Hunger crisis – UN report: Riskes for Displaced Persons – No place for Displaced Persons – Yemeni Women – Trump and Yemen again – The West’s moral hypocrisy – Saudi air raids – 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 / UN
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
cp13c Wirtschaft / Economy
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
21.2.2017 – Deutsche Welle (** A H)
Film: Jemen Hungerkrise bedroht Millionen Kinder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksEqGysTxhQ
22.2.2017 – The American Conservative (** A H K P)
The Horrifying Starvation of Yemen Continues
The horrifying conditions in Yemen continue to get worse
Yemen suffered from food insecurity before the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led intervention began in 2015, but that intervention, the ensuing damage to the country’s infrastructure and ports (most of it caused by coalition bombing), and the coalition’s cruel blockade have brought millions of people to the brink of famine. By enabling the coalition’s campaign, the U.S., Britain, and other supporting governments are partly responsible for creating the world’s worst humanitarian disaster, and they have had a hand in causing the famine that is now unfolding there.
The disaster that engulfs Yemen was entirely predictable at the start of the intervention, and month after month many people kept warning that this is what would happen as a result of this reckless military intervention. The war has received intermittent coverage, but has been largely ignored. Millions of people are close to perishing from hunger and preventable diseases in a crisis that need not have happened and might still be ameliorated if there were a coordinated international response. Unfortunately, the international response has been anemic at best, and there is scant attention paid to the crisis in the Western countries whose governments have been working to exacerbate the civilian population’s misery.
Our government has aided and abetted the Saudis and their allies not only in their indiscriminate bombing, but has also fully backed the blockade without any criticism. The coalition has repeatedly targeted port facilities and critical roads and bridges needed to bring in and distribute basic necessities. Through all of it, the U.S. has reliably armed and refueled coalition planes so that they can continue to wreck the country. The U.S.-backed Hadi government further compounded the disaster by relocating the central bank to Aden, which in turn made it all but impossible to secure financing for what few imports still make it into the country. Obama began the disgraceful policy of backing the Saudi-led war, and Trump has continued it and given every indication that U.S. support will only increase.
The horror of what has been deliberately done to Yemen over the last two years is matched only by the near-total international indifference to the plight of its people – by Daniel Larison
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/the-horrifying-starvation-of-yemen-continues-2/
21.2.2017 – UN News Centre (*** B H)
Yemen's brutal two-year conflict forcing displaced to return home amid persisting risks – UN
The complex crisis in Yemen continues to deepen, with United Nations agencies reporting today that perhaps one million people who had fled for safety are returning to their homes mainly due to a lack of access to income and basic services in the areas of displacement, warning that returnees often find the situation just as bad.
“It's testament to how catastrophic the situation in Yemen has become, that those displaced by the conflict are now returning home because life in the areas to which they had fled for safety is just as abysmal as in the areas from which they fled,” said Ayman Gharaibeh, the Representative for Yemen of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in a joint press release issued with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
“These returns cannot be viewed as sustainable,” Mr. Gharaibeh added, explaining that people often return to homes that have been damaged and to areas lacking essential services, and are often forced to flee again.
A multi-sectoral location assessment report released today, and a periodically updated population movement tracking report published last month, show that there are currently two million internally displaced people (IDPs) across Yemen and one million IDP returnees.
As conditions across the country further deteriorate, many more IDPs are contemplating a return home, where challenging security and socio-economic conditions persist. About 40 per cent of key informants indicate that IDPs now intend to return home within the next three months. The reports highlight a lack of access to income and basic services in areas of displacement as the main reasons for pushing IDPs to return to the areas of their origin.
Mr. Gharaibeh noted that all of Yemen's governorates, with the exception of the island of Socotra, have been affected by conflict.
“The overwhelming majority of Yemen's one million IDP returnees have returned to Aden, Amanat Al Asimah, Taizz, Lahj and Shabwah, which have been particularly impacted by hostilities and insecurity,” he explained.
Yemen's local communities are also under intense strain with alarming scarcities of food and insufficient access to water and sanitation services. Some 84 per cent of Yemen's two million IDPs have been displaced for more than a year and scarce resources are increasingly overstretched.
“IOM and all partners must scale up their response to support those newly displaced as well as those whose displacement is becoming increasingly protracted with shifting needs,” said IOM Yemen's Chief of Mission, Laurent De Boeck
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=56214#.WK4Mk_nhCUl
and the assessment report:
Multi-Cluster Needs Assessment - Yemen, Feb 2017
Subject/Objective:
To gather more in-depth data on the IDP, returnee and host populations.
Methodology:
The multi-cluster location assessment data was collected through physical visits to identified locations by existing TFPM field teams, where the key informants representing the community were interviewed.
Key findings:
Displacement Dynamics
‘Generalised violence and armed conflict (no direct personal threat/attack)’ (41%) was reported by key informants as the main reason for displacement in identified IDP locations.
In identified returnee locations, lack of access to sustainable income (46%) and lack of access to basic services (28%) in the place of displacement were reported by key informants as the main push factors for return. On the other hand, improved security (30%), lower housing/rent costs (25%) and intent to re-join family members (17%) were reported as the top pull factors for return.
With respect to long term intentions (beyond the next 3 months), 81% of key informants reported that IDPs intend to return to their place of origin.
Food
Within identified IDP locations, key informants stated that the top three problems associated with access to food among IDPs and host communities were: price was too expensive (44% for IDPs, 45% for host community), distance i.e. too far or difficult to access by road (22% for IDPs, 23% for host community), and quantity i.e. insufficient or inconsistent supply in the markets (17% for both IDPs and host community).
By comparison, among identified returnee locations, key informants specified that the top three problems associated with access to food among returnees and host communities were: price was too expensive (54% for returnees and host community), quantity i.e. insufficient or inconsistent supply in the markets (15% for returnees and host community), and quality i.e. not fresh or poor quality (11% for returnees, 12% for host community).
Nutrition
In identified IDP locations, 78% of key informants confirmed the presence of children in the community who were becoming sick/thin, or had swelling in their feet due to lack of sufficient food to eat; while 79% confirmed the presence of mothers in the community who were becoming sick because they did not have enough food to eat.
By comparison, in identified returnee locations, 69% of key informants confirmed the presence of children in the community who were becoming sick/thin, or had swelling in their feet due to insufficient food to eat; while 69% confirmed the presence of mothers in the community who were becoming sick due to insufficient food.
Health
Malnutrition, diarrheal diseases and malaria were reported in identified IDP locations as the most commonly suffered illnesses among IDPs. In the same locations, the top three types of health facilities that currently exist were reported as: no health facilities exist (30%), health unit (27%) and private clinic (16%).
Diarrheal diseases, malnutrition and acute respiratory infections were reported as the most commonly suffered illnesses among returnees. In the same returnee locations, the top three types of health facilities that currently exist were reported as: no health facilities exist (22%), private clinic (22%) and hospital (16%).
Shelter
The top three shelter problems faced by IDPs in identified locations included: overcrowding (31%), inability to afford rent (17%) and materials to build or undertake repairs to homes were too expensive (14%).
The top three shelter needs of IDPs in identified locations were: temporary shelter solutions such as family tents (23%), shelter materials (22%) and rental subsidies (16%).
The top three shelter problems faced by returnees in identified locations included: homes were damaged but still habitable (26%), materials to build or undertake repairs were too expensive (17%), inability to afford rent (16%) and overcrowding (14%).
The top three shelter needs of returnees in identified locations were: shelter materials - emergency shelter kits (24%), rental subsidies (22%) and winterization materials (21%).
NFIs
WASH
Livelihoods
In identified IDP locations, key informants also revealed that the top three crisis-related factors affecting IDP and host community livelihoods were: security situation / safety (28% for IDPs, 31% for host community); increase in prices of productive resources (26% for IDPs, 24% for host community); and destruction of essential infrastructure i.e. irrigation, roads, utilities (11% for IDPs, 10% for host communities).
The same pattern was observed in identified returnee locations where key informants stated that the top three
crisis-related factors affecting livelihoods of returnee and non-displaced community members were: security situation / safety (32% for returnees, 33% for nondisplaced community members); increase in prices of productive resources (24% for returnees, 25% for non-displaced community members); and destruction of essential infrastructure i.e. irrigation, roads, utilities (11% for returnees, 10% for non-displaced community members).
Education
Protection
Child Protection
[in total 52 pages]
https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/operations/yemen/assessment/multi-cluster-needs-assessment-yemen-feb-2017 and in full: https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/sites/www.humanitarianresponse.info/files/assessments/tfpm_multi-cluster_location_assessment_report.pdf
22.2.2017 – The National UAE (** B H)
No place for families who flee Yemen war
A year ago, the intractable battle for Taez city reached the Wazeyah district on its south-western outskirts and Abdulwasse Hassan decided that it was finally time to abandon his home and try to find somewhere safe for his family, away from the shelling and sniper fire that had killed some of his neighbours.
Mr Hassan, 35, and his wife and five children quickly packed whatever they could fit into a few bags and walked for five hours through the rugged mountains to Al Mashawela, another area on the periphery of the city where displaced families, with no help from the authorities or aid groups, had turned a local school into a makeshift camp.
The Hassan family made do, but life was difficult living with more than 20 other families crowding into the school’s empty classrooms and halls. Food was delivered daily by charitable people and some NGOs, but there was never enough and no medicine or doctors to treat the ill.
Soon the fighting reached Mashawela, and rockets and artillery rounds landed near the school as Houthi forces targeted pro-government forces in the area. Once again, the Hassan family fled, this time farther out into the rocky, arid wilderness of Al Maafer district.
"I did not like the life at the camp and was hoping to return to my house, but now I hope to return the camp, where there is at least a building that protects us from cold weather and rains," Mr Hassan said. "My life is going from bad to worse, and I do not know what will come after this temporary tent."
The Hassan family and the 52 other families who had been living in the school now scrape by in a shanty encampment of tents built from sticks and whatever scraps of cloth and plastic people had or could find. The families sometimes crowd into the rudimentary cinder block mosque for shelter, and they draw water from its well.
All of them are in dire need of basic necessities — proper shelter from the elements, food, clean water, medicine. No aid agencies have reached the area, and it is unlikely that they even know the camp exists.
The manager of the government’s social affairs office in Al Maafer district, Adel Al Moshamer, told The National that, "there are more than 700 families that arrived in Al Maafer district, fleeing from the coastal battle, and most of them do not have camps to live in and they live in temporary tents that cannot last for long."
He added: "more than 2,000 families arrived to Al Maafer district since the beginning of the war and I hope that organisations Can provide the displaced people with shelter and aid, as the families are suffering from the cold weather." – by Mohammed Al Qalisi
http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/no-place-for-families-who-flee-yemen-war
22.2.2017 – Oxfam (** B H)
Frauen im Jemen – Licht im dunklen Alltag
[Women in Yemen – photos]
Thana Faroq ist Fotografin. Sie wurde im Jemen geboren und ist dort aufgewachsen. In ihrer Fotoserie „Women like us“ gibt sie Frauen aus ihrer Heimat die Möglichkeit, ihren Kriegsalltag mit der Außenwelt zu teilen. Was hat sich seit dem Krieg verändert? Wie gehen die Frauen mit dem Krieg um? Was gibt ihnen Kraft? Obwohl jede der Frauen unterschiedliche Erfahrungen gemacht hat, haben sie eines gemeinsam: einen unbeugsamen Willen, sich trotz aller Widrigkeiten nicht unterkriegen zu lassen – Von Thana Faroq
https://www.oxfam.de/blog/frauen-jemen-licht-dunklen-alltag
22.2.2017 – The Week (** A P)
President Trump, pitiless warmonger
During the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump occasionally signaled that he wouldn't be the usual bellicose warmonger in the White House
But Trump says a lot of things and contradicts himself constantly. And now that he is president, his true face is becoming clear.
As Jessica Schulberg and Ryan Grim report in The Huffington Post, not only has he not reversed President Obama's disastrous enabling of Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, he shows every sign of pushing for further escalation — this time in reportedly allowing the Saudis to bomb the port of Al Hudaydah, one of the few remaining routes for humanitarian supplies to reach the country's most desperate areas. Yemen is already suffering one of the world's worst humanitarian emergencies, and this could easily cause a full-blown famine.
President Trump is every bit the warmonger his critics feared.
Al Hudaydah is a port city on Yemen's western coast, controlled by Houthi rebels fighting Saudi-backed government forces. Since both Yemeni government forces and the Saudi military are rather ineffective, they have settled on a war crimes-based strategy of attacking the civilian population.
The Saudis have been itching to obliterate the Al Hudaydah port for years now, so as to better starve out the Houthis. In a characteristic move, President Obama applied strong pressure to stop them. The overall war was fine by his lights, apparently, but allowing the war crimes to become too blatant couldn't be allowed.
But now Trump is backing away from even that mild restraint, and in response the Saudi blockade is re-routing commercial and aid ships away from the the Al Hudaydah port. As Schulberg and Grim report, this is already causing serious supply disruptions — and shows every sign of being a preparation for attack. And with western Yemen already suffering a severe humanitarian crisis, this could easily tip the region into famine. It might even be considered an act of genocide.
