Yemen war photos – Yemen’s wheat stocks running out – Famine – Warmongering politics: US, Trump, Yemen and Iran – British government, Yemen and Saudi Arabia – US raid at Yakla village – Why are US forces in Yemen at all? – Saudi propaganda in the US – and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche/ UN and peace talks
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp9 USA
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
cp13b Flüchtlinge / Refugees
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
10.2.2017 – International Business Times (** B H K)
Civil war in Yemen: Two years of horrifying conflict in 75 powerful photos
IBTimes UK looks back at nearly two years of devastating civil war in the Arab world's poorest nation.
Yemen has been divided by nearly two years of civil war that pits the Iran-allied Houthi group against a Western-backed Sunni Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia that is carrying out air strikes. At least 10,000 people have been killed in the fighting. The United Nations said that 12 million people in Yemen face the threat of famine, and the situation is rapidly deteriorating. Nearly 3.3 million people – including 2.1 million children – are acutely malnourished, UN figures show. They include 460,000 children under age five with the worst form of malnutrition who risk dying of pneumonia or diarrhoeal disease. An estimated 63,000 Yemeni children died last year of preventable causes often linked to malnutrition, Unicef said. Some 18.8 million people, or more than two-thirds of Yemen's population, need some form of assistance, and about 10 million of those are "acutely affected" — requiring aid in the form of food, water, health care and protection to sustain and save their lives, the UN said.
About 55% of Yemen's medical facilities do not function and the health ministry has no operational budget, said Jamie McGoldrick, UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen. "Many of the people never make it to the feeding centres or the hospitals because they can't afford the transport," he said. "Many people die silent and unrecorded deaths, they die at home, they are buried before they are ever recorded."
"Ongoing air strikes and fighting continue to inflict heavy casualties, damage public and private infrastructure, and impede delivery of humanitarian assistance," the UN said. "The Yemeni economy is being wilfully destroyed," it added, saying that ports, roads, bridges, factories and markets have been hit – By David Sim (75 photos)
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/civil-war-yemen-two-years-horrifying-conflict-75-powerful-photos-1605848
10.2.2017 – Reuters (** A H)
Yemen's wheat stocks will run out at end of March: U.N.
Yemen's estimated supplies of wheat will run out at the end of March, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said on Friday in a report.
It suggests Yemen, an impoverished country crippled by war and on the brink of a major famine, is facing an even more urgent wheat crisis than previously thought. On Jan. 27, the top U.N. aid official in the country told Reuters that Yemen had roughly three months' supply. [nL5N1FH24Z]
"Yemen is facing the largest food security emergency in the world. Without immediate action, the situation is likely to worsen in 2017," the FAO report said.
Yemen's biggest traders have stopped new wheat imports due to a shutdown in trade finance and the absence of import guarantees from the central bank, Reuters reported in December. [nL5N1E85OX]
"Given that the country is dependent on imports for more than 90 percent of its wheat supplies, this would hasten the decline of food availability in local markets and drastically increase food insecurity in Yemen," the FAO said.
The Saudi-led coalition imposes strict conditions on the ports that it controls, and the main port of Hodeidah is badly damaged. The U.N., which is hoping to bring in four new mobile cranes to ease congestion at the port, said on Friday that air strikes on Hodeidah had intensified.
To complicate matters, Yemen's chaotic security situation means that desert locusts are breeding in several areas on the Red Sea Coast and Gulf of Aden, which could further damage the country's already struggling agriculture sector – By Tom Miles
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-wheat-idUSKBN15P2A6
10.2.2017 – FAO (** A H)
As Yemen food crisis deteriorates, UN agencies appeal for urgent assistance to avert a catastrophe
Joint assessment finds that conflict has left more than two-thirds of people in Yemen struggling to feed themselves
Joint FAO-UNICEF -WFP News Release
The number of food insecure people in Yemen has risen by 3 million in seven months, with an estimated 17.1 million people now struggling to feed themselves, according to a joint assessment by three UN agencies.
Of the 17.1 million food insecure people, about 7.3 million are considered to be in need of emergency food assistance.
The preliminary results of the Emergency Food Security and Nutrition Assessment (EFSNA) show that food security and nutrition conditions are deteriorating rapidly due to the ongoing conflict.
More than two-thirds of Yemen's population of 27.4 million people now lack access to food and consume an inadequate diet.
The EFSNA is a joint survey conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) in cooperation with the authorities in Yemen. It is the first national, household-level assessment conducted in the country since the escalation of the conflict in mid-March 2015.
Rates of acute malnutrition were found to have passed the "critical" threshold in four governorates, while agricultural production is falling across the country.
"The speed at which the situation is deteriorating and the huge jump in food insecure people is extremely worrying," said Salah Hajj Hassan, FAO Representative in Yemen. "Bearing in mind that agriculture is the main source of livelihood for the majority of the population, FAO is urgently calling for funds to scale up its agricultural livelihoods support to farmers, herders and fishing communities to improve their access to food in 2017 and prevent the dire food and livelihood security situation from deteriorating further."
"We are witnessing some of the highest numbers of malnutrition amongst children in Yemen in recent times. Children who are severely and acutely malnourished are 11 times more at risk of death as compared to their healthy peers, if not treated on time. Even if they survive, these children risk not fulfilling their developmental potentials, posing a serious threat to an entire generation in Yemen and keeping the country mired in the vicious cycle of poverty and under development," said Dr Meritxell Relano, UNICEF Representative in Yemen.
"The current level of hunger in Yemen is unprecedented, which is translating into severe hardship and negative humanitarian consequences for millions of Yemenis, particularly affecting vulnerable groups," said Stephen Anderson, WFP Country Director in Yemen. "Tragically, we see more and more families skipping meals or going to bed hungry, while children and mothers are slipping away with little to sustain themselves. WFP is urgently calling for support to provide food for the seven million people who are severely food insecure and may not survive this situation for much longer."
Food Security
The severe food insecurity situation in the country has worsened sharply in recent months, with an estimated 65 percent of households now food insecure.
In addition, three-quarters of all households indicate that their economic situation is worse now than before the crisis. Incomes have fallen and many public-sector workers have gone for months without being paid. As a result, 80 percent of Yemenis are in now in debt, and more than half of all households have had to buy food on credit.
Many households - 60 percent - have resorted to negative coping mechanisms such as eating less preferred foods, reducing portions or skipping meals altogether.
Malnutrition
The EFSNA results show that over 2 million children are acutely malnourished.
In four governorates - Abyan, Al Hudaydah, Hadramaut, and Taizz, - malnutrition rates have passed the "emergency" threshold, meaning an acute malnutrition rate of more than 15 percent. In seven governorates - namely Aden, Al Dhale'e, Al Jawf, Al Mahwit, Hajjah, Lahj, and Shabwah - rates now exceed the "serious" threshold, which indicates an acute malnutrition rate of more than 10 percent.
Agriculture
The agriculture sector is the main source of livelihood for at least 60 percent of Yemeni households. The livelihoods of this critical segment of the population have been hit hard with agricultural production falling drastically in 2016, compared to pre-crisis levels.
Up to 1.5 million households engaged in agriculture now lack access to critical agricultural inputs (including seeds, fertiliser, fuel for irrigation) and are in urgent need of emergency agricultural support. Of these, 860 000 households engaged in livestock production lack access to animal feed (fodder, concentrate, mineral blocks) and many livestock-dependent households have been forced to sell their herds to cater for other household needs.
Meanwhile, inadequate control of crop and livestock disease further erodes an already struggling agricultural sector and requires emergency protection and safeguarding of assets.
FAO's work
UNICEF's work
WFP's work
http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/470024/icode/ = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/urgent-assistance-needed-prevent-catastrophe-yemen-food-crisis-worsens
9.2.2017 – Mail Online (** A H)
Little more than skin and bone, babies wail with hunger in war-torn Yemen where more than two million children are starving
An estimated 2.2 million children in Yemen are suffering from acute malnutrition
Medics and humanitarian charities say they are unable to cope with the crisis
At least one child dies every 10 minutes from preventable diseases
More than 16,200 people have been killed in the conflict since a Saudi-led coalition intervened on behalf of Yemen's government
Shocking images showing malnourished children in war-torn Yemen show the scale of the humanitarian crisis facing the country.
It is estimated that nearly 2.2 million children are acutely malnourished, and UN chiefs are warning the country could face famine if action is not taken.
At least one child dies every 10 minutes in the country because of preventable diseases such as diarrhoea, malnutrition and respiratory tract infections (photos)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4208862/More-two-million-children-starving-war-torn-Yemen.html and film: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1409563/Over-two-million-children-Yemen-malnourished.html
10.2.2017 – Middle East Eye (** A K P)
If Trump keeps this up, Yemen’s quagmire could become a real proxy war
The White House's clumsy meddling in Yemen will inevitably worsen the conflict. The biggest winner will be al-Qaeda
Trump’s approach has so far been bullish - so bullish, in fact, it made one Yemeni tribal leader wonder if the new president had been watching a lot of Steven Seagal movies.
But even beyond Yakla, his strategy risks drawing Iran deeper into Yemen’s turmoil.
Overblown proxy label . . .
Reports that the Iranians have supported the Houthi rebels with aid and weapons, and that Hezbollah has also offered support, have led many to label the Yemeni conflict as a proxy war.
But while Saudi Arabia remains very interested in establishing its presence in the region, Iran’s power has been overstated by this narrative.
Certainly, Iran has expressed rhetoric on Yemen, declaring Sanaa the fourth capital under its remit, but the scope of its support has been said to be too limited to shape the battlefield or to consider the Houthis a true proxy for its regional struggle with Saudi Arabia. Many of the factions in the group still do not support Iranian control.
And whatever support Iran may be providing Houthi rebels – whose access to arms, by the way, is not restricted to Iran’s supply - can’t match the extensive military resources being extolled by Saudi’s coalition.
So the idea that Houthis would want Iran’s intervention because they are Zaidis and part of the Shia sect is a false equation. In sum, Iran has limited influence over how Houthis execute this war. Nonetheless, Iran is a useful ally.
Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, has support from the US and also the UK and their reasons for maintaining the Sunni government arguably go beyond the need to counter the non-existent Iranian threat. They are more likely aligned to interests in an oil pipeline in Yemen.
But if the conflict in Yemen wasn’t a proxy war before, it could soon become one.
. . . but a real proxy war on the horizon
Obama’s peace efforts in Yemen, which some argued were heading for success, have now collapsed.
Trump is goading Iran with tweets, brash speeches and threats of sanctions. His national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has called the Houthis Iran’s “proxy terrorist group” – something the previous administration explicitly refrained from doing – while White House press secretary Sean Spicer blamed Iran for attacking a US naval ship, something that simply wasn’t true.
It’s a strategy that could easily alienate those Houthis not lost to Iran’s influence already, pushing them firmly into Tehran’s sphere of influence.
It could also alienate US allies in the Yemen government, as reports of a withdrawal of permission for US ground operations following the Yakla raid suggest.
Could Russia sort out Yemen’s problems to counter US influence? One analyst thinks so. But if the Syrian conflict provides any insight into what help from Moscow looks like, this does not bode well for Yemen.
The real winner: AQAP
Despite the campaign to curb AQAP’s strength, the group has been the one clear profiteer of the conflict’s power vacuum.
If Donald Trump continues with his current policy - a combination of ill-thought counter-terrorism initiatives, increased backing of Saudi Arabia and the alienation of Iran – one party will clearly continue to profit above all – by Sophia Akram
http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/yemen-s-quagmire-could-see-real-proxy-war-emerging-702559091
Comment by Judith Brown: Well as they say in Yemen this is a proxy war. Saudi Arabia is fighting on behalf of USA and U.K. If Iran thinks this too it will keep its support for Yemen well hidden. As indeed it is doing now. Watch this space.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155206249523641
9.2.2017 – Consortium News (** A P)
Trump’s Foreign Policy at a Crossroads
Recent U.S. foreign policy – driven by neocons and liberal hawks – has spread chaos and death around the globe. But can “crazy” Donald Trump bring sanity to how the U.S. approaches the world
If you wanted to bring sanity to a U.S. foreign policy that has spun crazily out of control, there would be some immediate steps that you – or, say, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson – could take, starting with a renewed commitment to tell the truth to the American people.
Instead of the endless “perception management” or “strategic communication” or “psychological operations” or whatever the new code words are, you could open up the files regarding key turning-point moments and share the facts with the citizens – the “We the People” – who are supposed to be America’s true sovereigns.
For instance, you could release what the U.S. government actually knows about the Aug. 21, 2013 sarin gas attack in Syria; what the files show about the origins of the Feb. 22, 2014 coup in Ukraine; what U.S. intelligence analysts have compiled about the July 17, 2014 shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine. And those are just three examples of cases where U.S. government propagandists have sold a dubious bill of goods to the American and world publics in the “information warfare” campaign against the Syrian and Russian governments.
If you wanted to base U.S. foreign policy on the firm foundation of reality, you also could let the American people in on who is actually the principal sponsor of the terrorism that they’re concerned about: Al Qaeda, Islamic State, the Taliban – all Sunni-led outfits, none of which are backed by Shiite-ruled Iran. Yet, all we hear from Official Washington’s political and media insiders is that Iran is the chief sponsor of terrorism.
Of course, that is what Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states and Israel want you to believe because it serves their regional and sectarian interests, but it isn’t true. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states are the ones arming and financing Al Qaeda and Islamic State with Israel occasionally bombing Al Qaeda’s military enemies inside Syria and providing medical support for Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate operating near the Golan Heights.
The reason for this unsavory network of alliances is that Israel, like Saudi Arabia and the Sunni-led Gulf states, sees Iran and the so-called “Shiite crescent” – from Tehran through Damascus to Beirut – as their principal problem. And because of the oil sheiks’ financial wealth and Israel’s political clout, they control how pretty much everyone in Official Washington’s establishment views the Middle East.
But the interests of Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states are not in line with the interests of the American people – nor the average European – who are not concerned about militant Shiites as much as militant Sunnis. After all, the worst terror attacks on Europe and the U.S. have come from Sunni extremists belonging to or inspired by Al Qaeda and Islamic State.
This gap between the reality of Sunni-extremist terrorism and the fantasy of Official Washington’s “group think” fingering Shiite-ruled Iran explains the cognitive dissonance over President Trump’s travel ban on people from seven mostly Muslim countries. Beyond the offensive anti-Muslim prejudice, there is the fact that he ignored the countries that produced the terrorists who have attacked the U.S., including the 9/11 hijackers.
This bizarre feature of Trump’s executive order shows how deep Official Washington’s dysfunction goes. Trump has picked a major constitutional battle over a travel ban that targets the wrong countries.
But there’s a reason for this dysfunction: No one in Official Washington can speak the truth about terrorism without suffering severe political damage or getting blacklisted by the mainstream media. Since the truth puts Israel and especially Saudi Arabia in an uncomfortable position, the truth cannot be spoken – by Robert Parry
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/02/09/trumps-foreign-policy-at-a-crossroads/
9.2.2017 – The American Conservative (** A P)
Iran Hawks Take the White House
Inspired by fringe theories about Islamic civilization, Michael Flynn is leading Trump down a dangerous path.
The United States is adding new sanctions on Iran over that country’s alleged misdeeds, and nearly all of those allegations are either out-and-out lies or half-truths. It has a familiar ring to it, as demonizing Tehran has been rather more the norm than not since 1979.
Ignoring the fact that Iran cannot actually threaten the United States or any genuine vital national interests, the warning and follow-up action from the White House also contradict Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to avoid yet another war in the Middle East, which appears to have escaped Flynn’s notice. The increase in tension and the lack of any diplomatic dialogue mean that an actual shooting war might now be a “false flag,” false intelligence report, or accidental naval encounter away.
If it all sounds like a reprise of the baseless allegations and intentionally unproductive negotiations that led to the catastrophic Iraq War, it should. What “belligerent actions against the United States” Flynn was referring to, generally speaking, were not completely clear, but that lack of precision may have been intentional, to permit instant vilification of anything Tehran attempts to do to counter the hostility coming out of Washington.
Hating Iran has a considerable pedigree. I must confess to being of a generation in the federal government, like Flynn and others, where saying something derogatory about Iran was in the DNA, welcomed by all and sundry.
I should have seen it coming. In December 2015, I was present at a conference in Moscow where General Flynn explained his concept of 21st-century geo-economic-political strategy.
At the time I knew little about Flynn and his views, but I was particularly taken aback by a random shot he took at the Iranians, stating very clearly that they were responsible for “fueling four proxy wars in the Middle East.” He was presumably referring to Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Yemen. The audience, which included a number of international journalists and genuine foreign-policy experts, became somewhat restless and began to mutter
Sources of Flynn’s Worldview
Flynn was eventually fired from DIA over his hardline views, in part because of his demonization of Iran and Islam. It would be easy to suggest that Flynn has only a tenuous grasp on what is really going on in the Middle East. Consider his assertion that Shi’ite Iran is in league with groups like al-Qaeda—which consider Shi’a to be a heresy and are willing to kill its followers on that basis alone. But the situation is actually much more dangerous than the usual Washington groupthink: Flynn and Ledeen have constructed a narrative in which the world is at war with a great evil and Iran is the central player on the enemy side. It is a viewpoint that is, unfortunately, shared at least in part by the new secretaries of defense and state and endorsed by many in Congress. This has consequently developed into a new sensibility about U.S. national security that is apparently driving the Trump administration’s responses to Iranian behavior.
The Danger of Escalation
Iran certainly exhibits assertive behavior regionally. But much of its maneuvering is defensive in nature; it is surrounded by a sea of enemies, most of whom are better armed and funded than it is.
Iran will be a very tough nut to crack if Flynn has his way and the Trump White House employs military force.
I believe that Flynn is a dangerous man, possibly even mentally unhinged on some issues.
A better policy would allow Iran to diversify naturally without a constant stream of provocations that only serve to embolden hardliners – by Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, executive director of the Council for the National Interest
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/iran-hawks-take-the-white-house/
and
9.2.2017 – The American Conservative (** A K P)
The Trump Administration’s Iran Obsession and Yemen
As we have seen over the last few weeks, this Iran obsession leads Trump and his officials to exaggerate threats from Iran, accuse Iran of doing things they aren’t doing, and blame them for the actions of groups they don’t control. Inflating the threat from Iran is nothing new, as Giraldi notes, but the early and intense fixation on Iran as the source of all the region’s problems shows how eager the Trump administration is to exaggerate Iranian capabilities and influence. This isn’t a sober response to real Iranian behavior, but comes from a worldview that sees all Iranian actions in the worst possible light and attributes to Iran far more power and influence than it possesses. At best, this is a terrible way to make policy, and at worst it is a recipe for war with Iran in the near future.
Flynn’s tendency to see Iranian involvement where there isn’t any is extreme even by Washington standards, but the bigger problem is that this fantasizing isn’t likely to be called out by very many people in the media or in Congress. Many in Congress share the delusion that Iran has been “expanding” throughout the region, and they reliably echo Saudi propaganda about Yemen. Trump and his advisers are reportedly contemplating deeper U.S. involvement in Yemen based on the lie that the war on Yemen has something to do with combating Iranian influence, and they aren’t encountering much resistance or skepticism because very few people can be bothered to understand the conflict and most don’t seem to know that Iran’s role in the conflict is practically non-existent. It doesn’t help when analysts effectively endorse these errors in their framing of the conflict in Yemen.
Yaroslav Trofimov starts a report this way:
Yemen’s simmering war is getting fresh attention from Washington—to the delight of Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies, hopeful that President Donald Trump will choose the conflict as his first battleground to roll back Iran [bold mine-DL].
It would be more accurate to say that the Gulf states are delighted that the president and his officials are buying into their dishonest justification for their war. Whatever the U.S. does next in Yemen, it won’t “roll back Iran” because Iran isn’t there to be rolled back. If the Trump administration falls for this, they will be dragging the U.S. deeper into an unnecessary war that will do nothing to Iran. Instead, it will continue our shameful policy of helping to inflict death and destruction on Yemenis that have done nothing to us – By Daniel Larison
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/the-trump-administrations-iran-obsession-and-yemen/
9.2.2017 – Foreign Policy (** A P)
From SEALs to All-Out War: Why Rushing Into Yemen Is a Dangerous Idea
Getting more deeply embroiled in Yemen’s first war without a strategy for resolving the second would be a mistake. Instead, if new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wants to make an early diplomatic contribution, then there is a confounding but vital mission with his name on it: de-escalating a Yemen civil war that is damaging U.S. interests and should have stopped a long time ago.
The war has preoccupied key partners with an enemy that does not directly threaten the United States.
The timing may also be ripe. Saudi officials and their Emirati coalition partners have been signaling for months that they are eager to end the conflict, which they did not expect to last nearly this long.
And after years of U.N.-led negotiations that sought to sell a relatively one-sided peace to the Houthis (despite what was, at best, a stalemate on the ground), the Obama administration developed and bequeathed to its successors a more balanced roadmap to which all key parties (the Saudis, the Houthis, and the Yemeni government — as well as the United States, U.N., and U.K.) grudgingly agreed.
The new approach did not reflect a more neutral stance in the conflict — the Obama administration explicitly took one side. It reflected the reality, as we saw it, that the Houthis would be reluctant to concede in negotiations what could clearly not be achieved in combat.
The main innovation in the roadmap was that, rather than requiring the Houthis to make all of the concessions up front, which they would never have agreed to do, given their relative strength on the ground, it carefully sequences the various steps that constitute each side’s key demands.
For the coalition, that means the Houthis first withdraw from the Saudi border and key cities, such as Sanaa. For the Houthis, it means the subsequent replacement of the Hadi government with one that includes more of their officials in senior positions.
All of that said, making peace between these adversaries will be extremely difficult. F
Negotiating peace will also inevitably involve straining relationships with our key partners, who will need to be pushed in the right direction.
Hadi, who all relevant players acknowledge cannot govern a reconciled Yemeni state, has consistently scuttled deals that would require him leave office. His Saudi patrons have proven either unwilling, or unable, to compel better behavior and are themselves too are quick to revert to unreasonable demands — a tendency that would be reinforced if the Trump administration signals it unconditionally has Riyadh’s back.
Meanwhile, the Emiratis, who maintain a heavy troop presence in southern Yemen but have, wisely, been more focused on AQAP (the first war) than the Houthis (second), have for many months been threatening to attack the Houthi-held port of Hudeidah, a provocative step that would almost certain set back any peacemaking efforts indefinitely.
Early signs, however, suggest the new administration may take a different tack, foregoing the more balanced approach necessary to end the Yemen civil war, while aligning the United States more fully with our Gulf partners.
According to news reports the administration may soon designate Yemen a formal battlefield for U.S. troops, which would give the Pentagon and commanders in the field greater latitude to make operational decisions with less political oversight.
This approach would be fraught with risks that must be managed.
First and foremost is that the civil war, and the humanitarian and strategic catastrophe it has spawned, will not end any time soon.
Second, depending on their location, mission, and rules of engagement, an expanded presence of U.S. forces — while Yemeni and Saudi governments are still at war with the Houthis — could bring U.S. troops into close quarters with Iran and its proxies, with all of the escalatory potential that entails.
Finally, the longer the conflict with the Houthis continues, the more AQAP will continue to benefit from our, and our partners’, divided focus, as it strengthens its hold on ungoverned territory – by Jon Finer
My comment: Since the Saudi intervention, this is no more just a civil war (wrong labeling). – The menace to Saudi territory just has arised 10 weeks AFTER the Saudis had started their bombing war against Yemen; thus the Houthis menacing Saudi borders cannot have been any reason or excuse for the Saudi bombing war. – If the US still is clearly taking one side (as the author himself has said), how it seriously can serve as a peace broker? This does not work. Others than the US must do this job. – Yes, a new approach for peace in Yemen is needed. What we got so far still has been one-sided (just less than before; that’s true).
9.2.2017 – Middle East Eye (** A P)
UK government more concerned to protect Saudi arms deals than Yemeni lives
The phrase “national security” is regularly deployed by most governments to cover a multitude of sins. Britain’s relationship with Saudi Arabia has been no exception. Far from it.
