Healthcare at Taiz – Women in Yemen – Saudis destroying food supply – UN warns: Saudi war crimes – US terror attack in Yemen–Trump and Saudis Saudi air raids, fighting – and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp1a Am wichtigsten: US-Angriff / Most important: US attack
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche/ UN and peace talks
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp9 USA
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
cp13 Mercenaries / Söldner
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17a Kriegsereignisse: Mokha / Theater of War: Mokha
cp17b Kriegsereignisse: Sonstige / Theater of War: Other
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
31.1.2017 – Ärzte ohne Grenzen (** B H K)
Neuer Bericht über die Gesundheitsversorgung unter Belagerung im Jemen
Die internationale Hilfsorganisation Ärzte ohne Grenzen/Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF) hat einen Bericht zur medizinischen Versorgung in Kriegszeiten veröffentlicht. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf der Situation in Tais, der drittgrößten Stadt im Jemen, die schwer vom Konflikt im Land betroffen ist. Viele Menschen haben keinen Zugang mehr zu lebensrettender medizinischer Hilfe.
Der Bericht „Gesundheitsversorgung unter Belagerung“ konzentriert sich auf die direkten tödlichen Folgen der Angriffe auf die Zivilbevölkerung in Tais und den Zusammenbruch der Gesundheitsversorgung in der geteilten Stadt, den Teams von Ärzte ohne Grenzen vor Ort beobachtet haben.
„Die verzweifelte Situation in Tais ist beispielhaft für das, was im ganzen Jemen passiert”, sagt Karline Kleijer, Notfallmanagerin von Ärzte ohne Grenzen für den Jemen. „Die Kriegsparteien in Tais zeigen immer wieder keinen Respekt für den Schutz von Zivilisten, Gesundheitseinrichtungen, medizinischem Personal und Patienten. Unsere Patienten und Patientinnen auf beiden Seiten der Frontlinie berichten davon, wie sie bei der Zubereitung des Mittagessens bombardiert, auf dem Weg zu ihren Feldern durch Luftangriffe verwundet, beim Hüten ihres Viehs durch Minen verstümmel
Gesundheitsversorgung durch Gewalt beeinträchtigt
Die Gesundheitsversorgung in Tais ist durch die Gewalt stark beeinträchtigt: Krankenhäuser wurden wiederholt bombardiert und beschossen, eines der mobilen medizinischen Teams von Ärzte ohne Grenzen bei einem Luftangriff getroffen. Krankenwagen wurden beschossen, beschlagnahmt und Bewaffnete verschafften sich gewaltsam Zutritt. Medizinisches Personal wurde auf dem Weg zur Arbeit beschossen, belästigt, festgehalten, bedroht und dazu gezwungen, unter vorgehaltener Waffe zu arbeiten. Viele medizinische Mitarbeiter und Mitarbeiterinnen nehmen große Risiken auf sich und müssen während der Arbeit um ihr Leben fürchten.
Kaputte Krankenhäuser und das Fehlen von Personal und essentiellen Versorgungsgütern führen dazu, dass die Gesundheitsversorgung in Tais so gut wie zusammengebrochen ist. Viele Menschen haben keinen Zugang mehr zu lebensrettender medizinischer Hilfe. Das lahmgelegte Gesundheitssystem und die zunehmend schweren Lebensbedingungen führen zu einer Verschlechterung des allgemeinen Gesundheitszustands der Bevölkerung, vor allem bei besonders gefährdeten Gruppen wie Schwangeren, Neugeborenen und kleinen Kindern.
and in English, longer version:
30.1.2017 – Doctors Without Borders (** B H K)
Yemen: Healthcare under siege
Twenty months since fighting started in Taiz, the city’s health services have largely collapsed – the result of physical damage to hospitals and of shortages of staff and medical supplies. At the same time, people’s living conditions have deteriorated and the price of essentials, including food and water, has soared. A crippled health system, combined with increasingly harsh living conditions, has prompted a decline in people’s health, with particularly acute consequences for vulnerable groups with low immunity such as pregnant women, new-born babies and young children.
Many families have been forced to flee their homes to escape the fighting, and now live in makeshift settlements in tents made from plastic sheeting, without adequate sanitation and without such essentials as mattresses, blankets or cooking equipment. Others are sheltering in overcrowded apartments or in empty school buildings. For most people, healthcare is prohibitively expensive, and people turn to it only as a last resort, when they are very sick and when it may already be too late.
This exposure page focuses on the direct impact of the war on the population of Taiz, the collapse of the health services in the divided city and the human suffering of the war on the population as observed by MSF teams working on both sides of the frontlines in Taiz.
INDISCRININATELY MAIMING AND KILLING CHILDREN AND OTHER CIVILIANS
“The only patients who come to our emergency room at night are dreadfully ill. People say that car headlights can attract sniper fire or other attacks, and that the risks of being caught in crossfire increases, so they normally avoid moving after dark.”
Paediatric doctor, MSF Mother and Child hospital, Taiz, 21 October 2016
“It was after lunch and all the women were on the third floor. I was washing dishes in another building. Everything was very calm but then suddenly a mortar hit the house. It killed my aunt, my grandmother, my uncle’s wife and two of my cousins. My aunts’ two-month-old baby was also in that room but he survived. People needing care have only two options: Stay in their houses and bleed to death, or take the risk and come to the hospital to save their lives. They don’t feel safe.”
The collapse of health services in the divided city
The medical situation is tragic. Healthcare has collapsed. The media puts a spotlight on surgery for the war-wounded, but ignores the stories of patients with diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiac diseases, renal failure and epilepsy. These patients are suffering a lot because they can’t get medicines – because there are none available, or because they can’t afford them.”
Medical supervisor, hospital in Taiz city centre, 22 October 2016
The patients who visit the hospital regularly are dialysis patients as they come twice every week. As these patients come from distant areas, some of them ask us to stay in the hospital because they are very poor and cannot afford transport fees.”
Emergency room supervisor, hospital in Taiz city centre, 22 October 2016
(with photos, films)
My comment: It’s not different in other parts of Yemen, especially those directly affected by the Saudi air raids and blockade, which also affects all medical supply.
and
30.1.2017 – Doctors Without Borders (** B H)
Yemen: “That evening we had around 30 casualties, both wounded and dead.”
Christopher McAleer is just back from Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city, on the frontline of the war.
I was based in MSF's mother and child hospital in Al Houban. My job as a logistician was to make sure that everything was running smoothly, and that the medics could do their work as well as possible. While I was there, there were a number of mass casualty events, so I also had to set up a temporary morgue and put people in body bags.
One of the worst moments was on 17 November, when the frontline shifted by as much as 2 kilometres and there was a big increase in fighting within the city. At 7.30pm, we were upstairs in our living quarters above the hospital, when we heard reports that a blast had hit a busy market nearby that was crowded with evening shoppers.
Immediately we tried to find out if there was ongoing shelling. As soon as we were sure it had stopped, we sent ambulances to the location and alerted both our trauma centre and our mother and child hospital to receive 'hot cases'.
Then we went downstairs to prepare ourselves as best we could. That evening we had around 30 casualties, both wounded and dead. They arrived in ambulances, in the back of pick-up trucks, in minibuses and in little cars.
MSF works on both sides of the frontline in Taiz, supporting four hospitals inside an enclave besieged by the Houthis, and running a trauma centre and the mother and child hospital in the Houthi-controlled area of Al Houban.
In the middle of a conflict, people's day-to-day medical needs can often be overlooked. We are mostly looking after women and children, but we also provide support for all those injured in the war. Our team in the mother and child hospital helps to deliver about 400 babies a month, as well as treating children for malnutrition.
Because the health system in Taiz has slowly collapsed, a lot of people have nowhere else to go for medical care. We are one of the few medical facilities still functioning in Taiz.
At the height of the fighting, there was outgoing shelling from near the hospital both day and night. At the same time, there were airstrikes targeting these artillery positions. It is very scary, because you simply don't know what will happen.
As hospital staff you always have to act normal but, in the back of your mind, you're always scared.
People in Taiz have immense needs for food, medical care, water and sanitation and shelter. The situation is very bad, but what struck me most was the strength and commitment of our Yemeni staff – By Christopher McAleer, former MSF logistician in Yemen (with interview in film)
http://www.msf.org/en/article/yemen-%E2%80%9C-evening-we-had-around-30-casualties-both-wounded-and-dead%E2%80%9D = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-evening-we-had-around-30-casualties-both-wounded-and-dead
and
30.1.2017 – Doctors Without Borders (** B H)
Yemen: “Word had spread that I was a doctor, and people came to me for help all the time”
When war escalated in Yemen, Sana was abroad, having just qualified as a doctor. Hearing the news, she felt compelled to return to Taiz, scene of some of the conflict's fiercest fighting. Now she works in the malnutrition ward of MSF's mother and child hospital.
It was an incredibly frustrating time. Word had spread that I was a doctor, and people came to me for help all the time. But there was very little I could do for them. I was able to buy some antibiotics, but I couldn't get hold of things like insulin or asthma medication.
I saw many people with skin diseases and rashes because they had fled their homes and were living in very poor conditions in old, run-down buildings. They couldn't afford to buy medicines for themselves. Sometimes my family paid for their transport to hospital in Sana'a, six or seven hours' drive away.
One day, I saw a woman with cancer. She couldn't get treatment, and I couldn't help her either. I gave her my gold ring so that she could afford to travel to a hospital in Sana'a.
Last summer, I saw a job advertisement for a position in MSF's hospital in Taiz. I thought, 'That's what I’ve got to do!' To get to the job interview, I had to take a detour over the mountains because the main road was blocked. The trip took four hours instead of the normal one or two.
I started work with MSF in July, so we moved again. Now my parents and I live half an hour from the hospital. It would have been safer to stay in the countryside, but I need to work. I don’t care if it's a bit more dangerous here – I just have to work.
I really like working here in the malnutrition intensive care ward. Most of our patients are young children, as they're most at risk of becoming severely malnourished.
In the future, I’d like to become a paediatrician. I want to help people at the start of their lives – by Sana, an MSF nurse working in Taiz
http://www.msf.org/en/article/yemen-%E2%80%9Cword-had-spread-i-was-doctor-and-people-came-me-help-all-time%E2%80%9D = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-word-had-spread-i-was-doctor-and-people-came-me-help-all-time
30.1.2017 – Oxfam / Safer World (** B H P)
WE WON’T WAIT
As war ravages Yemen, its women strive to build peace
Women and girls are particularly affected by the conflict and have a crucial role to play in building peace at the local level.
Despite some efforts to assist them, women are not receiving enough practical support and diplomatic commitment. Such backing is necessary to bridge the gap between local, national and international peace talks. This is essential for a viable and inclusive peace process that yields lasting results.
None feel the failure to secure peace more acutely than those who continue to be displaced from their homes as the country plunges towards social, economic and institutional collapse. 1 In their pursuit of military victory, parties to the conflict are exacerbating the humanitarian situation when they target essential services, infrastructure and block access to aid. Aid alone cannot address these catastrophic effects; only an end to the violence can. Peace is essential for the survival of over 10 million Yemenis in acute need of immediate humanitarian aid.
There is a phrase in Yemen – almar’a nesf almujtama – which means ‘women are half of society’. In 2011, Yemeni women successfully challenged a system that initially excluded them, to achieve representation in the National Dialogue Conference, the six-month peace talks that followed the uprising. Despite the odds, Yemeni women act as informal peacemakers and peacekeepers, even though they are often marginalized from national and international peace talks and lack the resources to maximize the positive impact of their role. Today, there are hundreds of women-led initiatives to address the effects of the conflict. Oxfam and Saferworld staff frequently see Yemeni women taking on leadership roles and their associated risks. Take Samira for example: she is part of a group of women in Al Hudaydah who are monitoring the destruction of civilian infrastructure and helping vulnerable people to earn an income.
The international community is both praised and blamed for the war in Yemen. Many of the Western countries, particularly the United Kingdom, the United States and some European countries, are accused of fuelling this war by selling arms to the Saudis and its coalition, putting their profit ahead of their moral obligation towards Yemeni people. On the other hand, many governments, including some Western and Arabian Gulf donors, have contributed significant funding to the Yemen humanitarian response. Several governments and the UN have pursued diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict, including some initiatives to include women’s perspectives and concerns.
But much more needs to be done, not only to increase the responsiveness of the humanitarian response to women and girls, but also to ensure peacebuilding efforts are effective and represent all of Yemeni society.
However, the participation of women in the peace process must be broadened at local, national and international levels – backed by accessible financial, technical and political support that enhances the scale and effectiveness of their contributions. It must allow opportunities for women from a diverse range of backgrounds, and from beyond Sana’a, to voice their concerns and ideas for the future. Increasing women’s participation by encouraging locally led initiatives will help develop a stronger collective voice on issues of common concern, not only those related to women, but the broader recovery and reconstruction process.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/we-won-t-wait-war-ravages-yemen-its-women-strive-build-peace and in full: https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/bp-yemen-women-in-peacebuilding-300117-en_0.pdf
26.1.2017 – Yemen News Today (** B H K)
Destroying food of the starving in Yemen
Since the Saudi-led coalition started their aerial assaults on Yemen on 26th March 2015, there has been an effective blockade of most goods entering Yemen, the rationale being a weapons blockade against the Houthi-Saleh alliance. As in all blockades, the people who suffer are not those fighting because they have most control of resources and take first pick. Instead the civilian population is vulnerable, especially women, the young, old and sick. Before the war, Yemen relied on 90% of its necessary goods as imports, so the Saudi-led blockade rapidly turned the conflict into a matter of survival for all civilians, whether in a conflict zone or not. With only 1% of Yemen’s oil needs being allowed to enter Yemen almost immediately water became a serious issue as virtually all water in Yemen is pumped from deep wells. Additionally, this severe shortage of oil and diesel has meant that in most parts of Yemen there has been no electricity for many months.
Hence there has also been no means of storing perishable food, and costs of moving food and other essential items across Yemen has caused food prices to increase dramatically. Producing food internally has become expensive as diesel is needed for water irrigation purposes, and for many farms this cost has been prohibitive and production has ceased. Additionally most companies in Yemen have been forced to close down due to insecurity or lack of resources, resulting in widespread unemployment within Yemen, making food unaffordable for many families.
Additionally, food producers, suppliers, transporters and retailers have not been spared from aerial assaults. According to the Legal Center for Rights and Development in Sana’a, in the first 300 days of war, ten ports, fourteen airports, and 512 roads and bridges were struck by the Saudi-led coalition’s airstrikes making it more difficult to import and transport goods to where they are needed. This is severely aggravated by the destruction of 238 fuel stations, 175 fuel tankers and 409 food trucks. Direct food retailers have also been targeted including 353 markets and malls, and 546 food stores. Domestic, commercial and agricultural water supplies have been challenged by 164 hits on reservoirs and water networks, and many of the 190 factories that were destroyed by the Saudi-led coalition were producing food and drinks, such as a Yoghurt factory in Hodeida, a snack factory in Sana’a, a Coca Cola plant in Sana’a, a fruit juice factory in Hodeida, and a water bottling factory in Amran. Farms have also been targeted with 125 poultry farms hit, and an agricultural research centre in Wadi Sardol near Hodeida destroyed. 7 grain silos have been obliterated, and other food warehouses destroyed. At least one dairy/beef herd has also been targeted. Fishermen in the Red Sea have been targeted several times.
In certain areas this has been aggravated by local siege by the Houthi-Saleh militias who like Saudi Arabia have used deprivation as a weapon of war.
An additional problem is the acute shortage of cooking fuel. In some families the only source of cooking fuel available since the start of hostilities is wood, but Yemen is not a densely-wooded land and this will have environmental repercussions.
What further impacts the nutritional deficiencies is the lack of available medical care. 58% of Yemenis (14 million people) had very limited or no access to health care facilities by January 2016, either because they had been destroyed (238 units including 69 hospitals), or because of the shortage of fuel, water, and medical supplies (600 units), or because of the lack of staff. The World Health Organisation describes the Yemen healthcare system as in a state of collapse.
The effect on the population has been devastating.
From time to time international organisations have made occasional appeals on behalf of Yemen, but I can find no significant press releases from any organisation since October 2015 except in the case of Taiz, thanks to a concerted campaign by activists inside Taiz and Saudi Arabian spokespersons who support the Islah militias in Taiz. Although the situation is dire in Taiz because of a ferocious ground war and undoubtedly there have been serious deprivations, ironically the humanitarian situation may be worse in other areas that have had no international spokespersons speaking on their behalf.
I heard a story today of a landlord who found a widow and her two children dead from starvation inside a room they had rented from him. How many more will have to die like this before the world opens its eyes and realises this collective punishment is being imposed on the Yemeni civilian population, about half of whom are less than 18 years old – by Judith Brown
https://yemen-news-today.org/2016/01/26/destroying-food-of-the-starving-in-yemen/
29.1.2017 – Reuters (** A K P)
U.N. experts warn Saudi-led coalition allies over war crimes in Yemen
A Saudi Arabia-led military coalition has carried out attacks in Yemen that "may amount to war crimes," U.N. sanctions monitors reported to the world body's Security Council, warning coalition allies including the United States, Britain and France that they are obligated to respect international humanitarian law.
The annual report by the experts who monitor sanctions and the conflict in Yemen, seen by Reuters on Saturday, investigated 10 coalition air strikes between March and October that killed at least 292 civilians, including some 100 women and children.
"In eight of the 10 investigations, the panel found no evidence that the air strikes had targeted legitimate military objectives," the experts wrote in a 63-page report presented to the Security Council on Friday.
"For all 10 investigations, the panel considers it almost certain that the coalition did not meet international humanitarian law requirements of proportionality and precautions in attack," the report said. "The panel considers that some of the attacks may amount to war crimes."
The experts said Saudi Arabia is leading a military coalition made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan.
Saudi U.N. Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi said the accusations in the report were unfounded, that the coalition has been "exercising maximum restraint and rigorous rules of engagement," and that there had been transparent investigations into any incidents.
"In some cases errors were acknowledged and responsibility accepted. Corrective measures including compensation to victims were taken," he told Reuters.
The U.N. experts said U.S. officers were supporting coalition logistical and intelligence activities, while the coalition's chief of joint operations told the experts that officers from France, Malaysia and Britain were also present at the Riyadh headquarters.
"The panel finds that violations associated with the conduct of the air campaign are sufficiently widespread to reflect either an ineffective targeting process or a broader policy of attrition against civilian infrastructure," the report said.
The U.N. experts said that although they were unable to travel to Yemen, they have "maintained the highest achievable standard of proof." – By Michelle Nichols
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-un-idUSKBN15D0SB and other articles: http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/UN-Warns-US-West-over-Support-for-Saudi-War-Crimes-in-Yemen-20170129-0040.html and https://www.rt.com/news/375549-un-yemen-strikes-war-crime/
My comment: Telling again what actually everybody knows.
Comment by Judith Brown: Well the UN has decided this too late. What about 2216 then?? Don't you think it's about time it reflected the facts of the ground, UN decision makers?
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155171133533641
30.1.2017 – The Drive (** A P T)
Deadly SEAL Raid In Yemen Signals Shift In Anti-Terror Strategy Under Trump
Taking out terror leaders almost exclusively by drone is likely a thing of the past under Trump.
Although nobody was said to have been captured in the raid, large amounts of intelligence that could potentially lead to future raids and targeting of AQAP assets was reported to have been obtained in the operation. A spokesman for AQAP said that only innocents were killed in the raid, including the eight-year-old daughter of American-born, firebrand cleric Anwar al Awlaki, who was killed in Yemen 2011 by a US drone strike. It is rumored that the brother of Anwar al Awlaki was also killed during Saturday’s operation, as well as Abdulrauf al Dhahab, a top AQAP lieutenant with strong regional family ties. Al Dhahab’s compound, working in part as an AQAP operations center, seems to have been the main target of the mission.
All these details may change over time, and the Trump administration has made it clear that it intends to be far more tight-lipped about military operations than its predecessor.
The US has held a steadily increasing presence at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, including special operations forces, helicopters, fighters, surveillance aircraft, and drones. Most aerial operations into Yemen and surrounding areas are launched from this base, and from US Navy amphibious assault ships deployed to the area from time to time.
A special operations mission that strikes deep into the heart of a war-torn country like Yemen leverages a whole array of assets, including transport, surveillance, and tactical air support aircraft. Since a civil war continues to smolder in the country, and Saudi Arabia and Arab gulf states have reignited operations in and over the country, coordination with these separate elements may have been required in order to deconflict the airspace and to make sure no deadly mistakes were made.
The thing is, although US special operations forces have been active in western Africa, they have largely stayed out of Yemen since the country sunk into civil war two years ago. Nearly all known US operations in the country have been targeted assassination and surveillance missions executed by unmanned aircraft.
But the use of “boots on the ground,” especially in such a high-risk and offensive manner, appears to be something new, and is likely a sign of President Trump’s more aggressive war on islamic extremism.
Saturday’s raid in Yemen may be a sign of what’s to come. A new reality in which there is less reliance on simply killing the enemy when opportunities to do so represent themselves, and more reliance on putting special operators on the ground to grab key individuals and/or intelligence directly off the battlefield.
Some would argue that shooting a Hellfire missile through a window of a building and killing everyone inside—and possibly some people outside—based on questionably defined intelligence, is far more cruel and unjust than capturing those targeted individuals, interrogating them and sending them to military tribunals. Outside of the torture debate, somehow being executed by drone became more morally acceptable than actually killing or capturing the enemy on the battlefield via real soldiers. The latter certainly presents a lower-risk politically and to US soldiers than the former, but questions of just how much damage the enhanced drone assassination program was doing to America’s image abroad also became a major sticking point with the strategy.
If Trump and his national security team are indeed going to make a major push to kill or capture high value targets around the globe using commandos as a way of drastically increasing the clarity of America’s intelligence picture, it will not go without major resistance at home and abroad.
