The fate of Displaced People near Taiz – UN panel report and war crimes – Yemen runs out of food – Saudi blockade is killing children – Appeals to secure Yemen’s supplies – Child soldiers – Houthis are not Hezbollah – The US role to play in Yemen – US contribution to Yemeni famine–Tensions between president Hadi and Emirates – Wahabism – Hadi army offensive at the West coast
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche/ UN and peace talks
cp7a Saudi-Arabien, Emirate und Iran / Saudi Arabia, Emirates and Iran
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp9 USA
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
cp11 deutschland / Germany
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
cp13b Flüchtlinge / Refugees
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17a Kriegsereignisse: Küste / Theater of War: Coast
cp17b Kriegsereignisse: Andere / 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
Offensive: cp17a
1.3.2017 – IRIN (*** A H)
Yemen’s silent disaster: A snapshot of life and death in rural Taiz
In the middle of a vast expanse of grey scrubland a rapidly growing population of more than 120 families huddle under parched trees. Escaping the latest wave of conflict on Yemen’s Red Sea coast, they walked two days to get to this camp southwest of Taiz city.
But on arrival, the scores of women and children found nothing. No support from aid agencies. No food. No water. No shelter. The elderly talk of eating the trees to survive, while children beg for water from local famers. A mother cradles her clearly malnourished baby in her arms.
Al-Dashin camp is the outcome of two years of war in Yemen. It has grown and shifted, adding to more than three million already displaced in the country, with the tens of thousands fleeing new military operations that began January in the west of Taiz governorate
Many adults in al-Dashin go days without eating, giving priority to their children.
Hassan Ali al-Thomb and his wife are battling to keep their malnourished baby, Saeeda, alive, along with three other children. One-year-old Saeeda is sick. Her under-fed mother, Fadilah, is struggling to produce breast milk to regularly nourish her baby. Without food supplies or baby milk supplements, Fadilah is distressed and exhausted.
Two elderly adults, believed to be in their 80s, and three children suffering from malnutrition have died since IRIN visited the displaced families at al-Dashin. A five-year-old girl and an eight-month-old baby boy died from hypothermia while seriously malnourished. Without medical care available and in need of kidney dialysis treatment 50 year-old father of five, Mohammad Sultan, passed away as a result of renal failure. The latest death was three-year-old Mohammed Adel, who died on 25 February, also from malnutrition.
“We need food. We all need food,” Hassan said. “We don’t have money or even a mattress,” he continued, pointing to the current home of the family of five – a sand patch of less than two square metres underneath a strip of tarpaulin.
The only shelter for the new arrivals are sheets of plastic, donated by nearby villagers, strapped between trees. At night, the women and children lie cheek by jowl on the bare ground under the makeshift tents. The men are left to clear rocks from the sand to sleep out in the open.
On the day IRIN visited al-Dashin, a woman, Mudira Mohammed, wandered into the camp looking for a safe place with shelter after walking two days to get there.
Her family along with three others, some 20 people in total, were walking behind her. She described how they fled their village ofal-Heniya in the middle of the night when the shelling began – some of her relatives were killed and the children were terrified. Mudira arrived with nothing more than the now-torn clothes she was wearing when she ran from her house – by Iona Craig
https://www.irinnews.org/feature/2017/03/01/yemen%E2%80%99s-silent-disaster-snapshot-life-and-death-rural-taiz???IRIN = http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/yemenis-fight-survival-famine-looms (without images)
My comment: Please read in full and look at the photos on the original site.
28.2.2017 – Just Security (** B K P)
U.N. Panel of Experts Finds “Widespread Violations” of International Law in Yemen
All parties to the war in Yemen, including the Saudi-led coalition, the Yemeni government, and the Houthi-Saleh forces, are implicated in “widespread violations” of international law, according to a new and damning report from a panel of independent U.N. Security Council-mandated experts. The panel paints a picture of enormous civilian suffering, military operations with little prospect of outright victory, and stalled peace negotiations.
The report is yet another wake-up call to those countries involved in providing significant support to the Saudi-led coalition.
The third annual report from the panel covers a lot of ground, surveying events from a political, economic, humanitarian, and legal perspective. Here, we’ll focus on the key conclusions of the report, with a closer examination of its findings in relation to the Saudi-led coalition’s air campaign. We then look at the implications of the report’s analysis for those countries supporting the coalition, before reflecting on the panel’s recommendations and the political dynamics at the international level that are blocking accountability.
The U.N. Panel’s Key Findings
The report contains a number of very important findings, which are the results of detailed, multi-disciplinary investigations that are thoroughly documented in the report and its annexes. The Panel is devastating in its assessment of the conduct of the parties to the conflict.
The Saudi-led coalition’s air campaign comes under particular scrutiny. Its violations are “sufficiently widespread to reflect either an ineffective targeting process or a broader policy of attrition against civilian infrastructure.” Officials and security forces affiliated with the Yemeni government or the Houthis, and their allies, have also committed “widespread and systematic violations of international humanitarian law, international human rights law and human rights norms.”
The Saudi-led Air Campaign
The U.N. experts carried out detailed investigations into 10 cases of airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition. The scale of civilian harm resulting from these ten cases is appalling. Their findings indicate that—in just those 10 airstrikes—at least 292 civilians were killed, including at least 100 women and children, and at least 783 injured.
Implications for U.S., U.K, and other State Assistance to the Saudi-Led Coalition
The panel’s report cannot be easily dismissed. The Security Council mandated-panel includes highly detailed annexes, which set out its conclusions, the evidence it obtained in relation to each investigation, and the methodology it used to carry out the investigations. These findings further support the growing and sustained concerns of violations of international law by all parties to the conflict, as highlighted by the U.N. human rights office, and independent human rights and humanitarian groups for some time.
There are important implications for those countries providing support to the Saudi-led coalition.
Ryan Goodman, Miles Jackson and Harriet Moynihan have previously set out the framework that countries should use when assessing support to the Saudi-led coalition. International law requires that, to hold a state responsible for violations by a state it is assisting:
1) the assisting state provides assistance that contributes to the commission of a wrongful act,
2) that the assisting state provides assistance with knowledge that the assistance may be used to commit a wrongful act, and
3) the wrongful act or violation committed by the recipient state would also be wrongful if the assisting state directly engaged in that conduct.
While this is a forward-looking test, analysis of past behavior is a guide as to what may happen in the future. Importantly, as highlighted in a Chatham House report on this issue, assisting states “should not be able to deny their responsibility for assistance in situations in which internationally wrongful acts are manifestly being committed,” which is now clearly the case in Yemen.
In addition, there is the possibility of individual criminal liability. As Ryan Goodman has previously highlighted, assisting states should be especially wary of providing support where war crimes are alleged, as responsibility may be established “even absent any intent or purpose to promote the crimes.”
In this regard, the extremely detailed panel report, and its devastating findings that violations by the Saudi-led coalition “may amount to war crimes” and are “sufficiently widespread to reflect either an ineffective targeting process or a broader policy of attrition against civilian infrastructure,” make it very difficult for countries supporting the coalition to continues to argue that they are unaware that their support significantly contributes to these violations. The US, UK, France, and others, should be mindful that they could potentially be responsible for multiple violations of international humanitarian law, through their own direct or indirect support of the Saudi-led coalition
The latest report of the Panel of Experts—appointed, as they were, by the Council itself—is another signal to those countries that they are enabling violations of international law and perpetuating a humanitarian crisis. In March, the Security Council is expected to meet to consider the report. Then, it will have the chance to correct its previous failings by taking concrete action to implement the panel’s recommendations. Will those countries allied with the Saudi-led coalition heed the panel’s powerful warning, or continue to collaborate in Yemen’s destruction? – By Waleed Alhariri and Alex Moorehead
28.2.2017 – Reuters (** A H K)
Rotes Kreuz warnt vor Hungersnot im Jemen
Nach Angaben des Roten Kreuzes vom Dienstag reichen die Nahrungsreserven des Landes nur noch für zwei bis vier Monate aus. Besonders besorgniserregend sei die Lage der 500.000 Einwohner der am Roten Meer gelegenen Hafenstadt Hodeida. Der Hafen, der bei der Versorgung des Landes mit Hilfsgütern eine Schlüsselrolle spielt, drohe von der Außenwelt abgeschnitten zu werden, sagte der Regionaldirektor der Hilfsorganisation für den Nahen Osten, Robert Mardini. Nachdem bei saudischen Luftangriffen Anfang Februar Teile des Hafens zerstört wurden, können dort kaum mehr Schiffe andocken und Hilfsgüter entladen.
"Die Lebensader wird abgeschnitten", sagte Mardini mit Blick auf die drohende Isolation des Landes von Hilfsgütern. Falls dies geschehe, sei ein breiter Landstrich mit Millionen Menschen vom Hunger bedroht. Nach Angaben der Vereinten Nationen sind bereits 3,3 Millionen Menschen im Jemen von Mangelernährung betroffen, davon 2,1 Millionen Kinder.
http://de.reuters.com/article/jemen-b-rgerkrieg-rotes-kreuz-idDEKBN1671UQ
28.2.2017 – Reuters (** A H K)
Yemen food reserves dwindling as war escalates -Red Cross
Yemen has food reserves for only 2-4 months, bringing it to the brink of famine as fighting escalates, a senior official of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday on return from the country.
Robert Mardini, ICRC regional director for the Middle East, called for the lifting of restrictions on the import and movement of goods and voiced concern at the fate of 500,000 people in the port city of Hodeidah as the conflict moves north up the Red Sea coast.
The "lifeline" of aid moving through Hodeidah and other ports is starting to be cut, Mardini told reporters in Geneva. "If this happens of course it will add a huge burden on a swathe of the Yemen territory where millions of people live."
"In terms of reserves, there are reserves for two, three or four months, I don't know. But there is an urgent need for re-supply, this is what we can say." – by Stephanie Nebehay
http://www.reuters.com/article/yemen-security-redcross-idUSL5N1GD51B
and
1.3.2017 – The Independent (** A H K)
Saudi Arabia delaying aid to Yemen is 'killing children', warns Save the Children
Saudi-led coalition accused of 'turning aid and commercial supplies into weapons of war'
Children have died as a result of Saudi Arabia delaying aid for Yemen by months, a children's rights group have warned.
Save the Children said shipments of aid are being delayed for months, denying hundreds of thousands of people access to urgently-needed medical aid.
In the first two months of the year, the Saudi-led coalition has prevented three of the charity's shipments of medical supplies from landing at the country's main group of Hodeida, the group said, forcing them to be rerouted and delaying their arrival by up to three months.
The shipments were carrying enough aid to help around 300,000 people, including antibiotics, surgical equipment, medicine to treat diseases like malaria and cholera, and supplies to support malnourished children.
In the latest example, a two-tonne shipment of Save the Children's medical supplies and equipment held off the coast of Hodeida then forced to reroute by the Saudi-led coalition. The ship, carrying supplies for 40,000 people including 14,000 children under the age of five, arrived in the smaller port of Aden 83 days later.
Supplies often have to cross active conflict zones from Aden, putting both the supplies and humanitarian staff at risk.
Grant Pritchard, interim country director for Save the Children in Yemen, said: “These delays are killing children. Our teams are dealing with outbreaks of cholera, and children suffering from diarrhoea, measles, malaria and malnutrition.
"With the right medicines these are all completely treatable — but the Saudi-led coalition is stopping them getting in. They are turning aid and commercial supplies into weapons of war.
He added: “The British public has generously donated millions of pounds to a DEC appeal for Yemen, quite understandably expecting aid would reach people in need as quickly as possible.
"To see the Saudi-led coalition blocking shipments of humanitarian supplies is simply unforgivable. The UK Government must do more to make sure aid for Yemen gets where it needs to go.” – by Samuel Osborne
28.2.2017 – BBC (** A H K)
Yemen conflict: Red Cross appeals for access to key port
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has had to halt deliveries to the Red Sea port of Hudaydah.
It said this was partly because it had not received security guarantees.
The port has also been targeted by warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition which is backing Yemen's government in its war with the rebel Houthi movement.
UN attempts to bring in five cranes to replace those damaged in the attacks have not been successful.
The ICRC's Middle East regional director Robert Mardini warned that Yemen, which depends on imports for 90% of its food supplies, was now living on its "reserves" and that the "day will come very soon" when they run out.
He said that despite the focus on the damage and casualties caused by the fighting, thousands of people were dying "silently" of complications due to malnutrition, or of minor illnesses or injuries which were not being treated at the 45% of health facilities that are still functioning.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39114349
Comment: The BBC is following the stream quoting 'escalation of war' when we know it was an aggression, talking about airstrikes only half way through the article, giving outdated figures on casualties and injured.
This is not information: this is siding with the Gulf!
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1291108414275519
My comment to comment: This is true.
27.2.2017 – Reuters (** A H K)
U.N. urges aid access to Yemen ports to avert looming famine
A United Nations official visiting both sides in Yemen's civil war has urged them to guarantee more access to the country's ports to let food, fuel and medicine imports in to help ward off a looming famine.
Emergency relief coordinator Stephen O'Brien said the U.N. was urging international donors to step up their aid but the Yemenis had to ensure it could reach up to seven million people now facing severe food shortages.
"The international community needs to step up its funding and the parties to the conflict need to continue providing humanitarian access," O'Brien told journalists at the government's base in Aden late on Monday.
"This also means access to the ports so that the needed imports can enter Yemen," he said.
Earlier this month, the U.N. said Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, which serves territory controlled by the Houthis, had hampered humanitarian operations to import vital food and fuel supplies.
Five cranes at the port have been destroyed, forcing dozens of ships to line up offshore because they cannot be unloaded.
"Seven million people don't know where their next meal is coming from and we now face a serious risk of famine," O'Brien said – by Aziz El Yaakoubi
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-hunger-idUSKBN1670Z2
My comment: The Saudis block almost all access to Hodeidah port now, including humanitarian help. They try to redirect it to Aden port – from where the foodstuffs etc. never will reach the people in the North under Houthi control. Now relentlessly attacking Hodeidah port, the Saudis furthermore show their goal: Starving out the north, with international help.
28.2.2017 – NTV (** B H)
Bürgerkrieg im Jemen: 1400 Kinder für Kampf rekrutiert
Im Bürgerkrieg im Jemen werden immer mehr Kinder an die Waffe gezwungen. Besonders die Huthi-Rebellen rekrutierten Minderjährige für den Kampf, berichtete das UN-Menschenrechtsbüro in Genf. Seit Beginn des Bürgerkriegs im März 2015 seien mindestens 1476 Jungen unter 18 Jahren zum Waffendienst gezwungen worden. Das seien nur die bestätigten Fälle.
Die wahre Zahl liege wahrscheinlich deutlich höher, sagte Sprecherin Ravina Shamdasani. "Wir haben Kinder im Alter von zehn Jahren gesehen, die rekrutiert worden waren", sagte sie. Den Kindern werde Geld versprochen oder sie würden damit geködert, dass sie als Soldaten Anerkennung fänden. Die Jungen würden an die Front geschickt oder als Wachposten eingesetzt.
Rund 70 Prozent seien in den Reihen der schiitischen Huthi-Miliz, die gegen die Truppen der sunnitischen Regierung kämpft.
http://www.n-tv.de/ticker/1400-Kinder-fuer-Kampf-rekrutiert-article19723681.html und fast identisch http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/buergerkrieg-im-jemen-mehr-als-1400-kindersoldaten-rekrutiert-a-1136751.html
28.2.2017 – UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (** B H)
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Ravina Shamdasani
Location: Geneva
Date: 28 February 2017
We have received numerous reports of the recruitment of children in Yemen for use in the armed conflict, mostly by the Popular Committees affiliated with the Houthis. In all, between 26 March 2015 and 31 January 2017, the UN has managed to verify the recruitment of 1,476 children, all boys. However the numbers are likely to be much higher as most families are not willing to talk about the recruitment of their children, for fear of reprisals.
Just last week, we received new reports of children who were recruited without the knowledge of their families. Children under the age of 18 often join the fighting after either being misled or attracted by promises of financial rewards or social status. Many are then quickly sent to the front lines of the conflict or tasked with manning checkpoints.
We remind all parties to the conflict that the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict is strictly forbidden by international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and when concerning cases of recruitment of children under fifteen may amount to a war crime. We urge them to immediately release such children.
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21244&LangID=E = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/press-briefing-notes-thailand-and-yemen-28-february-2017
28.2.2017 – Amnesty International (** B K)
Yemen: Huthi forces recruiting child soldiers for front-line combat
New evidence has emerged of how the Huthi armed group is actively recruiting boys as young as 15 to fight as child soldiers on the front lines of the conflict in Yemen, said Amnesty International today after speaking to the families of three boys targeted this month by the appalling practice which violates international law. The families also confirmed the recruitment of a fourth local boy.
Family members and an eyewitness told Amnesty International that the four boys, aged between 15 and 17, were recruited by fighters of the Huthi armed group, also known as Ansarullah locally, in the capital, Sana’a. They only found out that their children had been taken away after being alerted by local residents, who described seeing them and as many as six other children boarding a bus at a local Huthi centre in mid-February.
“It is appalling that Huthi forces are taking children away from their parents and their homes, stripping them of their childhood to put them in the line of fire where they could die,” said Samah Hadid, Deputy Director at Amnesty International’s Beirut regional office.
“This is a shameful and outrageous violation of international law. The Huthis must immediately end all forms of recruitment of children under 18 and release all children within their ranks. The international community should support the rehabilitation and reintegration of demobilized children into the community.”
The families of the four boys taken in mid-February later received news that their children were at an unnamed location on the Yemeni-Saudi border.
Interviewees have described how Huthi representatives run local centres that hold activities such as prayers, sermons and lectures where young boys and men are encouraged to join front-line battles to defend Yemen against Saudi Arabia.
According to an eyewitness, two of the four boys were recruited by a local Huthi representative after they were sent to a Quranic school near Sana’a for an initial religious induction in January, before they were returned to their families, who had not been aware of their whereabouts. One father said that his son told him the curriculum included the history of world wars and what was described as the Saudi Arabia-led coalition’s war on the Yemeni people.
Some family members said that there had been an increase in child soldier recruitment in their neighbourhoods due to the fact that many children no longer attend regular schools. The war has taken its toll on the economy and many families can no longer afford the transportation costs needed for the children to get to classes. In many places, classes are no longer running. Some teachers are on strike because they no longer receive their salaries.
According to one family member, the Huthis have imposed recruitment quotas on local representatives, which are sometimes accompanied by threats if results are not delivered.
Many families fear reprisals against their children who have been taken by the Huthis or against other children or family members if they dare speak out about the recruitment.
One father said, “Many children [are recruited] but people don’t dare to talk or follow up. They’re afraid of being detained.”
Two of the interviewees told Amnesty International that the Huthis promise monetary incentives to families to appease them, pledging 20,000 to 30,000 Yemeni riyals (approximately 80 to 120 US dollars) per child per month if he becomes a martyr at the front line. The Huthis also honour the families by printing out memorial posters for their boys to be put up locally as a tribute to their contributions to the war efforts. Two of the interviewees highlighted that children who are recruited are usually from poorer backgrounds.
For the last few years, several parties to the conflict in Yemen have been listed in the annual report of the UN Secretary-General on children and armed conflict as actors that had violated children’s rights in conflict, including through recruitment and use of child soldiers. This includes the Huthis, al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), several divisions of the Yemeni armed forces and certain pro-government militias. The recruitment or use of children under 15 by parties to a conflict is a war crime
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/02/yemen-huthi-forces-recruiting-child-soldiers-for-front-line-combat/ = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-huthi-forces-recruiting-child-soldiers-front-line-combat and child soldiers worldwide: http://theirworld.org/news/10-countries-where-child-soldiers-are-still-recruited-in-armed-conflicts = http://reliefweb.int/report/central-african-republic/10-countries-where-child-soldiers-are-still-recruited-armed
Remark by Hisham Al-Omeisy: Amnesty: Houthis recruiting #ChildSoldiers as young as 15 in #Yemen.
But, though biggest recruiter, not only one.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/836558709631365120
Comment by Rasha Mohammed, Amnesty International: They are not the only recruiters. We have documented cases of anti-Huthi/Hadi forces recruiting in Ta'iz as well
https://twitter.com/RashaMoh2/status/836561193041035265
27.2.2017 – Foreign Policy (** B K P)
The Houthis Are Not Hezbollah
Donald Trump wants to ramp up Yemen's proxy fight against Iran. One small problem: Tehran doesn't really have a proxy there.
The first arena in which the Trump administration confronts Iran is shaping up to be Yemen. To the delight of Trump’s Persian Gulf allies, particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the president’s national security team appears to view the Houthis much as they view Hezbollah. That is to say, as part of an Iranian grand plan to build a powerful Shiite alliance against arch-foe Israel and regional competitor Saudi Arabia.
There’s only one problem: The Houthis are not Hezbollah and, despite their publicly expressed sympathies for the Islamic Republic, have not developed a similarly tight relationship with Tehran. Yet the combined efforts of Washington and its Gulf allies could still drive the Houthis into Tehran’s arms.
It’s instructive to compare the rise of the Houthis with that of Hezbollah.
The Houthis’ genealogy differs from Hezbollah’s, but there are important similarities as well. The group professes to protect Yemen’s Zaidi community — Shiites who in religious belief are closer to Yemen’s Sunnis than to adherents of Twelver Shiism predominant in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon — and started in national politics as a grassroots revivalist movement opposed to Salafi expansion into Zaydi areas. In the early 2000s, they morphed into a militia with a political affinity for Iran and Hezbollah, and a posture explicitly opposed to the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. Between 2004 and 2010, they fought six rounds of war with then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s army, gaining strength in the process from captured army depots.
Until now, and apart from Tehran’s strong pro-Houthi rhetoric, very little hard evidence has turned up of Iranian support to the Houthis. There has been evidence of some small arms shipments and, likely, military advice from Hezbollah and Revolutionary Guard officers, who may have helped the Houthis in firing missiles into Saudi territory and targeting Saudi vessels in the Red Sea. Meanwhile, U.S. and British military and intelligence support to the Saudi-led coalition exceeds by many factors any amount of support the Houthis have received from Tehran.
The war is strengthening the Houthis, who have has now taken up the banner of defending the nation against external aggression. In fact, Saudi Arabia has become to the Houthis what Israel has long been to Hezbollah.
For the Houthis, Saudi Arabia is an external aggressor, and likewise part of a U.S-Israeli plot to dominate the region.