It is now being used to cover up what Britain knew about Saudi Arabia’s bombing campaign in Yemen and how Britain has contributed to it.
Just as the media and the public were hearing tantalising evidence, they were told to leave the court to allow a case bought by the London-based Campaign Against The Arms Trade (CAAT) to be heard behind closed doors. British judges had earlier ruled that the British government had to answer claims that British weapons had been used in Yemen in breach of international humanitarian law.
At the opening of the case on Tuesday, it was revealed that the decision not to stop weapons exports to Saudi Arabia, taken by the then-business secretary Sajid Javid a year ago, was viewed as “finely balanced” by officials.
Edward Bell, head of the Export Control Organisation, wrote in an email: “my gut tells me we should suspend” the arms sales.
That was clearly enough said in public as far as the British government’s lawyers were concerned.
Halting arms sales to Saudi Arabia because of concerns they could be used to breach international law in Yemen would have “serious political ramifications”, James Eadie, a government lawyer told the court.
“One needs to be jolly careful – and it is appropriate in a friendly relationship to be jolly careful – about reaching judgments of serious violations of IHL (international humanitarian law).” Eadie went on: “If you refuse to allow exports, you interfere with the interests – if not rights – of those who wish to export their goods.”
Never mind basic human rights, the British government appeared to be arguing. Never mind the evidence that air strikes had killed civilians, including women and children, or that British cluster bombs – banned by the British government years ago because they pose a threat to innocent civilians, especially children, long after they have been dropped from aircraft – were being used against targets in Yemen.
The right to sell arms is more important. Little wonder the London court hearings, which end on Friday, went into secret session.
In a written statement, a senior Ministry of Defence official told the court: “The Saudis continue to seek to improve their processes and increase the professionalism of their armed forces and continue to be receptive to UK offers to provide training and advice”.
This is hardly a ringing endorsement of the Saudi pilots who have been bombing targets with British weapons. It would have been interesting to hear what exchanges took place in court behind closed doors on that, as well as other vital issues involving an armed conflict which threatens to escalate with even more dangerous consequences for the region – by Richard Norton-Taylor
8.2.2017 – Bureau of Investigative Journalism (*** A T)
Nine young children killed: The full details of botched US raid in Yemen
Working with a journalist who visited the targeted village of al Yakla five days after the raid and talked to nine of the survivors, we have collected the names and ages of all 25 civilians killed as reported by those who live there. The Bureau also has photos of the families hit and the homes destroyed as helicopter gunship fire rained down.
AQAP say 14 “of its men” were killed in the clash, including six villagers. The youngest was 17, the oldest 80.
The villagers say 25 civilians died alongside a group of militants, including nine children under the age of 13. They deny that any of the dead villagers were AQAP members. Of the nine young children who died, the smallest was only three months old. Eight women were killed, including one who was heavily pregnant. Seven more women and children were injured.
List of child victims aged under 13 as given by villagers
There is fury at the US for what the villagers say was yet another example of disregard for civilian life in the pursuit of terror.
“It is true they were targeting al Qaeda but why did they have to kill children and women and elderly people?” said Zabnallah Saif al Ameri, who lost nine members of his extended family, five of whom were children. “If such slaughter happened in their country, there would be a lot of shouting about human rights. When our children are killed, they are quiet.”
Villagers described chaos, with people shot as they attempted to flee the gun battle before helicopters opened fire.
“They killed men, children and women and destroyed houses,” said Mohsina Mabkhout al Ameri, who lost her brother, nephew and three of her nephew’s children. “We are normal people and have nothing to do with al Qaeda or [Yemeni rebel movement] the Houthis or anyone. The men came from America, got off the planes and the planes bombed us.”
Civilian deaths can provide ‘recruitment tool’ for terrorists
A nightmare unfolds
An 11-year-old is the first hit
His son Ahmed was the first casualty. According to al Dahab the 11-year-old was woken by the commotion outside and went to see what was going on. “When my son Ahmed saw them, he couldn’t tell that they were soldiers because it was dark,” he said. “He asked them ‘Who are you?’ but the men shot him. He was the first killed. No one thought that marines would descend on our homes to kill us, kill our children and kill our women.”
Tribal leaders Abdelraouf al Dahab and his brother came out to confront the soldiers and were shot dead, committee member Sadiq al Jawfi said. Local sources say they were AQAP members, and press reports released in the initial aftermath of the raid suggested that Abdelraouf and Sultan were among the primary targets of the operation. 80-year-old Saif al Jawfi, who also had al Qaeda connections according to AQAP, came out to see the commotion. He too was killed.
SEAL Team 6 attacked the home of 65-year-old Abdallah Mabkhout al Ameri, surrounding it and opened fire indiscriminately, Abdelilah al Dahab and other witnesses claimed. “When people heard the gunshots and missiles, local men rushed out of their homes to find out what was going on,” he said.
Three witnesses said the commandos shot at everyone who left their homes. In these lawless parts of Yemen every home has a Kalashnikov and the residents reached for their guns “to defend their homes and their honour,” Abdelilah al Dahab said.
The villagers say 38-year-old mother of seven, Fatim Saleh al Ameri was fatally shot by special operators while trying to flee with her two-year-old son Mohammed. “We pulled him out from his mother’s lap. He was covered in her blood,” said 11-year-old Basil Ahmed Abad al Zouba, whose 17-year-old brother was killed.
The al Ameri family was particularly badly hit. Abdallah, 65, who had survived the attack on his wedding party three years earlier, was killed alongside his 25-year-old daughter Fatima and 38-year-old son Mohammed. Three of Mohammed’s four children also died – Aisha, 4, Khadija, 7, and Hussein, 5. A further nine members of the extended family were killed.
List of dead as provided by villagers
List of dead published by AQAP
My comment: Please read in full length at the original site, very worth a full read.
9.2.2017 – The Spectator (** A P T)
Trump’s foreign policy seems designed to terrify everyone – including his own government
The US military said they were attacking a fortified al Qaeda base, a headquarters in a heavily defended compound. But the ‘headquarters’ may have been a two-room house and the ‘determined enemies’ may have included at least some women firing blindly and panicked into the night. A former international official with long experience in Yemen told me about the village where the raid took place: ‘There isn’t even mobile phone coverage there. You have to walk up this mountain in order to make calls. The idea that this group of stone houses could be hosting some kind of plot to attack the US is ludicrous.’ He went on: ‘This was an Obama era op they decided to go ahead with. But this is not the Global War on Terror. AQ don’t really exist in Yemen, never mind Isis. They’re playing in something they don’t have a clue about. It’s a local conflict with actors in a local war.’
Baraa Shiban, a Yemeni who works for the human rights group Reprieve, agreed. He first went to the village, Yakla, in 2013 when a missile fired from a US drone hit a wedding convoy. The bride and her family were killed, along with many other civilians. Local people didn’t like the jihadis, he said, because when they arrived, the drones followed. The tribal leader whose house was attacked may have sworn allegiance to al Qaeda, Shiban said, but that wasn’t certain – and if he had done so, it would have been to strengthen his position locally. At least as likely, he felt, was that the sheikh had been labelled al Qaeda by his enemies in the capital, Sanaa. The intelligence services there were still controlled by the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, ousted after 33 years in power but eager to return. He was adept at playing the Americans and kept tribal rivals in line with the threat of bringing the US military to their door.
If the picture of tribal politics in Yakla is accurate, there may have been little real ‘intelligence’ for the Americans to find.
In 2013, the former deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Sanaa, Nabeel Khoury, wrote: ‘Drone strikes take out a few bad guys to be sure, but they also kill a large number of innocent civilians. Given Yemen’s tribal structure, the U.S. generates roughly forty to sixty new enemies for every AQAP operative killed by drones.’ That arithmetic has not changed.
Still, the US military apparently wants to loosen its rules of engagement in the war against the forces of global jihad (represented by Isis as well as al Qaeda). Those in uniform cannot state their views openly but a retired US Air Force general, David Deptula, told me last year: ‘The laws of armed conflict do not require, nor do they expect, a target of zero unintentional civilian casualties…There is no such thing as immaculate warfare, it’s a horrible thing, an ugly thing…we need to finish it as rapidly as possible.’ That is in line with President Trump’s position. ‘I will quickly and decisively bomb the hell out of Isis,’ he said during the campaign. ‘Isis will be gone…and they’ll be gone quickly. Believe me.’ – by Paul Wood
8.2.2017 – Defense One (** B K P T)
Why are US Forces in Yemen at All?
Those who speak on behalf of Donald Trump categorize the outcome as his first win, and an impressive one at that. According to White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, the raid was “a successful operation by all standards,” not to mention, “very, very well thought out and executed.” Few other outside Trump’s inner circle share that assessment. By any objective measure, the raid was an embarrassing and costly failure—so much so that the Yemeni government has reportedly forbidden any further such intrusions.
My own reading of recent U.S. policy suggests that an absence of aggressiveness or an aversion to risk do not number among the explanations for why the World’s Greatest Military has accomplished so little of late. Indeed, I would submit that since 9/11, the U.S. military has demonstrated both qualities in spades. What’s been lacking is sobriety and clarity of thought.
In Afghanistan
In Iraq
Libya in 2011? Same story: Bold action, illusory success, then a first-class mess, albeit one that Libyans rather than U.S. troops were let to deal with.
It would be wrong to saddle the officer corps with exclusive responsibility for these serial disappointments. A fairer verdict would be this: Collaboration between senior Department of Defense officials, Republican and Democratic alike, and senior military officers from all services, resulted in deeply defective plans based on erroneous assumptions leading to unforeseen consequences that field commanders then struggled to contain, while expending lives and treasure with abandon.
Apportioning responsibility for military failure is not necessarily easy. Who, for example, squandered the “victory” won in Iraq in 2003?
Killing people and bombing things has become a substitute for policy and indeed for thinking.
What explains the exceedingly modest payoff that America gets for the $600 billion-plus dollars that congress annually funnels to the Pentagon? It’s ludicrous to suggest, as Exum does, that the problem lies with timid and slow-moving civilian officials who have “denied subordinate commanders the flexibility to exploit opportunities they saw on the battlefield.” No, the real problem is that the senior civilian officials aided and abetted by the military professionals to whom they look for professional advice have jointly failed in the formulation of a coherent strategy—a concrete plan to achieve U.S. policy objectives at a reasonable cost.
Senior civilians and senior military officers today engage in their tug of war over military minutiae—when, how, and whether to conduct a raid—because doing so enables them to sustain the pretense that the United States is engaged in a strategically purposeful enterprise: that America is killing people pursuant to some plausible political outcome. The truth of the matter is that America is killing people—terrorists and others—because its leaders don’t know what else to do.
Killing people and bombing things has become a substitute for policy and indeed for thinking. Where there should be strategy, there is a void. Will a president who looks to the likes of Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn for advice fill that void? I don’t think so.
The operative question is not: Why did last week’s raid in Yemen fail? Instead, it is: What are U.S. forces doing there in the first place? How, at this stage of the game, is further expansion of the conflict once known as the Global War on Terrorism advancing the basic security interests of the United States? All that Mr. Trump is doing is to embrace the legacy of his predecessors: perpetuating what has become an open-ended war of attrition.
“Slow and ponderous”? Me, I’ll take it any day of the week, especially if the sole alternative on offer is “hasty and stupid,” as it appears to be – by Andrew J. Bacevich, professor of history and international relations at Boston University
http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2017/02/why-are-us-forces-yemen-all/135265/
7.2.2017 – Daily Caller (** B P)
EXCLUSIVE: Saudi Cash Is Sending Veterans On LUXURY Trips To Washington To Oppose 9/11
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is paying at least one large public relations firm in Washington, D.C. to recruit American military veterans who will agree to visit Capitol Hill to tell members of Congress — in person — that they oppose a new federal law allowing civil lawsuits against state sponsors of terrorism.
Saudi Arabia’s government also appears to be funding luxurious, all-expenses-paid trips to Washington, D.C. for the veterans which include stays at the $500-per-night Trump International Hotel.
The law is the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), which creates a way for American citizens to file civil claims against foreign governments for deaths and other damage related to terrorist acts if the foreign governments financed those attacks.
In November, two Republican senators, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, proposed an amendment to JASTA that would allow Americans to sue foreign governments for terrorist attacks only if the foreign nations “knowingly engage with a terrorist organization directly or indirectly, including financing.”
Saudi Arabia is paying Qorvis MSLGROUP, “one of the largest public relations firms in the world,” to lobby for the McCain-Graham amendment.
Qorvis is the primary registrant for two consultants — and possibly more — who are working in different parts of the country to recruit veterans to oppose JASTA in the halls of Congress.
One of the consultants Qorvis has hired — on an undisclosed salary — is Eric Eisenhammer, the founder and CEO of Dauntless Communications, “a digital communications and public affairs company” in California.
Qorvis has also hired Tennessee-based consultant Paul Stanley for a lump sum payment of $12,000.
A third person attempting to recruit veterans who will personally tell members of Congress they oppose JASTA is Sarah Durand, the former chief of staff for Kentucky first lady Glenna Bevin (and, before that, president of the Louisville Tea Party).
Durand’s may or may not have any affiliation with Qorvis.
Malachias Gaskin, a combat veteran from Tennessee, told TheDC that he initially received a vague recruiting email in January from a friend, also an ex-soldier, seeking veterans to speak in Washington – by Eric Owens (with documents)
cp2 Allgemein / General
10.2.2017 – Newsweek (* B H T)
YEMEN: WHY WOMEN FOUGHT AGAINST THE U.S. NAVY SEALS IN TRUMP'S FIRST COUNTERTERRORISM OPERATION
In Yemen, starvation and a bloody civil war are leading some women to join Al-Qaeda.
The civilian deaths were a shocking PR blunder, but part of the reason so many women were killed is that some of them actually squared off against the SEALs. A Department of Defense spokesperson later said they appeared to be trained combatants of AQAP, Al-Qaeda’s offshoot in Yemen and Saudi Arabia and one of the group’s most dangerous branches. The fate of the female Al-Qaeda fighters made me wonder why they joined such a brutal group. There is no excuse for militants’ attacks, of course, but it’s important to understand their root causes. That would include ideology but also desperation: Yemen is rapidly running out of resources. When people are hungry and need to feed their kids, they will resort to almost anything.
“We are Arab, Muslim and tribal—but very different from other women in the Middle East and Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Suha Bashren, a gender specialist with the nongovernmental organization Oxfam, tells me. In Yemen, she says, the law makes few provisions for women outside the family structure. “We have to be attached to men. We cannot stand by ourselves.”
There is also hunger. Malnutrition in Yemen is at an all-time high and increasing.
Even before the conflict, however, Yemeni women struggled.
Everyone who studies radicalization knows that education and decreasing poverty mitigate its effects. It’s not hard to imagine someone like Aisha being pulled into a jihadi cell because she needs to eat, or because she is being told what to do. If she accepted a forced marriage in order to survive, it’s not hard to imagine her picking up a gun for the same reason.
Many have pointed to the irony of Trump’s attempted ban coinciding with the disastrous operation in Yemen. “How can the United States kill Yemenis while simultaneously barring civilians from seeking refuge here?” al-Mowafak wrote.
Like many others, she worries that the travel ban and the American military presence in the Middle East will quickly help Al-Qaeda recruitment efforts – BY JANINE DI GIOVANNI
http://europe.newsweek.com/yemen-donald-trump-terrorism-navy-seal-poverty-al-qaeda-554757?rm=eu
My comment: In the case of this US raid, we just do not have enough knowledge. Did women really fight or is this just US propaganda to justify that so many women were killed? – Did some women – relatives of the men at place – just did take guns during the attack for self defence? – Have these women or some of them really been active AQAP fighters? We actually do not know.
Comments by Haykal Bafana: Al Qaeda female jihadis? Doubtful.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/830376156331380736
The US soldiers entered a house which only had women & kids in it. It is the blackest of shames in Yemen's tribal laws.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/830392642932449280
A demand for surrender of the house's occupants shld've been demanded, instead of storming a house full of women & kids.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/830393738950225920
10.2.2017 – Sputnik (A K P)
Yemen Conflict Causes No Change in Vessel Movement - Canadian Commander
The ongoing conflict in Yemen has had no impact on the movement of vessels in and around Bab-el-Mandeb strait linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, Canadian Commodore Haydn Edmundson told Sputnik.
Edmundson is the Commander of Combined Task Force 150 and Operation ARTEMIS, which is Canada’s contribution to maritime security and counterterrorism operations in the international waters of the greater Middle East region, including the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, and Gulf of Oman.
Edmundson said the Yemen conflict gets a lot of the attention in the region.
"That is certainly taking a lot of the attention…and the efforts by respected nations to try to maintain a sense of peace and stability and security so that we can continue to ensure that the international waters…remain open and free for use by international community," he added.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201702111050567049-yeman-conflict-vessel-movement/
My comment: To last paragraph: I doubt that, as long as the Saudis have a free pass to bomb around there.
10.2.2017 – RT (B P)
'US President Trump needs Iran much more than he realizes’
If President Trump is honest in ending extremism, he has to stop supporting the Saudi war in Yemen, promoting Wahhabism as an ideology, and funding extremist groups, said Prof. Seyed Mohammad Marandi, political analyst at the University of Tehran
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/376953-iran-protests-trump-war/
10.2.2017 – RT (* B P)
'War means profit'
David Swanson, US author, blogger, and activist
DS: Candidate Donald Trump famously and to his credit suggested that he would engage in fewer wars, if any wars, of overthrow and so-called nation-building. This was very encouraging to people in the US who wanted to get out of this business and even see the current occupations of places like Afghanistan, the wars in Iran, Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere, ended.
But President Trump has been very quick to back off on numerous commitments. He suggested reconsidering the very existence of NATO and backed off that immediately under the slightest pressure from the US military. He suggested scrapping a very expensive military airplane called the F-35 and reversed himself on that the minute he sat down with people from the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of that airplane. He has shown a pattern of following where the military establishment in Washington D.C. wants to go, if not pushing them a little further.
Yes, he is certainly committed to not overthrowing any new government, or starting any new wars, but since coming into power he has also been playing on quite different promises he made:
The hostility that has been built up over the years with Iran makes Iran the most likely place for warmongers within the US government to push President Trump into a war. The minute that there is a new incident with Iran that any large section of the public takes seriously, President Trump will be very much inclined to respond militarily. RT: The US is already borderline unchallenged in its leading role as an international arms exporter. Do you think the US military manufacturers are excited about this escalation with Iran?
DS: Clearly war has always been a profitable racket – that remains the case. You have members of the US Army and the Pentagon telling US media publications, like Politico, that the purpose of the Cold War with Russia is largely profit. There is certainly much profit to be made in any war and in any buildup toward war, including through weapon sales to nations in the region. The US is leading the way in arms deals with the Middle East, with the only other supplier even in the same ballpark is Russia.
The members of the Cabinet and the inner circle of the Trump administration are in many cases deeply involved in the arms industry, and have been on the boards of major weapons manufacturers right up until entering public office. This is not the overriding factor. It is not all-determining. I think much of what is at stake here, much of what is driving this, is ideological. But the profit motive is a big one, and it is not a question of profit in the US public – it is a question of profiting certain individuals and their ability to corrupt the decisions of the US government.
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/376953-iran-protests-trump-war/
9.2.2017 – Moon of Alabama (* B K)
Its Foreign Greed And Delusion That Kills Yemeni Children
Ten-thousands, and soon hundred-thousands die in Yemen as result of zealotry, greed and bureaucratic infighting of foreign countries. The Wahhabi Saudis fight in Yemen against Iranian Shia that ain't there. Under the eyes of the CIA they nurture local al-Qaeda forces to do their bidding. The UAE seeks new ports in Yemen thereby disturbing Saudi pipeline dreams. The Pentagon tussles with the CIA over budgets of special operations. The minor local Yemeni conflicts between the various tribes develop into a war due to foreign interference and financing. Bombing campaigns have replaced tribal mediation.
The executive branch of the United Nations is under pressure from the U.S.-Saudi coalition. It is not allowed to report on the real consequences of the devastating war on Yemen. The leads to rather comical assertions.
On August 31 2016 the UN coordinator on Yemen Jamie McGoldrick said that 10,000 people had died due to the war on Yemen:
On January 17 2017 the UN coordinator on Yemen Jamie McGoldrick said that 10,000 people had died due to the war on Yemen:
The UN numbers did not change from August 2016 to January 2017. Despite intense bombing and ravaging famine no one seems to have died. But those numbers are of course mere fantasies. The real death toll due to the war on Yemen is at least ten times higher. The numbers the UN envoy claims are political. He is not allowed to reveal the real ones.
But the UN giving in to blackmail did not save any children. UNICEF, somewhat independent from the General Secretary, reports much higher (though still incomplete) numbers that come nearer to the truth:
Besides the war on the Zaidi, geo-political conflicts are waged in Yemen. The Saudis accuse the Zaidi of being proxy forces of Iran. But there is no evidence for this. No Iranian weapons or Iranian advisor have been seen in Yemen. Iran had warned the Houthi not to expend their rule. Contacts between the Houthi and Iran are now few and superficial. The U.S. navy caught a few smuggling Dau on the way from maybe Iran to Somalia. It claims that the old and few weapons they carried were destined for Yemen which is already overflowing with weapons. No evidence for this claim has been provided.
The real geo-political fight is taking place within the U.S.-Saudi coalition. The United Arab Emirates is nominally part of the coalition. They have provided forces and hired mercenaries to fight the Houthi in Yemen. But it is mainly interested in the southern ports of Aden (containers and general cargo) and Mukalla (oil and gas) and supports a southern independence movement. The UAE owned port management company DP World had its exclusive concessions for the ports canceled when the Houthi kicked out the former government. First the Houthi, then al-Qaeda took control over the ports. The UAE now occupies the port cities with the help of south-Yemeni mercenaries and again manages and controls the ports.
The Saudis have their own interest in those ports. They have plans for pipelines from their main oilfields up north to Mukalla. The pipelines would allow the Saudi oil exports to circumvent the vulnerable sea lane through the street of Hormuz. But for that they need a port on the Yemeni coast.
The Saudis have supported and allied themselves with radical Salafi groups in Yemen. One of these runs under the name al-Qaeda but it is not as tightly joined to the global al-Qaeda organization as it seems. The Saudi supported al-Qaeda groups, originally hired to fight the Houthi, "liberated" the southern ports. They were ordered out when UAE supported forces arrived but intermittently attacks the UAE occupied Aden and, as Yemeni sources claim, also attacks Mukalla under the label ISIS or Islamic State.
This murky conflict is again coming to the fore because UAE special forces took part in a recent U.S. raid on an alleged al-Qaeda camp in Yemen.
My recent discussions with Yemeni sources developed around the following speculative picture. In the war on Yemen the Pentagon is mainly allied with UAE and supports its plans for southern Yemen. The CIA is mainly allied with the Saudis, supports their plans and condones their alliance with al-Qaeda. The main target of the U.S. military raid was warned by the Saudis and escaped. The necessary information came from CIA channels.
A similar split between the CIA which supports Jihadis like al-Qaeda and the Pentagon which has to fight them occurred in Syria. The CIA provided weapons, paid by the Saudis, to various militant Islamist groups which the Pentagon knows it will later have to fight. The Pentagon tried to sabotage those CIA operations.
The Yemeni children, dying of hunger, are the sorry victims of such idiotic fights. Bureaucracy infighting in the U.S. and pissing contests of Arab sheiks over transports routes around the Gulf are deciding their fates.
Yesterday the New York Times editors, again drunk on cool aid, revealed their self-delusions to the world:
At least in recent decades, American presidents who took military action have been driven by the desire to promote freedom and democracy, ...
That lie will surely be solace for the relatives of the kids killed in the special force raid in Yemen which was planned and ordered by two U.S. presidents. It will nourish the millions of children who hunger and ten-thousands who die in Yemen due to lack of food. Freedom and democracy will be valued by those dying from U.S. bombs dropped from U.S. build planes by U.S. trained Saudi pilots with the help of U.S. intelligence. The new U.S. administration plans to double down on such support.
