preoccupied with their own elections and the future of the European Union, it appears that Yemen’s “forgotten war” will continue unabated and, for the most part, unnoticed.
the Saudi-led coalition virtually ignored AQAP upon entering Yemen’s war in March 2015. Instead, it focused single-mindedly on forcing the insurgent Houthis to relinquish their hold on territory, surrender their heavy weapons and return to their traditional homeland in the north of the country.
Yemen’s location, which makes the country a key geostrategic asset.
Without the support of key players in the international community, the UN Special Envoy’s efforts to bring the warring parties back to the negotiating table will fail. Yemen’s war will continue, the nation’s already feeble infrastructure will be further pummelled and even greater harm will be inflicted on its long-suffering population.
Ironically, one of the principal characteristics that relegates news of Yemen’s war to the inside pages of our daily newspapers is also a major reason for optimism: fundamentally, this is still a conflict that Yemenis themselves can resolve.
The longer the war continues, the more likely it is to invite even deeper involvement by external players, increasing the prospect of greater human calamity and robbing Yemenis of the opportunity to determine the future of their own nation – by By STEPHEN SECHE, Executive Vice President of The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, former US ambassador to Yemen
http://www.themarknews.com/2016/12/22/4036/
My comment: Seche is right in many points, in others he is not. A) Since Saudi Arabia started its air raids, the Yemen war no more is a civil war. B) Putting pressure on both sides to achieve a peace solution would afford a neutral position and an end to US backing the Saudis and the Hadi government. C) If the Yemenis really should get the possibility to resolve this crisis by themselves, external interference must be stopped. This means the US must stop its own interference and its backing of one side of this war.
21.12.2016 – Sputnik Radio (* B H K)
Audio: World in Focus: Sputnik’s Daily Current Affairs Program | 21/12/16
Wednesday: Charity warns that Yemen is on the brink of collapse; new Israeli laws accused of unfairly targeting Palestinian workers; and, Paraguay’s constitutional battle creates unusual bedfellows.
Yemen is on the verge of collapse as poverty and disease, exacerbated by war and a lack of resources, have ravaged the country. That’s according to the charity Save the Children. We bring you reaction from the Yemeni capital of Sanna, from journalist on the ground, Hussain Albukhaiti (min 31:44 to 40:00)
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
Siehe / Look at cp1
23.12.2016 – Al Masirah TV (* A H)
Another film of starving children.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpphR334qPk
24.12.2016 – Your Ability (A H)
Our little Mayasa (you may recall she is 7 years old and has 3 carcinomas: eye, stomach, brain) needs to undergo her second surgery to the stomach.
She is, in addition, internally displaced and lives in a tent with her family. They have virtually nothing apart from 3 cancers to cure.
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, famine, with no home, toys, water.
Mayasa received support from Your Ability Organization NGO in Sanaa for her first surgery.
Now Your Ability needs help to continue assisting her: feeding her (she is malnourished), taking care of her devastated family, medicines and 2 surgeries.
We are sharing this message hoping you can help her contacting the NGO directly (https://www.facebook.com/your.abilities.or/ )
If you cannot help but want to send her your best wishes, please do so. We should be most grateful if you could also share our message.
Mayasa needs us. (photo)
24.12.2016 – International Organization for Migration (A H)
Photos: #IOM_Yemen with counterpart @monarelief spread the warmth in these cold days on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in war torn Yemen
https://twitter.com/iom_yemen/status/812376858780114944
https://twitter.com/iom_yemen/status/812381589497933824
23.12.2016 – Al Monitor (* B H)
Preventable illnesses menace children in Yemen
Yemen's children are paying the price of the civil war that began there in September 2014. They are dying daily from preventable conditions like diarrhea. In times of war, children lose their schools, houses and healthy food, and suffer from diseases caused by malnutrition and for which they are unvaccinated.
Human rights activist Rayan al-Shaibani told Al-Monitor, “The UNICEF figures are dangerous and we should not ignore them. The organization gets its information about the situation from field researchers who conduct interviews. Nevertheless, I think that there are more child victims because the organization cannot reach everyone in a highly reserved society that stigmatizes poverty.”
She added, “The future of children who have left school is also at risk. They do not receive sufficient food and vaccines to maintain their quality of life. Also, according to some information in the media, the Houthis are trying to amend school curricula for children to contain new sectarian information.”
Yemen's health system has collapsed almost completely, and US attempts have failed to bring the fighting parties to the negotiation table. The ongoing conflict has killed thousands of people and created one of the worst humanitarian crises ever.
The children whose families have been killed in the war are at risk on multiple fronts. On Nov. 22, in Dhamar governorate, 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of Sanaa, Al-Monitor spoke to Mohammad al-Samawi, a nine-year-old begging with his five-year-old brother near a restaurant. He said that his father had died while fighting alongside Houthis in an armed clash with supporters of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi in early 2016 in the town of Bzommar, in Dhamar governorate.
He said that after his father died, “Houthi militants brought us weapons and told us that he had been martyred. Then they left. Six months later, my mother who mourned my father daily, died. I am now begging in the streets during the day, and at night I go back home.”
Neither Mohammad nor his brother go to school, and they are at high risk of enlistment into militias as well as sexual exploitation.
The Houthis, the pro-government forces and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) are all known to be recruiting children.
Yemen is going through the most violent period of its modern history, and its children’s lives are threatened. The next generation will be a deeply wounded one, scarred not only by illnesses and other problems that have recently surfaced, but also the long-lasting psychological repercussions of the war – by Ahmed Alwly
22.12.2016 – Luzerner Zeitung (* B H)
Luzerner Ärztin leistet Hilfe im Kriegsgebiet im Jemen
Sie war täglich mit Menschen konfrontiert, die durch Gewehrkugeln, Bomben und Granatkugeln schwer verletzt wurden. Trotz viel Leid erlebte Franziska Auf der Maur (41) bei ihrem freiwilligen Einsatz auch viele schöne Momente.
Stationiert war Franziska Auf der Maur in einem Spital in einer kleinen Ortschaft im Süden Jemens. Aus Sicherheitsgründen dürfen sich die Mitarbeiter von MSF nur beschränkt und nur im Auto von einem Ort zum anderen bewegen. Im Spital arbeitete die Luzernerin als Anästhesistin in einem Team mit etwa zehn weiteren ausländischen und einheimischen Mitarbeitern, darunter Chirurgen und Notfallärzte.
Kaum war sie an ihrem Einsatzort angelangt, flammten die kriegerischen Auseinandersetzungen in unmittelbarer Nähe voll auf: «Jede Nacht hörten wir Bomber fliegen.» Es gab viele Tote und Verletzte. «Wir hatten sehr viele Verwundete mit teils multiplen Schussverletzungen, auch viele offene Bauch- und Brustverletzungen», erzählt die Luzernerin. Extremitätenverletzungen durch Bomben und Granatensplitter waren an der Tagesordnung. «Viele der bei uns eingelieferten Patienten waren einfach zur falschen Zeit am falschen Ort».
«Man hat nur einfache Mittel zur Verfügung und muss daraus das Beste machen», sagt Franziska Auf der Maur.
Oft sei das Team angesichts der Vielzahl von Verletzten kapazitätsmässig an seine Grenzen gelangt: «Häufig arbeiteten wir bis spät abends, manchmal gings bis 2 Uhr am Morgen.»
Trotz allem menschlichen Elend, das sie erlebte – für die Luzernerin brachte der Einsatz im Jemen auch viele schöne Momente: «Es kommt einem von diesen Menschen unglaublich viel Wärme und Hilfsbereitschaft entgegen, wenn man sie anständig behandelt.» – von Hugo Bischof
30.11.2016 – Oxfam (* A H)
Oxfam Yemen Situation Report #32, 30 November 2016
Humanitarian Context
Commercial and import uncertainty: Based upon the latest UN snapshot on Shipping, Food and Fuel imports, the costs for the equivalent of the minimum food staples is 24% higher than pre‐crisis levels. In addition, there are worrying signs for food availability in country with significant reductions in ships entering Yemen ports overall. The level of import of fuel is at 39%, which is well below the overall needs in country. WFP released a briefing noting that in the worst case scenario, the numbers of food insecure are likely to increase beyond 21 million people.
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.