But the story of the Houthis’ rise to power shows that they are motivated primarily by a domestic agenda, rather than a regional one. They enjoy strong and durable support in the Zaydi north. Escalating the war will not change that, even with greater U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition. If that were to happen anyway, the Houthis would readily accept additional Iranian military and financial support, which Iran may offer. For Iran, Yemen has been a cost-effective way of antagonizing Saudi Arabia, which has spent billions on Yemen’s war while Tehran has operated on a shoestring budget by comparison.
The Trump administration may view Yemen as an opportune area to demonstrate its resolve to counter Iranian assertiveness without triggering a larger war across the Middle East. I
Washington might thus see increased military support for the Saudi-led coalition and even direct strikes against Houthi assets in Yemen as a strong, low-cost message to Tehran.
Such a calculation might prove to be a serious mistake. While the Houthis are tied to Iran, Iran does not control their decision-making; according to multiple interviews with U.S. officials and the Houthis themselves, Houthi leaders flatly ignored Tehran when the latter advised them not to take Sanaa. Until now, Iran appears to have done just enough to antagonize and frighten the Saudis — thus ensuring that they are bogged down in Yemen’s quicksand, spending billions of dollars on a war they are nowhere close to winning.
If Trump rushes headfirst into the Yemeni war, there is a very real risk that the conflict will spiral out of control. Yemen would offer an easy place for Tehran to strike back at Saudi Arabia. This could seriously threaten Saudi Arabia’s internal stability.
Leaders of the Saudi-led coalition argue that they must continue the war because they cannot accept a Hezbollah-like entity on their border. If what they are referring to is a heavily armed and hostile nonstate militia on their border, that ship has sailed and the situation is only aggravated by continued war. But if the fear is an Iranian ally, they are only succeeding in pushing a group with a predominantly domestic agenda into Tehran’s arms.
The way to handle the Houthis is not to continue an unwinnable war. Instead, it is to push Yemeni parties back to the negotiating table – BY JOOST HILTERMANN, APRIL LONGLEY ALLEY
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/02/27/the-houthis-are-not-hezbollah/
28.2.2017 – Fox News (** B K P)
Warning to the Trump administration: Be careful about Yemen
The Trump administration is apparently considering expansion of U.S. engagement in Yemen, with the idea of helping Saudi Arabia win a two-year proxy battle against Iran. Supporting the Saudis would allow them to help the U.S. more in Syria while stripping Iran of a burgeoning Hezbollah-style proxy in Yemen, a strategic sliver of land along the Red Sea.
Or so the thinking goes. Unfortunately, it’s a bad idea based on Saudi hyperbole about the faction it is fighting in Yemen.
Giving more bullets and bombs to the Saudis will make things worse, rather than better, in Yemen, which is now facing a mammoth humanitarian crisis a la Syria.
Moreover, it is likely to drive Yemeni rebel factions even further under Iranian control, and enable the Saudis to continue to ignore a growing threat in Yemen from ISIS and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
The al Houthis, however, are not strong enough to become a Yemeni Hezbollah. They rely on Saleh to control areas outside their norther stronghold. The al Houthis do not control Saleh, who has a vast patronage network of loyalists in key positions of power.
Splitting the al Houthis from Saleh is possible, and would dramatically reduce their strength.
Iranian influence in Yemen has unquestionably grown as a result of the al Houthi coup, and Tehran is probably behind the al Houthis’ aggressive behavior in the Red Sea. Yet Iranian influence remains less than the Saudis claim.
As long as the Saudis cast the struggle in terms of a fight against Iranian proxies, al Qaeda and ISIS will have a strong base for recruitment, since they have presented themselves as protectors of the Sunni against Iran and other Shi’a factions in the Middle East.
Rather than give the Saudis a few high-profile military shipments, the U.S. should instead reshape the coalition’s strategy to engage the al Houthis directly.
American recognition of al Houthi grievances and support for an al Houthi role in a future Yemeni government would go a long way toward splitting the insurgents from Iran.
The U.S. should also refocus the Saudi coalition’s military operations to deprive AQAP of additional resources and limit the humanitarian toll that feeds AQAP’s narratives of grievance.
The smart U.S. choice is to shrink our problems in Yemen, not make them worse – by Katherine Zimmerman, research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/02/28/warning-to-trump-administration-be-careful-about-yemen.html = https://www.criticalthreats.org/analysis/warning-to-the-trump-administration-be-careful-about-yemen
And, a longer article by the same author:
24.2.2017 – Critical Threats (** B K P)
How the U.S. Should Re-Engage in Yemen
Hadi is not a good counterterrorism partner. He is not fighting AQAP or ISIS and, in fact, tacitly works with AQAP in some areas. He lacks legitimacy even among those Yemenis aligned with him against the al Houthis. The al Houthis are not an Iranian proxy as some claim.
Riyadh’s pursuit of a peace that excludes the al Houthis from any real participation in the future government drives them toward Tehran, however. The UN is pursuing a political agreement that will not endure. It is negotiating an elite settlement, openly under Riyadh’s influence, among power-brokers who do not actually command the loyalty of Yemenis on all sides. The UN’s answer ignores the fundamental grievances and local conflicts that generated the war in the first place. Backing these efforts will lead to failure.
Ending the war on acceptable terms for the U.S. requires guiding Saudi Arabia away from its goal of annihilating any specter of Iranian influence in Yemen by crushing the al Houthis. The U.S. must simultaneously pressure the al Houthis to accept a reasonable offer of negotiations and, ultimately, peace. America must push partners to focus on defeating AQAP and ISIS.
America’s counterterrorism partners in Yemen, Hadi and the Saudi-led coalition, perceive AQAP as the lesser enemy in Yemen, if an enemy at all, and have prioritized the defeat of the al Houthi-Saleh faction. The Saudi-led coalition tolerates AQAP’s presence on the battlefield, so long as the group fights against the al Houthi-Saleh forces.
The al Houthi movement cannot establish a Hezbollah-like state on Saudi Arabia’s southern border, despite Riyadh’s fears. The al Houthi leadership retains its independence from Iran and has pushed back on Tehran’s statements and offers repeatedly, a sign that a broader base demands this independence.
The U.S. must send two clear signals, therefore. First, that it recognizes al Houthi grievances and supports their role in a future Yemeni government. Second, that turning to Iran hurts rather than helps the al Houthis’ cause.
This approach runs counter to Riyadh’s current strategy, which seeks a complete defeat of the al Houthis and their near-total exclusion from power and influence. Such a solution will be unstable if it is even temporarily achievable.
The U.S. should therefore press the Saudis to drop the current requirements of UN Security Council Resolution 2216 that al Houthi forces disarm and withdraw from all seized territory before negotiations even begin. Those requirements are tantamount to a demand for unconditional al Houthi surrender. They will only prolong a conflict that is harming everyone. Offering the al Houthis—who represent a notable fraction of Yemen’s population—and Saleh, a hidden hand in Yemen’s war, the prospect of an acceptable political solution while continuing to press militarily and interdicting Iranian support is the best way to bring the conflict toward a satisfactory and stable solution.
Interacting insurgencies drive the war’s complexities in Yemen. AQAP and the al Houthis lead two of them. There is also a secessionist movement in the south and more local contests for authority. Policies to reduce a group’s influence by targeting its military strength or influence on the ground fall short of producing a stable end-state.
Resolving the national political conflict is not sufficient. The Yemeni civil war, now ensnared in the Iranian-Saudi war, extends down into local conflicts, too. The U.S. must start leading reconciliation efforts at the sub-state level to resolve local conflicts
Simply leaning in to the Yemen war by increasing U.S. military support to the Saudi-led coalition will only cause our partners to fail faster and take the U.S. down the wrong path – by Katherine Zimmerman
https://www.criticalthreats.org/analysis/how-us-should-re-engage-in-yemen
My comment: There are many right and reasonable ideas for a peace process here. But, also here, behind all this also the own US interests are coming up. Be honest, the US is not defended in the Red Sea but in the waters of the California, Florida and Hawaii coast. The US is warring party in Yemen. A long time ago, the US missed the boat for becoming a peace broker. Without the US interference and all-round support for Saudi Arabia, this war as it is now hardly had broken out – it was a Yemeni civil war before. All would have been much better if the US never would have interfered: No drone strikes, no arms supplies to any of the warring parties, no political support for the Saudi case, no technical and logistic support for a bombing war. The US should step aside. Others should care for a Yemen peace, taking up many of Zimmerman’s ideas.
27.2.2017 – Fair (** B H K P)
Downplaying US Contribution to Potential Yemen Famine
A recent UN report on the humanitarian crisis and near-famine conditions in Yemen (that encompassed South Sudan, Nigeria and Somalia as well) has led to a rare instance of Western media taking notice of the war and its catastrophic effect. But missing from most of these reports is the role of the United States and its ally Saudi Arabia—whose two-year-long siege and bombing have left the country in ruins.
A Daily News editorial (“USA for Africa (and Yemen),” 2/27/17) called on readers to give to aid organizations helping to alleviate the crisis, but neglected to mention the US/Saudi role in the humanitarian disaster the Daily News itself insisted was “caused by acts of man rather than God.” Which men were those? The Daily News doesn’t say.
Similarly, reports on the near-famine in Yemen in the Guardian (2/12/17), AP (2/21/17), CBS News (2/22/17) and Reuters (2/22/17) neglected to mention the US-backed, Saudi-led bombing and siege that caused the hunger crisis in the first place.
To the extent these stories cover the war in Yemen, they typically do so in a “cycle of violence” framing that gives the reader the impression the crisis is entirely domestic in origin. As FAIR has previously noted (10/14/16), while it’s common for American media to describe the Houthi-led provisional government as “Iranian-backed,” the role of Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies is less often highlighted, while the role of the United States (and Britain) in supporting the Saudi-led assault is frequently omitted entirely.
A separate Guardian editorial (2/23/17), while briefly mentioning the war was “fueled in part by British and US bombs” in the text of the article, insisted in the headline the UK was “sitting by” as “disaster unfolded.” The UK is, of course, not “sitting by.” The British government has provided £3.3 billion in arms sales—as well as logistical support, surveillance assistance and political cover—to the Saudi regime primarily responsible for the disaster in question. One notable exception was the New York Times (2/22/17), which expressly mentioned the US and Saudi role in the war in its report on the UN’s findings.
Over the past six months, the humanitarian crisis in Yemen—to say nothing of the US’s role in it—has been virtually nonexistent on cable and broadcast news. NBC News, Fox News and MSNBC have all neglected to cover the story. When it was covered on TV news, as with CNN (10/7/16) and ABC News (10/28/16) last October, the role of the United States in fueling the crisis was omitted altogether – by Adam Johnson
http://fair.org/home/downplaying-us-contribution-to-potential-yemen-famine/ = http://lobelog.com/downplaying-us-contribution-to-potential-yemen-famine/
28.2.2017 – Stratfor (** A P)
Yemen: President And Emirati Officials Fail To Mend Rift
Yemeni President Abd Rabboh Mansour Hadi met with Emirati officials Feb. 27 during an unannounced visit to Abu Dhabi to discuss tension between the two sides, BBC reported. U.S. diplomats attended the talks as well. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates lead the military coalition of Gulf Cooperation Council members fighting in support of Yemen's internationally recognized government, led by Hadi. The Feb. 27 talks followed reported clashes over the last few weeks between Hadi's presidential guard and the Aden airport protection forces, reportedly backed by Emirati-aligned commanders. By all accounts, Hadi's meeting did not go well and did not mend ties between Hadi and Emirati officials. The United Arab Emirates views Hadi as a barrier to their vision for optimal governance in Yemen, which focuses intently on securing the south by bolstering tribal alliances, with less regard for northern Yemen. Hadi and Saudi Arabia, by contrast, want to exert control over the entirety of the country.
https://www.stratfor.com/situation-report/yemen-president-and-emirati-officials-fail-mend-rift
and more:
1.3.2017 – Fars News (** A P)
Arab Media: Differences Soaring between S. Arabia, UAE over Yemen
A leading Arab daily underlined widening gaps between Saudi Arabia and the UAE on the threshold of the third year of war against Yemen.
Al-Rai al-Youm newspaper referred to the unprecedented visit by fugitive Yemeni president Mansour Hadi to Abu Dhabi, and wrote in its editorial page that while the trip was aimed at soothing the wrath of the Emirati officials and narrowing the gaps, most reports show that the effort failed.
The daily pointed to the low and inappropriate formalities extended to Mansour Hadi during his welcoming ceremony at the airport and the UAE officials' repeated excuses for turning down meetings with him, and said Abu Dhabi degraded Hadi's status to the level of a security official.
Also, according to the information released by the UAE media, Abu Dhabi has accused Mansour Hadi's son and a number of other Saudi-led commanders in Southern Yemen of surrendering certain parts of Abyan province to the al-Qaeda terrorist group, the Arab paper added.
Meantime, independent Yemeni sources told al-Rai that the disputes between the UAE and Hadi are just meant to derail attention from bigger differences between Abu Dhabi and Riyadh which might dissuade the UAE from continued membership in the Saudi-led coalition against Yemen.
A Yemeni intelligence source disclosed on Tuesday Saudi Arabia's attempts to reinvigorate al-Qaeda terrorist group in Abyan province through excessive arms shipments and aids. [more: here at cp14]
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951211000428
and see also:
28.2.2017 – Nasser Arrabyee (* B T)
UAE activist close to UAE leadership: Hadi is arming Qaeda/ISIS operatives loyal to him&his sons to wage war against UAE in south Yemen (texts in images, Arabic)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/836636404427948032 = https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/836626721700990977
15.9.2016 – Huffington Post (** B P)
WAHHABISM: THE IDEOLOGY OF HATE
We need to stop looking at Wahhabism through the restrictive “Iran v. Saudi Arabia” framework and examine Wahhabism for the ideology that it is.
Regardless of how anyone feels about Iran, Wahhabism is an immense threat to any chance of peace in the Muslim and non-Muslim world. It is an ideology that openly advocates for violence against minorities and any majority-member Sunni who opposes it. It is an ideology that arose with violence since day one. It is an ideology that is misogynistic, sectarian, takfiri, and violent.
Wahhabism is an ideology that tells women they’re intellectually challenged and morons. It tells women that they can’t drive, or they’d lose their virginity (I am yet to understand the “reasoning” behind that ridiculously overreaching claim). Wahhabism reduces women to sexual objects, and tends to blame rape victims for what happens to them. There are thousands of abused women due this Wahhabist ideology. These women’s husbands are taught that they deserve no empathy, no respect, and no equal treatment to the rest of society. As a woman, and especially as a Muslim one, I take offense with that. Islam was revolutionary in terms of women’s rights. Since the early days of Islam, women have been their own persons; they were never a man’s property. Instead, they owned property, as did Prophet Muhammad’s first wife, Khadija, who also was his employer and the one who “popped the question” (not him - how about that?). When Islam came along, it instantly banned the ancient tradition of female infanticide. Wahhabism, as a whole, undoes Prophet Muhammad’s feminist revolution and fundamental reforms.
It is worth noting that Wahhabism not only tells women that they are sub-human, but that non-Arabs are especially sub-human. Wahhabism prevents Arab women from mingling with Arab men lest they “fall in sin”, yet they can be left alone with their male South-Asian drivers. This double standard is based on a racist idea that South-Asian men are not “men” & no Arab woman would be attracted to them and fall in sin.
Wahhabism is an ideology that is openly takfiri. It takes the liberty of determining who is Muslim and who isn’t. Wahhabism’s favourite apostates are Shi’a, whose murder is openly pushed in sermons, speeches, and the like. It was only last week that Saudi Arabia’s top cleric referred to Iranian leaders, people, and Shi’a in general, as non-Muslims. He also referred to them as descendants of Zoroastrians. Ironically, natives of Saudi Arabia would be descendants of Arab pagans, while Zoroastrians were monotheistic.
I should point out another example of racism in Wahhabism. By referring to all Shi’a as Zoroastrians and Persians, Wahhabists deny Arab and Shi’a of other backgrounds (be they South Asian, African, European, Indonesian, First Nations, etc) their ethnic and national identities. It conflates them all with one nationality; one ethnicity; and one sense of loyalty – to the Republic of Iran. By doing so, Wahhabists have been successful in pitting Arab racists against Iraqi, Bahraini, Lebanese, and other Shi’a Arabs who have long, rich histories of strong patriotism and loyalty to their countries, especially during colonial rule. Arab racists who adhere to Wahhabism use the term “majoos” or “Zoroastrian” as an insult, because they view Iranians as lesser beings.
In addition to being racist, misogynistic, and sectarian against Shi’a, Wahhabism is also hateful in general. In public sermons, Wahhabist clerics have been documented (in both audio & video) as they cursed Shi’a, Christians, and Jews. Shi’a receive the greatest hate. One should point out that as Wahhabists see Shi’a Muslims as non-Muslims, they cannot back their hate for Christians and Jews with Quranic support, because the Quran clearly specifies Christians, Mandeans, and Jews as “people of the book”; monotheists who share the same core principles of faith.
It is worth noting that throughout his life, Prophet Muhammad explicitly fought racism.
To recap: Wahhabism is racist, misogynistic, sectarian, and hateful. Let’s stop pretending that it isn’t. – by
Ruba Ali Al-Hassani
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wahhabism-the-ideology-of-hate_us_57da37e6e4b04fa361d99306
cp2 Allgemein / General
1.3.2017 – Gulf News (* A K P)
Expanding naval presence in the Red Sea
UAE and Saudi Arabia are working in the waters between Africa and Asia to counter any possible Iranian threat from north Yemen
The UAE is establishing two naval bases in the Red Sea in Somaliland’s Berbera and Eritrea’s Assab at the same time that Saudi Arabia is boosting its naval presence in the south Red Sea with a naval base in Djibouti. A few years ago, such a forceful presence would have been to combat Somali pirates, but today the threat is from a burgeoning Iranian presence in north Yemen, where Iran is backing Al Houthi rebels against the Yemeni government backed by the Saudi-led coalition in which the UAE plays a vigorous part.
On February 12, the parliament of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland agreed to allow the UAE to set up a military base in Berbera. The scale of what is planned is unclear, but the UAE is already constructing an air and naval base in Eritrea at the Red Sea port of Assab under a 2015 agreement, from which it has already mounted operations in the Yemen, 60km to the east across the Red Sea.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is finalising an agreement for a base in Djibouti with the government of the former French territory, with which Riyadh signed a security pact in 2016. Djibouti has the added advantage of being a member of the Arab League and of the 34-state Saudi-led anti-Iranian “Islamic coalition” announced in December 2015.
BBC analyst Tomi Olipadio has pointed out that in Somaliland, the UAE has an alternative and less controversial location than its base in Eritrea, which is under United Nations sanctions. The BBC reports that the UAE will also provide much-needed training and equipment for Somaliland forces, as the unrecognised but de facto nation steadily expands its authority and ability to offer its people stable government – by Francis Matthew
http://gulfnews.com/opinion/editorials/expanding-naval-presence-in-the-red-sea-1.1986734
My comment: And even more, the anti-Iranian propaganda tune is played also as a reason for this Saudi / UAE expansion in the Red Sea. Let us keep in mind: It actually was the Saudi naval presence in the Red Sea, shelling the Yemeni coastline, and the Saudi bombings of boats in the Red Sea which caused a threat to naval security there, of course inducing the Yemeni side to hit back. – Interesting: This Gulf media has the possibility to vote whether you agree or disagree with this article. I disagreed, a total of 67 % disagree, only 33 % agree.
1.3.2017 – Peace Direct (* A K)
Peacewatch: Yemen, March 2017
The war in Yemen is now almost two years old. With no sign of it coming to an end, Peace Direct’s Local Peacebuilding Expert in the country provides their latest update on key aspects of the conflict.
No end to the fighting
Airstrikes and clashes between the warring parties continued in most areas. Clashes and tensions continued in Marib, Taiz, Aden, Al Jouf, Lahij, Saadah, Hajjah, Hodeidah, Sana’a, and Dhamar governorates. Hostile exchanges in urban and rural areas are expected to escalate.
In the most recently opened front, from Dhubab to Mukha City, the clashes and the Saudi-led coalition airstrikes have forced thousands of civilians to flee the area. Aerial bombardment of roads and bridges continues, especially in Al Hodeidah governorate. Al Hodeidah port was also targeted. Humanitarian ships and supplies were forced to redirect, putting the Yemeni food market at greater risk. This situation, in addition to price increases, a fuel shortage and public sector salary crisis, means that famine is becoming a realistic possibility.
Peace efforts: going nowhere?
A meeting of the Yemen ‘Quartet’ (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States) was held on February 16 on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting in Bonn, Germany. The acting spokesperson for the US Department of State, Mark Toner, said that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with his counterparts from the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, in addition to the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed. The meeting “explored the current situation in Yemen and how the international community can work together to strengthen cooperation to resolve the conflict.” According to the State Department, the US continues “to support the UN-led process and the work of the UN Special Envoy,” and noted “The urgent need for the delivery of humanitarian assistance throughout the country.”
Prisoner swaps
In the first week of February, a prisoner exchange took place between Saudi-backed Yemeni troops and Houthi forces in Dhamar and Sana’a governorates. One of the mediators said that 58 Houthis captured in Al Jouf governorate were released in exchange for 54 prisoners from the other side. The swap, which was the outcome of a tribal mediation and negotiation process, took place in Al Qaniyah area on the border between Marib and al Biadha’a governorate in the middle of the country.
The chairman of the Prisoners and Abductees Coordinating Body, Abdullah Al Khadhami, said that the effort was initiated by prisoners themselves. He added that there have been other successful exchanges, with 127 prisoners released in different waves of swaps.
Since the outbreak of the conflict in Yemen in March 2015, limited prisoner exchanges have been carried out. There have been some swaps between the southern Hirak forces and Ansar Allah (Houthi) troops. Houthi forces have from time to time announced the unilateral release of hundreds of prisoners.
In one case, in Taiz governorate, 194 prisoners from both sides were released after tribal mediation.
https://www.insightonconflict.org/blog/2017/03/peacewatch-yemen-march-2017/ = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/peacewatch-yemen-march-2017
27.2.2017 – Unauthorized disclosure (unrated B K)
Audio: S4: Episode 6 - Ben Norton
Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Ben Norton, a journalist for AlterNet's "Grayzone Project." Norton provides a brief overview of the terribly under-covered and mostly ignored war in Yemen as well as recent developments involving a CIA-backed warlord in Libya. He sticks around for the latter part of the show, when Khalek and Gosztola discuss the election of Tom Perez to Democratic National Committee chair.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/unauthorized-disclosure/id824470090?mt=2&i=1000381948385 and http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/?id=824470090
28.2.2017 – Saba Net (A P)
Humanitarian activists to launch tweet campaign to break Saudi economic blockade on Yemen
Social and humanitarian activities in Yemen and across the world will launch Wednesday night a large campaign on Twitter in a bid to break all-out economic blockade imposed on the Yemeni people.