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/02/its-foreign-greed-and-delusion-that-kills-yemeni-children-.html
9.2.2017 – Tagesspiegel (B H K)
Der geschundene Jemen
Seit zwei Jahren führt Saudi-Arabien einen Krieg gegen schiitische Aufständische im Nachbarland. Millionen Menschen leben in Angst und Armut
Waffenruhen werden ständig gebrochen, Friedensverhandlungen scheitern regelmäßig, tagtäglich sterben Menschen durch Luftschläge des saudischen Militärbündnisses. Der von den Verantwortlichen in Riad erhoffte schnelle Sieg erweist sich als Wunschdenken. Im Jemen herrschen vielmehr Tod, Not und Verzweiflung. Terrormilizen wie Al Qaida und der „Islamische Staat“ profitieren von der Situation. Die Dschihadisten sind auf dem Vormarsch und verüben immer wieder Anschläge.
Der Konflikt im Jemen ist ein alter.
http://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/krieg-und-not-der-geschundene-jemen/19372132.html
Mein Kommentar: Knappe Einführung.
9.2.2017 – Lobelog (A K P)
Deconstructing a Detonation near Yemen
On January 30, 2017, there was an explosion on a Saudi frigate sailing off the Red Sea coast of Yemen, killing two sailors. That much is uncontested. What is unclear—and politically explosive—is whether the Houthis mounted a suicide-boat attack against the frigate (as the Saudis claimed to Secretary of Defense James Mattis) or whether the explosion was caused by a surface-to-ship missile, as the Houthis claim.
At stake is more active US involvement in the Yemeni Civil War, in the name of “checkmating Tehran’s ambitions across the region.” US assistance might help get Saudi Arabia’s singed chestnuts out of a fire of its own making. It would, however, do little to checkmate Iran, as the Yemeni conflict is an intra-elite one, and Iran has only a tangential involvement, despite its politicians’ bombast and the Saudi-led coalition’s propaganda.
The cerebral Mattis would do well to look carefully before he leaps. As he well knows—and the Saudis have found out—getting into a fight is far easier than getting out of one. It’s worth a quick re-cap of the situation:
The Houthi-Salihis are not jihadis. They are Zaydi Shi’a who have no wish to die but rather want to enjoy the spoils of their rule for as long as possible. The main Muslim users of suicide attacks are Sunnis, especially Salafis. There have been similar attacks off Yemen, all by Salafi jihadis, such as the failed attack against the USS THE SULLIVANS, the successful attack against the MV LIMBURG, and the infamous attack against the USS COLE in Aden in 2000 that some have linked to the current “legitimate” vice president of Yemen.
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) cheerfully asserted that “From a distance, the footage shows a third small boat approach the frigate, hit its stern, and explode in a massive fireball, seemingly contradicting initial reports of a missile strike.”
Some information can be gained from the videos, in particular the longer version.
It is far more likely that this was indeed another anti-shipping missile launched by Salih-aligned elements of the Yemeni military.
The Saudis are undoubtedly trying to convince Mattis that the “Shi’a” Huthis are using suicide terrorism (although no one is reported to have overtly reminded him of the 1983 Hezbollah attack on the U.S. Marine base in Beirut.) Their hope is probably that Mattis will order the US military to more actively assist them and thus tip the balance of what is already a military stalemate—even before the really tough fighting up into and through the mountains starts.
The Houthi-Salihis are probably trying to demonstrate that not only do they have the staying power (they continue to launch raids into Saudi Arabia) and the punch to cause major damage, but also that they can internationalise the conflict if it is not brought to a conclusion by external parties. Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, the internationally recognised president, has recently hardened his position.
The Iranians, meanwhile, are doubtless rubbing their hands in glee as their principal regional rivals expend billions of dollars and bog themselves down far from the Iranians’ main efforts in Syria and Iraq. There’s even a small chance that the US might get more deeply involved in a country that has gutted the Ottomans and the Egyptians. And Iran is barely involved. Sun Tzu would be impressed!
https://lobelog.com/deconstructing-a-detonation-near-yemen/
My comment: The author seems to have not known the film taken from board of the Saudi ship showing the impact of one of the Houthi boats. – And, important: It absolutely does NOT make any political difference whether the ship was attacked by missile or by “suicide boat”. Even in this case, this would not have been a “terrorist attack” (what anybody thinks of when a suicide attack is mentioned), but a simple act of war. Suicide attacks as an act of war have happened in history – like the Japanese Kamikaze pilots, attacking US vessels in WW II – and only those who have no idea of the history of warfare or clumsy propagandists can label an attack at a Saudi warship by suicide boat as a “terrorist attack”.
9.2.2017 – Al Sahwa (A K P)
Yemeni Ambassador: US has a new approach to solve Yemen's crisis
The Yemeni Ambassador to the United States Mohammed Awadh Bin Mubarak has revealed that the current US administration has a new approach to solve the Yemeni crisis and deal with Iran's proxies in the region.
In an interview with Aljazeera TV, he pointed out that the new US administration adopts a new policy towards, asserting that it is totally different from the former administration's policy.
He also said the current US administration will be firm towards Iran's behaviors, emphasizing that its will be well-founded.
He said that Obama's administration turned a blind eye to the concept of exporting the Iranian revolution and its threats against neighboring countries, indicating that it did not deal firmly with Iran.
Bin Mubarak further disclosed that there is a steady partnership between GCC states and the new administration, pointing out that this partnership aims to secure and stabilize the GCC states.
He also cited that there is a significant US-Yemeni cooperation in the field of fighting terrorism.
Bin Mubarak also said that the Yemeni government provided some notices to the US administration regarding the recent attack in al-Bayda.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-3852
My comment: That is propaganda, but it might be true. The Trump administration’s approach could really be very different, look at cp1. Well, but it certainly would not “solve” the Yemen problem, but prolong it to a nearly endless and terrible war.
9.2.2017 – Almanar (* A K P)
The Political Scene: US Saudi Aggression against Yemen towards a New Chapter?
The negotiations based upon US former Secretary of State John Kerry’s initiative yielded a zero-sum result. They were sabotaged by the Saudi side. The unsuccessful negotiations held in Muscat were considered a blow to the Omani government’s efforts. But why did the pro Saudi Yemeni side refuse the Weld Ahmad initiative?
It was clear that the UN envoy along with US top diplomat have clearly understood the new developments and that the Saudis and their allies should withdraw from the quagmire they engulfed themselves in. The initiative stated that a new president, a new Vice President should come to office, and a half – half government for every side of the crisis. Those suggestions came as a shock to the pro Saudi side and they over reacted their rejection to the initiative and its outcome.
Now, with the new US administration under trump, a new chapter in the Yemeni crisis has probably started.
Meanwhile, the recent successful targeting of Elmadina Saudi warship and the launching of the ballistic missile against the Muzahimiyyah Saudi military site in Riyadh are two strong messages from the Yemeni people that they are prepared for all developments. They expressed willingness and determination of fighting till the end. Moreover, they expressed readiness and competence to develop their capabilities though under war, siege and continuous aggression.
Any illusion that the enemies of the Yemeni people can break the unshakable decision to continue fighting will prove futile. The only solution is that the aggressors come back to their senses and realize that the political solution is their only and sole option; otherwise, the continuation of aggression will bring them more devastating results, loss, and humiliating defeat.
http://english.almanar.com.lb/185623 = http://en.abna24.com/news/middle-east/launching-ballistic-missile-expressed-yemenis-determination-of-fighting-till-the-end.html
8.2.2017 – Lobelog (* B P)
A New Security Order Needed in the Persian Gulf
Late last year in Manama, Bahrain, British Prime Minister Theresa May assured Persian Gulf oil monarchies that the United Kingdom’s anti-Iran posture would remain unchanged under her leadership.
Iranian “influence fuels instability in the region,” she told the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)’s 37th Leaders Summit, adding, “I am clear-eyed about the threat that Iran poses to the Gulf and the wider Middle East.” She committed the UK to “working with you to counter that threat” and “push back against Iran’s aggressive regional actions, whether in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Syria or in the Gulf itself.”
May reiterated this “blame Iran for everything” narrative during her recent visit to Washington, DC, in a speech to Republican Congress members.
Shortly after her visit, Donald Trump signed an executive order banning visa and green card holders from seven Muslim-majority nations, including Iran, from entering the United States. Conspicuously absent from the list of affected countries? The monarchies of the Arabian Peninsula. Of course, no Iranian has ever been convicted of committing an act of terrorism in the United States, as opposed to several Saudi citizens, despite the Trump administration referring to the order as an anti-terror bill.
Behind the overblown rhetoric is a convergence of Western bellicosity and economic opportunity.
After Brexit, Britain is desperately seeking to deepen its relationships with new and emerging markets outside Europe. Such reliable cash cows can be found in the “closed, coercive, and cruel” regimes of the GCC and Turkey.
Britain sees these countries as excellent markets for UK-made weaponry. The more these states are told to guard against an Iranian menace, the more missile systems they’ll purchase. May is cultivating alliances based purely on divide-and-conquer hubris, mercantile mentality, and short-term economic gains, policies long pursued by her predecessors, albeit at times with less fanfare and ideological verve.
Strengthening “democracy” and promoting “freedom” are cynical talking points.
Unsurprisingly, there is no regard for human rights in any of these dealings.
The presence of Western powers such as the United Kingdom and the United States in and around the Persian Gulf has not led to a stable security order in the area. In fact, in past and present, their presence has been a source of conflict, aggression, and regional turmoil. A viable security order in the Persian Gulf region cannot be imposed from the outside and certainly not through perpetually feeding an arms race. It will only come about organically from within.
Unfortunately, the current state of affairs between Iran and the GCC nations, deliberately exacerbated by the U.S. and UK governments, won’t allow this sort of forward-thinking vision – by Javad Heiran-Nia, head of the international desk of Mehr News Agency (MNA), one of the biggest news outlets in Iran.
My comment: If anybody thinks this should be rejected because it is from Iran – it is simply true.
9.2.2017 – Oped News (* B H K)
The plight of 18.8 million war-torn Yemenis
The United Nations and humanitarian organizations Wednesday (February 8) launched an international appeal for $2.1 billion to provide humanitarian assistance to 18.8 million Yemenis. This is more than two thirds of the total population of 27.4 million of the war-devastated Yemen. At least 12 million people in Yemen need life-saving assistance in 2017, the UN sources said – By Abdus-Sattar Ghazali
Remark: Overview article, also dealing with the latest US raid in Yemen.
9.2.2017 – Yemen Ministry of Health (Sanaa) (* A K)
The Ministry of Health reveal the latest tally of the victims of raids Saudi aggression .. 30 000 dead and wounded
The Ministry of Public Health and Population announced toll rises alliance aggression Saudi UAE on Yemen civilians to about eight thousand and 936 martyrs and about 19 thousand and 215 wounded from all Yemeni provinces with a total of up to 30 thousand and 21 civilians and civilian from various business groups.
According to statistics issued by the Ministry of Education it has topped the list of the Yemeni province of Saada provinces in terms of the number of martyrs and wounded who were killed by the brutal raids Airline Alliance Saudi aggression by 2330 martyrs and 3244 wounded people of both sexes and various ages total of 5574 civilians and civilian.
It came in second place of the Secretariat of the capital Sanaa by 1595 martyrs and thousands of 6 and 93 wounded Bajmaala 7 thousand and 688 martyrs and wounded civilians, supplemented by 573 martyrs and 1136 injured in Sana'a governorate.
Hajjah province and came third in the standings by 865 martyrs and 1670 wounded a total of 2535 martyrs and wounded, and then the rest of the provinces.
My comment: These figures are much too low.
8.2.2017 – Alternet (* B H K P)
One of the Nastiest Wars in Recent History Is Raging in Yemen -- And the US Is Heavily Involved in It
Countless civilians are dying in a needless war.
A United Nations Panel of Experts sent its report to the UN Security Council this week. The tenor of the report is bleak. Yemen, say the experts, is ‘in danger of fracturing beyond the point of no return’. Furthermore, the report suggests that despite the almost two years of war, ‘an outright military victory by any one side is no longer a realistic possibility in the near term’. The UN looked at airstrikes by Saudi Arabia’s coalition and found that these are ‘almost certain’ to violate international humanitarian law and that some of the strikes ‘may amount to war crimes’.
In the interests of proportionality, the UN experts say that the Yemeni rebels, who the Saudi coalition have been fighting, are ‘highly likely’ to have violated international humanitarian law with their strikes against civilians areas (markets, hospitals and residential neighborhoods). The details in the report suggest that this verdict – while true – is unbalanced in terms of scale. There is no question that the Saudi coalition has had the ability to commit crimes at a level much higher than the Yemeni rebels. These rebels comprise the Houthis and the forces of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The UN experts panel says that the Saudi bombing, ‘while devastating to Yemeni infrastructure and civilians, has failed to dent the political will of the Houthi-Saleh alliance to continue the conflict’.
The UN report is an indictment of this merciless war. It should be read – when it is publically released – alongside the many reports by the UN agencies about the fragile condition of Yemeni society.
The West, so sanctimonious about some conflicts, is utterly silent on Yemen. The United Kingdom and the United States continue to resupply Saudi Arabia and its allies with weaponry as they pummel Yemen.
Here is another situation where the ‘international community’ is arming one side in a politically fruitless conflict, while this same ‘international community’ claims to be the arbiter of humanitarianism in the United Nations. The UN has asked for an emergency fund of $2.1 billion. Given the parsimonious contributions to the UN basket for Yemen during this war, it seems unlikely to meet its target. Easier to sell arms than to provide relief.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Last year, stunningly, fighters from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and its proxy Ansar al-Sharia joined the Saudi proxies in the battle for the southern Yemeni city of Taiz. Large parts of Southern Yemen, which the Saudi-backed forces see as their zone, are controlled by AQAP. The city of Mukalla, along Yemen’s coastline, is the capital of AQAP’s emirate – both of which wins it allies amongst the Yemenis of the Hadramawt. The AQAP government has been conducting land reforms and has abolished local taxation. Its money comes from piracy and from seizure of bank deposits. Periodic US airstrikes – such as one in March last year that killed fifty AQAP fighters – rattle the confidence of the emirate but do not threaten it. Saudi Arabia’s war has given the AQAP stability. It has provided fighters to the Saudi cause and has therefore insulated itself from bombing by the Saudi aircraft.
So let’s get this straight. The United States and the United Kingdom are arming the Saudis to conduct a war in Yemen. The Saudis, in turn, have begun to rely upon al-Qaeda to conduct the ground war in parts of Yemen. So the West has tacitly allied with al-Qaeda in this conflict.
In a show of force, AQAP rushed to capture three towns – Loder, Shuqra and Ahwa – in the southern province of Abyan. Even as they retreated from the first two, they held the third. One reason that AQAP was able to make this dash is that Yemeni troops loyal to Hadi are exhausted by their fruitless war, and they have not been paid in months. They left their posts unguarded. It is likely, as Yemeni officials say fearfully, that what was experienced in Loder, Shuqra and Ahwa would replicate itself in other towns. Why would unpaid town guards bother to fight back against the highly motivated fighters of AQAP? – By Vijay Prashad
http://www.alternet.org/world/one-nastiest-wars-recent-history-raging-yemen-and-us-heavily-involved-it = http://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/OldNewsPage/?Id=9907&%27Death%2FHas%2FCome%27%3A%2FUS-Saudi%2FArabia%2FPush%2FYemen%2FInto%2FHell
8.2.2017 – Sputnik News (* A P T)
Boden-Einsätze: Jemen nimmt Erlaubnis für US-Truppen nicht zurück – Reuters
Jemens Regierung hat ihre Erlaubnis für US-Truppen, im Rahmen des Anti-Terror-Kampfes Bodenspezialeinsätze im Land durchzuführen, nicht zurückgenommen, wie Reuters meldet. Damit wurden frühere Berichte der US-Zeitung „The New York Times“ dementiert.
„Wir haben unsere Erlaubnis für die USA, Bodenspezialeinsätze durchzuführen, nicht zurückgenommen. Aber wir haben unser Bedenken über den letzten Einsatz klar gemacht“, so ein jemenitischer Beamte gegenüber Reuters.
„Wir haben gesagt, dass es in Zukunft mehr Koordinierung mit der jemenitischen Regierung vor jedem Einsatz benötige und rücksichtvoll mit unserer Souveränität umgegangen werden soll“, gab er an.
9.2.2017 – Embassy of Yemen in USA (* A P)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: #Statement from the Embassy of the Republic of #Yemen (photo)
https://twitter.com/YemenEmbassy_DC/status/829432490347618305
Comment by Farea Al-Muslimi: #Yemeni Govt: " @nytimes claim tht we have any self-respect or a any decency is fake news & pure rumors. Every1 is welcome to kill #Yemenis"
https://twitter.com/almuslimi/status/829685503352008705
8.2.2017 – Reuters (* A P T)
White House says U.S. in touch with Yemen amid concerns about commando raid
The White House said on Wednesday it had been in touch with Yemeni officials through diplomatic channels amid concerns over a U.S. commando raid targeting al Qaeda militants that killed several civilians.
"We are in touch with Yemenis through diplomatic channels," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told a news briefing. "They understand the fight and commitment that we both share."
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-usa-raid-idUSKBN15N2I2
8.2.2017 – Reuters (* A P T)
Yemen keeps counter-terrorism operations with U.S. despite raid
Yemen said on Wednesday it had not suspended counter-terrorism operations with the U.S. government, despite controversy over a U.S. commando raid on al Qaeda militants in which several civilians were also killed.
Yemeni officials told Reuters that Sanaa had not withdrawn its permission for the United States to carry out special operations ground missions but had made clear their "reservations" about the last operation.
A statement by the Yemeni embassy in Washington said the government "stresses that it has not suspended any programs with regards to counterterrorism operations in Yemen with the United States Government".
The Yemeni government "reiterates its firm position that any counterterrorism operations carried out in Yemen should continue to be in consultation with Yemeni authorities and have precautionary measures to prevent civilian casualties."
Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi has met with the U.S. ambassador to Yemen and "made clear his reservations about the problems with the last operation," a senior Yemeni official told Reuters.
The State Department said the United States would continue working with Hadi "and his representatives to ensure that this important partnership remains solid in order to ultimately eradicate" al Qaeda and Islamic State from Yemen.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-usa-idUSKBN15N1AJ and by NYT: https://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiY19rq8YXSAhWqCJoKHcqLDyQQFggjMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2017%2F02%2F08%2Fworld%2Fmiddleeast%2Fyemen-raid-american-military.html&usg=AFQjCNFQ7HMifwbNi3NrK2wO4c1nTuJeLw = https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2017/02/08/yemen-backtracks-suspending-raids-after-civilian-casualties/FDTni5R1jfHdgNT1bMSWxO/story.html and by Saudi media: http://english.aawsat.com/2017/02/article55367222/countering-qaeda-yemen-sparks-controversy-washington
My comment: It obviously seems that the US very quickly got in contact with the Hadi government and quickly found a way to bring him to not suspend such US “counter-terrorism” operations – whether by stick or by carrot, or by both, who knows?
Remark by Erin Cunningham: On Yemen commando raid, Spicer says that the Yemeni government understands the US fight against.... ISIS. (The raid targeted AQAP).
https://twitter.com/erinmcunningham/status/829410131519610881
8.2.2017 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A P)
US official: No change in our operations in #Yemen Yemeni officials had been informed before it is implemented.
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/829406002860666884 referring to CNN Arabic: http://arabic.cnn.com/middleeast/2017/02/08/us-official-no-change-military-operations-yemen
A reminder, newly commnetd.
2016 – The Independent (* B H K)
Child soldiers make up a third of Yemeni fighters, says Unicef
UN children's programme warns of new wave of young recruits in Middle East and African conflicts
Yemen could become a new breeding ground for child soldiers, Unicef has warned, as the rise of extreme violence around the world undermines efforts to end the practice.
Comment by Judith Brown: This is so true - Yemen's schools are bombed or starved of water, electricity and textbooks. Children are living in poverty as their parents jobs have come to an end due to this terrible war. Children have no money and little prestige. So they are joining up in droves. The more bombs fall, the more children want to fight; they can't be immune from the hatred that is permeating Yemen because the gruesome effects of war permeate their whole lives - family members killed, friends killed, homes destroyed. There are so many motivators that make children want revenge - and if not revenge, the little money they earn from fighting helps their family to afford food.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154089599173641
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
Siehe / Look at cp1
10.2.2017 – Just Giving (A H)
David's Fundraiser for Yemen
Fundraising for Save the Children
Save the Children are working tirelessly in Yemen to provide children with lifesaving treatment for malnutrition, as well as safe drinking water, hygiene kits, and so much more. Please contribute to this fundraiser to help this incredible charity save and improve lives in Yemen. Thank you for your support.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/yemen-fundraiser
10.2.2017 – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (* A H)
FAO Yemen Situation Report - February 2017
17.1 million
people food insecure (EFSNA preliminary results February 2017)
3 million
people targeted by FAO in 2017
USD 48.4 million
appealed for by FAO under the 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan for Yemen
Key Points
Yemen is facing the largest food security emergency in the world. Without immediate action, the situation is likely to worsen in 2017.
An estimated 17.1 million people are food insecure and struggling to feed themselves – an increase of 3 million in 7 months – according to preliminary results from the Emergency Food Security and Nutrition Assessment (EFSNA). This includes 7.3 million people who are severely food insecure.
Yemen’s agriculture production has severely declined in 2016 compared to pre-conflict levels, which is devastating for 60 percent of Yemenis relying on agriculture for their livelihoods.
Almost 1.3 million households are in need of emergency agricultural support (EFSNA).
Current estimates indicate that existing supplies of wheat in the country will last until the end of March 2017. There is a serious risk of a disruption in wheat imports as companies struggle to obtain credit from banks. If private imports cease, quick mitigation measures by local authorities and international actors will be critical.
FAO urgently needs USD 48.4 million to fund its emergency livelihoods response in Yemen in 2017.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/fao-yemen-situation-report-february-2017 and in full: http://www.fao.org/emergencies/resources/documents/resources-detail/en/c/470413/ = http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/FAOYemen_sitrep_February2017.pdf
10.2.2017 – UN Human Rights Council (* A H K)
Civilians in Yemen caught between warring parties
Extremely worrying reports suggest that civilians and civilian objects have been targeted, in violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, over the past two weeks, in the southwestern port of Al Mokha in Taizz Governorate in Yemen.
While the intense fighting – both ground fighting and airstrikes – made it impossible for UN Human Rights Office field monitors to access the area and to verify the number of civilian casualties, credible reports indicate that civilians were caught in an intolerable situation between warring parties giving them opposing instructions. The Popular Committees Affiliated with the Houthis and their allies warned civilians not to leave their homes while pro-Government and Coalition forces were demanding that they evacuate. Credible reports indicate that Houthi-affiliated snipers shot at families attempting to flee their homes in Houthi-controlled areas – suggesting the use of civilians as human shields.
In at least one incident, on 22 January, 11 civilians were reportedly killed and four injured inside a house that was struck by an airstrike. According to reports, more than 200 houses have been either partially damaged or completely destroyed by airstrikes, which also hit Al Mokha Port.
Reports indicate that pro-Government forces yesterday took over the Al Maghini and Al Hali areas of Al Mokha city, placing the whole city and port under Government control. The last shelling incident was recorded late last night.
“Civilians were trapped and targeted during the Al Mokha fighting. There are real fears that the situation will repeat itself in the port of Al Hudaidah, to the north of Al Mokha, where air strikes are already intensifying,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said. “The already catastrophic humanitarian situation in the country could spiral further downwards if Al Hudaidah port – a key entry point for imports into Yemen – is seriously damaged.”
“Extremely serious violations of international law, including possible war crimes, have been documented with alarming frequency since the beginning of this armed conflict in Yemen almost two years ago. While my Office is currently implementing the Human Rights Council resolution* requesting us to work with the national independent commission of inquiry, I call, again, for an independent international investigation to break the climate of impunity in Yemen, to give pause to those planning and carrying out these attacks. The international community needs to make it clear that there will be consequences for a failure to respect international law.”