[following: work done by Oxfam in Yemen]
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/oxfam-yemen-situation-report-32-30-november-2016-bi-weekly and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Oxfam%20Yemen%20External%20%20Sitrep%20%2332%2030Nov2016_Final.pdf
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
25.12.2016 – Anadolu (* A H P)
Egypt says 49 fishermen held by Yemen rebels freed
The fishermen returned to Yemen’s southern Al-Hudaydah province
Egyptian authorities said Saturday 49 fishermen held by Houthi rebels in Yemen have been released.
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement the freed fishermen returned to their residence in Yemen’s southern Al-Hudaydah province.
“Measures are being finalized for their return to the homeland,” ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said.
The spokesman said the fishermen were released after contacts with Yemeni and regional parties as well as UN envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Earlier this month, Egyptian authorities said 49 nationals had been held at a Houthi-run prison in the capital Sanaa.
http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/egypt-says-49-fishermen-held-by-yemen-rebels-freed/713661
24.12.2016 – Ahram (* A H P)
Cairo secures release of 49 Egyptian fishermen kidnapped in Yemen: Foreign ministry
Egypt has successfully coordinated with Yemeni authorities to secure the release in Sanaa 49 Egyptian fishermen who were kidnapped in late November in the port city of Al-Hudaydah, Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said in a statement on Saturday.
The spokesman added that the Egyptian embassy in Yemen is following up on procedures to ensure the Egyptians return home, and called on “all Egyptians in Yemen to take the utmost care and stay away from conflict areas.”
Abu Zeid explained that Egypt's ambassador to Yemen worked with the UN envoy in Yemen and the International Red Cross Committee to secure the release of the Egyptians.
The identity of the kidnappers was not clear.
My comment: This seems to have been a complicated diplomatic affair. The last sentence, I must confess, I do not understand. Where exactly did these fishermen stay the last month?
24.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (A)
Houthis bomb house, abduct two children in al Dhali'
A local source said on Saturday that the Houthi and Saleh forces have bombed a house and abducted two children in Juban district, northern al Dhali' governorate, southern Yemen.
The source told Almasdaronline that the house belongs to one of the Houthis' opponents in Nawah al Awabl area, and that the Houthis also kidnapped two children, 12 and 14 year-old, and no further details were given.
The source pointed out that this incident has followed tension in the area, as the Houthis bombed last week two other houses in the same area and kidnapped six civilians, including a child.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87426
24.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (A)
Houthis kidnap civilians in al Nadirah, Ibb province
Ibb province: The Houthi militants kidnapped four civilians, including a college student named Suhail al Awdi, and took them to an unknown destination.
The Houthi rebels are waging a kidnapping campaigns against their opponents from time to time, according to the local source.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87428
24.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K P)
Human Rights Ministry calls Int'l community to stop aggression on Yemen
SANA'A, Dec. 24 (Saba) – The Ministry of Human Rights called on the United Nations and the Security Council to expedite the issuance of UN resolutions to stop the US-Saudi aggression on Yemen.
In its statement, which was issued on Saturday, the ministry confirmed that it will take all measures to ensure the right of victims of the Saudi American aggression in the justice and fairness and that perpetrators not escape from the punishment.
The statement demanded to activate the role of the United Nations and its organs in a neutral and independent manner in the investigation and fact-finding that prove that the Saudi-led aggression alliance committed brutal crimes and massacres against the people of Yemen.
It also called for referring the crimes committed by the US-Saudi aggression and their allies against the Yemeni people to the International Criminal Court.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450622.htm
25.12.2016 – Saba Net (A P)
Journalists held in PSO not tortured: Attorney General
The journalists held in the Political Security Organization (PSO) have not been tortured, the Attorney General office said in a statement to Saba.
The Attorney General's statement issued on Saturday came after investigations conducted by the prosecution at the PSO headquarters with the journalists, in response to reports.
The finding-facts investigations proved that the journalists have never been subjected to any kind of torture in the PSO, denying reports of alleged accusations of torturing the journalists.
The prosecutor ordered the PSO's head to provide health care to the journalists and quickly refer them to the court for legal procedures or release them.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450647.htm
25.12.2016 – Al Sahwa (A P)
YJS: Houthis fabricated report, forced journalist to sign it
The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate said on Saturday that the Houthi-appointed Attorney General Abdul-Aziz al-Baghdadi fabricated a false report in which he said that the detained journalists were not subjected to torture during their stay in the Political Security's prison in Sana'a.
In a statement, YJS affirmed that a team formed by the Houthi attorney general visited the journalists and forced them to sign a false fabricated report, reiterating that it had access to information approving that the journalists were forced to sign the report.
YJS absolutely rejected the report, "devious tactics" used by Houthis and forcing the journalists to sign a false fabricated report.
http://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-1890
24.12.2016 – Yemen Update (* A H P)
Detained Yemeni journalists, in #Houthis prisons, go on hunger strike (photos)
https://twitter.com/yemen_updates/status/812572837143842820
24.12.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A P)
Yemen interior minister Kawsi talking with Russian acting ambassador in Sanaa today on security&terror-counter cooperation between two countries (photo)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/812659045320523780
24.12.2016 – Saba Net (* A P)
FM demands to reopen Sana'a Airport, before any consultations
The Foreign Minister has wondered about the international community's non-reaction to the appeals of the United Nations and Yemeni people to reopen Sana'a International Airport.
"The positive steps and flexibility adopted by the Supreme Political Council and National Salvation Government in dealing with various initiatives aiming to reach a political and peaceful solution, must be met with actions on the ground by the countries of the Saudi aggression coalition to alleviate the Yemeni people's suffering in the humanitarian and living aspects," Hisham Sharaf said in statement to Saba on Friday.
"The Yemeni citizen must feel that there is a serious movement and desire for peace among the coalition's countries waging aggression on Yemen."
Any meetings or talks in Jordan would mean nothing without reopening the Sana'a International Airport as it was before, he said.
The Minister stressed the Saudi aggression are working intransigently to create humanity and living obstacles before the Yemeni people.
He said that thousands of patients, students and citizens, are suffering from traveling to and from Sana'a. "Many patients die, while the whole world sees, hears and does nothing, Sharaf said.
He indicated to hostile media reports about the steps toward peace and the need to make concessions, while siege, military escalation, recruitment of terrorists and Saudi airstrikes continue against Yemen.
"Any procedural steps or consultations about a truce and resumption of the peace talks must be preceded by a good will act and re-open the Sana'a International Airport," the Minister concluded.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450540.htm
24.12.2016 – Saba Net (A P)
Information Minister says properties of national media is to expose Saudi crimes against Yemenis: Al-Alam TV
Information Minister Ahmad Hamed said the priorities of the national media policy during current stage is to confront US-backed Saudi aggression war and expose crimes committed by Saudi aggression against the Yemeni people to the world.
The minister also said that the ministry policy is to enhance the national media policy and to unify the public and private media policy in general.
Mr. Hamed said the national media team of the country, which consists of a large-scale of professional journalists, will have a mission to accomplish which is that to expose the criminal aggression war against the Yemeni people and to work toward lifting the all-out blockade on Yemen.
"The enemy has a powerful media, but they lack for the truth, which we own, and that make us the stronger than them… because we have the voice of freedom and the voice of the truth," Minister Hamed said.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450531.htm
23.12.2016 – Reprieve (A P)
American Dad Missing in Yemen Due in Court on Death Penalty Case
A court in Yemen will hear calls on Tuesday (27th) for a death sentence against an American father-of-three, who disappeared inside the country’s prison system over a year ago.
US citizen Sharif Mobley, 32, from New Jersey, was sentenced to ten years in prison in Yemen in December 2015 over a shooting. His lawyer has not had any access to him since that trial, and his family have unsuccessfully requested ‘signs of life’ from the Yemeni authorities.
Despite serious concerns about his safety, Mobley’s sentence has been appealed and a harsher punishment demanded.
The first in a series of appeal hearings is set for Tuesday. Should he lose, Mobley could face the death penalty. International human rights group Reprieve is helping Mobley’s lawyer to lodge a cross-appeal.
The case dates back to 2010, when Mobley was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen from outside his house in Yemen’s capital Sana’a, shot in the leg and held incommunicado for months.
Logs released under a US Freedom of Information request revealed that two US agents interrogated Mobley while he was in secret detention.
Comment by Judith Brown: Well US has been guilty of extra judicial killings of its own citizens in Yemen so this is not too surprising but like everything else in Yemen sad.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155045938238641
23.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (A P)
Houthi militias execute teacher in prison in Sana'a
The Houthi militias have executed a teacher in of their prisons in Bani Matar district, west of the capital Sana'a.
