US-slaughter in Yemen and elsewhere – Separatism in the South – Saudi Arabia.: Armament and new wars – Yemen war's seond anniversary – Politics, media, "deep state" and neoliberalism (German) – Saudi air raid at refugees boat, 42 killed – and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Angriff auf Flüchtlinsboot / Most important: Air raid at refugee boat
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 und Iran / Saudi Arabia 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
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
Klassifizierung / Classification
***
**
*
(Kein Stern / No star)
A = Aktuell / Current news
B = Hintergrund / Background
C = Chronik / Chronicle
D = Details
E = Wirtschaft / Economy
H = Humanitäre Fragen / Humanitarian questions
K = Krieg / War
P = Politik / Politics
PH = Pro-Houthi
PS = Pro-Saudi
T = Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
Saudischer Luftangriff auf Flüchtlingsboot: cp1a / Saudi air raid at refugee boat: cp1a
17.3.2017 – Moon of Alabama (*** B K P)
"War Torn" - U.S. Slaughter In Syria, Somalia And Yemen
Another MASSACRE: 31 #Somali refugees killed by Saudi Airstrike near western coast of #Yemen as they were fleeing war torn country
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/842682876374241281
When I saw the above tweet this morning I wondered which "war torn" country those Somalis were fleeing from when they were murdered. The tweet doesn't say. Were they fleeing from the "war torn" Somalia? Or were the fleeing from "war torn" Yemen?
It is a sad world when has to ponder such.
It turned out these people were fleeing from both wars:
Coast guard Mohammad Al Alay told Reuters the refugees, carrying official UNHCR documents, were on their way from Yemen to Sudan when they were attacked by an Apache helicopter near the Bab Al Mandeb strait.
An Apache attack helicopter shot up the refugees' boat. There are Saudi, United Emirates and U.S. Apache helicopters in or around Yemen. It is unknown which of them ordered and which executed the strike. These helicopters, their ammunition and the service for them are a favored U.S. export to belligerent dictatorships like Saudi Arabia.
The UN warns that 5 million people in Yemen are only weeks away from starving. The Saudis, the U.S. and the Emirates block all land routes, air ports and the coast of Yemen and no food supplies come through. This is an ongoing huge war crime and literally a genocide. But "western" media seem totally unimpressed. Few, if any, reports on the war on Yemen get published. Never have they so openly displayed their hypocrisy.
Somalia is falling back into an all-out civil war fueled by the decades old unwillingness of the U.S. to condone an independent local unity government. The Islamic Court Union, a unity government created by the Somalis in 2006, was the last working instance of a real Somali state. It had no Jihadist agenda and held down local warlords. It was destroyed by the Bush administration
A UN cable from June 2006, containing notes of a meeting with senior State Department and US military officials from the Horn of Africa task force, indicates that the United States was aware of the ICU’s diversity, but would “not allow” it to rule Somalia. The United States, according to the notes, intended to “rally with Ethiopia if the ‘Jihadist’ took over.” The cable concluded, “Any Ethiopian action in Somalia would have Washington’s blessing.” Some within the US intelligence community called for dialogue or reconciliation, but their voices were drowned out by hawks determined to overthrow the ICU.
During the last 10 years an on-and-off war is waged in Somalia with the U.S. military interfering whenever peace seems to gain ground. Currently a new round of war is building up. Weapons are streaming into Somalia from Yemen, where the Houthi plunder them from their Saudi invaders:
Jonah Leff, a weapons tracing expert with conflict Armament Research, said many [Somali] pirates had turned to smuggling. They take boatloads of people [from Somalia] to Yemen and return with weapons, he said.
The wars on Somalia and Yemen are the consequences of unscrupulous and incompetent(?) U.S. foreign policy. (Cutting down the size of the U.S. State Department, as the Trump administration now plans to do, is probably the best thing one can do for world peace.)
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/03/war-torn-us-slaughter-in-syria-somalia-and-yemen.html = www.informationclearinghouse.info/46681.htm
My comment: This is also a very interesting information about the alleged arms smuggle from Iran to Yemen. Arms are smuggled OUT OF Yemen!!
18.3.2017 – Middle East Eye (** B P)
Yemen war: Demands for southern independence split coalition
Peace in the relatively calm city of Aden is under threat as rival sides eye up Yemen's future
But a new tension pervades the air, amid fears of a split within Decisive Storm, the military operation launched by the Saudi-led coalition in March 2015.
On one side there is the south Yemeni independence movement and the UAE, whose forces are a major presence in the city.
On the other is Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Hadi, whose return to Aden was, in part, enabled by the UAE, which also rebuilt the al-Ma'asheeq presidential palace, his current base.
"Everyone in Aden worries about the future, as the disputes between Hadi and the Southern Movement become clear to all of us."
But amid the current conflict, the decades-old issue of independence and who runs Aden is causing cracks.
There has been no widespread violence yet – but the fears of Kelish and others are not without good reason.
On 12 February, Hadi ordered Lieutenant Colonel Saleh al-Omairi, the commander of Aden’s airport, to leave the site. Omairi serves with the Security Belt forces, which consists of fighters from the Southern Resistance and was trained by the UAE.
The reasons for the order are unknown: what is known is that Aden airport is one of only two still functioning in the country and therefore strategically important.
Omairi refused to go – so Hadi sent in his presidential forces. The resulting confrontation engulfed the surrounding area as well as the airport itself for several hours as Emirates warplanes buzzed overhead. Eventually Hadi’s forces withdrew.
By the standards of Yemen it was uneventful: no fatalities, nine injured and buildings peppered with bullet holes. But it highlighted the tensions between the UAE and Hadi, who wants to be the main ruler of Aden.
And the problem for many of the Southern Movement is Hadi. They realise he may be president of Yemen once the war ends – but fear that his past talk of a federal Yemen will not deliver an independent south.
One member of the Southern Movement told MEE: "We accepted Hadi and his government in Aden for the sake of the coalition countries, led by the UAE in Aden.
"We are sure that the coalition countries, led by the UAE in Aden, will support the independence of the south. That’s why we support them.” For its part the UAE has not commented on the issue of independence.
Southern Movement fighters have worked with Security Belt forces, the source confirmed. Hadi does not have the authority to depose or appoint any leader of the Security Belt forces, the source added.
The leaders of the Southern Movement accuse Hadi of being a "traitor" because he served as vice president to then-leader Ali Abdullah Saleh - yet during that time failed to advance the cause of southern independence.
"We have been demanding independence since 1994, and Hadi did not support us,” the source said. “Now he wants us to support him and this is difficult for us.”
The airport clash was not the only incident. On 13 February, Hadi left Aden for Riyadh to meet with Saudi officials – who are more sympathetic to his cause than the UAE - and Emirati leaders to resolve the airport dispute. But the meeting was delayed.
Hadi then went to Abu Dhabi, where he met with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed al-Nahyan, deputy supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces. The meeting received little, if any, media coverage: details only emerged two weeks later.
But Al-Quds al-Arabi, a London-based newspaper, reported on 3 March that the short meeting between Hadi and Nahyan, at which Saudi and Emirati security and intelligence leaders were present, had been ill-tempered. The newspaper cited a Yemeni source as the basis for its story.
Nahyan had told Hadi that the UAE was the only reason he had been able to return to Aden, the paper said, adding: "Our sacrifice and the blood of 65 Emirati martyrs will not go to waste."
In response, Hadi said that the UAE had failed to restore much of the city’s water and electricity, as well as failed to support the central bank.
Yet Hadi has his supporters. The Islah party, which is opposed to independence, backs him as the best option for a united Yemen.
A party member, speaking anonymously amid concerns for his safety, said that now was not the time for disputes in the coalition, given that the Houthi rebels still control parts of the south.
And then there's al-Qaeda
UAE forces removed Omairi as the commander in charge of the airport on 28 February, following Hadi’s visit to Abu Dhabi. Forces from Sudan, another part of the coalition, then took control. The UAE still considers itself to be the main ruler of Aden.
Esam al-Shaeri, under-secretary of the Aden-based Sah Foundation for Defending Rights and Freedom, which is sympathetic to southern independence, said demands for independence predate the coalition campaign launched in March 2015.
"Independence is a demand of the people and not a demand from specific people,” Shaeri told MEE. “There can be no solution to the Yemeni crisis without a solution to the southern issue."
But Hadi has repeatedly rejected independence.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-war-how-independence-calls-could-split-coalition-1812416955
17.3.2017 – Newsweek (*** B K P)
WHAT IS SAUDI ARABIA GOING TO DO WITH ITS ARMS BUILDUP?
Will the kingdom turn on its neighbors to head off a revolt at home?
While the quantity and purpose of the arms that the Saudis were buying across the world remains something of a mystery, it was not a mystery to the U.S. Shortly after I arrived in Riyadh, President Barack Obama approved a record-breaking $60 billion arms sale to Saudi for weapons that are primarily being used today by the Saudis to bomb Yemen, despite bipartisan objections from the U.S.
However, Saudi Arabia’s massive expansion of its military—which has continued unabated for six years and involves increasing naval capabilities; troop movements in Aden, Yemen; and plans to train submarine crews in Malaysia—indicates that hawks within Saudi Arabia may choose to use military action, particularly in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, as a hedge against domestic instability caused by the kingdom’s economic decline.
How Saudi Political System Increases the Probability of War in the Middle East
The takfiri and theocratic form of Islam promoted by the conservative portions of Saudi Arabia’s religious and political establishment is expansionist by nature. It glorifies conversion by violence and portrays all non-Muslims as inherently inferior.
More problematic than Saudi Arabia’s religious glorification of violence is the theocratic nature of the kingdom’s government, which makes economic growth nearly impossible without violent external expansion.
Saudi Arabia is a theocracy. Religion and state are combined. Power is centralized. No other forms of faith are allowed. No other political parties are allowed. Individual choice in terms of what you can say, what you can watch and whom you can talk to (e.g., women and men cannot speak to each other without the presence of a guardian) is severely limited. Meanwhile, critical thinking in regards to religion is actively discouraged.
Because theocracy severely limits individual choice, it tends to be inhospitable to both creativity and science, both of which are crucial ingredients to economic growth.
Countries Facing the Largest Risks from Saudi Military Expansion
However, if the economic situation in the kingdom gets bad enough, hawks within the Saudi establishment may be able to convince their more moderate counterparts to attack one of the kingdom’s neighbors to stave off domestic discontent, especially if they can promote the idea across government that the U.S. would be unlikely to retaliate against the kingdom.
As discussed in “Why the Saudis May be Preparing for War,” it is likely that the kingdom’s economic decline will continue.
If the Saudis do not believe the U.S. will crack down on the kingdom for invading a neighbor, there may be little that would hold the kingdom back from doing so. The political, economic and religious history of the kingdom all push for external expansion through conquest and war over internal expansion through the production of goods and services.
Yemen is the likeliest target for invasion. The country has been bombarded by Saudi Arabia for two years now, and the Saudi propaganda machine has been mostly focused on Yemen’s Houthi rebels since the beginning of the Yemeni civil war.
However, invading Yemen is unlikely to provide Saudi Arabia a significant economic boost, unless Saudi Arabia disrupts the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which the U.S. Energy Information Administration refers to as one of the seven major energy choke points in the world (3.8 million barrels of oil head to the West pass through the strait each day, along with the equivalent of 0.5-1 million barrels of natural gas).
Should Saudi Arabia succeed in creating chaos and confusion in the strait through rocket attacks, its significantly expanded naval capabilities or by provoking the Houthis to attack ships in the strait, Europe will be by far the biggest loser, being deprived of over $150 billion worth oil and natural gas per year, making the Europeans more dependent on Russia, Norway, the U.S. and Saudi for their energy needs.
If the strait is disrupted, oil and gas prices will spike and the Saudi economy will profit significantly, especially since the Saudis last year quietly started expanding their East-West pipeline. Thus, should the strait get cut off, the only practical method for nearly all of the Gulf states to export energy to the West will be across Saudi Arabia and/or through its newly expanded East-West pipeline.