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21163&LangID=E = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/civilians-yemen-caught-between-warring-parties
10.2.2017 – UN High Commissioner for Refugees (* A H K)
UNHCR: Conditions deteriorating in Yemen, humanitarian catastrophe looms
In Yemen, fighting in coastal districts (Al Mokha and Dhubab) in the western governorate of Taizz is spreading inland (into the districts of Al Wazi’iyah and Mawza). A result is that more than 34,000 people have fled their homes. Some 28,000 have been displaced to other districts of Taizz, while another 2,600 individuals have fled to the neighboring governorate of Al Hudaydah. A few have also been displaced eastwards (to Lahj and Ibb governorates).
UNHCR has mobilized assessment teams across displacement sites in Hudaydah, Ibb and the district of Maqbanah in Taizz, where recently displaced people are being hosted and began deliveries of emergency assistance, including basic relief items and emergency shelter.
In Hudaydah, UNHCR distributions of relief items, including mattresses, sleeping mats, blankets, kitchen sets, buckets and emergency shelter are ongoing for 3,633 displaced individuals. Further distributions for newly displaced people in other districts across Hudaydah governorate are also planned to cover the needs of 5,131 individuals, subject to access permits and security considerations. UNHCR is also delivering assistance to 301 individuals in Ibb, who have been displaced from Al Mokha and Dhubab.
UNHCR is also currently negotiating deliveries of emergency assistance to 6,342 individuals in Maqbanah in Taizz. Owing to ongoing military operations, humanitarian access remains a key challenge but UNHCR has been engaged in intense negotiations with relevant authorities to deliver assistance in hard-to-reach areas.
As hostilities intensify, the situation on the ground has also become increasingly hazardous for UNHCR field staff. On Tuesday, two of our staff narrowly escaped a missile that fell close to their vehicle in Az Zaydiyah, less than 60 kilometres away from Hudaydah city. Our colleagues were unharmed, though badly shaken by the incident.
http://www.unhcr.org/589d82c44.html = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/unhcr-conditions-deteriorating-yemen-humanitarian-catastrophe-looms
10.2.2017 – Red Cross (* A H K)
Yemen: Urgent plea to warring parties to spare civilians
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is warning that the situation for thousands of civilians in Yemen is deteriorating fast, following a dramatic increase in fighting. Many civilians have become trapped in the cross-fire.
The situation has significantly worsened in the areas of Al Mokha, Hodeida, Taiz and Dhubab. Families have been unable to escape due to the intense fighting.
"Civilians are at risk of paying an even heavier price as the fighting continues. We call on all parties involved to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law. They must take every feasible precaution to avoid harming civilians and those no longer taking part in hostilities," said Robert Mardini, ICRC's regional director for the Near and Middle East.
Those who wish to leave for safer areas must be allowed to do so at any time. Those who choose to stay, or who are unable to leave, remain protected by international humanitarian law. The wounded – civilians and combatants – must receive medical care as promptly as possible. Fighters who have surrendered or been captured must not be killed and must be treated humanely.
"We have requested access to Al Mokha, and other affected areas, and we stand ready to deliver much needed aid to the civilian population", added Mr. Mardini.
https://www.icrc.org/en/document/yemen-urgent-plea-warring-parties-spare-civilians
9.2.2017 – UN Radio (* A H)
Audio: UN and partners launch the biggest appeal for Yemen to provide life saving support in 2017
The United Nations and humanitarian partners today launched an international appeal for US$2.1 billion to provide life-saving assistance to 12 million people in Yemen in 2017. This is the largest consolidated humanitarian appeal for Yemen ever launched. The Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick talked with UN News about the appeal.
9.2.2017 – AFP (* B H)
Film. In war-torn Yemen, hungry children turn to begging
After Ali Mohammed's father was killed in Yemen's conflict, the 14-year-old turned to begging to survive -- just one of scores pleading for donations to feed themselves and their siblings.
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/war-torn-yemen-hungry-children-020000949.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw = (partial) https://twitter.com/Living_Yemen/status/830052246985519104
and report:
9.2.2017 – AFP (* B H)
Dans le Yémen en guerre, la détresse des enfants mendiants
[French press on difficult situation of children beggars of #Yemen]
Ali, 14 ans, et son frère Majdi, 7 ans, ont perdu leur père dans un raid. Livrés à eux-mêmes, ils passent leurs journées à mendier dans les rues de Sanaa, la capitale du Yémen où les enfants sont les premières victimes de la guerre.
«Tous les maux qui touchent les enfants progressent: le travail, la mendicité, l’enrôlement dans les forces armées, la déscolarisation...», s’alarme Nassim Al-Mouliki, la directrice d’une organisation de protection de l’enfance. De plus, «les services sociaux d’aide aux enfants se sont totalement effondrés».
«Nous mendions parce que nous ne trouvions plus de quoi manger», témoigne Moustafa Ahmed Abdallah, 15 ans, dont le père a été tué en combattant. «J’ai essayé de trouver un travail, mais ça n’a pas marché, alors je suis dans la rue», ajoute-t-il, en précisant gagner ainsi cinq dollars au maximum par jour.
A quelques pas, Abir, 8 ans, passe d’une voiture à l’autre avec son jeune frère Abdelrahman. «On n’a rien à manger. On cherche un peu d’argent ou de la nourriture», raconte la fillette.
La situation s’est fortement dégradée depuis l’escalade du conflit liée à l’intervention, en mars 2015, d’une coalition arabe commandée par l’Arabie saoudite en soutien aux forces progouvernementales qui étaient acculées à Aden (sud) après avoir été chassées d’une bonne partie du territoire.
«Le nombre d’enfants mendiants a beaucoup augmenté, en particulier après l’arrêt du versement des salaires aux fonctionnaires dans la capitale» l’automne dernier, explique Ahmed al-Qurashi qui dirige Seyaj, une organisation pour la protection des enfants.
9.12.2017 – Human Needs Development (A H)
Because internal displaced families in #Yemen are the most affected families by the current war. Because they have no interests and because they are starving to death.
Human Needs for Development-HND has supported some of them in the capital of Yemen, Sana'a, with food baskets sufficient for a month. Best thanks to those who helped us to make that possible (photos)
https://www.facebook.com/HNDngoYE/posts/772574282894041 = https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1273969959322698
9.2.2017 – The Independent (* A H)
UN says Yemen famine can only be prevented with emergency £1.7bn
12 million people affected by the Yemeni civil war face ‘rapidly deteriorating’ situation, aid agencies say
The UN has launched an emergency appeal for $2.1 billion (£1.7 billion) to provide food and life-saving aid for Yemeni civilians caught up in the chaos of the country’s two-year-long civil war.
Around 12 million people are facing famine, with 3.3 million - including 2.1 million children - already acutely malnourished.
Approximately 55 per cent of the country’s medical infrastructure is out of action, and the economy and vital civil institutions have been devastated, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, said on Wednesday at a briefing in Geneva.
"Many of the people never make it to the feeding centres or the hospitals because they can't afford the transport," he said.
"Many people die silent and unrecorded deaths, they die at home, they are buried before they are ever recorded." – by Bethan McKernan
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/un-yemen-famine-emergency-1-7-billion-fund-civil-war-saudi-arabia-civilians-a7571996.html and by Radio Vatican: http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/02/09/un_warns_of_famine_threat_in_yemen/1291353
Remark: More reporting in YPR 264.
Comment by Judith Brown: It appears this is yesterday's news. Nothing on the TV today. Just a brief mention yesterday about the hell that is Yemen today.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155203076693641
My comment to comment: This is western media, whether in Britain or elsewhere. All this does not matter because the West is involved.
9.2.2017 – Saba Net (A H)
Islamic relief concludes 4-month psychological, entertainment project for Yemeni children
–The Islamic Relief Organization on Thursday concluded a psychological, social and entertainment project for supporting the affected Yemeni children from the Saudi-aggression war.
The project was carried out in association with the Yemeni Educational Ministry and Radio Help Organization in Sweden.
The project, which lasted four months, targeted about 5800 students from eight schools in the districts of Sanhan and Bani Bohlool, as well as Jahna in the southwestern part of Sana'a province.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455681.htm
Remark: Northern Yemen.
9.2.2017 – Fatik Al-Rodaini (A H)
500 women & 500 men receiving today in Bani al-Hareth in Sanaa hygiene kits funded by @iom_yemen & distributed by @monareliefye #Yemen
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/829715935795748865
Funded by @iom_yemen, .@monarelief distributes 1k hygiene kits 2 IDPs &vulnerable families n Bani al-Hareth area #Sanaa #Yemen @monareliefye (photos)
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/829638652070330370
8.2.2017 – World Food Programme (A H)
Map: Yemen: Access Constraints as of 8 February 2017
http://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-access-constraints-8-february-2017 and in full: http://www.logcluster.org/map/yemen-access-constraints-map-8-february-2017 = http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/yem_op_accessconstraints_a3l_20170208.pdf
8.2.2017 – UNICED Yemen (A H)
Film: Schools renovation in Yemen
Children are back in school in #Yemen. More than 700 schools are being renovated and where schools have been damaged, tents are provided.
Let's give education a chance! #YemenChildren
Thanks to our donors and partners:
https://www.facebook.com/unicefyemen/videos/1308569542542419/
8.2.2017 – UNICEF Yemen / Meritxell Relano, UNICEF repr. in Yemen (A H P)
Shared the situation of the children of #Yemen today from Aden to local and international media. Voices of Yemen children are out.
https://twitter.com/RelanoMeritxell/status/829253209000652800
Visiting the Warehouse in Aden with our great local team. All supplies to be delivered ASAP for the children in need in #Yemen
https://twitter.com/RelanoMeritxell/status/829271898777333761
Speaking to the Media from Aden today #Yemen #Yemenchildren and updating on UNICEF plans for Mokha IDPs
https://twitter.com/RelanoMeritxell/status/829274693840621568
We're working on a war footing to provide support to those displaced by the fighting in Mokha" Dr @relanomeritxell speaking to media in Aden
https://twitter.com/UNICEF_Yemen/status/829341280962506753
8.2.2017 – Channel 4 (* A H)
Film: Millions facing starvation in Yemen
“Catastrophic and rapidly deteriorating” – that’s how the United Nations has described the situation in Yemen, as it warns the country is on the brink of famine.
https://www.channel4.com/news/millions-facing-starvation-in-yemen
6.2.2017 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (A H)
Infographic: Yemen: Humanitarian Response Plan at a glance (6 February 2017)
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-humanitarian-response-plan-glance-6-february-2017-enar and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/OCHA%20YEMEN_Hum.%20Resp.%20Plan%20at%20a%20glance_20170206_Final.pdf
31.1.2017 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (* A H)
Yemen Humanitarian Bulletin Issue 20 | As of 31 January 2016
HIGHLIGHTS
Livelihoods destroyed
12 million targeted for assistance
Yemen Pooled Fund expands engagement with national partners
Over 1.3 million people in access restricted areas across Yemen
Airstrikes on Amran’s Cement Factory
What used to be a production site teeming with workers and the noise from cement machines is now almost abandoned. The state-run Amran Cement Plant used to produce 1.5 million tons of cement yearly and was the heart of the governorate’s economy and the pride of its inhabitants and its workers. It has been almost a year since a series of airstrikes hit the plant in 2016, badly damaging it and leaving its 1,529 employees out of work. Only a few of them have managed to find alternative employment.
Some 18 people were killed and 42 badly injured during the airstrikes. “The decision to stop the machines was not an easy one”, explains Yahya Ahmed Abuhalfah, chairman of the factory. The inability to rehabilitate the plant, cover loses, estimated at $100 million, and guarantee the safety of the employees forced managers to close and workers to stay home. “The plant was my second home”, says Abdullah Saleh Naif, 40 years old, “I was spending more time in the plant than in my house”. Abdullah also lost his son and coworker in the attacks. On top of this, he said, “My wife had gold, we sold it all. Today I have nothing left to sell, except my soul” he adds.
It is estimated that around 54,000 people, including employees, casual workers and residents were directly affected by the closure of the plant. This without counting the impact on the Al Barh Cement Factory in Taizz Governorate and the Bajil Cement Factory in Al Hudaydah Governorate, both heavily reliant on the Amran factory for raw materials and other inputs and now both shut down.
Abdullah Mohammed al-Haimi, in his late 50s, worked in the Amran plant all his life. For 35 years, he would wake up before sunset, pray, spend some time with his children and then go to work. “I can barely find food to put on the table for my family now”, he says.
The Amran factory used to also play a social and humanitarian role. “When the shortage of fuel started to occur in the country, the plant continued providing fuel to hospitals, private and public, and helped support water pumps”, says a former technical manager of the factory. Today, the administration can no longer afford any of their commitments to workers due to a great shortage of funds. In addition to their salaries, the employees are also no longer receiving their medical allocations, especially for chronic diseases such as diabetes or heart disease.
Mass unemployment crisis
Conflict and insecurity resulting in an economic breakdown across Yemen has seen over 70 per cent of small and medium enterprises lay off half of their workforce since the conflict escalated in March 2015. Some 65 per cent of fishermen have lost their job. The fight for influence over the Central Bank of Yemen, despite assurances by warring parties that it would be allowed to function outside of the conflict has caused a liquidity problem. It is causing 1.5 million civil servants to receive salary payments sporadically, every couple of months, and is affecting close to one third of the entire population across the country. Most have lost, not only, purchasing power for food, but also for other essential goods and services. The economy of Yemen, the poorest Arab country in the region, continues to collapse and the country remains in a mass and endemic unemployment crisis, with many of the middle class now being pushed below the poverty line.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-humanitarian-bulletin-issue-20-31-january-2016 and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/final-humanitarian_bulletin-_january_2017.pdf
31.12.2016 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (A H)
Infographic: Yemen: Governorate Dashboard by Hub (as of December 2016)
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-governorate-dashboard-hub-december-2016-enar and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Governorate%20Dashboards_Jan-Dec%202016%20FINAL%20EN%2006-02-2017.pdf
31.12.2016 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (A H)
Yemen: Governorate Dashboard by Hub (as of December 2016) (Infographics)
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-governorate-dashboard-hub-december-2016-enar and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Governorate%20Dashboards_Jan-Dec%202016%20FINAL%20EN%2006-02-2017.pdf
4.7.2016 – UNICEF Yemen (* A H)
Film: Malnutrition has spread in Sa'ada city since the conflict escalated in #Yemen. Many children in need of proper nutrition and healthcare. Unfortunately, only one health facility in the whole city is still operational!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywxRow611vY
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
10.2.2017 – Nasser Arrabyee (A K P)
Yemen military parade Just before joining battlefields to fight against US-backed Saudi invaders in western coasts. Feb 10 Hodeida (photo)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/830276492634505217
10.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (* A P)
Deaths and injuries in clashes between teachers and Houthi militants in al Jawf
A local source said on Thursday that casualties fell in clashes between teachers and militants of the Houthi group and the forces loyal to former president Saleh in al Zaher district of al Jawf governorate, northeastern Yemen.
The source told Almasdaronline that the clashes broke out after the Houthi and allied militants had intercepted teachers while they were on the way to receive their salaries from the legitimate government, pro-Hadi government.
This is the third time the Houthi militants prevent the teachers from receiving their salaries on the pledge that they are paid by the legitimate government.
The source pointed out that armed clashes broke out when the Houthis intercepted the teachers on Thursday evening at al Aqda area, and unidentified number of casualties fell in the clashes.
“The situation was still tense and the clashes were not over, especially that the teachers belong to tribes from al Jawf, which made dozens of tribesmen come to back the teachers against the Houthis militias”. Added the source.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/88753
10.2.2017 – Almanar (A P)
Sayyed Houthi Says Saudis Attacked Yemen to Prove Servitude to US Masters
The leader of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement, Sayyed Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi, says Al Saud launched the ongoing atrocious and devastating aerial bombardment campaign against its southern neighbor in order to assert its servitude to the United States.
Addressing a group of Yemenis in the capital, Sana’a, on Friday, Houthi stressed the need for popular mobilization in the face of Saudi Arabia’s acts of aggression, and warned against any capitulation and surrender to enemies, Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported.
He described the Yemeni nation’s resistance against the Riyadh regime’s incessant attacks as deeply rooted in religious orders and meant to safeguard national sovereignty, esteem and freedom.
The Ansarullah leader said Saudi Arabia opted to take part in hostilities against the impoverished country of Yemen following the death of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to prove its dependence on US statesmen.
Sayyed Houthi said Washington has offered the Al Saud regime generous diplomatic support for its aggression against Yemen, and is even closely monitoring the attacks.
He called on Yemenis from all walks of life to resist against the relentless Saudi aggression irrespective of economic woes, airstrikes and destruction of critical infrastructure.
http://english.almanar.com.lb/187570
My comment: “Saudis Attacked Yemen to Prove Servitude to US Masters”: That’s odd.
and more
10.2.2017 – Yamanyoon (A P)
Sayyed Houthi: The Development of Our Air Defense Will Leave Its Impact and Effectiveness in Reality
Sayyed Abdulmalik Al-Houthi gave a speech today in the occasion of “Annual Anniversary of the Martyr” and revealed important information which include the following:
Sayyed Houthi: The development of our air defense will leave its impact and effectiveness in reality
Sayyed Houthi: The missile force reached Riyadh with Burkan 2 and it will reach what’s after Riyadh, referring to military surprises that will shock the Saudi enemy.
Sayyed Houthi also revealed that Ansarullah have been manufacturing effective long and high-range drones.
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=63998&lang=en
10.2.2017 – Al Sahwa (A P)
Journalist brutally tortured in Taiz
Militias of the Houthis and ousted President Ali Abdullah are brutally torturing the journalist Tayseer al-Sama'e inside one of their custodies in the governorate of Taiz, relatives of al-Sama'e told Alsahwah Net.
They said that the militias prevented his family from visiting him or providing any food or other supplies to him.
Al-Sama'e was arrested last January from the area of al-Dimnah in the east of Taiz.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-3872
My comment: By Islah Party media.
10.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (* A H P)
Houthis stop UNICEF’s activities, deprive thousands of Yemenis from humanitarian aides
The Houthi group stopped on Thursday the UNICEF’s activities in the governorates under its control on the pledge that the UN organization is not coordinating with the Ministry of Planning in its unrecognized government.
Stopping the UNICEF’s activities deprives thousands of children in Yemen of receiving health care services, and threatens to suspend dozens of relief and humanitarian projects carried out by the UN organization, amid disastrous collapse of the humanitarian and health situations in Yemen.
It is noteworthy that stopping the UNICEF activities had come one day after a meeting between the UNICEF representative in Yemen with the Prime Minister of the legitimate government Ahmed ben Daghr in the interim capital Aden city, south of Yemen.
According to a Houthi circular issued by the Ministry of Planning, all international organizations and entities have to coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and obtain approval before implementing their activities.
The Houthis did not mention whether the reason behind that was the UN official’s visit to the areas under the control of the Yemeni government.
However, the Anatolia news agency cited sources as saying that the reason was the UNICEF’s intention to grant the aides to the Central Bank in Aden and not the one under the Houthis control in Sana’a.
The UNICEF has been providing its services in all around the Yemeni governorates, with a HQ in the Houthi-controlled capital Sana’a and branches in the various areas under the control of both the government and the Houthis.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/88744
My comment: This story certainly is much more complicated as this article suggests, the bias of which just to show the Houthi authorities as “bad guys”. Redirecting grants to the Central Bank at Aden anyway means to accept that hardly any more help will reach the regions under Houthi / Saleh control. If UNICEF really would do that, I do not know why; the only explanation would be for political reasons, as the UN only acknowledges the Hadi government. From a just practical point of view, such a decision is similar to a decision “Well, let’s just starve them to death, we do not care”. Wait and see what actually will happen. Up to now, nothing from UNICEF Yemen: https://twitter.com/UNICEF_Yemen
9.2.2017 – Hona Almasirah (A K P)
Film: Watch New trained Yemen fighters Joining battlefields against US-backed Saudi invaders. Sanaa, Feb 9, 2017
https://twitter.com/Hona_Almasirah/status/829799571052179458
9.2.20217 – Saba Net (A K P)
President meets sheikhs, dignitaries of Al Salem-Bani Dabyan
In the meeting, the president reviewed the efforts made and being made and the concessions made in order to achieve peace and alleviate the burdens on the Yemeni people in light of the US-Saudi tenacious attitude and the continuing aggression war until the recent developments, when the U.S. deployed its guided missile destroyer USS Cole off coast of Yemen.
Al-Sammad emphasized that everyone knows America's ability and the big loss that it may inflict if it involved directly in Yemen.
He indicated to the desperate attempts of the aggression to purchase Yemeni southerners' conscience and some misguided people, who are under the influence of the economic crisis severity, and involve them in battlefields and defending the borders of Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. seeks through its strategy of spreading al-Qaeda and Daesh, especially in the southern regions, to intervene in those areas or create unstable environments, al-Sammad said.
The president confirmed that the fortitude and patience until achieving the complete victory is option of all Yemenis, praising the Yemeni tribes' exceptional, creative and vital role in supporting all fronts with money, men and materiel.
During the meeting, Sheikhs and dignitaries of Al Salem Bani Dabyan expressed their confidence in the victory of the Yemeni people in confronting the US-Saudi aggression, reiterating their steadfastness in all fronts to protect their land and their areas from any intervention.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455716.htm
9.2.2017 – Reporters Without Borders (A P)
Yemen: Call for independent probe into journalist’s poisoning
In the wake of autopsy results indicating that investigative journalist Mohamed Al-Absi was poisoned, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for an independent and impartial investigation to establish all the circumstances of his death and to bring those responsible to justice.
Mohamed Al-Absi, 35, died in a hospital on 20 December after dining with a close relative in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
His burial was delayed at his family’s request to allow for an autopsy. The results of analyses carried out in Jordan were finally published on 5 February by a committee consisting of the family, the Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate, and various research centres and NGOs. They show that he was killed by a toxic gas.
Some of the circumstances surrounding his death nonetheless remain unclear. According to local and regional media, Al-Absi had been investigating a sensitive story linked to oil companies owned by Houthi leaders shortly before his death.
Al-Absi was known for his investigative coverage of corruption, the black market and the war economy. He worked for the pro-government newspaper Al-Thawra until Houthi rebels seized the capital in September 2014. He also used to work for the newspapers Al-Sharea and Al-Oula until they were forced to close, in addition to maintaining a personal blog.
https://rsf.org/en/news/yemen-call-independent-probe-journalists-poisoning
9.2.2017 – Saba Net (A P)
Information minister calls on media to be weapons against Saudi aggression
Information Minister Ahmed Mohammed Hamid called on the national media to be decisive weapons against the US-Saudi aggression and revealed their daily war crimes against the Yemeni people.
The call came during a two-day workshop on Media Charter of Honour, which was organized by the Union of Yemeni Journalists in association with the ministry of information.
"We have to convey the suffering of the Yemeni people to the world so the world can see the ugly face of the aggression countries that are committing daily war crimes against the Yemeni people," minister Hamid said in a speech delivered to the participants.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455670.htm
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
10.2.2017 – Haykal Bafana / Hussam Al-Sanabani (* A P)
What famine? Saudi's #Yemen Foreign Minister Abdul Malik Al Mekhlafi hosts sumptuous son's wedding in Cairo 5 star hotel. Cost : US$300,000. (photo)
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/830038383787442176
This is the behaviours of what so called by UN: #Yemen legitimacy government.
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/830070235499724801
8.2.2017 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A P T)
New incident shows that Al-Qaeda penetrated Hadi inner circle (images)
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/829438723972542464
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
10.2.2017 – Reuters (* A P)
Yemen rebels call on U.N. to investigate bombings, dismiss peace envoy
Rebels controlling Yemen's capital called on the United Nations on Friday to take action to end violence that has destroyed large parts of the country and to investigate bombings carried out by a Saudi-led coalition.
In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Houthi movement urged the U.N. to investigate a Saudi-led airstrike on a funeral in Sanaa last year and not renew the term of U.N. peace envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
"The United Nations should take a serious stance against the foreign aggression in Yemen and end the air and naval blockade imposed by Saudi Arabia," the letter quoted Saleh al-Sammad, a Houthi official, as saying.