Restraining the American imperial machinery takes a cool, competent temperament and a dedication to putting the nation on a more rational, humane foreign policy footing. Barack Obama had the former, but not the latter; Donald Trump has neither, and staggering ignorance and incuriosity to boot.
So instead of the "America first" anti-war ideal of paleoconservatives, we are going to see the usual Republican habit of enacting conservative psychosexual neuroses on distant Arab nations at stupendous expense and waste of life, only this time carried out by an incompetent president with a hair-trigger temper. It's going to be ugly – by Ryan Cooper
http://theweek.com/articles/681360/president-trump-pitiless-warmonger
22.2.2017 Diwan Site (** B P T)
On the US raid in Yakla and Implications from Uncertainty: How Trump’s Chaos Aggravates the War in Yemen
There are two primary dimensions to consequences from the raid. First, to do with speculation over what this incident tells us about Trump’s approach to counter-terrorism. Even though his campaign rhetoric focused on ISIS (in Iraq and Syria), the first military operation of his term, against AQAP, seems in-line with US intelligence community’s focus. It provided early indications of continuity in the area of counter-terrorism, and a higher degree of influence from institutions than was initially expected. Second, the political chaos that ensued also says there may be some unintended shifts in US relations with Yemen’s government and its sponsors. It is highly unlikely US troops will again engage such operations any time soon, but it is also uncertain the operation marks the beginning of a new role for the US in the protracted armed conflict.
The raid in late January raised some eyebrows in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. Even if this operation was in partnership with UAE troops, Riyadh clearly saw it as overstepping into their sphere of influence. All reactions from regional actors seem to indicate a lack of knowledge of operation plans, which Saudi Arabia is uncomfortable with.
The Emirates on the other hand, may have intended to draw the US deeper into the conflict, which failed as badly as the operation
As the US president rages on with his mistrust of America’s intelligence establishment, and his National Security team muddles through the forth week in Office (new NSA appointed ), security in the Arabian Peninsula continues to deteriorate.
Saudi Arabia continues to lead the Coalition supporting president Hadi against Houthis and Saleh, while the UAE has exerted supremacy over the situation throughout southern provinces. In public, both governments present a united front and agreement on the approach to the two-year old conflict, but behind the scenes there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. As operations in the port city of Mokha(Taiz) began to evolve early this year, Saudi and UAE leaders didn’t initially see eye to eye on the strategy. Saudi Arabia was reportedly furious as hundreds of southern soldiers allegedly trained in Eritrea refused to join the fight in Mokha, claiming they had only committed to fighting on the southern side of the old north-south border. Differences and competing spheres of influence among Coalition leaders surfaced as rival client units clashed for control of Aden’s international airport earlier in February. Consequences continue to reverberate.
If anything is indeed clear, it’s the fact that chaos and uncertainty are directly exacerbating the situation in Yemen. Many Yemeni-Americans and people in Sana’a expressed high hopes for Trump’s term, and even pledged their votes during the campaign expecting the candidate to live up to his anti-Saudi rhetoric as president, only to be disappointed by new weapons sales and friendly relations since 20 January 2017. Among regional actors, the situation in Yemen deflects from domestic problems faced by each government. For the US administration, the war provides materiel to claim a stance against Iran, it provides regional support to its travel ban, and it deflects from the lack of action against ISIS.
We don’t know the exact details of plans for the raid, or even the precise aim of the operation itself, but al-Raimi made it abundantly clear in his video statement that al-Dhahab’s residence hosted a number of AAS elements (i.e. Abd al-Rawuf and Sultan) and AQAP operatives, as well as confirmed presence of foreign AQ elements (Arwa and Anas/Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and one Somali), and advanced evidence once again of links between AQAP elements and Resistance elements supported by the Arab Coalition.
On the surface, the raid on al-Dhahab’s compound indeed influenced battles in al-Baydha, and disrupted AQAP plans. While the US has in no way partnered with Houthis, eliminating leaders among groups allied with elements loyal to Hadi’s government resisting Houthi advances represents a set-back for the Coalition. Baydha’s governor, a US Global Designated Terrorist has yet to return according to sources.
The UAE has been clear about who it supports in this fight, Hirak and Dammaj salafis. Both of these parties are no friends of AQAP or AAS, but other elements have no problem collaborating with known terrorists to counter Houthis and Saleh loyalists, or simply rebalance political relations on the ground. US military and intelligence agencies have the difficult task of weeding out elements simply advancing their own with no regard to empowering potential threats to the US Homeland and those sharing US interests.
21.2.2017 – Consortium News (** A K P)
The West’s Moral Hypocrisy on Yemen
The West’s “humanitarian interventionists” howl over bloody conflicts when an adversary can be blamed but go silent when an ally is doing the killing, such as Saudi Arabia in Yemen.
Only a few months ago, interventionists were demanding a militant response by Washington to what George Soros branded “a humanitarian catastrophe of historic proportions” — the killing of “hundreds of people” by Russian and Syrian government bombing of rebel-held neighborhoods in the city of Aleppo.
How strange, then, that so many of the same “humanitarian” voices have been so quiet of late about the continued killing of many more innocent people in Yemen.
Official acquiescence — or worse — from Washington and other major capitals is encouraging the relentless killing of Yemen’s civilians by warplanes from Saudi Arabia and its allies.
The U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator further reported that “scores of civilians” had been killed or wounded by the bombing and shelling of Mokha, and that residents were stranded without water or other basic life-supporting services.
That could be Aleppo, minus only the tear-jerking photos of dead and wounded children on American television. However, unlike Syria, Yemen’s rebels don’t have well-financed public relations offices in Western capitals. They pay no lip service to the United States, democracy, or international human rights. Their foe Saudi Arabia is a friend of Washington, not a long-time adversary. In consequence, few American pundits summon any moral outrage at the Saudi-led coalition, despite findings by a United National Panel of Experts that many of its airstrikes violate international law and, in some cases, represent “war crimes.”
The United States hasn’t simply turned a blind eye to such crimes; it has aided them.
The Obama administration initially supported the Saudi coalition in order to buy Riyadh’s reluctant support for the Iran nuclear deal. Over time, Saudi Arabia joined with anti-Iran hawks to portray Yemen’s rebels as pawns of Tehran to justify continued support for the war. Most experts — including U.S. intelligence officials — insist to the contrary that the rebels are a genuinely indigenous force that enjoys limited Iranian support at best.
As I have documented previously, all of the fighting in Yemen has damaged U.S. interests by creating anarchy conducive to the growth of Al Qaeda extremists.
Though the Obama administration is gone, the Trump administration is flush with ideologues who are eager to take a stand against Tehran through Yemen and look tough on “terrorism.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, to his credit, has cited “the urgent need for the unfettered delivery of humanitarian assistance throughout Yemen,” according to a department spokesman. But no amount of humanitarian aid will save Yemen’s tormented people from the bombs made in America and dropped from U.S.-made warplanes, with little protest from Washington’s so-called “humanitarian interventionists.” – By Jonathan Marshall
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/02/21/the-wests-moral-hypocrisy-on-yemen/ = http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-wests-moral-hypocrisy-on-yemen/5576244
cp2 Allgemein / General
23.2.2017 – Reuters (* A K P)
Investigators clear Saudi-led forces of 2015 attacks, blames technical fault for seven deaths
A body set up by the Saudi-led coalition to investigate civilian casualties in Yemen said on Thursday a technical fault was responsible for the death of seven people in a 2015 air strike but cleared the alliance of other attacks. The Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT), set up last year to investigate the coalition attacks, said in a statement that investigations into several of the incidents in 2015 raised by international rights groups, including United Nations bodies, had concluded that in most cases the coalition acted properly.
Speaking in the Saudi capital Riyadh, Mansour Ahmed al-Mansour, a legal JIAT adviser, told journalists that the investigation into a May 12, 2015, attack on a prison in the northern Hajjah province established that the coalition had targeted two arms depots located some 900 meters and 1,300 meters from the facility.
"The two targets belong to the armed Houthi militias, and thus both are within the legitimate military targets ... and that the prison building was not targeted or affected by the coalition air strikes," the statement said, according to Saudi state news agency SPA.
Investigators also cleared the coalition from responsibility for two other attacks raised by U.N. experts and the U.N. High Commision for Human Rights in the northern town of Haradh near the Saudi border; one on a hospital on July 7, 2015 and another on a camp for displaced people on March 30, 2015, the statement said.
It said that in both cases Houthi fighters and an arms depot were targeted by the coalition.
The statement did not address if there were casualties at the hospital and the camp or who caused them.
But an investigation into the death of seven people in a May 2, 2015, attack on a market in the city of Saada in northern Yemen found that a technical fault in an aircraft on a mission to target a Houthi arms depot had caused a bomb to fall some 60 meters away from an arms depot it had intended to target, the report said. It hit and damaged a building, the report said.
(Reporting by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Alison Williams)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-investigation-idUSKBN1622FB
23.2.2017 – Middle East Monitor (A K P)
Yemen urges world for help clearing landmines
Yemen yesterday called on the international community to help it clear landmines planted by the Houthi militia during the two-year war, the Anadolu Agency reported.
In a statement published by the Yemeni news agency Saba, the government said that the Houthis and their allies, led by ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh, planted landmines in the areas they controlled, including in houses, streets, farms and other vital facilities.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170223-yemen-urges-world-for-help-clearing-landmines/
Remark: “Yemen” = Hadi government.
23.2.2017 – Norwegian Refugee Council (* A H P)
Aid workers released in Yemen
Three national staff, three casual workers and a contracted driver from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) have been released after they were detained for a week in Al Hudaydah, Yemen.
“We are greatly relieved by the release of our staff members and the driver. They are in good condition, and we are pleased that they are now reunited with their families,” said Mutasim Hamdan, Country Director for NRC in Yemen.
NRC in Yemen will focus on providing support to the affected staff members and their families, while NRC’s programs continue in Al-Hudaydah, and in the rest of Yemen.
Following a relief aid distribution on the14th of February in the city of Al-Hudaydah, Yemen, local authorities detained three NRC national staff, three casual staff and a contracted driver. The staff were detained following a misunderstanding regarding old markings on some recycled boxes that contained hygiene supplies. Those recycled boxes were originally from Saudi Arabia and were dated January 2015. The boxes were originally used for a food basket project, and were repurposed by a contracted vendor to be reused for new hygiene kit packaging. As Yemen has long been in conflict, recycling like this is common.
NRC does not take any Saudi funding in Yemen. The organization upholds the values of humanity, independence, neutrality and impartiality for all its programs.
https://www.nrc.no/news/2017/february/aid-workers-released-in-yemen/ = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/aid-workers-released-yemen
Comment by Hisham Al-Omeisy: Houthis detained workers bcz recycled box had Saudi markings. While ppl desperate for any/all aid. Imbecilic.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/834781796810313730
22.2.2017 – United Nations (* A H)
Film: "I am here to draw the world’s attention to the fact that today, more than 20 million people in South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, and north-east Nigeria are going hungry, and facing devastating levels of food insecurity...
The lives of millions of people depend on our collective ability to act. In our world of plenty, there is no excuse for inaction or indifference.
We have heard the alerts. Now there is no time to lose".
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, speaking on Wednesday
https://www.facebook.com/unitednations/videos/10155111663855820/
22.2.2017 – Press TV Iran (* B K P)
Saudi Arabia waging war of attrition on Yemen: Pundit
Lawrence Davidson, a professor at West Chester University, believes that the Saudi military aggression against Yemen is essentially turning into a “war of attrition.”
“I think, from the Saudi standpoint, they are probably willing to see the population of Yemen die, particularly the Shias,” he told Press TV, adding that “Western countries - the United States and the Europeans - are going to stay out of it under the guise or the rationale that it is somebody else’s business.”
Therefore, he said, it can be assumed that no action will be taken to stop the brutal Saudi war as has been proven in the past.
Davidson also predicted that Saudi Arabia would continue its attacks against Yemen for a very long time until the costs of the war become “unsustainable.”
He opined that the only way to put an end to the Saudi aggression would be "if their suppliers, their allies and those who could make their situation worse do so," and that, he said, is not going to happen.
The academic further warned that there might be a sort of “genocidal reduction” in the population of Yemen given the fact that nothing is being done to stop Saudi Arabia. (with interview in film)
22.2.2017 – Nasser Arrabyee (A P)
Saudi Arabia barred over 50 international journalists from entering Yemen over the last 2 months, UN chief says
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/834446197045788675
21.2.2017 – Peter Salisbury (B P)
Warning: Yemen may contain less Iran than advertised elsewhere
https://twitter.com/menappete/status/834082024155656196
Comment by Judith Brown: Well it made me smile and there's not much about this war that causes me to chuckle.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155243024033641
21.2.2017 – PSJ Community (* A K)
#SaudiArabia pays big money to a U.S. company to access live imagery of #Yemen war zones (longer text in image)
https://twitter.com/psjcommunity/status/833588985981259776
Comment by Judith Brown: Saudi diplomacy and money win again.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155243130058641
2017 – Wikipedia (A P)
Yemeni presidential election, 2012
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_presidential_election,_2012
Remark: Just a reminder… 5 years ago.