With all this in mind, what we are likely to see is not one or the other—increased drone strikes or increased targeted special operations raids—but more of both. Much more.
We’ll have to wait and see how the Trump anti-terror strategy materializes, but if the last ten days tell us anything, it is going to be very different than what we have seen over the last eight years – by Tyler Rogoway
30.1.2017 – The Intercept (** A P T)
Obama Killed a 16-Year-Old American in Yemen. Trump Just Killed His 8-Year-Old Sister.
In a hideous symbol of the bipartisan continuity of U.S. barbarism, Nasser al-Awlaki just lost another one of his young grandchildren to U.S. violence. On Sunday, the Navy’s SEAL Team 6, using armed Reaper drones for cover, carried out a commando raid on what it said was a compound harboring officials of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. A statement issued by President Trump lamented the death of an American service member and several others who were wounded, but made no mention of any civilian deaths. U.S. military officials initially denied any civilian deaths, and (therefore) the CNN report on the raid said nothing about any civilians being killed.
But reports from Yemen quickly surfaced that 30 people were killed, including 10 women and children. Among the dead: the 8-year-old granddaughter of Nasser al-Awlaki, Nawar, who was also the daughter of Anwar Awlaki.
As noted by my colleague Jeremy Scahill – who extensively interviewed the grandparents in Yemen for his book and film on Obama’s “Dirty Wars” – the girl was “was shot in the neck and killed,” bleeding to death over the course of two hours. “Why kill children?,” the grandfather asked. “This is the new (U.S.) administration – it’s very sad, a big crime.”
The New York Times yesterday reported that military officials had been planning and debating the raid for months under the Obama administration, but Obama officials decided to leave the choice to Trump. The new President personally authorized the attack last week. They claim that the “main target” of the raid “was computer materials inside the house that could contain clues about future terrorist plots.” The paper cited a Yemeni official saying that “at least eight women and seven children, ages 3 to 13, had been killed in the raid,” and that the attack also “severely damaged a school, a health facility and a mosque.”
As my colleague Matthew Cole reported in great detail just weeks ago, Navy Seal Team 6, for all its public glory, has a long history of “‘revenge ops,’ unjustified killings, mutilations, and other atrocities.” And Trump notoriously vowed during the campaign to target not only terrorists but also their families. All of that demands aggressive, independent inquiries into this operation.
Perhaps most tragic of all is that – just as was true in Iraq – Al Qaeda had very little presence in Yemen before the Obama administration began bombing and droning it and killing civilians, thus driving people into the arms of the militant group. As the late, young Yemeni writer Ibrahim Mothana told Congress in 2013:
This is why it is crucial that – as urgent and valid protests erupt against Trump’s abuses – we not permit recent history to be whitewashed, or long-standing U.S. savagery to be deceitfully depicted as new Trumpian aberrations, or the War on Terror framework engendering these new assaults to be forgotten. Some current abuses are unique to Trump, but – as I detailed on Saturday – some are the decades-old by-product of a mindset and system of war and executive powers that all need uprooting. Obscuring these facts, or allowing those responsible to posture as opponents of all this, is not just misleading but counter-productive: much of this resides on an odious continuum and did not just appear out of nowhere.
It’s genuinely inspiring to see pervasive rage over the banning of visa-holders and refugees from countries like Yemen. But it’s also infuriating that the U.S. continues to massacre Yemeni civilians, both directly and through its tyrannical Saudi partners. That does not become less infuriating – Yemeni civilians are not less dead – because these policies and the war theories in which they are rooted began before the inauguration of Donald Trump. It’s not just Trump but this mentality and framework that needs vehement opposition – by Glen Greenwald
29.1.2017 – Consortium News (** B P T)
Trump Lets Saudis Off His ‘Muslim Ban’
By leaving Saudi Arabia and other key terrorism sponsors off his “Muslim ban,” President Trump shows the same cowardice and dishonesty that infected the Bush and Obama administrations
President Trump’s ban against letting people from seven mostly Muslim countries enter the United States looks to many like a thinly concealed bias against a religion, but it also is a troubling sign that Trump doesn’t have the nerve to challenge the false terrorism narrative demanded by Israel and Saudi Arabia.
The Israeli-Saudi narrative, which is repeated endlessly inside Official Washington, is that Iran is the principal sponsor of terrorism when that dubious honor clearly falls to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Sunni-led Muslim states, including Pakistan, nations that did not make Trump’s list.
The evidence of who is funding and supporting most of the world’s terrorism is overwhelming. All major terrorist groups that have bedeviled the United States and the West over the past couple of decades – from Al Qaeda to the Taliban to Islamic State – can trace their roots back to Sunni-led countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Qatar.
Privately, this reality has been recognized by senior U.S. officials, including former Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Trump’s National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. But that knowledge has failed to change U.S. policy, which caters to the oil-rich Saudis and the politically powerful Israelis.
So the truth was known at senior levels of the Obama administration – and now via National Security Advisor Flynn at the top of the Trump administration – but the Israelis and the Saudis don’t want that reality to shape U.S. foreign policy. In other words, this truth about the real source of terrorism was known but unknown.
Instead, Israel demands that Washington share its hatred of the Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah, a Shiite force that organized in the 1980s to drive the invading Israeli army out of southern Lebanon. Because Hezbollah dealt a rare defeat to the Israeli Defense Force, Israel puts it at the top of “terrorist” organizations. And, Hezbollah is supported by Iran.
Saudi Arabia, too, hates Iran because the Sunni-fundamentalist Saudi monarchy considers Shia Islam heretical, a sectarian conflict that dates back to the Seventh Century. So, the Saudi government has viewed Sunni jihadists as the tip of the spear against these Shiite rivals.
The fiction that these largely secular governments were responsible for Islamic terrorism — and the mislabeling of Shia-ruled Iran as the chief sponsor of such terrorism — have remained the myths confusing the American people and thus justifying continued U.S. support for the Israeli-Saudi war against the “Shiite crescent.”
Trump, who is heavily criticized for his inability to distinguish fact from fantasy, could have displayed a brave commitment to truth-telling if he had fashioned his counter-terrorism policy to actually address the real sponsors of terrorism. Instead, he chose to continue the lies that the Israelis and Saudis insist that Official Washington tell.
In doing so, Trump is not only offending much of the world and alienating countries that are at the forefront of the fight against the worst terrorist threats, but he is continuing to shield the key regimes that have perpetuated the scourge of terrorism – By Robert Parry
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/01/29/trump-lets-saudis-off-his-muslim-ban/
cp1a: US-Angriff im Jemen / US attack in Yemen
Frühere Berichte YPR 259, cp14 / Earlier reporting: YPR 259, cp14
30.1.2017 – Telepolis (** A T)
Erster US-Soldat im Jemen nach Amtsantritt von Trump getötet
Bei einem Angriff von US-Spezialeinheiten kamen 30 Menschen, darunter auch die Tochter von al-Awlaki, ums Leben, das Pentagon spricht nur von 14 getöteten al-Qaida-Kämpfern
Bereits in den ersten Tagen seiner Amtszeit hat US-Präsident Donald Trump mehrere Todesopfer auf seinem Konto. Laut Pentagon fanden zwischen den 20. und dem 22. Januar drei Drohnen-Angriffe in der jemenitischen Provinz Baydah statt. Mindestens fünf Menschen, allesamt "mutmaßliche Al-Qaida-Kämpfer", sollen dabei getötet worden sein.
Der erste Angriff wurde noch von der Obama-Administration abgesegnet, die restlichen zwei von deren Nachfolger. Die Identitäten der Opfer sind weiterhin unklar. Dass alle Opfer von Drohnen-Angriffen erst einmal zu militanten Kämpfern und extremistischen Fanatikern degradiert werden, ist zu einem alltäglichen Prozedere im Weißen Haus geworden, was sich unter Trump nicht ändern wird.
Eine weitere US-Operation im Jemen fand in der Nacht zum 29. Januar statt. Ebenfalls in der Provinz Baydah wurden bei dem nächtlichen Einsatz über dreißig Menschen getötet, unter ihnen befanden sich zahlreiche Zivilisten. Die US-Regierung spricht lediglich von vierzehn getöteten Al-Qaida-Kämpfern. Außerdem wurde ein US-Soldat getötet, zwei weitere wurden verletzt. Sowohl bewaffnete Drohnen als auch Spezialtruppen der Navy SEALs am Boden kamen bei der Operation zum Einsatz.
US-Offiziellen zufolge wurde Abdul Rauf al-Dhahab, eine führende Figur von Al-Qaida auf der Arabischen Halbinsel (AQAP), bei dem Angriff getötet. In einer Nachricht, die über den Instant-Messaging-Dienst Telegram verbreitet wurde, klagte Al-Qaida über den Verlust al-Dhahabs und bezeichnete ihn und weitere militante Kämpfer als "heilige Krieger". Die Nachricht dürfte authentisch sein, da sie vom offiziellen Telegram-Profil der Gruppierung verbreitet wurde.
Einige Stunden nach dem Angriff zirkulierten die ersten Bilder von Opfern, darunter auch Frauen und Kinder, im Netz. Berichten zufolge wurden mindestens acht Frauen sowie acht Kinder beim Angriff getötet.
Tragödie einer Familie
Schnell wurde auch bekannt, dass sich unter den Toten die achtjährige Nawaar al-Awlaki befand. Ihr Vater Anwar al-Awlaki, ein bekannter amerikanisch-jemenitischer Prediger, der sich später radikalisierte und sich Al-Qaida im Jemen anschloss, wurde im September 2011 durch einen gezielten Drohnen-Angriff der CIA im Jemen getötet.
Dass nun ein weiteres Kind aus der Familie al-Awlaki durch eine US-Operation in einem Land, in dem Washington offiziell keinen Krieg führt, getötet wurde, gleicht einer Tragödie, die ihresgleichen sucht. Der Tod Nawaar al-Awlakis wurde bereits seitens ihres Großvaters, Nasser al-Awlaki, der gegenwärtig in der Hauptstadt Sanaa lebt und einst als Agrarminister Jemens diente, bestätigt.
Laut al-Awlaki schoss ein US-Soldat seiner Enkelin ins Genick. Zwei Stunden später verstarb das achtjährige Mädchen. Zum gleichen Zeitpunkt wurde seitens Washingtons lediglich der Tod des US-Soldaten beklagt.
Die Angriffe dienen als perfektes Rekrutierungsinstrument für die Extremisten. Selbiges gilt auch für die zahlreichen, im Schatten stattfindenden Einsätze von US-Spezialkräften, bei denen es ebenfalls immer wieder zu zivilen Opfern kam – von Emran Feroz
30.1.2017 – Sputnik News (*A T)
Obama zögerte Entschluss zu Kampfeinsatz hinaus: Nun erster US-Soldat im Jemen tot
Ein Al-Qaida-Lager in Zentraljemen zu stürmen, ist Barack Obama viel zu gefährlich gewesen, weshalb er die Entscheidung seinem Nachfolger Donald Trump überließ. Dieser hat nicht lange gezögert und den Angriff befohlen, wie „The New York Times“ (NYT) berichtet.
Ein möglicher Einsatz gegen den Al-Qaida-Ableger im Jemen wurde laut der Zeitung monatelang in der Obama-Administration diskutiert. Angesichts der enormen Risiken für die US-Spezialkräfte im Herzen eines verfeindeten Landes habe der frühere US-Präsident die Entscheidung hinausgezögert, schreibt NYT. Trump habe hingegen den Einsatz gleich nach seinem Amtsantritt als US-Staatschef befohlen, heißt es. Schließlich habe er versprochen, den islamistischen Terror weltweit zu bekämpfen.
https://de.sputniknews.com/politik/20170130314326015-us-soldat-jemen-tot/ und auch https://de.sputniknews.com/technik/20170130314331932-usa-verlieren-wandelflugzeug-feindesfeuer/
29.1.2017 – Spiegel Online (** A T)
Dutzende Tote bei US-Militäraktion im Jemen
Beim Angriff eines US-Spezialkommandos im Jemen sind mindestens 30 Menschen getötet worden - unter ihnen zahlreiche Frauen und Kinder. Auch ein US-Soldat kam bei dem Einsatz gegen mutmaßliche Qaida-Kämpfer ums Leben.
Das US-Militär registriert den ersten gefallenen Soldaten seit der Amtsübernahme von Donald Trump. Der Mann wurde in der Nacht zum Sonntag bei einer Kommandoaktion im Jemen getötet. Die Mission richtete sich nach Angaben des Pentagon gegen einen Stützpunkt der Terrororganisation "Al-Qaida auf der Arabischen Halbinsel" (AQAP).
An dem Angriff auf die Ortschaft Jakla in der zentraljemenitischen Provinz Baida waren Drohnen und Apache-Hubschrauber beteiligt. Der Einsatz habe sich laut Vertretern der Provinzbehörden gegen Häuser, eine Schule, eine Moschee und eine medizinische Einrichtung gerichtet, die von Qaida-Kämpfern genutzt worden seien. Laut US-Militär habe Trump persönlich die Mission angeordnet. Demnach wurden bei dem Einsatz 14 Terroristen getötet.
Drei US-Soldaten seien bei einem Feuergefecht verwundet worden. Ein Hubschrauber sei unsanft gelandet. Daraufhin habe die US-Armee das Fluggerät vorsätzlich zerstört.
In der Mitteilung des US-Militärs ist keine Rede von zivilen Opfern. Ärzte vor Ort berichten von rund 30 Toten, darunter zehn Frauen und drei Kinder. Provinzvertreter sprachen von 41 getöteten Qaida-Kämpfern, sowie jeweils acht getöteten Frauen und Kindern.
AQAP teilte mit, dass einer ihrer Anführer, Abdulrauf al-Dhahab, bei dem Angriff getötet wurde. Laut Augenzeugen soll zunächst eine Drohne Dhahabs Wohnhaus bombardiert haben, anschließend seien US-Soldaten mit Hubschraubern gekommen und in die Häuser gestürmt.
Unter den toten Kindern soll sich die achtjährige Noura al-Awlaki befinden. Sie ist die Tochter des in den USA geborenen Qaida-Kommandeurs Anwar al-Awlaki.
Das Gebiet um Jakla wird von Stammesmilizen kontrolliert, die ein loses Bündnis mit AQAP geschlossen haben. In der Nähe des Ortes sollen sich mehrere Ausbildungslager der Terrororganisation befinden.
30.1.2017 – Legal Center (** A T)
-Killed (57) civilians including (7) children and (5) women, injured (15) others by (8) airstrikes of US drones that targeted civilians’ houses in Bait Al-Dhahab area in Qaifa district (photos)
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=766124430204591&id=551288185021551
My comment: The figure of those killed is higher than in other records, and they all are labeled civilians. When reading all the records, it really will become obvious that labeling as “Al Qaida” in many cases is quite dubious.
30.1.2017 – RT (* A P T)
Marwa Osman to RT: US actions in Yemen are strictly illegal (VIDEO)
After citing different reports, Osman called the operation into question, saying that "yes, it is good to fight Al-Qaeda, but how and when?" The number of casualties, the carrying out of the operation itself, and the location, according to Osman, all suggest that the operation's integrity should be put into question.
But the biggest question of all, in Osman's words: "How come the US is involved in this actual ground assault in Yemen without even acceptance or clearance from Congress itself?"
When asked just how "legitimate" the actions of the US are on Yemeni soil, Osman stated clearly: "Even if it is against Al-Qaeda, it is illegal. It can be said that it is a ground incursion against the sovereignty of an independent nation that has been afflicted by war for the past two years", a war which the US has fueled against Yemen by arming and supplying the Saudis.
"This is not a civil war," Osman clarified, "and the Houthis are not rebels."
"Now we have actual US boots on the ground. This is a very serious development. This development should be held responsible by Congressmen. They should hold their government responsible. And the people of the US should know that their tax money are going to kill other nations, especially nations like Yemen."
http://www.fort-russ.com/2017/01/marwa-osman-to-rt-us-actions-in-yemen.html (for reading) and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I38MkC9iDn8 (film)
30.1.2017 – RT (* A P T)
Is Trump already escalating war in Yemen?
The US ground operation in Yemen last weekend, and President Trump’s decision to continue Obama’s drone strikes might outrage people as hypocrisy, says politics author and journalist David Swanson.
It is the first formal acknowledgment that the US has forces on the ground in Yemen.
David Swanson: I don’t know whether it marks an escalation, but it marks a new or at least an unusual rare form of US involvement risking US lives, which is what the US public gets informed about and has been trained to care about. But the drone strikes also have continued since Donald Trump became president, whether or not with his individual involvement because President Obama gave various subordinates the right to pick people out and murder them with missiles from drones. That too may get anger from the US public, because this is a different person doing it. It would be a sort of hypocrisy and a sort of partisan blindness. But I certainly hope so. At this point - the US having sat through years of drone murders by President Obama - if people get outraged about it now under President Trump, that would be a good thing.
I am certain this was a proposal that went to him from the military. He didn’t dream this particular little action up – he gave his approval.
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/375661-yemen-us-soldier-killed/
30.1.2017 – Al Sahwa (* A P)
Islahi leader: Extrajudicial killing is terrorism
Head of the Islah party's media department Ali Al-Jaradi has said that counterterrorism is the responsibility of the Yemeni government, affirming that extrajudicial killing is terrorism.
"Blind strikes only kill children, women and innocent people" al-Jaradi tweeted.
At least 41 persons including women and children have been killed in the US military operation in the province of al-Bayda.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-3494
My comment: Islah Party, the heaviest enemy of the Houthis… When he is right, he is right. In this point, all Yemeni parties will have the same opinion.
30.1.2017 – Fox News (A T)
Navy SEAL killed in Yemen anti-terror raid is identified
The Navy SEAL killed in a raid targeting senior Al Qaeda leaders in Yemen was identified Monday as Chief Petty Officer William "Ryan" Owens.
30.1.2017 – Department of Defense (* A P T)
U.S. Raid in Yemen Garners Intelligence
The U.S. military raid on the militant Islamist group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula compound in Yemen Jan. 28 that killed a U.S. service member and injured three others yielded valuable intelligence, Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters today.
Material captured from the site will help the United States “gain a deeper insight into the group’s planning to help prevent terrorist attacks against innocent civilians in the United States and our coalition-partner nations,” he said.
Similar site exploitation operations in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq have produced information about terrorist planner logistics, recruiting and financing efforts, Davis noted.
“Until now, we’ve had limited access to terror sites on the ground to gain intelligence from [al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula],” he said.
“This [operation] was specifically to enable us to gather the information we needed to be able to map out this group better, and to prevent future foreign terrorist attacks,” the captain said, noting that al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula has a number of links to very specific, United States and Western-focused attacks.
The three service members’ injuries occurred when an Osprey MV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft made a hard landing during the operation, Davis said, adding that the inoperable Osprey was subsequently destroyed in place by a U.S. airstrike.
Casualties Being Assessed
The raid on the compound, in a remote area of al-Bayda, Yemen, reportedly also killed 14 of the organization’s operatives, he said.
The casualties in Yemen are being assessed, including al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula’s use of numerous female fighters, some of whom were among those killed in the raid, Davis said.
“The [female fighters] ran to pre-established positions as if they’d trained to be ready and trained to be combatants and engage with us. So, some of the enemy killed in combat are in fact female,” he said.
Aggressive Actions Against Terrorists
The operation had been planned for months, and was one in a series of aggressive actions against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen, he said – By Terri Moon Cronk
Comment by Stephen Snyder: Pentagon release on #Yemen raid. No mention of children killed. Maybe they were "female fighters"
https://twitter.com/StephenProducer/status/826192871996874752
Comment by Jamila Hanan: I can't even read this Pentagon rubbish, but a quick glance tells me it's exactly as expected
https://twitter.com/JamilaHanan/status/826221151714172928
30.1.2017 – Stars and Stripes (* A P T)
Pentagon probing reports of civilian deaths in Yemen raid
The Pentagon is assessing reports out of Yemen that the special operations raid that U.S. troops conducted over the weekend against an al-Qaida target killed more than a dozen civilians, a Defense Department spokesman said Monday.
The U.S. raid on a compound controlled by al-Qaida’s Arabian Peninsula affiliate, which has expanded its territory in Yemen amid a two-year civil war between rival factions, led to the deaths of at least 14 of the group’s fighters and the collection of a trove of intelligence information, said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman. One U.S. special operator was killed during the raid and three others were injured by enemy fire. The Pentagon has not identified the servicemembers.
“The raid yielded valuable captured materials from the site that will help us gain a deeper insight into the group’s planning, to help us prevent terrorist attacks against innocent civilians in the U.S. and our partner nations,” Davis said Monday.
It was unclear how many civilians might have been killed in the pre-dawn raid in the rural Bayda province of southwestern Yemen. A report cited on the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs' website indicated up to 16 civilians were killed. According to the Reuters news agency, Yemeni officials claimed 30 civilians were killed, including 10 women and three children.
Davis confirmed women were among the dead in the incident, but he said they were clearly trained combatants who opened fire on the U.S. troops.
“There were a lot of female combatants that were part of this,” he said. “We saw during this operation as it was taking place that female fighters ran to pre-established positions as though they had trained to be ready. … Take reports of female casualties with a grain of salt. Not all female casualties are civilian casualties.”
The Pentagon is aware of the allegations that children were among the casualties, Davis said.
The U.S. military typically conducts an initial investigation into any reports of civilian casualties. If it finds there is evidence for supporting the claims that civilians were killed or injured, it will launch an official command investigation – by Corey Dickstein
https://www.stripes.com/news/pentagon-probing-reports-of-civilian-deaths-in-yemen-raid-1.451665
My comment: The whitewashing machine begins to work. Read about the women and aware how it’s tried to label as much as possible as “Al Qaida fighters”. And for pentagon “investigations” remember the hospital of Kunduz in Afghanistan (for instance).