According to a statement issued by the family of the deceased Ahmed al-Haj, he has been subjected to torture by the Houthi militias inside the prison after about three months of his abduction and imprisonment.
The family said he was abducted early last September from his home in Shamlan area with his son and wife.
The wife was released later, while the fate of al-Haj and his son was unknown, until the 12th of this December when the militias asked the family to collect al-Haj's corpse.
The family called on the Houthis to release the victim's son, who is still held, and held them responsible for his life.
The family also called on the international organizations and bodies to investigate the execution of the father in the prison, and asked the dignitaries and sheikhs to bring the killers to book.
The family also vowed to prosecute the perpetrators of the crime.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87380
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
24.12.2016 – Arab Weekly (A P)
Diplomacy fails Yemen during the past year
Humanitarian crisis caused by conflict, which began when Houthis overran Sana’a in September 2014, continues to grow.
http://www.thearabweekly.com/article/7444/Diplomacy%20fails%20Yemen%20during%20the%20past%20year
My comment: An overview over 2016s failed efforts for peace in Yemen and some developments. This article just repeats the Western 100 % mainstream view of events, which is largely based on Saudi and US official propaganda, often commented by me in the past year. – The article simply is very poor compared to the claim of this website Arab Weekly regarding its audience: “audience that are influential as well as being affluent“ and „opinion formers and influential figures“.
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
Siehe / Look at cp1
22.12.2016 – Memri (A P)
Film: Saudi Cleric Khaled Al-Felaij: Muslims Are Forbidden from Greeting Christians and Jews on Their Holidays
https://twitter.com/MEMRIReports/status/812188499688493056
Comment by Hussam Al-Sanabani: I'm Muslim, I'm not Wahhabi and I'm sending my greetings to all human in the chistmas occasion.
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/812993729338474496
25.12.2016 – Alwaght (* A E P)
Saudi Arabia to Sell Oil Giant to Cover Budget Deficit
Saudi officials Mull selling their oil giant company in order to cover their huge budget deficit resulting from war costs in Yemen.
The Saudi al-Eqtisadiah daily reported an unnamed official as saying that the kingdom will sell 49 percent of its Aramco to cover expenses.
Based on the report, the sale will be carried out over a 10-year period, and that the income from the sales will be spent "at home and abroad."
The shares of the Saudi oil giant will be publically offered in 2018 with an initial sale of a five-percent share that will form the backbone of a fund holding $2 trillion in assets, which is thought to become the world’s largest state investment fund.
Aramco chief Amin Nasser said that the company will start publishing quarterly results in an attempt to attract future investors as of next year.
On Thursday, Saudi Arabia forecast that its budget deficit for next year will be about $53 billion despite economic measures adopted by the government.
Riyadh is currently dealing with economic struggles brought on by a budget deficit of nearly $100 billion caused by a sharp slump in oil prices as well as Riyadh’s rising army expenditure, a large amount of which is being funneled into a military campaign against Yemen, where over 11,500 people have been killed and many more injured.
http://alwaght.com/en/News/79496/Saudi-Arabia-to-Sell-Oil-Giant-to-Cover-Budget-Deficit
24.12.2016 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A P)
After publishing 2017 catastrophe budget, Saudis share info graphics advice How to made savings? My simple advice stop Saudi absurd war (look at photo)
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/812759215936770048
24.12.2016 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A P)
Criticism storm on Saudi 2017 budjet. Saudi clerics trying to play their clasdic role to induce people. Religion is the opium of the people (see image)
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/812572807020367872
23.12.2016 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A P)
Saudi hypocrite TV presenter become nuts of Saudis criticize 2017 budget. Accusation of demoralized & betraying. No freedom speech in KSA
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/812426633806315520 referring to https://twitter.com/waleedalfarraj/status/811976818546933765
22.12.2016 – Fars News (* A P)
Saudi Royal Dynasty Likely to Fall Like Shah of Iran
Hassan Hanizadeh, former chief editor of the Mehr News Agency, told Sputnik Persian that the fate of Saudi Arabia could be much worse due to a number of factors.
"It’s no secret that the US and the West consider the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia their ally and chief treasurer for various goals. Up until today the Saudi money helped only the US and its allies to advance their interests. However, now that the oil prices have dropped and the kingdom’s annual budget has decreased by $100 billion, their Arabian treasurer has become worthless to them. Everyone knows that the US does not have any constant allies in its foreign policy; that is, when the US realizes that a country becomes too weak to bankroll American projects, it simply drops them," he explained.
Hanizadeh also remarked that the lack of democratic processes within the country also poses a significant threat to the Saudi government.
"Saudi government structure is based on the clan society principles. The power belongs to the most influential members of several clans; this system is completely devoid of even a concept of constitution. The despotism that the ruling Saudi clan practices towards other citizens of the kingdom, for example, the five-million Shiite population, is also an important factor.
"Many analysts believe that 2017 will mark the fall of Saudi Arabia’s ruling clan. And the fall of the al-Saud dynasty will be much worse than the end of the Shah in Iran in 1979, as it is likely that it will be accompanied by a bloody civil war across the kingdom. One should not discount the probability of feuds and discord between numerous power-hungry would-be successors, each of whom is backed by his whole tribe. In this scenario, the enmity between tribes will inevitably lead to a civil war," Hanizadeh said.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951002000986
My comment: I do not believe in such a prediction. Certainly, there Hanizadeh is right, a fall of the Saudi dynasty would lead to a terrible civil war. – And the most terrible and bad of Wahabism, much more radical than the Saudi dynasty, would come out and get even more influence.
cp9 USA
Siehe / Look at cp1
23.12.2016 – The Berkeley Daily Planet (* A K P)
Yemen
According to the U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, one child is dying every 10 minutes in Yemen, victims of devastating air attacks by Saudi Arabia. Britain and the United States have sold Saudi Arabia billions of sophisticated weapons which have been used indiscriminately in its ongoing conflict with Houthis rebels causing devastating civilian deaths. In addition, the US continues to refuel Saudi planes allowing them to intensify bombing raids leading to more fatalities. Missile fragments have the unmistakable markings of British and American defense ordinances. This is fueling intense hostility against the coalition partners, the British, US and the Gulf States, who seem totally unconcerned by the ongoing human suffering. Over half a million children are suffering severe malnutrition and 2.2 million others are in urgent need of care. Over 58 hospitals have been bombed by coalition airstrikes.
The Saudis are also blocking food supplies entering Yemen. According to the Times of London reporter, Iona Craig based in Sana’a, a high profile strike killed 140 civilians in a double-tap strike killing first and second responders. Our ongoing unconditional support of Saudi Arabia makes us and the British complicit in war crimes. This must stop.
I ask readers to call the White House, Comment Line 202-456-1111 (9 am – 5 pm Mon – Fri PST) and demand an immediate halt to weapons sales to Saudi Arabia – by Jagjit Singh
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2016-12-23/article/45261?headline=Yemen--Jagjit-Singh
22.12.2016 – Washington Times (* B K P)
Ending a humanitarian crisis
Half-hearted drawdowns in Yemen aren’t enough
The decision to revise American support for Riyadh’s intervention is long overdue, but it’s a good start. The bulk of American assistance will remain intact, however, which is a strategic mistake.
As much as the White House insists its backing is not a “blank check” to Saudi Arabia, the Saudis might well be forgiven for coming to the opposite conclusion. In fact, The Washington Post notes, while drawing down some support measures, the Obama administration will simultaneously “continue or even increase other kinds of intelligence sharing” with Saudi forces, continuing to train them for air campaigns and giving unspecified “expanded support for the defense of the Saudi border.”
Thus the canceled arms sale is more a slap on the wrist than a fundamental rethink of whether our permanent Saudi alliance in general or assisting Saudi attacks in Yemen in particular is in the United States’ best interest. That rethink is much-needed and much overdue.
“This is not a punitive measure; it’s a corrective measure,” a senior U.S. official told the Post of the canceled arms sale. “We have to careful not to cut back on things that serve our interests in the process of trying to cut back on things that don’t serve our interest.”
That assessment is exactly right. The problem is our foreign policy mandarins have lost sight of exactly what America’s vital national interests are.
Washington elites — the architects of the last 15 years of regime-change campaigns, nation-building projects, and other misadventures — have cost America and our military greatly, and the result has been increased death and destruction and a flood of refugees.