Comment by Judith Brown: Elected in an uncontested election for a two year term as interim president. Still there, thanks to UK and USA supplying Saudi Arabia with bombs and encouraging them to bomb the hell out of Yemen. Which they've obediently done.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155243022078641
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
Siehe / Look at cp1
23.2.2017 – UNICEF Östereich (* A H)
Hungersnot in Afrika und im Jemen: UNICEF Österreich ruft dringend zu Spenden auf!
Fast 1,4 Millionen Kinder sind in Nigeria, Somalia, Südsudan und im Jemen vor dem Tod durch schwere akute Mangelernährung bedroht
„Für mehr als eine Million Kinder läuft die Zeit ab", sagt Anthony Lake, UNICEF-Direktor. „Noch können wir viele Leben retten. Schwere Mangelernährung und drohende Hungersnöte sind hauptsächlich vom Menschen gemacht. Unsere gemeinsame Menschlichkeit erfordert, dass wir schneller handeln. Wir dürfen eine Wiederholung der Tragödie wie 2011 am Horn von Afrika nicht zulassen.“
23.2.2017 – World Health Organization (* A H)
Hospital staff have not received their salaries for the past 5 months. There are acute shortages of certain medicines and we need more fuel to ensure the hospital has electricity,” says Dr Khaled Suhail, Director of Al-Tharwa Hospital in Yemen’s third largest city, Al-Hudaydah.
With more than 1200 employees and 320 beds, Al-Thawra Hospital is the main functioning health facility in Al-Hudaydah and neighbouring governorates.
Every day, around 1500 people seek care at the hospital, a 5-fold increase since 2012 due to the influx of people displaced by ongoing conflict and the closure of other health facilities in the area.
Last week alone, several thousand displaced men, women and children arrived in Al-Hudaydah Governorate, overwhelming already weakened health facilities and overburdening vulnerable host communities.
The Al-Hudaydah port, one of the main entry points to the country, is functioning at minimal capacity, significantly increasing the prices of goods, including medicines, and reducing economic activity in the city. As a result, many patients are unable to pay the minimal fees for hospital services.
Despite this, no one is turned away from Al-Thawra Hospital and hospital staff provide care to everyone, regardless of whether they can afford to pay. Recently, however, the hospital had to stop providing food for inpatients due to lack of funds.
“The World Health Organization (WHO) assists us by providing fuel and medicines for emergency interventions, and supporting the hospital’s therapeutic feeding centre.” explains Dr Suhail. “However, with no funds for operational costs, we never know if we will still be open one month from now.”
Collapsing health system in Yemen
Since the escalation of the conflict in March 2015, health facilities across Yemen have reported more than 7600 deaths and close to 42 000 people injured. The country’s health system has been another victim of the conflict.
The budget allocated to health authorities has been drastically reduced, leaving health facilities without funds for operational costs and health care workers without regular salaries since September 2016.
“With more than 14.8 million people lacking access to basic health care, the current lack of funds means the situation will get much worse,” says Dr Nevio Zagaria, WHO Acting Representative in Yemen.
Only 45% of health facilities in Yemen are fully functional and accessible, 38% are partially functional and 17% are non-functional. At least 274 of those facilities have been damaged or destroyed during the current conflict. Highly specialized medical staff, such as intensive care unit doctors, psychiatrists and foreign nurses have left the country.
Nutrition crisis
Urgent funding needs
http://www.emro.who.int/yem/yemen-news/yemeni-health-system-crumbles-as-millions-risk-malnutrition-and-diseases.html = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemeni-health-system-crumbles-millions-risk-malnutrition-and-diseases
22.2.2017 – Reuters (* A H)
U.N. urgently seeks $4 billion aid to avert famine for 20 million in Africa, Yemen
More than $4 billion is needed by the end of March to help nearly 20 million people who risk starvation in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday.
Citing armed conflicts and climate change as part of the reasons for the food emergency, Guterres led a call for $5.6 billion in funding for humanitarian operations in the four countries this year, of which $4.4 billion are needed by the end of next month "to avert a catastrophe."
"Despite some generous pledges, just $90 million has actually been received so far," said Guterres, about two cents for every dollar needed.
"We are in the beginning of the year but these numbers are very worrying."
Armed conflicts are having devastating humanitarian consequences, said Guterres, calling climate change a “key enhancer” of the humanitarian problem.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-famine-idUSKBN1612QB
22.2.2017 – Elias Diab (A H=)
1000s of children affected by the raging conflict in #Mocha#Yemen. We accessed conflict torn districts visiting @UNICEF_Yemen health centres (photo)
https://twitter.com/ediab101/status/834306484041293824
21.2.2017 – World Food Programme (* A H)
WFP Yemen Situation Report #26, 21 February 2017
Highlights
So far in February, WFP has reached 3.9 million people in 16 governorates with food assistance through general food distribution (GFD), its Commodity Vouchers through Trader’s Network (CVTN) programme as well as through its food assistance to Horn of Africa refugees at the Kharaz refugee camp in Lahj governorate.
From January 2017 WFP is scaling up its GFD to reach 6 million beneficiaries per month. However, critical resourcing challenges, delays in food shipments into Yemen and multiple access challenges country-wide has led to a shortage of key food commodities (such as cereals) and severely limited WFP’s ability to reach its 6 million target in January while also causing challenges for February.
According to newly released preliminary results from the joint WFPFAO-UNICEF-implemented Emergency Food Security and Nutrition Assessment (EFSNA), 17 million Yemenis are food insecure (an increase from 14.4 million as assessed by the June 2016 Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) analysis), of which 7.3 million are severely food insecure (an increase from 7 million as assessed by the IPC).
Situation Update
In February, WFP is continuing to respond to the deteriorating humanitarian and food security situation across the country. Escalated fighting in the Mokha and Dhubab districts of Taizz governorate has led to new civilian displacement, while WFP has experienced an unusually high number of incidents of food assistance-transporting trucks being delayed or detained at checkpoints en route to Taizz - resulting in a slower rate of deliveries and distributions. To respond to new displacements in Mokha and Dhubab, in January and February WFP distributed food to 12,000 people from Mokha and Mawza districts as well as 7,200 people in eight districts of Hudaydah that are hosting large numbers of displaced people.
In addition to resourcing constraints, vessels carrying commercial and humanitarian supplies have been experiencing protracted delays in accessing Hudaydah port (the principal entry point for humanitarian aid for Yemen’s northern governorates), which has discouraged several shipping lines from serving the port. Efforts to transport four WFP-procured mobile port cranes to Hudaydah to boost the port’s capacity are ongoing and cranes are temporarily being stored at the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) in the United Arab Emirates pending Coalition clearance for transport to Hudaydah.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/wfp-yemen-situation-report-26-21-february-2017 and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/WFP%20Yemen%20Situation%20Report%20%2326%2C%2021%20February%202017.pdf
21.2.2017 – Handicap International (* B H)
Violence, a part of daily life in Yemen
“With more than 50,000 people killed or maimed in Yemen, and three million displaced since the start of the conflict two years ago, humanitarian needs remain high," explains Arnaud Pont, head of Handicap International’s emergency operations in Yemen. "Thousands [of people] need physical and functional rehabilitation care or psychological support. The crisis is still largely ignored by the international community."
That's not the case for Handicap International. “Since the end of 2015, Handicap International has been tireless in providing response in these areas by assisting rehabilitation departments in three hospitals in Sana’a.”
Handicap International teams have trained 235 medical staff, and donated nearly 7,000 mobility devices–wheelchairs, walkers, and crutches–as well as consultation tables, and other necessary supplies. Since August 2015, we’ve assisted more than 4,500 people in the Yemeni capital.
Teams provide psychological support to individuals who are injured in explosions, and to those who witness the death of a relative. Staff organize one-to-one and group discussion sessions to help people manage their depression, stress, or shock that comes from the traumatizing experiences that come with conflict.
Allowing the individual to discuss their trauma or other day-to-day problems, and connecting them with others who have similar experiences can often help them recover and rebuild their lives.
Handicap International in Yemen
Handicap International worked in Yemen from the early 2000s up to 2012, focusing on physical rehabilitation. Since 2014, we support individuals affected by the ongoing conflict and assess the impact of the explosive remnants of war left by the current bombings. Learn more about our work in Yemen.
http://www.handicap-international.us/violence_a_part_of_daily_life_in_yemen = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/violence-part-daily-life-yemen
21.2.2017 – Fatik Al-Rodaini (A H)
After two years of conflict in #Yemen. Pix here taken in #Taiz showing the suffer of residents there to get food to their families.
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/834170756732968960 and also https://twitter.com/JosephJo1221/status/834119959206834176
21.2.2017 – Hamada Al-Aeriqi (A H)
''special thanks for everyone helped me in the winter season campaign which call (dafaa ) Distributed blankets, and cOAt for the poor and needy families In different areas in Sanaa and its surroundings.
I received donations from expatriates in several different countries of the world and thanks for them very much for their trust me and help me to help poor people in Yemen .I hope I was able to express in English language to me followers out side Yemen . Finally Thanks for every one and I wish everyone success (photo)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1696855130328340&set=a.109723602374842.21183.100000116083450&type=3&theater = https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1284965198223174
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A P)
FM send 2 letters to UN over Saudi aggression humanitarian violations
Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf on Wednesday sent two letters to the United Nations and its UN humanitarian envoy for human rights.
The letters dealt with violations of human rights and international agreements committed by the Saudi aggression war, as well as the aggression continuing blockade on the Yemeni people.
The letters also called for releasing the salaries of the state employees and the urgent need to re-open Sanaa international airport to receive humanitarian urgent aid.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457070.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=65392&lang=en
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K)
Rocketry Forces develop defense and striking tactics over Saudi aggression, its mercenaries: Army spokesman
Army spokesman Sharaf Luqman said on Wednesday that the Rocketry Forces have developed defense and striking capacities, promising to send more surprises to US-backed Saudi aggression countries and their paid mercenaries.
Luqman said the ballistic missile that fired by the Rocketry Forces on the gatherings of US-Saudi aggression troops and their mercenaries earlier the day at Bab al-Mandab axis has killed scores, including top mercenary commanders, and injured many others.
Luqman reaffirmed that the heroes of the army and popular forces own the leading initiative and control the military operations along the Red Sea coasts.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457076.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=65402&lang=en
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A P)
Minister of State meets WFP director
Minister of State Dr. Hamid al-Mazgazi met on Wednesday with Director of the World Food Programme in Yemen Stephen Anderson.
The meeting discussed the difficult humanitarian situation experienced by the republic's provinces due to the aggression and the blockade on Yemen's land, sea and air, as well as growing problem of displaced people with their food, health and social needs.
The minister pointed out the facilities provided by the Government of National Salvation to ensure and secure access assistance from international organizations.
Stephen Anderson confirmed that the WFP is to continue to provide food aid to 6 million people in Yemen, in addition to working through the Ministry of Health to treat malnutrition, pointing out the WFP will also continue to target malnourished people in different parts of Yemen.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457031.htm
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A P)
President receives religious scholars
President of the Supreme Political Council Saleh al-Sammad received on Wednesday religious scholars and representatives of each doctrinal spectrum, sectarian from different regions of Yemen.
The President explained the religious scholars the US-Saudi aggression's intention in dividing Yemen's society through a sectarian paper.
Al-Sammad praised the role played by the religious scholars and preachers to aware the community and to fortify the community of the external cultures.
He stressed the importance of permanent invitation to the unity and overtaking human constraints and reminders the need for leadership and the unity of opinion and social and tribal authentic values.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457045.htm = https://twitter.com/AggressionY/status/834762671006351360 and photos: https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/834470719052533764
22.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (* A P)
YJS: abducted Journalists suffer diseases due to torture, deprived of treatment
The member of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS), Nabil al Usaydi, said that the journalist Taysir al Samey is being tortured in the detention camp in the capital Sana'a, and his health is in constant deterioration due to the torture.
Al Usaydi, who is head of the YJS Training Committee posted on Facebook that the journalists kidnapped by the Houthi-Saleh militias are in a very bad health condition.
''According to information, the journalist Abdul Khaliq Imran is suffering from backache, stomach, and hearing problem, while the colleague Akram al Waledi needs to a hemorrhoids operation and colon treatment”.
“The journalist Haitham al Shehab is also suffering a severe cough and chest pain, and Tawfik al Mansouri is suffering vere pain in the eyes that he can no longer see by one eye, with pains also in his teeth, back and arthritis”.
“The journalist Salah al Qaedi is also suffering from pain in his ears and cannot hear very well because of torture, while our colleague Essam Bulgaith and Hisham al Yousfi suffer from backache and pains in the arthritis chest”.