Saudi Arabia often claims it is the Houthis who are threatening the strait, but the facts suggest otherwise. The Houthis have occupied multiple locations in the strait over the past two years that would have allowed them to significantly disrupt shipping, but the strait has largely remained open, mostly because shutting it down would severely affect the Houthis’ ally, Iran, which ships millions of barrels of oil and natural gas to Europe through the strait each month.
By comparison, Iranian and Pakistani vessels have been attacked by Saudi Arabia and/or its allies in Yemen on at least two occasions. Meanwhile, there is little to no evidence that the majority of attacks on non-Saudi coalition vessels during the past two years have been carried out by Houthis.
Beyond Yemen, Saudi Arabia could target southern and eastern portions of Iraq
Beyond Iraq and Yemen, should the Saudi economic situation get bad enough, the country could also attack Qatar.
If Trump and other leaders are serious about curbing "radical Islam" and promoting stability in the region, they need to encourage real reformers in the kingdom rather than rely on the young Saudi royals – by Ryan Riegg
http://europe.newsweek.com/what-saudi-arabia-going-do-its-arms-buildup-569277
My comment: A great and very long article. Please read in full at the original site.
17.3.2017 – Fars News (** B K P)
Yemen Anniversary: The Limits of War as We Know It Has Virtually Dissolved
It’s the anniversary of this criminal, illegal and dirty campaign. It has normalized the rationale that you can drop terror bombs, murder civilians, and get away with it. It’s dirty when one realizes that this is what the people of Iraq and Syria are also experiencing right now. More bomb tonnage has been dropped on them than in Yemen, but no worriers. The poorest country in the Arab world is slowly catching up - with not one word in Western “fakestream” media on what it must have been like to live under such terrible conditions. For them, Yemen is a forgotten war and a trying ground for Western weapons.
On this anniversary, equally unnerving is the lack of official protests as well as the deafening silence at the United Nations Security Council, where in fact come of the self-appointed bully-boy members are at the forefront of the air war - the United States and Britain. Tens of thousands of people killed and wounded thus far, millions more made refugees, and nary an anti-Saudi resolution, let alone a word from the new UN chief. Silly enough, they have given the Saudis a top seat at the Human Rights Council instead. What a disgrace!
In any case, the bombing of Yemen at will to invoke Wahhabi values is not a one-time thing but rather the start of a long course of military presence and permanent war in the region for the United States. All this to punish a supposed Tehran-backed resistance front, protect a deposed puppet regime, force Yemen to cooperate with the Zionist regime of Israel, upset regional security, invent new wars, hide the extent of assassinations by drone, and hide the ugliness of it all - with a helping hand from Al-Qaeda and ISIL brutes.
Don’t expect this humanitarian catastrophe, this largest food insecurity emergency in the world to end anytime soon. The Saudi war criminals are threatening to make matters significantly worse by launching a major military campaign in the area of Hudaidah that will make the port totally inaccessible. And it’s not just the Saudis for Yemen’s destruction. The United States also has blood on its hands. Like his predecessor, President Trump is selling massive amounts of weapons to the Saudis and helping them with logistical support, including refueling Saudi planes in the air. No second thoughts here.
The Trump administration is also stepping up the fight against Yemen as part of its plan “to get tough on Iran”. It alleged Iran’s military support for the Ansarullah fighters when putting Iran “on notice” in February. It’s silly when one realizes that they haven’t got a shred of evidence to back their criminal obsession with Tehran.
Whatever this is, there is no legal basis for the new escalation against Yemen, and this dirtiness, this madness has to stop. The Trump administration has no right to distort domestic and international laws limiting the use of lethal force against civilian objects. Critically, it has no right to designate parts of Yemen as “areas of active hostilities, including normalization of the practice of killings outside theater of war, with no UN oversight, as well as extending more permissive standards for killing - those applicable to actual war zones - to non-war contexts, even though far more stringent human rights standards apply in those areas.
Albeit the US-backed, Saudi-led war on Yemen is expanding fast, as a consequence of which the limits of war as we know it has virtually dissolved. The global legal framework that protects life and preserves international peace and security has also disappeared. The international civil society should hold its head in shame. Many more innocent people will die in the coming weeks and months.
Whatever this is, there is no legal basis for the new escalation against Yemen, and this dirtiness, this madness has to stop. The Trump administration has no right to distort domestic and international laws limiting the use of lethal force against civilian objects. Critically, it has no right to designate parts of Yemen as “areas of active hostilities, including normalization of the practice of killings outside theater of war, with no UN oversight, as well as extending more permissive standards for killing - those applicable to actual war zones - to non-war contexts, even though far more stringent human rights standards apply in those areas.
Albeit the US-backed, Saudi-led war on Yemen is expanding fast, as a consequence of which the limits of war as we know it has virtually dissolved. The global legal framework that protects life and preserves international peace and security has also disappeared. The international civil society should hold its head in shame. Many more innocent people will die in the coming weeks and months.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951227000952
My comment: This article is hitting the spot – although it’s from an Iranian source and no author is stated. Just – an Iranian author seems not to have a clear look in this point – Israel is no great player in this war.
18.3.2017 – RT (*** B P)
Das Grundgerüst der Macht: Trumps Erfolg macht die imperiale Machtstruktur des Westens sichtbar
Die manipulative Berichterstattung über Trump zeigt, dass deutsche Eliten keine Vasallen der USA sind. Es ist vielmehr eine Ideologie, die des Neoliberalismus, die sich in die Institutionen gefressen hat. Vor allem in den Journalismus des Mainstreams.
Was wir in den Vereinigten Staaten, aber auch hier bei uns gerade sehen können, ist, wie imperiale Macht funktioniert. Und wir können sehen, wer die Akteure sind. Auch hier in Deutschland werden die Gestelle und Strukturen der Macht plötzlich in aller Deutlichkeit sichtbar.
Dabei zeigen sich aber eben nicht nur Netzwerke und Seilschaften, die verbleibende demokratische, staatliche Strukturen unterwandern und immer weiter aushöhlen. Es zeigt sich darüber hinaus auch das ideologische Programm, das diesen postdemokratischen Strukturen zugrunde liegt. Es ist das Programm des Neoliberalismus.
Jetzt wird deutlich, in welchem Umfang und alle Bereiche durchdringend sich die Gegenaufklärung in die westliche Kultur hineingefressen hat. Der Neoliberalismus hat die westliche Kultur fest im Griff und duldet keinerlei Abweichung vom eingeschlagenen Kurs.
Insbesondere, was Deutschland angeht, wird hier seit einigen Wochen offenkundig, wie wenig die deutschen Eliten – und das widerlegt lange gepflegte Mythen der nationalen Rechten - bloße Vasallen eines US-amerikanischen Projekts von Globalisierung sind. In den offen ausgestoßenen Drohungen gegen die neue US-Regierung wird deutlich, wie sehr die deutschen Eliten selbst treibende Kraft eines Projektes sind, das sich gegen die Bürger und Nationen in ihrer Gesamtheit richtet.
Unterhalb und außerhalb der politischen Sphäre haben sich in den letzten Dekaden Netzwerke herausgebildet, die inzwischen viel bestimmender und machtvoller sind als die gewählten Parlamente. Es fand ein regelrechter stiller Putsch statt.
Ganz bemerkenswert ist die Rolle, die den Medien in diesem Zusammenhang zukommt. Es ist gelungen, sie breit in das Projekt des Neoliberalismus einzubetten. Der Mainstream ist nicht der Aufklärung verpflichtet. Die Netzwerke der Redaktionen zeigen es ganz deutlich: Der Mainstream ist vielmehr als die PR-Abteilung einer Ideologie tätig, die sich gegen die Bürger und den demokratischen Staat richtet. Er ist selbst politischer Akteur, der sich in seiner Gesamtheit dieser Ideologie verschrieben hat und sie maßgeblich fördert.
Sie waren selbst maßgeblich daran beteiligt, den Umbau westlicher Nationen von demokratischen Staaten zu postdemokratischen Gebilden voranzutreiben, die sich der neoliberalen Ordnung zu fügen haben. Der zentrale Abwehrmechanismus der demokratischen Ordnung ist der Infiltration anheimgefallen. Die Immunabwehr der Demokratien brach zusammen.
Die westliche Presse wurde - und dies wird im Zusammenhang mit der Berichterstattung über Trump überdeutlich - selbst zu einem politischen Akteur, der, ohne in irgendeiner Weise legitimiert zu sein, Politik im Sinne der eigenen Netzwerke zu gestalten trachtet.
In Bezug auf Trump ist die letzte Maske gefallen. Da versteckt sich der Mainstream gar nicht mehr hinter irgendwelchen vermeintlichen Expertenmeinungen, sondern agitiert ganz offen, emotional und mit dem Ziel eines politischen Umsturzes in den USA.
Diese offensichtliche Parteinahme, die Preisgabe des journalistischen Projekts als eines wichtigen Bestandteils einer demokratischen, aufgeklärten Gesellschaft, macht die Erzeugnisse des Mainstreams inzwischen so unlesbar. Es sind eben keine Nachrichten mehr, die so genannte Leitmedien präsentieren, sondern in Bezug auf zentrale Themen von Wirtschaft und Politik nur noch politische Propaganda mit dem Ziel der Manipulation des Publikums.
Erkennt man die ideologische Ausrichtung, lassen sich zahlreiche Phänomene erklären. Deutsche Nachrichten informieren nicht, sondern manipulieren. In der plötzlichen Auseinandersetzung mit den USA nach Jahren eines regelrechten Byzantinismus um Obama wird dies überdeutlich.
Die Erkenntnis lässt sich aber auch auf andere Vorgänge anwenden. Syrien, die Ukraine oder das unsägliche, tägliche Russland-Bashing, das mit den tatsächlichen Entwicklungen in Russland nichts zu tun hat, lassen sich hier ebenso anführen wie der jetzt wieder hervorgekramte Narrativ vom faulen und reformunwilligen Griechen.
Es ist Fiktion, nicht Wirklichkeit, was deutsche Mainstreammedien transportieren – von Gert-Ewen Ungar
https://deutsch.rt.com/meinung/47803-trump-erfolg-imperiale-machtstruktur/
Mein Kommentar: Trifft den Nagel auf den Kopf. Trotz der ausführlichen Auszüge hier lohnt die Lektüre des vollständigen Artikels!!
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Angriff auf Flüchtlinsboot / Most important: Air raid at refugee boat
17.3.2017 – DPA (** A K)
Luftangriff auf Flüchtlingsboot fordert 42 Todesopfer
Bei einem Angriff auf ein Flüchtlingsboot vor der Küste des Jemen sind 42 Personen getötet worden. Huthi-Rebellen machen Saudiarabien für den Angriff mit einem Militärhelikopter verantwortlich. Die Zahl der Toten bei dem Luftangriff auf ein Flüchtlingsboot vor der Westküste des Jemens ist nach Angaben der Internationalen Organisation für Migration (IOM) auf mindestens 42 Menschen gestiegen. An Bord des Schiffes hätten sich etwa 140 Flüchtlinge befunden, teilte das Flüchtlingswerk der Vereinten Nationen (UNHCR) am Freitag mit. 30 Flüchtlinge seien bei dem Angriff verletzt worden. Das Internationale Komitee des Roten Kreuzes (IKRK) berichtete zunächst von 33 Toten.
Das Boot sei auf dem Weg in Richtung Sudan gewesen, als es vor der Küste der Provinz Hodeida von einem Militärhelikopter angegriffen worden sei, sagte Daoud Fadel, ein Sicherheitsbeamter des Fischereihafens der Provinz. Bei den Flüchtlingen an Bord habe es sich um Menschen aus dem Jemen und aus Somalia gehandelt. Nach Angaben des UNHCR halten sich mehr als 255'000 Flüchtlinge aus Somalia im Jemen auf.