Comment by Judith Brown: Well I guess they won't take Yemeni civilian deaths too seriously. The only deaths they seem to worry about are foetuses that are aborted. It strikes me it is a strange scenario when many American evangelicals can mourn the death of a month old foetus but manufacture sell and use terrible weapons designed to kill and maim and distribute them and use them with impunity. Not that I think it's wrong to have a position either way on abortion. It just seems incompatible to see one innocent life as worthy in all circumstances and another innocent life to be totally completely and utterly destroyable.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155171148923641
29.1.2017 – Ben Norton (A P)
All the headlines focus on the 1 US commando
https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/825809170670743560
More than 24 hours later, major US media outlets finally acknowledge that a US raid killed an 8-year-old Yemeni girl
https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/826290261785505792
30.1.2017 – Hamed Ghaleb (* A T)
Mohsen Khasroof,Pro Saudi forces spokesman 2 @AlArabiya ch ,al-thahab that was killed by #US raid is not aqap leader but 1 of our commanders
https://twitter.com/HamedGhaleb/status/825896191544217601 referring to https://twitter.com/SultanetZman/status/825897183354482688
30.1.2017 – NBC (** A T)
SEAL, American Girl Die in First Trump-Era U.S. Military Raid
In what an official said was the first military raid carried out under President Donald Trump, two Americans were killed in Yemen on Sunday — one a member of SEAL Team 6 and the other the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, the New Mexico-born al Qaeda leader who himself was killed in a U.S. strike five years ago.
Contrary to earlier reporting, the senior military official said, the raid was Trump's first clandestine strike — not a holdover mission approved by President Barack Obama. The mission involved "boots on the ground" at an al Qaeda camp near al Bayda in south central Yemen, the official said.
"Almost everything went wrong," the official said.
An MV-22 Osprey experienced a hard landing near the site, injuring several SEALs, one severely. The tilt-rotor aircraft had to be destroyed. A SEAL was killed during the firefight on the ground, as were some noncombatants, including females.
The senior military official said the 8-year-old girl, Nawar al-Awlaki, also known as Nora, was among the noncombatants killed in the raid, which also resulted in the death of several Yemeni women. U.S. officials said some of the women who were killed, however, were combatants and had opened fire on the SEALs as they approached the al Qaeda camp.
"My granddaughter was staying for a while with her mother, so when the attack came, they were sitting in the house, and a bullet struck her in her neck at 2:30 past midnight. Other children in the same house were killed," al-Awlaki said. He said the girl died two hours after being shot.
They [the SEALs] entered another house and killed everybody in it, including all the women. They burned the house. There is an assumption there was a woman [in the house] from Saudi Arabia who was with al Qaeda. All we know is that she was a children's teacher."
Al-Awlaki said the girl and her mother had fled the Yemeni capital, Sa'ana, where he lives, to escape the heavy shelling.
The fate of the child's mother, Anwar al-Awlaki's widow, has not yet been confirmed. However, al-Awlaki's brother-in-law was killed in the raid. The death toll varies according to the sourcing, with the Pentagon saying 14 militants died, along with "numerous" civilians. Nasser al-Awlaki said Yemenis were circulating a body count of combatants and civilians as high as 59.
In explaining the attack, the senior U.S. military official told NBC News: "Al Qaeda is probably stronger in Yemen than in any other country. The U.S. has mounted in intense effort for the past three years from ship, air and drone to go after a reconstituting core al Qaeda organization in Yemen."
The raid, said the official, was directed from a U.S. base in Djibouti, across the Gulf of Aden from the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula and the western edge of Yemen. Officially, the United States was searching for "information that will likely provide insight into the planning of future terror plots."
Karen Greenberg, director of Fordham University's Center on National Security, said the girl's death will be a boon to al Qaeda propagandists.
"The perception will be that it's not enough to kill al-Awlaki — that the U.S. had to kill the entire family," she said - by ROBERT WINDREM, WILLIAM M. ARKIN, COURTNEY KUBE and CHARLENE GUBASH
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/seal-american-girl-die-first-trump-era-u-s-military-n714346
Remark by Ben Norton: al-Awlaki senior is Yemen's former agriculture minister
30.1.2017 – Middle East Monitor (** A T)
US soldiers shoot and kill 8-year-old girl in Yemen
While the media attention has been focused on the death of one US serviceman who was killed during a raid in Yemen, one of the most tragic casualties of the assault ordered by President Donald Trump was an eight-year-old girl.
Though the United States hailed the operation as a success, reports from Yemen would seem to indicate that the price paid by Yemeni civilians and non-combatants was extraordinarily high.
Amongst the casualties was eight-year-old Nawar Al-Awlaki.
Two weeks after Anwar’s assassination, his 16-year-old son Abdulrahman was killed in another US drone strike. Abdulrahman was a US citizen said to have been born in Denver, Colorado and was a child at the time he was killed on the authority of the Obama administration.
With Nawar’s murder, it appears that no relative of Anwar Al-Awlaki is safe, regardless of whether they are children or not, or even involved in terrorism or not.
In a Facebook post, Nawar’s uncle and former Yemeni Deputy Minister of the Environment and Water Resources, Ammar Al-Aulaqi said: “[Nawar] was shot several times, with one bullet piercing her neck. She was bleeding for two hours because it was not possible to get her medical attention.”
“As Nawar was always a personality and a mind far older than her years, she was reassuring her mother as she was bleeding out; ‘Don’t cry mama, I’m fine, I’m fine’,” Ammar’s emotional post continued.
“Then the call to the Dawn prayer came, and her soul departed from her tiny body.”
“She was hit with a bullet in her neck and suffered for two hours,” Nasser Al-Awlaki, Nawar’s grandfather, told Reuters.
“Why kill children? This is the new [US] administration – it’s very sad, a big crime.”
Social media reacts
Social media was awash with anger at the death of Nawar, blaming the US for “assassinating children”.
Commenting on the fact that many civilian fatalities are justified as “collateral damage” by US military and political officials, Yemeni politician Ali Albukhaiti tweeted: “Nawar Al-Awlaki was not killed in an airstrike, but by a bullet fired by a marine and at close range. It is terrorism beyond terrorism, but it is defended and justified by a media that markets [such attacks].” (with photos)
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170130-us-soldiers-shoot-and-kill-8-year-old-girl-in-yemen/
29.1.2017 – AP (A P)
President Trump: America saddened by the loss of US commando in Yemen
President Donald Trump says Americans are saddened by the news that a U.S. service member was killed and three others were wounded in a raid in Yemen targeting an al-Qaida affiliate.
President Donald Trump says Americans are saddened by the news that a U.S. service member was killed and three others were wounded in a raid in Yemen targeting an al-Qaida affiliate.
My comment: Non-US lives do not matter (they only do if they could be exploited for US war propaganda).
Comment by Hisham Al-Omeisy: Mourning US serviceman while completely ignoring fact women & children killed in op gives you sense of how cheap #Yemen lives have become.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/825828143814549507
29.1.2017 – Haykal Bafana (A T)
To @POTUS : When you murder 8 children & 8 women in Yemen to kill 3 terrorists, it makes you a terrorist too. A bigger one, actually.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/825720996111986690
29.1.2017 – Reuters (*A T)
U.S. raid in Yemen authorized by Trump: U.S. military official
A U.S. special forces raid on al Qaeda headquarters in Yemen was authorized by President Donald Trump and was aimed at gathering intelligence about the militant group, a U.S. military official said on Sunday.
The official said American elite forces did not seize any militants or take any prisoners off-site after Saturday's raid, which the Pentagon said killed 14 members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. U.S. forces carrying out the raid came under fire – by Phil Stewart
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-yemen-qaeda-idUSKBN15D08J
29.1.2017 – The Guardian (** A T)
US commando dies in Yemen raid as Trump counter-terror plans take shape
Three Americans wounded in dawn assault as Central Command reports deaths of ‘estimated’ 14 members of al-Qaida in Arabian Peninsula
One elite US commando is dead and three wounded after a Yemen raid that Donald Trump’s Pentagon is signalling will be a template for aggressive counter-terrorism action.
The Pentagon did not address rumors of civilian casualties currently circulating on social media. An aircraft malfunction led to what the Pentagon called a “hard landing in a nearby location”. Commandos intentionally destroyed the aircraft, which local residents and officials said was a helicopter.
Accordingly, the US was said to have staged Saturday’s raid offshore, from an aircraft carrier in the region.
“We are deepy saddened by the loss of one of our elite service members,” said Gen Joseph Votel, commander of US forces in the middle east and south Asia.
“These sacrifices are very profound in our fight against terrorists who threaten innocent peoples across the globe.
Central Command, in a Sunday statement, said “an estimated” 14 members of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) had been killed in the raid. It provided no indication regarding the raid’s objective.
The Pentagon clarified that US service members had not taken prisoners in the raid, forestalling the first major decision of the Trump administration over where to hold wartime detainees. Trump has vowed to send terrorist suspects captured overseas to Guantánamo Bay, and this week signed an executive order that underscored his determination to restock the infamous wartime detention center.
Central Command said the raid included “the capture of information that will likely provide insight into the planning of future terror plots”.
Local witnesses cited by Reuters said the gun battle in the rural Yakla district of Bayda province killed Abdulraoof al-Dhahab, a senior AQAP leader, along with other militants. Unidentified Yemeni security officials reportedly said three senior al-Qaida leaders were killed – by Spencer Ackerman
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/29/al-qaida-suspects-yemen-killed-raid-us-commandos
Comment: S.U.S.P.E.C.T.S. Let it sink in: S.U.S.P.E.C.T.S. While social media is filled with more than graphic pictures of children and women killed in the operation.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1263634017022959
29.1.2017 – Reuters (A T)
U.S. service member killed in raid on al Qaeda in Yemen: Pentagon
A U.S. service member was killed and three were wounded in a raid on al Qaeda headquarters in Yemen on Saturday, the Pentagon said.
It said 14 members of the militant group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula died in the raid, which netted "information that will likely provide insight into the planning of future terror plots," the U.S. military said in a statement on Sunday.
"We are deeply saddened by the loss of one of our elite service members," said General Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command – by Doina Chiacu
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-yemen-alqaeda-idUSKBN15D0NH
29.1.2017 – AFP (** A T)
US elite forces in deadly raid on Qaeda in Yemen
The US military said the raid in the Yakla region of Baida province killed 14 members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which Washington views as the global network's most dangerous branch.
A Yemeni provincial official gave a higher toll of 41 presumed militants and 16 civilians killed in the raid, including eight women and eight children.
Washington did not specify how the US soldier died. It said three more American servicemen were injured in the raid along with a fourth who was hurt in a "hard landing".
The provincial official said Apache helicopters also hit a school, a mosque and a medical facility which were all used by Al-Qaeda militants.
The three prominent tribal figures with known Al-Qaeda links killed in the attack were identified as brothers Abdulraouf and Sultan al-Zahab and Saif Alawai al-Jawfi, the official and other sources said.
Local officials said an Al-Qaeda chief in the region was also killed in Sunday's raid. A statement from AQAP said that 30 people died in the raid -- "only women and children... with some tribal leaders who have no connections" to the group, according to a translation provided by the SITE Intelligence Group.
AQAP claimed an Apache helicopter fired more than a dozen rockets at three houses in the area, condemning what it called a "heinous crime".
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-raid-kills-qaeda-linked-yemen-tribe-chiefs-073853092.html
29.1.2017 – Fuad Rajeh, Xinhua (* A T)
Latest update about US Yemen anti-terror raid: 25 civilians (9 women, 6 children and 10 men) were killed in the US anti-terror raid in the Yakla village in the town of Qaifa in the province of Baida at dawn Sunday. Around 12 Al-Qaida fighters were killed in the raid. Tribal and local sources in Baida province gave this update. Over there, the US media including the New York Times has quoted US officials as denying there were civilian casualties in the raid. By the way, local and international organizations say in every US drone strike and counterterror operation in any place in the world, there are civilian casualties. In 2016, the national organization for drone victims documented 27 drone strikes in the Yemeni provinces of Marib, Shabwa, Hadramout, Abyan and Baida. Around 142 people, many civilians, were killed in the strikes.
https://www.facebook.com/fuad.rajeh/posts/10207796206655311 = https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1263789797007381
29.1.2017 – BBC (* A T)
Yemen al-Qaeda: US commandos raid stronghold
Several Apache helicopters were reported to have taken part in the operation in al-Baida province.
Three al-Qaeda leaders were among those killed in a battle lasting 45 minutes in a village in Yakla district. Earlier reports suggested a higher death toll.
US drones have carried out periodic attacks on al-Qaeda in Yemen.
Local sources earlier said 41 militants and 16 civilians were killed.
A provincial official said the helicopters targeted a hospital, school and mosque.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38787239 and an article by Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4168862/US-soldier-killed-Yemen-targeting-al-Qaeda.html
Comment: Disturbing: the targets included a school, a hospital, a mosque.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1263580653694962
This higher figure of 41 Al Qaida fighters killed – not confirmed by the US command – was reported by media:
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/41-qaeda-militants-16-civilians-dead-us-raid-yemen-891194626
More details at:
29.1.2017 – Deutsche Welle (** A T)
US military raid in Yemen kills civilians and al Qaeda militants
In the first confirmed US raid under Donald Trump's presidency, at least 14 militants were killed in Yemen, along with a US soldier and several civilians.
A provincial official, who did not want to be named, and unnamed tribal sources, told the AFP news agency that eight women and eight children were killed in the dawn raid on Yakla district in the central province of Bayda. Sources told the EFE news agency that six women and three children were killed in the attack.
An al Qaeda member, speaking to the Associated Press, described the attack as a "massacre" and said women and children had been killed. The member of the terror group sent photos purportedly showing the bloodied bodies of several children allegedly killed in the raid.
The raid targeted the homes of three tribal chiefs linked to al Qaeda, tribal sources told AFP earlier. But Apache helicopters also targeted a school, a mosque and a medical facility used by al Qaeda militants, a provincial official told AFP.
Before the arrival of commandos, about 20 Apache helicopters and drones flew over the area and attacked a school, a mosque and a jail, considered to be the headquarters of the terrorist members, several neighbors told agency EFE.
"The operation began at dawn when a drone bombed the home of Abdulraoof al-Dhahab and then helicopters flew up and unloaded paratroopers at his house and killed everyone inside," one resident told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Next, the gunmen opened fire at the US soldiers who left the area, and the helicopters bombed the gunmen and a number of homes and led to a large number of casualties."
According to the villagers and unnamed security sources who spoke with AP, three prominent members of the al Qaeda group were killed: Abdul-Raouf al-Dhahab, his brother Sultan al-Dhahab; and either Seif al-Yufi or Seif al-Nims.
Another Al Qaeda member, identified as Abdallah al-Dahab, was still missing, the EFE sources added.
The al-Dhahab family is considered an ally of al-Qaida, which security forces say is concentrated in Bayda province. A third family member, Tarek al-Dhahab, was killed in a US drone strike several
http://www.dw.com/en/us-military-raid-in-yemen-kills-civilians-and-al-qaeda-militants/a-37318940 = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/alleged-us-military-raid-yemen-kills-civilians-and-al-qaeda-militants
and some more details:
29.1.2017 – The Daily Beast (* A T)
One Dead, Four Wounded in First Manned Raid of Trump Presidency
The raid marks President Donald Trump’s first known order to send troops into harm’s way, and the first combat casualties of his presidency
But a U.S. official tells The Daily Beast that planning for this raid started under the Obama administration, including the use of troops on the ground to gather sensitive intelligence known to be at the scene. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to share the information publicly.
“This was a deliberate raid planned well in advance,” the official said. “It was not top-down driven—percolated from the operators the ground,” who alerted Central Command officials that the target needed to be hit.
“We had a KIA and lost an airplane, so it’s hard to say it was successful but did get some of what was expected at the scene,” the official said, referring to the hard landing of a V-22 Osprey aircraft at the scene, damaging it so badly that it had to be left behind and destroyed.
No detainees were taken from the scene, the official said. “That wasn't the goal. The overall goal was all along site exploitation,” meaning the gathering of computers, phones, documents and whatever else is found at a scene to mine them for intelligence to drive future raids – by Kimberly Dozier
My comment: Yemeni lives do not count – there are not even mentioned as “dead”.
29.1.2017 – Almasdar Online (** A T)
A source tells Almasdaronline details of the US military raid in al Bayda, central Yemen
A local source from Yakla village of Qaifah district in al Bayda governorate, central Yemen, has given the details of the US military raid, which led to the killing of al Qaeda leader Abdul Rauf al Thahab, as well as other militants.
The source told Almasdaronline that dozens of Apache helicopters and unmanned aircrafts flew to the village at two o'clock Sunday morning.
The source pointed out that the helicopters began striking with rockets a school, mosque, clinic and prison; the sites of al Qaeda militants in the village.
“The helicopters, then, dropped commandos in the village, who, after few minutes, were attacking Abdul Rauf al Thahab house, and fierce fighting with the militants flared up, and violent explosions were heard”.
According to the source, the fighter jets were bombing with thermal machine guns al Thahab’s house and other al Qaeda presumed locations.
“It was a lightning operation, and the US soldiers returned to their fighters, and the fighting was over”. The source added.
“The military operation resulted in the killing of Abdul Rauf al Thahab and his brother Sultan, in addition to 40 others, mostly al Qaeda militants, including six women and three children”.
The source also said that there were casualties among the US soldiers, whom were seen carrying bodies to the helicopters.
The source noted that dozens were injured in the violent attack and the death toll could increase.
Al Tahab was the popular resistance leader in the war against the Houthi group militants and the forces loyal to the former president Saleh in Qaifah district since the beginning of 2015.
The Apache fighter jets and US drones were flying heavily on the districts of al Bayda during the last night, but did not launch any airstrike
http://almasdaronline.com/article/88421
My comment: Al Tahab: Al Qaida leader and leader of anti-Houthi (pro-Saudi) fighters as well? Interesting combination.
30.1.2017 – Jane Novak (A T)
#Saudi hired #AQAP al Dhahab (target of US raid in #Yemen) & others to fight Houthis in its war for coastal pipeline access
https://twitter.com/JNovak_Yemen/status/826060174121123840
31.1.2017 – Al Arabiya (* B P T)
US forces in Yemen have targeted the al-Dhahab family, but who are they?
The al-Dhahab family in Yemen have fallen under the spotlight again after members of the US military raided an al-Qaeda site on Saturday, killing three senior leaders: Abdul Raouf al-Dhahab, Sultan al-Dhahab and Seif al-Joufi. The elder brother Abdul Ilah al-Dhahab survived the attack that targeted the house of Raouf in Bayda.
29.1.2017 – Haykal Bafana (* A T)
First since war started in Mar 2015 : Commandos from US military raid Al Qaeda house in Al Baydha' province, #Yemen.
US commando raid on Al Qaeda pre-dawn took place in Yakla village, which abuts a mountain trail in Al Baydha'. Sparse local media reports in Yemen on this US raid. One report says over 40 killed, including at least 10 civilians.
US commando-killed AQAP leader had just come back from Marib, where he'd received military supplies & money from Yemen's Hadi regime army
This is part of the Hajj caravan trails in olden days, which connect from Aden & Abyan, to Al Baydha, Marib, Al Jowf, Najran and to Makkah.
29.1.2017 – Living in Yemen on the edge (A T)
The US operation on Al Baydha today killed at least 25 civilians.
Among the 9 women and 6 children killed (confirmed for now) the daughter of Anwar Al Awlaki, former US/Yemeni Al Qaeda Imam who was killed in Yemen in 2011.
We must remember that 16 days after the killing of Anwar Al Awlaki, his 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, a U.S. citizen who was born in Denver, Colorado, was also killed by a CIA-led drone strike in Yemen.
Today it was Nawwar's turn. She was only 8 years old (photo)
29.1.2017 – Josephjo1221 (A T)
US plane shot down by Qifa sons after the terrorist attack that targeted innocent people under the pretext of al-Qaida (photo)
https://twitter.com/JosephJo1221/status/825740494613442560
29.1.2018 – The Aviationist (* A T)
U.S. MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crash lands in Yemen during Special OPS raid on Al Qaeda
A U.S. Marine Corps Osprey that was supporting the first known counterterrorism operation under President Trump crash-landed in Yemen. It was later destroyed by U.S. raid.
It’s not clear what aircraft were supporting the raid; what has been confirmed is that a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey aircraft called in to evacuate the wounded American soldiers crash landed, injuring 2 service members (1 according to other sources).
The tilt-rotor aircraft was intentionally destroyed in place by a U.S. raid once it was determined that it could not leave the crash landing site – By David Cenciotti (photos)
https://theaviationist.com/2017/01/29/u-s-mv-22-osprey-tilt-rotor-aircraft-crash-lands-in-yemen-during-special-ops-raid-on-al-qaeda/ and by Janes (subscribers only): http://www.janes.com/article/67317/us-loses-osprey-aircraft-in-yemen-raid
and film: https://twitter.com/sharian2222/status/826122439323168768
29.1.2017 – Almasdar Online (* A T)
Al-Qaeda shot down two US helicopters in US military raid in al Bayda
Al-Qaeda elements shot down two Apache helicopters in confrontations against US forces waged a military raid in Yakla village of al Bayda governorate, central Yemen, on Sunday.
A local source told Almasdaronline that the helicopters were shot down in Sahom Mount, near Al Rajeh area, while the US forces rescued the pilots and the helicopters were destroyed.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/88422
Remark: Only one aircraft as stated by the Pentagon.