Al Usaydi pointed out that the information received by the Syndicate says that all the kidnapped journalists are suffering from severe amebae because of the lack of the simple moral and humanitarian needs.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/89050
21.2.2017 – Al Sahwa (* A P)
A freed activist reveals sever torture practiced inside custodies of Houthi militias
A Yemeni activist, who was lately freed in a prisoner exchange deal, Ameen al-Shafaq, has recently revealed cases of brutal torture which are practiced inside jails run by the Houthis and ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
In an interview with Alsahwa Net, Al-Shafaq, who was released on February 2017 after more than a year and four months of detention at jails of Houthis and Saleh, al-Shafaq disclosed that detainees are brutally tormented inside these jails.
He further signaled out that he and his colleagues took a permission from the de facto authorities to arrange a relief convoy from Ibb governorate to the people of Taiz who were then besieged by the Houthis, but he was chocked as militias of the Houthis and Saleh came to arrest them while they were preparing for sending the convoy.
When asked when his family knew about his detention, he said that his family knew about his detention after six months of detention when he was allowed to contact them.
He indicated that that he was subjected to different kinds of torture including sever beating and electric shocks.
Al-Shafaq who was among the prominent leaders of Yemen Youth Revolution in Ibb governorate also mentioned that the Houthis used torture to obtain false confessions, pointing out that he asked them to write any confessions and he would sign them, but they refused and that preferred to go on torture.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-4282
22.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (A P)
The Houthis hold 8 women with children in a checkpoint in al Jawf
The source told Almasdaronline that eight women from Barat district were visiting one of their relatives in al Hazam city in central al Jawf governorate, and while going back to their village, which comes under the Houthi
control, the militants stopped them.
“The Houthi militants stopped the women along with their children in one of their checkpoints on the public road, and took the driver to an unknown destination”.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/89031
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
23.2.2017 – Nasser Arrabyee (A P)
Yemen Ex-President Saleh: Our long distance ballistic missiles not used yet We call4direct dialogue with Saudi aggressors for peace of brave (photo)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/834789107205279746
23.2.2017 – Fatik Mohammed Hanif (* A P)
Announcement to the world public opinion and international human rights organizations and political organizations
Aden city was the safest and leading Enlightenment in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, now Aden is facing fabricated and suffocating siege and the lack of various oil and gas derivatives and rising food prices are exaggerated, and electricity, water, telecommunications and internet service continuously and daily interruption after the outbreak of the war to nearly three years
Dozens of sick and elderly are dying and are facing death
Hospitals lack the most basic requirements and manifestations of Alttabb and first aid
The majority of state agencies employees do not receive their salaries for long periods are placed them under the extreme poverty line
Complete paralysis of the different services and institutions and manifestations of civilian life and disrupt the movement of their citizens puts the status of families, disease, hunger and mass death.
It happens in the shadow of the silence of the Yemeni government and it disclaims responsibility towards the citizens and the acquisition of financial allocations, and the protection of corrupt, to impose political calculations at the expense of the lives and the rights and freedom of the country and the people.
We the people of Aden seek communication and scream for help to the world's rapid intervention and the imposition of protection and save the city and where human life from this disastrous situation is not likely deliberate to give them responsibility of all relevant civil and political bodies ...
Save Aden ...Aden / South Yemen
https://www.facebook.com/fmhanif/posts/10209009627820306
22.2.2017 – Oxford Analytica (not rated B P)
Salafis will be key to Yemen’s local politics
Islamist militias fought on both sides in recent intra-alliance clashes for Aden airport
Headings: Civil war / Aden leadership / Salafi jihadis (for subscribers only)
https://dailybrief.oxan.com/Analysis/DB218159/Salafis-will-be-key-to-Yemens-local-politics
cp7 Vereinte Nationen / United Nations
23.2.2017 - CRI online (* A P)
UN-Sicherheitsrat verabschiedet Jemen-Resolution
Der UN-Sicherheitsrat hat am Donnerstag einstimmig eine Resolution verabschiedet für eine weitere Verlängerung der Sanktionen gegen Personen und Organisationen, die den Frieden, die Sicherheit sowie Stabilität im Jemen bedrohen.
In der Resolution forderte der UN-Sicherheitsrat alle betroffenen Seiten dazu auf, durch Dialoge die Differenzen im Jemen zu beseitigen. Der Einsatz von Gewalt zum Erreichen politischer Ziele und andere Provokationen sollten vermieden werden.
http://german.cri.cn/3185/2017/02/24/1s261864.htm
Mein Kommentar: Unten auf Englisch.
23.2.2017 – UN News Media Center (* A P)
Security Council Extends Yemen Sanctions Regime
The Security Council unanimously adopts resolution 2342 (2017), extending until 26 February 2018 sanctions on those threatening stability in Yemen. The Council also extended until 28 March 2018 the mandate of the Panel of Experts who assist the committee that oversees those measures.
http://www.unmultimedia.org/photo/detail.jsp?query=identifer:715/715025
and in full:
23.2.2017 – UN Security Council (* A P)
Unanimously Adopting Resolution 2342 (2017), Security Council Grants One-Year Renewal of Sanctions on Yemen, Extends Expert Panel’s Mandate
SECURITY COUNCIL
7889TH MEETING (AM)
SC/12731
23 FEBRUARY 2017The Security Council today renewed for one year a targeted arms embargo, travel ban and assets freeze against individuals and entities designated by the Committee established pursuant to resolution 2140 (2014) on Yemen.
Unanimously adopting resolution 2342 (2017) under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the Council renewed until 26 February 2018 the measures imposed by paragraphs 11 and 15 of resolution 2140 (2014).
[By those provisions, the Council decided that all Member States would freeze all funds, other financial assets and economic resources and economic resources on their territories that were owned or controlled by the individuals and entities designated by the Committee. It also decided that Member States would take the necessary measures to prevent the entry into, or transit through, their territory by those individuals.]
By today’s resolution, the Council also reaffirmed the provisions of paragraphs 14 to 17 of resolution 2216 (2015) — through which it had decided to prohibit the supply, sale or transfer of arms to individuals and entities designated by the Committee as engaging in or providing support for acts that threatened the peace, security or stability of Yemen — as well as to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Houthi commanders Abdullah Yahya al Hakim and Abd al-Khaliq al-Huthi.
In addition, the Council extended until 28 March the mandate of the five-member Panel of Experts on Yemen. It requested that the Panel provide a midterm update to the Committee no later than 28 July 2017, and a final report to the Security Council no later than 28 January 2018, and directed it to cooperate with other relevant expert groups including the Council’s Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring teams.
Urging all parties and Member States as well as international, regional and subregional organizations to cooperate with the Panel of Experts and ensure their safety and unhindered access, the Council also called on States that had not yet done so to report to the Committee as soon as possible on steps taken to implement the assets freeze, travel ban and targeted arms embargo.
The meeting began at 10:03 a.m. and ended at 10:05 a.m.
The full text of resolution 2342 (2017) reads as follows:
https://www.un.org/press/en/2017/sc12731.doc.htm = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/unanimously-adopting-resolution-2342-2017-security-council-grants-one-year-renewal
My comment: That is quite disappointing: No changes at all. – “sanctions on those threatening stability in Yemen”: Why the Saudis and their coalition, the Hadi government and all its militia, do not “threaten stability in Yemen”” and are not sanctioned? That is ridiculous. – The former UNSC resolutions affirming such unilateral sanctions just against one side of the conflict have been and still are the pretense for the US-Saudi blockade starving out Northern Yemen – and thanks to this new resolution this will also stay this way in the future. How much hypocrisy an UN can have when on the one side they deplore starvation in Yemen and on the other side include the possibility to make such a blockade? – And, still more: All former resolutions – and now this as well – looked away from Saudi air raids, which will continue. - And look: This was a 2 minutes session!! This is how long they think to waste time for Yemen.
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
22.2.2017 – Times of Oman (A E P)
Saudi Aramco mulls offering citizens discounted shares
Saudi Arabian Oil Co., gearing up for what may be the world’s biggest initial public offering, is considering offering discounted shares to the kingdom’s locals, according to people familiar with the matter.
The oil company has discussed methods to structure the sale so that retail investors in Saudi Arabia can buy shares for less than those buying on international exchanges, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Saudi Aramco, as the company is known, is considering listing venues in the US, UK and Asia, in addition to Riyadh, and is planning to choose local banks to advise on the Saudi listing, the people said
http://timesofoman.com/article/103468
21.2.2017 – Liberty Fighters (A P)
Former US ambassador to Israel: Saudi Arabia secretly supports Israel
“Saudi Arabia has implicitly backed Israel during Israel’s recent military conflict with Hamas and Hezbollah,” Michael Oren said.
Former US ambassador to Israel spoke of the possibility of cooperation between Israel and Arab states.
Israel project nongovernmental organization posted a news on its website that “Michael Oren told journalists in a conference call that Saudi Arabia implicitly backed Israel during Israel’s recent military engagements both with Hamas and with Hezbollah. And there’s been a visit of a former high ranking Saudi general to Israel.”
“While the Saudi government has to be discreet about such cooperation because of popular opinion, as long as we can keep it under the radar and do not demand that they be public about it, we can get a tremendous amount of cooperation from the Saudis and [Persian] Gulf states,” Ambassador Oren added.
cp9 USA
Siehe / Look at cp1
23.2.2017 – The Hill (* A K P)
Escalation in Yemen risks famine, collapse, Iranian entrapment
This Yemeni and coalition escalation will likely impact fighting on the Red Sea coast and in the Yemeni interior.
After months of stalemate, progress against the Houthis would be welcome news for the Yemeni government and its coalition backers. The public and diplomatic narrative is that this military escalation will help balance the negotiating table. A balancing is needed, but the current approach could follow the same trajectory of more war and less strategy.
If the Yemeni government re-takes all of Yemen’s Red Sea ports (including Hudaydah), it could reduce or cut off food supply to Yemenis in the center and north of the country. Yemeni and other diplomats deny that will happen, underscoring that food will be distributed more actively and more fairly throughout Yemen. However, battle lines will immediately ring these Red Sea ports. Whether or not you doubt these intentions, getting food across battle lines at scale has often proven nearly impossible.
As a result, the capital Sana’a and the Houthi homeland Sadah would be strangled using a combination of economic and humanitarian pressure.
This strategy will compound an already dire humanitarian situation.
Were Yemen to tip into famine, something that the Obama administration worked hard to avoid, we could see staggering death tolls.
A better approach would be to focus the coalition on the Houthi threat to Saudi civilians and to international shipping by supporting its efforts to increase military pressure along the Saudi border, target Houthi-controlled ballistic missiles, and eliminate Houthi-held anti-ship missiles.
So would a parallel diplomatic approach that accepts sequenced political and security measures, like those in the Yemen Roadmap developed by the Obama administration.
Any such diplomatic approach would need to offer a role in the new government to all Yemeni communities — including the Houthis. It would also need to test the Houthi willingness to give up military control in exchange for such a role. This test must come early in the sequence, but it cannot be surrender by another name – by Eric Pelofsky, visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
My comment: A typical US “mainstream” approach as we know it from the Obama administration. Somewhat better than this what we see from the Trump administration these days, but partisan nevertheless. On the danger of attacking Hodeida city and port, the author of course is totally right. – There obviously is no reason that any “balancing” at the negotiation table should be needed. It is still “president” Hadi who had blocked all progress. “Balancing” would require to stop exactöy this and to shift this person aside. – “A better approach would be to focus the coalition on the Houthi threat to Saudi civilians”: What about the “Saudi threat to Yemeni civilians”? The Houthi side always had offered to at once stop any bombing of Saudi territory when the Saudis stop their aerial war. Why not press on that?? – “eliminate Houthi-held anti-ship missiles”: Why he does not urge the Saudis to stop all warfare in the Red Sea, which provoked Houthi retaliatory attacks??
21.2.2017 – The Clarion Ledger (A H P)
Mississippi family yearns for children stranded in Yemen
Mustafa Almatari and his wife wonder about their two sons, Khaled, 12, and Mohammed, 10, who are both trapped in Yemen, caught in a legal limbo that seems almost impossible to navigate The boys are two of the estimated 90,000 impacted by a travel ban enacted by President Donald Trump.
20.2.2017 – Newslive US (* B P)
Films: The Heat: US-Saudi relations
It was more than 70 years ago when U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and Saudi King Abdul Aziz met near Cairo on-board the USS Quincy. What followed was a close relationship between the two countries — with oil, military and intelligence cooperation at its core.
But a number of issues, including the September 11th attacks and diverging interests in the Middle East have conspired to strain those ties. With a new leader in the White House, what will the relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia go?
For more on how the two countries will function moving forward, CGTN’s Jim Spellman reports.
Tonight’s panel takes a look at the relations between U.S. and Saudi Arabia:
Kenneth Katzman, senior analyst for Middle East Affairs with the U.S. Congressional Research Service
Ali Al-Ahmed, a Saudi scholar and director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs
Chas Freeman, former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the George H. W. Bush administration – by Anand Naidoo (with films, links)
http://newslive.us/the-heat-us-saudi-relations/
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
23.2.2017 – Noto Wahabism (A P)
The #Wahhabism cancer in Britain is metastasizing right under the noses of #UK law enforcement. They're not even hiding. Terrorism will follow (photos)
23.2.2017 – Charity Times (A)
DEC raises £20m for Yemen crisis
The Disasters Emergency Committee has raised £20m for the Yemen Crisis Appeal since it launched on 13 December.