The statement is a blow to the U.N., which has sought since 2015 to end fighting between the Iran-aligned Houthis and a Saudi-led alliance of mainly Gulf states in a conflict that has unleashed mass hunger and disease and killed over 10,000 people.
Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who has served as United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen since April 2015, has brokered several ceasefires, which have however foundered within days.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-un-idUSKBN15P2IZ
Comment by Judith Brown. Well I'm not as angry as many in Yemen are with the current peace envoy because I think the problem is not so much him but those behind him who don't give him any support. But I do agree with these two statements. Firstly I think that Yemen needs a change of peace envoy. And secondly it needs a new UN resolution to replace 2216 that was never appropriate and was far too one sided, and included in that resolution the need to unblock the ports and airports, repair ports and roads, and stop all aerial attacks.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155208276703641
My comment: “Rebels” = a strange wording; “The statement is a blow to the U.N.” certainly not, only if you concede that the UN should care less for peace and more for the desires of western powers and their proxies, as it did in the Yemen case (and the bad “rebels” do not share this view). And that is the statement Reuters is referring to:
10.2.2017 – Saba Net (* A P)
President calls UN Secretary General to stop Saudi aggression on Yemen
President of Supreme Political Council Saleh Al-Sammad on Friday called on Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, to play an active role in stopping the Saudi aggression on Yemen.
In a letter he sent to the UN Secretary General, al-Sammad demanded the United Nations to oblige the Saudi-led coalition states to compensate human losses and material, psychological and health damage and to end the siege on Yemen.
The letter asked for opening the ports and airports for commercial and civil flights, topped by Sana’a International Airport, Taiz Airport and Hodeidah Airport.
The president called, in his letter, for seriously considering the disastrous humanitarian situation caused by the Saudi aggression and the blockade on the country.
Al-Sammad requested the formation of a neutral committee to investigate the Saudi aggression coalition's crime against civilians offering condolences in the Major Hall in the capital Sana’a and all other war crimes, as well as the use of internationally-banned weapons against civilians and bombarding hospitals and health centers, including MSF hospitals.
In his letter also, al-Sammad demanded that the term of the current UN envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh, not be extended for failing in his mission and lack of impartiality.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455800.htm
and
10.2.2017 – Nasser Arrabyee (A P)
6 Yemeni political parties demand UN Sec Gen Antonio Guterres to change his envoy to Yemen over failure&being biased with Saudis.
My comment: Sanaa (Houthi / Saleh parties and president). Yes, it is true that the UN is by no means neutral in these negotiations. But that is hardly the UN envoy’s fault – he is fixed in what he can do by the Security Council resolution 2216. And this resolution is totally one-sided, for the greatest part it was more or less dictated by Saudi Arabia, and the US and the UK pushed it through. A new approach for the Yemen probkem, a new neutral resolution is needed.
9.2.2017 – Saba Net (A P)
JMPs call UN Secretary-General to stop Saudi aggression on Yemen
The Joint Meeting Parties (JMPs) on Thursday demanded the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, to stop the Saudi aggression war and lift the air, land and sea siege on Yemen.
In a letter to the UN Secretary-General, the JMPs (Al-Haq Party, the Popular Forces Union Party and the Arab Socialist Baath Party – Yemen Branch) called for changing the UN envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, and appointing instead of him a neutral international character with capacity and efficiency to work on the political and security sides together.
The JMPs' letter stressed the need for the reinstatement of political negotiations through sponsoring a comprehensive national dialogue between the various local political forces and components under the UN auspices and based on the outcome of the dialogues that followed the resignation of Hadi in January, February and March 2015.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455736.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=63819&lang=en
Remark: That’s from the Sanaa parliament.
and
10.2.2017 – Inner City Press (A P)
Film: Inner City Press asked UN spokesman of letter calling for UN to not renew Yemen envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, due to bias
https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/830152906624098304
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
10.2.2017 – The Times (* A H P)
Saudis rush to expel 39,000 Pakistanis over terror fears
Saudi Arabia has expelled 39,000 Pakistanis in the past four months amid what it says is a crackdown on terrorism, according to the Saudi Gazette.
Most deportations were for standard visa violations, reported the English-language daily newspaper, published in Jedda. However, officials were also reacting to concern over a number of terrorist attacks, it said.
Abdullah al-Sadoun, chairman of the security committee of Saudi Arabia’s official advisory shura council, said that religious and political affiliations of Pakistanis should be checked before they were allowed to enter the country. “Pakistan is plagued with terrorism due to its close proximity with Afghanistan,” he said. “The Taliban extremist movement was itself born in Pakistan.”
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan both have a long and ambiguous relationship with militant Islam [More: subscribers only]
Comment by Ayad: The terror creator fears terror. .LOL
https://twitter.com/maddllock/status/830168551289978880
8.2.2017 – Financial Times (not rated A E P)
Moelis wins biggest mandate for Saudi Aramco IPO
Moelis & Co has been chosen as the sole independent adviser for the planned initial public offering of Saudi Aramco, according to three people familiar with the process, scoring the New York boutique investment bank the biggest equity advisory mandate to date. Winning the hotly contested mandate represents a coup for the independent firm, which was founded by veteran dealmaker Ken Moelis in the midst of the financial crisis in 2007. Other banks are still in the race to underwrite the offering.
Saudi officials hope to turn the state-owned oil group into the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, which they believe could carry a valuation of about $2tn. Those close to the IPO planning have said the sale of a 5 per cent stake — potentially worth about $100bn — should happen next year, although the number of shares sold could increase, and the timing could slip. The IPO proposal is the centrepiece of an ambitious strategy by the hard-charging deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman to overhaul the country’s economy, using a broad-based privatisation programme to boost employment and diversify the kingdom away from oil.
JPMorgan, which has been Saudi Aramco’s commercial banker for years, and Michael Klein, a former star Citigroup banker, are working with the Saudi authorities on a broad range of matters including the IPO.
https://www.ft.com/content/99353918-ed8c-11e6-930f-061b01e23655 = http://news.peak-oil.org/2017/02/subscribe-to-read-financial-times-2-3/
Remark: On Moelis, look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Moelis . Saudi Leaks stresses the connections to Israel: Gen. (Shlomo Yanai), who offered him Netanyahu #Mossad chief adviser in his company (https://twitter.com/2flamesburning1/status/829754919133540352 referring to https://twitter.com/saudleaks/status/829674785751826433), more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-17/moelis-adds-ex-teva-pharmaceutical-ceo-yanai-as-senior-adviser
3.9.2015 – Gulf Institute (B P)
Investigation: Murder in the Palace: Saudi King Salman said to have murdered own son
Saudi King Salman who is meeting American President Barack Obama Friday murdered one of his sons because of his dark skin color, multiple sources within the Saudi ruling family told the Institute for Gulf Affairs.
The victim, Abdullah, was born to an African slave girl during the 1950s when slavery in KSA was legal, and thousands of slaves, black and white, filled Saudi palaces. Since the establishment of the Saudi kingdom in 1932, Saudi princes fathered hundreds of children with female slaves from the Middle East and Africa – By Ali AlAhmed
cp9 USA
Siehe cp1 und cp14 (für den Us-Angriff) / Look at cp1 and cp14 (US raid)
There is aplenty of article in US media on the US Yemen raid and the internal controversy about it. Here, I will list not more. Suddenly, just for this subject, Yemen is up and down in the US media – with a clear focus on US internal politics also. What a contrast to the almost total neglecting in the last 22 month, when a president Obama was responsible for a deadly war, killing, injuring and starving out ten thousands.
10.2.2017 – Turcopolier (* A K P)
Confronting Iran ? President Trump entering uncharted waters in Yemen ...
Push back against Iran is the scent of the day in D.C. and the new administration has picked the most unseemingly place for it. American concern for what is going on in Yemen is understandable and may call for closer monitoring. Agressive moves in the Red Sea however, or in Yemen itself, bear tremendous risks. The Bab-el-Mandeb, as its name indicates, has always been treacherous waters.
During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump had already hinted at his determination to take on Iran.
Where this is going to take us is hard to say, most likely, not a good place judging by the people in charge and the measures they are contemplating. The most striking thing however about this renewed fixation on Iran is the country chosen to confront the Mullahs. Indeed, why pick small, impoverished and war-ridden Yemen to put the squeeze on Iran ? The answer to that question may already give insights as to what the future has in store for us in that part of the world.
Meanwhile, anarchy has taken over parts of Yemen that were reasonably quiet before the Saudis went in. Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula managed to extend its area of influence and even ISIS has taken a foothold in South-Eastern Yemen.
As for the US, their footprint got lighter with Yemen descending into chaos.
Countering Iranian influence ?
as far as Iranian influence on Yemeni Houthis is concerned, the case is not easy to make. There are most definitely Iranian advisors in Yemen, but their numbers are unknown and in all likelihood, there would be very few of them. On several occasions, Anti-Houthi forces in the South claimed to have arrested Iranians, during the fighting around Aden in particular, but the evidence trail is thin.
And making any case about Iranian meddling in Yemen will take much more than a borderline incompetent interpretation of the Houthis chanting "God is great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam" as they take on a Saudi frigate with remote controlled torpedo drones. Admittedly, the slogan is not exactly testimony to the Houthis wish for peaceful coexistence.
But inferring from it that the Houthis may actually have been targeting US ships, possibly through seaborne suicide attacks, reflects sheer ignorance about the slogan's genesis and Houthi goals in the current conflict. They certainly are not doing themselves a favour if they want to avoid confrontation with the White House, but those within the administration who have been looking for an excuse to step up military efforts, certainly have one now. In this regard, sending in the "USS Cole" down there is probably not a coincidence either.
Strategic importance of the Mandeb Strait
To be fair, Yemen and the Mandeb Strait certainly feature in good place in Tehran's regional strategy. This is probably where we need to look at, more than at any move made by the Houthis themselves, if we want to understand strategic thinking behind Washington's recent decisions (assuming of course, there is something like a strategy at work here, which is not a given).
Potential for Iranian Retaliation
By singling out Yemen, the Trump administration has chosen to go after the Iranian "choke point" strategy. Whether or not this move was well prepared is another matter. Recent events would tend to prove otherwise. One may wonder in particular if the US have seriously weighed the consequences of their confrontational approach in Yemen, as well as the pros and cons of direct action if it comes to that.
It is one thing to make claims about wanting to roll back Iran in the region, or drive a wedge between Iran and its Russian ally. It is a totally different matter to develop a viable strategy to achieve such goals without incurring significant blow back. The balance of power has shifted in the Middle-East over the last 15 years and it has shifted towards Tehran.
There are many asymmetric responses the Iranians might implement to if they feel threatened or under attack in Yemen or elsewhere. In that regard, the Trump administration might soon find itself in a situation where it would have to choose between continuing the promising offensive against ISIS or shifting the effort towards containing Iran. – By Patrick Bahzad
10.2.2017 – CNN (A P)
How Trump's Yemen blunders put your safety at risk
The careless mission, coupled with the "in your face" naming in the executive order, were unsustainable affronts to Yemen and it responded in kind. Yemen is not a democratic nation and it is a human rights violator. It is not a friend, in the sense of how Americans view Great Britain or France as friends. But it isn't a foe either.
This represents the quintessential challenge of the emerging Trump Doctrine. The President views foreign relations in a binary fashion: nations are good or bad. The world is a little more complicated. Mexico isn't just about a wall, for example; it is a major trading partner. Australia isn't just about a refugee dispute; it is a major ally in our war efforts. Yemen isn't just a state that harbors terrorists; it is a partner in a global mission.
In domestic circles, the debate about whether the now-stalled executive order is good or bad for counterterrorism efforts is being litigated in courts and public opinion. But for Yemen, the inclusion was a blow to a historic expectation that the nations -- for better or for worse, in the gray area or not -- would fight together.
President Trump has said that rescinding the executive order would put our nation at risk. That statement is questionable but clearly a political tactic.
The failed al Qaeda mission and Yemen's response will hinder our ability to engage fully in targeted military efforts to protect our nation in the global war on terror. With friends like us, Yemen found it necessary to reset the relationship – By Juliette Kayyem
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/10/opinions/trump-ban-raid-hurt-counterterrorism-in-yemen-kayyem/
My comment: That lokks like a typical neocon vision. One part of the warmongering US elite (Clintonians) mocking the other part of the warmongering US elite (Trumpians). There is no “global mission” for the US in this world, folks. Care for devastated Detroit and so on, not for leading war all over the world.
10.2.2017 – Alternet (* A K P)
Democratic Leader in Congress Introduces Bill to Help Trump Wage War on Iran
The U.S. is hurtling toward military conflict—with staunch bipartisan support.
President Donald Trump's administration is plowing over the government's system of checks and balances, pushing through a blitzkrieg of executive orders in order to implement its extreme agenda. At the top of the to-do list for the hawkish members of Trump's cabinet is a decades-old warmongers' dream: war with Iran. The U.S. is once again ramping up tension with the major Middle Eastern country, hurtling toward military conflict — with staunch bipartisan support.
Mere days before Trump officially entered office, a Democratic congressman quietly proposed legislation that would expand Trump's already wide-reaching powers and give him more authority to wage war on America's favorite bogeyman.
Authorization of Use of Force Against Iran Resolution, H.J. Res. 10, was introduced by Representative Alcee Hastings on January 3, just over two weeks before Trump's inauguration. The open-ended bill would permit Trump "to use the Armed Forces of the United States as the President determines necessary and appropriate in order to achieve the goal of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons."
"The United States must do all that is necessary to ensure that all of Iran’s pathways to obtaining a nuclear weapon are blocked," the legislation stresses. It would provide only a minor restriction on Trump's authority: Every 60 days after waging war, the president would be required to submit a report to Congress. This provision is redundant, however, and simply reflects what was already required under the 1973 War Powers Resolution.
Hastings' legislation got virtually no attention at the time it was introduced, and appears to have been first reported by the news website Digital Journal.
Hurtling Toward War, with Bipartisan Support
Extreme Anti-Muslim Hawks in the Cabinet – by Ben Norton
10.2.2017 – The Intercept (* A K P)
Trump Intends to Follow Up Botched Yemen Military Raid By Helping Saudis Target Civilians
It’s hard to imagine Donald Trump making the situation worse in Yemen, but he did.
Trump is evidently so sensitive to the criticism that he has tried to smother it by shamefully smearing critics and trying to stifle dissent.
And signs are that Yemen is in for more suffering at Trump’s hands. Trump’s Defense Department is reportedly considering a proposal to designate Yemen a formal battlefield in the war on terror, which would allow for an “intensified pace of operations, rather than one-off raids or drone strikes.”
And the Washington Times reported on Wednesday that the administration is set to approve an arms transfer to Saudi Arabia that the Obama administration denied to them on human rights grounds.
The shipment contains hundreds of millions of dollars worth of weapons guidance systems that would allow Saudi Arabia to convert dumb bombs into precision missiles.
Targeted bombing is normally safer for civilians than indiscriminate bombing. In fact, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said during his confirmation hearing that the U.S. should provide Saudi Arabia with “better targeting intelligence” and “better targeting capability” in order to minimize “collateral damage.”
But the Obama administration, despite its reluctance to offend the Saudis, halted the guidance-systems sales after concluding that the Saudi-led coalition was targeting civilians deliberately.
Since the beginning of their campaign, Saudi Arabia has destroyed vital civilian infrastructure
Congress has not yet been notified of the weapons shipment, and the Pentagon declined to comment on it.
The Saudi-led bombing campaign has also allowed al Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate — the target of Trump’s botched raid — to grow exponentially in personnel and finances.
While Trump ramps up U.S. militarism in Yemen, Democrats have largely ignored the plight of the Yemenis – by Alex Emmons
9.2.2017 – Sputnik News (* A P)
USA sollten schlauer werden - Trump weist McCain in die Schranken
Die USA sollten schlauer werden und sich der Einmischung in Konflikte in aller Welt enthalten, wie sie von Persönlichkeiten wie US-Senator John McCain initiiert werden, schreibt US-Präsident Donald Trump auf Twitter-Account.
Demnach sollte US-Senator John McCain „nicht mit Journalisten über einen Erfolg oder über das Scheitern einer Mission sprechen“. Laut Trump „stärkt das nur den Feind“. Dabei verliere McCain „schon so lange, dass er verlernt hat, wie man siegt“. Man müsse bloß einen Blick auf die Unordnung werfen, „in der unser Land sich befindet“. Trump zufolge steckt das Land überall „tief in Konflikten“.
Damit reagiert Donald Trump auf die Aussagen von John McCaine, der heftige Kritik an der vom US-Präsidenten verordneten Operation gegen Al-Qaida im Jemen übte. In Folge des Einsatzes kam William Ryan, ein US-Marine, ums Leben.
https://de.sputniknews.com/politik/20170209314472647-usa-sollten-schlauer-werden-trump-weist-mccain-in-die-schranken/ siehe auch https://consortiumnews.com/2017/02/09/trump-confronts-new-mccarthyism/
Mein Kommentar: Das soll man nun verstehen: Genau das, was Trump hier McCain vorwirft, machen er und seine Entourage selbst, wenn es um den Iran und Jemen geht.
9.2.2017 – Washington Post (* A P)
Why the Yemen disaster is a frightening harbinger of things to come
from a report by NBC News:
After two months of military preparation increasingly focused on the opportunity to capture al-Rimi, Trump was told by Defense Secretary James Mattis and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that his capture would be a “game changer,” according to a senior White House official with direct knowledge of the discussions.
In making their case, they told Trump that they doubted that the Obama administration would have been bold enough to try it, this official said.
Now those are some fellows who knew their audience. This is where it gets troubling. Simply put, we’ve never seen a president who combined complete ignorance with rampaging overconfidence quite the way Trump does. Despite having no experience in military affairs or foreign policy, he claimed during the campaign that “I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me,” and when asked whom he consulted on foreign policy, said, “I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lotta things.”
Trump also claimed to have personally devised a secret plan to defeat ISIS that he couldn’t reveal lest the terrorists learn what they were in for, though this was a transparent lie. When the subject came up he would say the most bellicose and simple-minded thing possible, often to the point of literally advocating war crimes: “I would bomb the s–t out of them,” or “I’d bring back waterboarding, and I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding,” or “The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families.”
No evidence has emerged since then that Trump has anything other than an infantile conception of what being “strong” means. He continues to express his amazement that General Mattis, despite being an obvious tough guy, is opposed to the use of torture.
So anyone who wants Trump to approve a military mission understands that they need only describe it as tough or strong or bold, and there’s a good chance Trump will be won over. His general cluelessness is also something that the rest of his staff is learning to use for their own ends. Earlier this week the New York Times reported that Trump was angry “that he was not fully briefed on details of the executive order he signed giving his chief strategist a seat on the National Security Council.” So Trump apparently signed an order making Steve Bannon a member of the “principals committee” of the NSC — an unprecedented move — without having any idea what he was doing.
Many have expressed the hope that the people around Trump might be able to rein in his worst instincts and provide a voice of restraint in critical moments. But who exactly is supposed to play that role — and who has the pull with Trump to do it?
This is where things get really frightening: The person with the most pull over Trump is probably Bannon, who remains Trump’s most important adviser. But Bannon doesn’t seem likely to rein in Trump. Bannon harbors a visionary agenda for the United States government. He believes that “there is a major war brewing, a war that’s already global,” a war between Islam and the Christian west. “Every day that we refuse to look at this as what it is — and the scale of it, and really the viciousness of it,” he said in a 2014 speech, “will be a day where you will rue that we didn’t act.” Those are not the words of a man who will be advising restraint in any given situation.
Bannon is truly a visionary, and Donald Trump was just the vehicle he was waiting for. Bannon sees himself engineering a worldwide clash of civilizations.
Let’s hope that never occurs. But there will be many future situations — some as a result of military planning, some in response to sudden developments overseas — where in the White House we’ll have an ignorant, overconfident, impulsive president being pushed along by advisers playing to his worst instincts as they harbor their own grand visions of holy war – By Paul Waldman
9.2.2017 – Wallstreet Journal (* A K P)
Washington Turns Attention to Yemen, Pleasing Gulf States
Saudi Arabia, other regional monarchies hope Trump administration will counter Iranian influence
Yemen’s simmering war is getting fresh attention from Washington—to the delight of Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies, hopeful that President Donald Trump will choose the conflict as his first battleground to roll back Iran.
In any case, Gulf officials and analysts say they are heartened by Washington’s new attention to the Yemen conflict, a war that has already sucked up so many Saudi and Emirati resources.
“We want Trump to limit the Iranian influence. Yemen has a long coast, and what we would like America to do is to be more assertive, also with its warships, to secure Yemen’s borders and to interrupt the delivery of Iranian weapons to the Houthis,” said Ebtesam Alketbi, chairwoman of the Emirates Policy Center think tank in Abu Dhabi.
“Obama did not want to do anything to disturb the nuclear deal with Iran. It seems that the signals coming from the Trump administration toward the GCC point to more cooperation,” Ms. Alketbi added.
If the Trump administration seeks to curb Iranian sway in the region, starting in Yemen carries fewer risks than, say, trying to dismantle the nuclear agreement.
“Apparently Trump wants to show muscle to Iran, and Yemen is the easiest way, in part because it is not as strategic to Russia, his theoretical partner in Syria,” said Farea al Muslimi, Yemen specialist at the Middle East Institute.
The new mood in Washington comes as Saudi Arabia faces a growing international backlash over the Yemen campaign.
People familiar with the Saudi government’s thinking say Riyadh is not expecting the U.S. to join the ground war against the Houthis. But, they say, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Gulf allies want Washington to help stem the flow of ammunition and weapons from Iran, particularly missiles, that they say reach the Houthis by sea or via the border with Oman.
The Gulf allies would also appreciate an increased supply of precision munitions and much broader sharing of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information on Houthi targets, these people say.
“For the Saudis it is quite easy to justify a muscular military intervention in Yemen. It’s practically in Saudi Arabia’s backyard and it’s a domestic issue for them,” said Adam Baron, Yemen specialist at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank. “For the U.S., it is something different: Yemen is a place that an average American has never heard of. It is also hard to take a muscular approach in Yemen without it backfiring somewhere.” – By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV
Remark: Please look at cp1 for more about this subject.
9.2.2017 – Lew Rockwell (* A K P)
Military Nonsense and Hard Truths
At the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., on February 2, President Trump remarked about the Navy SEAL who was killed in Yemen: “He died in defense of our nation. He gave his life in defense of our people. Our debt to him and our debt to his family is eternal and everlasting.” Trump then went to Dover Air Force Base to meet the plane carrying the remains of the SEAL. This impressed Franklin Graham, son of the famous evangelist Billy Graham. “I applaud the fact that our president cared enough to be there as this fallen hero who had served multiple tours overseas was returned home,” he said. “Join me in praying for Chief Petty Officer Owens’ family, that God would put His loving arms around them and comfort them as only He can.”
For the 1000th time, U.S. military personnel have no business in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, or Afghanistan. They are not heroes. They are pawns and dupes of the state. They died in vain and for a lie. They died for the U.S. empire, not in defense of the United States.
Yes, these are hard truths. This Navy SEAL was someone’s son and grandson and I know his family is grieving. Please do everything you can to keep young men (and women) from joining the military – by Laurence M. Vance
https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/military-nonsense/
9.2.2017 – Pittsburgh Post Gazette (* A K P)
The Yemen mess: Take the hint and extract U.S. forces from the war
Two new developments related to Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world, raise again in stark terms the question of why the United States continues to participate in the effort led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to pound that Middle Eastern country of 27 million into uninhabitable rubble.
The first of these, a result of years of extensive U.S.-supported bombing, drone attacks and other military action against one of the factions in Yemen, is that a formidable level of famine is threatening the population of the country, including an estimated 2.1 million children.