The campaign is due to be kicked off at 8:00 pm on the social media Twitter.
The air, sea and land blockade imposed by Saudi regime against the Yemeni people since two years, bringing nearly 27 million Yemenis near to famine.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457670.htm
Remark: There is another tweetstorm by anti-Houthi activists at the same time: https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-4512 which I think must be classified as propaganda, although of course Houthis are committing various crimes. Look at cp15.
28.2.2017 – Kuwait News Agency (A H P)
Yemen thanks Kuwait for medical assistance
Yemeni Minister of Local Administration Abdulraqeeb Fath on Tuesday commended the huge support provided by Kuwait in different domains, particularly medical care.
Fateh, also Chairman of the Higher Relief Committee, thanked Kuwait Patients Helping Society (KPHS) for providing medical equipment and care for the Yemeni people.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2594165&language=en = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-thanks-kuwait-medical-assistance
My comment: “Yemen” is only the Hadi government. I classified this as “propaganda”, as just a few days it had been reported that meanwhile Kuwait alone had flown 3000 air raids against Yemen. And this propaganda naarative is widely exploited by Kuewait, as by the other main actors of the Saudi coalition boming Yemen, Kuwait again: http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2594368&language=en = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/kuwaiti-campaign-offers-further-aid-displaced-yemenis
28.2.2017 – ORF (A H K P)
Jemen: UNO-Helfer wird Zugang in Kampfgebieten verwehrt
Auf seiner Reise durch das Bürgerkriegsland Jemen ist UNO-Nothilfekoordinator Stephen O’Brien eigenen Angaben zufolge der Zugang zu Kampfgebieten verwehrt worden. „Trotz der Zusicherungen aller Parteien wurde uns heute der Zutritt zur Front zwischen Ibb und Tais verwehrt“, schrieb O’Brien auf Twitter.
http://orf.at/stories/2381407/
28.2.2017 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (* A H K P)
OCHA Note to correspondents, Tuesday 28 February
Despite having received assurance of safe passage by all parties for all stages of the mission into Taizz city, Mr. O’Brien’s convoy was denied passage at the final checkpoint before crossing the frontline coming from Ibb to Taizz city.
After being denied access, the convoy returned to safer ground to continue negotiating access with the authorities controlling the final checkpoint, but to no avail.
Mr. O’Brien was extremely disappointed that humanitarian efforts to reach people in need were once again thwarted by parties to a conflict, especially at a time when millions of Yemenis are severely food insecure and face the risk of famine. He remains deeply concerned about the terrible plight and extent of severe humanitarian need in Taiz and Yemen and is determined to stay focused on his mission to advocate for the people affected in Yemen, to marshal the resources necessary to provide life-saving assistance and protection, and to remind parties to the conflict of their responsibility to respect humanitarian and international humanitarian law, including the provision of timely, full and unimpeded humanitarian access.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/ocha-note-correspondents-tuesday-28-february
28.2.2017 – AFP (* A K P)
UN aid chief “denied passage” to Yemen’s Taez
UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien was "denied passage" on Tuesday to Yemen's third largest city Taez where government loyalists are besieged by Shiite Huthi rebels, a UN statement said.
A local official told AFP earlier that O'Brien was stopped at a rebel checkpoint in Hizran, 15 kilometres (nine miles) northwest of Taez, while the government-run news agency Saba accused Huthi rebel forces of opening fire at his convoy.
In a statement carried by Saba, the government said the rebels blocked O'Brien's access to Taez to "prevent the truth about the situation in the city, including a suffocating siege... from reaching the world".
http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/un-aid-chief-denied-passage-to-yemen-s-taez/article/486850 and an earlier report by AFP: http://www.france24.com/en/20170228-shelling-blocks-un-aid-chief-visit-yemens-taez and by The National UAE: http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/in-setback-for-humanitarian-work-yemen-houthis-stop-un-aid-chief-from-entering-taez-city
But the Sanaa government denied :
1.3.2017 – Saba Net (A H K P)
Foreign Ministry denies Saudi-paid media reports about blocking UN official in Taiz
A Foreign Ministry official denied Saudi-paid media reports about blocking UN official from accessing Taiz city, in a statement received by Saba late on Tuesday.
The official described the reports as baseless, making it clear that the Saudi-paid mercenaries themselves hampered part of the UN official visiting program when he headed to the city's entrance through Hoban area.
The official said mercenaries backed by terrorist militants opened fire at the UN official to block his convoy's route from moving.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457653.htm
Remark: By Saada government. Houthi-run Al Masirah TV showing a film: “Visit of the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Stephen O'Brien and UN delegation to Taiz” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjOjtJunCXA
and O’Brien met with the Sanaa (Houthi / Saleh government’s) Taiz governor:
1.3.2017 – Saba Net (A H P)
Taiz governor meets UN official for humanitarian affairs
Taiz governor Abdu Mohammed al-Janadi met Under Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien to discuss humanitarian situations in the province of Taiz.
In the meeting which took place on Tuesday, the governor reviewed the difficult humanitarian situations Taiz faced, particularly the internal displaced people, due to the Saudi barbaric aggression against Yemen.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457650.htm
My comment: Where did they meet? I would think the place to meet a Taiz governor is Taiz.
28.2.2017 – CAAT Blog (A K P)
“The situation in Yemen is catastrophic. We must act”
Journalists within Saudi often face persecution- but two Saudi nationals based in the UK have started a new media channel, with the aim of “building bridges between the people of Arabia and the people around the world”. Their first post to inaugurate the channel is a report on a recent meeting on arms sales to Saudi in Bolton.
You can watch their video report of the event below, and follow them on twitter @Mngro_com
Here, they explain why they’re taking action as part of the Stop Arming Saudi campaign:
“Coming from Saudi Arabia, my friend and I are so happy to support the Campaign Against the Arms Trade. It is away to show our solidarity with you. Also, we are in solidarity with the people of Yemen. We are against the Saudi war on Yemen.”
https://blog.caat.org.uk/2017/02/28/the-situation-in-yemen-is-catastrophic-we-must-act/ and the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnVxuOjGnG4
28.2.2017 – Al Sahwa (A P)
Yemen asks countries not to deal with passports issued by Houthis
Yemeni government sources have revealed that the Yemeni Authority of Immigration and Passport issued a circular to all countries not to deal with any passports which are issued by the putschists in Sana'a from the date of January 2016.
The sources affirmed that some Yemenis started to face problems in some countries including Malaysia, Djibouti and Egypt after the circular was sent to some states.
They spelt out that 68 Yemenis complained to the Yemeni Ambassador to Malaysia that the American Embassy refused to deal with their passports under the pretext that it has a circular of the Yemeni government not to deal with passports issued by the putschists in Sana'a.
Militias of the Houthis and Saleh in Sana'a randomly issued thousands of passports including diplomatic passports and used passports in trafficking.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-4485
My comment: “Yemen” is nothing more than the Hadi government.
27.2.2017 – Shadowproof (* B K P)
‘UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE’ WEEKLY PODCAST – GUEST: BEN NORTON
Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Ben Norton, a journalist for AlterNet’s “Grayzone Project.”
Norton provides a brief overview of the terribly under-covered and mostly ignored war in Yemen. He talks about recent developments involving a CIA-backed warlord in Libya, who banned women under 60 years-old from travel. He sticks around for the latter part of the show to discuss the election of Tom Perez to Democratic National Committee chair with Khalek and Gosztola.
“This to me is actually one of the worst scandals of all. Throughout the presidential campaign, there was literally no discussion of Yemen,” Norton contends.
He adds, “Looking at the role of the U.S. in Yemen and how this conflict really could not have continued were it not for staunch U.S. support from the very beginning I think really is beyond concerning.”
“The forces that understand what’s happening the best are the far right, and that really troubles me because they’re the ones who see themselves as revolutionaries,” Norton argues during discussion about Democratic Party politics (audio)
https://shadowproof.com/2017/02/27/unauthorized-disclosure-podcast-ben-norton/ and audio also here: https://secure-hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/8/9/1/89138bb8f9d31133/S4E6.mp3?c_id=14331540&expiration=1488268630&hwt=9fec93122bf4e17f3e6307655bca21b4
27.2.2017 – South Front (A K)
Karte: MILITÄRISCHE LAGE IM JEMEN AM 27. FEBRUAR 2017 (KARTENAKTUALISIERUNG)
Map: MILITARY SITUATION IN YEMEN ON FEBRUARY 27, 2017 (MAP UPDATE)
https://southfront.org/military-situation-yemen-february-27-2017-map-update/ and https://de.southfront.org/militarische-lage-im-jemen-am-27-februar-2017-kartenaktualisierung/
27.2.2017 – Sputnik News (A K P)
Truce, National Unity Gov't Necessary to Settle Yemeni Conflict - Ex-President
The ceasefire regime in Yemen as well as the establishment of a special body with representation of the main warring parties are on the list of conditions needed to settle of the ongoing conflict in the country, former President of South Yemen Ali Nasir Muhammad said Monday.
He added that all the armed groups in Yemen should lay down their arms, while a presidential council with representation of both southern and northern parts of the country should be established.
"First of all, it is necessary to reach a ceasefire, secondly it is necessary to form political and military commissions to monitor the ceasefire. It is necessary to create a government of national unity, which would express interests of all sides and would get approval from regional and international forces," Muhammad said a conference on Middle East organized by the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow.
According to the former president, the government should include "representatives of all political forces, including the Houthi rebels."
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201702271051091378-truce-unity-yemen-conflict/ and Nasir praising Russia: https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201702281051098119-russia-middle-east-peace/
Remark: For explanation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Nasir_Muhammad , very negative in German Wikipedia, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Nasir_Muhammad but stated not to be objective and change needed: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diskussion:Ali_Nasir_Muhammad
27.2.2017 – Press TV Iran (* B K)
World must address Saudi war crimes in Yemen urgently
Massoud Shadjareh, head of the Islamic Human Rights Commission in London, believes Saudi Arabia’s war crimes in Yemen need to be addressed urgently, adding that the world must raise its voice and take concrete action before it is too late.
“It really is outrageous and it is a war crime. It is difficult to even find right words to describe this deliberately created sort of phenomenon that ordinary people are deprived of food and medicine and deliberately this has been done by the Saudis and their allies – the Americans, the French and the Brits - in putting pressure on ordinary innocent civilians,” the activist told Press TV in an interview on Monday.
He also stated the fact that the United Nations has kept silence is another “outrageous aspect”, arguing that it should think about the lives and the well-being of the innocent Yemeni people who are dying on a daily basis rather than a few dollars that Saudi Arabia is going to pay to the world body.
The United Nations has already said that Yemen is facing a huge crisis, he said, but Saudi Arabia is still continuing its war crimes in an open way because of West’s support.
Shadjareh further opined that the West needs to rethink its decision to support this “madness” and “barbaric behavior”, arguing that Saudi Arabia should be pulled back and the Yemeni people must get their basic rights.
According to the activist, there is nothing left in Yemen to bomb anymore, asserting that what Saudi Arabia has done in Yemen is “the crime of the century”. (with film: interview)
27.2.2017 – Saba Net (* A P)
FM warns Saudi regime, its mercenaries of Yemenis' impatience
Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf warned on Monday a Saudi regime and its mercenaries of the impatience of the Yemeni people due to their negatively involvement of Yemen's economy, particularly employees' salaries as it a paper war or a tool against the Yemenis to kneel them over two years.
The foreign minister said at a press conference held on Monday in Sana'a, who reviewed the latest economic, humanitarian, political and military developments in the country, that for a month the aggression's warships wouldn't dare to come near to off the coast of Yemen, stressing any access to Yemen's coasts would bring the aggression forces only the remorse.
He explained the circumstances of the UN resolution that putting Yemen under Chapter VII and approving sanctions on Yemen's national figures, noting that these decisions were taken in 2013 based on the wishes and conspiracy of Hadi and his group against Yemen, who summoned the UN Security Council that being convened in Sana'a, and therefore couldn't absolutely accept the inclusion of this rejected resolution within the current files of the aggression against Yemen in any way or at anyhow.
The vision of the national salvation government is to end the aggression and to engage in a Yemen-Saudi direct negotiations, the minister said.
He confirmed that negotiations would be summed up stopping the raids and withdraw from all land by the occupying foreign forces as well as all mercenaries and terrorists out of the territory of Yemen, after that the army and popular forces would stop targeting the Saudi territory, In addition, canceling the sanctions resolution and get out Yemen of the Chapter VII and opening Sana'a airport before the international navigation.
He mocked the allegations that are being promoted by the media of the aggression and its mercenaries that the Saudi regime would provide $ 10 billion for reconstruction in Yemen. The minister said that those amount does not even equal 5 percent of the what the Saudi aggression destroys Yemen in all fields.
He pointed out that till September 2016 the destruction amounted to and exceed more than $ 180 billion in an initial statistical losses of 40 years of development, reconstruction and development plans.
Foreign Minister denied that the Yemeni people had formed threats to international navigation on the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab, at the same time, the minister said that the Yemeni people has the right to self-defense and defend for their legal rights for any attacks against the country.
He pointed out that the Supreme Political Council and the Government of National Salvation demanded many times from countries that have had a supervisory role in the international routes of the Red Sea to monitor and to identify any threat faced by international shipping vessels.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457513.htm
Remark: Sanaa government.
27.2.2017 – Neues Deutschland (nicht bewertet B K)
Krieg und Schattenkrieg in Jemen
Kämpfe, Anschläge und fast unbemerkt kolumbianische Söldner gegen Al Qaida und den IS
In New York tagte am Donnerstag gerade der Weltsicherheitsrat, als in Jemen bei Angriffen der saudischen Luftwaffe mindestens 40 Menschen ums Leben kamen, fünf Menschen bei einem Anschlag in Aden starben, während mindestens sieben Millionen Einwohner an akuter Unterernährung leiden. Dem Land drohe die größte Nahrungsmittelkrise der Welt, warnte NO-Nothilfekoordinator Stephen O’Brien. Seit Monaten fordern Hilfsorganisationen, Saudi-Arabien müsse die Grenze zu den am stärksten gefährdeten Gebieten in Nordjemen für Hilfstransporte öffnen, die Konfliktparteien sollen sichere Wege für die Konvois garantieren. Doch passiert ist das nicht.
Der Weltsicherheitsrat verlängerte eine Resolution um ein Jahr, mit der ein Finanz- und Waffenembargo gegen die Huthi-Milizen und deren Führungsmitglieder sowie Ex-Präsident Ali Abdullah Saleh verhängt bleibt. Erklärt wird, man sei »zutiefst erschüttert« über die humanitäre Krise und die Behinderungen bei de... – von Oliver Eberhardt (nur für Abonnenten)
https://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/1043119.krieg-und-schattenkrieg-in-jemen.html
27.2.2017 – Middle East Eye (* B H K)
'No one wants to fight at this age': Yemen's old soldiers battle into their dotage
Fathers often bury their sons in times of war. In Yemen they are fighting into their 50s and 60s, with no end in sight
This is not Mohammed's first war, nor his second. Mohammed is a veteran of three conflicts in Yemen, stretching over 30 years. Now in his 50s, this weather-beaten soldier has, like many his age, been dragged back into war as a member of the Popular Resistance, fighting on the side of exiled President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.
"No one wants to fight at this age, but I am a soldier and that is my task," he told Middle East Eye, resting his arms on the ammunition belt slung across his midriff.
"Many of my comrades were promoted or have retired. I have no education, and no options. I depend on my salary for my eight family members.
"I want to retire, but the war needs everyone."
He joined the national army as a fresh-faced recruit in 1982.
And no country would send its senior citizens to battle unless, perhaps, it was facing total defeat.
For Mohammed and his commanders, his advancing years are a mere detail.
"The old fighters also have experience, and they advise the new recruits. This is one of our duties," he said.
Indeed, a leader of the Popular Resistance in Taiz province told MEE that he needs old fighters as advisers
Other motivations inspire the old to take up arms. Adburrab Aqlan, a Salafi fighter in his 60s, considers resistance to the Houthis to be a religious task.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/taiz-old-fighters-yemen-445503599
26.2.2017 – Global Research (* B K P)
Invasion of Yemen in Blatant Derogation of International Law: Extensive War Crimes Committed
The coalition claims that the reason of its attack to Yemen was the letter which has been written by Hadi, after his abdication, requesting the UN and Saudi Arabia to intervene in Yemen by land force. On the other hand, the coalition forces, in their letter to the UN, claimed that the Houthis seek for hegemony on Yemen, using this country as a base to affect the region. Therefore, they claimed, the threat of Houthis is not only against the security, stability, and sovereignty of Yemen, but also against the peace and security of the region as well as international community. Pondering on the letter, it could be inferred that the coalition is not worried about the people of Yemen, but they are deeply scared of the impact of some other countries on Yemen. In fact, Saudi Arabia is deeply anxious about Yemen to be out of Saudi’s control, which was continuous for consecutive decades.
Prohibition of the use of force is one of the basic principles on which international law has been founded. According to Article 2(4) of the Charter of the UN, all members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.
According to The Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States adopted by the General Assembly on 24 October 1970 (resolution 2625 (XXV)), “A war of aggression constitutes a crime against the peace, for which there is responsibility under international law.”
According to the declaration, “States have the duty to refrain from propaganda for wars of aggression … [and] every State has the duty to refrain from the threat or use of force to violate the existing international boundaries of another State.” Although the declaration is not legally bounding, it is an important reliable document for the interpretation of the relevant rules of the UN charter. Therefore, the use of force for furthering national policy as well as interference in internal affairs of other countries, create the infringement of basic principles of international law.
The prohibition of the use of force has some exceptions, including self-defence and collective security system, which are not enforceable on the case of Yemen. No armed attack had been occurred by Yemen against the members of the coalition. Although the security council in its resolutions number 2201 and 2216 has considered Hadi as president of Yemen and referred to his letter in which he had requested help from the Arab League, the reliability of the resolutions, because of their being against ius cogens, ought to be regarded with suspicion. Many defenceless civilian Yemeni people were killed by the recurrent air strikes of the coalition which attacked them indiscriminately.
Although it has been claimed that the invasion has taken place based on the letter of Yemeni’s president, in should be said that Hadi was not the president of Yemen at the time of the letter.
To sum up, considering the rules of international law, it seems that the military operation of the coalition against Yemen is in contrast to international law; because of the fact that it was not an occupation by another state, such as Kuwait in 1990, and it was not a military coup, in contrast to the claims of Hadi, in Yemen. The Yemeni people would like to overthrow Hadi; but he supressed them with ultimate cruelty; for example, in the bloody Friday of 8 March 2011, more than 50 people were killed and 240 were wounded. Instead of listening to the demands of the downtrodden people of Yemen, the government of Hadi tried to suppress them violently; and it was condemned several times by international organisations, such as amnesty international and the UN. Now the breach of the sovereignty of Yemen and its territorial integrity is against the goals and purposes of the UN Charter. Being against humanitarian international law, it not does not help to create peace and security in the region; but it helps the terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda to grow up – by Dr. Amir A. Amirshekari, PhD in International Law (University of Tehran, Iran), Advocate (Iran Bar Association)
My comment: The background why Hadi no more was president when requiring Saudi support in March 2015 is a different one than stated by the author. – The author is simply right – that does not depend whether he is from Iran or not.
26.2.2017 – Fars News (* A K P)
Saudi Arabia Asks for $10bln in Aid from Kuwait to Continue War in Yemen
Documents leaked by Arab military sources disclosed that the Saudi regime has gone bankrupt as a result of the war on Yemen, and asked for huge amount of cash from Kuwait.
"Saudi King Salman in a letter to Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has asked for a sum of $10 billion in aid to go on with the war on Yemen," documents provided to the Arabic-language al-Massira television by Yemeni military sources revealed.
"Had the situation not been difficult and intolerable, Saudi Arabia would not have asked for financial assistance (from Kuwait)," said one of the documents that is a letter written by the Saudi king to the Kuwaiti emir.
The leaked documents also show fierce internal conflicts among the Saudi-backed militias over Saudi Arabia's cut-off financial support for these groups of militants that has, in turn, resulted from the Kingdom's bankruptcy.
The documents also revealed that the rift between former fugitive President Mansour Hadi and the Saudi Army commander in Aden Brigadier General Abu Saqar has grown so wide that Hadi has now been forced to ask for the permission of the Saudi-led army officers before taking any decision or move inside Aden.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951208001127 = http://newnewss.net/?p=3080
My comment: This sounds quite dubious. Why ever Kuwait should pay for that??
25.2.2017 – Press TV Iran (* B H K P)
Film: 7 killed in fresh airstrikes in Yemen
Hussain Albukhaiti interviewed in Iranian TV on the war in Yemen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKjemo8Ti0o
4.7.2015 – El Diario (A P)
[Spanish media: #Yemen is the 4 th country Arabic in which Saudi Arabia acts militarily in less than 3 years.]
El caos como apuesta para el nuevo Oriente Medio
Arabia Saudí emplea armas estadounidenses en sus intervenciones en países... también árabes.
Es el caso de Arabia Saudí, aliado de Estados Unidos desde hace décadas. La monarquía absolutista de Riad no ha dudado en extender sus tentáculos en Siria, Irak, Egipto o Yemen, con el objetivo de aplastar revueltas, controlar gobiernos y marcar influencia, sin importarle para ello apoyar a grupos fundamentalistas y distribuir armas entre combatientes radicales.
¿A quién beneficia lo que ocurre?, es la pregunta que debemos hacernos en cualquier análisis de una realidad. ¿A quién beneficia la radicalización y el yihadismo en Oriente Medio? A las dictaduras árabes –by Olga Rodríguez
http://www.eldiario.es/zonacritica/caos-apuesta-nuevo-Oriente-Medio_6_374872522.html
7.2.2017 – Photojournalism (* B K)
A selection of pictures shedding light on the conflict between Iran-allied Houthis against a Saudi-led Sunni Arab coalition. Main contributors @hani_mohamd and Khaled Abdullah. Cover image by @hani_mohamd
http://www.photojournalink.com/collections/war-in-yemen/ and continued at https://twitter.com/i/moments/829100813519839233
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
Siehe / Look at cp1
2017 – ITV (* A H)
Film: Yemen’s people are starving
https://twitter.com/_ju1_/status/835947686440357888
28.2.2017 – World Food Programme (* A E H)
Yemen - Shipping Update (27 February 2017)
Al Hudaydah Port:
8 vessels operational at port quaysides (all commercial)
2 vessels at anchorage (one commercial + WFP charter vessel MV Daytona Beach)
11 vessels expected to call (all commercial)
Al Saleef Port:
2 vessels operational at port quaysides (all commercial)
2 vessels at anchorage (all commercial)
2 vessels expected to call at Al Saleef Port (all commercial)
Ras Issa (oil terminal in Red Sea):
1 vessel operational at port quaysides (all commercial)
0 vessel at anchorage
**0v vessel expected to call at Ras Issa
Aden:
7 vessels operational at port quaysides (six commercial + WFP charter vessel VOS Apollo)
6 vessels at anchorage (all commercial)
6 vessels expected to call at Aden Port (all commercial)
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-shipping-update-27-february-2017 and in full: http://www.logcluster.org/document/wfp-yemen-port-situation-update-27-february-2017 = http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/wfp_port_situation_27_february_2017.pdf
28.2.2017 – Living in Yemen on the edge (A H)
School becomes a privilege during a war.