Funds have been raised from the public, corporate supporters, and the Government through its Aid Match contribution, DEC said.
DEC brings together 13 UK aid charities in times of crisis: ActionAid UK, Age International, British Red Cross, CAFOD, CARE International UK, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Islamic Relief, Oxfam, Plan International UK, Save the Children, Tearfund, and World Vision – by Matt Ritchie
http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/dec-raises-20m-for-yemen-crisis.php and the DEC statement: https://www.dec.org.uk/press-release/dec-announces-%C2%A320-million-for-the-emergency-in-yemen-a-country-on-the-brink-of-famine
23.2.2017 – ITV (* A K P)
UK probes 257 alleged human rights abuses by Saudi-led coalition in Yemen
Over 250 alleged breaches of humanitarian law by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen is being investigated, Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has said.
The Government has faced repeated calls to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia after "repeated and serious breaches" of alleged human rights abuses.
However the UK has continued to allow sales, with more than £3.3 billion of arms licensed since the bombing campaign began in March 2015.
Responding to a question from the SNP's Margaret Ferrier, Sir Michael Fallon said: "The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is tracking 257 allegations of breaches of international humanitarian law by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
"Details of the MoD's analysis of these allegations are necessarily confidential."
Ministers on Thursday also confirmed that UK-built and licensed Typhoon and Tornado aircraft have been used in combat missions.
http://www.itv.com/news/2017-02-23/uk-probes-257-alleged-human-rights-abuses-by-saudi-led-coalition-in-yemen/ and similar: http://www.forces.tv/78899871
22.2.2017 – RT (* B K P)
‘Boris Johnson needs to realize threshold in Yemen crossed long ago, and UK partly to blame’
Yemen is a humanitarian black hole, and the UK is partially responsible. When Britain arms Saudi Arabia, it automatically loses the claim to be a pillar of democracy and human rights, says Dr. Riaz Karim, Director of Veritas Institute for Strategic Studies.
RT: Britain continues to be one of the world’s top arms suppliers to Saudi Arabia, and Boris Johnson says the so-called threshold for refusal of arms sales has not yet been reached. What shall happen for Mr. Johnson to realize that the threshold was reached?
Dr. Riaz Karim: The first thing Boris Johnson needs to do is to tell the world – where is that threshold. Because he keeps on talking about the threshold but he never tells where the fine line is between killing people and collateral damage. The last time we heard him, he said: “we are just barely on the legal side.” What does that mean? It is easy to say that stuff. But HRW, Amnesty International - all of these people have been screaming from the rooftops that we have crossed the threshold a long time ago. So, he needs to be very clear where the threshold is for the rest of us to understand exactly what he is talking about.
RT: Does the UK prioritize financial benefit over human suffering?
RK: If you look at the UK, we sort of have a big hypocrisy going on. On one side, we are saying that we are the pillars of democracy and human rights. And on the flip side of that coin, you are actually arming Saudi Arabia which is not only the most repressive regime in the world, but it is also the largest exporter of terrorism in the world. When you do that, you automatically lose that claim that you are the pillar of democracy and human rights... The reality remains that being the pillar of democracy and human rights has gone way back. We are not even close to that anymore because when you look at Saudi Arabia, it is not only Saudi Arabia, but we are talking about repressive regimes like Zimbabwe, like Israel, they are all getting arms from the UK. And 48 percent of Britain’s arms pretty much go to Saudi Arabia. Can you imagine how much chaos Saudi Arabia is causing out there?…This hypocrisy has to completely go. And especially now the downturn of Brexit is even giving us more power to go and make deals with the Middle East repressive nations and the autocrats to sell more arms because somehow they are going to have to make it up for it.
RT: How do you assess the current humanitarian situation in Yemen?
RK: …I can tell you categorically that Yemen is a humanitarian black hole. What Saudi Arabia is doing in there with its allies like the US and the UK, France is that they are using the scorched-earth strategy. There is so much destruction everywhere…food is being used as a weapon of war. It is absolutely inhumane; they are absolutely on the brink of collapsing. It is that bad. And when I say that, it probably doesn’t hold that much weight. But I can tell you the situation in Yemen is absolutely dire at this point. And we [the UK] are partially responsible for that.
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/378273-yemen-uk-saudi-arabia-weapons/
22.2.2017 – The Independent (* A P)
The UK has been accused of “blatant double standards” in its relationship with Saudi Arabia amid a judicial review into arms sales during the Yemen war.
James Jones, a British filmmaker who exposed the Gulf state’s human rights abuses in his documentary Saudi Arabia Uncovered, said Britain remains “closer than ever” to its ally despite a litany of human rights abuses.
He said the country’s Sharia-based punishment system including beheadings and the public lashing of a Saudi blogger “wouldn’t feel at all out of place in Isis-controlled Raqqa”.
“There are similarities between Saudi Arabia’s punishments and Isis punishments – Saudi textbooks have turned up in Isis territory,” Mr Jones told The Independent.
“The big difference with Saudi is it’s not an international pariah or terrorist organisation, it’s a close ally of Britain and America. It’s blatant double standard.”
He spoke on the issue at the Geneva Sumit for Human Rights and Democracy, held at the start of the UN Human Rights Council session at Switzerland’s Palais des Nations.
A judicial review is underway at the High Court over whether British arms sales violate the Government’s own restrictions on selling weapons that could be used to commit war crimes.
The case, stemming from a legal challenge brought by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), could halt sales.
[and repeated the case in Britain] by Lizzie Dearden
21.2.2017 – MbKS15 (A K)
Feb. 21: Advanced training aircraft Hawk T-165 # Arabia ZB120 / ST020, conducted a test flight today in Britain (photos)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/834086980799574018
My comment: British-Saudi complicity in photos.
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
21.2.2017 – MbKS15 (A P)
#Turkey's Minister of National Defense meets with the Commander of the Royal #Saudi Land Forces (photos)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/834065246255996928
21.2.2017 – AP (A P)
Bahrain lawmakers approve military trials for civilians
Bahraini lawmakers voted Tuesday to change the constitution to allow civilians to be tried in military courts, further empowering its security forces amid a crackdown on dissent at level unseen since its 2011 Arab Spring protests.
The decision by the 40-seat Council of Representatives, the elected lower house of the tiny Gulf nation's National Assembly, comes after a royal decree a month ago restored the power of its domestic spy service to make some arrests. Limiting the power of the National Security Agency was a key reform recommended after authorities put down the 2011 demonstrations.
Activists immediately decried the vote.
"The Bahraini king is effectively creating a police state with this de facto martial law," Sayed Alwadaei, the director of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, said in a statement – by Jon Gambrell
https://apnews.com/6fbde665968f46d0a6b5f12f21d58046
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
22.2.2017 – MbKS15 (A K)
Tutor Perini Corp. was awarded an $80 million contract to design & construct facilities for the #RSAF's Khurais Electronic Warfare Range
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/834623228895232000
My comment: An US company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutor_Perini
22.2.2017 – Reuters ( * B K)
Brazil's Taurus shipped arms to son of Yemeni smuggler: U.N. report
Brazil's Forjas Taurus SA, the largest weapons maker in Latin America, shipped guns to the son of a known arms trafficker in July 2015, three months after the United Nations imposed an arms embargo on his allies in Yemen's civil war, according to a U.N. report released last week.
The U.N. document cited and expanded upon a Reuters report in September that detailed the charges in Brazil against former executives at Taurus who allegedly shipped handguns in 2013 to Fares Mohammed Hassan Mana'a, a Yemeni arms smuggler sanctioned for dealings around the Horn of Africa for more than a decade.
U.N. experts on the conflict in Yemen said an investigation turned up several red flags in the sale of the handguns, which were registered for use in Djibouti but allegedly destined for black markets in the region.
"Had Taurus ... exercised due diligence then they would have identified aspects of this arms purchase that were suspicious in relation to the targeted arms embargo on Yemen, and could have stopped the shipment," wrote the experts.
Responding to the U.N. report, the gun maker told Reuters in an email that the transaction followed all protocols required by Brazilian and international law, and the company halted any further shipments involving Djibouti after learning of concerns about the deal.
"Taurus had no grounds to distrust the buyers," it said.
The U.N. report questioned why an end-user certificate from Djibouti cleared the transfer of up to 80,000 pistols to the Ministry of Defense, when the country's armed forces consist of just 16,000 active personnel and 9,500 reservists – By Lisandra Paraguassu
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-arms-taurus-idUSKBN1612LA?rpc=401&
22.2.2017 – MbKS15 (A K PS)
#Taqnia-(Saudi) signed an agreement with #ALIT- (China) to manufacture all types of 'CH' UAVs [unpiloted aerial vehicle] in Kingdom & to promote them regionally #IDEX2017 (photos)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/834431626620858369
22.2.2017 – MbKS15 (A K)
#Saudi Arabian National Guard Aviation to receive 12x AH-6i Little Birds during May timeframe (photos)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/834443659990925313
Remark: The Boeing AH-6 is a series of light helicopter gunships.
20.2.2017 – National Interest (* A K)
OpenPod Will Make US Air Force More Lethal
Northrop Grumman has developed a new fighter-mounted pod that can be reconfigured for a new types of missions in a matter of minutes.
For example, if a Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle were flying a strike mission, the pod would be configured as a targeting sensor, but if the next sortie called for an air-to-air tasking, the pod could be reconfigured as data-link to connect to fifth-generation fighters like the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor.
“Reconfiguring OpenPod is as simple as swapping line replaceable units and attaching a new front end,” reads a Northrop Grumman statement. [3] “In minutes, maintainers can have an aircraft ready for a new mission. An air-to-air mission to clear the skies may call for infrared search-and-track, while a subsequent air-to-ground mission may require a suite of advanced targeting sensors. With OpenPod, the aircraft may be ready for its next mission even before the crew can finish another energy drink.” – by DAVE MAJUMDAR
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/how-northrop-grummans-openpod-technology-could-make-the-us-19509 = http://www.scout.com/military/warrior/story/1756724-openpod-will-make-us-air-force-more-lethal?platform=hootsuite
My comment: Oh how nice. When will this be used in the Yemen war?
22.2.2017 – MbKS15 (A K PS)
The arrival of a batch of advanced training aircraft Hawk T-165, No: 7906 / ZB115 and 7908 / ZB117 to # Arabia (photos) [coming from Britain]
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/834335036543467521
cp13b Flüchtlinge / Refugees
Siehe / Look at cp1
23.2.2017 – International Catholic Migration Organization (A H)
Unable to go back to Yemen, Yasser hopes to reunite with his family in Pakistan
22.2.2017 – Living in Yemen on the edge (A H)
#Yemen: 3.1 mln internally displaced.
Ali's wife gave birth to this angel under the stars. (photos)
22.2.2017 – Samir Elhawary (A H)
Health centers in Mokha overwhelmed with displaced families. Skin disease, coughs, malaria and diarrhea most common problems (photo)
https://twitter.com/rimas_se/status/834093102059098112
21.2.2017 – Xinhua (* A H)
Food shortages, malnutrition rampant amid Yemen internally displaced: UN agencies
Most of Yemen's two million internally displaced people (IDPs) have been displaced for more than a year and scarce resources are increasingly overstretched, a UN report released Tuesday warned.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) jointly released a report on the country's displacement crisis, saying that shortages of food and malnutrition are widespread and reported in 84 percent of IDP locations.
According to the new report, since the beginning of the conflict in March 2015, more than 11 percent of Yemen's population -- some 3 million people -- has been forced to flee their homes for safety.
Almost two years later, prolonged hostilities and worsening conditions are forcing one million of those uprooted to return to the homes from which they fled, despite danger and insecurity across the country.
The report highlighted that a lack of access to income and basic services in areas of displacement are the main reasons pushing IDPs to return to their areas of origin, with 40 percent of key informants indicating that IDPs now intend to return home within the next three months.
"It's testament to how catastrophic the situation in Yemen has become, that those displaced by the conflict are now returning home because life in the areas to which they had fled for safety is just as abysmal as in the areas from which they fled," said Ayman Gharaibeh, UNHCR's country representative for Yemen.
"Those attempting to return face tremendous challenges," Gharaibeh added. "They often return to homes that have been damaged, in areas lacking essential services. They still need humanitarian aid and are often forced to flee their homes again."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-02/22/c_136074600.htm
cp13c Wirtschaft / Economy
22.2.2017 – Bloomberg (* A E H)
Currency Rout Pushes Poorest Arab Nation to Brink of Starvation
Rial sell-off caused wheat prices to surge 40 percent in a day
Anwar Abdullah goes to work every day but he hasn’t been paid in five months. When prices for wheat, sugar and other staple foods spiked earlier this month, the Yemeni school teacher feared for his three children.
Wholesale prices for wheat in the city of Taiz surged by more than 40 percent on Feb. 12, when the black-market value of Yemen’s currency, the rial, plunged 30 percent against the U.S. dollar. The latest price spike suggests that food imports, which provide for 90 percent of the country’s needs, could become even harder for people to afford.