«Es waren grauenvolle Szenen», sagte Eric Christopher Wyss vom Internationalen Komitee des Roten Kreuzes (IKRK). «Ich habe Männer, Frauen und Kinder gesehen, die entweder tot waren oder fürchterlich verletzt.» Das IKRK verurteilte den Angriff scharf. Auch wenn die Umstände des Vorfalls noch nicht klar seien, müssten Zivilisten unter allen Umständen geschützt werden und dürften nicht angegriffen werden, hiess es in einer Mitteilung.
https://www.nzz.ch/international/jemen-mehr-als-30-tote-bei-angriff-auf-fluechtlinge-ld.152042
19.3.2017 – TAZ von AP (** A K)
Angriff auf Flüchtlingsboot: Somalia macht Saudis verantwortlich
Die somalische Regierung hat Saudi-Arabien und dessen Verbündete aus den Golfstaaten für den tödlichen Angriff auf ein Boot mit somalischen Flüchtlingen verantwortlich gemacht. Es sei eine fürchterliche Tat und die Verantwortlichen müssten zur Rechenschaft gezogen werden, sagte Außenminister Abdisalam Omer am Samstag. Bei der Attacke am Freitag waren mindestens 42 Menschen ums Leben gekommen, darunter auch Frauen und Kinder. Nach Angaben der Internationalen Organisation für Migration waren sie allesamt als Flüchtlinge registriert.
Wohin die Flüchtlinge unterwegs waren, war nicht ganz klar. Ein jemenitischer Schlepper der den Angriff überlebte, sagte, sie wollten in den Sudan. Laut dem somalischen Außenminister wollten sie hingegen zurück in ihr Heimatland. Der somalische Ministerpräsident Hassan Ali Khaire sprach von einer entsetzlichen und grausamen Tat.
Der Schlepper, der überlebte, Al-Hassan Ghaleb Mohammed, sagte, der Angriff habe sich bei Dunkelheit ereignet. Die Insassen des Bootes hätten in Panik mit ihren Taschenlampen geleuchtet, um klarzumachen, dass sie keine Kämpfer seien. Der Helikopter habe aber erst aufgehört zu feuern, als bereits Dutzende tot waren.
http://www.taz.de/Angriff-auf-Fluechtlingsboot/!5393259/
17.3.2017 – The Guardian (** A K)
More than 40 Somali refugees killed in helicopter attack off Yemen coast
Boat carrying refugees was travelling to Sudan when it was hit by airstrike from Apache helicopter, coastguard says
At least 42 Somali refugees were killed off the coast of Yemen late on Thursday when a helicopter reportedly attacked the boat they were travelling in.
Coastguard Mohamed al-Alay said the refugees, carrying official UN refugee agency (UNHCR) documents, were travelling from Yemen to Sudan when they were attacked by an Apache helicopter near the Bab el-Mandeb strait.
A senior official with the UN’s migration agency confirmed later that 42 bodies had been recovered after the military attack on a boat carrying refugees off the Yemeni coast.
Mohammed Abdiker, emergencies director at the International Organization for Migration [IOM] in Geneva, said, however, that various survivors provided conflicting messages about whether the attack came from a military vessel or an attack helicopter that had taken off from the vessel.
Abdiker called the attack, which happened at about 3am, was “totally unacceptable” and that responsible combatants should have checked who was aboard the boat “before firing on it.”
One of the survivors, a Yemeni people trafficker, told the Associated Press his vessel had been hit by fire from a helicopter gunship. Al-Hassan Ghaleb Mohammed said the boat had been about 30 miles off the shore of Yemen when it was attacked.
He added that when the gunship opened fire, panic erupted among the refugees. They finally managed to hold up flashlights and show the helicopter they were migrants. He said the helicopter then stopped firing but only after more than 40 Somalis had been killed.
The rebel-controlled Saba agency said the refugees had been attacked from the air by the Saudi-led coalition battling the insurgents, but did not provide further details.
Saudi Arabia, which is leading a coalition in the war in Yemen, has US-built Apache A-64 Longbow attack helicopters.
Maj Gen Ahmed Assiri, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, dismissed the accusation saying that the force had not been involved in fighting in Hodeida.
Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump, denied US involvement, saying no US strikes had been conducted in Yemen in the past 24 hours.
Despite the witness account, details of the incident remained confusing – by Peter Beaumont
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/17/somali-refugees-killed-helicopter-attack-off-yemen-coast and by Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-refugees-idUSKBN16O0UI and by The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-led-coalition-blamed-somalia-deadly-attack-boat-refugees-fleeing-yemen-a7637456.html
My comment: This must have been a meteorite, according to Saudi and US.
More comments:
No one but Saudi & co are capable of airstrikes in #Yemen but let's whitewash their crimes & pretend we have no idea who's responsible.
https://twitter.com/shireen818/status/842916941245353984
Two years ago Saudi lead coalition announced that they dominate the #Yemen airspace. This crime can't be filed against unknown
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/842864340730593280
'It was not clear who carried out the attack.' Maybe mention that Saudis and US have Apache helicopters in the area?
https://twitter.com/medialens/status/842719172526309376
No one but Saudi & co are capable of airstrikes in #Yemen but let's whitewash their crimes & pretend we have no idea who's responsible.
https://twitter.com/shireen818/status/842916941245353984
I get that not every media piece is an investigative report, but this is basic deductive logic, no? Common sense scarce when #Yemen related.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/843091561214869504
Journos r quick to write Iran is respons for everything in yemen, but can't tell you who flew a helicopter in a restricted airspace.
https://twitter.com/juvus/status/843379926766051328
Mad at Western media not deductively concluding who flew chopper? Well, Arab media (see #PT) omitted from report altogether.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/843464237192241152
Saudis should know what flew over Bab al-Mandeb Friday. US sold them the equipment.
https://twitter.com/StephenProducer/status/843435558886162432 referring to: http://militaryedge.org/articles/state-department-approves-2-billion-modernization-saudi-awacs/
Photos (very graphic):
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1651033348525986
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1651031941859460
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1307754405944253
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=791675470982820&id=551288185021551
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/photos/a.1434086430220680.1073741828.1434084576887532/1651131328516188/?type=3 (list of victims, Arabic)
films:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dl4SnO59D8 = https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/videos/1651157321846922/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_y9MTu-VG8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OELbmvKvPo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfmapX6NXmI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuvNrjoIRF4
https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/843498559794159616 (English subs)
19.3.2017 – The American Conservative (* B K P)
Saudi-Led Coalition Slaughters Refugees at Sea
The slaughter of dozens of refugees is unfortunately just the most recent egregious example of the coalition’s blatant disregard for civilian lives. It is one of the many indefensible attacks on civilian targets that the coalition has carried out over the past two years. As they have done after many other attacks on civilians, the coalition has pretended that they weren’t involved and aren’t responsible, but no one else could possibly be responsible for this. There will be more massacres like this as long as the Saudi-led coalition is permitted to act with impunity and faces no consequences for its flagrant, repeated violations of international law. The U.S. and Britain should cut off all military assistance to the coalition, and every day that our government continues to support the war on Yemen is another day that we are responsible for enabling the senseless killing and starving of civilians – ByDANIEL LARISON
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/saudi-led-coalition-slaughters-refugees-at-sea/
19.3.2017 - Tarek Fahmy (* A K)
#Somali refugees killed off #Yemen held official UNHCR documents and were on their way to #Sudan (photo)
https://twitter.com/fahm_ee/status/843420566719811589
Comment by Hisham Al-Omeisy: Blood drenched life saving document (possibly of a woman or a child refugee), says it all. Finally some hope, then brutally killed.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/843425681258303488
17.3.2017 – Legal Center (** A K)
(Preliminary information in targeting the coalition warplanes the boat of Somali refugees)
#Today, 03/17/2017
- In the early morning on Friday, the Saudi-led coalition warplanes from Apache and a military boat that belongs to the coalition targeted by direct bombing by light bombs and bursts from Apache a large boat carrying 162 Somalis refugees, they were on their way to Sudan from Kharaz tent Al-Erah area #Lahjj province..
- killed 44 Somalis and injured 25 others were taken to hospitals in the province and the number of survivors of the incident is 93 Somalis and among the victims there are women and children ..
- They have been targeting their boat in the Yemeni coast in the province of #AlHodeidah in the #Red_Sea near to #Bab_almandab ..
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=791675470982820&id=551288185021551
17.3.2017 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (** A K)
Lots of ambiguity surrounding boat attack off #Yemen coast. Bits of info I'm getting, though answer some questions, raise more serious ones (long text from ? in image)
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/842761533704880128
17.3.2017 – Reuters (* A K)
Coast guard officer Mohamed al-Alay told Reuters the refugees, carrying official UNHCR documents, were on their way from Yemen to Sudan when they were attacked by an Apache helicopter near the Bab al-Mandeb strait.
"We do not know who carried it out but survivors said they came under attack from another boat at 9 p.m., the crew used lights and shouted to signal this is a civilian boat. Nevertheless it did not have any effect and a helicopter joined in the attack," ICRC spokesperson Iolanda Jaguemet said.
A sailor who had been operating the boat, Ibrahim Ali Zeyad, said 80 refugees had been rescued.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-refugees-idUSKBN16O0UI
More details by AP and New York Times:
17.3.2017 – AP (** A K)
MILITARY ATTACK KILLS 42 SOMALI REFUGEES OFF YEMEN'S COAST
The boat packed with dozens of Somali refugees was more than 30 miles off war-torn Yemen's coast when a military vessel and a helicopter gunship swooped in, opening fire in the dead of night Friday, killing at least 42 people.
A Yemeni trafficker who survived the attack said the boat was filled with Somali refugees, including women and children, who were trying to reach Sudan from Yemen, which has been racked by conflict for more than two years.
Al-Hassan Ghaleb Mohammed told The Associated Press the boat left from Ras Arra, along the southern coastline in Yemen's Hodeida province, and was 30 miles (50 kilometers) off the coast, near the Bab al-Mandab strait, when the military vessel open fire, followed by the helicopter gunship.
He described a scene of panic in which the terrified refugees waved flashlights, apparently to show they were not combatants. He said the helicopter then stopped firing, but only after dozens had been killed. Mohammed was unharmed in the attack.
Mohammed Abdiker, emergencies director at the International Organization for Migration in Geneva, said about 75 men and 15 women who survived the attack were taken to detention centers, and some bodies were laid in a fish market in Hodeida because of a lack of space in mortuaries.
Laurent De Boeck, the head of the IOM's Yemeni office, said the boat was carrying between 140 and 160 migrants who had departed from various areas of southern Yemen, including the cities of Aden and Mukallah. He said the agency believes all those on board the stricken vessel were registered refugees.
In the 48 hours before the attack Friday, Hodeida witnessed a series of similar incidents. The Houthis said they shot down a helicopter gunship in the same area a day earlier, without providing evidence. The alleged incident triggered retaliatory airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition, including a helicopter gunship assault on a fishing vessel that killed a number of fishermen hours before the strike on the migrant boat.
A Yemeni medical official in Hodeida said only 14 bodies from Friday's assault had arrived so far, adding that women were among the dead. Another 25 wounded people, including some who had lost arms and legs, were brought to the hospital, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media – BY ABDEL-KARIM AL-AYYASHI AND JAMEY KEATEN
17.3.2017 – AP (** A K)
[local times]
5 p.m.
A top official with the U.N.'s migration agency says 42 bodies have been recovered following a military attack on a boat carrying refugees off the Yemeni coast.
Mohammed Abdiker, emergencies director at the International Organization for Migration in Geneva, says various survivors provided "conflicting messages" about whether the attack came from a military vessel or an attack helicopter that had taken off from the vessel.
Abdiker said Friday the attack at around 3 a.m. was "totally unacceptable" and that responsible combatants should have checked who was aboard the boat "before firing on it."
He said about 75 men and 15 women who survived the attack were taken to detention centers, and some bodies were laid in a fish market in the town of Hodeida because of a lack of space in mortuaries.
1:35 p.m.
A Yemeni man who survived a deadly attack on a boat packed with Somali migrants off the coast of Yemen says their vessel was hit by heavy gunfire from a helicopter gunship.