U.S. Special Forces assaulted a village deep inside Yemen with President Donald Trump’s approval. In addition to one American soldier, a number of Yemeni civilians including women and children were killed, and the intelligence harvest, the alleged object of the exercise, the total of which remains to be revealed, seems to have been meager. One acquisition which the Department of Defense first vaunted, then backed away from, was a copy of a 10-year-old training film that had already been on the internet.
Here is a chance for Mr. Trump’s new national security team to save some money and stop perpetuating America’s participation in what are atrocities in humanitarian terms by ending U.S. military activities in Yemen, as its government has requested. This could include the expensive bombing which has the United States knee-deep in an intra-Islamic struggle between Sunnis and Shiites, Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Osprey aircraft lost in the most recent raid alone cost $71 million.
Let the Yemenis, Saudis and Emiratis fight it out if they feel the need to. America should not be involved – By the Editorial Board
From the comments:
O.S.: I am not going to call the Trump forces "idiots", but you have hit the nail on the head. Apparently when a pseudo-Republican president engages our forces in a raid which turns into a debacle, it is acceptable and no one is held accountable: hypocrisy.
Comment by Judith Brown: Well this is not a very well informed an article. Saleh is called 'Sunni Muslim'. No he definitely isn't. He is a Zaidi. He hails from a minor branch of the main tribe in North Yemen, the Hashids, who were largely Zaidi - although some high profile members of the Hashid tribe like Ali Mohsin have converted to a very conservative form of Islam akin to Wahhabism - Mohsin married into a family with links to Al Qaeda in Abyan, the Fadhli family - and he is now the Vice President of Yemen. But in truth until this war religious difference was a non-subject in a Yemen that was tolerant of such differences, the Zaidi and Sunni even worshipped in the same mosques. So Saleh's religion was never relevant. Now of course the war has made religion more significant, sadly. But nontheless let's get rid of US forces in Yemen as the writer suggests. And Yemen is definitely in a mess. At least we can agree on that. And p.s. The UAE no longer are actively fighting in Yemen. They are in the South safeguarding some strategic areas but it is only Saudi Arabia that is actively fighting - apart from Qatar, UK and USA most countries in the coalition are taking no active part in the war.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155218919223641
9.2.2017 – Politico (A P)
Bipartisan group of senators demand Yemen briefing
A bipartisan group of four senators is demanding a briefing on the U.S. military’s objectives in Yemen, as new details emerge about a Navy SEAL raid that left one U.S. service member and a number of civilians dead.
Republicans Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah have joined Democrats Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Al Franken of Minnesota to request “a classified briefing” from the Trump administration on “our actions and objectives” in Yemen.
The four senators have been critical of U.S. policies toward Yemen in the past, criticizing U.S. weapon sales to Saudi Arabia – By AUSTIN WRIGHT
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/senators-want-yemen-raid-briefing-234846?cmpid=sf
9.2.2017 – Wallstreet Journal (not rated A P)
Washington Turns Attention to Yemen, Pleasing Gulf States
Saudi Arabia, other regional monarchies hope Trump administration will counter Iranian influence
Yemen’s simmering war is getting fresh attention from Washington—to the delight of Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies, hopeful that President Donald Trump will choose the conflict as his first battleground to roll back Iran – By Yaroslav Trofimov
https://www.wsj.com/articles/washington-turns-attention-to-yemen-pleasing-gulf-states-1486636201
10.1.2017 – Xinhua (A P)
Trump, senior Republican spat over deadly Yemen raid
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday released three tweets in succession lashing out at fellow Republican John McCain for denying a Yemen raid that killed a U.S. navy officer was a success.
"Sen. McCain should not be talking about the success or failure of a mission to the media. Only emboldens the enemy! He's been losing so long he doesn't know how to win anymore, just look at the mess our country is in - bogged down in conflict all over the place," Trump said.
"Our hero Ryan died on a winning mission (according to General Mattis), not a 'failure.' Time for the U.S. to get smart and start winning again!" he added.
The strong words were directed at McCain's previous remarks on the deadly mission, saying he "would not describe any operation that results in the loss of American life as a success."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-02/10/c_136046615.htm
Comment by Judith Brown: This is not Yemen news. It's Trump news.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155204620033641
9.2.2017 – CNN (A P)
9th Circuit rules against reinstating travel ban
President Donald Trump's travel ban will remain blocked, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/09/politics/travel-ban-9th-circuit-ruling-immigration
9.2.2017 – MbKS15 (A K P)
A 4-ship #F15SA took-off this morning from STL on delivery to Saudi Arabia. First stop: RAF Lakenheath (photo)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/829655690583166977
Photos of the 3x #F15SA (12-1041, 12-1043, & 12-1045) arrived at RAF Lakenheath on their way to Saudi Arabia — by: Matt Ellis (photos)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/829749676580548608
RSAF #F15SA with #USAF KC-10 crossing the Atlantic yesterday (photo)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/830146331352117252
My comment: US-British-Saudi complicity in pictures.
And as reminder ( I missed this article earlier):
12.1.2017 – The Intercept (* A K P)
Rex Tillerson Wants to Provide Saudi Arabia With More Help to Bomb Yemen
when secretary of state nominee and former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson was asked about Saudi Arabia’s use of cluster weapons during his confirmation hearing Wednesday, he declined to answer, and suggested that the way to discourage Saudi Arabia from hitting civilians in Yemen is to provide them with additional targeting intelligence.
“How about with regard to the use of cluster munitions?” the senator asked.
“Well I’d have to examine what our past policy has been. I don’t want to get out ahead, if we’ve made commitments in this area, I don’t want to get out ahead of anyone on that,” Tillerson concluded.
Merkely clearly saw Tillerson’s response as an example of how the U.S. gives Saudi Arabia a pass due to its oil reserves. “We’ve often been reluctant to put as much pressure on states that we are dependent upon for oil, than in situations with states where we’re not dependent on oil,” he noted.
But Tillerson’s response went beyond deferring to the Saudis — it showed either a callous disregard for civilian lives lost or striking ignorance about what is going on in the region. And the latter is less likely, considering that before becoming CEO, Tillerson oversaw Exxon’s operations in Yemen and negotiated extensively with the Yemeni government for natural gas concessions – by Zaid Jilani and Alex Emmons
My comment: All this obviously is coming true.
9.2.2017 – T-Online (A P)
Einreiseverbot bleibt außer Kraft
Trump schäumt: "Wir sehen uns vor Gericht"
"Eine politische Entscheidung!" donnert Trump und greift einmal mehr die Unabhängigkeit der Gerichtsbarkeit seines Landes an. Rasch hämmert er in Großbuchstaben seinen Tweet in die Welt: "Die Sicherheit unseres Landes ist bedroht!" Das Urteil ist eine Ohrfeige gegen ihn.
"Wir sehen uns vor Gericht", schrieb Trump in seiner wütenden Botschaft auf Twitter. Damit dürfte er den Supreme Court gemeint haben. "Wir gewinnen das locker", sagte er Reportern am Abend. Die 29 Seiten Urteilsbegründung, die Wortwahl und die Besetzung des Obersten Gerichts lassen den Schluss zu, dass es nicht ganz so leicht werden könnte. "Diese Schlacht führt der Präsident steil bergauf", meinte der Rechtsexperte von CNN. Trumps Team dagegen ist zu 100 Prozent überzeugt von den exekutiven Vollmachten ihres Herrn.
Mein Kommentar: Ein schönes Beispiel dafür, wie Nachrichten zu Meinung und darüber hinaus schon zu reiner Polemik werden. Die Fakten sieht man immerhin noch.
9.2.2017 – The Independent (A P)
US Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad says she was detained by customs after Donald Trump's 'Muslim ban'
'Even though I represent Team USA and I have that Olympic hardware, it doesn't change how you look and how people perceive you,' top athlete says
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
Siehe / Look at cp1
10.2.2017 – The Guardian (* A P)
The Guardian view on Yemen and UK arms sales: immoral, whatever the law decides
The case for halting British arms sales to Saudi Arabia has been evident, not only on moral grounds, since civilians started dying in the conflict devastating Yemen. It is illegal to license such exports if there is a “clear risk” they could be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law. Over a year ago, a leaked UN report recorded “widespread and systematic” breaches of the laws of war. This week has exposed the indefensibility of weapons sales so clearly that the need for a suspension seems undeniable, except to the government.
Meanwhile, a judicial review of British sales brought by the Campaign Against Arms Trade has revealed deep concerns within government. Edward Bell, head of the Export Control Organisation, wrote that “my gut tells me we should suspend [the exports]”. Liam Fox, usually a doughty defender of arms sales to the Middle East, deferred a decision on further licences after a bombing killed 140 people at a funeral in October and was condemned by UN monitors. Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, conceded that the issue was “finely balanced” – but pressed him to proceed.
The British government’s lawyer told the high court that one needed to be “jolly careful” in reaching judgments of violations of human rights law by friendly nations. He warned of the danger of interfering “with the interests – if not rights” of exporters and of the risk to diplomatic relations.
The answer is simple. Saudi Arabian airstrikes have hit hospitals, weddings and schools; on the very kindest judgment they are reckless. In many cases they appear to have been deliberate. Britain’s complicity in breaches of international law damages its influence and soft power and further degrades international standards just when they most need to be upheld. Yemen’s suffering will exacerbate regional instability. A ruling may be weeks or months away: ministers should stop sales now. The “interests” of arms exporters cannot outweigh Yemenis’ right to life – by Editorial Board
10.2.2017 – The Guardian (* A P)
Boris Johnson urged UK to continue Saudi arms sales after funeral bombing
Letters between foreign secretary and Liam Fox reveal UK weapons exports were under review following the bombing of a funeral in Yemen
Boris Johnson pressed Liam Fox to continue exporting weapons to Saudi Arabia after the bombing of a funeral in Yemen last October that killed over 140 people and was condemned by UN monitors.
Correspondence between the ministers shows that a month after the strike, Johnson, the foreign secretary, wrote: “I am aware you have deferred a decision on four export licence applications to supply the Royal Saudi Air Force with equipment which could be used in the conflict in Yemen.”
In the letter dated 8 November, Johnson advised the trade secretary it was right to proceed with the arms sales. “The issue is extremely finely balanced, but I judge at present the Saudis appear committed both to improving processes and to taking action to address failures/individual incidents,” he said.
The foreign secretary added that the Saudis had given the UK commitments in the aftermath of the airstrike on the funeral in Sana’a that meant “the ‘clear risk’ threshold for refusal … has not yet been reached”.
Fox then recommended that the licences be approved in the light of the assessment provided by the foreign secretary, but in his reply dated 17 November added that the situation remained risky and that he “must insist” on regular updates on the situation in Yemen.
The trade secretary wrote to Johnson: “I agree that this is an extremely complex situation and that the issue of clear risk is extremely finely balanced. In the light of your assessment and [REDACTED] recent advice I accept that we should continue, for the present, to assess export licences for Saudi Arabia on a case-by-case basis.”
But he added: “In doing so I want to be very clear with you about the risks inherent in making this decision, not just because of the grave situation in Yemen.”
Fox delayed signing off on further weapons exports to the Saudi air force following the strike, the correspondence suggested.
The government’s top export official, Edward Bell, wrote on 28 October that his department was consulting the Foreign Office to see whether there was a clear risk exports could be used to break the laws of war. He added: “We are making contingencies should licensing policy change.” – by Alice Ross
My comment: Just a scandal. It’s a great luck that this has been revealed. But it’s evident that without this process this would not have happened. They just want to keep up arms exports whatever happens. There have been much smaller reasons for politicians to leave office. It’s your time now, Boris.
Comment by Judith Brown: Well I'm not surprised but I am heartbroken - from the CAAT enquiry its plain that on so many occasions there was something saying maybe we should think again, but the person who said let's go on supplying weapons in spite of the IHL abuses - won the argument. And more Yemenis were killed.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155205170863641
Comment by Tasmina Sheikh MP: Boris Johnson’s letter is truly sickening & it's clear from this revelation that he has absolutely no moral compass
https://twitter.com/TasminaSheikh/status/830360378659909632
and
10.2.2017 – Middle East Eye (* A P)
REVEALED: UK knew support for Saudis helped Russia justify its Syria campaign
Court documents released this week also show that British foreign secretary urged Saudi arms sales even after Yemen funeral bombing
The British government acknowledged a year ago that its support of Saudi air strikes in Yemen was being used by Russia to deflect criticism against its own bombing campaign in Syria.
The admission came in a February 2016 memo released this week as part of a judicial review against the British government to stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
In the memo, Freddie Munday, a senior civil servant, warned Defence Secretary Michael Fallon that Russia and Syria had been using Britain's tacit support for Saudi air strikes in Yemen to "deflect criticism" of its aerial campaign in Syria "at the UN".
Munday said he was unsure if the Saudis were complying fully with international humanitarian law (IHL) and noted that the British government had "registered 156 allegations of civilian casualties/breaches of IHL in Yemen".
He also highlighted that the British government believed that Saudi's deliberate targeting processes were "broadly compliant" with IHL, but had "less insight" into the compliance of its dynamic targeting processes. According to British export laws, licenses should not be approved if there is a clear risk that weapons could be used for serious violations.
The court heard on Tuesday that Edward Bell, Britain's top export official, had advised the government to stop the sale of bombs to Saudi Arabia.
In an email to Business Secretary Sajid Javid, Bell said: "To be honest - and I was very directly and honest with the secretary of state - my gut tells me we should suspend."
Javid went against Bell's advice and wrote to the then-Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and Fallon that he intended to continue granting licenses. "I would like your agreement that this is the right policy for us to pursue at present," he wrote – by Areeb Ullah
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/british-government-support-saudi-air-strikes-1737415884
9.2.2017– Mark Menzies: Banning arms sales to Saudi Arabia would harm Britain and the Middle East – including Yemen
There is a lot more than the plight of Yemen and the stability of the Middle East – the world’s most troubled region – resting on the outcome of this week’s Judicial Review hearing into the licensing of British defence sales to Saudi Arabia.
The ruling could have massive ramifications for the British defence industry and the UK’s security. The industry was worth £3 billion to the economy in 2015 and is responsible for over 300,000 jobs. A ban on defence sales to Saudi Arabia would hit BAE Systems and Raytheon hardest, and would cause the loss of tens of thousands of jobs in England and Scotland.
The defence industry is of huge importance to the local economy in my constituency. BAE Systems employs approximately 5,500 workers at its Warton Aerodrome site in Fylde, while a further 4,500 people are employed less than 15 miles away, at Samlesbury. It is crucial that these high-skilled manufacturing jobs continue to be supported, driving and sustaining a buoyant economy in this part of North West England.
Any form of ban on defence exports would also have a considerable impact upon the UK’s own military capabilities. Arms licenses provide valuable income, a proportion of which is spent on research and development work into new technology, ensuring that our military remains among the world’s best. In an uncertain era this is more critical than ever.
Moreover, exports create economies of scale that keep our manufacturers competitive – by Mark Menzies, Conservative MP for Fylde.
My comment: Such a statement simply is insane. That’s not cars or tractors or clothings or wheat these companies make their money with. It’s arms, and in case they are not only stapled as a means to make sure you are able to defend yourself, but in case they are actually used, this means that’s killing and destruction they make money with. How can it be serious to think the benefit of the arms industry would be more important than life? Any life? If we would take serious Menzies’ statement, than please we also should take into consideration the benefit of drug dealers, white-slavers, pickpockets etc.
Comment by Judith Brown: Well considering this is so important it's amazing how it is not reported in the British press and television. This right wing article states it's importance to the present government - of course, he would say this wouldn't he. But apart from a two second mention on Channel 4 news it has not been reported.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155202123483641
8.2.2017 – Middle East Eye (* A P)
UK government denies it ignored advice over Saudi arms sales
Documents revealed in High Court detail close nature of military ties between London and Riyadh
The British government used its “considerable insight” into the actions of the Saudi Arabian military to make its decision to continue arms exports to the kingdom, a London court heard on Wednesday.
James Eadie QC told the High Court that in considering whether to halt the sales of weapons to Saudi Arabia in February 2016, government ministers used significant “understanding and knowledge" of Saudi processes to make a “considered analysis”.
But the government's lawyer also appeared to defend Saudi strikes on hospitals and school buildings by saying they could serve as “arms dumps” and could in some circumstances be considered “dual-use” targets, making air strikes legitimate.
According to evidence presented by the government, ministers discussed arms exports to Saudi Arabia at the "highest levels," and relied on expert evidence from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials to reach their conclusions.
Eadie is defending the government against a judicial review brought by Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT). The group, which has campaigned against arms sales since 1974, is hoping the case will lead to the suspension of UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
The court hearing on Wednesday also saw the release of a number of documents focusing on the close ties between the British military and the Saudi forces engaged in the ongoing conflict in Yemen.
The court also heard that officials within the MoD had removed a column in a tracking system dedicated to recording violations of international human rights law (IHL).
Defending the government's position, Eadie told the court that officials and ministers at the then Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), which had decision-making power over arms exports, made their decision after rationally examining the evidence and the so-called “consolidated criteria” for arms exports.
“The relevant question for the secretary of state is whether there is a clear risk that the items to be licensed might be used in the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law (IHL). That has been the question consistently addressed by the secretary of state,” he said in his written submission to the court.
The government’s legal team rejected demands that civil servants must fully investigate each and every allegation of IHL violations. “It is difficult to think those who set criteria for arms sales intended to set themselves up as auditors of foreign states’ conduct of conflict,” Eadie said.
In a defence of Saudi Arabia, he also said the evidence showed that the country is “not a state flagrantly and wantonly violating IHL. It knows the eyes of the world are on it.” – by Jamie Merrill
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uk-government-defends-arms-sales-saudi-arabia-1844692551
That’s really an odd statement. It culminates in the sentence that Saudi Arabia is “not a state flagrantly and wantonly violating International Human Rights”. The British government wants to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia and give other support, whatever reality and evidence are.
9.2.2017 – The Independent (* A P)
Now the High Court will decide if Brexit Britain is complicit in the devastating conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen
The continuation of arms sales that are the subject of a legal challenge before the High Court in London this week on the grounds that the weapons will be used in Yemen in violation of international humanitarian law. Critics of the US and Britain say they play an essential role in supporting the Saudi-led air campaign that has destroyed much of the Yemen’s infrastructure.
British support for the Saudi campaign has provoked little public interest, but the Government is now facing a landmark case before the High Court in London as the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) seeks an order to stop the sale of British-made bombs, fighter aircraft and other munitions to Saudi Arabia. CAAT says that since the start of the conflict, Britain has approved export licences for arms worth £3.1bn to Saudi Arabia.
Though the US and UK have sought to present the Houthis as an Iranian proxy, there is little sign that they get much help from Tehran, though Saudi intervention has served to deepen – and make more sectarian – a complicated civil war inside Yemen.
As Britain prepares to leave the European Union, it has a strong incentive to strengthen existing alliances with trading partners in the Gulf and elsewhere. Theresa May has already visited Bahrain and Turkey, both notoriously prohibiting dissent and imprisoning journalists and opposition leaders – by Patrick Cockburn
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/saudi-arabia-yemen-air-strikes-britain-arms-sales-high-court-case-patrick-cockburn-a7570941.html and by Voice of America. http://www.voanews.com/a/british-court-saudi-arms-sales-accusations-yemen-war-crimes/3715086.html
My comment: Judith Brown remarks that there is almost no coverage in British media – just this article by The Independent, which is online only. Reminds me of German media.
8.2.2017 – BBC (* A P)
Film: Andrew Mitchell calls for change of UK policy on Yemen
Former International Development Minister, Andrew Mitchell, told BBC Radio 4's World At One the UK government should support a cease-fire in Yemen, not the Saudi-backed coalition.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38911869?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
8.2.2017 – The Guardian (* A P)
Britain has blood on its hands over Yemen
Bombs made by us and dropped by Saudi Arabia are killing civilians in the civil war. Perhaps a high court ruling will bring our government to account
The government cannot plead ignorance. When I met Alan Duncan, the Tory special envoy on Yemen, last April, he denied that Saudi Arabia was a dictatorship. When I put it to him that the Saudi regime was dropping British-made cluster bombs – for which there was overwhelming evidence – he refused to accept it. “You are making that statement as if it is certain and definite,” he said. “I don’t know if I can or cannot accept that.” A few months later, the defence secretary, Michael Fallon, was forced to admit in parliament that it was true.
“It is clearly the view of the government at the moment that our weapons have not been used in breach of international humanitarian law,” Duncan told me. And yet we now know that, just two months earlier, Edward Bell, the senior civil servant with responsibility for export control, recommended suspending arms sales over human rights abuses. The then-business secretary Sajid Javid refused.
That’s why the case currently in the high court against the government – brought by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) – is so critical. CAAT argues – just as the senior civil servant ignored by the government argued – that arms sales to Saudi Arabia must cease.
Ministers must not be allowed to discreetly wash their hands of Yemeni blood. A UN panel of experts last year said that violations in Yemen were “widespread and systematic”. Entire cities – such as Sa’dah – had been classed as military targets.
“The UK government rules are very clear,” CAAT’s Tom Barns told me. “Licences for UK arms will not be granted if there’s a clear risk they’ll be commissioned in a serious violation of international humanitarian law.” British weapons “are playing a central role in this bombardment”, he added.
While the high court considers the legality of arms sales, the moral case is inarguable. Thousands of Yemeni civilians are being murdered, and our government shares responsibility – by Owen Jones
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
8.2.2017 – Jung und Naiv (A P)
Film: Einzellfall unklar: Bundesregierung zum US-Drohnenangriff im Jemen #Ramstein
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3O2Py1lXlk
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
11.2.2017 – RT (A P)
Exklusiv: Churkin zu Trumps Außenpolitik - "Emotionen dürfen die Vernunft nicht außer Kraft setzen"
Witali Churkin, Ständiger UN-Vertreter Russlands hat sich exklusiv gegenüber RT über Trumps Außenpolitik in Bezug auf Iran und China sowie das geplante Treffen von US-Außenminister Rex Tillerson und dem russischen Außenminister Sergej Lawrow geäußert.
Der Diplomat wies auf die aktive Rolle der Islamischen Republik Iran im Kampf gegen den Islamischen Staat (IS) hin, während er die jüngsten Äußerungen des US-Präsidenten kommentierte, in denen Trump den Iran als den Hauptsponsor des Terrorismus betitelte. Mit Russland, das eine enge Beziehung zum Iran hat, haben die USA "eine Reihe von Unstimmigkeiten in einigen Bereichen, zu denen auch die Rolle des Iran gehört", merkte Churkin an. Vor allem da die Beziehungen zwischen den Vereinigten Staaten und den Iran sich immer weiter zuspitzen.
Churkin glaubt, dass einige Teile der jüngsten US-Rhetorik gegenüber dem Iran von Emotionen und nicht von rationaler Politik sowie harten Fakten beeinflusst worden sein könnten:
https://deutsch.rt.com/international/46334-churkin-zu-trumps-aussenpolitik/
10.2.2017 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A P)
Film: Netanyahu, Israel share intelligence information with Saudi. Fighting Iran & Shiites is the Saudi alibi, looks like fucking for virginity
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/830181167504699396
8.2.2017 – Alwaght (*A P)
Saudi Blockade of Yemen Created Disastrous Humanitarian Situation: Russia
Russian envoy to the United Nations says Saudi Arabia's almost two-Year aggression on Yemen has made humanitarian situation disastrous in the already impoverished country that is faced a media blackout as Riyadh prevents journalist from going to Yemen.
"Humanitarian situation is also a disaster. It [Yemen] is a country with 20 million, almost all of them dependent on humanitarian supplies," Vitaly Churkin told in an interview with Russia Today, adding that Saudi Arabia's blockade on Yemenis who are almost independent on import of food and medicine to meet their needs has made the situation "extremely tragic" in the Arab state.
Russian permanent ambassador to the UN also said that Yemen aggression has received poor media cover as "quiet simply the Saudis are preventing the international journalists from travelling to Yemen. There are no flights into Yemen; they [Saudis] banned the flights to Sanaa, the capital of Yemen."
The Russian diplomat also added that "Until recently Journalists were allowed to take Yemen flights, but now Saudis say no. Therefore there is very little media presence in Yemen. It's extremely extremely tragic that this conflict s being overlooked".