“What can we do? We have nothing,” Abdullah, 38 years old, said on Feb. 14 from the capital Sanaa. “With the new price hikes, we will go begging in the streets.”
The economy shrank by 28 percent in 2015, as Yemen’s already modest output of oil tumbled, and was set to contract further in 2016, according to the latest available data from the World Bank.
The rial slumped to 390 to the dollar on the black market on Feb. 12, after trading at about 300 for several months, money changers in Sanaa, Aden and the city of Taiz said by phone. As a result, a 50 kg (110 pound) sack of wheat, which many Yemenis buy to make bread, jumped 42 percent that day to 8,500 rials, while the same amount of sugar rose 27 percent, according to Ahmed al-Sharabi, a food wholesaler in Taiz.
“The rial is very much overvalued and the government isn’t in a position to defend it,” Peter Salisbury, a senior research fellow at Chatham House, said by phone from London. “If the rial devalues, it worsens the hunger crisis in the country.”
The rial returned to 300 per dollar on the black market on Feb. 14, as both the Hadi government and the Houthis imposed controls on money changers. It has fluctuated to as much as 330 to the dollar since then, Taha Ahmed, a Taiz-based money changer, said by phone.
Najeeb Mohammed lives in Taiz, on the front lines of the war. The crisis has cost him his sales job and his apartment, which was damaged in fighting, and the father of five scrapes by as a motorcycle-taxi driver. “Even tea is a luxury,” he said by phone. “This is no longer a life.” – by Sam Wilkin and Mohammed Hatem (with infographics)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-22/currency-rout-pushes-poorest-arab-nation-to-brink-of-starvation = http://gulfnews.com/business/economy/currency-rout-pushes-yemen-to-brink-of-starvation-1.1983180
22.2.2017 – Newsbox 12 (* A E P)
Saudi seeks to revive Yemen free zone plans
Saudi Arabia is eyeing plans to revive a free trade zone project between the kingdom and Yemen after the end of hostilities in the country.
The two countries previously considered the establishment of an economic free zone in the Al-Wadiah area of Najran with support from the private sector and the Islamic Development Bank but put the plans on hold at the start of the Yemeni revolution in 2011, Saudi Press Agency reported.
“Yemenis are looking forward to the resumption of these talks and seeing this dream project, which will create huge investments and provide thousands of jobs for young people in both countries,” according to the state-owned publication.
SPA said a free trade zone would increase trade and investment between the two countries, create thousands of jobs and help facilitate the supply cement, wood and other materials after the end of the civil war.
It also quoted the former chief of the Saudi-Yemeni Business Council, Dr Abdullah Marei Mahfouz, as saying the project would support trade between the two countries and increase Yemen’s exports of fish, fruits and vegetables.
http://www.newsbox12.com/saudi-seeks-to-revive-yemen-free-zone-plans/
My comment: That would be a free trade union between two very unequal partners, and I that if Yemen would profit from it. On the contrary, such free trade agreements normally just are for the profit of the stronger partner. – Politically such a free trade union would fix Yemen to Saudi Arabia and give the Saudis the possibility to exercise permanent influence on Yemen.
23.2.2017 – Oxford Analytica (unrated AE K P)
Saudi reconstruction promises for Yemen are premature
Riyadh’s offer of funds comes at a time when conflict is still cutting people off from basic humanitarian help (for subscribers only)
https://dailybrief.oxan.com/Analysis/ES218213
Remark: earlier reporting YPR 270, cp15.
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
22.2.2017 – New York Times (* B T)
F.B.I. Interviews Tell of Cleric’s Role in Plot to Bomb Plane
In a series of conversations in Qaeda safe houses in Yemen in 2009, Anwar al-Awlaki carefully sized up a young Nigerian volunteer, decided the man had the diligence and dedication for a “martyrdom mission” and finally unveiled what he had in mind.
Newly released documents, obtained by The New York Times after a two-year legal battle under the Freedom of Information Act, fill in the details of a central episode in the American conflict with Al Qaeda: Mr. Abdulmutallab’s recruitment by Mr. Awlaki and his failed attempt to blow up an airliner approaching Detroit on Christmas in 2009 using sophisticated explosives hidden in his underwear.
The documents’ detailed account of Mr. Awlaki, who stars in Mr. Abdulmutallab’s story as both a religious hero and a practical adviser on carrying out mayhem, is particularly important. The government allegation that Mr. Awlaki was behind the underwear bomb plot — never tested in a court of law — became the central justification that President Barack Obama cited for ordering the cleric’s killing in a drone strike in Yemen in 2011.
The F.B.I.’s decision in 2010 to keep the interview summaries secret led some critics to question the quality of the evidence against Mr. Awlaki. The 200 pages of redacted documents released to The Times this week, on the order of a federal judge, suggest that the Obama administration had ample firsthand testimony from Mr. Abdulmutallab that the cleric oversaw his training and conceived the plot.
Mr. Awlaki, whom everyone at the Qaeda training camp called “sheikh” out of respect for him as a religious leader, spoke at length with the Nigerian, then 23 and the son of a wealthy banker, about what he saw as the religious obligation of jihad – By SCOTT SHANE
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/us/politics/anwar-awlaki-underwear-bomber-abdulmutallab.html?_r=0
21.2.2017 – Ali AlAhmed (* A T)
#AQAP #Yemen is now armed with manpads originating from #Saudi cash
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/834180827672084481 referring to
21.2.2017 – Sputnik Arabic (*A T)
"Al - Qaeda" seize three trucks loaded with weapons in southern Yemen
Captured militant elements belonging to al-Qaeda in Abyan province in southern Yemen on the arms shipment was on its way to Taiz province, south-west of the country.
According to a local source in Abyan province, told "Sputnik", that "a group of al-Qaeda terrorist intercepted three large loaded with weapons and ammunition coming from Marib province northeast Yemen trucks on their way to Taiz province, south-west of Yemen, and so near Mount Ekd area in Lauder Directorate of the show. "
The source pointed out that al-Qaeda elements were set on fire in one of the trucks after unloading.
https://twitter.com/sputnik_ar/status/834177394936254464 (https://arabic.sputniknews.com/arab_world/201702221022414322-اليمن-القاعدة-أسلحة-شاحنات/ ) and photo: https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/834263590668476416
cp15 Propaganda
23.2.2017 – Saudi Press Agency (* A K P)
Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) on Yemen issues statement on results of a number of incidents
Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) has issued a statement regarding the alleged bombings of the German hospital, Abs prison, the main commercial street in Saada and Alzuruq camp for the displaced people, as follows:
With respect to what is stated in the final report of the Yemen Panel of Experts, established by the Security Council resolution no. (2140) dated on 22/01/2016, that the German hospital was exposed damages in Haradh in Hajjah Governorate as a result of an aerial bombing to target a nearby site to the hospital on 07/07/2015, which resulted in damages of the hospital's generators and parts of the building.
Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) verified the facts and circumstances of the incident and reviewed the reports of the tasks records on the day of the claim. The JIAT disclosed that the Coalition Air Forces dealt with a target which is away about 17 km from the hospital. This target represents a warehouse of weapons in a farm which is far away about 500 meters from the southern borders of the Kingdom Saudi Arabia making this site as a military legitimate target.
The JIAT stressed the safety of procedures implemented by the coalition forces in dealing with the military target in the same region on the date of the claim and in accordance with the provisions of the International Humanitarian Law.
With regard to a report of the Amnesty International (October 2015) that the Coalition Air Forces bombed the main commercial street in Saada Province at 10:30 on /02/05/2015 which resulted in damages of the shops in street, killing of seven people and wounding of 10 others.
After reviewing the facts, the JIAT found that intelligence information was available stating the target of a building of weapons warehouse and factory, controlled by armed Houthi militia, which is located on the commercial street in the city of Saada. By using a laser-guided bomb with greater accuracy, the bomb missed the target which was away about 60 meters due to a technical fault in the airplane which resulted in damages in the nearby buildings.
In light of the above facts confirming that the incident was happened due to purely technical fault in the airplane, the JIAT recommended that the Coalition Forces are to apologize for the damages caused due to technical fault and to provide appropriate assistance to those affected.
On the report of the Human Watch, the team said it has checked the sites of claims of death and casualties, at Eibs Prison, in Khulan, Hajja Governorate, on 30 June 2015, concluding that the Coalition air force has dealt with two targets, both are weaponry depots, by firing a laser guided bomb, at each, on 13 May 2015. These were two Houthi militia's targets, henceforth, they are military spots, which we took advantage, military speaking, through targeting them.
The team stressed that the building of the prison, neither targeted nor affected, at all, by the air bombing committed by the Coalition air force.
Thus, the findings of the team is that: Following counter checking the aforementioned incidents, the procedures and measurements taken by the Coalition were justified, in dealing with military targets, in the area, as they were compatible with the rules of the Humanitarian International Law.
My comment: The Saudi coalition “investigation” team at work: Self-Whitewashing at its best.
23.2.20217 – Infographic KSA and others (* A P)
Humanitarian actions is always ahead of the military operations executed by the coalition against #Houthis in #Yemen #CoalitionSavesYemen (photo)
https://twitter.com/Infographic_ksa/status/834387205166657537
In light of the fraternal bonds, #KSA has launched six distinctive programs for supporting its brothers in #Yemen #CoalitionSavesYemen (photo)
https://twitter.com/Infographic_ksa/status/834716829578907648
Humanitarian actions precede the military actions against Putschists, as KSA carried out 118 relief programs in Yemen #CoalitionSavesYemen (image)
https://twitter.com/desertrose4e/status/834713494259957765
What would have happened to #Yemen if coalition forces didn't intervene against #Houthis #militias #CoalitionSavesYemen (image)
https://twitter.com/saudi2tv/status/834460404726321163
My comment: Insane. Propaganda, Orwellian style: Post-truth, fact-free.
22.2.2017 – AFP (A P)
Yemen president says $10 bn Saudi aid for reconstruction
Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi said Wednesday that Saudi Arabia has earmarked $10 billion in aid for the reconstruction of provinces retaken from Shiite Huthi rebels.
Riyadh, which since March 2015 has led a military coalition to support pro-Hadi fighters in Yemen, has made no official announcement on the aid.
Hadi said the oil-rich neighbouring kingdom had allocated $10 billion "for the reconstruction of liberated provinces, including $2 billion as a deposit in the central bank to shore up the (Yemeni) riyal", the Saba news agency reported.
The president, speaking in the government's temporary southern capital of Aden, called on his government to focus on power, water, roads, health and education in retaken areas.
http://www.france24.com/en/20170222-yemen-president-says-10-bn-saudi-aid-reconstruction and by Al Sahwa: https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-4326
My comment: The devastations by the Saudi air raids seriously were estimated at ca. US $ billion 150 more than half a year ago.
22.2.2017 – Al Sahwa (A P)
Houthis commit 6500 violations in Dhamar during 2017
A human rights group has revealed that militias of the Houthis and Saleh committed 6500 crimes and violations in Dhamar governorate as alone during 2017.
According to Nahdat Watan organization, the violations ranged from murder to injury, abduction, enforced disappearance, torture, storming, looting, plantation of landmines, recruitment of children, occupation of houses, public and private facilities, headquarters of parties, chartable associations and mosques.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-4323 and similar Almasdar Online: http://almasdaronline.com/article/89051
My comment: We already got this story or a very similar one. Yes, there are violations of human rights by the Houthis, quite a lot. As by all parties of the war. In the former report, it was another rather ephemeral human rights organization which had made such a statement. What is the work of “Nahdat Watan”? I found this facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B8%D9%85%D8%A9-%D9%86%D9%87%D8%B6%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%B7%D9%86-Nahdat-Watan-Oragnization-1331241993566212/ and this youtube upload: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCukXdzD8xXVeQxqbKTs2YKA and the article above, on various sites. That’s it.
22.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (A P)
Houthi leader accused of abducting children, sending them to borders to fight
Locals in Sunainah neighborhood in western the capital Sana’a said that the militant of the Houthi group had kidnapped a group of children, sent them to the Yemeni-Saudi borders and forced them to fight in their ranks.
The International Alliance for Defending rights and freedoms (AIDL) had published a communication from parents complaining about the abduction and compulsory recruitment of their under aged children, whom are sent to the war fronts without their parents’ consent or even knowledge, since the month of February 2016.
The parents accused, according to the communication, the so-called Ahmed Mohammed Ismail al Awadhi, a resident of Sunainah neighborhood who is member of the Houthi group, of carrying out abduction and forced recruitment of their children, and send them to the battlefronts in the Yemeni borders.
Al Awadi, known as Abu Ali, is an operator of recruitment of children for the Houthi group, and was reported to the Houthis authorities in Sanaa but no avail.
According to the communication, the abducted children are Osama Ahmed al Awami, Amir Mahmoud Sinan, Hatem Yahya al-Awami, and Abdullah Mohammed Badi.