29.1.2017 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A T)
Film: Abdulraouf Al-Dahab denies having any relations with Al-Qaeda. He was amoung the 41 Qaeda militants, 16 civilians dead in US raid in #Yemen
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/825689144441581568
30.1.2017 – Hussain Albukhaiti (* A T)
Film: video just aftr #US operation n Albayda #Yemen has emerged 27civlians kild inc9kids8women Crying baby could be heard
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/826087744480878593
29.1.2017 – Yemen Post (* A T)
3 children KILLED today when #US commandos raided AlQaeda stronghold in #Yemen region Baitha. 6 women also killed during US operation (photos)
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/825754439604645888
https://twitter.com/JosephJo1221/status/825700610683129856
My comment: Trump’s “terrorists”. And there are more children:
29.1.2017 – Nasser Arrabyee (A T)
Nora Anwar Awlaki,6 other women killed when US commandos landed 2dayNBaidha (photos)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/825708479256084480
And the way this girl was killed:
29.1.2017 – Jeremy Scahill (A T)
Despite US claims no civilians were killed in Yemen raid, Dr. Nasser Awlaki says his 8 yr old granddaughter was shot in the neck & killed
https://twitter.com/jeremyscahill/status/825739482527887361 and https://twitter.com/jeremyscahill/status/825755473123110914
My comment: That’s the US way fighting against children?: “8 yr old granddaughter was shot in the neck”
29.1.2017 – Hussain Albukhaiti (A T)
1st pics of aftermath of #US special force operation n Albayda province #Yemen Pics of Reckage of reprtd V-22 osprey helicopter
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/825816897363001344
#US attack on #AQAP-s n Albayda n #Yemen kild27civilan inc9kid&8women Inc widow of #US citizen Anwar al-Aulaqi(kild by drone30sep2011 (photos)
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/825835363058991104
https://twitter.com/Living_Yemen/status/826104423285977089
29.1.2017 – Samuel Oakford / Jane Novak (A P T)
CNN reporting on Yemen attack today, makes no mention of the more than dozen civilians killed.
https://twitter.com/samueloakford/status/825838674483015680
Not to mention literally 100% of the information in the segment was from the Pentagon.
https://twitter.com/samueloakford/status/825841677025808385
long a govt mouth piece on #Yemen, uncritical & barely mentioning #KSA's extreme & varied war crimes nor US's co-belligerent status
https://twitter.com/JNovak_Yemen/status/825914007420862464
29.1.2017 – Nasser Arrabyee (A T)
Yemen Qaeda/ISIS threatens US with more attacks after US drones killed 2day more 50 in a big operation (image)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/825764612482150400
My comment: Anybody astonished??
Remember:
2.12.2016 – CNN (A P)
Donald Trump on terrorists: 'Take out their families'
Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would kill the families of terrorists in order to win the fight against ISIS.
"The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families, when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, don't kid yourself. When they say they don't care about their lives, you have to take out their families," Trump said.
Trump said he would "knock the hell out of" ISIS, and criticized the U.S. for "fighting a very politically correct war."
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/02/politics/donald-trump-terrorists-families/
29.1.2017 – Nasser Arrabyee (A P T)
This man in red Was appointed by Saudis to lead&finance Qaeda/ISIS N Baidha Yemen with US support.Yesterday, US commandos killed 60 of them (photo)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/825933464188895232
and related to this man:
29.1.2017 – Jane Novak (A P T)
Does @realDonaldTrump know the governor of alBaydah #Yemen is US listed #AQAP appointed by Pres Hadi whom we r bombing #Yemen to reinstall?
https://twitter.com/JNovak_Yemen/status/825786056704401409
2.9.2011 – Washington Post (** B T)
‘Top Secret America’: A look at the military’s Joint Special Operations Command
The CIA’s armed drones and paramilitary forces have killed dozens of al-Qaeda leaders and thousands of its foot soldiers. But there is another mysterious organization that has killed even more of America’s enemies in the decade since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
CIA operatives have imprisoned and interrogated nearly 100 suspected terrorists in their former secret prisons around the world, but troops from this other secret organization have imprisoned and interrogated 10 times as many, holding them in jails that it alone controls in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Since 9/11, this secretive group of men (and a few women) has grown tenfold while sustaining a level of obscurity that not even the CIA has managed. “We’re the dark matter. We’re the force that orders the universe but can’t be seen,” a strapping Navy SEAL, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said in describing his unit.
The SEALs are just part of the U.S. military’s Joint Special Operations Command, known by the acronym JSOC, which has grown from a rarely used hostage rescue team into America’s secret army. When members of this elite force killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May, JSOC leaders celebrated not just the success of the mission but also how few people knew their command, based in Fayetteville, N.C., even existed.
This article, adapted from a chapter of the newly released “Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State,” by Washington Post reporters Dana Priest and William M. Arkin, chronicles JSOC’s spectacular rise, much of which has not been publicly disclosed before – By Dana Priest and William M. Arkin
Comment: License to kill. Above the law, above the CIA
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1263629207023440
cp2 Allgemein / General
31.1.2017 – Press TV Iran (* B K P)
'Saudi war on Yemen seeks to destroy civilian infrastructure not military facilities'
We have spoken to Anthony Hall, the editor-in-chief of American Herald Tribune, about the reasons why Saudi Arabia is targeting Yemen’s civilian population.
Hall is of the opinion that the real objective behind the Saudi military aggression against Yemen is to destroy the civilian infrastructure in order to punish ordinary people who support Houthi Ansarullah fighters rather than to target military facilities.
“This UN panel, which was created in 2014, has been doing important work exposing in a detailed way that this assault is not targeting the military population. It is to pulverize infrastructure to punish the Houthi people collectively, including the civilian population and the general population of Yemen. Eight [out] of ten strikes that we looked at were not targeting military installations. They were targeting infrastructure,” Hall underscored.
The analyst said the report by the UN panel is important because it shows that crimes against humanity are being committed in Yemen.
He further blamed Western powers for the atrocities Riyadh is committing in Yemen, and explained that the ultimate aim of Western states is to establish an obedient government in Yemen with the help of Saudi Arabia to secure their own strategic interests.
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/01/31/508500/Yemen-United-Nations-Saudi-Arabia
30.1.2017 – OCHA Yemen (A E K)
HC Jamie McGoldrick in London's conference:"The Yemen economy has become weaponized and now part of the conflict."
https://twitter.com/OCHAYemen/status/826142554328592384
30.1.2017 – Fars News (* A P)
Analyst: Sudanese Spies Working for US, S. Arabia, Israel in Southern Yemen
A prominent Yemeni analyst revealed that the Sudanese intelligence services are active in Southern Yemen to help Saudi Arabia, US and Israel in the confrontation against the army and popular committees.
"The US administration's decision to remove a part of sanctions against Sudan was a gift to Khartoum for changing position and improving its relations with the West and Saudi Arabia," Abdollah al-Sari told FNA on Monday.
Noting that the Sudanese spies are implementing the US and Saudi Arabia's policies in Yemen, he said, "In addition to sending hundreds of mercenaries in the uniforms of the UAE military men to fight against the Yemeni army and popular committees forces, Sudan has activated its spies to work for the US and Israel in Southern Yemen."
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951111001224
Comment by Judith Brown: Well more and more nations join in, in this United Nations of poor mercenaries working killing and facilitating war for the b befit of the rich of the world.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155171208293641
30.1.2017 – RT (* B P)
"Man stelle sich vor, russische Panzer an der US-Grenze" - Gedanken zu westlicher Doppelmoral
Alles, was wir tun müssen, um die enorme Bigotterie und die doppelten Standards zu entlarven, die das Erkennungszeichen westlicher Politik nach innen und außen darstellt, ist es, die Namen bei gewissen Ereignissen zu vertauschen.
Eine Reihe von Handlungen, die das westliche Establishment als völlig unproblematisch darstellt, wenn die von ihnen hofierten Länder und Akteure sie setzen, würden als "absolut empörend" bewertet werden, würden Drittstaaten sie ihnen selbst gegenüber setzen.
Einige Beispiele machen den Zusammenhang deutlich:
Man stelle sich vor…, ein enger russischer Verbündeter, dessen Streitkräfte von Russland ausgebildet wurden, würde das ärmste Land im Nahen Osten mit Clusterbomben made in Russia bombardieren. Zu allem Überfluss bedroht in dem betroffenen Land eine Hungersnot das Leben von Millionen von Menschen.
Nun, das ärmste Land in der Region ist der Jemen, und es wird von einem der reichsten in Stücke gebombt, nämlich Saudi-Arabien. Riad ist ein enger Verbündeter Großbritanniens. Für die Angriffe werden in Großbritannien hergestellte Clusterbomben benutzt. Und nun ratet mal, wie die westlichen Einpeitscher des "Etwas muss getan werden", die mit Blick auf die Wiedereinnahme Aleppos noch so viel "humanitäre Sorgen" geäußert hatte, darauf reagiert. Richtig: Sie bleibt still. Wie seltsam – von Neil Clark
https://deutsch.rt.com/meinung/45910-doppelmoral-westen-russland-panzer-usa-grenze/
30.1.2017 – Asharq Al-Awsat (* A P)
Hadi Decides to Move Parliament Meetings to Aden, Abolishes Houthi Measures
Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi has issued a presidential decree to transfer the headquarters of the parliament to the temporary capital Aden, south of Yemen, a move seen as a political slap in the face of Houthi-Saleh militias.
Hadi’s decision came as the military role that Houthis played in several battlefronts began to decline.
The president issued another decree to cancel all the measures taken by the insurgents through the parliament.
The first decree was issued based on Yemen’s Constitution, the Gulf Cooperation Council member states’ initiative and its executive mechanism, the outcomes of the Comprehensive National Dialogue and the text of Article 66 of the Constitution and Article (5) of the Rules of Procedure of the Council of Representatives of Yemen.
Asharq Al-Awsat learned that high level security and political arrangements have been recently made to transfer to Aden members of the House of Representatives, who back the legitimacy, and whoever wants to join them.
“The expected number of participants in the parliament’s meetings is 156 deputies, which exceeds the required quorum,” informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The sources added that Houthis might try to prevent deputies, living in areas under their control, from heading to Aden.
The decisions came as a result of the security situation and the danger to the lives of the members of the House of Representatives affecting the performance of their legislative and legal duties in Sana’a, which is occupied by Houthi militias and coup forces loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
My comment: That’s going to be interesting. The parliament had decided that Hadi’s term already had ended in February 2014. The parliament had approved the new Sanaa government. Saudi air raids had targeted the house of the parliament’s speaker and killed members of his family. When still as president at Sanaa, Hadi never had cared for the parliament and never had called it for a meeting. Article 66 of the constitution tells: “The House of Representatives is to be located in Sana’a, the capital. Internal regulations determine the conditions under which the House may hold meetings outside the capital city.” Well, “internal regulations” is not the will of an ex-president.
For the next sessions of parliament at Sanaa, look at cp5.
and
31.1.2017 – Al Sahwa (* A P)
Eight parliamentary blocs support move of Parliaments' sessions to Aden
Heads of eight parliamentary blocs have declared their support to the shift of the Yemeni Parliament's sessions to the temporary capital of Aden.
During a meeting chaired by Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mohammed al-Shadadi, heads of blocs supported the presidential decree issued by President Hadi to move Parliament's sessions to Aden and remove measures taken by the Houthis through Parliament.
According to the government-run Saba News Agency, many Yemeni lawmakers are existing outside Yemen and others are pursued by the Houthis inside Yemen.
According to official Yemeni news agency, President Hadi issued the decree based on the Constitution of Yemen, the Gulf Cooperation Council member states’ initiative and its executive mechanism, the outcome of the Comprehensive National Dialogue and the text of Article 66 of the Constitution of Yemen and Article (5) of the Rules of Procedure of the Council of Representatives of Yemen.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-3493
My comment: What is a “parliamentary bloc”? – This “Mohammed al-Shadadi” for the last year in a Google search just showed up in this article. Who actually is that? – And Hadi makes a joke when he relies on the Gulf Cooperation Council member states’ initiative (which had limited his term to 2 years, ending Feb. 2014), the outcome of the Comprehensive National Dialogue (The National Dialogue Conference had extended Hadi’s term for another year, ending Feb. 2015).
31.1.2017 – Junge Welt (* A K P)
US-Präsident Trump lässt im Jemen töten und hält an seiner Absicht fest, »sichere Zonen« in Syrien einzurichten
Am Sonnabend unterzeichnete der neue Präsident eine Anweisung an Verteidigungsminister James Mattis, mit der dieser aufgefordert wurde, innerhalb der nächsten 30 Tage einen Gesamtplan zur beschleunigten Bekämpfung des »Islamischen Staats« und anderer Terrororganisationen zu präsentieren. Auch diesen Schritt hatte Trump während des Wahlkampfs angekündigt.
Im Entwurf der Anordnung über die Einführung von Einreisesperren gegen Flüchtlinge generell und gegen die Bürger von sieben muslimischen Staaten war auch ein kleiner Abschnitt zu Syrien enthalten. Er fehlt jedoch in der endgültigen Version, die Trump am Freitag unterschrieb. Es ging dabei um eine Aufforderung an das Pentagon und das Außenministerium, dem Präsidenten innerhalb von 90 Tagen einen Plan für die Einrichtung »sicherer Zonen« in Syrien und in angrenzenden Staaten vorzulegen. Vermutlich soll das nun Teil des Gesamtplans für den »Krieg gegen den Terror« werden, den der Präsident am Sonnabend bei Mattis bestellt hat. Gestorben ist die Idee, zu der sich Trump schon im Wahlkampf bekannt hatte, jedenfalls nicht: Am Sonntag telefonierte er mit dem König von Saudi-Arabien und dem Kronprinzen der Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate. Thema war einer Erklärung des Weißen Hauses zufolge unter anderem die Schaffung »sicherer Zonen« in Syrien. Beide Partner sollen Unterstützung für dieses Vorhaben versprochen haben – Von Knut Mellenthin
https://www.jungewelt.de/2017/01-31/088.php
31.1.2017 – RT (* A P)
Exklusiv-Interview: Gemeinsam gegen Iran und Russland - USA formen neue Allianz mit Saudi-Arabien
US-Präsident Donald Trump hat der Führung in Riad in einem Telefongespräch eine Rolle bei der Schaffung von Schutzzonen in Syrien und im Jemen in Aussicht gestellt. RT Deutsch sprach mit dem Sicherheitsexperten Gissur Simonarson über diesen Schritt und dessen Implikationen. Der Gründer des renommierten sicherheitspolitischen Nachrichtenportals Conflict News, Gissur Simonarson, sprach mit RT Deutsch über die möglichen Aussichten und Auswirkungen einer wiederbelebten US-amerikanischen Allianz mit der saudischen Monarchie auf den Nahen Osten. Simonarson sagte:
Es sieht so aus, als ob die einzige Sicherheitszone, über die Trump wirklich mit Saudi-Arabien redet, in Nordsyrien liegt. Das seltsame ist, dass dort bereits eine Sicherheitszone besteht, die von der Türkei und der kurdischen YPG aufrechterhalten wird. Die Luftwaffe al-Assads bombardiert die Region schon länger nicht mehr.
Wieso Trump auf die Golfmonarchie der Saud-Familie setzt, erklärte Simonarson wie folgt:
Der einzige Grund, weshalb Saudi-Arabien in Syrien eine Rolle spielen könnte, wäre, Iran und auch Russland zu verärgern. Das scheint Trump offenbar auch zu wollen, was sich aber nicht mit seiner öffentlichen Haltung gegenüber Russland deckt. Öffentlich bekundete er, dass er die US-Beziehungen zu Russland stärken will.
Der Analyst zweifelt am sicherheitspolitischen Mehrwert Riads für die USA und sagte:
Saudi-Arabien weist militärisch noch nicht einmal Mittel auf, um eine Sicherheitszone im eigenen Einflussgebiet oder im Jemen kreieren zu können. Die Huthi-Rebellen führen regelmäßig grenzübergreifende Angriffe auf saudische Grenzposten durch, obwohl die saudische Armee ausgezeichnet gerüstet ist. Die mit Kalaschnikows ausgerüsteten Huthis setzten sich von Anfang an im Jemen gegen Riad durch. Wie sollte die Golfmonarchie also imstande sein, eine Sicherheitszone in Syrien aufzubauen, wenn sie sich selbst nicht einmal gegen einfache Rebellen schützen kann?
Simonarson kritisierte die Haltung Trumps. Seiner Meinung nach ist es ein Fehler, überhaupt mit Saudi-Arabien in Sicherheitsfragen zu kooperieren. RT Deutsch gegenüber betonte er:
Der Gedanke, dass Trump die Saudis um Hilfe im Jemen bat, ist einfach lächerlich. Die Saudis sind diejenigen, die den Jemen unsicher machen. Sie werfen über dem Land Bomben auf Zivilisten ab und erschüttern es mit militärischen Angriffen.
"Sichere Zonen" in Syrien oder im Jemen wären ohne umfassende US-amerikanische Einmischungen militärischer Art kaum umsetzbar. Die Entsendung von Bodentruppen, die notwendig zur Sicherung einer Pufferzone wären, wird jedoch von der öffentlichen Meinung abgelehnt – von Ali Özkök
https://deutsch.rt.com/der-nahe-osten/45946-exklusiv-interview-gemeinsam-gegen-iran/
Bemerkung: Mehr zu den “Sicherheitszonen” in den folgenden englischsprachigen Berichten.
29.1.2017 – Reuters (* A K P)
Saudi king agrees in call with Trump to support Syria, Yemen safe zones: White House
Saudi Arabia's King Salman, in a phone call on Sunday with U.S. President Donald Trump, agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen, a White House statement said.
A statement after the phone call said the two leaders agreed on the importance of strengthening joint efforts to fight the spread of Islamic State militants.
"The president requested and the King agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen, as well as supporting other ideas to help the many refugees who are displaced by the ongoing conflicts," the statement said.
The Saudi Press Agency, in its readout of the call, made no specific mention of safe zones. It said the two leaders had affirmed the "depth and durability of the strategic relationship" between the two countries.
A senior Saudi source told Reuters the two leaders spoke for over an hour by telephone and agreed to step up counter-terrorism and military cooperation and enhance economic cooperation. But the source had no word on whether the two leaders discussed Trump's order to put a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the United States and temporarily ban travelers from Syria and six other Muslim-majority countries.
The source said Saudi Arabia would enhance its participation in the U.S.-led coalition fighting to oust Islamic State from its strongholds in Iraq and Syria.
The White House statement said the two leaders also agreed on the need to address "Iran's destabilizing regional activities." SPA also mentioned Trump and the King had similar visions on "confronting whomever seeks to destabilise security and stability in the region and interfere in the affairs of other countries," an apparent reference to Riyadh's arch-foe Iran.
Both countries share views about Iranian policies in the region, the Saudi source said, suggesting Trump agreed with Riyadh's suspicion of what it sees as Tehran's growing influence in the Arab world. Iran denies it meddles in Arab countries.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-saudi-idUSKBN15D14L and http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/760550/donald-trump-speaks-saudia-arabia-king-salman-phone-call-syria-yemen-safe-spaces
Comment by Judith Brown: Amazing idea of Trump. All of Yemen might be a safe zone if foreign countries like USA and its allies just left Yemen alone. Most of the danger in the north comes from the air.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155171184173641
My comment: This rather sounds like absurd theater. “Safe zones in Yemen”: what should this be? Areas the Saudis do not bomb? The one has no idea at all – apart from his prejudices – the other is suffering from dementia. And the killing will go on.
Comment by Judith Brown: This man does his foreign policies on the hoof. Safe zones ? Does this mean Saudi Arabia and demented King Salman and his reckless son Mohammed are to be in charge of Yemen safe zones? Is this man crazy????????????
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155171226728641
Comment by Hussam Al-Sanabani: This safe zones will be the new excuses for more US air strikes on #Yemen.
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/825857265622188032
Comment: Amazing how those who bomb #Yemen, carry out special operations (slaughtering civilians in both cases), arm the aggressor, perpetrate what seems to be an endless list of war crimes jointly agree on safe zones.
Whose safety are we talking about?
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1264759246910436
and
29.1.2017 – The White House (* A P)
READOUT OF THE PRESIDENT'S CALL WITH KING SALMAN BIN ABD AL-AZIZ AL SAUD OF SAUDI ARABIA
President Trump spoke today with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abd Al-Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia. The two leaders reaffirmed the longstanding friendship and strategic partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia. They agreed on the importance of strengthening joint efforts to fight the spread of radical Islamic terrorism and also on the importance of working jointly to address challenges to regional peace and security, including the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. The President requested and the King agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen, as well as supporting other ideas to help the many refugees who are displaced by the ongoing conflicts. They also agreed on the importance of rigorously enforcing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran and of addressing Iran's destabilizing regional activities. The President voiced support for the Kingdom's Vision 2030 economic program. Both leaders expressed a desire to explore additional steps to strengthen bilateral economic and energy cooperation. The two leaders also discussed an invitation from the King for President Trump to lead a Middle East effort to defeat terrorism and to help build a new future, economically and socially, for the people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the region. The President and King Salman closed by underscoring their personal commitment to continued consultations on a range of regional and bilateral issues.
https://www.track-trump.com/wh/588ea22e446c240020ff2a21
30.1.2017 – Blogs.cfr (* A K P)
Fifteen Questions Trump Should Answer About His “Safe Zones”
What is the ultimate political objective of the safe zones? For example, will they provide temporary humanitarian refuge for internally displaced persons, or leverage for a brokered peace agreement?
What is the domestic legal basis for them?
Will those residing within safe zones be protected from all forms of harm, including aerial bombing, artillery shelling, small arms fire, sniper fire, starvation, and lack of clean drinking water and sanitation?
Will those residing within safe zones be protected from harm by all perpetrators (including by Russian fighter-bombers and U.S.-backed rebel groups in Syria, or by indiscriminate Saudi airstrikes in Yemen)?
Which countries will provide the military forces for the many tasks required to enforce the safe zones (suppression of enemy air defenses, logistical support, combat search and rescue, etc.)? – by Micah Zenko
http://blogs.cfr.org/zenko/2017/01/30/7056/
30.1.2017 – The American Conservative (* A K P)
Trump Wants Safe Zones in Yemen?