In the meantime, you help your family making ends meet selling sesame sweets.
War hurts on so many levels (photo)
28.2.2017 – International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies (* A H)
Yemen: Flash floods DREF Operation no MDRYE005 final report
On 13 and 14 April, 2016, heavy rainfall caused heavy flooding that swept across various governorates in Yemen killing at least 20 people and affecting more than 4,250 families (29,750 people) in six governorates (Hodeidah, Amran, Hajjah, Sana'a, Abyan, Al Mahwit, and Marib). The floods caused severe damage to vital infrastructure, property, livestock and crops. Security officials reported that small dams have also collapsed as a result including two in Hajjah and Amran governorates. The affected people were in urgent need for shelter, food, non-food items (NFIs), water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH), and health assistance. The most affected governorates were Abyan, Amran, Hajjah, and Hodeidah.
In Amran governorate the two districts of Amran and Jabal Yazid were severely affected. It was estimated that more than 800 families in Amran district, and 220 families in Jabal Yazid district were left without shelter as a result of the destruction of their houses by the floods. There was widespread destruction of both asphalt and dirt roads, cutting off thousands of people, drowning of livestock including cattle and chicken, spread of garbage all over the flooded areas and contaminating water sources.
A needs assessment and registration of the affected families was conducted.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-flash-floods-dref-operation-no-mdrye005-final-report and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/MDRYE005dfr.pdf
27.2.2017 – AFP (* A H)
Yemen faces 'serious risk of famine': UN
UN humanitarian aid chief Stephen O'Brien warned Monday in Yemen that the war-torn and impoverished country faces "serious risk of famine" unless international donors step up their response.
The under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, speaking in the southern city of Aden where he met President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, also urged both sides in Yemen's two-year-old war to grant humanitarian access to the conflict zones.
"We now face a serious risk of famine if the international community doesn't step up with funding and respond and the parties in the conflict continue to restrict humanitarian access," said O'Brien, who flew in on Sunday.
He told a news conference that 19 million of Yemen's 26-million population now needed humanitarian aid, and "seven million Yemenis don't know where their next meal is coming from".
The United Nations has called for $2.1 billion in humanitarian aid for Yemen, where UN mediation and seven ceasefire accords have failed to end a conflict that O'Brien said has cost more than 7,500 lives and left 40,000 people wounded.
O'Brien, who was to meet later in Sanaa with Shiite Huthi rebels who control the capital, appealed for the warring parties "to facilitate commercial imports of food, fuel and medicine from all ports and a resumption of commercial flights" to import-dependent Yemen.
http://www.france24.com/en/20170227-yemen-faces-serious-risk-famine-un
My comment: Repeated so often by those who know it, what really happens: Nothing.
28.2.2017 – Deutsche Welle (*A H)
UN aid chief blocked at checkpoint in Yemen as food deliveries held up
The United Nations has blamed both sides in the Yemen conflict for violence that has made food deliveries all but impossible across hard-hit areas. It also condemned the recruitment of child soldiers
The United Nations accuses both sides of restricting access to the country's ports, which is limiting the supplies of food, fuel and medicine. O'Brien urged international donors to increase their aid. He said that Yemenis needed to ensure that foreign aid could reach the people now facing severe food shortages.
More than 2 million children are among those described as acutely malnourished. That includes 460,000 children under the age of five who are at risk of dying from pneumonia or diarrhea.
"The international community needs to step up its funding and the parties to the conflict need to continue providing humanitarian access," O'Brien told reporters at the government's base in Aden late on Monday. "This also means access to the ports so that the needed imports can enter Yemen," he said.
[and more background reporting on UN in Yemen]
My comment: It’s nonsense that both sides have been blamed to block Yemeni ports. It’s just the Saudis who are doing so, and concerning this point, actually only the Saudis can be meant. This clearly can be objected to the UN: in many cases of definite Saudi war crimes they are not mentioned directly, but vague “all sides of the conflict” or similar are asked to stop criminal actions. This is disgusting.
And O’Brien’s statement:
27.2.2017 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (* A H)
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien Remarks to the Media Aden, Yemen, 27 February 2017
Since the war began almost two years ago, health facilities report more than 7,500 people killed and more than 40,000 people injured. We know this is an underreporting, however, given the dilapidated state of the health system and health facilities across the country and their inability to accurately report the real numbers. Today, almost 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance. Seven million people don’t know where their next meal is coming from and we now face a serious risk of famine. The international community needs to step up its funding and the parties to the conflict need to continue providing humanitarian access; this also means access to the ports so that the needed imports can enter Yemen.
In Aden and the surrounding governorates, 3.1 million people need humanitarian assistance, two thirds of whom are in desperate need of food.
Yesterday, I saw with my own eyes the destruction of the war and the impact on the people living in Aden. I saw what is left of the maternity hospital; the ruins left behind by fighting, but also saw that some rehabilitation to the facility has taken place. I was especially pleased to know that two babies – a boy and a girl - were born while I was there. They are Yemen’s hope and future.
I met with families in the Qateea’a neighborhood affected by the fighting in Aden. I also met with displaced people in the Abdoghanem school, where people who sought refuge from Abyan more than two years ago now live with people recently displaced from the conflict in Taizz Governorate, in squalid conditions. All of these vulnerable people – and all people in need across Yemen - deserve our help, support, and assistance.
In response to the immense humanitarian challenge, the United Nations and its partners are responding across all governorates in Yemen.
Approximately two million persons across the Aden Hub – serving Aden, Abyan, Lahj, Dhalea,
Shabwa and Hadramout governorates - were provided with some form of humanitarian assistance in 2016. We are now also reinforcing the hub with more permanent UN staff.
I continue to be impressed by the resourcefulness of the Yemeni people. Even before the conflict escalated in March 2015 people in Yemen faced enormous levels of humanitarian needs stemming from years of poverty, under-development, environmental decline, intermittent conflict, unpunished corruption, weak rule of law, and rampant human rights violations. While their community-level social safety nets were well established and were strong, the past two years of increased conflict have reduced their capacity to withstand the economic collapse and security threats the conflict has brought to their lives.
We are here to help and provide neutral, impartial life-saving assistance to all people in need, regardless of where they are in Yemen.
Lastly, let me stress that there are no military solutions to this conflict. With fighting continuing and international humanitarian and human rights law not respected, it is the ordinary men, women, boys and girls who suffer. The parties to the conflict must come together and find a political solution. Only peace can provide a lasting solution to this unfolding humanitarian crisis.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/under-secretary-general-humanitarian-affairs-and-emergency-relief-coordinator-13 and http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/ERC_USG%20Stephen%20O%27Brien%20remarks%20to%20media%20in%20Aden%20CAD%2027FEB2017.pdf
Remark: For O’Brien in Yemen, also look at cp1, cp2
28.2.2017 – Stephen O’Brien (A H)
Meeting Governor of #Ibb, #Yemen: "after two years, there is nothing left for the most vulnerable. Urgent need for food, medicines and fuel"
https://twitter.com/UNReliefChief/status/836289228501835783
Despite all parties' assurances, we were denied access on frontline from Ibb to Taizz city today. Lack of access = more suffering
https://twitter.com/UNReliefChief/status/836577294156201985
27.2.2017 – Sputnik News (* A H T)
Hungersnot treibt jemenitische Kinder in die Hände der Terroristen
Zaid al Aliya, Sprecher des UN-Amtes für die Koordinierung humanitärer Angelegenheiten, hat in einem Sputnik-Gespräch Gründe für die Ausbreitung von Hungersnöten in arabischen und afrikanischen Ländern und das Gelangen von Kindern in die Hände der Terroristen genannt. Dabei berief er sich auf den jüngsten Bericht des UN-Welternährungsprogramms.
Im Jemen ist der im März 2015 ausgebrochene Konflikt daran schuld“, so al Aliya. „Der Hunger verursacht die meisten Probleme. Alle wissen, dass ein Mann, der seine Familie nicht erhalten kann, ein Verbrechen oder kriminelle Taten begehen könnte. Zudem fördert dies die Ausbreitung von Krankheiten und die Beteiligung von Kindern an Terrororganisationen“. https://de.sputniknews.com/panorama/20170227314693958-jemen-kinder-hungersnot/
And English version:
27.2.2017 – Sputnik News (* A H T)
Starving Children in Yemen Risk Ending Up as Terrorists
Many hunger-stricken children in Yemen have no choice other than to join terrorist groups in order to avoid starving to death, Zaid al-Aliya of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen, told Sputnik.
He added that the reasons why so many people suffer from hunger differ from country to country.
"In Sudan and Nigeria this is due to droughts and bad climate. In Yemen the reason is the armed conflict that flared up in March 2015.”
“We know that if a man can’t feed his family he could be tempted to commit a crime. In addition to the spread of diseases, this also forces children to join terrorist organizations,” Zaid al-Aliya warned.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201702271051083184-yemen-children-famine/
27.2.2017 – Al Masirah TV (A H)
Film: Walk to visit the families of fishermen in Hodeidah (in Arabic)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3Vbx1ybsAM
24.2.2017 – Comitato Nour (A H)
We only have one dream, make many children happy. They are in Yemen, forgotten by the world and we want to make sure these little ones will get decent meals every month with our "food project" Yemen. With only $25 per month we can fill their stomachs. The project is quarterly (€ 75 for 3 months). Will you help us? (photos)
https://www.facebook.com/comitatonouramaecambiailmondo/posts/1241641219250383 = https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1644401245855863 = https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1290293714356989
27.2.2017 – Emirati News Agency (A H)
ERC delivers medical supplies to Mocha Hospital in Yemen
The Emirates Red Crescent, ERC, has delivered medical supplies including medicines and equipment to Mocha hospital in Yemen.
The assistance is part of a number of urgent humanitarian works carried out by the authority in war-affected areas of the Arab Republic in various service and development domains.
The aid also included medicines for children and newborn, other food assistance, special equipment for clinical examination of pregnant women and ambulatory medical care.
The ERC volunteers say that the aid is the second for Mocha Hospital, in line with authority's efforts to support the population after the end of war in the city. They hailed ERC's efforts to continue its generous support for various areas in Yemen, especially in the coastline stretching from Aden to Mocha.
http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302599825 = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/erc-delivers-medical-supplies-mocha-hospital-yemen
26.2.2017 – Robert Mardini, Red Cross regional director (A H?
Ending a 4-day visit to #Yemen. Words cannot capture the suffering of #Yemenis. We're on the ground w/@YRCS1 helping across front lines.
https://twitter.com/RMardiniICRC/status/835871639074136064
We're now using staff quarters at @ICRC supported hospital in #Aden to cope with recent influx of the wounded from Mokha area (photo)
https://twitter.com/RMardiniICRC/status/835379586250723329
2.2017 – CARE Australia (* A H)
Yemen humanitarian crisis
Children and families forced from homes as conflict intensifies
Over 21.2 million – around 80 per cent of the Yemeni population – are in dire need of humanitarian assistance after recent intensified fighting plunges the country into further crisis.
A fresh round of ground fights and air strikes have forced families from their homes. Over 2.2 million people are now displaced within the country.
Infrastructure has been damaged, with electricity intermittent at best. The banking system has collapsed entirely and fuel is also in short supply. Lack of essentials such as food, clean water and medical supplies are putting lives at risk.
Children are losing their childhoods
The impact on the newest generations cannot be ignored. By mid-2015, more than four times as many children had been killed as a result of conflict than for the whole of 2014.
Children are being denied an education. It is estimated that around three million children cannot go to school due to the closure of around 3,684 schools.
With no education and no employment opportunities, children are also being targeted by rebellion groups to be recruited as child soldiers.
Yemen ranks lowest on the gender quality index
In 2014, Yemen was ranked least gender-equal out of 143 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report. Yemen has no female members of parliament. The literacy rate and enrolment in education of girls compared to boys is one of the highest in the world.
Gender inequality and the specific barriers faced by Yemeni women and girls in achieving their full potential have long been recognized as both underlying and direct causes of food insecurity, malnutrition, and poverty in Yemen.
CARE has collected and analysed available data in order to better understand the impact of armed conflict on men, women, boys and girls and changes of gender roles and relationships.
We are using that knowledge to make sure the different needs of women, girls, men and boys are all met.
Find out more about gender equality in Yemen
How you can help
You can help everyday people caught up in conflict in Yemen by donating to CARE’s Global Emergency Fund.
CARE is working with communities affected by the crisis including in the areas of Aden, Ammran, Abyan and Hajjah, with a focus on water and sanitation, food security and livelihoods.
As of December 2016, CARE has reached 1. 2 million people with lifesaving food, clean water and shelter. CARE is also providing gender-sensitive dignity kits, toilets, showers and healthcare.
The people of Yemen urgently need your assistance today. You can help by donating to our Global Emergency Fund.
https://www.care.org.au/yemen-humanitarian-crisis/
and
7.4.2015 – CARE Australia (* A H)
Yemen: Running for my life
The recent bombing campaign in Yemen forced CARE Yemen’s Humanitarian Coordinator, Bushra Aldukhainah, to flee her home with her husband and nine-year-old son.
I never thought I would know what it’s like to be an internally displaced person, but I do now because I am one. Working at CARE in Yemen, I am usually the one helping the internally displaced people, but almost two weeks ago after airstrikes began in Yemen, my family and I now know the fear and pain of suddenly gathering your things, leaving your home and running for your life.
It was 5am when my husband and I were woken by the call that the airstrikes were coming near our home in Haradh and we had to evacuate immediately. I woke my 9-year-old son and tried not to let him see the fear in my eyes. We heard the planes in the distance, and as we quickly packed up our car, I could not stop thinking about all the people whose only mode of transportation was by foot. How would they escape? Would they escape?
As we were departing Haradh, my husband and I tried to keep each other and our son calm and prayed the entire drive that we would make it to our destination safely. Although I know what it’s like to be a displaced person, we are much better off than so many of the displaced, as we are in the care of my husband’s family in Hajjah where we have everything we need-safety from violence, food, water, and most importantly, each other.
We are thankful to be safe in Hajjah for the moment, but every day we hear the planes overhead, and wonder if our safe haven is also about to turn violent. At the loud roar of the planes, my son runs to hide while trying to catch a glimpse of what the plane may do. We live in fear that a bomb could drop at any moment – by Bushra Aldukhainah
https://www.care.org.au/blog/yemen-running-life/
26.2.2017 – You Abilities (A H)
We are finally able to post an update on the family with the 4 children, a missing father who disappeared after suicidal attempts and a bed ridden mother.
The family lives in Sanaa - Nequm area - has three boys and a girl, mother is bed-ridden with kidney failure and the father apparently could not bear the difficult situation the family was facing. Neighbours helped the father on 3 occasions when he attempted suicide but now the man fled home and has yet to return.
The family is living in a small house which is full of dust with no blankets ,no food. Nothing to help the members survive in such complicated circumstances.
The rent is high - "15,000 YR" - as well they have accumulated rents for the full year.
Your Abilities Organization team visited the concerned family to assess the situation.
The girl has an eye disease, the mother has broken her right leg which, along with the kidney failure, makes it impossible for her to move.
Your Abilities Organisation team found many families in the area live in extremely difficult situation as the area has been repeatedly hit by airstrikes.
The older kid of this family is 14-years old and goes to school: he cannot feed his family: he just a little kid .
Family needs : Foods, Blankets, Clothes
Your Abilities organization decided to speak out for the family and for further information you may contact directly one of the family's relatives phone number: 771715879 or the ONG through social media
My comment: One Yemeni family, out of millions…
26.2.2017 – Middle East Eye (* A H)
War in Yemen leaves children vulnerable to exploitation and harrassment
Huda’s father Omar, a school teacher, and her mother Efrah, a nurse at a nearby government hospital, stopped getting paid and could barely afford the family’s basic necessities, let alone the small luxuries Huda was used to.
"Huda hated going to school, because she thought she did not have suitable shoes and money pocket and sometimes she did not have any notebooks," said her mother, Efrah.
About two months after her parents’ salaries stopped coming, Huda came home from school one day wearing new shoes and clothes, and with pocket money. Asked where she got these things, Huda told her parents that her aunt had been generous.
"One of my sisters is rich and she used to provide us with some needs, so I believed Huda that my sister helped her," Efrah said. "I did not think that my pampered daughter was lying."
One month after Huda started coming back with new things, she told her mother that she wanted to spend the night at her aunt’s house, as she sometimes did, and Efrah agreed. But Huda did not come home the next day and her parents found out she did not go to school either.
"I asked my sister about her. She said that she had not seen Huda for a month," Efrah said. "I was shocked, and we immediately notified the Al Shimayateen district police station."
The police questioned Huda’s teachers, classmates and anyone else who knew her, but they could not find her.
After two days of searching, neighbours found Huda’s body and her school bag floating in the village dam.
"The signs of rape were clear on Huda’s body, and this is what the forensic examination confirmed," Efrah said. "Then we realised that a man who had been giving Huda presents had raped her and then killed her to protect himself."
Jamal Al Shami, president of the Democracy School, an NGO in Sanaa which does advocacy work for children, said the economic hardship caused by the war had created an environment in which children were much more vulnerable to sexual predators.
"The economic crisis has had a negative impact on children on several issues, including harassment and sexual exploitation, but there are no figures regarding this yet," he said – by Mohammed Al Qalisi
26.2.2017 – Stephen O’Brien, UN (A H)
Met #IDP children&parents at AbdoGhanem school in #Aden. Our partners are providing help in education,water,sanitation, shelter, protection (photos)
https://twitter.com/UNReliefChief/status/835898855359197184
31.1.2017 – Oxfam (* A H)
Oxfam Yemen Situation Report #36, 31 January 2017
Oxfam GB organized a Humanitarian Conference “Yemen Civil Society Event“ in London on 26 January, which focused on increasing the engagement of the international community and brought parties together to discuss issues effecting the humanitarian crisis and response in Yemen. Around 32 NGOs were able to take a part in the event by a video link in OCHA offices in Sana’a and Aden.
United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, stated that the Yemen aid appeal for 2017 will be launched in Geneva on 8 February and then a pledging conference will be organized on 20 March to collect about $2 billion to help the Yemeni people in need. He also stated that the civilian death toll in the nearly two‐year conflict has reached 7,400, with 40,000 others wounded.
According to WHO a cumulative number of 18,194 AWD/Cholera cases and 99 deaths were reported in 165 districts. Of these 8,869 are women, while 6,144 are children below 5 years.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/oxfam-yemen-situation-report-36-31-january-2017 and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Oxfam%20Yemen%20External%20Sitrep%20%2336%2031_Jan_2017_Final.pdf
31.1.2017 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (A H)
Infographic: Yemen: Organizations 3W Operational Presence (as of 31 January 2017) [EN/AR]
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-organizations-3w-operational-presence-31-january-2017-enar and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/3w_jan_27_02_2017.pdf
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
Siehe / Look at cp1, cp2
28.2.2017 – Saba Net (A P)
FM Warns Saudi regime of continuing economic blockade
Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf warned Saudi regime and its mercenaries of continuing economic war and blockade since two years against the Yemeni people.
The minister said in a statement to Saba late on Monday that the Saudi regime and its mercenaries have been blocking salaries of the Yemeni people and state employees since months, warning of the consequences of such economic war that aims to starving the Yemeni people.
The minister said that Saudi regime is using economic card as a war to knee the Yemeni people to their knees, but the minister warned Saudis that impatience of Yemenis is about to run out.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457562.htm
28.2.2017 – Josephjo1221 / Nasser Arrabyee (A T)
The assassination of al-Huthi leader Musa al-Mutawakkil in Dhamar by terrorist elements on board a motorcycle.
Yemen Qaeda/ISIS suspects riding motor cycle assassinated judge Yahya Musa Al Mutwakel in Dhammar city, 100 km south of the capital Sanaa (graphic photo)
https://twitter.com/JosephJo1221/status/836614832229081089 and https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/836635394083065856
Comment by F C Carvajal: Assassinations start in Dhamar ... as observers pointed last week in New moves by proCialition forces there ...
https://twitter.com/CarvajalF/status/836620391531438082
28.2.2017 – Saba Net (A P)
Republican decree issued forming Supreme Military, Security Committee
A Republican Decree No. 8 for 2017 was issued late on Monday to form a Supreme Military and Security Committee.
The first article of the decree named the following officials as members of the committee.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457535.htm
28.2.2017 – Al Sahwa (* A H K)
Houthis, Saleh blow up houses of people in Otomah
Militias of the Houthis and ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Monday blew up houses of some people in the village of al-Qadam, Otomah district of Dhamar governorate.
Local sources told Alsahwa Net that the militias deported residents by force and turned houses into military barracks.
They said that the militias discriminately bombed houses of civilians, pointing out that it is reportedly said that there are attempts to end the fight in Otomah through a tribal mediation.
Militias of the Houthis and ousted President Saleh have been indiscriminately b bombing houses of civilians in Otomah, Dhamar for seveal days.
Local sources told Alsahwa Net that the militias used mortars, tanks and other heavy weapons against civilians.
They also emphasized that houses and farmers were targeted, pointing out that an elderly man was killed.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-4488 and also https://twitter.com/abdullahalbhry/status/836161570778591233 (with better photo)
and
28.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (* A H K)
Houthis bomb tribal leader’s house in Dhamar
A local source in Otuma district in western Dhamar governorate, central Yemen, stated that the Houthi-Saleh militiamen bombed a house for a prominent tribal leader in al Qudom area.
The source pointed out this is the fifth house the Houthis have bombed since the outbreak of the confrontations with the popular resistance fighters.
The source added that the house belongs to Abdo Ali Mawadhah, relative of the popular resistance leader in Otuma Abdul Wahab Mawadhah.