The parents contacted Mutahhar al Houthi, the so-called Houthis supervisor in al Sunainah area, who said that Ahmed Al Awadi does not follow anyone and works by his own in collecting the children and sending them directly to fight in the Najran front.
AIDL also strongly condemned the recruitment of children in Yemen, and sending them to the war.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/89052
My comment: I really doubt on “abducation”, forcing this children against their own will. Having persuaded them and taken them to another place against the will of their parents certainly would be another thing. In many cases, in Yemen children quite willingly go to fight – because the war took all other prospects away from them (reported several times in articles linked here). – The “International Alliance for Defending rights and freedoms” seems to be quite another dubious so-calles “Human Rights organization”. Google hits: 6, there from relating to this article above: 4. The Houthi misuse of children as soldiers is a warhorse of anti-Houthi propaganda, even if both sides of the conflict do that.
22.2.2017 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A P)
Yemeni Official: Houthis Allowed in Iranian Experts Using Forged Papers
Houthi militias were found to be involved in the illegal entry of Iranian military experts to Yemeni grounds, a Yemen government official said.
The Iranian military experts, experienced with missile development, mine and explosives production, have entered Yemeni grounds with forged identification papers.
Iran uses Yemeni islands off the western coast for delivering weapons to Houthi militants, forcing the hand of the Yemeni army to launch massive military operations against the west coast to limit the smuggling of weapons through the key port city of Mokha, located on the Red Sea coastal line.
Iran has been directly involved in providing Houthi and Saleh militias with arms. Most recently they used islands west of Yemen to smuggle weapons and deliver them to the insurgents.
Reserve forces commander Major General Samir al-Haj told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Iranian experts entering with forged Yemen passports and personal identification Yemeni papers are getting admitted through insurgency-held ports and airports.
“Iranian combat specialists, experts with development of missiles, bombings and mines, and special operations commanders who entered Yemen do not exceed dozens,” he said.
Maj.Gen. al-Haj pointed out that a number of the Iranian experts were killed as a result of air strikes carried by the Saudi-led Arab coalition forces. Other Iranian experts are still alive often visiting Yemen with fake papers.
http://english.aawsat.com/2017/02/article55367952/yemeni-official-houthis-allowed-iranian-experts-using-forged-papers and by Al Sahwa: https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-4324
My comment: The same story again and again. And then they themselves concede that’s only a few Iranian experts. – People with Yemeni documents are Yemenis, normally. Of course, it’s not impossible that Iranians could have traveled to Yemen with forged documents – but there still is lacking any proof. And Saudi propaganda itself here concedes that the assumed “Iranian experts” really “do not exceed dozens”.
22.2.2017 – MbKS15 (A K P)
Today is the 700th day of the Ops to restore legitimacy in #Yemen. SALUTE to all our men in uniform and to our great allies (photos)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/834257766671859712
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
23.2.2017 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
The violations and crimes that are committed by Saudi Arabia and its alliance in Yemen 22/2/2017 (full list):
https://www.facebook.com/551288185021551/photos/a.551858951631141.1073741828.551288185021551/779744322175935/?type=3 and http://www.lcrdye.org/lcrd/Eng/PageDetails?id=1653 (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/22%20Feb,%202017.pdf )
22.2.2017 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
The violations and crimes that are committed by Saudi Arabia and its alliance in Yemen 21/2/2017 (full list):
https://www.facebook.com/551288185021551/photos/a.551858951631141.1073741828.551288185021551/778793808937653/?type=3 and http://lcrdye.org/lcrd/Eng/PageDetails?id=1653 (http://lcrdye.org/userfiles/files/%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AC%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%B2%D9%8A/Reports%20center/Daily%20reports/2017/Feb/21-Feb-2017.pdf)
23.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression launches four airstrikes on Mareb
Saudi aggression launched on Thursday four airstrikes on civilians' houses in Mareb province, a local official said.
The Saudi warplanes launched three airstrikes, one of them hit and completely destroyed the house of Sheikh Saleh Ben Souda Te'aiman in Serwah district.
The fourth airstrikes targeted al-Ashqari area.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457151.htm = http://newnewss.net/?p=2997
23.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi warplanes launch 2 air strikes on Sana'a
US-Saudi aggression warplanes launched two air strikes on Ma'en district of the capital of Sana'a overnight, a local official told Saba on Thursday
The fierce air raids targeted Aviation Faculty in the district, causing heavy damage to citizens' houses and public properties, the official added.
The fighter jets broke the sound barrier during the strikes.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457104.htm
23.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi warplanes hit citizens' farms in Mareb
US-Saudi aggression warplanes lunched three airstrikes on farms of the citizens in Serwah district in Marb province overnight, an official told Saba on Thursday.
The raids hit AL-Hantesh farms in Habbab Valley, causing heavy damage .
The district later was hit several time by the enemy warplanes.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457108.htm
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi aggression warplanes wage six raids on Sana'a
The US-Saudi aggression warplanes waged on Wednesday six raids on Sa'afan district of Sana'a province.
A security official told Saba that the hostile warplanes targeted al-Ain area, causing huge damage to citizens' houses and their properties.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457016.htm
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi warplanes kill 6 citizens, including 3 children, in Jawf
At least six citizens were killed, Including three children, in two US-Saudi aggression airstrikes on Jawf province on Wednesday morning, an official told Saba.
The raids hit Al-Jabal Al- Akhder area in Al-Hamedat district .
Several others civilians were wounded in the strikes.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news456986.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=65331&lang=en
and
22.2.2017 – Hussain Albukhaiti (* A K PH)
#Saudi #UAE strikes on a home n Aljowf NE #Yemen kild entire family of 6 a father &5member of his family inc3kids (graphic photos)
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/834515333893480452 and also https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/photos/a.1434086430220680.1073741828.1434084576887532/1642264466069541/?type=3&theater
22.2.2017 – Al Masirah TV (* A K PH)
Film: Six martyrs, including three children in a crime committed aggression against the citizens Directorate Ahamidat, province Jawf
According to the march reporter in the province, that the airline aggression targeted the Red Mountain area Ahamidat Directorate in al-Jawf province Bgartin air strikes resulted in the deaths of six civilians, including three children.
He stressed that the raids waged on shepherds of nomads in the province on their way to fetch firewood and sell it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rucXmePRHyM
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi unexploded missile dismantled in Sa'ada
Rocketry Technical Team dismantled unexploded missile in Sa'ada city that was fired by US-Saudi aggression on Wednesday.
This is the latest in a series of unexploded US weapons that dismantled by the technical team
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news456997.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=65387&lang=en
22.2.2017 – Saudi Arabia war crimes (* A K PH)
Saada: technical teams tend missile remnants of aggression in literacy building, Saada city
The de-mining province of Saada teams on Wednesday to disarm the missile remnants of the Saudi brutal aggression had delivered by airstrike on the literacy building in central city of Saada, but it did not explode and led to the destruction of large parts of the building (photos)
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Five civilians injured in Saudi bombings in Sa'ada
Five civilians were injured on Wednesday in Saudi bombings on several parts of Sa'ada province, a local official told Saba.
Two civilians were critically injured when the US-Saudi aggression warplanes targeted al-Hamazat and Bani Mutadh areas in Sahar district with two cluster bombs.
Three civilians were injured in a Saudi bombing targeted Talaan area in Haidan district with two raids.
The US-Saudi aggression warplanes targeted a car in al-Zawar area in al-Safra district. Two raids also hit Takhyah area in Magaz district. The raids caused heavy losses of citizens' houses [photo from an earlier raid]
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457024.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=65383&lang=en
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Air Raids on Sa'ada kill 12 civilians
The death toll of the US-Saudi aggression warplanes targeted Sa'ada on Wednesday rose to 12 civilians, a security official told Saba.
The official said that the US-Saudi aggression warplanes targeted a car in Nayel zone in al-Zawar area in al-Safra district with two raids, killing a woman and critically injuring four others.
The official added the death toll of the Saudi-cluster bombs on al-Hamazat and Bani Mutadh area rose to seven civilians, including children.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457038.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=65399&lang=en
22.2.2017 – Ahmad Alghobary / Nasser Arrabyee (A K)
Her name is Fatima Saleem, #Saudi killed her today by cluster bombs in Alsafra area #Saada #Yemen (photos)
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/834480421597487104 and https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/834466029329928198 and https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1642230146072973
and more images from this raid: https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1642230876072900
and films:
22.2.2017 – Al Masirah TV (A K PH)
Shahida girl killed and 12 injured in crimes Saudi American aggression against civilians in Saada
[raid hits car of her father at the road]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om2lfw59FJs = https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/videos/1642261786069809/
22.2.2017 – Yemen Today (A K PH)
Film: The death of a child and injuring nine raids Saudi aggression on Sahar District in Saada
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTeOEiCI-1g
22.2.2017 – MbKS15 (A K PS)
#Kuwaiti Air Force F/A-18C Hornets operating from King Khalid Air Base (photos)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/834341085665181696
My comment: It#s not only the Saudis who bomb Yemen. It’s also the Kuwaitis who this they could pose as peace brokers at the same time.
22.2.2017 – MbKS15 (A K PS)
#RSAF F-15S Strike Eagles assigned to the 6th Sqn at #KKAB on a combat mission (photos)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/834336661525905409
22.2.2017 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Sana’a: warplanes of the Saudi American aggression waged 6 raids on the Al Ayan area the directorate of Safan
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=65356&lang=en
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi unexploded missile dismantled in Sa'ada
Rocketry Technical Team dismantled unexploded missile in Sa'ada city that was fired by US-Saudi aggression on Wednesday.
This is the latest in a series of unexploded US weapons that dismantled by the technical team
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news456997.htm
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi aggression warplanes hit Serwah
US-Saudi aggression warplanes launched two airstrikes on Serwah district in Mareb province overnight, an official told Saba on Wednesday.
The rids hit Al-Makhdarah area in the district
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news456993.htm
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi enemy warplanes launch 6 air strikes on Mareb
US-Saudi aggression warplanes launched six air strikes on different areas of Serwah district of Mareb province overnight, a security official told Saba on Wednesday.
The air raids targeted areas of al- Makhadra, Hilan and airport in the directorate.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news456992.htm
21.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
A Houthi government official and four security guards killed in a coalition airstrike western Taiz
A Houthi government official was killed along with four security guards in an airstrike launched by the fighter jets of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition on Monday in the eastern al Mocha city, western Taiz.
A military source told Almasdaronline that the Arab Coalition fighter jets had launched two airstrikes on Houthi-Saleh militiamen gatherings in al Nar Mount area, eastern al Mocha.
The airstrikes have resulted in the killing of Mohammed Hail Senan, director of Maqbanah district, who leads Houthi groups engaged in the fighting against the pro-government forces, according to the source.
Four of the Senan’s security guards and a number of Houthi militiamen were also killed in the two airstrikes.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/89028
21.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Coalition strike Houthis sites in Hodeida
A local source in Hodeida governorate, western Yemen, said that the fighter jets of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition launched on Monday evening several airstrikes on the sites of the Houthi group militants and the forces loyal to former president Saleh.
The source told Almasdaronline that three airstrikes have targeted al Taif and al Khokha coastal areas, southern Hodeida.
The airstrikes have likely caused casualties among the Houthis and allied forces, added the source.
The Arab Coalition fighter jets also bombarded a military vehicle for the Houthis in al Makhdara area in Serwah district of Mareb governorate, eastern the capital Sana’a.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/89029
cp17a Kriegsereignisse: Mokha / Theater of War: Mokha
23.2.2017 – AFP (* A K)
Yemen loyalists push back rebels on Red Sea coast
Yemeni government forces made gains around the Red Sea coastal town of Mokha in heavy fighting overnight as they rebuffed a rebel counter-offensive, a military source said on Thursday.
Seven loyalist troops and 16 rebels were killed in the fighting, hospital sources said. Twelve soldiers and 28 rebels were wounded.
Government forces captured Yakhtul, 14 kilometres (nine miles) north of Mokha, and Jabal Nar, 10 kilometres (six miles) to the east, consolidating their grip on the town they overran on February 10, the military source told AFP.
On Tuesday, government forces had suffered a major setback in the offensive they launched in January to try to recapture Yemen's 450 kilometre (280 mile) Red Sea coastline, which had previously been almost entirely in rebel hands.
Rebel forces counterattacked, killing a deputy army commander and 18 other troops.
http://www.france24.com/en/20170223-yemen-loyalists-push-back-rebels-red-sea-coast
23.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army Missiles hit US-Saudi-paid mercenaries in Mokha
Dozens of US-Saudi-paid aggression mercenaries were killed and others injured in missile strike by the army and popular forces in Taiz province, a military official told Saba on Thursday.
The national army hit the mercenaries off AL- Jaded village in Mokha.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457113.htm
23.2.2017 – Emirati News Agency (A K PS)
Yemeni army, resistance forces liberate areas east of Mokha
The Yemeni National Army and the Yemeni National Resistance, backed by the Arab Coalition airforce, today liberated large swaths of Jabal an-Nar area, east of Mokha, from the rebel Houthi group and militias loyal to the now-ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, according to a Yemeni military source, Yemen's official Saba news agency reported.