Churkin also suggested that Saudi-led coalition's airstrikes on Yemen has further strengthened al-Qaeda in Yemen.
"Very bitter bloody fighting of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is becoming more active," he said.
My comment: That’s simply true. Russia anyway could have done more: It could have vetoed UN Security Council resolutions which gave Saudi Arabia a free pass to bomb and to blockade. The Russians did not. – And one more point: There is little coverage of the Yemen war not just because of the difficulties to get there, but also because of the fact that the Yemen war does not fit into the western propaganda narrative.
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
Siehe / Look at cp 1, cp10
cp13b Flüchtlinge / Refugees
7.2.2017 – UN High Commissioner for Refugees (A H)
Yemen Situation - 2017 Funding Update as of 7 February 2017
23.7 required for 2017
4.3 M contributions received, representing 3% of requirements
119.5 M funding gap for the Yemen situation
All figures are displayed in USD
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-situation-2017-funding-update-7-february-2017 and in full: http://reporting.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/Yemen%20Situation%20Funding%20Update%2007%20February%202017.pdf = http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Yemen%20Situation%20Funding%20Update%2007%20February%202017-2.pdf
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
10.2.2017 – Alternet (* A P T)
Al-Qaeda Is Already Exploiting Trump's Hawkish Foreign Policy to Help Recruit
Extremists are using the Trump administration's bloody raid in Yemen for propaganda purposes.
Al-Qaeda's most extreme branch is using the Trump administration's bloody first military raid in order to recruit more fighters. The leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is based in Yemen, released an audio recording in which he called President Trump a "fool," according to the Associated Press.
"The White House's new fool has received a painful blow at your hands in his first outing on your land," proclaimed Qassim al-Rimi, the head of the extremist group.
Al-Rimi said the U.S. raid killed 25 people, including 11 women and children. (Media reports claim even higher numbers of casualties.)
The Trump administration's first raid "caused more anger and hatred toward America," explained a Yemeni government employee quoted in the Chicago Tribune. "America has no right to carry out any military action in our country," he added. "This is a serious violation for our country's sovereignty and is totally unacceptable."
The attack has fueled anger at the U.S. throughout Yemen, where for nearly two years, the U.S. has supported a destructive Saudi bombing campaign that has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people and plunged the poorest country in the Middle East into famine.
This catastrophic U.S.-backed war has likewise amounted to a shot of adrenaline for AQAP, empowering and enrichening it after a 14-year covert U.S. drone war against the extremist group. The Trump administration, with its extreme anti-Muslim prejudices, has only continued to ramp up military intervention in Yemen, in alliance with Saudi Arabia.
The latest AQAP propaganda audio recording is just one of the many ways in which the U.S.'s so-called war on terror has actually helped strengthen the extremist groups it purports to be fighting. Al-Qaeda has long openly used U.S. military atrocities for recruitment purposes. It taps into widespread anger at bellicose American foreign policy to attract militants to its violent sectarian cause.
Anti-Iranian sentiment and sectarian bigotry against the Shia sect of Islam also pervades AQAP's propaganda. The Trump administration has ramped up tension against Shia-majority Iran, Sunni extremists' biggest enemy, and is pushing for war with the major Middle Eastern power.
A hyper-belligerent U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, like that of former President George W. Bush, threatens to further strengthen Salafi jihadist groups in the region. President Trump has made every indication that he will continue down this path – by Ben Norton
http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/al-qaeda-yemen-raid-propaganda-trump
10.2.2017 – Elisabeth Kendall / Hisham Al-Omeisy (A T)
#alQaeda wire posts info on 1 of 2 Houthi commanders #AQAP assassinated Sunday Taha al-Madani: claims he was Head of Houthi Security & Intel (image)
https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/830006970295934976
One of many awkward moments when both AQAP & pro Saudi #Yemen forces take credit for same op against Houthis. But yeah, no collusion. Right.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/830038029779795968
9.2.2017 – Hamed Ghaleb / Hussam Al-Sanabani / Green Lemon (* A T)
AQAP in Qaifa albaydaa is using 81mm mortar shells they were supplied for them by #Saudi ,Qaifa is where US raid took place last week (photos)
https://twitter.com/HamedGhaleb/status/829789878913290240
From where Al-Qaeda get this mortar shell "81mm 72HE TNT KV lot 01/15"? #Yemen army is using Russian mortars 82mm
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/829749812731985921
navy seal William Ryan probably killed by weapons supplied by #Saudi, these mortar shells were bought from Serbia by #Saudi led coalition
https://twitter.com/HamedGhaleb/status/829807251384840192
Serbian Krusik 81mm mortar. Production date is the interesting part.
https://twitter.com/green_lemonnn/status/829757060342480896
not only production date is interesting, it was used in the same area of US lost a soldier last week
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/829791602981949440
Remark: William Ryan Owens.
9.2.2017 – PRI (* A P T)
Why a Navy SEAL raid on al-Qaeda enraged Yemenis
Yemenis are enraged over a Navy SEAL raid on an al-Qaeda camp — not out of any love for al-Qaeda, but for the civilians who died during the attack.
One victim in particular is mentioned by Yemenis. An 8-year-old girl, whose picture has been shared around Yemeni social media many times since the Jan. 29 assault.
Noor al-Awlaki is the daughter of the American cleric turned al-Qaeda propagandist, Anwar al-Awlaki. He was killed by an American drone in 2011. Noor's older brother was killed in a subsequent drone strike just two weeks later.
The fact that Noor was in the al-Qaeda camp has raised controversy, but mostly in the West.
"For Americans it may be very easy to see this girl as the daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki," says Adam Baron, who lived and worked in Yemen as a journalist. "But for Yemenis this was an 8-year-old girl who was killed in a very brutal way and cut down before her adulthood. I would just say the optics of this are not very good."
Adam Baron now works for the European Council on Foreign Relations, but he keeps in touch with his Yemeni friends and colleagues. He says that although the nation's 2-year-old civil war is forcing people across the country to side with one faction or another, their response to the US attack led to a moment of solidarity.
"This raid has managed to unite Yemenis in outrage against what happened," he says.
"Drone strikes in Yemen have always been deeply controversial," Baron notes. "This is not to say that Yemenis are very supportive of al-Qaeda, or that Yemenis are keen on allowing their country to be a place where such militants run free. But I think any country would be very apprehensive about a situation where another country's bombs are coming and then targeting its own citizens."
On Monday, the New York Times reported that Yemen's internationally recognized president, the exiled leader Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, had withdrawn permission for US antiterror ground missions. A day later, a senior Yemeni official clarified the government position to a Reuters reporter, saying, "We have not withdrawn our permission. ... However, we made clear our reservations about the last operation."
The rebuke to the US and the subsequent walking back may have been more theatrical than substantive. President Hadi has little influence in his own country.
"When we speak about the concerns of the average Yemeni, the average Yemeni just wants to live,” Baron says. “All of this regional global politics that we talk about ... for the average Yemeni, all of this is a footnote." – By Stephen Snyder
https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-02-08/why-navy-seal-raid-al-qaeda-enraged-yemenis
9.2.2017 – The Atlantic (* A P T)
The Yemen Raid and the Ghost of Anwar al-Awlaki
The enduring propaganda value of a martyr
Looming in the background was an all-too-familiar apparition: that of the late Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born al-Qaeda cleric and propagandist, killed by a U.S. drone strike on September, 30, 2011, while traveling through al-Jawf, Yemen.
As reports of the travel ban’s impact on U.S. residents emerged, excerpts from one of Awlaki’s final speeches from 2010 began reappearing in online forums frequented by his admirers. In the speech, Awlaki, whose notoriety has grown since his death, observed how forever war frustrates and corrupts the attitudes of those that wage it. In light of Trump’s travel ban—and not for the first time—Awlaki’s seemingly prophetic words about the inevitable course of the wars on terror seemed to ring true:
Don’t be deceived by the promises of preserving your rights from a government that is right now killing your own brothers and sisters. Today, with the war between Muslims and the West escalating, you cannot count on the message of solidarity you may get from a civic group or a political party, or the word of support you hear from a kind neighbor or a nice co-worker. The West will eventually turn against its Muslim citizens!
Trump’s pre-election suggestion that the families of terrorists were fair game notwithstanding, there is no reason to believe that the raid deliberately targeted civilians or the Awlaki child. In the fog of war, civilian deaths do occur.
But when they have occurred during the war on terror, they often become part of the propaganda of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The death of Awlaki, a U.S. citizen, at the hands of his own government, provided him with a potent martyrdom story; Nawar and Abdulrahman are now part of that story. This is how good propaganda works: by fusing facts, lies, and coincidence, to create stories that shape how audiences perceive the world. Awlaki will continue to be drawn upon, rightly or wrongly, as a symbol of both the West’s infidelity to its principles when dealing with its own Muslim citizens, and the destruction that results from a war on terror without end.
Awlaki’s charismatic appeal is rooted in his message and image.
In the aftermath of Trump’s first foray into the war on terror, it seems that both Awlaki’s message and image were boosted in the eyes of his admirers: another of his forewarnings ringing true from the grave, another Awlaki slaughtered by the West’s “war on Islam.” It is a narrative that promises to resonate well-beyond the borders of Yemen or al-Qaeda’s networks.
The impact of the raid will certainly affect both the type and robustness of future operations against an al-Qaeda affiliate very much on the rise in Yemen (and elsewhere). Yet, attempts by military and political spokesmen to explain these events, expressed in the sterile language of “risks,” “collateral damage,” and the “laws of war,” will likely leave little room for considering how ghosts from the past like Awlaki may effect actions today, and how those actions may be perceived in the future – by HARORO J. INGRAM AND CRAIG WHITESIDE
9.2.2017 – Newsmax (A P)
Joe Lieberman Questions Trump WH on 'Success' of Yemen Raid
Former Sen. Joe Lieberman disputed the Trump administration's claim last month's raid on Yemen was a success because a Navy SEAL was among those who died in the attack.
"So, OK, it wasn't a total failure, but you can't call it a success either — because we lost a soldier, others were wounded and some bystanders, innocent civilians, were killed," he said.
http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/Joe-Lieberman-White-House-Yemen-raid/2017/02/09/id/772866/
My comment: Sounds like a quite weak statement…
10.2.2017 – FAZ ( A P)
Trump greift McCain an
Der Umgang mit Kritik gehört nicht zu Trumps Stärken. Dass Senator John McCain die Militäroperation im Jemen, bei der Dutzende Zivilisten und ein amerikanischer Soldat starben, nicht als Erfolg bezeichnen will, bringt den Präsidenten in Rage.
8.2.2017 – Click Orlando (A P)
Spicer demands apology from McCain over Yemen
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday that critics of the recent raid in Yemen, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, should apologize.
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/politics/spicer-demands-apology-from-mccain-over-yemen
Comment by Judith Brown: Wow - the arrogance of this statement.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155202126388641
8.2.2017 – The Hill (* A P T)
Spicer: Critics of Yemen raid do 'disservice' to dead SEAL
White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Wednesday said anyone criticizing the latest military raid in Yemen as something less than a success is doing a disservice to the Navy SEAL killed in the operation.
Spicer called the Yemen raid a “huge success” that would save American lives and prevent future attacks.
“The life of chief Ryan Owens was done in service to his country and we owe him and his family a great debt for the information we received during that raid,” Spicer said. “Any suggestion otherwise is a disservice to his courageous life and the actions he took. Full stop.” – By Ben Kamisar
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/318536-spicer-critics-of-yemen-raid-do-disservice-to-dead-seal
Comment below by Spec9: Summary of Trump's Yemen mission:
Executes mission that obama refused as too risky
Executed it because they told him obama saiid that
No state dept/IC in SitRoom (no warning that losing Yemen access was a risk)
Lost a navy SEAL, BILL OWENS
Who was a father to 3
talked about his funeral with the sincerity of Bill Murray
Injured 3 others
Lost a 75 million dollar aircraft
Missed the target of the raid, the #1 AQ guy
Proceeded when they knew they were spotted
Killed an American passport holding girl orphan
Killed a bunch of civilians and women
Leveled a bunch of buildings to cover their retreat
Got kicked out of doing any other missions by Yemen
Got taunted on social media by #1 AQ guy
Made ISIS recruitment easier
Lied and minimized all of the above, losing credibility
Achievement unlocks:
Completed tutorial level!
Got a cool MP4 video that was on google anyway
If Obama had done this 10'days after his election, the minority GOP would have had group aneurysms.
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/318536-spicer-critics-of-yemen-raid-do-disservice-to-dead-seal#comment-3144678054 and by Common Dreams: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/02/08/sean-spicer-anyone-and-he-means-anyone-who-criticizes-yemen-raid-owes-apology-dead
8.2.2017 – The Atlantic (* A P T)
Why Is the White House Calling Its Yemen Raid a Success?
If the costly mission counts as winning, President Trump is right that Americans will get tired of it
It is difficult to imagine better terrorist propaganda than grisly photographs of children that U.S. fighters killed. This is the sort of incident that creates new terrorists, regardless of whether one blames Obama, Trump, the Joint Chiefs, or bad luck.
So it’s bizarre that, in spite of it all, the White House insists the mission was a success. Even if the flaws of the operation were not Trump's fault, talking-points used by the Trump administration could hardly put the U.S. in a worse light:
Why publicly declare that a raid is highly successful when the benefits are “intelligence” and the costs are multiple dead kids, multiple wounded Americans, a dead Navy SEAL, and perhaps $100 million in total costs? If that’s what Trump and his advisors regard as a moral, highly successful use lives and scarce counterterrorism resources, it is monstrous. If they’re covering up that the real purpose of the raid was to kill a senior terrorist who surrounded himself with human shields, they could surely do so in a way that doesn’t make the U.S. seem monstrous, with Yemenis concluding we value a few laptops more than the lives of their children.
To sum up, the Trump administration would have Americans believe that it favors putting boots on the ground in Yemen and risking American lives without congressional approval, at a cost of tens of millions of dollars per mission, all to gather intelligence … and that the mission is a success. Is this what Trump meant when he told his supporters they’d get tired of winning?
I doubt it accords with what they expected when they cast their ballots for a man who said he was opposed to interventions abroad or spending money on military misadventures that could fund infrastructure – by Conor Friedersdorf
8.2.2017 – Vice News (A P T)
Trump’s botched Yemen raid will hurt U.S. counterterror operations, analysts say
Bill Roggio, editor of the Long War Journal, was even less generous, telling VICE News the raid was undoubtedly “a political blow and PR disaster for the Trump administration.” He added it would likely hamper future U.S. counterterror efforts in the country.
Hassan Hassan, senior fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, said the raid “outraged many inside and outside Yemen,” further strengthening sentiment against the U.S. counterterror campaign.
“American raids inside Yemen have been unpopular for years, and the raid galvanized people against such tactics,” he told VICE News.
The latest failure will further blemish the U.S.’s standing in Yemen, which has suffered in the wake of its controversial backing of Saudi-led coalition airstrikes.
Roggio said that while the U.S. has occasionally struck Houthi targets, typically in response to the rebels’ actions, it had generally limited its involvement in the Houthi conflict, while aggressively targeting al Qaeda.
Hassan said that the U.S. was seen as reluctant to provide full support for the Saudi-led coalition, which many hoped would speed up the fight against the Houthis, and allow for precision targeting and the reduction of civilian casualties.
“In this sense, the raid is seen as the U.S. not doing enough against the anti-government forces but willing to go aggressively against al Qaeda, with little regard to the consequences,” he said. “This will make the Arab coalition and forces on the ground less willing to cooperate with the Americans on this anti-al Qaeda front.” – By Tim Hume
My comment: Strange, certainly: Roggio and Hassan tell us the US should interfere even more, now even against the Houthis? This would be insane.
cp15 Propaganda
10.2.2017 – Al Arabiya (A P)
CIA honors Saudi Crown Prince for efforts against terrorism
The medal, named after George Tenet, was handed to him by CIA Director Micheal Pompeo after the Crown Prince received him in Riyadh.
The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, received a medal on Friday from the CIA for his distinct intelligence-related counter-terrorism work and his contributions to ensure international peace and security.
The medal, named after George Tenet, was handed to him by CIA Director Micheal Pompeo after the Crown Prince received him in Riyadh on Friday in the presence of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman al-Saud, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.
The Crown Prince said in a press statement after receiving the medal that he appreciated the CIA honor, stressing that his efforts were guided by the leaders of Saudi Arabia headed by King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, as well as the efforts of the Kingdom’s security forces.
With regards to terrorism in the region, the Crown Prince said all religions are separate from the beliefs and actions of extremist groups, noting that religious, political and social groups who have used religion as a tool throughout history do not reflect the absolute truths about the religion which it is affiliated to, or attributes its actions to.
He said Saudi Arabia has played a key role in the fight against terrorism and condemns all forms and manifestations of terrorism. “We, God willing, continue to confront terrorism and extremism everywhere, and with thanks to God we have managed to thwart many terrorist plots from occurring,” he said.
The Crown Prince also stressed that the fight against terrorism is a shared international responsibility that requires international efforts at all levels to confront it militarily and intellectually, as well as financially. This must be done within the framework of international law and the principles of the United Nations.
With regards to the relations between Saudi Arabia and the US, the Crown Prince said: “Our relationship with the United States is historical and will continue to succeed.”
Addressing the issue of possible future attacks, the Crown Prince said: “We are surrounded by areas of conflict, and we were the first affected by terrorism from various sources, but we are equipped to combat terror in any place and under any circumstances.”
My comment: If there would be a joke section, this article would fit. The CIA, one of world’s great terror sponsors, honors the representative of the world’s greatest terror sponsors for fighting against terror – LOL.
10.2.2017 – KS relief / Living in Yemen on the edge (A P)
#KSRelief distributes 30 thousand food baskets to those affected in districts of Sana'a
https://twitter.com/KSRelief_EN/status/829680545147789313
Districts of #Sanaa: Does anyone have information on this?
King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre bombs civilians and distributes food baskets?
My comment: The tweets of Saudi KS relief offer plenty of propaganda like that. Might be in this case somebody took baskets for bombs. 30.000 bombs could fit reality.
10.2.2017 –Hussam Al-Sanabani (A P)
Saudi ridiculous propaganda continue "They liberated Maswarh, west of Sana'a". My jaws dropped. Maswarh is in the east of Sana'a
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/830109587344855041 referring to https://twitter.com/AlArabiya_Brk/status/696089317538603008
10.2.2017 – Al Sahwa (A P)
Military commander: Houthis and Saleh stand behind al-Qaeda in Abyan
The commander of the fourth military region Fadhal Hassan has said that the Houthis and ousted President Ali Adullah Saleh stand behind al-Qaeda's operations in the southern governorate of Abyan.
He emphasized that the Yemeni military will use an iron fist against the terrorist groups, citing that they will be pursued everywhere in Yemen.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-3871
My comment: That is simply odd propaganda – especially after the US raid at Al Baida province, when again was seen the evidence oft he ties between the pro-Hadi militia, the Hadi government and Al Qaida.
10.2.2017 – Sputnik News (* A P)
Saudi General Predicts Yemeni Conflict Will Soon Be Brought to an End
Commenting on the ongoing conflict in Yemen, Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, spokesperson of the Saudi-led coalition forces, told Sputnik that Saudi Arabia and its allies support the Yemeni legitimate government and want to find a solution to the crisis.
In an interview with Sputnik Arabic, al-Assiri stressed that the Saudi-led coalition regards Houthi rebels as terrorists.
Everyone understands that those [rebel] groups are losing. Very soon, security, stability and the legitimate government will be restored. Currently, the government controls 85 percent of the country. […] There is no place in Yemen for rebellious groups," the spokesperson said.
According to al-Assiri, Houthi rebels are to blame for many civilian deaths in the conflict.
"They abducted and killed a lot of people. In fact, those supporting them make up only one percent of the Yemeni population. They want to impose their will on 26 million Yemenis," he said.
Al-Assiri also commented on a tragic incident which took place in October when a Saudi-led coalition airstrike on a funeral ceremony in Sanaa killed over 100. In an official statement, the coalition admitted that the airstrike was conducted by mistake.
"That was just one incident among thousands of combat sorties by our aircraft. The coalition did not invade Yemen, but started the operation at a request from the legitimate government. We admitted the mistake. But the entire operation should not be judged just by one incident," he said.
Commenting on the negotiating process, al-Assiri accused the Saleh-led government of fueling the conflict.
"The Arab coalition supports the legitimate government, including in their policies. The government spent three months on peaceful talks in Kuwait. All possible options and concessions were discussed. But the opposite party decided to carry out their own policy, and the talks failed. Houthis and the government led by Saleh fuel the conflict, by establishing a parallel government," he said.
In conclusion, al-Assiri suggested that finally the legitimate government and its allies will "reach its goal and establish peace and stability in Yemen."
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201702101050544392-saudi-coalition-yemen/
My comment: This is typical Assiri propaganda. – “Houthi rebels as terrorists”: if they should be labeled so, the Saudi government and air force must be twice. – “Very soon, security, stability and the legitimate government will be restored”: The Saudis are telling this since 22 month now. “Security, stability” have disappeared greatly because of Saudi bombing interference. – “Currently, the government controls 85 percent of the country.”: not even 85 % of its capital city. A large part of this 85 % (for a long time, propaganda just was content with 80 %) is desert. The larger part of the population still is under Houthi / Saleh rule. And a great part of these ominous 85 % actually is ruled by Al Qaida. – “There is no place in Yemen for rebellious groups": how the Saudis can be those who can dictate that? And even more, the Houthis are part of a government, they are no “rebellious group” any more, nor are the Saleh forces, which represent the larger part of the Yemeni army. Looking at that, evidently the newly enlarged “army” of “president” Hadi is a “rebellious group”. – “The Houthi rebels are to blame for many civilian deaths in the conflict”. Might be this is the best joke, at least in case Assiri or any other Saudi official tells it. Saudi Arabia, either by bombing or by starvation blockade, is responsible of the by far greatest part of civilian deaths. – “those supporting them [the Houthis] make up only one percent of the Yemeni population”: where did Assiri get this from? In the North, the Houthis da have quite a lot of support – last not least because of the Saudi bombing campaign, not just because the people liked the Houthis that much. – The funeral strike in October “was just one incident among thousands of combat sorties by our aircraft.”, yes, that comes true, but what a strange excuse this should be??? – “the coalition admitted that the airstrike was conducted by mistake”: definitely a lie. “But the entire operation should not be judged just by one incident", again, that’s true but in another sense as Assiri wants to tell us. There are thousands of other raids relentlessly having killed civilians. A strange excuse, really. – And, finally: The efforts for a peaceful solution failed thanks to Hadi clinging to presidency.
And more from this interview is here:
10.2.2017 – Arab News (* A P)
Saleh ‘subject to trial’ over Yemen coup: Arab coalition
Ousted Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh will be subject to trial over the “criminal” coup in the country, an Arab coalition spokesman has said.
Saleh is a Yemeni citizen and thus “subject to imposition of international penalties for carrying out criminal acts in Yemen,” said Maj. Gen. Ahmed Al-Assiri, who is also an adviser to the Saudi minister of defense.
Al-Assiri was speaking in an interview with Russia’s Sputnik and RIA Novosti news agencies. He said the legitimate government in Yemen is in charge of its citizens, and as such, “Saleh will be subject to trial based on Yemeni law.”
Al-Assiri said Saleh “belongs to a group of criminals that carried out a coup d’état” in the state, and must cooperate with the legitimate government if he wishes to avoid harsher penalties.
He said the Arab coalition considers “all groups that supported the coup as one body that led Yemen to the destruction and hardship it is currently facing.”
Asked whether Riyadh was targeted by ballistic missiles from Sanaa, as had been claimed by some, Al-Assiri said he “would not comment on such lies, as all incidents taking place in the Kingdom or areas or operations are announced and addressed via official statements by the coalition.”
He added: “No official statement was released about this activity by Houthi militias, which means it is a lie, and we have no time for verbal controversies and debates on media channels.