“The house is located in the center of a village, and when it was bombed other neighboring houses were also damaged.” Added the source.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/89191
My comment: That seems to be a Houthi copy of Israeli tactic in the West Bank. Shame.
27.2.2017 – Nasser Arrabyee (A K)
Yemen security forces Found heavy weapons underground in Arhab north of Sanaa Feb 27. 2017. Foiling Saudi attempts to undermine security (photos)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/836480875747504128
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/836480034768629761
Comment by F Carvajal: how big is Arhab? how far from Sanaa? ... WHEN were these munitions brought in2 Arhab? ..Houthis been clearing Arhab for 3yrs !!!
https://twitter.com/CarvajalF/status/836716613852241920
and film by Al Masirah TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF00MXFA9YI
27.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (* A)
Ibb: six boys killed, nine injured while transported to battlefronts by Houthis
Six boys were killed and nine others wounded in a vehicle accident, while they were in the way to back up the Houthi fighters.
The boys died when their vehicle, which was transferring them to the battlefront, turned over.
A local source said that the Houthis elements have deceived a group of boys and were taking them to a battlefront without the knowledge or consent of their parents.
The boys were between the ages of 12-20 and belong to al Gabanah region of al Mashanah district in Ibb city.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/89175
27.2.2017 – Saba Net (A P)
Hodeida condemn US-Saudi war crimes against civilians
Hodeida residents on Monday staged a protest rally to condemn war crimes committed by US-Saudi aggression against the Yemeni people.
The rally called for mobilizing troops to the fronts for facing US-Saudi aggression.
The rally was attended by chairman of the Revolutionary Committees, Mohammed Ail al-Houthi, and Secretary General of the local council Ali al-Qawzi.
Al-Houthi appreciated the heroic stances of Tehama sons to face the aggression, praising the role of the people of Tehama in supplying the front lines.
The participants rose banners and slogans condemning the continuing of US-Saudi war crimes against the civilians in Yemen.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457458.htm = http://newnewss.net/?p=3106
27.2.2017 – Saba Net (A)
Police seizes 143 kg of hashish
Police in cooperation with popular forces seized 143 kg of Hashish in districts of Sa'ada province, a security official told Saba on Monday.
The seized Hashish were in Baqim, al-Safra and Qataber districts.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457454.htm
27.2.2017 – Saba Net (A H P)
Yemen, WFP rep. discuss extending WFP's activities in Amran
Amran Governor Dr. Faisal Ja'aman discussed on Monday with the World Food Program representative in Yemen Stephen Anderson the possibility of extending WFP's activities to include families in need for food security in the province and its regions.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457500.htm
27.2.2017 – Saba Net (A H P)
PM receives MSF director
Monday in Sana'a the director of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) / Doctors without Borders Ghassan Abu Sha'ar.
Prime Minister expressed his appreciation for the MSF activities in Yemen as part of its efforts to provide support and humanitarian assistance in the current difficult circumstances, in addition plans to develop aspects of support because of the great needs of the health sector in the country.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457498.htm
26.2.2017 – Saba Net (A P)
Local organization condemns UN negative role about aggression on Yemen
The National Organization for Rights, Freedoms and Development in Jawf province condemned on Sunday the negative role of the United Nations and the Security Council about the aggression on Yemeni.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457364.htm
28.2.2017 – Fars News (A K P)
Military Official: Yemeni Army to Unveil Anti-Ship Missiles, Combat Drones Soon
A senior Yemeni military official announced that the country's army will unveil new anti-ship missiles and combat drones in the near future to show its defense power to the Saudi aggressors.
"The planes include Qasef 1 combat drone and three other drones named Rased, Raqib and Hudhud 1," Head of the Yemeni Defense Ministry's Military Industries Samad al-Madafi told FNA on Tuesday.
"We will unveil anti-warship, anti-air and anti-drone missiles soon," he added.
According to Madafi, Qasef-1 (Striker-1), has a wingspan of three meters and a hull length of 2.5 meters.
The drone has a flight endurance of 120 minutes, and is capable of carrying a payload of 30 kilograms.
Another remote-controlled aircraft, dubbed Hudhud-1 (Hoopoe-1), has a flight endurance of 90 minutes, and an operational radius of up to 30 kilometers. It has a wingspan of 1.9 meters and a hull length of 1.5 meters.
The Raqib (Rival) drone can fly as far as 15 kilometers for 90 minutes. It is used in reconnaissance missions and is capable of either storing information or transferring data via online connections.
The Rased (Surveyor) unmanned aerial vehicle, which can perform a variety of functions, including aerial reconnaissance and surveillance as well as monitoring battlefield besides geophysical surveying, has a wingspan of 2.2 meters and a hull length of one meter.
The drone has a flight endurance of 120 minutes plus an operational radius of up to 35 kilometers.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951210001634
1.3.2017 – Fars News (A K P)
Yemen's First Home-Made Drone Brings Over 100 Saudi Towns, Vital Centers within Striking Range
The Yemeni army's recently unveiled a suicide drone, Qasef-1 (Striker-1), is capable of striking targets in nearly 100 Saudi towns and 8 important centers, given its flight endurance and range.
"The suicide drone, Qasef-1, has a flight range of 150km, meaning that if it takes off from bordering areas between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, it can hit targets in nearly 100 Saudi towns and 8 vital centers," a Yemeni military source said on Wednesday.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951211000947
26.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K P)
President inaugurates first exhibition of Yemeni-made drone aircrafts
President of the Supreme Political Council Saleh al-Sammad inaugurated on Sunday the first exhibition of Yemeni-made pilotless aircrafts.
The exhibition contained prototypes of Yemeni-made aircrafts, which were designed for conducting battles, reconnaissance and early warning.
The first phase of planes production included the types of Howdhod, and Howdhod 1, al-Raqeb and Rased plane.
The aircrafts have been tested successfully. The move came successfully after 700 days of aggression and all-out siege committed by the US-Saudi aggression coalition, which is considered a strong message to the enemy.
The opening ceremony attended by Vice-President of the Supreme Political Council, Qasim Labuza and Prime Minister Abdul Aziz Bin Habtoor.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457409.htm
and films: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm5CMMZRE9w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-oU7rMfVlA = mostly https://twitter.com/Living_Yemen/status/835872121033228288
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_jJcvyzOec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J7Lpb_OgAg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQXkmUjkRvQ
26.2.2017 – Nasser Arrabyee (A K)
Yemen President Samad, Opens 2day exhibition of Made-in-Yemen drones in Sanaa Days after such drones carried out operation inside Saudi lands (photos)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/835820623804968960
Yemen declared4types of drones: Spy:Hud-hud1,Rased&Rakeeb. Aggressive:Kassif1: Body 250cm Wing 300cm Flying 2 hours Range 150km Warhead 30kg (photos)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/835862431238918144
Yemen declares that4kinds of drones madeNYemen are already carrying out attacks on US-backed Saudi invaders: Hudhud Hudhud1 Rakeeb Rased (photos)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/835824848450568192
and
26.2.2017 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (A K)
Expo by #Yemen Ministry of Defense in Sana'a today for first locally made military drones! I guess masked guys are in charge of development (photos)
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/835832669267181569
#PT Claim developed 4 types; 1)combat 2)reconnaissance 3)mapping & evaluation 4)early warning. I'm no expert, but what's diff btwn 2,3,4?
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/835836767303499776
To be honest, skeptical about #Yemen made drones myself. I mean, reverse engineering Amazon drone one thing, a military drone is another.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/835838082347847680
Basic drones not hard to build, found in toy stores. If indeed military grade, I think question should be 'who helped' manufacture
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/835840341425152001
For those who thought my skepticism about #Yemen made drones yesterday wasn't warranted. It's an FPV Model online (photos)
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/836117537591017473 referring to http://www.fpvmodel.com/latest-version-skywalker-black-x8-flying-wing_g632.html
My comment: A US $ 170 toy? My goodness!
26.2.2017 – MbKS15 (A K PS)
Iran-backed Houthis unveil a suicide drone called 'QASEF-1' & claim that it has a range of 150km with a 30kg warhead (photos)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/835905027138957312
But actually this is an #Iranian made Ababil-2 UAV used for surveillance & reconnaissance! #Propaganda (photos)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/835911737283006464
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
1.3.2017 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A P)
Saudi & Sudanese troops take over Aden airport insurance & administration.
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/836983834923188224
Remark: Insurance? Certainly meaning security. And more information https://twitter.com/JosephJo1221/status/836933293660598272 (image, text in Arabic)
28.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (A T)
Source: gunmen murder political activist in Ataq city southern Yemen
A local source said that unknown gunmen murdered on Monday a political activist of the Southern Movement, a movement calling for the separation of south of Yemen from the north, in Ataq city in Shabwa governorate, southeastern Yemen.
The source told Almasdaronline that the gunmen opened the fire on the political activist and poet Hasan Hanshal while he was at his shop.
The gunmen fled the area after the attack, and Hanshal immediately died.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/89190
28.2.2017 – Aden Tomorrow (A P)
Reiterated its support for President Hadi: Southern Movement stresses the importance of building state institutions
Southern Movement stressed the importance of security and service institution-building in the capital of Aden and the rest of the cities of the south, reiterated his support for President Hadi and the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates.
The leaders of the Southern Movement in the discussion during the workshops held in Aden stressed on the importance of building state institutions and private military and security institutions to meet the security challenges.
The newspaper learned (Aden tomorrow) from southern sources, that the meetings held in Aden renewed its support for President Hadi and the Arab coalition and stressed the need to end the war and restore the south and Yemen for their stability because that is the interest of both countries and the region in general.
Meanwhile, a senior leader of the «Southern Movement» Ahmed Rabizi prepared that South issue outside the UN Security Council attention of the United Nations, pointing out that «the recent resolution adopted by the Security Council on Yemen related to the ongoing war and has nothing to do in the south and the Southern Movement, because mobility is not a party to the conflict. »
http://adengad.net/news/247094/ and by Google Translate: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ar&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fadengad.net%2Fnews%2F247232%2F&edit-text=
My comment: Support of Southern separatists for Hadi.
28.2.2017 – Aden Now News (A P)
Protesters separatists demonstration outside the house of the Director General of the Yemeni Oil Company d. Najib Guelb, demanding his dismissal and deportation immediately to northern Yemen (photo)
https://twitter.com/AdenNowNews/status/836508156444442624
28.2.2017 – Al Sahwa (A P)
After short visit to UAE, Hadi arrives in Riyadh
Hadi discussed with the leadership of the Arab Coalition a number of Yemen's political updates. Saba said that Hadi's visit to Riyadh was successful, pointing out that Hadi discussed with the leadership of the Arab Coalition the liberation of the western coast of Yemen, al-Hudeidah governorate and Midi in Hajjah governorate.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-4486
27.2.2017 – M Oman AA (A P)
Military carry out a protest in front of the home of Maisari to demand for their salaries
Protested hundreds of military and security outside the house of the Minister of Agriculture Ahmed Maisari Chairman of the Committee to demand payment of salaries regardless of their salaries for the month of December, which announced the start cashed commission payment of salaries in the ten days before the minister Maisari which was distributed to the media statement.
As stated in the press release issued on 16 / February on Thursday by the Minister of Agriculture Yemeni Maisari head of the army salaries exchange and security for the date of the salaries of the month of December the exchange (12) of the army and security will be on Sunday of next week, according to prepared for that program. Where two weeks ago and did not see anything that Maisari said and everyone is waiting anxiously salaries and longing from week to week and all the military personnel who came from neighboring provinces and villages and rural areas Maisari protestors in front of the house and wondering who on Sunday said it Maisari when .... !!?Word also declare information about detecting the Committee on the fact fraud estimated ten thousand new cases monitored by the Committee including the 3000 case of fraud in military rank and the same facts of fraud in military numbers and repeat numbers were discovered by the thousands of double figures and the names of non-eligible retirees, dropouts and this Mazbb in delay delivery of the army and security salaries. (with photos)
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ar&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fm.omanaa.net%2Fnews51506.html&edit-text= http://m.omanaa.net/news51506.html (Original)
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
28.2.2017 – Al Araby (A P)
Russian intrigue: UN Yemen envoy visits Moscow for talks
Russia could be the latest diplomatic player looking to end the two-year war in Yemen, as the UN's envoy to the war-torn country Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed paid a visit to Moscow on Monday.
Ahmad held talks with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov concerning the ongoing conflict in Yemen, according Moscow's foreign ministry.
It follows recent Russian involvement in Syria and Libya's wars. Moscow now appears to be extending its influence to the Yemen conflict where forces aligned to the exiled internationally-recognised government are battling Houthi rebels and loyalists of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh loyalists.
A statement posted on the Russian foreign ministry website revealed that officials discussed the war in Yemen and stressed the need for warring parties to end the two-year conflict.
My comment: This article has an anti-Russian propaganda bias which is going to such an extreme that it is even ridiculous.
27.2.2017 – Al Sahwa (A H)
High-ranking UN official visits Yemen
Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien on Saturday started a visit to Yemen to be briefed on humanitarian situation.
It is set that O'Brien will meet President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi and Prime Minister Ahmed Obaid Bin Dhaghar in the port city of Aden on Sunday to discuss the humanitarian situation.
It is also expected that O'Brien will visit the governorate of Taiz which is witnessing a deteriorating humanitarian situation due to the siege imposed on it by forces of the Houthis and ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Well-informed sources told Alsahwa Net that O'Brien will also visit the governorate of Ibb in the center of Yemen.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-4455
27.2.2017 – Al Sahwa (A H)
UN to launch assistance campaign for Yemenis
Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien on Saturday said on Saturday that the United Nations is preparing a campaign to assist Yemen, pointing out that it will be carried out on April 25.
During his visit to the country, he cited that the campaign aims to support harmed people and provide them with essential requirements.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-4457
26.2.2017 – Fars News (A P)
Arab Analyst: Talks with Iran Only Way for S. Arabia to Come Out of Yemen Quagmire
Abdel Bari Atwan, the editor-in-chief of Rai al-Youm newspaper, referred to Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir's recent visit to Iraq, and said Riyadh seeks to end its isolation policy in the region and reach out to Iran with Baghdad's help.
"Iraq is the shortest and meantime, the widest route to reach Tehran," Atwan wrote on Sunday.
"Saudi Arabia has understood that Iraq and Iran will play an important role in the future of the region, specially in finding a solution to the crisis in Syria and therefore, Saudi Arabia knows well that talks with Iran is the only way to come out of the Yemen quagmire and Iraq can be a good mediator in this regard," he added.
Atwan concluded that Jubeir's visit to Baghdad may be the result of Saudi Arabia's revision of its regional policies, efforts to end its isolation and admission of the failure of Riyadh's aggressive policies.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951208000853
My comment: I do not believe in the Saudi will to peace.
cp7a Saudi-Arabien, Emirate und Iran / Saudi Arabia, Emirates and Iran
1.3.2017 – Tasnim News (A P)
Iran Hits Back at Emirati FM’s Comments, Criticizes UAE for Crimes in Yemen
Iran’s Foreign Ministry derided as “baseless” the allegations raised by the Emirati foreign minister about Tehran’s “unconstructive role” in Yemen, saying the irony is that the UAE, itself a pillar of war crimes against people of Yemen, is putting the blame on others.
In an address to the 34th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council on February 28, Gargash accused Iran of “directly arming and supporting the insurgents (in Yemen) with increasingly sophisticated weapons, including ballistic missiles and armed drones.
“This Iranian interference prolongs and deepens the Yemeni conflict, creating conditions that allow al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula, and more recently Daesh, more space to operate,” the Emirati diplomat asserted.
1.3.2017 – Fars News (A P)
Spokesman Blasts UAE Minister's Baseless Claims against Iran
The Iranian foreign ministry lashed out at UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Bin Mohammed Gargash's baseless allegations about Iran's interference in Yemen.
"It is surprising and regretting that a country which has had a direct role and responsibility in the destruction of Yemen's infrastructures, war crimes and cruel siege on the Yemeni people for nearly two years, accuses others of interference in Yemen," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Wednesday.
Noting that the countries which waged a war against the oppressed Yemeni people have had no achievement but strengthening the terrorists and paving the ground for their presence in certain parts of Yemen, he said, "Certainly, the UAE and other members of the warmonger coalition (Saudi-led coalition) are directly responsible for the crimes committed in Yemen and reinvigoration of terrorism in the country and the entire region."
In relevant remarks last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned of the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen, and called on the international bodies to end the crisis in the poor Arab country.
"It is necessary for the international community to increase its sensitivity about the humanitarian disaster in Yemen a little more and find an effective solution to end the regretable situation in Yemen," Zarif told the Iranian media.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951211001260
1.3.2017 – Fars News (A P)
FM: Iran Wants Stability in S. Arabia
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif underlined that his country favors stability in Saudi Arabia and other regional states, as it also wants to see an end to the war on Yemen.
"We want Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf littoral states to stand stable and want the war in Yemen to stop," Zarif said on Wednesday.
He stressed Iran's efforts to prevent the war in Yemen and its termination after it was sparked by Saudi Arabia, and said, "This view has always been and is still in place, but unfortunately, certain countries, specially Saudi Arabia, believe their interests lie in tension," Zarif underscored.
He also reiterated Tehran's stable policy of campaign against extremism, and reminded that "Iran was the first country that condemned Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, even before other Persian Gulf littoral states. Iran was the first country to rush to aid the Iraqi people against terrorism. Iran was the first country which cooperated with the Turkish government at the night of the last year coup".
"We are principally standing against coup and extremism. We oppose extremist moves against Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia or the UAE because we believe these moves are dangerous to the region," Zarif said.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951211000846
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
1.3.3017 – Hassan Al-Haifi (A K P)
Saudis submit corpse of tortured to death Saudi pilot, AR Dosary, who refused air raid to Yemen, to his family. May God bless his soul. (photo)
https://twitter.com/commonsense575/status/836958432641040388
27.2.2017 – Washington Post (* A P)
Saudi king reported to be taking 506 tons of luggage, including two limos, on trip to Indonesia
Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdul Aziz is heading to Indonesia this week for a nine-day visit. It will be the first time in 46 years that a Saudi king has visited the world's largest Muslim nation, and it comes at a time of heightened attention on the economic links between the two nations.
But Salman has come prepared. According to reports in the Indonesian press, the Saudi royal is expected to bring 459 metric tons (506 U.S. tons) of cargo with him on his trip — including two Mercedes-Benz S600 limousines and two electric elevators.
Adji Gunawan of the airfreight company PT Jasa Angkasa Semesta (JAS) told the Antara news agency that his company was appointed to handle the cargo, which has already arrived in the country. Adji said his company was employing a total of 572 workers to deal with the Saudi king's luggage.
Saudi royals are often known for traveling in grandiose style.
The Jakarta Post reported that the Saudi group will total about 1,500 people, including 10 ministers, 25 princes and at least 100 security personnel.
While the Saudi king's colossal cargo hold may seem large, it is not necessarily out of scale with those of other world leaders – By Adam Taylor
27.2.2017 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A)
People in Saudi no longer tolerate trafffic police patrols oppression & plunder against them. See how Saudi police prestige has become.
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/836309259315003392 referring to
https://twitter.com/Politic_Star/status/834539162715951105 (film)
cp9 USA
Siehe / Look at cp1
1.3.2017 – Reuters (*A P)
Trump: Yemen raid was success, gathered vital intelligence
U.S. President Donald Trump insisted on Tuesday that a January raid in Yemen was a success and gathered vital intelligence against the al Qaeda affiliate there, despite questions raised about the effectiveness of the mission.
In his first nationally televised speech to Congress since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump acknowledged in the audience the widow of U.S. Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens, who was killed in the operation. Tears streamed down her face as she rose and lawmakers gave her a standing ovation.
The White House has pushed back against criticism of the raid, the first of its kind authorized by Trump as commander in chief. Owens’ father, in a newspaper interview over the weekend, called for an investigation – By Matt Spetalnick
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-yemen-idUSKBN168374 and look also at http://www.newshounds.us/fox_juan_williams_calls_out_truth_donald_trump_yemen_raid_charade_address_congress_030117#wqYCAH8T4z6OMp44.99
1.3.2017 – New York Times (* A P)
Devices seized in Yemen raid offer some clues to Al-Qaida tactics
Computers and cellphones seized during a deadly special operations raid in Yemen in January offer clues about attacks Al-Qaida could carry out in the future, including insights into new types of hidden explosives the group is making and new training tactics for militants, according to U.S. officials.
But it is still unclear how much the information advances the military’s knowledge of the plans and future operations of Al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen, although it may give a glimpse of its evolving tactics, the officials said.
The Trump administration has been eager to defend itself against assertions that the raid of an Al-Qaida safe house, in which a member of the Navy’s SEAL Team 6 was killed, was a failure because little meaningful intelligence material was seized. A military investigation was also ordered to determine whether women and children died in the raid.
Commanders have said the potential of recovering a trove of new information about the group and its operations justified the risks to the American commandos. even as the White House and Pentagon stoutly defend the mission, influential members of Congress are increasingly asking questions about what went wrong and why. “Given the public’s concerns about the raid’s costs and other media reports about the raid, the administration has an obligation to disclose support for this claim,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., one of half a dozen members of the Intelligence Committee interviewed for this article.
Even supporters of the White House position say the information recovered thus far is not conclusive. “I believe the material is valuable, but having said that, of course, a lot of it depends on how it plays out over time,” said Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, who is on the committee.
Administration officials said Trump was highly sensitive to reports that the mission had yielded little, and there was a scramble before his speech Tuesday night to come up with a way of defending it, including having Owens’ widow, Carryn Owens, in the gallery. She received the most sustained applause of the evening – By Eric Schmitt and David E. Sanger
http://www.startribune.com/devices-seized-in-yemen-raid-offer-some-clues-to-al-qaida-tactics/415168354/ and on Trump misusing the widow of SEAL Owens for his bad theater propaganda performance: http://www.watoday.com.au/comment/donald-trumps-tribute-to-navy-seal-ryan-owens-shows-his-ignorance-and-cynicism-20170301-guoo4u.html = http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/89979466/.html (the author is right, this was cynical)
1.3.2017 – Politico (A P)
Pence disputes reports that Yemen raid yielded no significant intel
“We were briefed again yesterday by [Defense Secretary James] Mattis, giving us a summary of the intelligence that was gathered,” Pence said in an interview Wednesday with “CBS This Morning.” “This was a strike that was directed at obtaining information about the Al Qaeda operating out of Yemen. We do believe it will lay a foundation for victories in the future.”
“NBC has reported that there was no significant intelligence gathered from that raid is. That wrong?” anchor Norah O’Donnell followed-up.