Safe zones in Syria have been and remain a bad idea for many reasons, not least of which is the likelihood that U.S. forces would be sent to occupy parts of Syria for years to come. The inclusion of Yemen here is something new for Trump, and it makes even less sense than his support for Syrian safe zones. There is no doubt that Yemeni civilians are threatened, but one of the principal threats to the civilian population is the Saudi-led war effort that has wrecked the country’s infrastructure and brought its people to the brink of famine. Are safe zones in Yemen going to protect against that? No, of course they aren’t.
I am struck by the sheer absurdity of the idea that the Saudis could or would create safe zones in a country that they and their allies have spent the last two years destroying with U.S. and British backing. The best thing the Saudis and their allies could do for Yemen is to stop bombing and blockading it and to give up on their failed war. Talk of creating safe zones implies that Saudi intervention in Yemen would continue indefinitely. Most likely, the coalition would just keep doing what they’re doing to Yemen’s civilian population while claiming to be establishing supposed safe zones that are nothing of the kind. At worst, this would mean a significant increase in U.S. military involvement in Yemen while doing nothing to address the worsening humanitarian catastrophe there. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues its shameful support for the indefensible war on Yemen – by Daniel Larison
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/trump-wants-safe-zones-in-yemen/
and
30.1.2017 – Al Bab (* A P)
Trump's brainwave: 'safe zones' in Yemen
While there has been much debate about possible safe zones in Syria there has been far less talk of them in Yemen and this may be another Trump plan that hasn't been thought through. Where in Yemen would the "safe zones" be, and in what way would they be safe? Safe from American bombs dropped by the Saudi-led coalition? Safe from the Houthis and their allies? Or safe from al-Qaeda and other jihadists?
In theory there are already safe zones in Yemen. They include hospitals, and they are supposedly protected by international law.
Last August, however, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was forced to withdraw staff from six hospitals in northern Yemen "in the absence of credible assurances" that the Saudi-led coalition would refrain from bombing medical facilities.
Establishing and maintaining safe zones of the kind the Trump apparently has in mind is far from easy – as was seen in Bosnia in the 1990s. Safe zones in Iraq after the 1991 war were more effective, but they had to be maintained through no-fly zones policed by the US and Britain.
No-fly zones in Yemen would certainly save a lot of lives but imposing them would bring the US into conflict with its Saudi ally.
Safe zones of a different kind were sought by Yemen's Hadi government in 2015, in the early stages of the war. The idea at the time was to create protected areas outside the Houthis' control, thus allowing the exiled government to return from Riyadh and start governing parts of the country again. In that context, "safe zones" simply meant areas under the Saudi-led coalition's control – and they were not particularly safe.
What kind of safe zones Trump has in mind for Yemen is still unclear and, quite possibly, may never become clear – by Brian Whitaker
http://al-bab.com/blog/2017/01/trumps-brainwave-safe-zones-yemen
and
29.1.2017 – ABC News (A P)
NEW: White House says Pres. Trump 'raised the idea of supporting safe zones' during call with UAE Crown Prince (readout in image)
https://twitter.com/ABC/status/825834483450466306
27.1.2017 – Süddeutsche Zeitung (* B K)
Katjuschas auf das Königreich
Die schiitischen Huthi-Milizen feuern Raketen von Jemen aus über die Grenze nach Saudi-Arabien. Sie tragen so den Krieg in das Nachbarland.
In al-Tawal steht das Leben still, seit vor sechs Monaten die Angriffe begannen.
Schlimmer noch als al-Tawal treffen die Raketen Najran, 180 Kilometer nordöstlich, eine Stadt mit 250 000 Einwohnern, von denen etliche, wie die Huthis, Schiiten sind. Sie liegt direkt an der Grenze.
Über diesen Teil des Krieges ist nur wenig bekannt. Erst seit Kurzem ermöglicht die Regierung in Riad westlichen Journalisten wie nun der Süddeutschen Zeitung und der Frankfurter Allgemeinen, in die Region zu reisen.
In der Operationszentrale der Koalition auf dem König-Salman-Luftwaffenstützpunkt in Riad stehen die Flaggen der an der Koalition beteiligten Staaten. Offiziere sitzen vor Bildschirmen und steuern die Kampfjets. Jedes Gebäude werde als zivil betrachtet, erklärt der für die Zielfindung zuständige Offizier. Nur wenn es gesicherte Anhaltspunkte für militärische Aktivitäten gibt, werde ein Angriff geplant - und nur wenn dies möglich sei, ohne Zivilisten zu töten. Auch würden nur gelenkte Bomben eingesetzt. Er wirft eine Landkarte von Jemen an die Wand, 30 000 bunte Pins markieren Orte, die für Angriffe tabu sind – Von Paul-Anton Krüger
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/jemen-katjuschas-auf-das-koenigreich-1.3352794
Mein Kommentar: Die angebliche Schonung ziviler Ziele entspricht schlichtweg nicht der Realität des Krieges. Hier wird der westliche Reporter bewusst hinter die Fichte geführt.
20.4.2016 – Saudi Gazette (* A E P)
KSA plans largest artificial oil canal
Saudi Arabia intends to establish a 1,000 km-long canal linking the Gulf with the Arabian Sea, passing by the Kingdom to facilitate transport of oil, avoiding the Strait of Hormuz.
The latest issue of Al-Muhandis magazine, published by the Saudi Council of Engineers, has described the largest artificial canal as the project of the century and the Kingdom’s second renaissance.
Esmat Al-Hakeem, an engineer, said the Saudi Electricity Company is currently studying the project, which aims at not only transporting oil but also generating electricity using nuclear power.
The vital project was first proposed seven years ago. In the first phase it will be used to produce electricity. Later it will be transformed into the country’s second renaissance.
The new canal will start from the Arabian Sea and will pass through Omani and Yemeni borders before reaching Rub Al-Khali, the second largest desert in the world covering a total area of 600,000 square kilometers.
“The canal will have a length of 1,000 km,” said Al-Hakeem.
A number of canals will be constructed inside the Kingdom to be linked with the big canal, he said, adding that a nuclear power plant would be set up on every canal to produce electricity. The plants will be established in the Empty Quarter away from residential cities.
“These plants will generate not less than 50 gigawatts of electricity in addition to desalinated water which will be supplied to residential districts and agricultural farms in the region.
The project can be implemented in other countries, he said. “In case the international canal is not realized because of political reasons, the canals inside the Kingdom can be linked with the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf and nuclear plants will be constructed for peaceful purposes. http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/ksa-plans-largest-artificial-oil-canal/ = https://english.alarabiya.net/en/business/energy/2016/04/20/Saudi-Arabia-plans-largest-artificial-oil-canal.html
My comment: This article throws light on even larger Saudi interests in Yemen.
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
Siehe cp1 / Look at cp1
31.12.2017 – UNICEF (* A H)
Yemen war erases decade of health gains, many children starving: UNICEF
Yemen has lost a decade's worth of gains in public health as a result of war and economic crisis, with increasing numbers of children succumbing to malnutrition, the United Nations' Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.
An estimated 3.3 million people, including 2.2 million children, across the Arab peninsula's poorest country are suffering from acute malnutrition, and 460,000 under the age of five have severe acute malnutrition, the agency said.
The most severe form leaves young children vulnerable to life-threatening diarrhoeal diseases and respiratory infections.
"What worries us is the severe acute malnutrition because it is killing children," Meritxell Relano, UNICEF representative in Yemen, told Reuters in Geneva.
"Because of the crumbling health system, the conflict and economic crisis, we have gone back to 10 years ago. A decade has been lost in health gains," she said, with 63 out of every 1,000 live births now dying before their fifth birthday, against 53 children in 2014.
Children and pregnant and lactating women are most heavily affected by the malnutrition crisis in the northern province of Saada, in the coastal area of Hodeida and in Taiz in the south, she said.
UNICEF mobile teams aim to screen more children and reach 323,000 severely malnourished children this year, up from 237,000 last year, Relano said, adding that partner agencies would target the rest – By Stephanie Nebehay
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-unicef-idUSKBN15F0WC
30.1.2017 – Your Ability (A H)
We received these pictures from Your Ability Organisation NGO in #Sanaa.
They just wanted to share some moments with children helped and being helped. And a few smiles.
It is the best reward for anyone working on the ground in #Yemen in nothing less than apocalyptic times.
These children have no idea what heating is, what proper meals are or how a toy looks like. Far too many have become orphan, are ill and will bear, forever, the scars of a senseless, cruel war.
Never forget these feeble smiles. (photos)
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1265115003541527
29.1.2017 – Human Needs Development (A H)
Our children are our future leaders, happiness sources and the reason of a better Yemen.We can not have a better tomorrow without standing and supporting them reach their dreams.
Additional photos of Educate Me project in Sanaa that supported 100 children with school bags.
Best thanks for donors' generosity. We could not do that without you. (photos)
https://www.facebook.com/HNDngoYE/posts/767195450098591 = https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1263924290327265
27.1.2017 – Oxfam (A H)
Malak, 4, lives in Al-Dhale. Like millions in #Yemen, her family used to have no access to water until Oxfam intervened (photo)
https://twitter.com/OxfamYemen/status/824982800713543680
1.2017 – Kickstarter (* A H)
A Mark of Disgrace: Living with HIV in Yemen.
Yemeni people with HIV face a life of stigma and persecution. I am facing this issue against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict.
Amid an ongoing conflict and growing humanitarian crisis, there is a group of people who face an internal conflict of their own. I lost a partner to HIV and know first hand the impact this can have on the way people interact with and relate to the world around them. Living with this illness often brings a sense of shame, fear and embarrassment; as hidden as the condition itself, to all but those closest. In Yemen, there is a great deal of stigma attached to HIV/AIDS leaving people shunned from society and facing high levels of persecution. Many people have had to move from their homes and jobs, leaving whole communities behind; communities they had been a part of for generations. A UNAIDS (the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) report, published in October 2012 has the following quotes, which represent a tiny part of the situation:
"One of my friends told me that she was thrown out of a clinic when she told the dentist she had HIV. He kicked her out while her tooth was hanging. She went to anther clinic and didn't tell them about her HIV status"
"They refused to perform my operation when they discovered I had HIV"
This conflict as a whole is currently going vastly underreported, with various sources stating figures between 60-80% of the population now being in need of aid. The aim of this work is to begin to highlight the issues here in a way that can begin to create greater interest and therefore greater assistance for not just the people I will meet with HIV, but all those living in an increasingly dangerous and desperate country.
The funds for this project are entirely for the purposes of completing the work. The money is to be spent on:
[Support by funding] – by Daniel James
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/223727/a-mark-of-disgrace-living-with-hiv-in-yemen
26.1.2017 – USAID (* A H)
Yemen Complex Emergency Fact Sheet 5, Fiscal Year 2017
[overview of humanitarian situation]
On January 17, the U.S. Government (USG) announced an additional $76 million to respond to humanitarian needs in Yemen, bringing total USG humanitarian assistance for the Yemen response to nearly $404 million since FY 2016. The newly announced assistance supports the provision of emergency food assistance and life-saving health and water, sanitation, and hygiene services to conflict-affected people in Yemen, as well as support for vulnerable migrants in Yemen, Djibouti, and Ethiopia.
https://www.usaid.gov/crisis/yemen and in full: https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1866/yemen_ce_fs05_01-26-2017.pdf
and map: https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1866/yemen_map_01-26-2017.pdf
1.12.2016 – UN Children's Fund (A H)
Infographics: Yemen Nutrition Cluster Performance 2016 January - October
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-nutrition-cluster-performance-2016-january-october and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/nutrtion_cluster_performance_jan-oct_2016_updated_eyr.pdf
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
31.1.2017 – Saba Net (A P)
President meets Parliament Speaker
President of the Supreme Political Council Saleh al-Sammad at the presidential palace in Sana'a met on Monday with Speaker of the parliament Yahya al-Rai'.
The meeting discussed the dimensions and consequences of the heinous crime committed by the United States of America in the military operation on Yalka village in Rada'a district in Baidha province.
The military operation by the United States caused civilian casualties of Yemeni women and children and the violation of national sovereignty as well.
The meeting also discussed issues and priorities to be considered by the Council at its next sessions.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454651.htm
31.1.2017 – Saba Net (A P)
President receives Sheikhs, dignitaries of Sufyan district of Amran province
During the meeting, the president welcomed the sheikhs and dignitaries of Sufyan district, stressing that the council 's concern to meet the sons of Sufyan, as they offer great sacrifices to defend the homeland and to stop the Aggression and aggressors.
In this context, the President confirmed that the crime committed by Americans against civilians and innocent citizens in Baidha province confirms that the US is the head of the aggression against Yemen, emphasizing that this act cannot be authorized.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454690.htm
30.1.2017 – Saba Net (A)
Army seizes large quantity of weapons in Arhab
Security services and popular committees succeeded on Monday to capture large quantities of weapons in Yahiss area in Arhab district, an official security said.
The official said that the seized weapons included heavy, medium and light weapons that have been hidden in warehouse in Arhab.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454688.htm
30.1.2017 – Nasser Arrabyee (A P)
Yemen Parliament Strongly condemns US commandos crimes against Yemenis in Baidha, saying that was Terror of state. 56+13 women/kids killed
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/826067594679578624
30.1.2017 – Saba Net (A P)
Yemen refuses to be classified as source of terrorism
Foreign Ministry said attempts to classify Yemen or its citizens as a possible source of terrorism are illegal and illegitimate.
The Foreign Ministry watched carefully the US administration's executive order issued on Friday imposing strict extraordinary measures and full scrutiny to immigration and visa requests from seven Arab and Islamic countries, a statement issued by the Ministry read.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Yemen is aware that such action is the sovereign right for the United States, however, identifying specific countries as potential sources of terrorists … needs more assessment and revision."
The Ministry called on the United States to deal with the Yemeni citizens in accordance with the standard process adopted with all citizens of the United States' friendly countries, and not to consider them as a source of concern or risk or affect their interests or legal status inside or outside US territories.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454607.htm
Remark: Sanaa government.
30.1.2017 – Saba Net (A P)
Parliament to resume its sessions Saturday
The parliament's presidium on Sunday called the parliament's members to convene next Saturday, within the third period of the first session of its 12th annual convening.
In its meeting chaired by the Parliament's Speaker Yahya al-Raei, the presidium discussed a number of topics in its agenda and took the necessary procedures about them.
The presidium reviewed the developments on the national arena, condemning the continuation of the Saudi-led aggression war and the unjust blockade on the Yemeni people.
It held the aggression coalition responsible for suffering of passengers, patients and wounded, because of closing Sana'a International Airport, in addition to the results of random air bombing on civilians' gatherings, including children in the schools in different areas of the country.
The parliament's presidium called on all international organizations, topped by the UN Security Council, to take an immediate and urgent decision to stop this unjust war, end the unfair blockade without preconditions and to provide relief assistance to the Yemeni people.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454565.htm
29. 1.2017 – Saba Net (A K T)
Security, popular forces raid weapons depot in Sana'a
Large quantities of weapons, including various types of guns, and a large amount of diverse ammunition were found in the depot.
The official said that the seized weapons in the store were intended to be used by the Saudi-paid mercenaries and terrorist elements.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454566.htm
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
30.1.2017 – Al Sahwa (A P T)
Yemen cabinet directs to form strategy for fighting terrorism
Yemen cabinet on Sunday directed to form a Supreme National Committee for forming a strategy to fight terrorism and radicalism.
The cabinet urged the committee to cooperate with concerned ministries to analyze manifestation of terrorism, and how to put an end to it.
The Yemeni government which held its meeting in the port city of Aden stressed that it will go on fighting terrorism and restore the state from militias of the Houthis and ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Meanwhile, the Endowment and Guidance Minister Dr. Ahmed Ateyah has called for exerting more efforts to fight terrorism inside and outside Yemen.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-3455
My comment: Nice idea. They should remove and arrest all their own officials (like the governor of Al Baidah province, and many others) who are affiliated to Al Qaida, and think of steps against the Wahabist ideology.
29.–30.1.2017 – Haykal Bafana (A)
Al Mukalla city, Hadhramaut province : 4 large explosions in the middle of the night, Fighter jets flew over city.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/825939214952955904
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
30.1.2017 – Zerohedge (* A P)U.S. Travel Ban Puts Saudi Arabia In An Awkward Position
In addition to creating mass chaos in America's airports and general confusion around the world, Trump's immigration ban is putting Saudi Arabia, a key ally in the middle-east, in a fairly awkward position. Per the Wall Street Journal, Trump's immigration ban, which currently does not include Saudi Arabia, has put the country in the awkward position of having to manage a desire to pursue stronger ties with the U.S. at the risk of alienating key allies, like Yemen and Sudan, that will inevitably view such a move as abandoning Muslim neighbors.
For now, at least publicly, the Kingdom has decided to support the Trump administration's travel restrictions with the official Saudi Press Agency saying that “the view of the two leaders were identical...the president requested and the King agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen, as well as supporting other ideas to help the many refugees who are displaced by the ongoing conflicts."
Ironically, Saudi Arabia has produced more extremists that went on to carry out attacks on U.S. soil than any of the countries directly affected by the ban. – by Tyler Durden
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-30/us-travel-ban-puts-saudi-arabia-awkward-position and see only Wall Street Journal (subscribers only): https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-travel-restrictions-put-saudi-arabia-in-a-bind-1485772206
30.1.2017 – Washington Post (* A P)
Donald Trump’s already complicated relationship with Saudi Arabia
Just days after he signed an executive order that critics say unfairly targets Muslims, President Trump spoke on the phone with the leader of a country that is not only the home of Islam's most sacred sites, but also widely accused of abetting some of the religion's worst extremism: Saudi Arabia.
Theodore Karasik, a senior adviser with Washington-based Gulf State Analytics, noted that it was “ironic” that the custodian of the two mosques wouldn't publicly discuss an immigration ban that appeared not only to target Muslims, but also included the key Saudi allies Yemen and Sudan. However, Karasik noted that Saudi Arabia's considerable economic problems at the moment meant it needed to keep on the new president's good side.
“The logic behind not talking about the Muslim immigration ban is based simply on the fact that Saudi Arabia needs U.S. support for Vision 20230,” Karasik added, referring to the kingdom's ambitious plan to modernize its economy and wean itself off oil money.
For Saudi Arabia, there is also the threat that it could soon face Trump's wrath too. During an interview with NBC News' “Meet The Press” on Sunday, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus suggested that “perhaps other countries need to be added” to Trump's executive order list – By Adam Taylor
cp9 USA
Siehe cp1, 1a, 2 / Look at cp1 , 1a, 2
29.1.2017 – Dr. Karim (* A P)
We should never let our hate and prejudices towards others cloud our judgement and taint our ability to value human life (see more text in image)
https://twitter.com/RSKarim1/status/825812452591992832
30.1.2017 – DPA (* A P)
Protest gegen Trumps Einreiseverbot: Die weltweite Welle des Widerstands
Protestaktionen auf der ganzen Welt, Chaos an Flughäfen und zahlreiche scharfe Stimmen aus Politik, Kultur und Wirtschaft – die Kritik an US-Präsident Donald Trumps Entscheidungen wächst.
Die Welle des Widerstands gegen US-Präsident Donald Trump wegen des Einreiseverbots für viele Muslime nimmt auf der ganzen Welt zu. Politiker, Unternehmenschefs, Künstler und Spitzensportler kritisierten das Dekret scharf. Firmen und Organisationen riefen zu Protestaktionen auf. Auch in Deutschland äußern sich mehr und mehr empörte Kritiker. Der deutsche Aktienmarkt reagierte verunsichert.
Bei Trumps Anhängern und in den Medien, die zustimmend über den Präsidenten berichten, kam der Erlass sehr gut an. Trump liefere und löse das ein, was er im Wahlkampf versprochen habe, hieß es.
Die Regierung des Jemen erklärte, im Kampf gegen Terroristen seien Dialog und Kommunikation wichtiger als Schranken zu errichten. „Solche Entscheidungen fördern die Positionen der Extremisten“, sagte ein Sprecher des Außenministeriums der Nachrichtenagentur Saba zufolge. Die internationale Hilfsorganisation „Ärzte ohne Grenzen“ bezeichnete den Erlass als „unmenschlichen Akt gegenüber Schutzsuchenden aus Kriegsgebieten“.
Deutsche Staatsbürger, die auch einen Pass der Länder Irak, Iran, Libyen, Somalia, Sudan, Syrien oder Jemen besitzen, erhalten derzeit kein US-Visum von den Konsulaten in Deutschland. Nach Angaben des Innenministeriums von 2011 sind davon Zehntausende Doppelstaatler betroffen. Neben dem deutschen Pass besäßen demnach allein mehr als 80 000 Menschen eine iranische Staatsangehörigkeit.
Die EU-Kommission will verhindern, dass EU-Bürger mit Doppelstaatsbürgerschaften vorerst nicht mehr in die USA reisen dürfen. „Wir werden sicherstellen, dass unsere Bürger nicht diskriminiert werden“, sagte ein Sprecher am Montag.
30.1.2017 – Tagesspiegel (* A P)
Aufstand der Anderen
Donald Trumps Dekrete haben an vielen Orten in den USA Chaos und Proteste ausgelöst. Wie wirksam ist der Widerstand? Die wichtigsten Fragen und Antworten.
Kritiker Trumps weisen darauf hin, dass das Dekret lediglich bestimmte muslimische Staaten betreffe, in denen Trumps Immobilienfirma keine Geschäftsinteressen habe. Hingegen fehlten Länder auf der Liste, aus denen nachweislich Terroristen gekommen waren, wie Saudi Arabien und Ägypten. In diesen Staaten habe Trumps Firma aber wichtige Geschäftsbeziehungen. Dies gelte ebenso für die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate. Aus diesen drei Ländern kamen 18 der 19 Attentäter, die am 11. September 2001 Flugzeuge in das World Trade Center und das Pentagon steuerten. Das schreiben Richard Painter und Norman Eisen, zwei angesehene Juristen, in einem Gastbeitrag für die „New York Times“. Beide haben sowohl den republikanischen Präsidenten George W. Bush als auch den Demokraten Barack Obama in Ethikfragen beraten – von Cordula Eubel, Christoph von Marschall und Frank Jansen
http://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/donald-trumps-einreiseverbot-aufstand-der-anderen/19324806.html
30.1.2017 – Telepolis (A P)
US-Richterin hebelt Trumps Einreise-Bann teilweise aus
Nach Beschwerden von US-Bürgerrechts-Organisationen entschied eine Bunderichterin gegen einige Punkte aus Trumps Einreise-Erlass.