It’s about time we “cut back on things that don’t serve our interests” — let’s start by ending U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s reckless and unlawful actions in Yemen’s civil war – By Bonnie Kristian
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/dec/22/ending-a-humanitarian-crisis-in-yemen/
22.12.2016 – Elephant Journal (* A K P)
Obama must quit Yemen or risk genocide under Trump.
The crisis in Yemen is complex, so it has been easy to treat the famine as a mere accident of war and consequence of state failure. But famines are seldom accidental and almost always preventable.
Perhaps the world’s foremost scholar of famines, Amartya Sen, a Nobel Laureate in Economics for his work on the issue, notes that famines are almost always political and easily preventable. When food is not reaching a population it is because the powers that be are either using it as a weapon or suppressing critical information relating to the famine. Sen is famous for having first noticed that no major famine has ever occurred in a democracy, arguing this is because information on the famine always gets out when there is freedom of speech and the press. The corollary is that famines have been quite common under colonial regimes, which may be the best way to think of what is happening in Yemen: foreign powers control the country and their backers at home are reluctant to view the famine as stemming from political causes.
Famine in Yemen seems less a consequence and more a weapon of war.
Secretary of State Kerry has repeatedly pressed for cease-fire agreements, which would allow desperately needed aid to reach starving populations, but his efforts have been contradictory, pressing for cease fires while at the same time arming the most dangerous power. And they have been subverted by warring parties.
It is difficult to imagine President Trump exercising the same caution and restraint. Far more likely, he simply will not care and will back the Saudis to the hilt. But if that is the case, he may find himself overseeing a full-on genocide with millions of children dying before the court of world opinion. If the Obama administration has contributed to the crisis reluctantly, Trump may do so wholeheartedly. And it is quite possible his business interests in Saudi Arabia will lead him to give the thumbs up to their most brutal tactics.
The idea that millions of people might up-and-die in a famine in this day and age might seem simply unimaginable.
If the Obama administration cannot end the fighting now by dropping support for Saudi Arabia, it is quite possible history will repeat itself in another country on the other side of the world, also upended by civil conflict and revolutionary changes.
America is in crisis and Americans may simply ignore the famine amid an onslaught of pernicious legislation. It is quite possible if Trump has a conscience, he would drift into the same escapist denial as Mao. But Trump has shown little regard for life and has already praised several dictators who have committed genocide, from Saddam Hussein to Bashar Al-Assad.
President Obama needs to quit Yemen now or risk America’s first genocide of the twenty-first century under Trump – by Theo Horesh
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2016/12/obama-must-quit-yemen-or-risk-genocide-under-trump/
My comment: There is nothing you can expect from Obama any more. The author’s view on Trump is extremely pessimistic and I only can hope that this does not come true.
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
Siehe / Look at cp1
23.12.2016 – News Biscuit (* B P)
UK GIVES YEMEN A XMAS STUFFING
In this season of peace and love, why not illegally sell arms to a corrupt regime? It is not just turkeys who are getting chestnuts rammed up their jacksie and a Hakim cruise missile down their chimney. This year the UK has merrily ignored Amnesty’s list of those who are ‘naughty and nice’; gifting Saudi Arabia with £3bn of arms, legitimacy and a lump of coal.
A Foreign Office diplomat explained; ‘Bombing impoverished countries is not just for Christmas – we’ll be doing it all year round. With three million people displaced and 14 million at risk of hunger, the UK will have their work cut out providing a Paveway Guided Bomb for every boy and girl. As Saudi Arabia’s ‘little helper’, the UK hopes that Human Rights Watch will not peak on Christmas Eve – just in case they spy Santa dropping BL-755 cluster bombs from his sleigh’.
http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2016/12/23/uk-gives-yemen-a-xmas-stuffing/
23.12.2016 – West Somerset Free Press (A H)
Singers switch to helping Yemen victims
THE closure of the beds at Minehead Hospital led to a quick change of plan by the Alcombe Singers.
They sing to patients there every Christmas and were all set to do so again - until last week’s announcement of the ward closure.
Suddenly left with no-one to sing to, their director Keith Jones was undeterred and hastily arranged a carol concert to raise money for victims of the crisis in the Yemen
22.12.2016 – Real News (* B K P)
Film: UK Fuels Carnage in Yemen Through Political and Military Support to Saudi Arabia
Theresa May's apologetics for arming Saudi Arabia reflects the arms industry's role in shaping British foreign policy, says Andrew Smith of the Campaign Against Arms Trade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRFoG1ITZQY
22.12.2016 – Disasters Emergency Committee (A H P)
DEC appeal raises £13 million for Yemen
The DEC’s Chief Executive Saleh Saeed said: “We would like to thank the UK public for so generously donated to our Yemen Crisis Appeal, helping us raise more than £13 million.
“Half of Yemen’s population is going hungry and children are starving to death as we speak. With the funds raised, we will be able to provide emergency drip feeding for those on the brink of starvation, nutritious peanut paste for malnourished children and cash vouchers for families unable to afford food and medicine.
“The crisis in Yemen may be far from over but, despite the conflict, DEC member charities are already reaching millions of people across the country with lifesaving aid, and, with extra funds, they can reach many more.”
The UK public’s generosity has been boosted by the UK Government’s contribution of more than £4.5 million through Aid Match, while partners such as Comic Relief, British Airways and the Scottish government have also made significant donations.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/dec-appeal-raises-13-million-yemen
My comment: Of course thanks to everybody who has donated for this purpose. – But, you must be aware that reports like this one give a quite odd picture of the situation: We British are all good and human, our government included (That’s the spin of this!), as – this is emphasized – “The UK public’s generosity has been boosted by the UK Government’s contribution of more than £4.5 million”. Well, by weapons worth 1000 times more, by political support for Saudi Arabia, by backing also the Saudi blockade which is starving out the people you now are called to donate for, the UK government had “boosted” the war and the famine.
12.2016 – The Petitions Site (* A K P)
Email Theresa May: stop the UK selling weapons to Saudi Arabia
We are calling on the UK government to cease its support for a Saudi Arabian regime that has jailed the blogger Raif Badawi and is committing war crimes in Yemen, with its indiscriminate bombing of civilians – aided by UK-supplied weapon systems.
The mass killing and humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Yemen gives added urgency to our call for Britain to stop sustaining the Saudi dictatorship through arms deals.
The UK government should sever its support for a Saudi state that violates human rights and fundamental freedoms, at home and abroad: UK arms sales must end, the British ambassador should be recalled and key regime figures sanctioned internationally.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/de-de/takeaction/929/705/049/?taf_id=32076846&cid=fb_na
22.12.2016 – The Guardian (A P)
Corbyn says May must come clean over UK-made cluster bombs
PM urged to explain why it took so long for UK to establish truth over weapons deployed by Saudi Arabia in Yemen
The Labour leader said there was “pretty strong evidence” available for months that cluster bombs sold from the UK in the 1980s had been deployed in the current conflict in Yemen, even though that was denied by Saudi Arabia and rejected by government ministers in May.
May declined to answer a question about when she was made aware of the use of UK cluster bombs when asked by Angus Robertson, the Scottish National party’s Westminster leader, earlier this week – by Rowena Mason and Anushka Asthana
21.7.2016 – Foreign and Commonwealth Office ( A P)
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 REQUEST REF: 0709-16
On 21st July 2016 a Written Ministerial Statement was published by Mr Tobias Ellwood, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: ‘Corrections to Parliamentary Questions and Westminster Hall Debates: Written statement - HCWS125’
It stated: ‘The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has recently reviewed all correspondence and parliamentary proceedings on the subject of allegations of breaches of international humanitarian law (IHL) in Yemen by the Saudi-led Coalition. During this exercise it became
clear that the drafting of answers to four written questions and two responses given in debates relating to allegations of breaches of IHL did not fully reflect HMG’s policy as set out in numerous other written questions and debates on this topic...’
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
23.12.2016 – Centro Studi Islam Contemporaneo (* B P)
Why is Oman’s defence policy unique within the GCC?
Oman's foreign policy is unique among the GCC countries: it is a Saudi staunch ally, but it is neutral in the Yemen war, and it also collaborates with Iran. This particular attitude is understandable only considering Sultan Qaboos' personal history.
In light of the recent developments in the Yemen conflict, many are beginning to question Oman’s position and its relationship with Iran and Saudi Arabia. There has been speculation in the media about whether Oman’s policy is shifting closer towards Iran and further away from the mainstream Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) approach. This debate, along with much of the rhetoric surrounding Oman, is usually focused on unfolding events with complete disregard for its government’s foreign and defence policies over four decades under the rule of Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said.