“We believe in truth, and we say to all those claiming that the Kingdom, or some of its territories, have been the target of such activity to issue a statement or a report. We promised transparency with Saudi Arabia, (the) Arab and international community, and should any such kind of activity occur, we would announce it, as we have nothing to hide.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1052531/middle-east
My comment: “Saleh is a Yemeni citizen and thus “subject to imposition of international penalties for carrying out criminal acts in Yemen,” and what about the Saudi bombing coalition??? – Assiri: ““We believe in truth”: LOL LOL LOL.
10.2.2017 – DT News (A P)
Bahrain attends Yemen aid meet
Permanent delegation of the Kingdom of Bahrain to Geneva, headed by Permanent Representative Ambassador Dr. Yousef Abdul Karim Bucheeri, and other international organisations took part in the Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan 2017 meeting organised by the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Ambassador Bucheeri spoke on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council in the meeting that falls within the framework of the plan of action of the United Nations and its partners working in the field of emergency relief with the aim of providing aid to the brotherly people of Yemen.
In his statement, the Permanent Representative valued the work being done by the Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and its incessant endeavours to respond to humanitarian crises across the world in general and in Yemen in particular.
In this context, he lauded the distinguished efforts that have been made in preparing the Humanitarian Response Plan 2017 amid the appalling conditions witnessed by the Yemeni people who have endured and still endure extreme difficulties as a consequence of the Houthi forces coup aided by ousted Ali Salah.
He said the GCC States agree to the remarks made by the Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien, on Yemen’s deteriorated humanitarian conditions, looming difficulties and the many challenges being faced by the providers of humanitarian aid on the Yemeni territories.
He welcomed the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other stakeholders who are exchanging information with humanitarian aid agencies to surmount the difficulties being faced in Yemen, affirming that the GCC countries form the biggest source of humanitarian aid for the Republic of Yemen through Operation Restoring Hope.
He commended in particular the efforts of the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Works which assumes a great role along with other GCC Humanitarian organizations to meet the need of the brotherly Yemenis.
Dr. Bucheeri also affirmed the GCC keenness on making sure that all the humanitarian aids ensured by the GCC states reach the needy in Yemen in light of the Houthis’ imposed restriction on humanitarian action in a flagrant violation of international conventions which regard them responsible for the facilitation of the access of basic humanitarian aids.
In conclusion, the Permanent Representative reiterated the need for a political solution, based on the GCC Initiative, outcomes of the Yemeni Comprehensive Dialogue and UN Security Council Resolution 2216, calling on the international community to support the GCC states in the pioneering role they play in rebuilding Yemen.
http://www.newsofbahrain.com/viewNews.php?ppId=30313&TYPE=Posts&pid=21&MNU=2&SUB=
My comment: A rather odd propaganda article. All those who boast or are praised here for humanitarian aid are the greatest killers and destructors in Yemen: All the members of the Saudi coalition. – a joke: Blaming “the Houthis’ imposed restriction on humanitarian action in a flagrant violation of international conventions” when there is a Saudi blockade of Northern Yemen since 22 month and a closedown of Sanaa airport for 6 month.– And: “the GCC Initiative, outcomes of the Yemeni Comprehensive Dialogue” had required that Hadi must leave office on Feb. 27, 2015. Ok, if you really want a political solution, based on that: Bye bye Hadi.
Comment: #Bahrain is MEMBER of the US-UK backed/Saudi-led Coalition waging war on #Yemen
How can anyone believe 1 word of this FARCE?
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1274614252591602
8.2.2017 – Arab News (A K P)
Liberation of Al-Mokha ‘blow to Houthis and Iran’
The Yemeni Army on Wednesday announced that it has liberated Al-Mokha strategic port and its surroundings from the grip of Houthi and deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s militias.
The army said in a statement that the operation was backed by the Saudi-led Arab alliance. It added that the coup militia elements fled toward the road leading to the city of Al-Hodeidah, west of the country.
Arab News called Rajeh Badi, a Yemeni government’s spokesman, for comment, but he didn’t reply.
Al-Mokha’s liberation has allowed coalition, government and Popular Resistance forces to link fronts in their battle against the militias.
The liberation represents a double strike against rebel militias and Iran, as the coalition, the Yemeni Army and Popular Resistance forces have cut off their last lifeline for the smuggling of Iranian weapons via the strategic port.
This has allowed for the halting of contraband trade by Houthis to finance their operations. Military analysts say it is also a blow to Iran, which had announced its readiness to establish naval bases close to Bab Al-Mandab, having expected continuous Houthi control of the coast of Taiz.
According to analysts, Al-Mokha’s liberation will open two main fronts: One headed toward the city of Al-Hodeidah and from there to Sanaa, and the other eastward to complete the liberation of Taiz and head toward the provinces of Ibb and Dhamar in order to fully encircle Sanaa.
The importance of control of Al-Mokha and its port lies in the fact that it secures the Bab Al-Mandab strategic naval passage, as the city links the province of Taiz with Al-Hodeidah. This allows for control over it and to regain what is left of towns along the Al-Hodeidah–Taiz route.
The liberation of Al-Mokha aims to guarantee the entry of assistance to the city, and to enable preparations for the launch of the second phase of the Golden Spear operation in Yemen. http://www.arabnews.com/node/1051566/middle-east
My comment: For Mokha, look at cp17a. This article is quite odd propaganda and ranged at cp 15. The idea of Iranian naval bases once was told by Iranian propaganda, but it is as hypothetical as if I tell you I have a chance to win 10 million € in lottery next week. – Iran is not important in this game.
8.2.2017 – Huffington Post (A P)
Sean Spicer Says Questioning Success Of Botched Yemen Raid Is Offensive To Dead Soldier
White House press secretary Sean Spicer raised eyebrows Wednesday when he argued that anyone questioning the success of a controversial U.S. military raid in Yemen last month was dishonoring Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owens, the Navy SEAL who died in the operation.
“Anyone who would suggest otherwise doesn’t fully appreciate how successful that mission was,” Spicer said in response to a question from NBC’s Kristen Welker. “Anyone who undermines the success of that raid owes an apology to the life and service of Chief Owens.”
My comment: This certainly is the most shabby and most hypocritical propaganda possible. This propaganda bias is more than 2000 years old – and it’s this shabby and hypocritical from its very beginning. By this, those who have ordered this raid try to whitewash themselves from their guilt.
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
10.2.2017 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
The violations and crimes that are committed by Saudi Arabia and its alliance in Yemen 9/2/2017 (full list)
https://www.facebook.com/551288185021551/photos/a.551858951631141.1073741828.551288185021551/772008009616233/?type=3 and http://www.lcrdye.org/lcrd/Eng/PageDetails?id=636 (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/Feb/9%20Feb,%202017.pdf)
9.2.2017 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
The violations and crimes that are committed by Saudi Arabia and its alliance in Yemen 8/2/2017 (full list)
https://www.facebook.com/551288185021551/photos/a.551858951631141.1073741828.551288185021551/771463086337392/?type=3 and http://www.lcrdye.org/lcrd/Eng/PageDetails?id=635 (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/Feb/8%20Feb,%202017.pdf)
11.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Coalition aircrafts destroy Houthi equipment
The fighter jets of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition launched on Friday several air raids on Houthis-Saleh forces military vehicles in Saada governorate, far northern Yemen.
A local source told Almasdaronline that the aircrafts destroyed two military vehicles carrying ammunition and Houthi militants in Thewib area in Haydan district.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/88757
10.2.2017 – Ayad (A K PH)
Saudi coalition just now bombing the port of #Hodaida the only port that receive food and medicine for over 20million civilian in #yemen
https://twitter.com/maddllock/status/830159008145297409
10.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi airstrike kills four citizens in Sa’ada
Four citizens were martyred on Friday in an airstrike by the Saudi aggression fighter jets on Hidan district of Sa’ada province, a local official told Saba.
The hostile strike hit a citizen’s car in Thua'ib area of Hidan district, killing four citizens aboard, the official explained.
The aggression warplanes waged also a raid on al-Husama area in Sheda district, leaving material damage, he added.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455781.htm
10.2.2017 – Reuters (A K)
Saudi-led strikes on Yemen port, fears for civilians: U.N.
The Saudi-led coalition has intensified air strikes on the Yemen port of Hodeidah, potentially trapping civilians and endangering a humanitarian operation to import vital supplies, the United Nations human rights office said on Friday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-idUSKBN15P12V
Comment by Hisham Al-Omeisy: What do you mean by "potentially"? Saudi bombing lifeline port (again), will definitely lead to catastrophe.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/830052277444628482
9.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression warplanes launches 5 airstrikes on Nehm
US-Saudi aggression warplanes launched five airstrikes overnight on Nehm district in Sana'a province, an official told Saba on Thursday.
The airstrikes targeted several areas in the district, causing heavy damage to the houses and properties of the citizens.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455668.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=63838&lang=en
9.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression warplanes launch 6 airstrikes on Sana'a
US-Saudi aggression warplanes launched six airstrikes on Bilad AL- Ross district in Sana'a province overnight, an official told Saba on Thursday.
The airstrikes targeted several areas in the district, causing heavy damage to the houses and properties of the citizens.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455667.htm
9.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression warplane launches 3 airstrikes in Mareb
US-Saudi aggression pilotless warplanes launched three airstrikes early Thursday on Serwah in Mareb province, an official told Saba.
Meanwhile, Saudi-paid mercenaries fired artillery, targeting several areas in the same district.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455662.htm
8.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (* A K PS)
Air raids strike near Hodeida port, “to warn the vessels not to stay”
The fighter jets of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition launched several raids on a military site and on an old radar near the port of Hodeida on the Red Sea coast, western Yemen, according to a navigation source.
The source told Almasdaronline that the missiles targeted, for the third time, a Coastal Guards site and an old radar.
Firing the missiles near to the port may be a warning for the port staff and ships to evacuate the site, especially after the clashes in the western coastal strip of Yemen have approached, and the pro-government forces advanced towards the port, according to the source.
The source pointed out that the Nay of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition had also prevented the ships from berthing in the harbor.
A record for the port activities, Almasdaronline got copy of it, shows that there were only two ships in the harbor, while there were more than 15 ships, some of them have been waiting for a month, that want to enter the port harbor.
A number of commercial vessels diverted to the port of Aden city, the interim capital of Yemen, according to source.
It is noteworthy that the Yemeni government had decided to reduce the customs duties by 50% in the Aden port, in an effort to revive the port and attract the commercial ships from the Houthi-controlled Hodeida port, which may temporarily close down due to the clashes in the western coasts.
The government also said that a number of ships inspected in Djibouti by the UN team and were heading to Hodeida port had diverted to Aden port.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/88708
My comment: Compared to such a “warning”, a more heavy menace to free shipping in the Red Sea is hard to imagine. And the US does not care, although they declared themselves as guards of free shipping there. – Another thing: Redirecting ships to Aden means that the cargo (as food, medical goods, fuel) will not arrive at those who are in need of it in Northern Yemen, but will be used by people in the South. Even in cases the goods were definitely determined for recipients in the North (or even had been paid by them). You call it: theft; by use of force (as here): robbery. And the US does not care. That’s security and freedom of shipping, US and Saudi style.
8.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
15 Houthis, field commander killed in Arab Coalition airstrikes in Midi
The pro-government forces announced on Wednesday that 15 militants from the Houthi group and the forces loyal to former president Saleh were killed in Midi city of Haja governorate, northwestern Yemen.
The pro-government forces Media Center of the Fifth Military Region posted on Facebook that the Houthi militiamen were killed when the fighter jets of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition targeted Houthis gatherings, southeastern Midi city.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/88710
My comment: The Saudi side always labels those killed by air raids as “Houthis” or “Houthi militants”, when they target a greater crowd as “Houthi gathering”. “Houthis” in appearance hardly differ from other people, i.e. from civilians. And, in Yemen civilians and militants are carrying guns. Thus, this labeling is simply void.
8.2.2017 – Yemen Today TV (A K PH)
Saudi aggression intensifies air raids on the province of Hodeidah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeokduOK-1A
8.2.2017 – Yemen Today TV (A K PH)
Film: Apache helicopters bombed fishing boats in Hodeidah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtXQ4_xr9YA
8.2.2017 – Al Masirah TV (A K PH)
Film: The martyrdom of three children in a heinous crime committed aggression against the house of Al-Hamdani in Baqim Saada
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwnYLZQZQek
8.2.2017 – Al Masirah TV (A K PH)
Film: 7 year old girl Anoud on the ruins of her destroyed house standing in front of a camera, the last survivor of the family Al Hakami
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o69r6eLmcHw = https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/829787257133527042 =https://twitter.com/A_mtrz/status/829453430192168960
Remark: The raid happened Feb. 1 in Sanaa province. The whole family of Anoud, 7 years old, was killed.
cp17a Kriegsereignisse: Mokha / Theater of War: Mokha
11.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army smashes 6 military vehicles in Mocha
The army and popular forces smashed six military vehicles of the Saudi-paid mercenaries in Mocha district of Taiz province, a military official told Saba on Saturday.
Tens of mercenaries were killed and others wounded during violent clashes in the east area of Mocha.
The army and popular forces captured two vehicles during the clashes.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455811.htm
10.2.2017 – AFP (A K)
Regierungstreue Truppen im Jemen erobern Hafenstadt Mocha zurück
Regierungstreue Truppen haben die historische Hafenstadt Mocha aus der Hand schiitischer Rebellen zurückerobert. Der Kampf um Mocha sei gewonnen, sagte Armeesprecher Mohammed al-Nakib am Freitag der Nachrichtenagentur AFP.
11.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Violent clashes in al Mocha and Arab Coalition strike Houthis positions
Violent clashes have been flaring since early Friday after the pro-government forces advancement towards locations of the Houthi militiamen and the forces loyal to former president Saleh in al Malik valley and the outskirts of Yakhtel area, northern al Mocha city, western Yemen.
A military source told Almasdaronline that the pro-government forces were shelling with artillery and tanks the positions of the militias in Yakhtel, in coincidence with the troops deployment in the northern neighborhoods of al Mocha, six kilometers away from the city.
Meanwhile, casualties fell among the Houthi-Saleh militias when the fighter jets of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition launched five air raids on their positions in al Khabath and Yekhtel areas.
In al Wazeyah district also, the Coalition fighter jets launched four raids on the militias positions in Ghabari Mount, killing a number of militants and destroying military equipment.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/88755
11.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Pro-government clear landmines, capture 20 Houthis in al Mocha
A field source in Mocha city, western Yemen, said that the Pro-government forces engineering teams were going on cleaning the landmines from the residential neighborhoods in the northern parts of the city, after liberating it from the Houthis-Saleh forces.
The source told Almasdaronline that the pro-government forces were clearing al Hali neighborhood and the streets leading to the power plant and the residential town; six kilometers away from the center of al Mocha city.
At the same time, the pro-government forces raided many of the houses and captured twenty Houthi militants, who were trying to hide in the northern side of the city.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/88751
10.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army repulses invasion forces' moves east of Mocha
The army and popular forces repelled attempts by the invasion and occupation forces and their mercenaries to move toward east of Mocha district in Taiz province, a military official told Saba on Friday.
The invasion and aggression forces and their mercenaries suffered big losses in life and gear during the confrontations, the official added.
The botched attempts were accompanied by intensive bombing from the aggression warplanes and battleships.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455771.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=63828&lang=en
10.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army destroys 4 military vehicles of mercenaries in Taiz
in Thubab and Mocha districts in Taiz province,
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455782.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=63835&lang=en
10.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army destroys mercenaries’ military vehicle, killing crew in Taiz
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455769.htm
10.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Two Houthis-fired ballistic missiles intercepted eastern al Mocha city
A source in the field said on Thursday that the air defense systems of the pro-government forces had intercepted two ballistic missiles fired by the militants of the Houthi group and forces loyal to former president Saleh on the positions of the pro-government forces in al Mocha city on the Red Sea coast, western Yemen.
The source told Almasdaronline that the Houthis fired the missiles from Yakhtel area towards the government forces sites in al Mezan al Mehwari area, eastern al Mocha.
Meanwhile, the fighter jets of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition launched 14 air raids on the Houthis and allied forces sites in the al Mocha and Mawza districts, according to the source.
The source pointed out 7 raids targeted Houthis snipers in the northern part of al Mocha city, 4 raids on the Houthis sites in Yakhtel, and 3 raids on the rebels gatherings in Khalid ben al Walid camp
http://almasdaronline.com/article/88741
10.2.2017 – AFP (* A K)
Yemen loyalists retake historic Red Sea coastal town
Yemeni government forces took full control of the Red Sea coastal town of Mokha on Friday after weeks of deadly fighting with Shiite rebels and their allies, a spokesman said.
"We have done with the Battle of Mokha," armed forces spokesman Mohammed al-Naqib told AFP, adding that the rebels had been forced to flee the town.
Another loyalist military source confirmed that government forces were in "full control".
The rebels had put up fierce resistance in the town. Twenty-four rebels and eight loyalist troops were killed in fighting on Wednesday alone.
Tens of thousands of civilians were trapped in the fighting. Many of them had sought refuge in Mokha after fleeing their homes in towns to the south as government forces pushed up the coast.
The UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, said late last month that "scores of civilians" had been killed or wounded by shelling and sniper fire around Mokha or by air strikes carried out in support of government forces by a Saudi-led coalition.
He said most services in the town had ground to a halt, including the mains water supply.
- Next target Hodeida -
Government forces had already taken Mokha's docks earlier this month but there was heavy fighting in other parts of the town before the rebels withdrew north towards the main Red Sea port city of Hodeida, which they still control.
"We now preparing for the second phase of the battle for the coast, which is to advance towards Hodeida," the loyalist armed forces spokesman said.
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/yemen-loyalists-retake-historic-port-mokha-spokesman-111750741.html
9.2.2017 – Anadolu (A K PS)
Pro-govt forces declare curfew in Yemeni port city
Announcement comes after Mocha is taken from Houthi militia by forces loyal to Yemen’s pro-Saudi government
Forces loyal to Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi late Wednesday declared a nighttime curfew in the port city of Mocha, which they captured this week from the Shia Houthi militia.
Omar Dablah, a pro-government military commander, said via Facebook that the curfew would come into effect on Thursday night.
He did not specify, however, exactly what time it would begin or exactly how long it would last.
It was not possible to obtain immediate comment from the Yemeni army regarding the reported curfew.
A pro-Hadi military source told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday that pro-government forces had decisively captured Mocha, a strategic port city situated on Yemen’s Red Sea coast – By Murad al-Arifi
http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/pro-govt-forces-declare-curfew-in-yemeni-port-city/744820
9.2.2017 – Reuters (A K PS)
Gulf-backed Yemeni forces capture Red Sea coast city: agency
Yemeni government forces backed by Gulf Arab troops have secured the Red Sea coast city of al-Mokha, United Arab Emirates news agency WAM reported on Tuesday, in a push that paves the way for an advance on the country's main port city of Hodeidah.
WAM said that local fighters, known as the Yemeni Resistance, stormed the city from the south, east and north. The UAE contingent in the Saudi-led Arab alliance played the main role in liberating al-Mokha through the participation of ground forces and by providing fire power from both the air and the ground as well as intelligence, the agency said.
It said that a large number of Houthi fighters were either killed or taken prisoner.
Residents in the city confirmed the city had been captured but gave no figures on casualties.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-yemen-security-idUKKBN15M2LU
9.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (* A K PS)
Government forces seize al Mocha city, advance towards Khaled military camp
The pro-government forces have defeated on Wednesday afternoon the Houthi-Saleh militias from the northern neighborhoods of al Mocha city western Taiz governorate, southwestern Yemen.
Sources in the field told Almasdaronline that the pro- government forces had deployed its elements in all neighborhoods of al Mocha city, after expelling the Houthi-Saleh militias, while the engineering teams were going on clearing the mines.
The sources also stated that the pro-government forces spread in the northern entrance of al Mocha city, and set security checkpoints in the coastal line that links between the city and Yachtil area, northern al Mocha, and Khawcha district, southern Hodeida government.
Moreover, dozens of pro-government forces armored vehicles have advanced towards Mawza district, in preparation to advance towards Khalid ben al Waleed military camp to free it from the Houthi-Saleh militias grip, according to the sources.
At the same time, the UAE Red Crescent teams distributed on Wednesday food baskets and relief materials to the people of al Mocha city as part of a big relief plan for the people there.
The liberation of al Mocha city and its strategic port came after fierce fighting lasted 30 hours between the pro-government forces and the Houthi-Saleh militias.
It is noteworthy that the fighter jets of the Arab Coalition had launched nearly 200 air raids over the past four days on the coup militias sites in al Mocha and Mawza districts, western Taiz governorate.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/88709
My comment: The Hadi side had claimed the “liberation” of Mokha city several times already. We will see. – “200 air raids over the past four days on the coup militias sites in al Mocha and Mawza districts”: hitting the market of Mokha for instance.
9.2.2017 – Al Sahwa (A K PS)
Military forces totally control Mocha Port
the Houthis massively escaped towards the governorate of al-Hudediah, expecting that Mocha will be declared, in the few coming hours, as a liberated town.
The sources said that the Yemeni army called the residents of Mocha to stay inside their homes until all parts of the town are liberated.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-3851
The other side is quite different:
9.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Dozens of Saudi-paid mercenaries killed in Mokha
Dozens of US-Saudi-paid aggression mercenaries were killed and others injured when the army and popular forces repulsed their infiltration attempt toward eastern part of Mokha city, a military official told Saba on Thursday.
The mercenaries' botched attempt lasted 48 hours under heavy cover by Saudi aggression warplanes, Apaches and battleships.
The army destroyed dozens of military vehicles belonging to the mercenaries during the operation.
Meanwhile, US-Saudi enemy warplanes dropped internationally prohibited cluster bombs on several areas in Mokha during their failed attempt.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455672.htm
9.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army destroy several vehicles of mercenaries in Mocha
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455694.htm
cp17b Kriegsereignisse: Sonstige / Theater of War: Other
11.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Three Houthis killed, others wounded in popular resistance attack in al Bayda
http://almasdaronline.com/article/88756
11.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Dozens of bodies arrive in Saada
Meanwhile, eyewitnesses in Marran area of Saada told Almasdaronline that dozens of Houthis dead bodies, killed in clashes with pro-government forces in different fronts, had arrived in Saada.
The witnesses added that a car loaded with dozens of dead bodies belonging to people from Maran also arrived on Friday to the area for burial.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/88757
10.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Marib: pro-government officer and soldier killed, five wounded in landmine explosion
http://almasdaronline.com/article/88750
9.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Three mercenaries killed, six wounded in Mareb
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455685.htm
9.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army launches rocket attack on mercenaries in Mareb
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455723.htm
9.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army shells mercenaries' gatherings in Wazeiyah of Taiz province
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455690.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=63830&lang=en
9.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Artillery hit Saudi-paid mercenaries' hideouts in Salah valley, Taiz
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455676.htm
9.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Jawf: Dozens of US-Saudi-paid mercenaries killed
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news455664.htm
9.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Saudi army and Houthis clashes renew
The fighting between the forces loyal to the Houthi group and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and the Saudi army renewed on Wednesday in the areas on the Yemeni-Saudi borders.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/88711
8.2.2017 – Al Masirah TV (A K PH)
Film: New footage of the Yemen army & militia ambush to Saudi armor vehicle killing a captain & soldiers on Al Hathira, #Jizan
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/829432691430928384
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
10.2.2017 – Dawn (A H P)
Seven Pakistani fishermen return home after 10-year detention in Yemen
Seven Pakistani fishermen who were detained by authorities in Yemen for over a decade will be returning to Pakistan tonight.
The fishermen who hail from Balochistan and Sindh's coastal areas had crossed international water boundaries 10 years ago and were taken into custody by authorities in Yemen.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the fishermen had been held at Sanaa Central Prison and were released as a result of collaboration between the ICRC and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).
The fishermen will arrive at Islamabad's Benazir Bhutto International Airport after midnight and reunite with their families after a decade away from home – by NAVEED SIDDIQUI
http://www.dawn.com/news/1313982
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-264-yemen-war-mosaic-264
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-264: / Yemen War Mosaic 1-264:
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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