Ein Urteil der Bundesrichterin Ann M. Donnelly aus Brooklyn schwächt den Einreise-Erlass von US-Präsident Trump. Das Gericht verfügte, dass seit Freitag in den USA eingetroffene Flüchtlinge oder Besucher aus den vom Bann betroffenen Ländern zunächst nicht in ihre Heimat zurückgeschickt werden dürfen.
Voraussetzung ist der Besitz eines gültigen Visums oder einer Greencard, der Schutzstatus des Flüchtlingsprogramms der USA oder eine andere offizielle Berechtigung, in die USA einzureisen. Der Urteilssspruch gilt landesweit. Es ist noch nicht klar, ob alle Festgehaltenen auf freien Fuß gesetzt werden müssen. Die Regierung ist angehalten, eine Liste aller Festgehaltenen zu veröffentlichen. Vermutlich sind es etwa 200 Menschen.
30.1.2017 – Avi Asher-Shapiro (A P)
An American of Yemeni descent landed in JFK on a plane from Dubai today—detained & asked his opinion of the Houthis — let go after 3 hours
https://twitter.com/AASchapiro/status/826235080867721216
31.1.2017 – Jim Sciutto (* A P)
Just in: Israel seeking clarity on #TrumpTravelBan - 145,000 Jews born in 7 countries listed in EO incl 54,000 in Iraq & 45,000 in Iran
https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/826097943254024196
Answers to these questions will be indicative: preference for Christians + exceptions for Israeli Jews = (by definition) religious test
https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/826105186162790405
My comment: Trump = incompetence in its highest form.
30.1.2017 – The Guardian (* A P)
Saudi Arabia and Egypt are excluded from Trump's ban. Why?
The American public needs to know the real reasons behind the arbitrary list of countries
During his campaign, Trump focused particularly on excluding Syrian refugees, calling them “the ultimate Trojan horse”. It must be acknowledged that despite the extreme suffering they have endured, the US was not especially welcoming of Syrian refugees before Trump took office.
Yet now, except for a provision that appears intended to exempt the Syrian refugees who are Christians, and therefore of special concern to Christian right supporters of Trump, they are to be blocked from entering the US. This highlights the attempt to engage in religious discrimination. (Actually, if the exemption is applied as written to members of minority religions who have been most severely persecuted, the principal beneficiaries should be Yazidis from Syria and Baha’i from Iran. That may not be Trump’s intent and it may not be followed in practice.)
Now, by excluding all refugees from certain Muslim-majority countries and by denying all visas to nationals of those countries, Trump is further detracting from the prestige of the US as a country where people are treated fairly regardless of race, religion or national origin. If he thinks this will enhance safety, he is sadly mistaken.
Even if he could keep out all those he thinks might threaten the US, he will heighten the danger to many millions of Americans who live, work and travel outside its borders. America, and Americans, would be safer if the country is seen by the world to live up to the ideals represented by the Statue of Liberty – by Aryeh Neier
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/30/saudi-arabia-egypt-excluded-from-trumps-ban
30.1.2017 – Washington Post (A P)
The arbitrary nature of Trump’s seven-country ban is clear from a look at the numbers
In fact, none of those countries top the list of most detainees at Guantanamo Bay over its history as a detention center for the war on terror. That list is led by Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, with Yemen, Pakistan and Algeria closing out the five most common nations of origin.
In the summer, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) — now Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department — released data on the national origins of those arrested on the suspicion of planning terrorist attacks. Of the 580 people arrested from 2001 to 2014, 380 were born outside the United States. The most common birthplaces of those people? Pakistan, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and, in fourth, Somalia.
In other words, Trump’s ban is both sweeping and unexpectedly targeted. The government has information that we lack that certainly drives decisions like the original visa restrictions placed in 2011. But if the goal of the policy is actually to protect Americans — and not simply to be able to deliver on a campaign promise of cracking down broadly on hot spots — Trump’s list is either too long or too short – By Philip Bump
30.1.2017 – Blog Independent (* A P)
How Many Americans Have Refugees Killed?
The order sparked a wave of protests and litigation. The ACLU sued in Brooklyn over the detention of two Iraqis at JFK airport. On Saturday, Judge Ann Donnelly issued an emergency stay, blocking the deportation of some 200 people. She cited “irreparable harm” as part of her decision. Photos of lawyers sitting on the floor at major airports circulated around social media as hundreds of attorneys filed emergency habeas corpus petitions on behalf of detained travelers. It’s known that UMass Dartmouth professors were detained under the order. They have subsequently been released. A Clemson PhD graduate was taken off her flight in Dubai and not allowed to reenter the States, where’s she’s lived for several years. She’d been visiting family in Iran.
There’s a lot to be said about this ban. As noted above, the legality of the order is already in question. Others have pointed out (I think rightly) the hypocrisy of the left. While they have rallied against Trump’s order (again, I think rightly), they failed to so much as raise a finger in protest when Obama effectively turned away Cuban refugees in the last days of his presidency. Still, others have called the order “a ban on Muslims.” While I think there may be some truth to that designation, given Trump’s political rhetoric, it’s difficult for me to call this a ban on Muslims, when a host of other predominately Muslim countries are not covered under the ban (e.g. Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, etc.).
When pressed about the basis for the ban, White House officials cited concerns regarding terrorism. The ban is supposed to be in place until more stringent vetting processes can be implemented.
Let’s bring out some numbers, shall we?
According to the Cato Institute, the United States admitted 3,252,493 refugees between 1975 and 2015. Twenty of them were terrorists. This represents some 0.00062 percent of all refugees. Only three attacks carried out by these refugees were successful.
In total, in a span of forty years, “terrorist refugees” have killed three people in the United States.
But what about the attacks in San Bernardino, the Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting, the Boston Marathon bombings, and 9/11? Are these not “proof” that such a ban is warranted? After all, the individuals responsible for the attacks had some connection to foreign countries.
In reality, the current executive order would have stopped exactlynoneof these attacks – By Abigail R. Hall Blanco
http://blog.independent.org/2017/01/30/how-many-americans-have-refugees-killed/
30.1.2017 – Ebl News (A P)
US ban means Yemeni Nobel peace laureate's sister could miss Harvard
The sister of Yemeni Nobel peace laureate Tawakkol Karman might not be able to attend Harvard Law School because of US President Donald Trump's order barring citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the country.
Safa Karman, 29, says the decision affects her "personally and academically" as she fears not being able to pursue her Master's degree later this year.
30.1.2017 – Reuters (A P)
U.S. embassy in Berlin suspends visas for nationals on Trump's ban list
The U.S. embassy in Berlin said on its Facebook page on Monday that visa issuance had been suspended to nationals, or dual nationals, of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
"Per U.S. Presidential Executive Order signed on January 27, 2017, visa issuance to aliens from the countries of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen has been suspended effective immediately until further notification," it said.
"If you are a national, or dual national, of one of these countries, please do not schedule a visa appointment or pay any visa fees at this time," the embassy added – by Paul Carrel
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-germany-idUSKBN15E12C
30.1.2017 – Reuters (A P)
In limbo abroad, Yemeni democracy activist decries U.S. ban
Years after he fled political persecution in his native Yemen, a new life in the United States was finally taking shape for democracy activist Abdulraqeb al-Duais.
But U.S. President Donald Trump's temporary travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries has upset his plans to bring his family over to the United States - where he has political asylum - and has left him in limbo in Malaysia.
"It's like it's not real - like I'm living a nightmare now," he said. "I believed my color, my religion was not an issue in (the United States) and that it represented progress and freedom. Now I don't know what to believe."
A U.S. green card holder, Duais flew to Malaysia from New York on Friday to be with his family when they appeared for an immigration interview at the U.S. embassy in Kuala Lumpur, to which they fled their war-damaged home country.
The 41-year-old father expected prompt approval for his wife and three young children to acquire green cards and join him.
But now his appointment is likely canceled as some U.S. missions abroad advised residents from the seven countries - Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Syria - not to attend interviews or pay visa fees because they can no longer be processed – By Noah Browning
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-yemen-idUSKBN15E0XD
30.1.2017 – Global Post / US Today (*A P)
Yemen: It’s not fair to punish entire countries like criminals
Yemen had strong words for President Trump this weekend following his new refugee and migrant restrictions.
A statement from the Yemeni Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, said the United States is now unfairly barring citizens fleeing a country where U.S. forces are engaged in a fierce fight against terror.
Here’s an English translation we obtained of the Yemeni Embassy’s statement:
“Today [Saturday] in Cairo International Airport, the first Yemeni citizen was returned while he was heading to the U.S., with a prior visa. He was banned after U.S. President Trump signed a law banning newcomers to the U.S. from some Islamic countries (Yemen, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Iran).
This hasty decision was denounced by some people and considered unfair by others, and does not sit in harmony with America's international standing as well as human principles, which were always an issue that gave us a headache.
We are supporting the US and other countries to fight against terrorism, violence and radicalism and it is their right to fight and eliminate this. It is not fair to punish entire countries and put them equal to criminals.
We hope that these decisions will be reconsidered and it will get back to normal without hurting millions of people’s feelings who live in one planet with the American people, other nations and all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. It is noteworthy that the law bans new passengers of these countries for a period of 30 days and bans refugees for 120 days, until the White House studies this issue for a longer period. Certainly this law does not include passengers with American citizenship or green card holders, but it includes tourists, students, patients, traders, refugees and visitors.” – by Alex Leff
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/01/30/yemen-countries-criminals-donald-trump/97238240/
30.1.2017 – Al Sahwa (A P)
Ambassador urges Yemenis not to leave US
The Yemeni Ambassador to the United States has urged Yemenis residing in the United States to not leave the United States at the current time.
He also advised Yemenis who are trapped in US airports to contact the embassy, pointing out that a team was formed to follow up the cases of Yemenis trapped in US airports.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-3458
29.1.2017 – Pro Publica (A H P)
Trump Ban Leaves 12-Year-Old Girl Facing Return to War-Torn Yemen
The girl, whose parents are U.S. citizens, was barred from boarding a plane yesterday and is now in limbo in Djibouti.
Ahmed Ali spent Sunday at a hotel near Djibouti’s International Airport, anxiously checking CNN on his phone to see if the Trump administration would allow him to fly to the United States with Eman, his 12-year-old daughter.
Ali, 39, is a U.S. citizen. But his daughter had been living with grandparents in Yemen while American authorities processed her visa application. After years of waiting, the U.S. embassy issued the precious piece of paper last Wednesday, and father and daughter were excitedly preparing Friday for the flight that would unite Eman with her mother and two sisters.
They got through security at the airport before an official informed them that people with a Yemeni passport, like Eman, were prohibited from traveling to the U.S. by the executive order President Donald Trump says is needed to keep the country safe from terrorism.
“I got shocked because I don’t know what I have to do,” Ali said in a telephone interview on Sunday. “I can’t take her back to Yemen. And I can’t leave her here by herself — she is only 12 years old.” – by Justin Elliott
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-ban-leaves-12-year-old-girl-facing-return-to-war-torn-yemen and also http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/01/29/a_12_year_old_girl_is_stuck_in_djibouti_thanks_to_trump_s_executive_order.html
29.1.2017 – New York Times (* A H P)
Worry and Disbelief in Yemeni-American Community in Brooklyn
there was worry, disbelief and emergency meetings, prompted by President Trump’s executive orders that temporarily banned visa-holders and green card holders from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Among those countries was Yemen.
At the Al-Noor Social Center, 20 Yemeni-American business and community leaders from across the city met to share information in Arabic and English about friends and relatives detained at airports across the United States. Everyone knew someone, or was connected with someone on social media who was affected. They decried the president’s executive orders.
“Trump grew up in Queens, Yemenis were his neighbors,” Kaled Alamarie, 44, said. “That’s his New York.”
Mr. Alamarie came to the United States when he was 10. He is a Giants season ticket holder and works for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection. His brother, Amrr, 24, was born in New York and is a director of the John Adams High School STEM Academy in Ozone Park, teaching math, science and technology.
“What drew me out today is that I have an immigration case pending for my wife,” Amrr Alamarie said. His wife, from Yemen, has been unable to get a visa to the United States for two years and now does not know when that will happen. They have a 3-month-old daughter. “It’s hard not seeing myself living that American life,” he said.
“Everybody’s afraid,” said Zaid Nagi, 38, who came straight from the protest at Kennedy International Airport to the emergency meeting. “What kind of guarantee do we have if they don’t honor a visa they issue themselves? Or a birth certificate? Where do they draw the line?”
Anas Alhajj, 26, said he was involved in student uprisings in Sana. He received asylum, and now works for a Yemeni newspaper based in Bay Ridge. He said he is worried that his status could be revoked.
“Any Yemeni family that you find here in America are all working hard to support family in Yemen,” Mr. Alsubai said.
“How is going to make things better toward his agenda?” he added of Mr. Trump. “He’s going to make us go back in time. Like the camps with the Japanese. We’re fighting all over the world for every single country to have democracy, but we’re not doing it here.” – By LIZ ROBBINS
29.1.2017 – Farea Al-Muslimi (A P)
So much similarities in Bin Laden's World view & Trump's; The first wanted Ar. Peninsula "Crusaders-Free" & th 2nd wants US a "Muslim-free"!
https://twitter.com/almuslimi/status/825704720132141056
29.1.2017 – Jeremy Scahill (A P)
Sure feel safer now that Trump kept a 68 year old diabetic Yemeni woman with a Green Card out of the country.
https://twitter.com/jeremyscahill/status/825505725501829120
29.1.2017 – Abed A. Ayoub (A P)
Good news: Green card holders will be allowed back in. This is big news! There will be screening, but they will be allowed in (see image)
https://twitter.com/aayoub/status/825852869240827905
29.1.2017 – Adam Blickstein (A P)
Also heard from a lawyer at Dulles that US citizens with dual citizenship now being held. Not just defying but escalating
https://twitter.com/AdamBlickstein/status/825819747052875781
29.1.2017 – The New York Times (* A P)
Who Hasn’t Trump Banned? People From Places Where He’s Done Business
Overlooked in the furor is another troubling aspect of the situation: President Trump omitted from his ban a number of other predominantly Muslim nations where his company has done business. This adds further illegitimacy to one of the most arbitrary executive actions in our recent history, and raises significant constitutional questions.
The seven countries whose citizens are subject to the ban are relatively poor. Some, such as Syria, are torn by civil war; others are only now emerging from war. One thing these countries have in common is that they are places where the Trump organization does little to no business.
By contrast, other neighboring Muslim countries are not on the list, even though some of their citizens pose just as great a risk — if not greater — of exporting terrorism to the United States. Among them are Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. A vast majority of people living in these countries, like the people living in the seven subject to the immigration ban, are peaceful and law abiding. But these three countries have exported terror to the United States in the past. They accounted for 18 of the 19 terrorists who perpetrated the Sept. 11 attack on American soil (an attack which was directed by another Saudi, Osama Bin Laden, with the assistance of an Egyptian, Ayman al-Zawahri).
These countries, unlike those subject to the ban, are ones where Donald Trump has done business.
A look at other nations with large Muslim populations only reinforces this troubling pattern. Turkey, India and the Philippines could all pose similar risks as the banned countries of origin that concern the president. Yet Mr. Trump has done business in all three places. They, too, are omitted from his list.
Our point is not, of course, that any of these other countries should be added. A country-specific ban, which experts say is an ineffective way to combat terrorism, should not exist – By RICHARD W. PAINTER and NORMAN L. EISEN
28.1.2017 – The Intercept (*A P)
Trump’s Muslim Ban Is Culmination of War on Terror Mentality but Still Uniquely Shameful
It is not difficult for any decent human being to immediately apprehend why and how Donald Trump’s ban on immigrants from seven Muslim countries is inhumane, bigoted, and shameful. During the campaign, the evil of the policy was recognized even by Mike Pence (“offensive and unconstitutional”) and Paul Ryan (violative of America’s “fundamental values”), who are far too craven and cowardly to object now.
Trump’s own defense secretary, Gen. James Mattis, said when Trump first advocated his Muslim ban back in August that “we have lost faith in reason,” adding: “This kind of thing is causing us great damage right now, and it’s sending shock waves through this international system.”
The sole ostensible rationale for this ban — it is necessary to keep out Muslim extremists — collapses upon the most minimal scrutiny. The countries that have produced and supported the greatest number of anti-U.S. terrorists — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, UAE — are excluded from the ban list because the tyrannical regimes that run those countries are close U.S. allies. Conversely, the countries that are included — Syria, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Iran, Sudan, and Yemen — have produced virtually no such terrorists; as the Cato Institute documented on Friday night: “Foreigners from those seven nations have killed zero Americans in terrorist attacks on U.S. soil between 1975 and the end of 2015.” Indeed, as of a 2015 study by the New America research center, deaths caused by terrorism from right-wing nationalists since 9/11 have significantly exceeded those from Muslim extremists – by Glen Greenwald
A reminder:
9.12.2017 – Airwars (* A K P)
Civilian casualties are now Trump’s problem to solve
As President Obama leaves office, he will pass broad military powers to his successor. Civilian casualties will continue to occur, however President Trump approaches the issue. But for advocates on behalf of civilians affected by war, the task of engaging with the incoming administration could be difficult – by Samuel Oakford
https://airwars.org/news/obama-hands-the-baton-on-civilian-casualties-to-trump/
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
29.1.2017 – The Guardian (A P)
Activists try to stop warplanes leaving UK bound for Saudi Arabia
Methodist minister arrested at BAE Systems’ Warton Aerodrome says he was trying to prevent war crimes in Yemen
Two activists have been arrested while apparently trying to disarm warplanes bound for Saudi Arabia.
A statement released on behalf of the Rev Dan Woodhouse and Quaker activist Sam Walton said the pair had entered the BAE Systems site in Warton, Lancashire, on Sunday morning with the intention of disarming planes.
Lancashire police confirmed that two people had been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage following an incident at the site and that officers were investigating.
The two men said their actions were aimed at preventing a delivery of fighter jets to the Saudi government. They said the delivery was due to take place in the next few weeks.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/29/bae-systems-activists-warplanes-saudi-arabia-yemen?CMP=twt_gu and by RT: https://www.rt.com/uk/375560-activists-arrested-saudi-planes/
29.1.2017 – CAAT / Dear Kitty 1 (* A P)
BAE Arms: Saudi Kills. British Christians against Saudi war on Yemen
Their action aimed to prevent BAE’s delivery of fighter jets to the Saudi government. The planes were due to be shipped from the base in the next few weeks. A Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out devastating airstrikes in Yemen since 2015, and international human rights organisations have condemned the bombings, with widespread allegations of war crimes. The pair released a statement explaining their actions: “Today we intend to enter BAE Warton, to locate warplanes bound for Saudi Arabia, and disarm them. We take this action in order to prevent the export of weaponry that will almost certainly be used in war crimes.
This day in 1996, three women entered the same site to disarm a plane being sent to Indonesia to be used in the genocide in East Timor. It is symbolic that we take action on this day to mirror the rightness of their action, which a jury found to be lawful.
Eurofighter Typhoons and Tornadoes sold to Saudi Arabia are being used on combat missions in Yemen. BAE also supplies Saudi Arabia with Hawk jets, used to train the Royal Saudi Air Force, which will almost certainly have been used in Yemen in their ground attack capacity. Typhoons and Hawk jets are known to be on site being prepared for imminent delivery to Saudi Arabia, and we have seen Saudi Tornadoes there ourselves.
By stopping or even delaying Saudi Arabia having more planes with which to bomb Yemen this action will save innocent lives and prevent war crimes. Our action is therefore necessary to prevent a greater crime. We are clear that the real crime taking place is arming despots, who frequently use arms on their own people, are known to use torture and the death penalty, and who will be using the planes sent from BAE Warton to continue to commit crimes against humanity.
https://blog.caat.org.uk/2017/01/29/bae-arms-saudi-kills/ = https://dearkitty1.wordpress.com/2017/01/29/british-christians-against-saudi-war-on-yemen/
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
30.1.2017 – Netzpolitik (* A P)
„Gezielte Tötungen“ durch Drohnen: Bundesregierung zieht keine Konsequenzen
Welche Verantwortung trägt Deutschland beim Drohnenkrieg? Einen Fragenkatalog von Parlamentariern der Linken zur Rolle des US-Luftwaffenstützpunktes in Ramstein beantwortet die Bundesregierung ausweichend: Die Vereinigten Staaten hätten versichert, beim Einsatz von bewaffneten Drohnen das humanitäre Völkerrecht einzuhalten. Überprüft wird das jedoch nicht. Wir veröffentlichen die Antworten.
Seit mehreren Jahren schon fragen einige Abgeordnete des Bundestags immer wieder bei der Bundesregierung nach, ob der US-Luftwaffenstützpunkt in Ramstein als eine Relaisstation für den US-Drohnenkrieg fungiert. Das wurde im Dezember 2016 seitens der Regierung zum ersten Mal bestätigt.
Erfahren haben sollen das Mitarbeiter des Auswärtigen Amtes bei einem Gespräch in der Botschaft der Vereinigten Staaten, das bereits am 26. August 2016 stattfand. Einen Monat später, am 28. September 2016, wurden die Obleute des Auswärtigen Ausschusses über dieses Gespräch informiert.