It is no secret that out of all of the GCC countries, Oman is the one with the most relaxed approach towards Iran; it tries exceptionally hard to be neutral on the rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia. In part, this stems from Oman aiming to keep its foreign policy as independent and non-interventionist as possible. Most importantly, though — and especially compared to its GCC counterparts — Oman doesn’t view security through its ability to deter threats militarily; it prefers to maintain some balance by keeping external threats at bay. This ensures that as few states and organisations as possible view Oman itself as a threat.
Sultan Qaboos’s relationship with Iran
Muscat’s perception of security
“Special relationship” with the Houthis?
When the Saudi-led coalition announced its military intervention in Yemen to block the power grab by Houthi militias and forces loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Muscat was quick to emphasise its neutrality. Oman is the only GCC country not to take part in the coalition and it insists on remaining neutral in order to encourage a political settlement to the conflict.
Because of this, warring parties have looked to Oman for assistance with negotiations. Western diplomats have also used its diplomatic leverage to secure their own national security interests in Yemen, especially when trying to free their citizens who have been taken hostage.
More recently, there have been accusations that Oman is leaning closer to the Houthi rebels.
Ignoring Oman’s concept of security when analysing its role in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region is a mistake that is made too often. Its perception of security is unique within the GCC. If analysts do not take the history of Sultan Qaboos’s relationship with regional powers when he first came to power into account, they risk overthinking today’s dynamics without the appropriate context that has been crucial in shaping Oman’s foreign and defence policies – By
Diana Alghoul
http://www.islamcontemporaneo.it/en/politica-estera-oman-golfo/
Comment: Oman and Iran, Oman and the GCC, Oman and #Yemen.
Excellent article. With historical background on why the Sultanate is playing such an important role in the Middle East and beyond.
Without praising anyone.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1211185998934428
My comment: I agree to this comment, one critical remark: Alghoul should not have taken the Saudi propaganda allegations against Oman (smuggling of weapons to the Houthis via Oman) as facts.
23.12.2016 – Medium.com (* A P)
Beyond fake news: an investigation into the murky world of fake campaigns - By Fabien Goa, Campaigner on Refugees and Migrants and James Lynch, Deputy Director Global Issues, Amnesty International.
and
23.12.2016 – Forbes (* A P)
This Fake Nonprofit Has Been Accused Of Spying On Real Human Rights Activists – by Thomas Fox-Brewster
22.12.2016 – Schweizer Bundesrat (A H)
Jemen: Schweiz bekräftigt ihr Engagement und appelliert an die Kriegsparteien
Angesichts der sich verschärfenden humanitären Krise im Jemen bekräftigt die Schweiz ihr Engagement zu Gunsten der Not leidenden Zivilbevölkerung, indem sie dem vom Büro der Vereinten Nationen für die Koordinierung humanitärer Angelegenheiten (OCHA) verwalteten Humanitarian Pooled Fund für die kommenden zwölf Monate weitere 3 Millionen Franken zur Verfügung stellt. Mit dem Geld sollen Projekte in den Bereichen Wasser, Hygiene und Ernährung finanziert werden.
https://www.admin.ch/gov/de/start/dokumentation/medienmitteilungen.msg-id-65103.html
Mein Kommentar: Auch die Schweiz hat Waffen an die Saudis geliefert…
And in English:
22.12.2016 – Schweizer Bundesrat (A H)
Yemen: Switzerland reaffirms its commitment and appeals to warring parties
In view of the worsening humanitarian crisis in Yemen, Switzerland is reaffirming its commitment to help the destitute civilian population by making an additional CHF 3 million available to the Yemen Humanitarian Pooled Fund managed by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) over the next 12 months. The money will be used to fund water, hygiene and nutrition projects.
https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/documentation/media-releases.msg-id-65103.html
My comment: Also Switzerland had sold arms to Saudi Arabia.
22.12.2016 – Middle East Eye (* A P)
Former Kuwaiti MP sentenced to 10 years in prison for insulting Saudi Arabia
A former Kuwaiti lawmaker is now facing a total of more than 42 years in prison for making 'offensive' comments about Saudi Arabia and Bahrain
A Kuwaiti appeals court convicted former Shia MP Abdulhameed Dashti of offending Saudi Arabia on Thursday, and sentenced him to 10 years in prison in absentia.
The new term raises the total jail terms handed down to Dashti to 42 years and six months for making comments considered offensive to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and jeopardising Kuwait's ties with the Kingdoms. The three countries are part of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
In previous cases, he was also convicted of insulting Kuwait's ruler.
Dashti, who is living outside of Kuwait, condemned the verdict on his twitter account.
Dashti was elected to parliament in 2013 but left Kuwait in March this year for medical treatment in the UK and has been abroad since then. Kuwait’s Public prosecution issued an arrest warrant against him and lifted his parliamentary privilege.
Dashti is a staunch supporter of Iran and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a critic of the royal families of both Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
In May 2015, Dashti filed a request to probe the Kuwaiti foreign minister over the country's participation in the Saudi-led campaign against Yemen's Shia Houthi rebels, in support of the toppled President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.
He denounced the 2011 Saudi military intervention in Bahrain to support the government against Shia-led protests, describing it as an "invasion".
The conservative Gulf country has previously penalised public critics of the emir and his policies.
My comment: Well, Kuwait as a member of the Saudi coalition wants to restore democracy in Yemen. LOL. – One detail: He “insulted” Bahrain when speaking of an “invasion”. That’s an image of what he would not have been allowed to call “invasion”: https://de.qantara.de/sites/default/files/styles/editor_large/public/uploads/2013/04/12/Saudische-Truppen-in-Bahrain-picture-alliance_0.jpg?itok=n9Y7Knk9 from https://de.qantara.de/content/politische-krise-bahrain-reformer-der-defensive . Well, I would propose “picknick” instead.
22.12.2016 – Press TV Iran (A P)
Film: Bahrainis rally to support Ayat. Qassim
Sheikh Qassim is accused of QUOTE using his position to serve foreign interests and promote sectarianism and violence. Qassim’s supporters have denounced the allegations, saying he is targeted as part of a wider crackdown on dissidents. His trial has been postponed several times over his refusal to appear in court amid nationwide rallies for the cleric. Manama has crushed anti-regime demonstrations since they began in early 2011.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY0fRzRxK6w
22.12.2016 – Fars News (A P)
Ex-Bahraini MP: Al Khalifa Regime Plans to Arrest Sheikh Isa Qassim
Former Bahraini opposition MP, Jalal Fairooz, warned that the Bahraini authorities planned to arrest the country's senior cleric, Sheikh Isa Qassim, on Wednesday but the attempt ended in failure.
"The Bahraini regime wants to send a message to its allies, that it is able to control the tiny Gulf kingdom as it tried to test its control today by trying to arrest Sheikh Isa Qassim," Fairooz said, Al Ahed reported.
However, the regime "failed in fulfilling its aims" as it was confronted with a popular uprising, he added.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951001001378
21.12.2016 – Human Rights Watch (A P)
Telecom Engineer Held Incommunicado
Bahraini authorities held a telecommunications engineer incommunicado for five weeks without access to a lawyer or his family, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities failed to provide accurate information on the whereabouts of the engineer, Sayed Alawi, from his arrest on October 24, 2016, until November 27.
On November 29, the Interior Ministry Ombudsman issued a statement that said Alawi’s detention related to alleged violations of Bahrain’s anti-terrorism law.
Alawi, 43, works for the telecommunications company Batelco.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/12/22/bahrain-telecom-engineer-held-incommunicado and by Alwaght: http://alwaght.com/en/News/79485/HRW-Condemns-Bahrain-over-Kidnapping-Activist
cp13 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
23.12.2016 – Xinhua (* A H)
Somali refugees live in alarming conditions in Yemen
An estimated 4,000 Somali refugees are living in alarming conditions in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, and their living situations have worsened since the civil war erupted early last year between dominant Shiite Houthi group and exiled government of internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
The refugees face extreme poverty; no jobs, no food security, no rent-free shelters nor health facilities to receive them. Many have been struggling to pay their rent of insanitary rooms, while few families can afford payment and instead sleep on some backstreets or join others in small rooms.
The refugees also have s shortage of water, electricity and integration into labor market. The refugees have no alternative as their living situations have worsen because of the ongoing economic crisis following the eruption of the civil war in March last year.