Al-Hassan Ghaleb Mohammed says the Somalis were trying to escape from war-torn Yemen and cross the Red Sea to get to Sudan in Africa and that he was taking them there the previous night.
The trafficker says the Somalis were all refugees and that there were women and children among them.
Mohammed says the boat had left from a point called Ras Arra, along the southern coastline in Yemen's Hodeida province. He told The Associated Press on Friday in Hodeida their boat had made it to about 48 kilometers, or 30 miles, off the shore of Yemen when it was attacked.
He says when the helicopter gunship opened fire, panic erupted among the refugees. They finally managed to hold up flashlights and show the helicopter they were poor migrants. He says the helicopter then stopped firing but only after more than 30 Somalis had been killed.
Mohammed was not hurt in the attack.
17.3.2017 – New York Times (** A K)
Airstrike Kills Dozens of Somali Migrants Off Yemen's Coast
The boat’s Yemeni captain was shot in the leg, but piloted the boat toward the Yemeni port city of Al Hudaydah, where rescue workers were so overwhelmed that they put the dead in coolers normally used for fish, Dawood Fadal, the head of security at the port, said by phone.
“Our hospitals did not have room for them so we had to put them in the fish fridges,” he said. “Can you imagine what that looks like?”
The attack, about 30 miles off the Yemeni coast, turned a desperate journey by migrants already fleeing a war zone into a scene of horror, with dead and dismembered bodies piled atop one another just steps from their loved ones in the small wooden boat.
The boat attacked on Friday had launched illegally into the Red Sea from Yemen’s west coast, heading toward Sudan, from where its Somali passengers hoped to make their way to Egypt, Libya and eventually Europe, said Mr. Fadal, the Yemeni port official.
But during the night, it came under fire. Some survivors said a battleship struck it first, then a helicopter.
“I took cover in the belly of the ship,” said Ibrahim Ali Zeyad, a Somali who survived the attack. “People were falling left and right. Everyone kept screaming, ‘We are Somali! We are Somali!’”
But the shooting continued for what felt like half an hour.
“The helicopter was right over us and it had these huge lights on,” he said. “They just kept shooting.”
After piloting the boat close enough to the port for rescue crews to reach it, the boat’s Yemeni captain bled to death, Mr. Fadal said. Mr. Fadal said the attack on Friday was one of many in recent weeks off the coast of Yemen. An attack on a Yemeni fishing boat the night before had killed seven fishermen, he said, and another recent attack on two fishing boats killed 32 people.
“To the ships, these boats look like they are the enemy,” he said of the warships in the Red Sea. “But that is a totally unjustified fear. The rebels don’t attack enough for them to be so scared, and they can easily tell that these are fishermen or migrants.” – By BEN HUBBARD and SHUAIB ALMOSAWA
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/world/middleeast/yemen-airstrike-somali-migrants.html?_r=0
More reports:
Common Dreams: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/03/17/local-official-says-us-built-apache-helicopter-behind-massacre-refugees (emphasizing that the refugees “were carrying official United Nations documents”
18.3.2017 – AFP (* A K)
Houthi missiles kill dozens of Yemen soldiers at mosque
Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed dozens of pro-government fighters in a missile attack on a mosque during Friday prayers.
A loyalist military source said the attack targeted the mosque at Kofel camp in Marib province, east of the rebel-held capital Sanaa.
Hospital officials in Marib city, the provincial capital, said at least 26 pro-government fighters were killed.
A military official in Marib said attack was carried out with Katyusha-type rockets, but the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency said the rebels used Iranian-made Zelzal-1 missiles, followed by artillery fire.
"Dozens of bodies of burned soldiers were evacuated from the site," Saba said, without mentioning that a mosque had been hit.
Earlier on Friday, more than 40 Somali refugees including women and children were shot dead aboard a boat in the Red Sea off Yemen’s east coast.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.
The refugees were hit by light weapons fire in waters off rebel-held Hodeidah but managed to dock in the city’s port, an official there said.
Major General Ahmed Assiri, spokesman for the coalition, dismissed the accusation and said its forces had not been involved in fighting in Hodeidah.
"There has been no firing by the coalition in this zone," Maj Gen Assiri said.
http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/houthi-missiles-kill-dozens-of-yemen-soldiers-at-mosque
And on this piece of propaganda journalism (and propaganda also to be found elsewhere on these incidents), there is a very useful comment by
19.3.2017 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (** A K)
THIS imbecilic misinformation attempt, under guise of journalism, to clear Saudi-led Co from boat attack in #Yemen (full text in image)
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/843461216152489984
17.3.2017 – Red Cross (* A K)
Yemen: ICRC strongly condemns civilian ship attack, calls for immediate investigation
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is shocked by last night's attack on a civilian ship carrying around 150 passengers, including women and children, near the port of Hodeida.
"It was a heartbreaking scene. I saw many men, women and children either killed or horribly wounded," said the ICRC's Eric Christopher Wyss at the scene. "Survivors told us that many of the passengers were refugees from Somalia or Yemen, fleeing conflict."
"We strongly condemn this attack and deplore such a tragic loss of life," said the ICRC's director of operations, Dominik Stillhart. "These people were themselves fleeing conflict, in search of safety and a better life. We call on the warring parties to conduct an immediate investigation into what happened."
The wounded were transferred to hospitals in Hodeida.
18.3.2017 – Arab News (* A K P)
Coalition rejects Houthi claim it is behind attack on refugee boat that left 42 dead
A military vessel and a helicopter gunship Friday attacked a boat packed with Somali refugees off the coast of Yemen, killing at least 42 people, said Yemeni officials and a survivor who witnessed the attack.
Maj. Gen. Ahmed Al-Assiri, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, dismissed Houthi accusations that the coalition carried out the attack.
He told Arab News that the coalition forces had not been involved in fighting in Al-Hodeida where the attack took place. “There has been no firing by the coalition in this zone,” the spokesman said.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1070121/middle-east
My comment: LOL. Really ridiculous. And like so often before.
Comment by Hisham Al-Omeisy: Mehr
Saudi Co not only denied responsibility for boat attack, says its forces "not involved in any fighting in/near Hodeidah". Seriously!?
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/843112682576338945
18.3.2017 – AP (* A K P)
Somalia blames Saudi-led coalition for deadly strike on boat
Somalia's government on Saturday blamed the Saudi-led coalition for Friday's attack on a boat that killed at least 42 Somali refugees off the coast of war-torn Yemen, calling the assault by a military vessel and a helicopter gunship "horrific."
Somalia urged the United States-supported coalition to investigate. The boat was packed with dozens of refugees, some of them women and children.
"What happened there was a horrific and terrible problem inflicted on innocent Somali people. The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen is responsible for it," Somalia's foreign minister, Abdisalam Omer, said on state-run radio. He said Yemen's government also must give an explanation for the attack and that those responsible must be brought to justice.
Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire in a separate statement called the attack "atrocious" and "appalling."
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2017/mar/18/somalia-blames-saudi-led-coalition-for-deadly-stri/
18.3.2017 – Reuters (A K P)
Somalia asks Saudi coalition to investigate refugee boat attack
The Somali government condemned a helicopter attack on a boatload of Somali refugees off the coast of Yemen and called on the Saudi-led coalition fighting in the country to investigate, officials said on Saturday. "The prime minister condemns the unfair killing of the Somalis who were sailing on the shores of Yemen ... the victims were innocent, unarmed and were mostly women and children," Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire's office said in a statement.
"The prime minister has ordered an investigation of the act and those behind it," the statement said.
"We call on our partners in the Saudi-led coalition to investigate the raid," Foreign Minister Abdusalam Hadliye Omer said in another statement.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi forces in Yemen said it did not conduct any operations or have any engagement on Thursday in the Hodeidah area where the attack took place.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-refugees-somalia-idUSKBN16P0TG
My comment: The result is known. – Can you tell me why Reuters omits that the Somali government blames the Saudi coalition for that massacre?
18.3.2017 – Haykal Bafana (* A K P)
Neither Saudi, US, UK or UAE govts have anything to say on Apache heli gunship massacre of 42 Somali refugees off #Yemen. Criminal cunts
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/843217927721668609
My comment: That’s an important remark. The non-reaction clearly shows that all the accusations against the Houthi / saleh forces, or even against Iran, they would threaten shipment in the Red Sea, are baseless propaganda. This raid has been the most terrible threat to civilian shipping in the Read Sea since the beginning of the Yemen war.
cp2 Allgemein / General
20.3.2017 - Deutschlandfunk (A K P)
Saudi-Arabien will UNO-Überwachung von Hafenstadt
Nach dem Angriff auf ein Boot mit somalischen Flüchtlingen fordert die von Saudi-Arabien geführte Militärkoalition im Jemen Unterstützung von den Vereinten Nationen.
Die jemenitische Hafenstadt, von der das Boot am Freitag ausgelaufen war, solle unter Kontrolle der UNO gestellt werden, heißt es in einer Mitteilung. Dies würde den Fluss humanitärer Hilfslieferungen an die jemenitische Bevölkerung erleichtern und Waffen- sowie Menschenschmuggel erschweren.
Mein Kommentar: Die UN sollte eher die saudische Luftwaffe kontrollieren.
19.3.2017 – Reuters (A K P)
Saudi-Led Coalition Calls for U.N. Supervision of Yemen Port
A Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen called on Sunday for the United Nations to place a strategic port under its supervision after a helicopter attack on a boatload of Somali refugees left 42 dead.
The refugees had departed from the western port city of Hodeidah en route to Sudan when the gunship opened fire on Friday, the United Nations refugee agency said.
The Red Sea port near the Bab al-Mandab strait is under the control of Yemen's armed Houthi movement, which has been fighting Saudi Arabia and its allies in a two-year-old conflict.
While the Arab alliance denied responsibility for the attack on Friday, it called for jurisdiction over Hodeidah port to be transferred to the U.N.
"This would facilitate the flow of humanitarian supplies to the Yemeni people, while at the same time ending the use of the port for weapons smuggling and people trafficking," it said in a statement. It did not address a call by Somalia to investigate.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-refugees-coalition-idUSKBN16Q0JW
My comment: ???
Comment by Haykal Bafana: Strange reading of law.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/843536544837386241
Comment: It has been in the news.
UN partnering with the Coalition would be nothing new.
Saudis need the port and the access to Sanaa.
Saudis need the port to further strangle Yemenis. And, occasionally, bomb the port. Just because.
19.3.2017 – Al Yamanal Araby (A P)
Gargash talks about Emirati-Saudi partnership in Yemen
http://www.alyamanalaraby.com/185341
My comment: Different from what the Emirati Foreign minister is telling here, there had been greater differences within the coalition (look at cp1, article on separatism)
19.3.2017 – New Mathilda (* B H K P)
The War In Yemen Is Turning To Genocide, And Australia Is Quietly Supporting It
Our silence as a nation is destroyed – and innocent men, women and children slaughtered
Yemen is being destroyed.
The scale of the horrors in Yemen
The blockade
Save the Children’s spokesperson explained that “This crisis is happening because food and supplies can’t get into the country. Yemen was completely dependent on imports of food, medicine and fuel prior to this crisis”. He criticised both sides, saying the Saudi coalition should let aid in through the ports, and the Houthis “need to ensure that aid can get to hard-to-reach areas”.
This is a false parity. The blockade is responsible for the famine, and there is no mystery who bears responsibility for the blockade.
Before the war, 90 percent of food in Yemen was imported. 80 percent of it came through the port at Hodeida. Jamie Stern-Weiner helpfully documents the story of Hodeida.
In August 2015, Saudi Arabia announced it was blockading the port. They then bombed the bridge connecting Hodeida to Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, on four separate days that month.
About 90 percent of food aid travelled across that bridge.
The port has reportedly been bombed nine more times since then. For example, it was destroyed again by the Saudi led coalition in August last year. Oxfam complained that “This road is the main supply route for Sanaa as it conveys 90% of World Food Program food coming from Hodeidah to the capital. Its destruction threatens to leave many more people unable to feed themselves, worsening an already catastrophic situation in the country.”