Nun drängt sich die Frage auf, welche Konsequenzen daraus folgen. Aus dem Plenarprotokoll der 205. Sitzung des Bundestages am 30. November 2016 (pdf, S. 20452ff.) geht bereits hervor, wie sich die Bundesregierung zu der rechtlichen Bewertung der Rolle Ramsteins stellt: Die Einsätze, bei denen der rheinland-pfälzische Stützpunkt als Relaisstation dient, seien deswegen nicht völkerrechtswidrig, weil dies von den Vereinigten Staaten zugesichert werde.
Solche politischen Zusicherungen haben mitunter eine kurze Halbwertzeit: Der ehemalige US-Präsident Barack Obama hatte dem damaligen deutschen Außenminister Frank-Walter Steinmeier versichert, die Drohnentötungen würden nicht aus Rheinland-Pfalz „gesteuert“. Aber vermutlich war das wieder nur eine definitorische Frage, um über das eigentliche Problem nicht sprechen zu müssen: die Verantwortung, die Deutschland beim Drohnenkrieg trägt – von Constanze
Die Antwort der Bundesregierung können Sie hier nachlesen.
30.1.2017 – Propagandaschau (* A P)
Trump bewirkt Wunder: Plötzlich berichtet die ARD tagesschau über ein Massaker im Jemen
So exzessiv wie ARD und ZDF „postfaktische“ Kriegspropaganda aus terroristischen Quellen über die Befreiung Aleppos durch die syrische und russische Armee verbreitet hatten, so dröhnend wird der vom Westen unterstützte Krieg im Jemen totgeschwiegen.
offensichtliche Doppelmoral und die offenkundige politische Motivation hinter dieser gezielten Auswahl und Unterdrückung von Informationen über diese beiden vom Westen forcierten Kriege
Das Totschweigen des Krieges im Jemen haben wir hier in mehreren Artikeln ansatzweise dokumentiert.
Hinter dieser Propaganda steckte auch die Absicht, den „Friedensnobelpreisträger“ Barack Obama in der öffentlichen Wahrnehmung als honorigen Politiker erscheinen zu lassen.
Mit der Wende im Weißen Haus kam auch die Wende in den Mainstreammedien. Nach deren Un-Heilsbringer Obama, ist nun mit Donald Trump der exakte Gegenentwurf zum Präsidenten gewählt worden. Schon im Wahlkampf wurde Trump vom transatlantischen Establishment – sowohl in den USA wie auch in Deutschland – mit allen schmutzigen Mitteln der Desinformation bekämpft und plötzlich meldet die ARD tagesschau nicht nur ein Massaker im Jemen, sie nennt auch schon im ersten Atemzug Donald Trump als Verantwortlichen.
Barack Obama hat in seiner Amtszeit 563 (!) Drohnenangriffe authorisiert. Zehnmal so viele wie Bush.
Als die USA vor einem halben Jahr in Afghanistan mit einem von Obama angeordneten Drohnenangriff Talibananführer Mullah Mansur samt Begleitung ermordeten, war von Obama in der 20-Uhr tagesschau keine Rede…
So schnell dreht sich der Wind der Propaganda! Hier wird einmal mehr deutlich, mit welchen Tricks und Methoden ARD und ZDF arbeiten, um in Deutschland Meinungsmache im Sinne der Regierung zu betreiben, anstatt seriös, umfassend und unparteilich zu informieren, wie es eigentlich ihre Aufgabe wäre.
Es ist durchaus denkbar und sogar wahrscheinlich, dass diese Masche, Trump am Zeug zu flicken, wo man Obama noch an gleicher Stelle oral verwöhnt hatte, sich in den kommenden Wochen und Monaten fortsetzt. Wenn die deutsche Öffentlichkeit ab jetzt also tatsächlich in ARD und ZDF mehr über die Massaker im Jemen und anderen westlichen Schlachthäusern erfahren sollte, dann ist das ein Wunder, das indirekt Donald Trump bewirkt hat und nicht etwa eine Besinnung auf seriösen Journalismus.
Mein Kommentar: Zutreffende Analyse.
cp13 Mercenaries / Söldner
29.1.2017 – Fars News (A K PH)
two military planes carrying a large number of Sudanese mercenaries had landed in Aden airport on Friday night.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951110001341
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
Siehe cp1, 1a / Look at cp1, 1a
30.1.2017 – CNN (*A T)
Trump ban is boon for ISIS recruitment, former jihadists and experts say
President Donald Trump’s travel ban on seven Muslim-majority nations will be used by ISIS as a recruitment tool, giving the militant group a major propaganda boost, former jihadists have told CNN.
The executive order, which blocks all immigrants and visa holders who are citizens of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia, reinforces ISIS’ narrative, according to former jihadi Abu Abdullah.
“It can play into their propaganda, to make it clear for anyone who could be in doubt, that it’s a war on Islam and all Muslims,” Abdullah told CNN over a messaging service. The names of the now-defected foreign fighters in this story have been changed to protect their identities.
Another former jihadi said the wedge being driven between Muslims living in the West and their governments is exactly what ISIS wants.
“[Trump’s] helped ISIS a lot, he’s basically being a tool for them in a way,” Abu Obaida, a British former Jabhat al-Nusra fighter in Syria, told CNN via direct message. “On social media right now there’s a lot of people quoting Anwar al-Awlaki (the late spokesperson for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) and his last speech when he said that America will turn on the Muslims.”
Jihadist sympathizers hail Trump’s ban on social media
As Obaida indicated, sympathizers of Islamist militant groups are already hailing Trump’s ban online.
“He’s a caricature of the evil crusader that they want to convince everyone exists,” Winter said.
Trump has already featured briefly in at least two propaganda videos released by ISIS, as well as one clip published by the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab. President Obama was also shown in similar videos.
It’s not just ISIS that might capitalize on the ban, al Qaeda is likely to use it, too.
“By banning Muslims, lumping them with radical Islamism, Donald Trump provides ammunition and motivation for al Qaeda and ISIS,” said Fawaz Gerges, chairman of contemporary Middle East studies at the London School of Economics and author of “ISIS: A History.” – By Eliza Mackintosh
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/30/politics/trump-ban-boosts-isis-recruitment/ = http://noozz.com/trump-ban-is-boon-for-isis-recruitment-former-jihadists-and-experts-say/
30.1.2017 – ORF (A T)
US-Drohne tötet mutmaßliche Al-Kaida-Kämpfer im Jemen
Eine US-Drohne hat heute im Südjemen zwei mutmaßliche Al-Kaida-Kämpfer getötet. Die Drohne habe im Bezirk Baihan an der Grenze zwischen den beiden Provinzen Schabwa und Marib ein Fahrzeug getroffen und zwei der Insassen getötet, teilte ein Vertreter der Sicherheitsbehörden mit.
http://orf.at/stories/2377397/
Mein Kommentar: „Mutmaßliche“, wie üblich.
30.1.2017 – Reuters (A T)
U.S. drones target two suspected al Qaeda militants in Yemen - officials
A suspected U.S. drone strike killed two men believed to be al Qaeda militants in central Yemen, local officials said early on Monday, hours after American commandos carried out the first military operation authorized by President Donald Trump.
The officials said the pilotless plane targeted a vehicle travelling in Baihan in the province of Shabwa, in which two suspected al Qaeda members were travelling. Both men were killed, they said.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-yemen-security-attack-idUKKBN15E0HH?rpc=401&
30.1.2017 – Xinhua (A T)
Two al-Qaida operatives killed by U.S. drone attack in Yemen
Two operatives of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch were killed by a U.S. drone strike in the southeastern province of Shabwa on Monday, military source said.
The drone raid came hours after a previous operation that killed eight al-Qaida militants and 12 civilians.
"The U.S. drone fired missiles and targeted a vehicle carrying al-Qaida men in the rugged mountainous region of Bayhan in Shabwa province," the sources, based in Shabwa, said on condition of anonymity.
Residents near the scene confirmed to Xinhua that they saw "a destroyed car with two charred bodies."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-01/30/c_136021207.htm
cp15 Propaganda
30.1.2017 – The Peninsula Qatar (A P)
Emir stresses efforts to solve Yemen crisis
Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met President of Yemen Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi and accompanying delegation at the Emiri Diwan yesterday.
The two sides discussed bilateral relations and means to develop them in addition to a host of issues of common concern.
President Hadi briefed the Emir on the latest developments in Yemen and the international efforts to legitimise the government and expressed thanks and appreciation to the Emir, and Qatar for generously contributing to realising security and stability in Yemen, especially supporting the electricity sector.
The Emir affirmed that Qatar will continue its efforts to resolve the Yemeni crisis, and its support for the legitimate government as well as its keenness on Yemen's unity and stability.
http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/30/01/2017/Emir-stresses-efforts-to-solve-Yemen-crisis
30.1.2017 – Arab News (A P)
Yemeni govt rejects solutions not based on previous terms
The Yemeni government has reiterated its rejection of any political solution to end the Houthi coup unless it is based on previously agreed terms.
It seeks an agreement based on the Gulf initiative and its executive mechanism, the outputs of the national dialogue and UN Security Council Resolution 2216.
“Any solutions not based on these references would create potential for new conflicts and would be rejected by Yemeni people,” the government said in a statement on Sunday following its regular meeting headed by Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr in Aden.
The government has also reiterated its commitment to achieving just and sustainable peace in the country, while adhering to the previously agreed terms of reference for a political solution to put an end the coup. http://www.arabnews.com/node/1046496/middle-east
My comment: Repeating the same bullshit again and again. Any peace solution will need a totally new approach, and it cannot begin with any one-sided preference of one side of the conflict – as the terms are now, as the Hadi government wants to perpetuate them.
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
31.1.2017 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
The violations and crimes that are committed by Saudi Arabia and its alliance in Yemen 29/1/2017 (full list)
https://www.facebook.com/551288185021551/photos/a.551858951631141.1073741828.551288185021551/766548103495557/?type=3 and http://lcrdye.org/lcrd/Eng/PageDetails?id=625 (http://lcrdye.org/userfiles/files/%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AC%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%B2%D9%8A/Reports%20center/Daily%20reports/2017/jan/30-Jan-2017.pdf)
30.1.2017 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
The violations and crimes that are committed by Saudi Arabia and its alliance in Yemen 29/1/2017 (full list)
https://www.facebook.com/551288185021551/photos/a.551858951631141.1073741828.551288185021551/766094123540955/?type=3 and http://lcrdye.org/lcrd/Eng/PageDetails?id=624 (http://lcrdye.org/userfiles/files/%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AC%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%B2%D9%8A/Reports%20center/Daily%20reports/2017/jan/29-Jan-2017.pdf )
29.1.2017 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
The violations and crimes that are committed by Saudi Arabia and its alliance in Yemen 28/1/2017
Full list (7 killed):
https://www.facebook.com/551288185021551/photos/a.551858951631141.1073741828.551288185021551/765672453583122/?type=3 and http://www.lcrdye.org/lcrd/Eng/PageDetails?id=623 (http://www.lcrdye.org/userfiles/files/%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AC%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%B2%D9%8A/Reports%20center/Daily%20reports/2017/jan/28-Jan-2017.pdf).
31.1.2017 – Ansamed (A K PS)
Yemen: TV, Saudi air raids on rebel positions in Hodeida port
Afters boat suicide attack against Saudi frigate
The Saudi-led international coalition on Tuesday carried out air raids in Yemen against positions held by Houthi rebels west of the capital Sanaa, pan Arab television al Jazeera reports. The broadcaster said that the bombings targeted positions in the port of Hodeida, held by the Houthis since 2014.
31.1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Three airstrikes hit Serwah
Saudi American aggression launched overnight 3 airstrikes on Serwah district of Mareb province, a local official said on Tuesday.
The airstrike targeted al-Mahjazah area, leaving damage to houses of citizens.
Earlier, the aggression warplanes have launched over 15 airstrikes on Serwah district
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454710.htm
31.1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi airstrikes kill civilians in Mocha Souk
Two citizens were killed in a Saudi airstrike hit the central Souk in Mocha coastal city of Taiz province on Monday evening, a local official told Saba on Tuesday.
Several people were wounded in the airstrike.
The warplanes waged three airstrikes on the road links Mocha city with Hodeida province.
Meanwhile, the aggression fighter jets waged three airstrikes on Tuesday morning on Arfan bridge linking Mocha district with the neighboring areas.
Several civilians were killed by the airstrikes and others were injured, the official said.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454728.htm
30.–31.1.2017 – Sanaa at night (A K)
01:33AM Saudi aircraft flying over Sanaa sky & so loud..
https://twitter.com/A7medJa7af/status/826197022868901889
Warplanes Saudi flying in the Sky sana'a with breaking sound barrier. Silence shame of the world. How to ignore the Saudi in crimes
https://twitter.com/Moon_Kidnapper/status/826201058389192704
30.1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi aggression wages six raids on Jawf
The US-Saudi aggression warplanes waged on Monday six air strikes on several areas of Jawf province.
A local official told Saba that the aggression hit Shawaq and al-Sallan areas in al-Ghail district in Jawf.
The hostile warplanes launched four raids on al-Khanjar area in Khab and al-Sha'af district in Jawf, the official said.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454668.htm
30.1.2017 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Aggression Warplanes Launched 250 Raids in Mokah Directorate
Aggression warplanes launched several raids in the province of Yemen and launched more than 35 raids on Hajjah province .
In the same context, the warplanes of the aggression launched at least 40 raids in Hajjah province and targeted Midi by 35 raids . Also , the warplanes waged 6 aids in 25 Mikah camp.
In Saada , the warplanes of the aggression launched 8 raids in the different areas of the province. Also, the Saudi artillery shelling targeted the border areas in the province.
In Taiz , the warplanes launched 250 raids in Mokah district and targeted different areas in the province .
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=62466&lang=en
30.1.2017 – Saba Net (A)
Aggression targets car in Serwah, No hurt
The US-Saudi aggression warplanes waged on Monday an air on a farmer's car in Wadi Habab area in Serwah district of Mareb province.
A local official told Saba that the air strike destroyed the car of Saleh Dahmash al-Ashtal in the main road.
No human casualties were reported in the accident as the car driver got out of the car when the aggression warplanes had hovered.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454672.htm
29.–30.1.2017 – Sanaa at night (A K)
#Sanaa: Society College was targeted last night by Saudi air raids (photos)
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1264049573648070 = https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1633266153636039
29.1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression warplanes resume targeting Mareb
The US-backed Saudi aggression warplanes resumed targeting Mareb province overnight, an official told Saba on Sunday.
The warplanes launched two air strikes on houses and farms of the citizens in Habab valley in Serwah district.
The same areas were hit by the enemy planes five times over the past few hours.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454498.htm
29.1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression warplanes wages 5 strikes on Mareb
Saudi aggression fighter jets launched on Sunday five strikes on citizens' houses and farms in Sarwah district of Mareb province, an official told Saba.
The war planes hit Hubab valley, Al-Hajaln and al-Makhadara areas five times in the same district, causing heavy damage to citizens' hoses and farms, the official said.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454512.htm
29.1.2017 – Ahmad Alghobary (A K)
4 ppl killed by #Saudi air strike in Midi area #Haja city #Yemen
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/825683765427105792
29.1.2017 – Yemen Today TV (A K PH)
Film: Three Martyrs airline bombing the Saudi aggression bridge in the valley Mur Hodeidah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sRHgWajwlQ
29.1.2017 – Ahmad Alghobary (A K)
Film: I went to a school next 2 my neighborhood in Dhamar city 2 visit my teacher,suddenly #Saudi jets were flying&students were scared to death
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/825744392212324357
cp17a Kriegsereignisse: Mokha / Theater of War: Mokha
31.1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army fires missile on Saudi base at Zuqar island
The missile force of the army and popular forces launched a ballistic missile at a Saudi-aggression military base on the Red Sea island of Zuqar on Tuesday, a military official said.
The missile hit its target accurately and killed tens of Saudi soldiers.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454724.htm
and
31.1.2017 – Press TV Iran (A K PH)
Yemeni forces target off-shore UAE-run base
Yemeni army soldiers, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees, have reportedly launched a missile attack against a naval base run by soldiers from the United Arab Emirates off the western coast of Yemen.
Yemeni forces and their allies fired a Borkan-1 (Volcano-1) missile at the al-Ghazat base on Zuqar Island in the Red Sea, which lies between the coasts of mainland Yemen and Eritrea, on Tuesday morning, Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported.
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/01/31/508514/Yemen-missile-attack-UAErun-base-Zugar-Island = http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951112001243
and:
31.1.2017 – MbKS15 (A K PS)
#Saudi-led Coalition ADF intercepts a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis from Hodeidah towards Zuqar Island in the Red Sea
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/826382332319895553
31.1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Ballistic missile hit mercenaries in Taiz
The missile force of the army and popular forces fired a Zilzal missile on gatherings of mercenaries in Mocha district of Taiz province overnight, a military official told Saba on Tuesday.
The missile targeted al-Khadhra area southern Mocha district, killing dozens of mercenaries.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454711.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=62594&lang=en
31.1.2017 – Euronews (* A K)
Jemen: Huthi-Rebellen sollen saudisches Kriegsschiff angegriffen haben
Vor der jemenitischen Küste haben offenbar Huthi-Rebellen einen Selbstmordanschlag auf ein saudisches Kriegsschiff verübt. Der von den Huthis betriebene Sender al-Masirah verbreitete Aufnahmen, auf denen der Angriff im Roten Meer zu sehen sein soll. Außerdem sind Männer zu hören, die rufen “Gott ist Groß, Tod Amerika, Tod Israel und den Juden, Sieg für den Islam.” Wie es hieß, griffen die Rebellen das saudische Kriegsschiff mit drei Booten an.
Laut der saudischen Nachrichtenagentur SPA wurden zwei Besatzungsmitglieder getötet und drei verletzt. Wie die Agentur weiter berichtet, sei die Besatzung des saudischen Schiffes mit den drei angreifenden Booten “so verfahren, wie es notwendig war.” Eines der drei Huthi-Boote habe das Kriegsschiff aber rammen können, dabei habe es eine Explosion gegeben, hieß es.
Der Vorfall ereignete sich westlich der jemenitischen Küstenstadt al-Hudeida.
http://de.euronews.com/2017/01/31/jemen-huthi-rebellen-sollen-saudisches-kriegsschiff-angegriffen-haben und Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b7oaWAiZzM
31.1.2017 – RT / Sputnik (* A K)
Jemen: Houthis starten Raketen-Angriff auf saudisches Kriegsschiff - Mindestens zwei Tote
Mindestens zwei Seeleute an Bord eines saudischen Kriegsschiffs sind nach einem Raketenangriff durch Houthi-Rebellen vor der Küste des Jemen getötet worden. Das Video, das gestern veröffentlicht wurde, soll den Angriff zeigen. Die lokalen Houthi-Rebellen haben erklärt, das Schiff sei von einer Anti-Schiff-Rakete getroffen worden. Jedoch haben saudische Militär-Quellen behauptet, dass der Angriff durch drei „Selbstmordboote“ verursacht wurde.
https://deutsch.rt.com/kurzclips/45942-jemen-houthis-starten-raketen-angriff-saudi-arabien/ und ausführlicher: https://de.sputniknews.com/politik/20170131314336302-huthi-rebellen-attackieren-saudische-fregatte/ und Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8cUMW7JhuM
31.1.2017 – Reuters (* A K)
Yemen's Houthis attack Saudi ship, launch ballistic missile
The armed Houthi movement attacked a Saudi warship off the western coast of Yemen on Monday, causing an explosion that killed two crew members and injured three others, Saudi state news agency SPA reported.
Separately, the Houthis said they launched a ballistic missile at a Saudi-led coalition military base on the Red Sea island of Zuqar between Yemen and Eritrea on Tuesday morning, according to the group's official news channel al-Masira.
There was no immediate coalition reaction to that claim and it was unclear if there were any casualties.
"A Saudi frigate on patrol west of Hodeidah port came under attack from three suicide boats belonging to the Houthi militias," the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said in a statement on SPA.
One of the boats collided with the rear of the vessel, causing an explosion and a fire that killed two crew members and wounded three others.
The Houthi movement's al-Masira channel contradicted this account and quoted a military source saying the explosion was caused by a guided missile.
And this is the older version:
30.1.2017 – Reuters (* A K)
Two killed in attack on Saudi warship off Yemen
Houthi militants attacked a Saudi warship with three boats off the western coast of Yemen on Monday, causing an explosion that killed two crew members and injured three others, Saudi state news agency SPA reported.
"A Saudi frigate on patrol west of Hodeidah port came under attack from three suicide boats belonging to the Houthi militias," the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said in a statement on SPA.
One of the boats collided with the rear of the vessel, causing an explosion and a fire that killed two crew members, the statement said, without specifying their nationality.
Three others were injured and in a stable condition. The fire was put out by crew.
"The Saudi warship was involved in aggression against western coastal cities and Yemeni fishermen," a military official was quoted as saying by the Saba Yemeni news agency, run by the dominant Houthi movement. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-saudi-idUSKBN15E2KE and by RT: https://www.rt.com/news/375701-saudi-warship-attack-killed/
My comment: Missile or “suicide boats”, that’s the question. The latter would better fit for Saudi propaganda which seems to try to label this attack as an act of “terrorism”, what it definitely is not. It’s an act of war, as Saudi warships ppound the Yemeni western coast on a large scale.
and photos
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/826125002764345345
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/826125557440061442
https://twitter.com/JosephJo1221/status/826127225653190656
https://twitter.com/abdulla71370693/status/826124394326061056
and films:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKDuss4aNX4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG-5DMsPLRE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nug3OJhVAto
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/826128171867189248 = https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/826134551298719749
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRJJqKu8XgQ
30.1.2017 – Fars News (* A K PH)
Army soldiers, allied forces destroy Saudi warship in western Yemen
Yemeni army forces, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees, have targeted and destroyed a Saudi military vessel in a missile attack off the coast of the country’s western province of Hudaydah.
An unnamed Yemeni military source told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network on Monday that Yemeni forces fired a guided missile at al-Madinah warship in waters near the port city of Hudaydah, located 150 kilometers southwest of the capital Sana'a.