In other violent battles in Yakhtul, north of Mokha, dozens of rebels were killed and their military equipment was destroyed, the source said.
During the battles, a field commander called Al-Qanes from the Houthi group was killed in Jabal al-Nar.
The Arab Coalition aircraft destroyed missile launchers near Khaled Camp in Mawza district.
The source said the operation will continue in order to force all the rebels out of Jabal an-Nar and areas around Mokha city.
http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302599352
My comment: “Yemeni army” = “President” Hadi fighters.
22.2.2017 – AFP (A K)
Mindestens 40 Tote bei Kämpfen im Jemen
Bei Kämpfen im Jemen sind mindestens 40 Menschen getötet worden, unter ihnen der stellvertretende Armeechef. Ahmad Saif Al Jafii sei in der Nacht zum Mittwoch außerhalb der Hafenstadt Mocha von einer Rakete getroffen worden
https://de.nachrichten.yahoo.com/mindestens-40-tote-kämpfen-jemen-120341418.html
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Ballistic missile hits US-Saudi-paid mercenaries in Bab al-Mandab
The army and popular forces fired on Wednesday morning a ballistic missile on gatherings of US-Saudi-paid mercenaries in Bab al-Mandab strait off Taiz province, a military official told Saba.
The missile hit the target accurately, causing heavy losses in casualties and military equipment upon the enemy.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news456961.htm = http://newnewss.net/?p=2950
Update: Top mercenary brigadier killed in ballistic missile attack in Bab al-Mandab
US-Saudi-paid top mercenary, the Deputy Chief of General Staff brigadier Ahmed Saif Al Yafei was killed in the ballistic missile attack on Wednesday morning on Bab al-Mandab strait, a military official told Saba.
The brigadier was among scores of mercenary troops, including commanders, killed in the missile attack that fired by our heroes in the national Rocketry Force.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news456979.htm
and
2.2.2017 – Press TV Iran (* A K PH)
Army soldiers, allies kill Saudi mercenaries off Yemen coast
Yemeni forces have launched an operation against Riyadh-backed militiamen loyal to the former government, killing scores of them, including the commander of Saudi-led Emirati troops in Yemen.
The media bureau of the operations command in Yemen announced on Wednesday that a host of Saudi mercenaries died and sustained injuries when Yemeni troopers launched a medium-range ballistic missile at their gathering close to the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, the al-Masirah television network reported.
The report added that several high-ranking pro-Saudi commanders were among the slain militiamen in the missile attack that hit the city of Mokha in Ta’izz Province.
Nasser Moshabib al-Atibi, the commander of Emirati troops in Yemen, was among those killed. Arabic-language Here Aden news agency later reported that Major General Ahad Saif al-Yafei, the the second-in-command of the Saudi-backed military forces, had been killed in the missile attack.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/02/22/511609/Yemen-army-soldiers-Popular-Committees-missile-attack-Saudi-mercenaries-airstrikes-civilian-casualties and photos https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/834327837658214402 and https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/834461413397643265
Remark. Western reports only state the death of the Yemeni commander:
22.2.2017 – Reuters (* A K)
Senior Yemeni general killed in Houthi missile attack: military source
Yemen's deputy chief of staff was killed on Wednesday when the armed Houthi movement battling government forces fired a ballistic missile at an army camp on the Red Sea coast, according to a military source.
The attack killing Major General Ahmed Saif al-Yafei was a blow to Yemeni government forces and hit outside the strategic coastal city of al-Mokha, which they captured from the Iran-allied Houthis last month.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-idUSKBN1610ND
and
22.2.2017 – AP (* A K)
Rebel missile kills senior Yemeni general in Red Sea port
A ballistic missile fired by Yemen's Shiite rebels on Wednesday killed the deputy chief of staff of the country's military in a major blow to the U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition, which heavily supports the government, officials said.
The SABA news agency, which is controlled by the Houthi rebels, said their forces struck the vehicle of Brig. Gen. Ahmed Seif al-Yafie in the Red Sea port of Mokha.
Yemeni military officials said the missile hit a gathering point for the military commanders. A total of seven officers were killed
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army repels mercenaries in Mokha
The army and popular forces repelled two infiltration attempts by US-Saudi-paid mercenaries in eastern Mokha city and Kahbob area in Taiz province late on Tuesday, a military official told Saba.
The national military operation resulted in the killing of dozens of mercenaries, despite that the mercenaries ' failed attempts were heavily covered by aggression fighter jets.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news456994.htm
21.2.2017 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A K P)
Mokha still under Yemeni army & militia control. Footage from #Yemen Today TV report's that expose the Saudi mercenaries lie (referring to film by Yemen Today TV) https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/834141558215684096
and this is confirmed by the other side, there is still fighting in Mokha city:
21.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Violent clashes in al Mocha, and coalition warplanes strike the militias sites
The clashes have intensified between the pro-government forces and the Houthi-Saleh militias in the eastern and northern al Mocha city, western Taiz governorate.
A military source told Almasdaronline that the clashes expanded on Tuesday between the two sides to nearby al Nar mount area, in northern al Mocha.
The pro-government forces have also been launching heavy artillery shelling on the militias’ sites in al Nar mount, along with missile shelling on the rebels’ sites in al Hamli and Khaled camp in central Mawza district, according to the source.
At the same time, the pro-government forces have advanced towards Yakhtel area under heavy fire cover, after clearing the landmines networks planted by the Houthi-Saleh militias.
Meanwhile, the fighter jets of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition launched four airstrikes on the militais’ sites in Khaled camp, three airstrikes on their gathering in al Hamli, and two airstrikes on al Nar mount.
The source expected expansion for the clashes in the coming hours after the pro-government forces had sent huge reinforcements towards al Mocha, in order to secure al Nar mount and advance towards Khaled camp.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/89030
2.2017 – Yemen Conflict Map (A K)
Map: Front Bab al-Mandab – Mokha: Yellow zone areas are currently clashes
Last updated on: Saturday, Corresponding to: February 11, 2017
https://twitter.com/YemConfMaps/status/830500111503458304 and Feb. 3: https://twitter.com/YemConfMaps/status/827536142715252737
cp17b Kriegsereignisse: Sonstige / Theater of War: Other
23.2.2017 – AFP (A K)
Yemen rebel rocket kills policeman on Saudi border
Rocket fire by Yemeni rebels killed a policeman and wounded a civilian on the Saudi side of the border, the civil defence department has said.
23.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Mercenary attempt to advance to Alab crossing thwarted
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457144.htm = http://newnewss.net/?p=2997
23.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army Missile hits US-Saudi aggression camps in Najran
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457129.htm
23.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Artillery hits Saudi-paid mercenaries in Taiz
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457092.htm
23.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi-equipped military vehicle bombed, all on board killed
in Khab and Sha'af district of Jawf province
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457095.htm
23.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army destroys Saudi-supplied military vehicle
in Baihan district of Shabwah province
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457099.htm
23.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi-paid mercenaries killed in Mareb
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457112.htm
23.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army artillery hit Saudi-paid mercenaries in Taiz
in AL– Kadaha area in AL- Maafer district
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457117.htm = http://newnewss.net/?p=2985
23.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army Missile hits US-Saudi aggression camps in Najran
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457129.htm = http://newnewss.net/?p=2982
22.2.2017 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Jizan: Yemeni Forces Successfully Shell Saudi Soldiers and Military Vehicles in Kariss Site
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=65396&lang=en
22.2.2017 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A K PH)
Footage of the #Yemen army & militia shells on Dharan ALJanoub in Assir.
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/834550251038056450
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Dozens of US-Saudi-paid mercenaries kill in Mareb
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news456989.htm
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army hits mercenaries in Dhalee
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news456957.htm
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi-paid mercenaries fired artillery on several areas in Serwah, Marib province, causing heavy damage to farms and houses of the citizens
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news456993.htm
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Ballistic missile hits Mustahdath camp in Jizan
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news456973.htm
22.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi military vehicle bombed, military gatherings shelled in Najran, Asir
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news456991.htm
21.2.2017 – Anadolu (A K)
3 Houthi-linked military commanders killed near Sanaa
http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/3-houthi-linked-military-commanders-killed-near-sanaa/755396
21.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Houthi casualties and popular resistance seize military site in al Baidha
http://almasdaronline.com/article/89027
2.2017 – Yemen Conflict Map (A K)
Map: Front Al Khubah - Saudi Jazan region: Yellow zone areas are currently clashes
Last updated on: Sunday, Corresponding to: February 19, 2017
https://twitter.com/YemConfMaps/status/833403659828523011
Map: Front Nahm - Front Serwah: Yellow zone areas are currently clashes
Last updated on: Saturday, Corresponding to: February 11, 2017
https://twitter.com/YemConfMaps/status/830500437061144576
Map: Front Medi – pitted:Yellow zone are areas clashes, White Line: Saudi border
Last updated on: Friday, Corresponding to: February 3
https://twitter.com/YemConfMaps/status/827572438774984704
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
22.2.2017 – Independent Yemen Group
Some pictures of the extraordinary sights you’ll see in different parts of Yemen (slideshow)
http://www.independentyemengroup.co.uk/?page_id=411
22.2.2017 – Signature (* B)
The Republic of Yemen, which resulted from the unification of Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) and the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) in 1990, has long sat in a tumultuous position in the Arab world. With a culture still heavily influenced by tribal loyalties and divides and a political landscape beset by the ongoing Sunni-Shia conflict, as well as Al Qaeda occupation, Yemen has existed in state of near constant turmoil more or less since its inception. Yemen also was named as one of the seven Muslim-majority countries whose citizens Trump banned from entering the U.S. and was the site of the first military raid of the Trump Administration – an action that resulted in the deaths of Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer William Owens, and at least twenty-three Yemeni civilians. Given its increasingly prominent position in foreign policy – particularly in terms of terrorism and the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East – it is important to understand Yemen, its people and culture, and its position in the region. The books below, some of which represent the scant available translated works by Yemeni authors, will hopefully provide a better understanding of Yemen’s complex and turbulent culture – By KEITH RICE
http://www.signature-reads.com/2017/02/yemen-revealed-best-books-understand-complicated-nation/
22.2.2017 – Business Times India (A)
Navy spokesperson gives rough location of vessel to conflict zone in Yemen on Twitter
Indian Navy Spokesperson today took to Twitter to give rough location and approach time of the force's vessel to conflict zone in Yemen, in what seems to be breaking security protocol.
Responding to a query by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Navy Spokesperson said, on Twitter, "@SushmaSwaraj nearest Indian Naval warship is approx 350 Nautical miles East of Aden Yemen presently @SpokespersonMoD".
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/navy-spokesperson-gives-rough-location-of-vessel-to-conflict-zone-in-yemen-on-twitter/articleshow/57299548.cmsm
22.2.2017 – Kurier (* B E H)
Krieg, Armut und Drogen im Jemen
Millionen von Männern, Frauen und Kindern im Jemen kauen die stimmungsaufhellenden Khatblätter. Es ist Teil der Kultur.
"Ich habe in den letzten zwei Jahren angefangen, mehr Khat zu konsumieren, als sich die Lage im Land verschlechterte. Früher haben wir unsere Freizeit mit Reisen oder im Park verbracht. Das gibt's heute nicht mehr. An manchen Tagen muss ich Überstunden machen, um es bezahlen zu können", sagt er. "Khat lässt uns all unsere Sorgen vergessen."
Beim Zerkauen von Khatblättern werden amphetamin-ähnliche Stoffe freigesetzt, durch die der Konsument ein Stimmungshoch erlebt. Zwar zählt die Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) Khat nicht zu den ernsthaft süchtig machenden Drogen, aber für die wirtschaftliche und ökologische Situation des konfliktgebeutelten Landes ist sie fatal.
"Der Khatanbau blühte während des Krieges und soll mit der steigenden Nachfrage in den kommenden Jahren weiter wachsen", sagt der Khatbauer Saleh al-Hamadani. "In diesen harten Zeiten macht es die Jemeniten glücklich. Wenn wir Khat nicht hätten, wären sie langsam an dem Grauen zugrunde gegangen."
Die Einwohner des Jemen gäben jedes Jahr umgerechnet 7,1 Millionen Euro für ihre Freizeit aus, einen großen Teil davon mache auch Khat aus, sagt der Wirtschaftswissenschaftler Ahmed Saeed al-Shamakh. Seiner Meinung nach hat das Land nur eine Chance, wenn es neue Arbeitsplätze schafft und den Anbau von Nahrungsmitteln streng überwacht.
Khatsträucher werden normalerweise im Gebirge 1.500 bis 2.500 Meter über dem Meeresspiegel angebaut. Doch wegen der steigenden Nachfrage pflanzen die Bauern sie inzwischen auch weiter unten auf den Bergen. Nach Angaben des Landwirtschaftsministeriums werden jedes Jahr vier bis sechs Hektar Khat mehr angebaut, wodurch die Nutzfläche für dringend benötigte Nahrungsmittel schrumpft – Von Amal al-Yarisi/dpa
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-270-yemen-war-mosaic-270
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-270 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-270:
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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