That is, the famine in Yemen is not the result of some strange confluence of factors, or an act of god. It is a conscious war policy adopted by the Saudi-led coalition. Yemen academic specialist Sheila Carapico observed that “for more than a year the objective seems to be to starve Yemen into submission. The naval blockade, supplemented by bombing of hospitals, ports, bridges, and other infrastructure, has prevented imports of essential foods, fuels, and medicines and stunted delivery of basic social services like electricity and water”.
Western support
The New York Times: “Experts say the coalition would be grounded if Washington withheld its support.” This war would end overnight if the West stopped supporting it.
Australia
As I noted in my previous article, our Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has issued only two media releases commenting on the war in Yemen. The last one was in April 2015. It more or less backed the Saudi invasion, having characterised it as a response to a call for “protection” from the government that Bishop recognises as legitimate. She has also signed up to the UN Security Council sanctions, targeting the insurgent coalition fighting the Saudi-led coalition.
Furthermore, Australian mercenaries are fighting as part of the Saudi-led coalition, occupying senior roles in the elite force.
Let me return to the words of Save the Children: “If things are not done now we are going to be looking back on this and millions of children will have starved to death, and we’ll all have been aware of this for some time.”
At this point, words fail me. Almost two years of President Obama took Yemen most of the way to catastrophe. Trump is eager to resume full-scale support for the Saudi war, even as it threatens to amount to genocide – By Michael Brull
18.3.2017 – EPD (A H K)
"Ärzte ohne Grenzen" beklagt Kriegsführung im Jemen: "Grundrechte werden mit Füßen getreten"
Westphal forderte die internationale Gemeinschaft auf, sich mehr im Jemen zu engagieren. "Die mächtigsten Staaten der Welt müssen sich dafür einsetzen, dass die Angriffe auf Zivilisten und Krankenhäuser sofort eingestellt werden." Für humanitäre Helfer sei es enorm schwierig und gefährlich, in diesem rücksichtslosen Krieg zu arbeiten.
18.3.2017 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A K)
Film: Very inspiring on attrition war Gen. David Perkins, a commanders problem in a war between #Yemen drone $200 & $3000000 Saudi patriot missile
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/843078184853786625
18.3.2017 – Yemen Update (A E H)
#Yemen Golf of Aden Ports Corporation announces that #Aden port is fully ready to receive containers and other cargo traffic. (text in image)
https://twitter.com/yemen_updates/status/843081255415627776
My comment: While Hodeida port is blocked and destroyed by the Saudis, to starve out Northern Yemen.
18.3.2017 – The Independent (* B H K P)
We are complicit in the suffering of Yemen's children – we cannot ignore their starvation any longer
We are in a bind where UK humanitarian organisations try to get aid and medicines, paid for by the British taxpayer, into Yemen while a Saudi-led coalition, of which Britain is a part, is pounding the very port facilities through which British support needs to pass
With wall to wall coverage of Brexit consuming the media’s bandwidth, it would be easy to miss the report that most of Yemen is just one step away from famine. Yet entering Yemen on the roll-call of global disasters ignores the fact that famine in Yemen is an entirely man-made phenomenon, and one in which the UK, with its internally inconsistent policy, is tragically complicit. Yemen is not starving; it is being starved.
Yet we are in an intolerable bind where Britain’s development and humanitarian organisations try desperately to get aid and medicines, paid for by the British taxpayer, into Yemen while a Saudi-led coalition, of which Britain is a part, is pounding the very port facilities through which British taxpayer-funded support needs to pass.
As Yemeni children stare into the jaws of starvation, we cannot continue with business as usual. Yemen is being slowly starved by our allies, Saudi Arabia.
The UK is leading an admirable response in providing critical funding to address the crises in Somalia and South Sudan, and we have given £100m in humanitarian aid to Yemen. However, these efforts are undermined by our failure to use our diplomatic muscle to address the root causes of this crisis, and convince our allies to move on from a counter-productive militaristic strategy that is devastating the country.
It cannot conceivably be in our interests, nor those of Saudi Arabia, for Yemen to descend into famine. Brutal collective punishment of the Yemeni population has done little to dent the Houthi rebels’ supremacy through vast swathes of the country
In short: the war isn't working, it's compromising our standing in the world and it's radicalising our enemies.
This report must act as a wake-up call. Demanding unfettered access to Hoedeida port and the re-opening of commercial airspace could avert even greater catastrophe.
It is not too late for the UK to seize the opportunity to be the right side of history by acting to prevent famine in Yemen – by Andrew Mitchell, Conservative MP for Sutton Coldfield
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/yemen-saudi-arabia-famine-starvation-uk-arms-sales-a7636586.html
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
19.3.2017 – TRT (* A E H)
Film: War in Yemen: Black market thriving
The war in Yemen has given rise to a thriving black market, as people find ways to deal with what the UN has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Abubakr al Shamahi has reports.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdNGZvHnzEM
19.3.2017 – Saba Net (A P)
Civil Aviation calls on int'l community to lift air blockade on Yemen
Spokesman of the General Authority of Civil Aviation Mazen Ghanem on Sunday called on the international community to take immediate action to lift the flight blockade on Sana'a International Airport.
"The impact of closing Sana'a International Airport caused major humanitarian disaster, particularly those patients who are in dire need to go abroad for receiving medical treatment," said Ghanem in a statement to Saba.
Thousand patients have died, especially from cancer due to the siege on the airport, which prevent them from travelling abroad for medical treatment, he said.
Still, hundreds of cancer patients are waiting for their unknown fate, hopping to be allowed to travel.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459416.htm
18.3.2017 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (* A H)
Yemen Humanitarian Bulletin Issue 21 | As of 18 March 2017
With an alarming 18.8 million people - over two thirds of the population - in need of some kind of assistance or protection to meet their basic needs, Yemen is one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time.
Of particular concern is the rapidly deteriorating food security situation in the country, with 60 per cent of the population - 17 million people - food insecure. This means that Yemenis are not able to feed themselves adequately and are frequently forced to miss meals and eat food of poor nutritional value. More worrying, because of the disruption and blocking of import mechanisms, the country is now facing the risk of famine in 2017. “The conflict in Yemen is now the primary driver of the largest food security emergency in the world,” said the Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien in his last briefing to the Security Council on Yemen
Yemen’s economy has been severely affected by conflict. Already by far the poorest country in the region before the conflict, Yemen’s GDP per capita is estimated to have contracted by about 35 per cent since 2015. The salaries and pensions of 1.5 million civil servants have been sporadically paid in the past months. This is affecting close to one quarter of the Yemeni population. An estimated 8 million Yemenis have lost their livelihoods or are living in communities with minimal to no basic services. The fishing and agriculture sectors have been reduced by 65 and 50 per cent respectively and over 70 per cent of small and medium enterprises have been forced to lay off half of their workforce.
As a result of the conflict, social service provision has nearly ceased. The situation is particularly alarming in the health sector. An estimated 14.8 million people lack access to basic healthcare, including 8.8 million living in severely under-served areas. This has seen thousands of Yemenis dying from preventable diseases, which shockingly includes one child every ten minutes.
Alarmingly, the consequences of the conflict are affecting the wellbeing of coming generations of Yemenis. With over two million children acutely malnourished and at least two million children out of school, their future has already been impacted in terms of health and social and economic opportunities.
As of 11 January, more than 15,000 suspected cholera cases have been reported in 156 districts across Yemen, an estimated 34 per cent are children below five years of age. The conflict and its economic consequences have left the Yemeni health system reliant on international assistance to control any epidemic outbreak, including disease surveillance and control. Only 45 per cent of health facilities are currently functioning, and even these face severe shortages in medicines, equipment and staff. The lack of capacity, coupled with population displacement, overcrowding and inadequate sanitation have contributed to the occurrence and spread of the cholera/Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD) outbreak.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-humanitarian-bulletin-issue-21-18-march-2017 and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/20170318_hb_en_final.pdf and https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/node/142245
18.3.2017 – Fatik Al-Rodaini (A H)
Good morning guys, @monareliefye distributing now food aid to vulnerable families in an old Sanaa.
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/843380857905799168
17.3.2017 – Human Needs Deve (A H)
With over 14 million people in #Yemen suffering from food insecurity,we are in the ground to provide them with food. Best thx to donors. (photos)
https://twitter.com/HNDngoYE/status/842789659273060352
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
19.3.2017 – Saba Net (A T)
Police dismantles bomb in Baidha
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459475.htm
19.3.2017 – Saba Net (A K P)
Parliament condemns crimes of US-Saudi aggression
Parliament held a session headed by speaker Yahia Ali Al-Ra'aie, during which the meeting strongly condemned Saudi aggression war crimes on the African refugees off Hodeida port city.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459424.htm
19.3.2017 – Saba Net (A K P)
Hodeida tribes announces mobilization against Saudi aggression
Tribes of the Red Sea port of Hodeida province announced on Sunday a general mobilization against the enemy, In retaliatory response to the Saudi barbaric aggression against the Yemeni people.
The announcement came during a mass protest rally to support the men in the front lines against enemy Saudi aggression.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459433.htm
19.3.2017 – Saba Net (A)
113 suspects of crimes arrested
The security services and popular committees have arrested 113 suspects accused of different crimes in several provinces over the past two days, a security official told Saba on Sunday.
The security services have restored two cars and a motorcycle stolen by some of the arrested.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459429.htm
18.3.2017 – Saba Net (A T)
Al-Qaeda member arrested in Baidha
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459388.htm
18.3.2017 – Saba Net (A P)
Hundreds of Thousands rally against US-Saudi war crimes, economic blockade
Hundreds of Thousands of Yemeni people staged a rally to protest US-Saudi aggression war crimes and all-out economic siege since two years.
The rally took place in downtown the capital Sana'a on Friday.
The participants held banners reading : stop US-Saudi war crimes, blocked and release salaries of the state employees.
The rally demanded the Security Council of the United Nations, the international community, and all international human rights organizations to speed efforts to stop the aggression war and lift the commercial and economic blocked on the people of Yemen.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459324.htm
photos:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=646439882206747&id=409848745865863
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=646432492207486&id=409848745865863
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/842703853418110978
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/videos/1651150408514280/ (film)
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
Siehe / Look at cp1
18,3,2017 – Almasdar Online (A T)
Two people killed, four wounded in bomb explosion in wedding in Aden – medical source
Two people at least were killed and others wounded on Tuesday evening when a grenade was thrown on a wedding ceremony in Dar Saad district in Aden province, the interim capital, southern Yemen.
A medical source in the Republic Hospital told Almasdaronline that two young men were killed by the shrapnel of a grenade thrown by someone on a wedding ceremony at Lohom neighborhood in Dar Saad district.
“The blast also resulted in the injury of four others”.
It is noteworthy that the phenomenon of opening fire has considerably spread during the wedding ceremonies
http://almasdaronline.com/article/89676
17.3.2017 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A K P)
Yemen Army Chief of Staff: Hodeida Offensive Discussed with President Hadi
Yemen’s President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi discussed with the national army’s commandership latest military developments and advances across Yemen battlefront.
Launching the second phase of military operations on a number of fronts in addition to offensives to be staged in the upcoming few days were presented before President Hadi.
Military command has provided President Hadi with latest developments and details on future offensives, including the operation to liberate Hodeida, Army Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Mekdashi told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Significant advances made by pro-government forces, made up of national army units and local tribesman partaking a popular anti-Houthi resistance, were registered in each of the key coastal region of Mokha and Arhab district near the coup-held Sana’a.
Progress made on behalf of pro-government forces has tipped the table in favor of legitimate authorities, in hopes that field losses suffered by the insurgency would force militias to commit to negotiations.
Rate of arms trafficking, according to Maj.Gen Mekdashi, has considerably decreased since pro-government army forces restored control over a large fraction of Yemen’s western coastline – by Said Al-Abyad
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
19.3.2017 – Al Sahwa (A P)
UN Security Council calls for cooperating with UN Envoy to Yemen
The UN Security Council has confirmed its support for the UN Envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, demanding all parties to cooperate with him to reach a reconciliation.