“That is wrong. I can tell you that Secretary Mattis, as recently as yesterday confirmed again to the administration that there was significant intelligence that was gathered that will lead to American success and to the safety and security of the American people,” Pence replied, echoing comments Trump made during his address to Congress – By LOUIS NELSON
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/yemen-raid-intelligence-mike-pence-responds-235559
28.2.2017 – RT (* A P)
Jemen: Einsatz der US-Spezialeinheit Navy SEALs brachte offenbar keine verwertbaren Erkenntnisse
Bei der Aktion im Januar starben mindestens 30 Menschen, darunter auch ein Navy SEAL. Laut einem Bericht von NBC News hat der Einsatz jedoch keine brauchbaren Informationen geliefert. Der Sender beruft sich auf offizielle Quellen aus dem US-Außenministerium.
In den USA herrscht darüber hinaus Uneinigkeit darüber, ob es sich bei der Mission um eine Aufklärungsmission oder eine Tötungsmission handelte. Laut NBC News deklarierte das US-Außenministerium den Einsatz als Aufklärungsmission, bei der es um das Sammeln von Informationen gegangen sei. Auch das US-Verteidigungsministerium hatte von einer Aufklärungsmission gesprochen.
Auch die geheimdienstlichen Erkenntnisse aus dem Einsatz sind offenbar nicht viel wert. Wie mehrere ungenannte Beamte aus dem US-Außenministerium gegenüber NBC News mitteilten, habe der Einsatz keine signifikanten Informationen zutage gefördert. Dem widersprach der Sprecher des Weißen Hauses, Sean Spicer.
Bemerkung: Dass „Jemen“, also die Hadi-Regierung, den USA weitere militärische Aktionen im Jemen untersagt habe, ist falsch. Derartige Meldungen hat die Hadi-Regierung dementiert.
27.2.2017 – Frankfurter Allgemeine von AFP (* A P)
Vater von gefallenem Soldaten kritisiert Trumps Einsatzbefehl scharf
Es war der der erste Militäreinsatz, den Donald Trump als Präsident befahl – und er kostete viele Menschen das Leben. Der Vater des dabei gefallenen Elitesoldaten nennt die Operation gegen Al Qaida im Jemen „dumm“.
Der Vater eines Ende Januar bei einem Militäreinsatz im Jemen gefallenen amerikanischen Elitesoldaten hat die Mission scharf kritisiert und Ermittlungen gefordert. Bill Owens sagte dem „Miami Herald“ in einem am Sonntag veröffentlichten Interview, die amerikanische Regierung schulde seinem Sohn „eine Untersuchung“ des Einsatzes. Er frage sich, weshalb dieser „dumme“ Militäreinsatz nur knapp eine Woche nach dem Amtsantritt von Präsident Donald Trump habe sein müssen.
In den vergangenen zwei Jahren habe es keine Soldaten am Boden im Jemen gegeben, „nur Raketen und Drohnen, weil kein Ziel den Tod eines Amerikaners wert war“, sagte Owens. Es sei unklar, weshalb ausgerechnet jetzt ein solcher Einsatz laufen musste.
Owens sagte nun der Zeitung, er habe es abgelehnt, Trump zu treffen und mit ihm über den Einsatz zu sprechen, als der Sarg mit seinem Sohn Anfang Februar in die Vereinigten Staaten überführt wurde. Das habe sein Gewissen nicht zugelassen.
26.2.2017 – Miami Herald (* A P)
Slain SEAL’s dad wants answers: ‘Don’t hide behind my son’s death’
“Why at this time did there have to be this stupid mission when it wasn’t even barely a week into his administration? Why? For two years prior, there were no boots on the ground in Yemen — everything was missiles and drones — because there was not a target worth one American life. Now, all of a sudden we had to make this grand display?’’
“Don’t hide behind my son’s death to prevent an investigation,” said the elder Owens, pointing to Trump’s sharp words directed at the mission’s critics, including Sen. John McCain.
“I want an investigation. … The government owes my son an investigation,” he said – by Julie K. Brown
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article135064074.html
Remark: The raid has become a subject of US internal policy, of the internal feud on Trump’s presidency. Thus, there are hundreds of articles on this subject now. Here just a few:
28.2.2017 – Palmer Report (* A P)
Cowardly Donald Trump must resign after blaming U.S. military for death of Navy SEAL in Yemen
Does Donald Trump not get that he’s Commander in Chief of the United States military? Does he not get that he, and he alone, held the power to order or to not order the Yemen raid? Because whether it’s Trump’s fault or not, the death of Chief Petty Officer William Ryan Owens is Trump’s responsibility. Even our worst presidents have understood that much. Trump has taken things to a stunning new low. And since he doesn’t want or understand the responsibility of being Commander in Chief, Donald Trump must immediately resign the presidency – by Boris Palmer
https://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/donald-trump-blames-u-s-military-death-navy-seal-yemen/1698/
My comment: That is certainly right. A president and commander-in-chief always bears the responsibility. He cannot hide behind his predecessor and his subordinates. Other politicians had to resign for much lesser faults.
28.2.2017 – CNN (A P)
White House asks Pentagon for Yemen raid details ahead of Trump speech
The White House asked the Pentagon for information it could make public in President Donald Trump's Tuesday night address about a controversial Special Operation raid in Yemen to better explain the mission's purpose and demonstrate that the results were worth its costs, CNN has learned.
The request came Monday night, two administration officials said. They stressed, though, that it's not clear what details the speech will actually include, if any, as it continues to be revised – By Barbara Starr
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/28/politics/yemen-raid-public-details-white-house/index.html
28.2.2017 – Paste (* A P)
You Read About Yemen, but Does the President?
But it seems Chief Owens’ father is getting his wish: Three probes into the raid have been opened.
This is part of a pattern in Trump’s White House: You try to act, you fuck everything up, you say everything’s fine. That’s an unsustainable way to run a fourth-grade science project, let alone the United States government.
Here’s the case against Trump.
Anonymous sources in Congress and the national security establishment said Trump approved his first covert military operation “without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations.” President Obama refused to act on that intelligence because he believed a ground raid would escalate US involvement in Yemen, and Yemen is, as they say in the military, completely and utterly FUBAR. So Obama left the call to Trump.
And the intelligence that informed the raid? That intelligence came from Yemen and the UAE. And the night before the raid, Trump implemented the travel ban, which targeted Yemen specifically. The raid was reportedly compromised over radio chatter. It’s not unlikely, given the incestuous mess of the Yemen Civil War, that someone working on the ground tipped off the targets.
But this wasn’t even the first military operation in Yemen under the Trump administration. In fact, on the day Trump was inaugurated, a drone strike in Yemen reportedly killed an al Qaeda military instructor. The next day, a second and third strike killed anywhere between three and ten AQ fighters.
The natural question: Did Trump know this?
The natural answer: Probably not. The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon spokesperson who confirmed the strikes said they didn’t need the approval of General Mattis or Trump. In other words, they were CIA strikes.
I hope Trump knows that covert US military operations in Yemen on his watch have already killed somewhere between 40 and 50 people. And I hope he knows he only ordered one of them.
Maybe, in a way, he didn’t order any of them.
This isn’t Trump getting trolled by The New York Times . This is tragic material evidence that our new president has a literally fatal flaw: Whoever has D.J.’s ear at decision time will be the one making the call.
So who has Trump’s ear? He’s surrounded himself with military men. Possibly because he knows/feels he’s an incompetent president and needs authority on his side to validate himself to himself, or possibly because he desperately needs to prove himself to be an authoritarian figure. Or both.
So at this point, if you have a heart, you start to wonder about things. And at that point, if you have a brain, you quickly realize there are too many things you don’t know. So you decide to start reading. You decide to start reading about Yemen. And you read that Donald Trump says he “reaches the right decisions ‘with very little knowledge other than the knowledge I [already] had, plus the words common sense, because I have a lot of common sense and I have a lot of business ability,” which is why, he says, he doesn’t have to read.
But you read. You read and you read and you read. About Yemen – By Roger Sollenberger.
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/02/you-read-about-yemen-but-does-the-president.html
28.2.2017 – Business Insider (* A P)
'This was a mission that was started before I got here': Trump suggests Obama to blame for raid that lost Navy SEAL
"This was a mission that was started before I got here," Trump said. "This was something they wanted to do. They came to see me, they told me what they wanted to do, the generals, who are very respected — my generals are most respected we've had in many decades, I believe. And they lost Ryan."
http://www.businessinsider.de/trump-blames-obama-yemen-raid-navy-seal-2017-2?r=US&IR=T
Remark: Trump blamed the Obama administration (as headlined by Business Insider) and his own generals as well (as headlined by The Hill), see below. Both is foolish; Trump is the president, Obama did not execute this raid, he would have known why. Trump decided, he is the president, not any of his generals. It’s just his political responsibility. – But he is right when seeing this from another point. Yes, a long time before Trump got president the US started an interventionist foreign policy with regime changes, claiming to export “democracy” and “human rights” by bombing, killing, fueling wars, military coups, terrorism, torture.
28.2.2017 – The Hill (* A P)
Trump appears to blame generals for SEAL's death in Yemen raid
28.2.2017 – MNSBC (* A P)
New Trump claims about deadly Yemen raid appear to be untrue
Following up on a story we’ve been following, Donald Trump continues to face important questions about the first military raid he ordered as president, which tragically turned deadly. The fact that the Republican president is avoiding responsibility for what happened – and doesn’t appear to be telling the truth about the mission itself – makes the questions all the more serious.
There are a couple of key problems with Trump’s assessment. First, it’s genuinely bizarre to hear a Commander in Chief, reflecting on a mission he personally authorized, try to avoid responsibility for the mission he green-lit. I realize Trump’s new at this, but as a rule, presidents at least try to appear accountable.
Second and more important is the fact that Trump’s version of events is at odds with the available evidence.
officials expected the new administration to begin its own deliberative process to evaluate whether the operation should go ahead.
Trump instead approved the mission over dinner at the White House residence, alongside political adviser Steve Bannon. While the deadly raid was underway, the president did not go to the Situation Room and did not monitor the developments in real time.
What about Trump’s assertions that this was “a very successful mission,” which produced “tremendous amounts of information”? The idea that this was a success is hard to accept on its face
In other words, pretty much everything the president said about what transpired in Yemen appears to be untrue – By Steve Benen
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/new-trump-claims-about-deadly-yemen-raid-appear-be-untrue
28.2.2017 – New York Times (* A P)
Lingering Questions in the Yemen Raid
The first military operation President Trump authorized, a rare and risky raid in Yemen on Jan. 28, resulted in the deaths of a Navy SEAL and as many as 29 civilians. That led to reasonable questions from members of Congress, including Republicans, who wanted to know what went wrong and whether there were lessons to be learned.
The Trump administration tried to shut down those inquiries, calling them an affront to the legacy of the fallen service member, Chief Petty Officer William Owens.
Chief Owens’s father begs to differ.
The Pentagon routinely conducts investigations into the deaths of service members, the destruction of military equipment in battle and credible reports of civilian casualties. Such inquiries are now underway regarding the Yemen mission.
But there are broader questions those reviews are unlikely to address that Congress should demand answers to. The most important is whether national security officials in the Trump administration carefully considered the risks and potential benefits of the operation, and explained them to Mr. Trump before the president approved it just five days after taking office.
Another question is whether the operation yielded valuable intelligence. – by Editorial Board
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/28/opinion/lingering-questions-in-the-yemen-raid.html
27.2.2017 – NBC (* A P T)
Yemen SEAL Raid Has Yielded No Significant Intelligence: Officials
Last month's deadly commando raid in Yemen, which cost the lives of a U.S. Navy SEAL and a number of children, has so far yielded no significant intelligence, U.S. officials told NBC News.
Although Pentagon officials have said the raid produced "actionable intelligence," senior officials who spoke to NBC News said they were unaware of any, even as the father of the dead SEAL questioned the premise of the raid in an interview with the Miami Herald published Sunday
A senior Congressional official briefed on the matter said the Trump administration has yet to explain what prompted the rare use of American ground troops in Yemen, but he said he was not aware of any new threat from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the al Qaeda affiliate that was targeted.
The official, and others briefed on the matter who spoke to NBC News, echoed the remarks of Sen. John McCain, R.-Ariz., that the raid was designed to kill or capture one or more militants — something the military did not initially acknowledge.
Instead, Pentagon officials called it a "site exploitation mission" designed to gather intelligence.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said: "We gathered an unbelievable amount of intelligence that will prevent the potential deaths or attacks on American soil," said Spicer.
A Defense Department official also pushed back Monday afternoon, saying the raid has yielded "a significant amount" of intelligence.
But the only example the military has provided turned out to be an old bomb-making video that was of no current value.
On Monday, Spicer addressed the remarks of Bill Owens, whose son died.
"I can tell him that on behalf of the president, his son died a hero and the information that he was able to help obtain through that raid, as I said before, is going to save American lives," he said. "The mission was successful in helping prevent a future attack or attacks on this nation."
Multiple senior officials told NBC News they have not seen evidence to support that claim – by CYNTHIA MCFADDEN, WILLIAM M. ARKIN and KEN DILANIAN
28.2.2017 – Reuters (A P)
U.S. gathered valuable intelligence from Yemen raid: U.S. official
The United States gained valuable intelligence from last month's raid in Yemen about al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), including its explosives manufacturing, targeting, training and recruitment practices, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stressed that such insight was particularly important given the threat that AQAP has long posed.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-yemen-intelligence-idUSKBN1682TJ
My comment: LOL.
27.2.2017 – Talking Points Memo (A P)
White House: Yemen Raid Will Undergo 3 Reviews But 'Achieved Its Objectives'
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Monday that a counter-terrorism operation that resulted in the first combat casualty of President Donald Trump's term will undergo three reviews, but that the administration is "very comfortable with how the mission was executed."
"There will be three reviews done by the Department of Defense because of the nature of this," Spicer told reporters during his daily press briefing.
"It is standard operating procedure for the Department of Defense to undergo what they call a 15-6 review," he said, apparently referring to Army Regulation 15-6. "That review, in this case, is three-pronged because there was a fatality and the loss of life, there's that; because there were civilians involved, that's another; and then third is because there is hardware, a helicopter that was damaged."
Spicer said that the White House is "very comfortable with how the mission was executed." He also said that the raid "was successful in helping prevent a future attack or attacks on this nation."– by Esme Cribb.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/spicer-yemen-raid-three-reviews and this is Spicer in the press conference (film): http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/02/27/sean-spicer-father-navy-seal-killed-yemen-raid-investigation and http://thehill.com/policy/international/middle-east-north-africa/321471-yemen-seal-raid-yielded-no-significant-intel and by Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.de/white-house-responds-to-father-of-navy-seal-killed-in-yemen-raid-2017-2?r=US&IR=T and by ABC (with film): http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pentagon-reviews-seal-raid-yemen/story?id=45776709
My comment: LOL. And a short film by HRW: https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1290287111024316
and also
27.2.2017 – CBS (* A P T)
CENTCOM commander defends Yemen raid where U.S. SEAL killed
“The timing of this was linked to the broader offensive that we’re pursuing in Yemen,” said Army General Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command.
Votel told CBS News’ David Martin that preparation for the operation was thorough. Votel monitored the raid in real time.
“Some people have called it a success. Some people have called it a failure. What would you call it?” Martin asked.
“Well again, I mean, the object was to go in and collect intelligence,” Votel said. “We accomplished that, so from that perspective it was successful. I certainly understand how the family would look at this in a different light.” – By JAN CRAWFORD
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/preparation-for-yemen-raid-was-thorough-says-centcom-commander/
26.2.2017 – Reuters (A P)
Trump might support probe into Yemen raid, White House says
President Donald Trump might support an investigation into last month's U.S. raid in Yemen that killed several al Qaeda militants but also left a Navy SEAL and several civilians dead, the White House said on Sunday.
"I haven't had the chance to speak with him directly about that, but I would imagine that he would be supportive of that," White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on ABC's "This Week" television program.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-yemen-raid-idUSKBN1650QU
9.2.2017 – Peggy Tony (** A T)
Nine young children killed : The full details of botched US raid in Yemen
The topmost picture reveals :
Child relatives of people who died in botched US counterterrorism raid in Yemen on January 29, 2017.
Relatives of people killed in the raid gather in one of the decimated houses.
Planned for months, it was decided over dinner.
The raid on a village in rural Yemen reportedly aimed to capture or kill one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists and deliver a stinging blow to al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP), a militant network the US had been trying to dismantle for more than a decade.
The collection of small brick houses in Yemen’s dusty central region was home to civilian families as well as militants and was heavily-guarded, meaning a precise, well-practiced operation was paramount.
Intense surveillance was carried out for weeks, rehearsals took place in Djibouti, and Navy SEALS awaited the go-ahead from their commander-in-chief. It came just five days after President Donald Trump took office.
But as the elite team descended under the cover of darkness, what could have been the first major victory for the new administration in its renewed mission to defeat radical Islam quickly went dreadfully wrong.
As cover was blown, enemy fire returned and contingency plans failed, tragedy unfolded on all sides.
https://peggytony.blogspot.de/2017/02/nine-young-children-killed-full-details.html
Remark: Again, a full comprehensive description of the Yakla raid.
25.2.2017 – US Central Command (A P T)
U.S. Central Command announces 3 recent strikes in Yemen
Release No: 17-039 Jan. 25, 2017
My comment: Two drone strikes, the third is the great Yakla raid. All reported before, this CENTCOM report is interesting by itself.
26.2.2017 – NTV (A H P)
Flucht vor Donald Trump: Familien schlagen sich nach Kanada durch
Immer mehr Menschen fliehen aus Angst vor der harten Einwanderungspolitik des US-Präsidenten nach Kanada und hoffen auf Asyl. Hunderte Familien sind mit schwerem Gepäck unterwegs - teilweise mitten in der Nacht und bei klirrender Kälte.
In den USA fühlten sie sich offenbar nicht mehr sicher. "Die Leute haben Angst, dass sie sich am Ende in einer Situation wiederfinden, in der sie keinen Zugang zu einem fairen System haben", sagte Beuze. Die meisten der Neuankömmlinge in Kanada seien zuvor mit einem gültigen Visum in die USA eingereist und hätten wegen der Lage in ihren Herkunftsländern "gute Aussichten", als Flüchtlinge anerkannt zu werden.
http://www.n-tv.de/politik/Familien-schlagen-sich-nach-Kanada-durch-article19720401.html
23.2.2017 – Miami Herald (* A P)
Families of 9/11 victims might soon get day in court against Saudi officials
“They killed my husband,” she says, accusing Saudi officials of having financed the 9/11 attacks. “All I want is my day in court.”
She might be within weeks of getting it.
For more than 14 years, relatives of the nearly 3,000 people who died Sept. 11, 2001, battled Washington and several federal judges for the right to sue Saudi Arabia and the royal family in Riyadh — suspected by families and senior members of Congress of providing money and other support to the 19 attackers.
But Saudi Arabia is not done fighting — in court or in Congress. Indeed, Riyadh looks ready to pump unprecedented sums into a lobbying effort to unwind the new law.
The Saudis have hired a team of Washington powerbrokers who have held senior White House and congressional posts going back decades, paying at least 17 firms in Washington, Houston, Cleveland, Denver and Alexandria, Virginia, more than $1 million a month to try to turn back the clock.
Tony Podesta, one of Washington’s top lobbyists and the brother of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign manager John Podesta, is among the top figures on the team of influential insiders.
“This is one of the biggest lobbying efforts in the history of our country,” James Kreindler, lead attorney for the 9/11 families, told McClatchy.
This time, though, the families can boast of an advantage they’ve never had before — a president who supports their right to sue. President Donald Trump, a native New Yorker, vowed on the campaign trail to do everything he could to help the families, and those families believe he will stand by them even if Saudi money succeeds in turning Congress against a law it just passed – by James Rosen
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article134393744.html
26.2.2017 – NBC (A P)
Film: Senator McCain's $1M donation from Saudi Arabia revealed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7aHlumXPrk
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
22.2.2017 – British Government (A H P)
UK outlines new humanitarian support and urges international community to save lives before it's too late
From: Department for International Development and The Rt Hon Priti Patel MP
Part of: Humanitarian emergencies, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yeme
The International Development Secretary Priti Patel has today announced new packages of life-saving UK aid for South Sudan and Somalia and issued a call to action to the international community to step up their support before it is too late.
As the world faces an unprecedented number of humanitarian crises, Priti Patel outlined how the UK will lead the world in supporting famine stricken areas. In response to famine warnings in Somalia and South Sudan she announced new UK support to provide lifesaving food, water and emergency healthcare which will save more than a million lives.
This is alongside continued life-saving aid to Yemen and North East Nigeria which provided food, medical supplies, water and emergency shelter to over two million people in 2016.
In Yemen, the UK is delivering life-saving aid to the most vulnerable people which included supplying food, medical supplies, water and emergency shelter to over one million people last year.
My comment: What a hypocrisy! The British government strongly supports the Saudi aerial war and blockade against Yemen, which are responsible for the most part the humanitarian disaster. And Britain made billions by selling arms for this war. – “the UK will lead the world in supporting famine stricken areas”, oh my god! In case of Yemen, the sentence will be true in a abbreviated form: “the UK will lead the world in supporting famine”.
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
28.1.2017 – Saudi war crimes (* A P)
Berlin Konferenz 25.02.2017
Vergessene Kriegsverbrechen im #Jemen.
Gallery #Vergessener_Krieg_im_Jemen
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1644740445821943
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
28.2.2017 – Die Welt (* A P)
Israel schlägt Saudi-Arabien eine Anti-Iran-Allianz vor
Israel hat Saudi-Arabien die Bildung einer Art Nato im Nahen Osten vorgeschlagen. „Es ist Zeit, öffentlich ein formelles Bündnis zu bilden, eine Koalition aller gemäßigten Kräfte im Nahen Osten gegen den Terror“, sagte der israelische Verteidigungsminister Avigdor Lieberman der „Welt“.
Die gemäßigten sunnitischen Staaten hätten verstanden, dass „die größte Gefahr für sie nicht Israel ist, oder der Zionismus, oder die Juden, sondern der Iran“, sagte Lieberman. Zu den gemäßigten Staaten zählte er die Golfstaaten, namentlich auch Saudi-Arabien. Lieberman sagte, es sei egal, „ob es sich bei den Partnern einer solchen Allianz „um Muslime, Juden oder Christen handelt“.