The source added that the vessel had 176 soldiers and officers in addition to a combat helicopter onboard at the time.
The warship had reportedly mounted missile attacks against Yemen’s western coasts, cities and fishermen.
On January 21, the Yemeni Coast Guard warned enemies’ battleships against using the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, to bomb civilian targets, emphasizing that such a practice poses grave threats to international maritime navigation in the area (with film)
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/01/30/508451/Yemen-Saudi-warship-Madinah-Hudaydah and by Saba Net: http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454676.htm (stating that a missile was fired)
30.1.2017 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (A K)
Saudi just said Houthis use Hodeidah port to launch "suicide boat" attacks. So retarded claim to use as an excuse to bomb port.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/826182647634391041
Clearly a rocket used. But Saudi says "Houthi suicide boats" rammed into frigate! Seriously!?
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/826181669476564996
and
30.1.2017 – MbKS15 (A K PS)
According to the Coalition, the #Saudi ship continued patrolling the area, while coalition air & navy forces chased the other two boats.
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/826281457526116352
Launching terrorist ops from Hodeidah Port would impact on the intl maritime movement & undermine the flow of humanitarian aid to
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/826286845260595200
My comment: Why attacking a warship off the coast when warships regularly are bombing the coastline should be a “terrorist op”? That’s bullshit. It’s simply war, stupid.
30.1.2017 – Stars and Stripes (* A K PS)
Navy is prepared to assist Saudi ship struck off coast of Yemen
The Navy is prepared to aid a Saudi ship attacked Monday off the western coast of Yemen, a U.S. defense official at the Pentagon said.
The defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed a video circulating of a military ship that appeared to be struck and explode in flames was a Saudi vessel attacked off the Yemen coast. A video of the strike was distributed Monday on You Tube. Early news reports suggested the Saudi frigate was hit by Iran-backed Houthi fighters who control the western region of Yemen, including the capital of Sanaa.
Navy assets “stand ready to assist” the Saudi ship, he said.
The defense official said the attack occurred early Monday, Eastern Standard Time, and did not appear to be caused by a small boat laden with explosives, as had been previously reported. The official would not confirm whether the Saudi ship had been hit by a missile – by Tara Copp
My comment: What does mean “assist”? Remember that Saudi war ships consequently have bombed and are bombing the Yemeni coastline.
30.1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army repulses attempt advance towards al-Waze'yah district in Taiz
The Army and Popular Committees repulsed on Monday to advance of Saudi-paid mercenaries towards al-Waze'yah district of Taiz province.
A military official told Saba a number of mercenaries have been killed and wounded in an attempt which lasted several hours.
He pointed out that the missile forces of the army and Popular forces targeted gatherings of the mercenaries behind al-Shabkah mountain in Thubab area with a number of Katyusha rockets.
The Katyusha rockets hit their targets accurately.
The army and popular forces carried out an attack on the site of mercenaries in Maqbanah area in Taiz.
The official confirmed that tens of mercenaries were killed and injured by raids of the US-Saudi aggression after fleeing army and popular forces' fire in the outskirts of Mocha.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454663.htm
29.1.2017 – Daily Sabah (A K)
Yemen: Mehr als hundert Tote bei Gefechten
Bei schweren Gefechten und Luftangriffen an der Westküste des Jemen sind nach Angaben von Militärangehörigen und Ärzten binnen 24 Stunden mehr als hundert Menschen getötet worden.
Mindestens 90 Rebellen und fast 20 Regierungssoldaten seien getötet worden, hieß es am Sonntag von Seiten der Mediziner und des Militärs.
http://www.dailysabah.com/deutsch/naher-osten/2017/01/29/yemen-mehr-als-hundert-tote-bei-gefechten
30.1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Aggression airstrikes hit mercenaries in Taiz
Saudi aggression waged on Sunday series of airstrikes on its mercenaries in Mocha and northern Thubab of Taiz province, military official said Monday.
The Saudi warplanes launched an airstrike on northern Thubab and the UAE warplanes struck mercenaries in Mocha area several times.
Dozens of mercenaries were killed or wounding in the airstrikes.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454596.htm
Remark: “Friendly fire”.
30.1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army kills mercenaries in Taiz
Dozens of Saudi-paid mercenaries were killed and wounded when the army and popular forces foiled their attempt to infiltrate toward Mocha district of Taiz province overnight, a military official told Saba on Monday.
The operation killed and injured dozens of the mercenaries.
The official also said that the US-backed Saudi-paid mercenaries also tried to move toward al-Khadhra area, under heavy cover by the aggression warplanes, and support from Al-Qaeda members, Daesh and the Janjaweed militia, but the mercenaries' attempt also was thwarted.
Many mercenaries were killed and two of their military vehicles were damaged in the botched operation.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454589.htm
30.1.2017 – Fars News (A K PH)
Commander: Saudi Arabia Making Use of Al-Qaeda, ISIL in Bab Al-Mandab Region
A senior Yemeni military commander disclosed that Saudi Arabia is taking advantage of the presence of terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda and the ISIL, in Bab al-Mandab region.
"The Yemeni army and popular forces have tried hard in recent days to prevent the advances of the Saudi-led militias in the Northern part of Dhubab region," Senior Yemeni Commander Hamed Anwar al-Nour told FNA on Monday.
He said the Saudi-led troops are also using al-Qaeda and ISIL in their attacks.
The commander reiterated that the Yemeni forces blocked efforts by the Saudi-backed militants who had the support of the kingdom's Apache helicopters to advance towards al-Jadid, al-Kadaheh, al-Khazra and al-Amri regions and from there towards Northern Dhubab region.
"Tens of Riyadh-backed militants were killed and wounded while their armored vehicles were also destroyed," he said.
The commander said that Saudi Arabia's bombardments of Yemen's residential regions have not helped the Saudi-backed militants to advance in Dhubab and al-Mukha regions.
In relevant remarks earlier on Sunday, military sources declared that the second-in-command of the Saudi-led Arab coalition troops and his men have been killed in fierce clashes with the Yemeni army and popular forces in Bab a-Mandab.
Saeed al-Samati al-Sabihi, the lieutenant commander of the Saudi-led troops in Bab al-Mandab, was killed along with a number of his officers and soldiers in Southwestern Yemen.
Saeed al-Samati ranked second after Heisam Qassem Taher in Saudi Arabia's so-called Golden Arrow Operations in Bab al-Mandab.
Also earlier on Sunday, the Yemeni army's missile units fired several Katyusha rockets at the gathering centers of the Saudi-backed militants in Ta'iz province, inflicting heavy losses on them.
"The Riyadh-backed militias' concentration centers in Jabal al-Shabakeh area of Dhubab region in Ta'iz province was hit by Yemen's Katyusha rockets," the Arabic-language media quoted an unnamed military source as saying.
The source noted that the Yemeni forces also pounded the military base of the militias loyal to former fugitive President Mansour Hadi in Hamir area of Maqnaba region in Ta'iz province.
Also on Sunday, the Yemeni army and popular forces continued their advances against the Saudi-backed militants in Ta'iz province, inflicting major losses on them.
"Over 50 Saudi-hired mercenaries, including some from Sudan, were killed in clashes with the Yemeni forces in the coastal city of al-Mukha in Ta'iz province," a Yemeni security source said.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951111000487
29.1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Rocketry Force hit Saudi-paid mercenaries in Taiz
The Rocketry Force of the Army and popular committees fired Katyusha rockets on a gathering of the US-backed Saudi-paid mercenaries in Dhubab area on Taiz province,a military official told Saba on Sunday.
The shelling hit the target accurately.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454484.htm
and contradicting:
30.1.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Arab Coalition air defense systems intercept two Houthi ballistic missiles in al Mocha
The air defense systems of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition have intercepted two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthi militias and Saleh forces on Sunday evening on the pro-government forces sites in the Air Defense camp, southern al Mocha city, western Taiz governorate.
Military sources said that the first missile was fired at around four o’clock on Sunday afternoon from Khalid bin al Walid military camp, which is 30 kilometers away from al Mocha city.
“The second missile was fired from Abu Musa al Ashari military camp in al Khokha region, southern Hodeida, which is 90 kilometers away from al Mocha”. According to the sources
http://almasdaronline.com/article/88430
29.1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Two military vehicles of mercenaries destroyed in Taiz
The army and popular forces destroyed two military vehicles belonging to Saudi-paid mercenaries on Haijat Alabd area in Thubab district of Taiz province, a military official told Saba on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the US-Saudi aggression fighter jets waged two strikes on al-Amri area in the same province, dropping cluster bombs.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454559.htm
29.1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Mercenaries killed in Taiz
The army and popular forces targeted gatherings of Saudi-paid mercenaries in Tha'abat area in Taiz province, a military official said Sunday.
Tens of mercenaries were killed.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454481.htm
29.1.2017 – Fars News (* A K PH)
Over 50 Saudi-Backed Militias Killed in Yemeni Forces' Offensives in Ta'iz
The Yemeni army and popular forces continued their advances against the Saudi-backed militants in Ta'iz province, inflicting major losses on them.
"Over 50 Saudi-hired mercenaries, including some from Sudan, were killed in clashes with the Yemeni forces in the coastal city of al-Mukha in Ta'iz province," a Yemeni security source said.
"Most of the Riyadh-backed militias were from Abyan and Dhale provinces," the source added.
He went on to say that two military planes carrying a large number of Sudanese mercenaries had landed in Aden airport on Friday night.
"Most of the Sudanese mercenaries have been killed in clashes with the Yemeni forces in Dhubab and al-Mukha warfronts over the past two days," the security source added.
In a relevant development on Saturday, the Yemeni army and popular forces foiled an attempt by the Saudi army troops to penetrate into several regions in Ta'iz province.
The Saudi troops were trying to pave their way into al-Jadid, Al-Kadaheh and al-al-Khazra regions in Ta'iz, but they were pushed back from their positions before they could take any meaningful action.
Several Saudi troops were killed and many more were wounded in their failed attempt to capture the new regions in Ta'iz province.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951110000688
30.1.2017 – Al Sahwa (A K PS)
90 Houthi rebels killed in Mocha
About 90 Houthis rebels and 19 Yemeni soldiers were killed in confrontations in the town of Mocha and surrounding areas located in the eastern coastal during the past 24 days, medics told AFP.
The medical sources said that al-Olofi Hospital in al-Hudeidah received more than 90 corpses of the Houthis and a number of wounded fighters.
Military sources said that the coastal line linking between al-Hudeidah and Mocha was violently hit by the Arab Coalition's air-fighters.
The sources said the coalition also launched strikes on Mocha and other surrounding positions, affirming that the national army took over a number of streets inside the town.
Meanwhile, Commander of the Fourth Military Region Fadhal Hassan has revealed that Iranian-made weapons were captured in the town of Mocha after it was raided by the Yemeni army.
Hassan said that the included medium weapons, ammunitions and others were seized, pointing out that the military managed to remove all landmines from the town of Mocha.
Meanwhile, military sources affirmed that the Arab Coalition sent military reinforcement to Mocha, pointing out that all western coasts will be liberated.
He emphasized that the government forces could resume a lot of public facilities and streets in Mocha and around it.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-3456 and similar: https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-3457
30.1.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Al: Mocha fighting escalates, coalition fighters launch ten airstrikes on Houthi sites
The battles escalated on Sunday between the pro-government forces and the Houthis and Saleh forces in the eastern areas of al Mocha district, western Taiz governorate, southwestern Yemen.
A field source told Almasdaronline that heavy fighting was flaring in al Hali neighborhood, near the governmental complex eastern Mocha, and in al Sueis neighborhood, southern the city.
Meanwhile, dozens of Houthi snipers were stationing on the surrounding buildings, on the governmental complex, and on the main road leading to the downtown.
The Houthi militias were also shelling with machine guns the teams entrusted to clear the landmines in al Suez neighborhood and the main road, in an attempt to prevent the government forces and their tanks from reaching al Mocha port.
On the other hand, the fighters of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition launched more than 10 air raids on the Houthis and allied forces sites northern l Mocha city and Mawza district
http://almasdaronline.com/article/88427
29.1.2017 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A K PS)
Yemeni Army Fights Inside Mokha
The Yemeni Army now controls the downtown of the Mokha city after it had liberated the port and other large areas in the coastal region.
A Yemeni military official said on Saturday that Yemeni government forces had succeeded to advance in the Red Sea port of Mokha city following fierce battles.
The source said that forces allied with Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and supported by the Saudi-led Arab Coalition forces were capable of recuperating the police station and several streets inside the city, in addition to controlling all government buildings and security administrations.
http://english.aawsat.com/2017/01/article55366502/yemeni-army-fights-inside-mokha
My comment: Saudi source. “Yemeni Army” = Saudi-backed southern government forces. The reports of both sides still are very contradictory. And western and international media only rely on the Hadi side’s reports.
29.1.2017 – AFP (* A K)
Clashes on Yemen west coast kill more than 100: medics
Fierce battles between Yemeni government forces and Shiite rebels on the country's west coast have killed more than 100 fighters in the past 24 hours, officials said on Sunday.
The bodies of at least 90 Huthi rebels were taken to a hospital in the Red Sea city of Hodeida, which is controlled by the insurgents, while 19 dead soldiers were taken to the southern port city of Aden, the medical and military sources said.
Loyalists backed by the firepower of a Saudi-led Arab coalition advanced Saturday into the town after having captured its port on Monday, despite strong rebel resistance.
Clashes raged in the town on Sunday, a military official said.
Air strikes by coalition warplanes hit rebel supplies along the route between Mokha and Hodeida, the official said.
29.1.2017 – Xinhua (* A K)
Yemen fighting leaves 120 dead within 24 hours
Intense fighting between Saudi-backed government forces and Shiite Houthi rebels in western Yemen claimed the lives of 120 fighters from the two-warring sides over the past 24 hours, official sources said Sunday.
In the latest armed confrontations in and around the country's Red Sea coastal city of Mocha, according to a local official, more than 95 members of the pro-Houthi Shiite forces were killed and many others injured.
Heavy reinforcements of the pro-Houthi forces were mobilized to confront Saudi-backed government forces in the strategic town of Mocha, sparking fierce battles, the source said on condition of anonymity.
Government forces lost more than 25 soldiers within 24 hours but managed to repulse several attacks launched by Houthi rebels, according to the local source.
Aircraft and armored vehicles from the Saudi-led coalition were heavily involved in the anti-Houthi offensive, the source said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-01/29/c_136019949.htm
29.1.2017 – Fars News (A K PH)
Ta'iz: Saudi-Backed Militias' Positions Come Under Yemeni Army's Katyusha Rocket Attacks
The Yemeni army's missile units fired several Katyusha rockets at the gathering centers of the Saudi-backed militants in Ta'iz province, inflicting heavy losses on them.
"The Riyadh-backed militias' concentration centers in Jabal al-Shabakeh area of Dhubab region in Ta'iz province was hit by Yemen's Katyusha rockets," the Arabic-language media quoted an unnamed military source as saying on Sunday.
The source noted that the Yemeni forces also pounded the military base of the militias loyal to former fugitive President Mansour Hadi in Hamir area of Maqnaba region in Ta'iz province.
In a relevant development earlier on Sunday, the Yemeni army and popular forces continued their advances against the Saudi-backed militants in Ta'iz province, inflicting major losses on them.
"Over 50 Saudi-hired mercenaries, including some from Sudan, were killed in clashes with the Yemeni forces in the coastal city of al-Mukha in Ta'iz province," a Yemeni security source said.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951110001341
29.1.2017 – Fars News (A K PH)
Saudi-Led Troops' Second-In-Command Killed in Bab Al-Mandab Battle
Military sources declared that the second-in-command of the Saudi-led Arab coalition troops and his men have been killed in fierce clashes with the Yemeni army and popular forces in Bab a-Mandab.
Saeed al-Samati al-Sabihi, the lieutenant commander of the Saudi-led troops in Bab al-Mandab, was killed along with a number of his officers and soldiers in Southwestern Yemen.
Saeed al-Samati ranked second after Heisam Qassem Taher in Saudi Arabia's so-called Golden Arrow Operations in Bab al-Mandab.
In a relevant development earlier on Sunday, the Yemeni army's missile units fired several Katyusha rockets at the gathering centers of the Saudi-backed militants in Ta'iz province, inflicting heavy losses on them.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951110001683
cp17b Kriegsereignisse: Sonstige / Theater of War: Other
31.1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army kills Saudi soldiers, destroys five vehicles
The army and popular forces killed two Saudi soldiers in Jizan province and destroyed five Saudi military vehicles in Najran and Assir
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454720.htm
31.1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Mercenaries killed in Taiz
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454713.htm
31.1.2017 – Al Sahwa (A K PS)
Yemen's army scores gains in al-Dhale'a
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-3492
30.1.2017 – Reuters (A K)
U.N. office in Saudi Arabia hit by Yemen rockets: Al-Arabiya TV
Rockets fired by Yemeni rebels into Saudi Arabia on Monday damaged a United Nations office in the kingdom's southern Asir region, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV reported.
The glass entrance of the U.N. building in Dhahran al-Janoub province, along the border with Yemen, was damaged by a Katyusha rocket launched by the Iran-allied Houthi group who control Yemen's capital, Al-Arabiya reported, citing its correspondent.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-security-yemen-idUSKBN15E1LZ?rpc=401&
30.1.2017 – UN News Centre (A P)
Yemen: UN envoy condemns attack on building used to monitor cessation of hostilities
The United Nations envoy for Yemen strongly condemned today the attack on the De-escalation and Coordination Committee building, which regularly houses UN Staff, in Dhahran Al-Janoub, which is in Saudi Arabia near the Yemeni border.
“It is especially tragic that this attack took place at a point in time where we are calling for a restoration of the cessation of hostilities,” UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said.
Noting that the building attacked was supposed to host the committee that will oversee the cessation of hostilities and report on violations, the Special Envoy said: “The United Nations maintains a regular presence in this building and this incident is not a sign of good faith.”
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=56072#.WJAY8fnhCUl
Comments by Hussam Al-Sanabani: Saudi blockade on Sana'a airport & the daily bombardment on #Yemen are sign of what?
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/826165643347107840
Where were you when Saudi strike kills Two members of #Yemen De-escalation & Coordination Committee in the funeral hall?
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/826164460289142785
My comment: Fascinating to compare how many attacks and raids in this war he did NOT condemn or even mention.
30.1.2017 – Sana Net (A K PH)
Army repels attempts to advance in Mareb
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454656.htm
30.1.2017 – Sana Net (A K PH)
Three Saudi soldiers killed in Jizan
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454666.htm
30.1.2017 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
#Saada: Saudi artillery shelling targeting the areas of Al-Sheikh and Aladenh directorate of #Monabiah
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=62461&lang=en
30.1.2017 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Killing and Wounding in the Ranks of Mercenaries
in the Al Namla valley towards the Hreib Alqramish Mountains in Mareb
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=62490&lang=en
30.1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army kills Saudi soldier, hits military headquarters in Asir, Najran
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454606.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=62485&lang=en
29. 1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army destroys Saudi military ordnance in Jizan, Asir, Najran
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454573.htm
29. 1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army bombards Saudi enemy troops in Asir
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454554.htm
29. 1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Mercenaries' military vehicle destroyed, crew killed in Mareb
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454531.htm
29. 1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Dozens of Saudi-paid mercenaries killed in Jawf
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454517.htm
29. 1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Mercenary security leader killed in Abyan
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454493.htm
29. 1.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Missile force targets Al Hammad base in Najran
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news454477.htm
29.1.2017 – Haykal Bafana (A K)
Heavy reinforcements by Sanaa regime forces to Krish district, Lahj today. Does a push south to Aden city come? Hadi just fled
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/825814879151988736
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
? – Exposing the Invisible (* B P)
Automated Sectarianism and Pro-Saudi Propaganda on Twitter
Possibilities of technological liberation through social media use has been marred by increasingly innovative use of counter-revolutionary or informational control tactics by national authorities, global corporations, intelligence agencies and Western PR firms. The Arab Uprisings have brought this into sharp relief, and far from being the stuff of conspiratorial fantasy, the dangers of social media are real. From using social media to deliver malicious links that identify activists, to using torture to extract login details for activists’ social media accounts, technology has presented multiple opportunities for regime surveillance and control. Furthermore, technologies like Prism, which track online sources for signs of information that can increase social tension, also reflect how personal sharing can facilitate information interventions by state agencies.
Yet it recently came to light that the extent of social media disinformation in the Persian Gulf was a lot deeper than originally known. Back in June 2016, Twitter informed me that they had suspended 1,800 accounts for showing spam-like activity after I submitted an investigation to them. The investigation I had undertaken revealed that thousands of ‘fake’ Twitter accounts were polluting hashtags around the Persian Gulf with anti-Shia and anti-Iranian propaganda. Many were promoting discourses that mirrored that of the Islamic State, such as branding the Shia as ‘rejectionist of the true Islamic faith' (Rawafid).
These thousands of accounts would, at certain times of the day, generate hundreds to thousands of tweets per hour, quickly flushing out legitimate tweets on various hashtags, including #Bahrain, #Yemen, #Saudi and others. The data suggests at least 10,000 of tweets per day were emanating from these suspicious accounts. While thousands of the tweets contained sectarian rhetoric, the majority of the tweets from these suspicious accounts focused on hashtags on #Saudi regions, from #Riyadh to #AlQatif, with the content generally lionising the Saudi government or Saudi foreign policy. However, a significant proportion of those tweets were also used to attack the #Bahrain and #Yemen hashtag.
To ascertain the scale of the automated or spam-like tweeting operation, I have analysed hundreds of thousands of tweets from Twitter on different hashtags, on different days. For the purpose of this article, I am drawing from a selection of these cases – by Marc Owen Jones
https://exposingtheinvisible.org/resources/obtainingevidence/automated-sectarianism
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-259-yemen-war-mosaic-259
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-259: / Yemen War Mosaic 1-259:
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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