This stance came during a session held by the council on Friday at a request of Russia.
The UK Ambassador to the United Nations Mathew Rycroft said that a reconciliation must be reached in Yemen, indicating that the specter of famine jeopardizes millions of Yemenis
The council appealed to all Yemeni parties to cooperate in order to reach a reconciliation, asserting that all Yemen areas on the brink of famine.
http://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-5099
My comment: Something like that really is “no news”.
18.3.2017 – Sputnik News (A P)
Russia Concerned by Military Solution to Yemen Crisis, Urges Dialogue - UN Envoy
Russia is concerned by possible attempts to bring about a military solution to the crisis in Yemen and instead urges establishing dialogue and a diplomatic process, Deputy Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vladimir Safronkov told reporters after UN Security Council consultations.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201703181051709002-russia-concerned-yemen-military-solution/
17.3.2017 – N Department of Public Information ( A P)
UN Special Envoy to Yemen concludes European tour
Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed Concludes Consultations with Senior Officials in Europe, Calls for Renewed Political and Humanitarian Efforts to End Conflict and Alleviate Suffering in Yemen.
The United Nations Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, concluded today a four day visit to Europe, during which he held consultations with senior officials and Middle East experts on the situation in Yemen.
In London, the Special Envoy took part in the Quint meeting that was hosted by the British Government, and brought together representatives from the United States, United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the Sultanate of Oman. The Special Envoy took the opportunity to present the UN’s concerns over the continued lack of political settlement and the humanitarian crisis facing Yemen. He also discussed potential solutions to the ongoing conflict.
The Special Envoy briefed his interlocutors on the disastrous situation in the country and his concerns over the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian and economic situation. “The conflict has already killed and maimed tens of thousands and displaced many more. How many more need to lose their life before the parties assume their moral responsibility and commit to a peace process and an end to the fighting? It would be tragic if the Yemenis miss the opportunity to negotiate a political settlement when it is clearly within reach,” said the Special Envoy.
Special Envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed urged the international community to do everything in its power to urge restraint amongst all the warring parties, help alleviate the suffering of the population and promote a negotiated political settlement to the conflict.
http://www.unog.ch/unog/website/news_media.nsf/(httpNewsByYear_en)/55F8FA0ADB8658EAC12580E60064C566?OpenDocument = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/un-special-envoy-yemen-concludes-european-tour-enar and also http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=56371#.WMy9pfk1-Ul
Comment: He has sided with the aggressors for almost 2 years, yet: ''The United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen today...
https://twitter.com/Living_Yemen/status/842828024827564034
My comment: Look at comment to next article – it’s the same.
17.3.2017 – UN (A P)
UNHCR appalled at attack on refugee boat off Yemen
Statement by UNHCR spokesman William Spindler.
UNHCR is appalled by the deaths of refugees after a boat carrying them across the Red Sea from Yemen to Sudan was reportedly attacked overnight on Thursday during hostilities off the governorate of Al Hudaydah on Yemen’s west coast. Although details are still unconfirmed, it appears that a number of Somali refugees were among those killed or injured.
UNHCR continues to urge all parties to the conflict in Yemen do their utmost to protect civilians.
My comment: Rule 1 for UN statements on Yemen: In case of war crimes NEVER mention the Saudi coalition but hide yourself behind “attacked” (anonymously) and “urge all parties to the conflict”. Rule 2: Same as rule 1.
17.3.2017 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (A P)
[Commenting the UN envoys tweets]
Whoa. Calm down with the rapid tweets. Words you're looking for are: "I condemn attack on civilian boat killed dozens off #Yemen coast". :)
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/842816010407370753
cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran
17.3.2017 – PressTV Iran (A P)
Saudi undermines stability, calm in Mideast: Iranian official
A senior Iranian official has roundly dismissed the latest anti-Iran remarks by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, stressing that not only has Riyadh not helped Middle East stability, but also fanned the flames of regional insecurity through its aggression against Yemen and support for terror groups operating in Syria.
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
18.3.2017 – Reuters (A E P)
Beijing, Saudi Arabia agree to more oil cooperation, exports to China
China and Saudi Arabia will increase their cooperation in the oil sector, including in Saudi oil exports to China, the two countries said in a joint communique issued on Saturday at the end of Saudi Arabian King Salman's visit to Beijing.
The world's largest oil exporter has been looking to cement ties with the world's second-largest economy.
After losing market share to Russia last year, Saudi Arabia has sought to boost oil sales to China, the world's second-largest oil market, by working mostly with China's top three state oil firms.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-saudi-idUSKBN16P055
18.3.2017 – Saudi Gazette (A H P)
Fitness program
The fitness program called “Rashaqa” that was recently launched by the Ministers of Education and Health is really important because it aims to promote healthy and active lifestyles and reduce obesity among all segments of Saudi society. The program has been launched in schools and targets both boys and girls.
The obesity rate among girls has been increasing, causing constant worry for many families – By Salima Al-Moshi
http://saudigazette.com.sa/opinion/local-viewpoint/fitness-program/
My comment: That’s no wonder when thinking what a life Wahabi ideology enforces on girls and women in Saudi Arabia.
17.3.2017 – Almasdar News (* A H)
Saudi Arabia wages a biologic war on Iraqis
World Health Organization warns of counterfeit Saudi medications sent as “humanitarian aid shipment” to Iraq According to pan-Arab daily al-Sharq al-Awsat, Ms. Fadéla Chaib, World Health Organization’s (WHO) spokeswoman in an interview with United Nations Radio warned of a suspicious Saudi relief cargo sent to Iraq and delivered to Iraqi officials on Thursday morning.
Ms. Chaib pointed to the fact that most of these medications are probably toxic and expired, adding: “the Saudi officials prevented our inspectors stationed at the Riyadh airport to take necessary samples from the consignment and conduct field tests which is obviously mandatory under the international regulations but after long and tenacious discussions with Iraqi officials we could finally conduct laboratory testing. After performing meticulous laboratory tests and quality control we sadly realized that this shipment of Saudi medical donation is replete with either expired or counterfeit drugs.”
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/saudi-arabia-wages-biologic-war-iraqis/
16.3.2017 – Reuters (* A E P)
CHINA AND SAUDI ARABIA SIGN DEALS WORTH $65 BILLION ON KING'S VISIT TO BEIJING
The world's largest oil producer looks to cement ties with the world's second-largest economy.
http://europe.newsweek.com/china-saudi-arabia-sign-deals-worth-65-billion-king-visit-568685
17.3.2017 – World Nuclear News (A E P)
Feasibility study for Saudi Arabian HTGR project
China and Saudi Arabia have signed a cooperation agreement for a joint study on the feasibility of constructing high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) in the Middle Eastern country.
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-Feasibility-study-for-Saudi-Arabian-HTGR-project-1703174.html
13.3.2017 – Foreign Affairs (A E P)
Saudi Arabia's Failed Oil War
Why Its Days of Market Dominance Are Over
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/saudi-arabia/2017-03-13/saudi-arabias-failed-oil-war
Comment: One question comes to mind: no one in the GCC countries operates independently. There are no local 'experts'. These tiny states have always relied on foreign advisors and 'intelligence'. Whose kamikaze idea was this?
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1307715572614803
28.2.2017 – RT (** B H P)
Torture, abuse, & harassment: ex-housemaids describe horrors of working in Saudi Arabia to RT
Two Indian women who used to work as housemaids in Saudi Arabia shared their stories of being held captive by employers. They say they were subject to sexual abuse and torture, and claim hundreds of women currently live in similar circumstances.
“The owners of the house where I had to work treated me very badly – they used to beat me every day, harass and torture me,” 38-year-old Noorjahan Akbar Husen tells RT.
She and her husband were hoaxed by an agent in Mumbai, who promised to provide a job for them in Riyadh, but offered a different one in the Saudi city of Dammam. She was separated from her husband right after landing in Saudi Arabia, and held captive, tortured, and harassed on a daily basis. She was also forced to work for a “home service,” which is a byword for the flesh trade in Saudi Arabia, she says. Her struggle to gain back her freedom lasted several years.
“When I informed the Indian Embassy people, they told me to continue working in the house. They said if I complained, the owner would make a false complaint against me, and the local government might put me and my husband in jail. I asked them for help every day,” the woman, who now returned to Ahmedabad, India, said.
She also said her owner prevented her from leaving the country using his influence in the Indian Embassy, which is a standard practice, according to the woman.
“Many owners in Dammam are in contact with the Indian Embassy people, so they bribe them and prevent maids like me from leaving the country… My husband asked Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj for help on many occasions, but it didn’t come,” she explained, adding that the only way to get any help was to bribe the embassy officials.
Saudi Arabia still makes headlines for alleged human rights abuses. For instance, in a recent report, Amnesty International said women and girls continue to face discrimination and are inadequately protected against sexual abuse in the country.
“Women and girls continued to face discrimination in law and in practice, and were inadequately protected against sexual and other forms of violence. Women remained legally subordinate and inferior in status to men,” the group’s annual report for 2016/2017 states.
Human Rights Watch has also repeatedly slammed the country for its human rights record, stating that out of more than nine million migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, which constitutes half of the workforce, many suffer abuse and exploitation “amounting to conditions of forced labor.”
Colin S. Cavell, author and political analyst, says the practice of sexual slavery has deep roots within Saudi Arabia’s political system and can hardly be eliminated unless the regime changes.
“The practice of sexual slavery is able to continue in the kingdom because of the structure of the regime in Saudi Arabia. It is a corrupt regime run by… a family dynasty that is unelected and rules with an iron fist,” he told RT.
https://www.rt.com/news/378927-saudi-arabia-maids-abuse/ and film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQNWX_a533M = https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/836632302125985792
cp9 USA
Siehe / Look at cp1
18.3.2017 – The Politic (* B K P)
A Dangerous Future for Yemen: US Interference and the Yemeni Civil War
On the campaign trail, Trump both stressed a need for less foreign interventionism and for immediate action against violent extremism.
The recent raid in al-Ghayil may indicate that the Trump-led American government will take on a more aggressive approach in Yemen than the previous administration. However, the U.S. strike in al-Ghayil brings into question the primary objectives of American foreign policy in Yemen.
On the campaign trail, President Trump made clear his intention to steer away from unnecessary foreign intervention, demanding that the United States “stop racing to topple foreign regimes that we know nothing about, [and] that we shouldn’t be involved with.” At the same time, he has also reiterated the need to extinguish radical Islamic terrorism and to counter the rising power of Iran in the region.
The Yemeni civil war thus presents a conundrum for U.S. government and security officials. Strikes like the al-Ghayil raid may stem the growth of AQAP in Yemen, but they also yield small benefits with huge liabilities attached, such as high death tolls and damage to costly weaponry.
If the United States continues to attempt similar missions against AQAP and other radical organizations in Yemen, it will put U.S. troops and innocent Yemeni at greater risk.
For all the costs it threatens to incur, increased American involvement in Yemen’s civil war may only prolong the violence. Military operations that kill civilians and raze homes—such as the al-Ghayil raid—help to empower AQAP’s recruitment ability and stoke the flames of anti-American rhetoric used by radical groups.
The Yemeni people now have reason to fear the United States. By abandoning a policy that prioritized civilian lives, the Trump administration walks the path of virulent interventionism where all sides stand to lose – by Julian Martin
http://thepolitic.org/a-dangerous-future-for-yemen-us-interference-and-the-yemeni-civil-war/
18.3.2017 – Near Eastern Outlook (* B P)
Behind Confrontation With Iran Lies the US ‘Greater Destabilizing’ Agenda
As was expected even during Donald Trump’s election campaign, US-Iran relations are touching the lowest ebb—again. While the nuke-deal is still very much intact, the new confrontation, however, is part of the new US game-plan for Syria, where the Islamic Republic has become, in the eyes of the US CENTCOM commander, Joseph Votel, the biggest threat to US interests. It is true that Iran has spent billions to fund the war in Syria, a war if not fought well in Syria will soon reach the Islamic Republic’s own borders, or even inside its cities. Hence, the imperative of defeating an enemy i.e., ISIS, that has been raised to eliminate the ‘un-believers.’ While it is strange to see the US confronting Iran, a country that has successfully resisted and played a pivotal role in rolling back ISIS, it is Iran’s very success against ISIS that has led the US to demand for its exclusion from Syria.