Der Minister nahm direkt Bezug auf die Nato – Von Daniel-Dylan Böhmer und Michael Stürmer
Mein Kommentar: Etwas Ähnliches war auch von der Trump-Administration schon gekommen, unter Einschluss der USA. In saudischen Medien war schon eine Ablehnung zu lesen. „Gemäßigte Kräfte“: Das sind weder Lieberman und seine Regierung selbst noch die Saudis. Ein guter Witz, ein Bündnis ausgerechnet mit den saudischen Terrorpaten als „Koalition aller gemäßigten Kräfte im Nahen Osten gegen den Terror“ zu bezeichnen. Die Feuerwehr, die einen Brand mit Benzin löscht.
27.2.2017 – Josephjo1221 (A P)
Malaysia grants Saudi king Salman a honorary doctor in literature (photo)
https://twitter.com/JosephJo1221/status/836476522475241472
My comment: This is better than comedy.
27.2.2017 – Sarawak Report (* B K P)
More Troops To Yemen And What About Syria?
Najib [Prime Minister of Malaysia] has rather pathetically tried to use this visit by the Saudi King to convince Malaysians that the various sums of money totalling well over a billion dollars that came into his private account from 1MDB can in fact now be confirmed as a donation from “a Saudi Royal”.
This is not true, as numerous court cases, global investigations and confessions by various bankers have made entirely clear.
Even if it were true it would plainly be highly illegal, since the Prime Minister of a country ought not to secretly receive billions of dollars into his bank account from a foreign power.
The reason why the Saudi King has made this diplomatic visit is, of course, because Malaysia has unaccountably agreed to get stuck into Arab in-fighting in the Middle East. As if there are not enough local issues to worry about, as the Chinese military build up and Lahad Datu invasion made clear.
So, once again, in order to reassure concerned Malaysians, this government has resorted to lies.
Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysian troops in Saudi Arabia were only there for training exercises, specifically on evacuation and disaster relief.
“Our relationship with Saudi Arabia does not involve participation in any attack or operation, whether in Yemen, Syria or Iraq,” he told a press conference here today.
Just yesterday the Arab News said:
“As an extension of military cooperation between the two countries, Malaysian troops have participated in the Saudi-led coalition to restore legitimacy in Yemen, as well as in the “North Thunder” joint military exercises. Malaysia is also a member of the Saudi-led Islamic military alliance against terrorism, and joined in condemning the Houthis’ targeting of Makkah with a missile.”
Most countries that have soldiers on the ground in foreign lands see constant close coverage in their media exploring exactly what is going on. Now that the Saudi King has made clear he appreciates Malaysia’s engagement in his wars sufficiently to make this visit it is time that the Malaysian people and the families of these soldiers themselves got proper detailed information about what these young lives are being risked for.
http://www.sarawakreport.org/2017/02/more-troops-to-yemen-and-what-about-syria/
27.2.2017 – Bahrain Mirror (A K P)
Commander-in-Chief Honors BDF Members Taking Part in War on Yemen
According to Bahrain News Agency, the Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa deputised the Commander-in-Chief of the Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) to attend the honouring of the BDF's Special Operations Force (Taskforce 9) taking part in war on Yemen. He presented medals awarded by the King to members of the BDF's Special Operations Force (Taskforce 9) in recognition of their dedicated services, high morale, professionalism and discipline while performing their duties in Yemen.
http://bahrainmirror.com/en/news/36863.html
27.2.2017 – Foreign Affairs (* A E K P)
The UAE's Nuclear Push
And the Potential Fallout for the Middle East
e United Arab Emirates will soon be the first Arab state with a nuclear power program and the first to join the civilian nuclear club in more than a quarter of a century. Barring any delays, the country’s first reactor is scheduled to be operational by May 2017, after further inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency to ensure the fuel is used only for peaceful purposes. So far, the project is on budget and on schedule. The remaining three 1,400 megawatt South Korean-designed reactors are under construction and will be gradually connected to the grid by May 2020.
Along with such progress have come concerns about Arab states using their forthcoming nuclear capabilities to build a weapon sometime in the future. Last year, Israel’s former Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, stated that “We see signs that countries in the Arab world are preparing to acquire nuclear weapons, that they are not willing to sit quietly with Iran on the brink of a nuclear or atomic bomb.” A year before that, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated that the “Iran deal will provoke other countries in the region to pursue equivalent nuclear capabilities, almost certainly Saudi Arabia.” And during one of her speeches to Goldman Sachs in 2013, according to transcripts released by Wikileaks, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “The Saudis are not going to stand by. They’re already trying to figure out how they will get their own nuclear weapons. Then the Emiratis are not going to let the Saudis have their own nuclear weapons… and then the race is off.”
But the UAE, which is the farthest along among the Arab states in reaching its nuclear power goals, has made a convincing case that it needs nuclear power to address its rising demand for energy, reduce its fossil fuel dependence, and free up more oil for exports. To assuage worries about its intentions, in an April 2008 white paper, Abu Dhabi made a commitment to forgo [more for subscribers only)
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/iran/2017-02-19/uaes-nuclear-push
My comment: There have been claims the Saudis already are in possession of atomic weapons right now, what is quite dubious. It seems to be obvious that they would be interested in getting such weapons. But, to be honest: The reason for this cannot be, as written here, because of : “Iran on the brink of a nuclear or atomic bomb.”With the iran nuclear deal, this danger seems to be over.
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
1.3.2017 – MbKS15 (* A K P)
The following Chinese article says that #SaudiArabia has signed a $10B contract for 300x Pterodactyl II UAVs (photo)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/836981853265539073 referring to:
1.3.2017 – Baidu (* A K P)
The amount of up to more than 600 million: US allies ordered the Chinese 300 aircraft at once
There are foreign media revealed that the United States in the Middle East allies Saudi Arabia ordered 300 Chinese "Pterosaur 2" unmanned combat aircraft, the total contract value of up to 10 billion US dollars, more than 600 billion yuan, which is the Chinese military received these years Of the international arms trade in the super big one.
It is said that China sold to Saudi Arabia, "Pterosaur 2" in the price of each 8 million or so, with the US $ 30 million death compared to the UAV, the price is only a little more than a little, for the international arms sellers Said that the price of course, with great attraction.
and this from Reuters:
1.3.2017 – Reuters (* A K P)
China says it has received its largest foreign drone order - Xinhua
An undisclosed buyer has placed the largest overseas order for China's home-developed military drones, the Xinhua news agency has reported, in a boost for the Chinese arms industry's efforts to increase export volumes.
The order for the Wing Loong II was placed before the next-generation unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) successfully completed its maiden flight, Xinhua said late on Monday, citing the system's developer Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute.
It did not identify the buyer or the size of the order.
The Wing Loong II, which has wingspan of more than 20 metres (65 feet), is a medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV that has both reconnaissance and strike capabilities.
It conducted a 31-minute flight for the first time on Monday after taking off from a runway in western China.
"Its flight marks China's new generation reconnaissance and strike UAV. Following the United States, China becomes another country capable of developing such new-generation, large reconnaissance and strike UAV," said Li Yidong, chief designer of the series, whose programme is overseen by the state-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China.
China has been stepping up research into military drones in the hope that it can steal market share from the United States and Israel with its cheaper technology and willingness to sell to countries that Western states are reluctant to deal with – by Brenda Goh
http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUKKBN1670E5
My comment: Why they do not tell the buyer and the volume of the order? The Chinese article really does.
22.2.2017 – MbKS15 (* A K P)
#Taqnia (Saudi) signed an agreement with #ALIT (China) to manufacture all types of 'CH' UAVs in Kingdom & to promote them regionally #IDEX2017 (photos)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/834431626620858369
My comment: UAV = Unmanned aerial vehicle. – Also China wants to make money with killing and destruction in Yemen.
28.2.2017 – MbKS15 (A K)
Chairman of POF Board: around 50% of ordnance exports from #Pakistan Ordnance Factories come to the Gulf States (photo)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/836499758768357376
cp13b Flüchtlinge / Refugees
Siehe / Look at cp1
1.3.2017 – APA (* A H K)
45.000 Menschen fliehen laut UNO vor Kämpfen im Jemen
Der Kampf um die jemenitische Hafenstadt Mocha hat nach UNO-Angaben in den vergangenen Wochen etwa 45.000 Zivilisten in die Flucht getrieben. Betroffen seien laut UNO auch die Einwohner der in der Nähe gelegenen Stadt Dhubab am Roten Meer. Die nun genannte Zahl bedeutet einen steilen Anstieg gegenüber den 34.000 Flüchtlingen, von denen das UNHCR am 10. Februar gesprochen hatte.
1.3.2017 – AFP (* A H K)
Some 45,000 displaced by battles around Yemen's Mokha: UN
Fighting around Yemen's port of Mokha has forced some 45,000 people from their homes, a UN official said Wednesday, with many facing continued uncertainty and the threat of further displacement.
Shabia Mantoo, the Yemen spokeswoman for refugee agency UNHCR, told AFP that data compiled by her the agency and the UN Migration Agency (IOM) showed 45,000 people had been displaced in the last few weeks from Mokha and the nearby town of Dhubab.
Fighting has intensified in recent weeks in the southwest of Yemen, where forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi are battling to retake large parts of the country seized by Shiite Huthi rebels.
Loyalist troops took Mokha on February 10 and announced they aimed to push north and take the country's main Red Sea port of Hodeida next.
Mantoo said many of those fleeing the fighting around Mokha made their way north to Ibb district and to Hodeida province.
"Eight thousand people have been displaced from Mokha and Dhubab to Hodeida alone, many of them with literally nothing but the clothes on their backs," Mantoo said.
Two major concerns now are how to maintain access to the area and where the displaced will go if the fighting reaches Hodeida.
26.2.2017 – UNCHR (A H)
We're responding to new + prolonged displacement across Yemen incl in Hudaydah where urgent aid is reaching 3,200 newly displaced from Taizz (photos)
https://twitter.com/UNHCRYemen/status/836110475968524288
23.2.2017 – United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (A H)
Over 100 Somali refugees fleeing conflict in Yemen arrive in Mogadishu
One hundred and six Somali refugees returned to Somalia today after fleeing the ongoing conflict in Yemen.
The returnees, who consisted of the elderly, women and children, arrived at Mogadishu’s Aden Abdulle International Airport on Thursday morning on a commercial flight from Berbera, Somaliland, thus ending a difficult journey that began by boat in the Yemeni port of Aden.
Their return was facilitated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), with the support of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The refugees’ arrival occurred three months after another group of 127 Somali evacuees was repatriated from Yemen last year.
The 106 returnees were received at the Airport by senior IOM and Federal Government of Somalia officials. They included the IOM Somalia Head of Operations and Emergencies Sam Grundy, the IOM Programme Manager Heidrun Salzer and the Commissioner of the Somalia National Commission for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, Ahmed Nur. More returnees are expected to arrive in Mogadishu in the coming days.
Some of the returning Somalis wept openly and thanked God for bringing them back home safely. They recounted the harrowing experiences they endured in Yemen, where many had originally sought refuge from Somalia’s civil war in the 1990s.
“We hated life in Yemen. It was bad, and we longed to return to our country to live with our people,” said Layla Mohamed Salah, 38, who spent 15 years in Yemen.
http://reliefweb.int/report/somalia/over-100-somali-refugees-fleeing-conflict-yemen-arrive-mogadishu
31.1.2017 – Danish Refugee Council, Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat (* A H)
Mixed Migration in the Horn of Africa & Yemen Region, (January 2017)
Regional mixed migration summary for January 2017 covering mixed migration events, trends and data for Djibouti, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Puntland, Somalia, Somaliland and Yemen.
Yemen
Internal displacement: There were approximately 2 million internally displaced persons in Yemen at the end of January 2017.
Continued arrivals from the Horn of Africa: In January 2017, at least 5,125 migrants and asylum seekers (3,943 Ethiopians and 1,182 Somalis) arrived from the Horn of Africa to Yemen via the Red Sea, Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden. Numbers arriving overall were slightly lower than in December 2016, which was more pronounced on the Red Sea route from Djibouti, where reports of deportations of new arrivals from Yemen continue to persist (see below on migrant vulnerabilities). It is however understood that the actual number of arrivals from the Horn into Yemen is likely to have been higher during the period, due to the reduction of monitoring missions along Yemen’s coast.
Arabian Sea arrivals: In January 2017, an estimated 4,158 (2,987 Ethiopian and 1,171 Somali) migrants and asylum seekers arrived in Yemen via the Arabian Sea mostly from the Bossaso area in Puntland.
Red Sea arrivals: An estimated 967 (956 Ethiopians and 11 Somalis) migrants and asylum seekers arrived on the Red Sea coast of Yemen in January 2017, an 18% reduction on figures in December 2016. Migrants and asylum seekers arrived aboard 18 boats, which departed from Obock (Djibouti), landing in various towns in Lahj and Ta’iz governorates.
Migrant vulnerability and ongoing deportations from Yemen: Based with interviews with 428 Ethiopian nationals in Yemen (44% of all those arriving on the Red Sea coasts in January) a total of 1,687 human rights violations (either directly experienced or witnessed) were reported in January 2017. Abduction and interception continued to account for the largest proportion of protection concerns. Those who escape or are released from these dens continue to report that they were mistreated, starved, abused and that some, particularly women and girls, were subjected to sexual violence including rape.
612 separate incidences of interception and deportation by authorities in Yemen were also reported in January.
Departures from Yemen: As of 31st December 2016, an estimated total of 92,603 persons had fled Yemen to countries within the Horn of Africa (36,603 in Djibouti, 34,760 in Somalia, 14,102 in Ethiopia, and 6,838 in Sudan) since March 2015. Yemenis and Somalis continue to represent the largest proportion of people moving out of Yemen, accounting for 30% and 35% of movements respectively. Djibouti is the primary destination for Yemeni nationals, with 71% of those moving opting to travel to Djibouti. The general outflow of persons from Yemen has reduced since peak figures in 2015. More recent figures were not available at the time of writing this report.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/mixed-migration-horn-africa-yemen-region-january-2017 and in full: http://regionalmms.org/monthlysummary/RMMS%20Mixed%20Migration%20Monthly%20Summary%20January%202017.pdf = http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/RMMS%20Mixed%20Migration%20Monthly%20Summary%20January%202017.pdf
and map:
http://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/mixed-migration-horn-africa-yemen-region-january-2017 and in full: http://regionalmms.org/monthlymaps/RMMS%20Mixed%20Migration%20Monthly%20Map%20January%202017.pdf = http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/RMMS%20Mixed%20Migration%20Monthly%20Map%20January%202017.pdf
31.12.2016 – UNCHR (* A H)
Infographics: Total Arrivals from Yemen in the Region: 183,483
Arrivals from Yemen by Country
http://data.unhcr.org/yemen/regional.php
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
1.3.2017 – Terror Monitor (* A T)
Publication of the organization ISIS: images to repel an attack of the army loyal to Saleh and the Houthis in Qevh area in Al Baydah province (photos)
https://twitter.com/TerrorMonitorAR/status/836931692912836608
My comment: And also in this province there seems to exist a tactical alliance between terrorists and pro Hadi- / Pro Saudi forces.
28.2.2017 – Fars News (* A P T)
Yemeni Intelligence Official Discloses Riyadh's Attempts to Strengthen Al-Qaeda in Abyan Province
A Yemeni intelligence source disclosed Saudi Arabia's attempts to reinvigorate al-Qaeda terrorist group in Abyan province through excessive arms shipments and aids.
"The al-Qaeda terrorists have received a cargo of weapons sent by the Saudi mercenaries stationed in Ma'arib, near Akad heights in Lodar city of Abyan province," the source told FNA on Tuesday.
According to the Yemeni activists in the Southern parts of the country, the forces loyal to General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar (fugitive president Mansour Hadi's deputy commander of armed forces) have sent the arms to al-Qaeda after the terrorist group's recent defeats in different cities of Abyan province, the source added.
The al-Qaeda terrorist group is fighting against the Yemeni army and popular forces in Yemen, while multiple reports and documents show that the terrorists are operating for the Saudi army after working out a deal last year.
Local sources in Yemen disclosed earlier this month that several members of the al-Qaeda terrorist group, including a senior commander, have been killed in an ambush operation of the Yemeni army and popular forces in Ta'iz province.
"Notorious al-Qaeda commander, Mohsen al-Aoulaqi, was among a number of the terrorists killed in the Yemeni army's ambush operation East of al-Mukha region in Ta'iz province," a Yemeni military source said.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951210001267
My comment: Further information will be needed. Well, here is at least a bit:
7.2.2017 – Haykal Bafana (* A P)
Shocker : #Yemen ambassador says use of Al Qaeda militants in the resistance was explained & all info given to "highest levels" of US govt. (text in Arabic, in image)
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/829019416746663937
27.2.2017 – Financial Times (* B T)
War-torn Yemen may attract jihadi fighters from Syria and Iraq
The crisis in this unstable country could worsen if Isis joins with al-Qaeda
Yemen, ravaged by civil war and with a devastating famine looming, is an ideal refuge for Isis militants fleeing Iraq and Syria.
hate-filled narratives favoured by militant jihad. Add to this poisonous climate the rugged topography of Yemen, the security vacuum left by an absentee government residing in Riyadh, the weakening of tribal social glue as internally displaced people move east, rampant smuggling networks and a vast and porous coastline. The result is a pocket of instability to which Isis fighters can flee. Although some Isis forces already operate within Yemen, it is not the dominant jihadi group in the country. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has the upper hand in terms of numbers, influence and appeal.
The conflict in Yemen is boosting the appeal of militant Islamist extremism at precisely the time when Isis fighters in Syria and Iraq may be casting around for a new home.
This dangerous confluence of circumstances could give rise to several scenarios. First, Isis may start to rebuild in Yemen with the help of its local branches and the tribal contacts of returning Yemeni fighters. Given AQAP’s head start and the strong roots it has put down, it would be hard for Isis to eclipse it.
Second, an influx of Isis fighters into Yemen could provoke more direct confrontation between Isis and AQAP, exacerbating Yemen’s instability.
Third, Isis fighters may start to integrate with AQAP, swelling its numbers. After all, both groups share the pressing goal of waging war against Yemen’s perceived Shiites.
As Yemen’s jihadis come under escalating military pressure, they may bury their differences and join ranks. Isis could start to blend into AQAP in Yemen. The longer the conflict drags on, the more fertile the breeding ground for jihad – by Elisabeth Kendall
My comment: There already had been several reports that IS fighters already had been brought to Yemen (via Aden).
25.2.2017 – Bassem (* A P T)
Film: Former US Vice president Joe Biden explains Harvard University that the Saudis armed terrorists in Syria – and that ISIS had come to Syria from Iraq
https://twitter.com/BBassem7/status/835520340855922688
US also indirectly supported AlQaeda in Syria by arming "moderate" rebels who handed half of their weapons 2 AlQaeda
https://twitter.com/BBassem7/status/835523159889629184 referring to:
16.3.2016 – Aron Lund (* B T)
Ex-Ahrar scholar Abul-Abbas: how can Nusra be allowed to siphon off 50% of what FSA groups get from USA & Co? (Arab text in image)
https://twitter.com/aronlund/status/710106089648431104
25.2.2017 – ARWA Rights (* A K T)
#Saudi news channel claims Coalition "Army" "liberated" Himat Liqah #Albayda #YEMEN while #Daesh claims it liberated the same (photos)
https://twitter.com/arwa_rights/status/835527042133262337
Comment by Jane Novak: #Saudi & #ISIS claim same military victory in #Yemen for umpteenth time. In various battle zones, #KSA arms, funds militant gangs for war.
https://twitter.com/JNovak_Yemen/status/836148272955801600
Comment by Hisham Al-Omeisy: Umpteenth time. She's absolutely right.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/836155929821335552
cp15 Propaganda
1.3.3017 – Arab News (A P)
Yemen president in Riyadh for talks on reconstruction, military effort
Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi arrived in Riyadh Monday evening to enhance coordination of efforts to defeat Yemeni rebels and carry out reconstruction in liberated areas.
Yemeni Tourism Minister Mohamed A. Qubaty told Arab News on Tuesday that the visit concerns “coordination of our efforts to defeat the rebels completely.”
He added: “There are other key matters regarding rebuilding the country, reconstruction and development work. Those are the main topics to be discussed during the visit in Riyadh with our brothers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and our Arab allies in general.”
Qubaty said more than 80 percent of Yemen is in the hands of the internationally recognized government. “We need to wage war against terrorists, Al-Qaeda and Daesh so people can see a bright future,” he added. – by RASHID HASSAN
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1061441/saudi-arabia
Remark: On Hadis’s talks with UAE, look at the facts at the Stratfor report, linked in cp1.
28.2.2017 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A P)
FM Al-Jubeir Says Saudi Arabia Reserves Right to Self-Defense against Yemen Coup Militias
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir confirmed Tuesday that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reserves its right to self-defense against any attack, in a reference to attacks staged by Yemen coup militias targeting Saudi borders.
FM Al-Jubeir reiterated that Saudi Arabia supports a peaceful solution in Yemen based on the Houthi’s commitment to a cessation of hostilities in accordance with the United Nations Security Council’s Resolution 2216, reported the Saudi state-owned news agency SPA.
The Houthi militias have conducted military maneuvers in Saada, a Yemeni area near Saudi borders before launching operation of “Decisive Storm”.
Militias fired medium and heavy weapons during armed operations which blatantly pose a threat to the Kingdom, regional security, and the international navigation in the Arabian Sea and the strait of the Bab Al-Mandab.
My comment: Propaganda like this one is hard to stand. “its right to self-defense against any attack, in a reference to attacks staged by Yemen coup militias targeting Saudi borders”. Here Jubeir simply turns the facts upside down. The Houthis started shelling Saudi territory just 10 weeks AFTER the Saudi aerial war against Yemen had started. He simply changes cause and consequence when telling such stories. He further tries to argue related to Houthi maneuvers in the border region. Well, international law does not allow to take such maneuvers – if they really had happened – as a reason for starting a war. I just remember when in Estland US tanks came provocatively close to the Russian border checkpoint in Narva city a few years ago. What happened? Is there a war now? – And, again, in case of the international navigations it is all the same: Jubeir just omits what has actually threatened international navigation in the Red Sea: attacks at the Yemeni coastline by Saudi warships and Saudi bombing of fishing boats and refugee boats.
And
28.2.2017 – Saudi Press Agency (A P)
International Support for the Kingdom's Right to Defend Itself against Houthis after Targeting 700 Civilians in the Kingdom's South
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's steps to defend itself against rockets and projectiles launched by Houthi Militias enjoyed an international support where a number of Arab, Islamic and friendly countries have expressed their stand by the Kingdom in these steps and stressed that targeting of cities and civilians by Houthis in control of Yemeni capital of Sanaa directly gives the Kingdom a right to respond to any threat with all possible means.