“We (the refugees) have no rent-free accommodation or shelter in Sanaa as most of Yemenis have recently hesitate to rent us rooms or houses because we cannot afford payment,” explained 55-year-old Abdel Rahman al-Zaylaiee, the chairman of the Somali refugees’ community in Sanaa, who came to Yemen nearly 16 years ago.
“How do you see a man with no job or any source of income crowded with his 11-member family in a small room or sleeping on the street?” he asked. “That is our months-long tragedy... and no one care about us.”
“About four thousand Somali refugees, mostly women and children, have been living here in Sanaa for years with no rent-free shelter or enough food, and our situations got poorer especially after the war,” al-Zaylaiee said.
Their sad faces and tattered clothes tell untold stories. The refugees live in a poor quarter, known as al-Safiyah in the southeast part of Sanaa. They enjoy a small clinic in the area supported by the UNHCR.
The clinic lacks emergency section and almost empty from any kind of medicine or essential medical equipment due to the war and economic crisis. The patients have to go to private hospitals and buy medicine on their own.
The refugees’ chairman al-Zaylaiee complains of stopping aid from humanitarian agencies, particularly after war.
Many refugees have taken Yemen as a crossing road to Saudi Arabia, but after the war erupted in Yemen-Saudi joint borders between Houthi fighters and Saudi government army, which backed the Yemeni government, the borders were closed and most infiltrators lost their lives during shootings between Saudi border guards and Houthi fighters – By Mohamed al-Azaki
http://www.coastweek.com/161216/3951-culture-08.htm
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
24.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (A T ?)
Four persons killed, 3 injured in armed attack in Shabwa
Four persons were killed and three others injured, 3 of them members of the popular resistance, on Saturday in Shabwa governorate by unknown gun fire in Azzan town of Shabwa governorate, southern Yemen.
Eyewitnesses told Almasdaronline that gunmen have come to Azzan public market and opened the fire randomly on the civilians and the popular resistance elements before they flee.
The incident took place suddenly and at midday, and no party has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the eyewitnesses.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87424
23.12.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (B T)
US-backed Saudis want2make Yemen world's largest factory of Qaeda/ISIS terrorists. Under UN cover. See here 7 terrorists leads from Riyadh (photos)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/812155743633809408
22.12.2016 – Dawn (* A T)
Fate of Pakistani crew on ship attacked near Yemen uncertain
Mystery surrounds a reported missile attack on a merchant ship manned by Pakistani crew off the coast of Yemen, near the war-torn country’s Hodeidah port.
Syed Mohammad Ahmed, an official of Arabian Marine Services, the manning agent of the Iranian vessel MV-Jouya-8, claimed that eight Pakistani sailors, seven of whom had been provided by his company, were on the ship when it was hit by a missile four days ago.
The ship was reportedly on its way to Dubai after delivering cargo in Egypt.
Talking to Dawn over the phone, Mr Ahmed said, his information was based on a telephone call received from Mr Kabir, the chief officer of the ship, who reportedly jumped off and swam to the coast.
“The fate of other seven Pakistani crew members is still unknown,” he said, adding the vessel probably sank after the strike.
He said Mr Kabir had called him from Yemen.
The Red Sea port of Hodeidah is controlled by Houthi militia.
“It was a minute and a half call and the quality of voice was very bad so I don’t have more details,” said Mr Ahmed, adding that he had shared the available information with the Pakistan Navy.
There was no claim about the source of the attack – by BAQIR SAJJAD SYED
https://www.dawn.com/news/1304002/fate-of-pakistani-crew-on-ship-attacked-near-yemen-uncertain
Remark: Earlier reporting at YPR 243, cp13.
22.12.2016 – Reuters (A T)
U.S. says it killed 28 al Qaeda militants in strikes in Yemen
The U.S. military said on Thursday it killed 28 members of the militant group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in nine strikes in Yemen since September.
The statement from U.S. Central Command did not say how the strikes, which occurred between Sept. 23 and Dec. 13, were carried out.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-usa-idUSKBN14B2AE and by Politico: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/drone-war-al-qaeda-in-yemen-deaths-232927
Comment by Nasser Arrabyee: Obama drones kill one terrorist Create 1000 instead By supporting Saudi Wahabi regime(Qaeda/ISIS spirit)NYemen.
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/812167822726103041
Comment by Judith Brown: This certainly does not solve anything. In the areas where US uses drones the number of extremist militias increases without fail.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155045764713641
cp15 Propaganda
24.12.2016 – Al Sahwa (A P)
Houthis kidnap ten of IBB University's students
Militias of the Houthis and Saleh in Ibb governorate on Friday broke into a housing of Ibb University's students and kidnapped a number of them.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-1837
My comment: Abducations by the Houthis really are happening quite often (for Ibb, look at cp5). Anyway, this story here just sounds like a propaganda plot by this anti-Houthi website. Until other and better reporting, this story is placed here as “propaganda”. On a nice propaganda piece by Al Sahwa, read the following and my comment:
24.12.2016 – Al Sahwa (A P)
Appeals to save displaced persons of Hajjah
Yemeni activists will launch on Saturday a media campaign which aims to highlight the suffering and tragedy of Hajjah's people who displaced from their areas due to the conflict in Yemen.
The activists of the campaign appealed to all media outlets, journalists and activists to interact with this campaign and disclose the obstacles always put by the Houthis to prevent the delivery of relief to displaced persons.
The activists of the campaign appealed to all media outlets, journalists and activists to interact with this campaign and disclose the obstacles put by the Houthis to prevent the delivery of relief.
The number of displaced persons in Hajjah reached 500,000, most of them were deported from border districts which were turned out by the Houthis to battlefields.
The campaign aims to highlight the suffering of displaced persons in Hajjah and identify their areas and how to deliver relief to them.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-1836
My comment: Of course, the situation of Displaced People in Hajjah province is disastrous. But by this article, this situation is simply used for making anti-Houthi propaganda. Whoever these so-called “activists” are – “activist” meanwhile has become a void propaganda labeling which should give a positive impression of people doing anything – including Al Qaida jihadists in Aleppo in Western propaganda. The Houthis are blamed here for preventing the delivery of relief. The Saudi blockade and Saudi destruction of all harbour and transport infrastructure, preventing all delivery of relief in a much larger scale, is not even mentioned. – Void also is the blaming the Houthis for having “deported” these DPs from the border districts. There had been no “deportations” at all – where from the Houthis even should have got the capacity for any “deportation” – the people just had fled by themselves when fighting – and Saudi air strikes! – began in their region. – And it is odd propaganda as well claiming that these border regions “were turned out by the Houthis to battlefields”. For any battle, I think you would be in need of two sides, not just one, isn’t it?
And then let’s look at the reports of Saudi air raids targeting Hajjah province in the first five weeks of the war, that’s just half of the time before the Houthis even had fired their first missile at all from Northern Yemen against Saudi territories: These raids occurred: March 28, 29, 30, 31, 2015; April 1, 3, 6, 7, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 28, 29. And anybody thinks people would not willingly flee from that???
There is still one more story I place here at “propaganda” which showed up at Al Sawah now, but is already from Dec. 3:
3.12.2016 – Hadrah Net / Houthis Crimes (A P)
Houthis commit 71 crimes in Ibb during November
Rasad Organization for Rights and Freedoms have recently released a report in which it revealed that militias of the Houthis and Saleh committed 71 crimes in Ibb governorate during last November alone .
The crimes ranged from killing and torture to death to injuries, abduction, looting and seizure of humanitarian relief.
The Houthis and their ally, ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh, further commit crimes in different Yemeni governorates.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-1850 , first http://www.hadrah.net/news1974962.htm (Mac Afee warning) and on Dec. 4: http://www.houthiscrimes.com/en/2016/12/04/the-houthis-militias-committed-about-70-crimes-during-november/
My comment: There can not be any doubt in crimes committed by Houthis (look at cp 5 for instance), but there must be heavy doubts at all figures the Hadi government and the Saudi propaganda present. This “Rasad Organization for Rights and Freedoms” is a quite dubious thing, it only shows up in this report, variously spread in the internet. I would be quite creative in coming up with new names of human rights fake organizations worldwide.