It is by excluding Iran from Syria that the US can achieve its two immediate objectives: a) it can re-galvanize its Arab allies in the conflict and buttress its proxy militias, b) by re-activating jihadist groups in Syria it hopes to reverse the gains the Russian and Syrian forces have achieved. As it stands, this is the only way the US can use to achieve its original plan of encircling and destabilizing the entire region stretching from West Asia to Central and Southeast Asia.
Confrontation with Iran and the latter’s portrayal as an “enemy of peace” is, therefore, only a smoke screen for public consumption. What lies behind is larger agenda of maintaining American hegemony in the world, defeat its arch competitors (Russia and China) by spreading militancy and consequently prevent them from dominating the world’s most resource rich region militarily and economically. While, the US has so far failed to achieve this objective, the renewed confrontation with Iran is yet another attempt on its part to activate dark forces of conflict – by Salman Rafi Sheikh
http://journal-neo.org/2017/03/18/behind-confrontation-with-iran-lies-the-us-greater-destabilizing-agenda/
17.3.2017 – Nina Illingworth (* B K P)
Observations from Outside the Death Star: How Many Ways Can We Start World War Three?
4. Supporting the Saudi Slaughter in Yemen
In my last Observations from Outside the Death Star article, I briefly talked about the Obama administration’s “secondhand” war in Yemen and why, despite attempts by American media to absolve the government for Saudi crimes against humanity, the US remains ultimately responsible for the catastrophic loss of life their allies create with US weapons and technical “advisors.” Unfortunately for those hoping that a change in American presidents might end US involvement in Saudi Arabia’s objectively immoral war against the Yemeni population, the first two months of Donald Trump’s presidency have brought only bitter tidings.
Even if one were to accept the ridiculous premises of the failed US war on terror, the continued slaughter and starvation of the Yemeni people makes little rational sense – as a nation with seven million people facing famine and twice as many suffering from severe severe food insecurity represents fertile recruiting ground for terrorist organizations who oppose the United States.
Naturally, this is all without even mentioning simmering tensions caused by the US government’s ongoing, open hostility towards Iran or the distinct possibility that the CIA may be trying to drag the American swine emperor into a conflict with Russia whether Trump likes it or not. If this is the political situation the United States finds itself in after a mere two months of Trump’s presidency, I simply fail to see how the country can survive four years without entering into at least one catastrophic, globe-altering war – by Nina Illingworth
17.3.2017 – Josephjo1221 (A P)
Trump and Boeing: look at image!
https://twitter.com/JosephJo1221/status/842872838348574722
17.3.2017 – The Independent (* A P)
Donald Trump could be complicit in war crimes, warns Amnesty International
Human rights organisation calls on US President to veto pending arms sales to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain which critics say are destined for use in the Yemeni civil war
Rights charity Amnesty International has urged US President Donald Trump not to approve arms sales to the Gulf countries of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, warning such moves could implicate the US in possible war crimes in Yemen.
“If approved, this deal would essentially have President Trump throwing gasoline on a house fire and locking the door on his way out,” said Margaret Huang, the executive director of Amnesty International USA.
“The US should not continue to arm governments that violate international human rights and humanitarian law and simultaneously shut its doors to those fleeing the violence it helps to escalate.” – by Bethan McKernan
15.3.2017 – Democracy Now (* A H P)
Trump Considers Slashing U.S. Funding to U.N. Amid Warnings of Worst Humanitarian Crisis Since WWII
The Trump administration is seeking billions of dollars in cuts in funding to the United Nations, even as the United Nations warns that the world is facing its largest humanitarian crisis since the end of the Second World War, and seeks $4.4 billion in additional funding by July to avert famine in Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria and South Sudan. For more, we speak with Joel Charny, director of the Norwegian Refugee Council USA.
JOEL CHARNY: Well, at this—the budget will come out tomorrow, but the report is that there will be a 50 percent cut across the board in Trump’s budget for 2018. Now, the U.S. is a very significant supporter of the humanitarian arms of the United Nations, as well as the U.N. across the board. But in the context of 20 million people being on the brink of famine, you’re proposing to cut funding for the high commissioner for refugees, the U.N. refugee agency; for the World Food Programmme, that Ertharin Cousin represents; and for UNICEF. And those three agencies are, on the U.N.'s behalf, on the front line of responding to the situations that we're talking about. So, to call this ill-timed is an incredible understatement. I mean, to—and the other rumor, Amy, is that, you know, there are going to be devastating cuts to the U.S.'s own humanitarian funding through agencies like the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and the refugee bureau at the State Department. So, we're anxiously awaiting the release of the Trump budget tomorrow, but it—we’re obviously quite concerned that, in the context of the massive need that we’re facing and the normal U.S. leadership that we see in responding to famine situations, these cuts, not just for the U.N. but also for domestic—you know, for our international response agencies in the U.S. government, will be devastating.
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/3/15/trump_considers_slashing_us_funding_to
Remark: More reporting, YPR 281.
17.3.2017 – Atlantic Council (* A P)
A Saudi Royal Visits Trump
Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS), became the first Saudi royal to visit the White House during the administration of US President Donald J. Trump. MbS’ visit to Washington and his meeting with Trump on March 14 provided clear signals that the United States considers Saudi Arabia a major ally and MbS a credible partner. Trump and MbS’ meeting may suggest that the White House views the thirty-one-year-old deputy crown prince as the next king of Saudi Arabia, a future leader to depend on in the Middle East, and a representative of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Yet the meetings in Washington may also leave the impression that the United States is trying to balance its relations with both MbS and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Nayef (MbN), suggested by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Mike Pompeo’s visit to Riyadh in February where he met with MbN and awarded him with a medal for his counterterrorism efforts.
MbS, who is charge of all Saudi economic portfolios and is a businessman who owns many companies, seeks to establish a sovereign wealth fund (SWF), a pillar of Vision 2030. This could possibly be the largest SWF in the world, worth $2 trillion, depending on the sale of 5 percent of Saudi oil company Aramco’s shares.
The reception MbS received in Washington sent a signal that the Trump administration has given the deputy crown prince carte blanche to discuss all economic, political, military, and security portfolios as he has, arguably, become the kingdom’s first decision maker.
At the top of the agenda in Washington, Trump and MbS discussed countering “Iran’s destabilizing regional activities,” and exploring “steps across a broad range of political, military, security, economic, cultural, and social dimensions to further strengthen” US-Saudi strategic relations, according to a White House statement.
Trump and MbS also discussed former US President Barak Obama’s decision to suspend the sale of precision-guided munitions to Riyadh in response to high civilian casualties caused by the Saudi military intervention in Yemen. US officials pointed out that Trump was considering ending the ban and approving the sale of such munitions, and all that is left is a White House approval. It should be noted that the kingdom’s military spending, which surpassed $87 billion last year, has almost doubled since 2006.
Saudi investments in the United States were also discussed on the Washington visit.
The visits of both the king and his son to Asia and the United States, respectively, aim to strengthen the kingdom’s economic, military, and political alliances with major world players. This could set the kingdom’s economy on a positive trajectory.
An outstanding issue, which will remain a source of tension in Washington-Riyadh relations, is the controversial Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA). The US law, which passed last year despite Obama’s veto, implies that the Saudi government was partially culpable for the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States and permits victims’ family members to sue the kingdom in US courts. Trump, on the campaign trail, supported JASTA.
MbS’ trip to the White House was about resetting US-Saudi relations in the wake of the Obama presidency – by Shehab al-Makahleh (Sam Mak) is a senior advisor at Gulf State Analytics with experience as a political advisor in the United Arab Emirates.
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/a-saudi-royal-visits-trump
15.3.2017 – Telesur (* A P)
Saudi Arabia Blesses Trump's 'Muslim Ban,' Supports Mexico Wall
Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman said his country had no issues with U.S. President Donald Trump’s travel ban on six Muslim-majority countries, which is being called a “Muslim ban” by critics, while also pointing to a “successful” Saudi border wall with Iraq as an example for Trump’s planned wall with Mexico.
Remark: More reporting, YPR 281.
18.3.2017 – Deutschlandfunk (A P)
Einreiseverbot: US-Regierung legt Widerspruch bei Bundesgericht ein
Die US-Regierung bemüht sich auf juristischem Wege um die Durchsetzung ihres neuen Einreiseverbots für Menschen aus sechs muslimischen Ländern.
Das Justizministerium legte Widerspruch bei einem Bundesgericht im Staat Maryland ein. Dieses hatte neben anderen Gerichten das Einreiseverbot gestoppt.
And as a reminder:
15.2.2017 – Military (* A K)
2 Years Into Yemen War, US Ramps Up Refueling of Saudi Jets
Saudi Arabian coalition jets bombing Houthi rebel sites in Yemen increasingly turn to U.S. Air Force tankers for refueling support almost two years after the conflict began.
Since April 2015, the Air Force has logged 1,778 tanker sorties for the operation, Air Forces Central Command spokeswoman Capt. Kathleen Atanasoff told Military.com on Tuesday. That includes 1,069 over the past year, an increase of 360, or 50 percent, from the 709 in the previous period.
"These operations are ongoing, with aircraft refueling occurring daily," Atanasoff said in an email.
The service's tankers such as KC-135 Stratotankers and KC-10 Extenders participated in 7,564 refueling "events" with coalition aircraft, with "about 54 million pounds of fuel off-loaded in support of Saudi operations in Yemen," Atanasoff said.
Refueling numbers are tracked by the command but, unlike statistics on strikes and sorties against the Islamic State and the Taliban, aren't publicly released via the command's airpower summary factsheets – by Oriana Pawlyk
Comment by Judith Brown: This shows the extent to which western nations are involved with this disastrous conflict.https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155326115313641
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
18.3.2017 – The Independent (* A P)
Yemen war: More than half of British people unaware of ongoing conflict seeing UK weapons deployed by Saudis
Exclusive: Poll shows only 49% Britons know of civil war as it enters third year of bloodshed
More than half of British people are unaware of the “forgotten war” underway in Yemen, despite the Government’s support for a military coalition accused of killing thousands of civilians.
A YouGov poll seen exclusively by The Independent showed 49 per cent of people knew of the country’s ongoing civil war, which has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced three million more and left 14 million facing starvation.
The figure was even lower for the 18 to 24 age group, where only 37 per cent were aware of the Yemen conflict as it enters its third year of bloodshed.
More than 2,100 people were given a list of 16 countries and asked to identify any “currently involved in an ongoing armed conflict” for the research, with 84 per cent naming the Syrian civil war.
The Human Appeal, a Manchester-based charity that commissioned the poll, warned a lack of international awareness was worsening a worsening humanitarian crisis in the Yemen – by Lizzie Dearden
Comment by Judith Brown: Thanks to the media that does not choose to cover this appalling disgusting war.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155325829083641
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
Siehe / Look at cp1 (RT)
17.3.2017 – RT (* A K)
Globale Kriegsdrehscheibe: USA planen umfassenden Ausbau von Militärstützpunkt Ramstein
Als weltweites Imperium brauchen die USA eine Kette belastbarer Militärbasen. Ramstein ist dabei einer der wichtigsten Stützpunkte für die US-Kriegsmaschinerie. Dieser soll nun massiv erweitert werden. Der Bürgermeister frohlockt ob der absehbaren Neuzuzüge.
Etwa 95 Millionen Euro haben die Vereinigten Staaten für den Ausbau des US-Flugplatzes eingeplant, berichtete die Nachrichtenagentur dpa. Da im Jahr 2020 eine US-Basis im Vereinigten Königreich geschlossen werden soll, sollen von dort etwa 750 Soldaten sowie 15 Tankflugzeuge nach Ramstein verlegt werden. Ralf Hechler (CDU), der Bürgermeister von Ramstein, erklärte gegenüber dem SWR zudem, dass ein weiterer Hangar und zwei Nebengebäude errichtet werden.