My comment: The same propaganda narrative as before, now on a broader scale.
28.2.2017 – Al Sahwa (A P)
Online campaign to expose crimes committed against civilians in Yemen
An online campaign is to be launched on Tuesday, 8:00 pm, on social media with the aim of condemning the crimes committed by Houthi militias on populated cities.
This campaign aims to expose war crimes committed by Houthis and ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh to the public opinion. The campaign is entitled "Houthi terrorism kills civilians#".
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-4512
My comment: There actually are Houthi crimes against humanity. Anyway, it hardly should be labeled as “terrorism” – otherwise that would be a broader understanding of what “terrorism” means – and the Saudis (certainly much more than the Houthis ever will reach to), the US government, the CIA also should be labeled as “terrorists”. And: This should “expose the militias that killed thousands of civilians as they are bombing populated cities and areas.”. Well, the campaigners never seem to have heard of something which is called “Saudi coalition”: Thus, I classified this article as “propaganda”.
28.2.2017 – Al Sahwa (A P)
Vice President: Iran aims to destabilize the region
Yemen Vice President Ali Mohsin Saleh has said that Iran violates the United Nations resolutions through smuggling weapons to the Houthis in Yemen.
In a meeting with the US Ambassador to Yemen Mathew Tuller on Monday, Vice President stressed that Iran aims to destabilize the region, particularly Saudi Arabia, threatens the international navigation, props up terrorism and target interests of some states.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-4487
My comment: This does not become true by repeating it again and again.
26.2.2017 – UAE Interact (A H P)
UAE INITIATIVES IN YEMEN MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN DEVELOPMENT, RECONSTRUCTION: YEMENI AMBASSADOR
The UAE's initiatives in Yemen are making a difference in the country's development and reconstruction, and have enabled fast-paced improvement in the humanitarian situation in areas liberated from the rebels, said Fahad Saeed Al Menhali, Yemeni Ambassador to the UAE.
"By all measures, the response of the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) to the humanitarian situation in Yemen exceeded all expectations. It was effective in returning life to normal after the crisis," he said, during a recent meeting with Dr. Hamdan Musallam Al Mazrouei, Chairman of the Board of the Emirates Red Crescent, as part of consultations to improve the humanitarian response to the crisis in Yemen.
The Emirates Red Crescent's humanitarian operations are focussed on relief, healthcare and education, and its strong presence in the areas that saw the most development has earned it a prominent place among humanitarian agencies operating in the country, he further added.
"The UAE, led by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, prioritises the humanitarian cause of the Yemeni people, based on the humanitarian approach of the founder of the UAE, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who spared no effort to back the Yemeni people in all circumstances," Dr. Al Mazrouei said.
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
1.3.2017 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
The Violations and Crimes that are committed by#Saudi_Arabia and its alliance in #Yemen28/2/2017 (full list)
https://www.facebook.com/551288185021551/photos/a.551858951631141.1073741828.551288185021551/782534638563570/?type=3 and http://lcrdye.org/lcrd/Eng/PageDetails?id=1662 (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/28-Feb-2017.pdf )
28.2.2017 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
The Violations and Crimes that are committed by#Saudi_Arabia and its alliance in #Yemen27/2/2017 (full list)
https://www.facebook.com/551288185021551/photos/a.551858951631141.1073741828.551288185021551/782078261942541/?type=3 and http://lcrdye.org/lcrd/Eng/PageDetails?id=1661 (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/27-Feb-2017.pdf )
27.2.2017 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
The Violations and Crimes that are committed by#Saudi_Arabia and its alliance in #Yemen26/2/2017 (full list)
https://www.facebook.com/551288185021551/photos/a.551858951631141.1073741828.551288185021551/781524291997938/?type=3 and http://lcrdye.org/lcrd/Eng/PageDetails?id=1660 (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/26-Feb-2017.pdf ) and also the main raids of the last four days, by Saba: http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457675.htm
1.3.2017 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
US-Saudi Aggression Wages Raids on Dhamar
the aggression warplanes targeted Al-Maidan area in Utmah district using two air strikes. http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=66207&lang=en
1.3.2017 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Al Jouf: warplanes of the Saudi aggression waged raid on Al Mtoon directorate
www.yamanyoon.com/?p=66182&lang=en
1.3.2017 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
#Marib: warplanes of the Saudi American aggression waged raid in Sirwah district
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=66140&lang=en
1.3.2017 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Al Hodeidah: injured two citizens by the raids of the Saudi aggression#
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=66115&lang=en
1.3.2017 – Ahmad Alghobary (A K)
3 hours ago , #Saudi jets dropped 4 cluster bombs on Althaher area #Saada #Yemen
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/836963645783433216
28.2.2017 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Saada: Saudi missile attack targets farms and property of citizens in Munabiah directorate
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=66009&lang=en
1.3.2017 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
#Saada: warplanes of the Saudi American aggression waged raids in Kitaf district
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=66151&lang=en
28.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi aggression launches raids on Serwah
The US-Saudi aggression warplanes waged on Tuesday two raids on Serwah district of Mareb province, a security official told Saba.
The two raids targeted al-Mahgzah area in the district, causing the destruction of a car and a water pump.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457584.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=66056&lang=en
28.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi warplanes launch 2 strikes on Mareb
The Saudi aggression's fighter jets waged two airstrikes on Mareb province overnight, a local official told Saba Tuesday.
The airstrikes targeted al-Makhdarah area and Serawh district.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457534.htm
27.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi aggression launches raids on Mareb
The US-Saudi aggression warplanes waged on Monday two air raids on several parts of Mareb provinces.
A local official told Saba that the hostile warplanes dropped a cluster bomb on Harib-Nehm area, in the western part of Mareb.
The US-Saudi aggression warplanes launched an air raid on Serwah district.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457480.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=65954&lang=en
27.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi aggression wages eight raids on Jawf
The US-Saudi aggression warplanes launched eight raids on al-Ghail district of Jawf province.
A local official told Saba that the US-Saudi aggression targeted Shawaq Valley and al-Maqatee area in al-Ghail with eight raids.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457481.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=65957&lang=en
27.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
the US-Saudi aggression warplanes waged two raids on al-Amri area in Thubab, Taiz province, one of the raids was a cluster bomb
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457485.htm
26.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi airstrike on Dhamar
The US-Saudi aggression on Sunday launched a raid on Utmah district of Dhamar province, a local official told Saba.
The strike hit Asoh area, no casualties were reported.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457376.htm
26.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi fighter jets renew strike on Dhamar
The US-Saudi aggression warplanes on Sunday renewed strike on Utmah district of Dhamar province, a local official told Saba.
The warplanes hit Asoh area in Bani Sawid in the district, the official added.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457424.htm
26.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi fighter jets wage 2 strikes on Nehm
The US-Saudi aggression fighter jets on Sunday launched two strikes on Nehm district of Sana'a province, a local official told Saba.
The warplanes hit al-Hawla area two times, causing heavy damage to citizens' properties and farms, the official added.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457431.htm
26.2.2017 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Saudi American Raid Targets Sheep and Cattle of Al-Awlah Region
Warplanes of the Saudi American aggression targeted on Sunday sheep and cattle owned by a citizen in Jawf governorate, resulting in large material damage.
The hostile raid targeted the citizen’s cattle in Al-Awla region, Al Matmah district, killing more than 50 of livestock, local source reported.
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=65824&lang=en
26.2.2017 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)
Saada: Aggression Wages 3 Raids on Mandabh and Al-Sabhan Regions, Baqim District, Saada province
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=65801&lang=en
26.2.2017 – Hona Almasirah (A K PH)
A long film on the Arhab air raid against a women funeral (Arabic):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91tcxGgBAnU
28.2.2017 – Berlin Yemen Conferende (A K)
Film: Crimes of the forgotten war in Yemen - Al-Mazraq Camp 30,Mar 2015
Some families went ta a camp for the displaced in Al-Mazraq area in Hajjah province.They thought the camp would be the safest place but US-Saudi raids targeted the camp which killed 25 and wounded 65
https://twitter.com/DrMaznaei/status/836218145920724992
cp17a Kriegsereignisse: Küste / Theater of War: Coast
1.3.2017 – Soutnik News (A K)
Senior Houthi leader Yahya Eryani and his five bodyguards were killed on Wednesday by an airstrike of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
The airstrike hit Eryani’s car in the southern Khalid ibn al-Walid camp east of the city of Mocha, the Al Arabiya broadcaster reported.
Since Monday, the Saudi-led coalition has reportedly carried out over 30 airstrikes near the Khalid ibn al-Walid camp.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201703011051172045-saudi-coalition-yemen-houthi-airstrike/
1.3.3017 – Nasser Arrabyee (A K PH)
Yemen fighters Arming themselves from advanced weapons of US-backed Saudi invaders defeated in Jabal Nar of Mokha west on Feb 28 (photos)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/836979151429120000
https://twitter.com/ali_alshami_yem/status/836970637549842432
1.3.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army bombs Saudi-paid military vehicles, kills crews, captures sites in Mokha
The army and popular forces bombed five military vehicles of the US-Saudi-paid mercenaries and captured their sites in Mokha district of Taiz province, a military official told Saba on Wednesday.
The official said the military vehicles were bombed eastern the district, and their crew members were totally killed, while the captured sites were in the north.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457666.htm
28.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (* A K PS)
Pro-government forces advance towards Khaled camp western Taiz
A military source said that the pro-government forces advanced Tuesday in the direction of the Khalid ben al Waleed camp, which is located in the center of Mawza district in western Taiz province, southwest of Yemen.
The source told Almasdaronline that the pro-government forces’ advancement came in conjunction with intensive rocket and artillery bombardment on the locations of the Houthi-Saleh forces around the camp and on the road linking between eastern al Mokha and the camp.
The source added that the pro-government forces have secured the mountainous hills in western Mawza.
“The pro-government forces’ advancement also came after clearing hundreds of landmines on the roads leading to the camp.”
On the other hand, the fighter jets of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition launched during the past two days more than forty raid on the Houthis’ positions in the camp and other areas in the district.
It is noteworthy that Khalid camp is one of the vital strategic locations on Yemen’s western coasts, and seizing it will enable the pro-government forces to secure al Mokha city, and cut the Houthis supply line between the western of Taiz and Hodeida, western Yemen.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/89199
28.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
20Houthi casualties in Arab Coalition airstrikes on sites western Taiz
The fighter jets of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition launched on Monday intense airstrikes on the sites of the forces loyal to the Houthi group and ex-president Saleh in Mawza and al Mocha districts in western Taiz governorate, southwestern Yemen.
A military source told Almasdaronline that the fighter jets launched five air raids on Khaled military camp in Mawza, three raids on reinforcements in al Mocha crossroads, and two raids on the road between al Mocha and Mawza.
More than twenty militants from the Houthis and allied forces were killed and injured, and 5 military vehicles were destroyed in the aerial bombardment, according to the source.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/89188
28.2.2017 – Al Sahwa (A K PS)
Yemeni official: Massive campaign prepared to liberate al-Khokhah district
Chief of the Moral Guidance Mohsin Khasroof has affirmed that the National Army and the Popular Resistance backed by the Arab Coalition is preparing to conduct a massive campaign to liberate the coastal town of al-Khokhah, expecting to be liberated during the next two days.
He told Okaz newspaper that the militias are in a state of collapse in all fronts of western coasts, stressing that the liberation of the Yemen coasts will pose a painful blow to the putschists in Yemen.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-4522
Remark: “National Army and the Popular Resistance” = president hadi fighters and allies.
26.2.2017 – Sputnik News (* A K)
Yemeni Armed Forces Restore Control Over Al Hudaydah Province
Yemeni armed forces, supported by air force of Arab coalition, started an operation to restore control over Al Hudaydah governorate in the west of the country, media reported on Sunday.
The government forces have restored control over one of the villages on the way to Al Khokha district in the Al Hudaydah governorate, the Sky News Arabia reported citing an army source.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201702261051052906-yemen-armed-forces-operation/
Remark: “Yemeni Armed Forces“ = president Hadi fighters. The offensive which already took Mokha is announced to be continued further north. – The headline is odd and misleading: The Hadi forces just have reached the frontier of Hudeidah province.
And more reporting by pro-Hadi- / pro-Saudia Islah Party media:
27.2.2017 – Al Sahwa (* A K PS)
National Army launches operation to liberate al-Hudeidah
A Yemeni military commander said on Sunday that the battle for restoring the governorate of al-Hudeidah was launched.
Brig. Gen. Nassar al-Maqdashi affirmed that militias of the Houthis and Saleh rally their fighters in the town of al-Khokha which is located between the governorates of Taiz and al-Hudeidah.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-4456
27.2.2017 – Al Sahwa (* A K PS)
Yemen's army scores gains in al-Hudeidah
Yemen's National Army managed on Sunday to liberate the area of al-Zahari in the north of Mocha.
Violent clashes are currently ongoing in the area of Mawshaj of al-Hudeidah governorate.
Militias of the Houthis and Saleh received painful blows in the western coast of Yemen and hundreds of their fighters were killed, wounded and captured.
A Yemeni military commander has said that the battle for restoring the governorate of al-Hudeidah started.
Brig. Gen. Nassar al-Maqdashi affirmed that militias of the Houthis and Saleh rally their fighters in the town of al-Khokha which is located between the governorates of Taiz and al-Hudeidah.
The National Army is currently fighting to restore Khalid Camp which is close to the area of Mocha ,and it is about to take over it.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-4458 and similar by Almasdar Online: http://almasdaronline.com/article/89156
and
26.2.2017 – MbKS15 (A K PS)
#Saudi-led Coalition Forces launch a new phase of Opr ‘Golden Spear’ and recapture areas south of Al Hudaydah (photos)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/835951536798851072
and
27.2.2017 – Almasdar Online (* A K PS)
Dozens of Houthi casualties in Coalition airstrikes bombardment on reinforcements and sites in Taiz
A source in the field said that dozens of militants from the Houthi-Saleh forces were killed and injured in airstrikes launched by the fighter jets of the Saudi-led Arabic Coalition on Friday evening eastern Taiz governorate, southwestern Yemen.
The source told Almasdaronline reporter that the coalition fighter jets targeted Houthi reinforcements and sites in Mawza road near to Khaled ben al Walid military camp, eastern al Mocha city.
The source added that the fighter jets also launched several attacks on Sunday and destroyed military equipment and ammunition stores.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/89147
cp17b Kriegsereignisse: Sonstige / Theater of War: Other
1.3.23017 – Anadolu (A K)
Violence kills dozens in northern Yemen
Dozens were reportedly killed in deadly clashes between government forces and Houthi rebels in Yemen’s northern Al-Jawf province on Wednesday, according to a local military spokesman.
"Dozens of Houthis and allied forces of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh were killed in the confrontations," Abdullah al-Ashraf, a spokesman for government forces, told Anadolu Agency.
He, however, did not give an exact number of fatalities.
The spokesman said nine government troops were also killed in the violence in the province, which is close to Saudi border.
There was no comment from the Houthi group on the claim – By Mohammed al-Samei
http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/violence-kills-dozens-in-northern-yemen/761678
26.2.2017 – Fars News (A K PH)
Yemeni Commander: Jordan's Fighter Jet Downed through Special Intelligence Operations
A senior commander of Yemen's revolutionary committees disclosed that the downing of Jordan's F16 fighter jet on Saturday was the result of a sophisticated intelligence operation near the borders with Saudi Arabia.
"The special intelligence operation to down the Jordanian fighter jet was conducted in coordination with the Yemeni army air force and ground defense units stationed along Yemen's common borders with Saudi Arabia overlooking the Najran region," Mohammad al-Shami told FNA on Sunday.
He said the Jordanian warplane was eventually downed by Yemen's air defense unit, and warned, "The Saudi coalition should wait for more such operations in Southern Yemen."
Informed military sources disclosed on Saturday that the Yemeni army and popular forces shot down a Saudi-led coalition fighter jet in the Kingdom's province of Najran.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951208001471
Remark: Reporting, photos, films: YPR 272. And one more film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5w7W8OoKsY
26.2.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Artillery shells mercenaries in Mokha
The army and popular forces on Sunday shelled US-Saudi-paid mercenaries' gatherings Mokha district of Taiz province, a military official told Saba.
The artillery of the army hit the gatherings eastern the district, hitting the target directly.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457366.htm
Houthi / Saleh reports
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=66184&lang=en
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457666.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457647.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457669.htm
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951211000946
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=66064&lang=en
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457579.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457552.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457551.htm and http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=65997&lang=en
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457442.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457443.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457447.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457485.htm
http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=65891&lang=en
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457381.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457390.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news457396.htm
Hadi government / Saudi / UAE reports
http://almasdaronline.com/article/89189
http://almasdaronline.com/article/89155
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
28.2.2017 – Narrative (* B H P)
THE SECRET LIFE OF A LONELY GAY CHRISTIAN IN YEMEN
As Al-Qaeda and ISIS encroach on his once-progressive city, one terrified young man has become the ultimate “infidel.”
A resident of Aden, a regional capital in southern Yemen, Nader converted to Christianity from Islam more than two decades ago. He is also gay.
“In Yemeni society I wish people would see me not as ‘just gay’ or ‘just Christian,’” he says between numerous glances out an open window. “I am a human being, a person. I wish they would see me as that.”
Yemen law is based in part on the principles of Sharia, declaring homosexuality illegal and punishable by death. Yemenis like Nader are trapped, and receive little attention from international media or governments.
Nader and other locals disclosed that fourteen gay men were murdered in Aden this past year alone. He also claims that most of them were killed by Al Qaeda members, who, before joining the terrorist organization, were romantically linked to their eventual victims. After relationships end, he says, the men pledge their allegiance to Al Qaeda as a front or for redemption.
When the Republic of Yemen was formed in 1990 – when the southern half of the country united with the north – the few Christians who remained after the British and Socialist periods were threatened. Then, most fled the country as the fundamentalist Salafi movement – an ultra-conservative branch within Sunni Islam that prioritizes religious matters over worldly affairs – gained power.
The persecution, threats and assaults have left Nader wanting to leave Yemen. “I want a place that gives me freedom, to worship my religion, to be gay without consequence, to practice art,” he says.
But if an offer came to relocate, he would still have concerns. “I worry they will take my passport, essentially my country and my family from me,” he says. “I will not be able to come back; I will not be able to support my siblings.” – By Maria de la Guardia
http://narrative.ly/the-secret-life-of-a-lonely-gay-christian-in-yemen/
27.2.2017 – RT (* B)
‘Nobody taking responsibility for Yemen war’ – Arab Banksy to RT
With the Yemeni conflict showing no signs of easing, RT spoke to a graffiti artist who’s been capturing the horrors and hardships with his brush and paint. He believes that, even amidst unrelenting war, art can bring people together.
“Yemen was dragged into a catastrophic war, and ordinary civilians are paying a high cost for it, and they will be paying it for decades,”Murad Subay, whose work recently started catching the attention of mainstream media, told RT. Subay, who not only creates graffiti himself, but also organizes mass workshops, says he is using his artwork to draw attention to the dire conditions in Yemen.
“There's no responsibility, no sympathy with the difficulties Yemeni people are facing there.”
“It's a catastrophic war, and no one is taking responsibility for it. We hope that the voice of reason will be heard, and the war will be stopped, so that we can overcome the consequences of this catastrophe,” he says.
Subay, who is already an award-winning artist, seems genuinely uninterested in pursuing glory and fame for the sake of it. He daubs the walls of ruined Yemeni houses with haunting images of war and starving children, and tents for the displaced with pictures of barbed wire or dream-homes, traveling across Yemen despite the dangers – all of it “for the sake of peace.”
His graffiti metaphorically depicts the ugliness of war, like a malnourished child locked in a blood-red coffin or a small girl about to pick up a flower sticking from a landmine that’s about to explode (with photos and film)
https://www.rt.com/news/378768-yemen-artist-arab-banksy/
26.2.2017 – Rania Khalek (* B P)
Criticism of Wahabism and Salafism is NOT Islamophobia (text in image)
https://twitter.com/RaniaKhalek/status/835913053401149441
26.2.2017 – Omar Baddar (* B P)
Film: Enough Sectarianism
https://twitter.com/OmarBaddar/status/835931424368668676
2.9.92016 – Zulfikar (A P)
Film: Egyptian TV commentator roasts Wahhabi Imam of Mecca's Grand Mosque
https://twitter.com/Leb_Twelver/status/771916411388235776
Correction: Ok not the imam from Mecca apparently . Buy nonetheless an Imam in KSA and father of saudi jihadist in Syria
https://twitter.com/2flamesburning1/status/836319845625053187
4.9.2015 – Has Hafidh (A P)
Film: Egyptian preacher cites fatwa saying Shia are heretics & their blood & wealth are halal (permissible) to take. Arabic
https://twitter.com/HasHafidh/status/639743270814371840
My comment: This is Salafism as supported by Saudi Arabia.
and
25.2.2017 – Bassem (A P)
Film: what Saudi state sponsored mosques preachers spread.
https://twitter.com/BBassem7/status/835760235054694401
2013 – Mereja Forum (* B H)
ETV Documentary: Tigray Women the Sex Slaves of Choice in Yemen & Libya
Tsige Haile-Selassie, a resident of Edaga Hamus, Tigray
"....After a long journey on foot we reached the Yemeni-Saudi border region at night and the traffickers quickly separated the women from the men. By focusing the beams from their flashlights on the faces of the women, they picked those whom they thought were attractive and took them to another location nearby, where we could hear their screams as they were gang raped throughout the night. There was this one young Tigray girl in particular who covered her face with dirt to avoid being picked out from the crowd each time the gangs came to choose their sleeping partners for the night...."
Hayelom Kidanemariam, a resident of Adi-Grat, Tigray
".... when my travel companion died of thirst and hunger along the journey to Yemen, we decided to take her body back to Tigray for a burial, but the human smugglers pulled out their knives and prevented us from returning back to Tigray, so we had no choice but to bury her on the side of the road and continued on our journey..."
Ayte Redae Gebremichael, chairman of Tigray Youth Sports Council
"... This year we received a total of 71 bodies of Tigrayan youth who drown off the coast of Yemen after their boat capsized in bad weather conditions. In addition, thousands of young men and women were deported from Yemen and Saudi Arabia to Tigray, many of whom came home suffering from trauma-induced mental illnesses due to the torture and rape they had endured at the hands of armed Yemeni gangs...."
http://mereja.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=139764&p=733947 and film (in Ethiopian): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMZhIQ5lnGE
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-272-yemen-war-mosaic-272
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-272 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-272:
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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