23.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (A P)
Deputy Interior Minister says al-Qaeda members receive salaries from ex-president
The Yemeni Deputy Minister of Interior, Ali Nasser Laksha', said on Wednesday that
a number of al-Qaeda elements were receiving
salaries from the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
In a statement to the Saudi "Al Watan" newspaper, Laksha' said that a number of former prisoners of al-Qaeda "were receiving regular salaries from the ousted president Saleh".
He pointed out the extremist militants were behind the recent bombings in Aden.
The extremists are tasked with targeting the legitimate government officials, stirring chaos in the liberated cities, murdering the national army officers, and shaking confidence of the security services, according to Laksha'.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87381
My comment: This story bias we already had noticed several times. Probability: 0,1 %.
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
25.12.2016 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
24/12/2016
Targeting and bombing civilians by the warplanes of Saudi Arabia and its alliance
Casualties and damages (full list):
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=747176242099410&id=551288185021551
24.12.2016 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
23-12-2016
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=746853608798340&id=551288185021551
23.12.2016 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
22-12-2016
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=746486332168401&id=551288185021551
25.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Saudi jets wage raids on Sanhan
Saudi aggression fighter jets waged five air raids on Sanhan and Bani Bahloul districts of Sana'a province on Saturday , a security official told Saba.
The strikes targeted Thboh area, leaving great damage in al-Shawkaani School and dozens of homes.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450629.htm
25.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Aggression Warplanes Targeting Sana’a and Saada
US -Saudi aggression warplanes launched on Sunday a number of raids on the provinces of Sana’a and Saada.
A military source said: The warplanes of Saudi American aggression launched a series of air raids on the provinces of Sana’a and Saada and losses the citizens their property.
The warplanes of Saudi American aggression launched two raids on Al Akran Valley directorate of Niham in Sana’a governorate.
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58676&lang=en
24.12.2016 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A K PH)
Saudi jets are hovering above Sana'a now, we do not want them to drop any western made of Christmas gifts (read cluster bombs ) on Yemen.
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/812791284511477760
24.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Aggression Warplanes Targeting Sana’a
US_-Saudi aggression warplanes launched today morning more than three raids on Al Thapoa area directorate of Sanhan, south of the capital Sanaa.
A local source said, the US Saudi aggression targeted by several raids Al Thapoa area, and led to losses in the property material .
In the same context , the aggression waged two raids in Neham province and 4 raids in Al Kahl mountain.
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58594&lang=en and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58591&lang=en
and from the other side:
25.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Coalition fighters bomb repels sites south of Sanaa
The fighters of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition bombed on Saturday sites of the Houthis and the forces loyal to former president Saleh in the capital Sana'a, according to local residents.
One of the residents have told Almasdaronline that raids targeted the Presidential Compound and al Nahdain military camp, south of the city.
The fighters also bombed with three airstrikes Dhabwah military camp, which is controlled by forces loyal to the former president Saleh.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87429 and also: https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-1838
24.12.2016 – Yemen Today TV (A K PH)
Film: Injuring four people in three raids aggression on Qishleh neighborhood in the city of Amran
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUQx3xIPdhA
24.12.2016 – Xinhua (* A K)
Fresh Saudi-led airstrike kills 7 children in Yemen
At least seven children and two women were killed when a Saudi-led airstrike hit their home in Yemen's southwestern province of Ibb overnight, rescuers and residents said on Saturday early morning.
The airstrike took place around midnight, killing an entire family and destroying their home. Rescuers and residents said that it took them about one hour to pull out the bodies.
Dozens of adjacent houses were also damaged.
Separately, the Saudi-led coalition launched seven air strikes overnight on the provinces of Saada, Hodaydah and Taiz, targeting Houthi fighters, according to residents and local officials. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-12/24/c_135929869.htm
24.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression airstrike kills family in Ibb
A whole family were killed in an airstrike of US-Saudi aggression targeted their House in Far'a al-Udain district of Ibb province, an official told Saba on Saturday.
The airstrike, took place in the early hours of Saturday, destroyed the house of Adnan Ali Mased in Matlaoui village, causing Killing him, his wife and his five children (photo is earlier raid)
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450544.htm and films: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cclzyqGNiKQ (Yemen Today)
and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRTLX9GToT8 (Al Masirah TV)
24.12.2016 – Hussain Albukhaiti (* A K PH)
#US MK82 bomb used by #Saudi #UAE yestrday bfr midnight on Adnaan Moseid home n Ibb kild him,wife&their5kid (photos)
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/812741396775964674
25.12.2016 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
Yesterday morning the warplanes of Saudi-led coalition launched one airstrike on civilian's house (Adnan Ali Mos'eed), which led to kill 8 civilians including 6 children and one woman and injured others in the family of Adnan Ali Mos'eed. In addition to, they destroyed it and damaged 4 others in#AlGharouf_Village#AlHesn_Valleyin Far'a AlOdain#AlOdain_destrict (photos)
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=747191905431177&id=551288185021551
24.12.2016 – Living in Yemen on the Edge (A K PH)
Ibb raid: Names and ages of those killed; photo
and even the other side is reporting, giving more details:
24.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (* A K PS)
Seven children of one family killed in Saudi-led Coalition airstrike in Ibb
Local residents in Udayn district of Ibb governorate, central Yemen, said on Saturday that seven civilians from one family were killed in an air raid launched by the fighters of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition.
The locals told Almasdaronline that the air raid hit the house of Adnan Ali Mused in al Aris village of Udain district killing six children and the mother.
The casualties are: the mother Naayem Hazza Meshal, and the children: the infant Munera, 6 year-old Mudeer, 5 year-old Muderiah, 8 year-old Resalah, 7 year-old Abdul Hafedh, 15 year-old Naseem Naaman Ali Mused.
It is noteworthy that the house consists of two rooms and tents next to them, and the owner has no any ties to the Houthis.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87425
24.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Saudi American Raids Kill Two Citizens in Saada
Fighter jets of the US-backed Saudi coalition waged two raids today targeting civilian farms in the governorate of Saada.
The two Saudi American air raids aimed at civilian farms in Mahdida region, Baqm district, Saada governorate.
The bombardment killed a citizen and caused serious damage to the targeted farms in the region.
In the same context, the coalition launched two raids on a civilian house in Al Aslan region, Baqm district in Saada governorate, resulting in the death of 4 citizens, including a woman and the injury of two children.
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58633&lang=en
23.12.2016 – l4Yemen (A K PH)
During this day Dozens of raids with #Cluster bombes by #Saudi aggression fighter jets in #Nehm area east of the capital #Sanaa, #Yemen
https://twitter.com/I4Yemen/status/812393234919985152
smoke rising from the #cluster bombs shades by the #Saudi aggression during the day east of the capital #Sanaa #Yemen (photo)
https://twitter.com/I4Yemen/status/812402246243745796
and from the other side:
23.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Houthi casualties in coalition airstrikes in Nehm, east of Sana'a
The fighters of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition launched on Wednesday air raids on sites of the Houthi and Saleh forces, east of the capital Sana'a.
The government forces media center posted on Facebook that the fighters bombed the rebels locations in Arhab area, Bani Bareq dam, and al Tebab hills, west of al Manara Mount, killing some Houthi elements and injuring others.
The artillery of the government forces also launched similar shelling on the same locations.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87378
23.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Sources: senior commander of Saleh forces confirmed dead in coalition airstrike in Saada
Local sources have confirmed the death of a senior military commander of the forces loyal to the former President Ali Abdullah Saleh in an air raid launched by the Saudi-led Arab Coalition days ago.
The sources told Almasdaronline that Colonel Abdul Khaleq Mohammed Saleh al Bayadhi, commander in the Special Forces, was killed in an airstrike in Saada governorate, northern Yemen, last Saturday.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87379
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
25.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Taiz: dead four of the aggression mercenaries and wounding two in Tapat Al Thabab
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58687&lang=en
25.12.2016 – Press TV Iran (A K PH)
Yemeni army snipers shoot dead six Saudi soldiers
Yemeni army snipers have shot dead six Saudi soldiers in the kingdom’s Najran Province in a fresh wave of retaliatory attacks.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/12/25/503356/Yemeni-army-Saudi-forces-Najran and see http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58684&lang=en
24.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Shabwa: civilian killed, others wounded in Houthi bombing on market
A civilian was killed and others wounded on Friday morning by Houthi and Saleh forces shelling on a market in Shabwa governorate, southeastern Yemen.
Local sources told Almasdaronline that one person was killed and others injured by a Katyusha rocket fired by the Houthis and allied forces on Asilan market.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87407
24.12.2016 – Al Arabiya (A K PS)
Saudi soldier killed in firefight near Yemen border
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2016/12/25/Saudi-soldier-killed-in-firefight-near-Yemen-border-.html and http://almasdaronline.com/article/87427
24.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Saudi nationals injured by Huothi shelling on Jazan
A Saudi citizen and sister were injured by shells fired on the Saudi Jazan city on Friday by the Houthi and Saleh forces from the Yemeni territories.
The Saudi civil defense authorities have posted on "Twitter" that a shell has hit one of the houses in Jazan city injuring two citizens whom were taken to the hospital.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87422
24.12.2016 – Alalam (A K PH)
89 Saudi Mercenaries Killed in Past 72 Hours in Yemen: Al-Alam Reporter
Al-Alam reporter quoting from an informed source in Yemen Military reports that in past 3 days 89 Saudi Arabia Mercenaries including 7 commanders killed and tens other injured in Yemeni Army and Popular Forces attacks.
http://en.alalam.ir/news/1901927
My comment: Yemeni army = Army loyal to ex-president Saleh, affiliated to Houthis.
and
14.12.2016 – South Front (A K PH)
16 PRO-SAUDI TROOPS WERE KILLED IN HOUTHI-SALEH ALLIANCE ATTACKS IN YEMEN
https://southfront.org/16-pro-saudi-troops-were-killed-in-houthi-saleh-alliance-attacks-in-yemen/
against
24.12.2016 – Middle East Monitor (A K PS)
30 Houthi and Saleh Fighters Killed on Saudi Border
Saudi military forces yesterday intercepted an attack carried out by Yemen’s Shia Houthi militia group and its allies near the kingdom’s borders, Saudi news channel Al-Arabiya reported.
According to the news channel, the confrontations lasted three hours as Houthi militiamen tried to infiltrate Saudi territory before being pushed back by Saudi artillery and helicopter gunships.
Members of the Saudi-led coalition also took part in the fighting by bombing Houthi positions.
Around 30 Houthi militia fighters and fighters loyal to ousted Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh were killed in the confrontation and several of their missile platforms destroyed, the news channel quoted unnamed security sources as saying.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20161223-30-houthi-and-saleh-fighters-killed-on-saudi-border/ = http://nationalyemen.com/2016/12/24/30-houthi-and-saleh-fighters-killed-on-saudi-border/
My comment: Somebody else who wants to invent or communicate some other figures???
24.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Ballistic missiles hit mercenaries in Al-Jawf
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450545.htm
24.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
A Number of Rockets Targeting Groupings of Saudi Army
Jawf, Marib provinces
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58600&lang=en
24.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Artillery hits mercenaries in Taiz
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450547.htm
and from the other side:
24.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
National Army repels militia attacks in Taiz
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87406
24.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Taiz: government forces advance, Houthi rebels and a nurse killed
A field source in Taiz city, southwest Yemen, said on Saturday that the government and pro-government forces have made great progress in the eastern front, and are at the doors of the al Tashrifat military camp.
The source added to Almasdaronline that the government forces artillery is also shelling the Houthi and allied forces in al Tashrifat camp and the Republican Palace.
The pro-government forces have also declared that two militants were killed and 4 others injured on Saturday, eastern Taiz.
A statement issued by the pro-government forces media center said that eight of its members and government troops were wounded in the same battles.
On the other side, the Houthi militants are going on launching missile and artillery shelling on residential neighborhoods which led to the death of the nurse Fahmiah Mahmoud Mohammed and the injury of two family members when a shell hit their house.
Other four civilians were also injured by similar shelling on different parts of the city. Meanwhile, the fighters of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition have launched two airstrikes on the Houthi and allied forces sites in al Omari military camp in Thobab area, west of Taiz city.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87430
My comment: heavy fighting, both sides are shelling. Only the Houthi shells hit civilians. That’s propaganda logic.
and:
24.12.2016 – Mohammed Al-Qadhi (A K)
Film: We escaped death as we were filming this TV report from front lines, few meters away from al-Tashrifat camp, east of #Taiz city. #Yemen
https://twitter.com/mohammedalqadhi/status/812643349039579136
24.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army shells Saudi military base in Jizan
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450550.htm
24.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army artillery hit Saudi military locations in Jizan, Najran
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450551.htm
24.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Army and Popular Committees Snipe 3 Saudi Soldiers
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58605&lang=en
23.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
ArmY, popular forces kill many Saudi soldiers in Jizan, Asir, Jizan
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450464.htm
23.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army kills 15 mercenaries, recaptures areas in Jawf
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450467.htm
23.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army kills 30 Saudi mercenaries in Nehm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450465.htm
and
24.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
At Least 18 Killed and 30 Wounded Saudi Mercenaries in a Repelled Attempt to Advance in Nihm
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58631&lang=en
and
24.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army forces repulse mercenaries' infiltrate to Nehm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450520.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58610&lang=en
and
24.12.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army fires ballistic missile on mercenaries in Nehm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news450595.htm
contradicts
24.12.2016 – Al Arabiya (A K PS)
Yemen forces recapture Nihm district in Sanaa
Yemen’s armed and resistance forces were able to recapture several key areas within a district in the capital Sanaa.
My comment: “Yemen forces“ is pro-Saudi yemeni army and militia. Their foes they fight against are – exactly: Yemeni forces. – And look what a headline they had created, compare it to the text itself.
24.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
20 coup militants and 7 government forces soldiers killed in escalating clashes east of Sana'a
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87423
23.12.2016 – Al Sahwa (A K PS)
Yemen army liberates strategic positions near Sana'a
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-1794
Remark: Yemen army = “President” Hadi’s army and militia.
thus
23.12.2016 – Yemen Update (A K)
While pro-Hadi media says a remarkable advancement in Nehm, eastern Sana'a is gained, pro-Houthi media says they have pushed back. #Yemen
https://twitter.com/yemen_updates/status/812341122882269185
My comment: Typical of war. Each side claims victory.
Watch: Yemeni Somod Missile Hits Saudi Mercenaries in Lahj
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58571&lang=en and film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y95svMaUdN8
23.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Two Saudi Mercenaries Killed in Taiz and Lahj
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58573&lang=en
23.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
At Least 10 Saudi Mercenaries Killed and Injured in Taiz
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58581&lang=en
23.12.2016 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Jawf: Saudi Mercenaries Targeted by Artillery Shells in Akimi Dam, Sadba Region
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=58579&lang=en
22.12.2016 – Living in Yemen on the edge (A K PH)
Heavy fighting in #Mareb, tonight, since 6 pm local time
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1210389402347421
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
24.12.2016 – Hisham Al-Omeisy
"The perils of being independent". By the way, the petty #Yemen sides refused to meet each other in Jordan. Meh, I'm having eggnog (see image)
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/812938788980789248
23.12.2016 – Almasdar Online (A P)
Government and international calls for transparent investigation into the death of journalist Mohammed Abdu al-Absi
Yemeni Journalists Union announced the postponement of the burial of the Yemeni journalist Mohammed Abdu al-Absi, which was scheduled on Wednesday, after his death in mysterious circumstances in the capital Sana'a.
Al-Absi's family and the Yemeni Journalists Union have filed a complaint to the Attorney General demanding an autopsy.
One of al-Absi's relatives has stated to Almasdaronline that they have criminal suspicions about his sudden death.
Al Asyadi said that information has reported that al-Absi died after eating a meal in a restaurant in Sana'a with one of his relatives, who had vomited blood also.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni government, represented by the Ministries of Information and Human Rights, had called on the United Nations and the International Red Cross to urgently intervene to transfer the body of the journalist "Mohammed Abdu al-Absi" to the Yemen's interim capital Aden city, and supervise the autopsy, after doubts that he has been assassinated in the capital Sana'a, according to the Yemeni news agency "Saba".
The Minister of Human Rights, Izz al-Din al-Asbahi, reminded of "the militia's violent approach in dealing with intellectuals and writers in Yemen, as there are reports of journalists and human rights activists exposed to systematic torture in secret basements belonging to the militia".
http://almasdaronline.com/article/87392
My comment: The Hadi government tries to use also this case as a means for anti-Houthi propaganda, as this article shows. Transferring the body to Aden would be quite an absurd matter – the Hadi government even uses this case to claim affirmation by international institutions that they are the legitimate government of Yemen.
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-243-yemen-war-mosaic-243
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-243: / Yemen War Mosaic 1-243:
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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