Der Bürgermeister freut sich nach eigenen Angaben über den Zuwachs. Er rechne infolge des Ausbaus der Basis mit insgesamt bis zu 2.000 Zuzügen nach Ramstein. Derzeit zählt die Gemeinde rund 5.500 Einwohner.
https://deutsch.rt.com/inland/47841-fur-globale-kriege-usa-planen-ausbau-ramstein/
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
18.3.2017 – Agencies (A H P)
Canada gives $120m for famine-hit Africa, Yemen
Canada’s government pledged US$90 million on Friday to help relieve food crises in four countries where 20 million people face starvation and famine.
The funding for afflicted populations in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen came a week after the United Nations launched an urgent appeal for US$4.4 billion in aid by July to “avert a catastrophe” in the region.
“It is a human tragedy that the situation has deteriorated to the extent where we have over 20 million people facing starvation,” said international development minister Marie-Claude Bibeau.
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2017/03/18/canada-gives-120m-for-famine-hit-africa-yemen/ and the full statement of the Canadian government: http://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/canada-announces-funding-response-severe-food-crises-nigeria-somalia-south-sudan
My comment: Of course, such a matter is positive. But in this case, it is – look at the minister’s statement – a sign of Western hypocrisy again: Canada made US $ 15 bln by arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and the government itself against all resistance pushed this sale through. Making money by war and destruction and later giving 0,8 % of it as human relief is really nice.
18.3.2017 – Ali AlAhmed (A P)
While #American Christian soldiers protect #Kuwait, its govt bans Christians from opening a school (image: document)
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/843033717782315008
17.3.2017 – Daily Sabah (* A H)
Türkei sendet medizinische Hilfsgüter nach Jemen und Südsudan
Die Türkei trifft die endgültigen Vereinbarungen, um medizinische Ausstattungen mit Frachtflugzeugen nach Jemen, Südsudan und Ostafrika zu schicken, wo die Zahl der Todesfälle durch den Bürgerkrieg, Dürre und Hungersnot von Tag zu Tag zunimmt.
Die Hilfskampagne die „Sei eine Hoffnung für die Menschheit" lautet, wurde unter der Führung des türkischen Roten Halbmondes und unter Mitwirkung von etwa 30 Nichtregierungsorganisationen gestartet
„Wir werden zunächst einen Luftkorridor mit Frachtflugzeugen in Jemen, Ostafrika und Südsudan eröffnen, um die Medikamentenlieferung durchzuführen. Dann werden wir mit Schiffen diese drei Regionen versorgen", erklärte Kınık
and English version:
Turkish aid campaign to reach Yemen, South Sudan
Turkey has been making final arrangements to send medical equipment with cargo planes to Yemen, South Sudan and East Africa, where the number of deaths due to civil war, drought and famine are increasing day by day.
The aid campaign called "Be a Hope for Humanity" was launched under the leadership of the Turkish Red Crescent and with the participation of about 30 non-governmental organizations
"We will first open an air corridor with cargo planes in Yemen, East Africa and South Sudan to carry out the medication delivery. And then dispatch food to these three regions via ships," Kınık explained.
https://www.dailysabah.com/africa/2017/03/17/turkish-aid-campaign-to-reach-yemen-south-sudan
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
18.3.2017 – MbKS15 (A K)
#RSAF F-15SA Advanced Eagle from Palmdale, #CA (by: Chris Wee) to Riyadh, #SA (by: Zaid Al Kaltham) (photos)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/842982874026598400
cp13b Flüchtlinge / Refugees
Siehe b/ Look at cp1a
18.3.2017 – International Organization for Migration
Frontline immigration officers at Somaliland’s Berbera seaport receive Training on Humanitarian Border Management, Human Rights Law and Counter-Trafficking from IOM
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has just conducted a three-day training on Humanitarian Border Management (HBM), Human Rights Law and Counter-Trafficking for 15 immigration officers working at Berbera seaport.
Berbera is a coastal city located in the north of Somaliland bordering Gulf of Aden. For the past two years Berbera seaport has been receiving ships and boats carrying asylum seekers and Somali returnees fleeing the conflict in Yemen. As of December 2016, 34,760 migrants entered Somalia from Yemen, and Berbera seaport has been one of the main channels for doing so.
Migrants crossing the Gulf of Aden often arrive without documentation or belongings and are in dire need of support. The training on HBM built the capacity of frontline immigration officers –who are the first to interact with these vulnerable individuals – to ensure that human rights are respected, undocumented migrants are registered and their data protected, and that referrals are made to support those in n
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
17.3.2017 – Sputnik News (A T)
US Conducts Strike in Yemen on March 14 Targeting Four al-Qaeda Terrorists
The US air forces launched strike in Yemen on March 14 killing four members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) terror group, according to US Department of Defense spokesperson Capt. Jeff Davis.
The US military carried out a counterterrorism strike in Yemen on March 14 killing four members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) terror group (banned in Russia), US Department of Defense spokesperson Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters on Friday.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201703171051701743-us-yemen-strike-al-qaeda/
My comment: “four members of al-Qaeda”: for sure?
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
Siehe / Look at cp1a
19.3.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US Saudi warplanes launch 11 strike on Hodidah
The US-baked Saudi aggression fighter jets launched eleven air raids on different areas of Hodidah province overnight, a security official told Saba on Saturday.
The official said that the aggression warplanes launched two air raids on southern Masbariah area of Ras Jabal district and dropped two cluster bombs on Khokha district .
Meanwhile, the aggression hit Hali district by an air raid and another raid on airport and five air raids on Salif district, causing considerable damage to public and private properties.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459418.htm
19.3.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Protest rally in Taiz denounces aggression war crimes
Al-Barah area of Taiz province witnessed on Saturday a mass protest rally attended by political parties and senior social figures to denounce the US-backed Saudi aggression coalition against the Yemeni people.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459423.htm
Local authority condemns Saudi airstrikes on civilian rally in Taiz
Local authority of Taiz province strongly condemned on Sunday the US-Saudi aggression airstrikes that targeted the peaceful civilian rally protest that held on Saturday in al-Barh area of Taiz.
The aggression warplanes targeted the civilian participators in the rally was another war crime committed by the alliance of Saudi aggression, the local authority said in a statement to Saba .
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459417.htm
18.3.2017 – Saba Net (* A K PH)
US-Saudi fighter jets continue heinous strikes on different provinces
The US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition continued fierce strikes on various provinces over the past hours, targeting heavy damage to private and public properties, a military official told Saba on Saturday.
The aggression warplanes waged four strikes on different areas of Osylan district of Shabwah province.
In Lahj province, the enemy fighter jets launched two raids on al-Shurayjah area, in addition, an strike hit Habab valley area in Serwah district of Mareb province.
In Sana'a province, Al-Aqran and al-Madfon and Bani Zatr, al-Asarat and Markan areas of Nehm and Arhab districts truck six times by Saudi aggression fighter jets.
The aggression warships fired nine missiles on Mokha district and the warplanes waged two raids on al-Zahary and Yakhtal areas in the same district, as well the enemy warplanes waged six strikes on al-Omari schools in Dhubab districtof Taiz province.
In Sa'ada province, the aggression missiles and artillery shelled Al-Shiekh area of Monabah district and the warplanes launched an raid on al-Jamalah area of Majaz district, the official added.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459381.htm and also http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/03/18/514864/Yemen-Saudi-jets-airstrike-Maqbanah-Taizz
18.3.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Two children, mother wounded in Saudi air strike on Sa'ada
three citizens were injured when US-Saudi fighter jets on Saturday waged a strike on their house in Majza district of Sa'ada province, a local official told Saba.
The mother and two her children were wounded in al-Jamalah area.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459342.htm
18.3.2017 – AFP (A K)
Two senior Yemen rebels survive deadly convoy strike
Two senior Yemen rebels survived a Saudi-led coalition air raid on their convoy in the southwestern province of Taez Saturday that killed eight of their guards, military and medical sources said.
The attacked targeted a convoy carrying Abdu Al-Jundi, who was appointed as the governor of Taez by the Shiite Huthi rebels, and the military commander of the same region, Abu Ali al-Hakem, they said.
The eight guards were killed when two of vehicles in the convoy were hit in the raid near the town of Burj.
Jundi and Hakem were able to escape and seek shelter in a nearby market, a rebel military source said.
A medical worker in Burj said the "charred" bodies of the guards were taken to a local hospital.
http://www.france24.com/en/20170318-two-senior-yemen-rebels-survive-deadly-convoy-strike
My comment: Look at the funny western media wording which still in ten years will label a governor and a military commander as “rebels”, I guess.
There is more information (and a heavily exaggerated figire of victims by:
22.3.2017 - Almasdar Online (A K PS)
A source reveals the death of senior Houthi figure in the Saturday airstrikes in Taiz
A military source in the pro-government forces revealed on Monday that the military and security officer of the Houthi militants in Taiz province, southwestern Yemen, was killed on last Saturday in the airstrikes launched by the Arab Coalition aircrafts targeted his motorcade in Maqbanah district.
It is noteworthy that the Coalition fighter jets had launched six raids on an armed motorcade in Maqbanah, in which the Houthi-appointed Taiz Governor Abdo Al Janadi had escaped death, while around 50 militants, including the deputy governor, were killed.
The source told Almasdaronline that the military and security chief of the Houthis, Colonel Abdulmalik al-Shahari, known as ''Abu Shihab'', was killed in the aerial bombardment.
“Al-Shahari, who descends from the Houthi stronghold Saada province, was the director of the security department of Taiz after he was promoted to the rank of colonel”.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/89789
18.3.2017 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A K PH)
Taiz Governor Abdo Al Janadi outlive from a Saudi jets raid on his convoy. Raid resulted in the deaths of 6 of his guards & wounding others (photo)
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/843084304603369472 and film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS47bFD_PXg
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
19.3.2017 – Anadolu (A K)
Violence kills 4 government troops in western Yemen
Three soldiers and senior army commander killed in Mocha city that was captured from Houthi rebels in late January
Four government troops were killed in a landmine explosion and clashes in western Yemen on Saturday, according to military sources.
The landmine exploded as a military vehicle was passing in Al-Jadid district in the port city of Mocha, a military source said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to media.
“Three soldiers were killed and seven others injured in the attack," the source said.
Another military source said a senior army commander was killed in clashes with Houthi rebels in Jabal al-Huza in the city.
Backed by Saudi-led warplanes, Yemeni government forces captured Mocha city from Houthis in late January.
http://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/violence-kills-4-government-troops-in-western-yemen-2630687
17.3.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army pounds mercenaries' gatherings in Mocha
The missile force of the army and popular forces pounded on Friday Saudi- paid mercenaries' gatherings in the east of Mocha.
The army and popular forces hit the mercenaries with an Urgan missile, a military official told Saba, adding that the missile hit its target accurately.
Tens of mercenaries were killed or injured in the army and popular forces bounding.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459271.htm
19.3.2017 – Middle East Monitor / Anadolu (A K)
Yemen’s Houthis say fired ballistic missile on Riyadh
Yemen’s Houthi group on Saturday claimed to have fired a ballistic missile on Saudi capital Riyadh, according to a local military source.
The source said the missile was fired on King Salman Air Base in Riyadh, the Houthi-run Saba news agency reported.
According to the agency, the missile struck its target and caused heavy losses in the base.
There was no comment from the Saudi authorities or the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthis on the claim.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170319-yemens-houthis-say-fired-ballistic-missile-on-riyadh/ = http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/yemen-s-houthis-say-fired-ballistic-missile-on-riyadh/774814
18.3.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Yemen Army announces firing ballistic missile on king Salman air-base in RiyadhThe Yemeni army and popular forces fired on Saturday night a ballistic missile, Burcan 2, on the king Salman air-base in Saudi capital of Riyadh, a military official told Saba.
The official said that the missile hit the target accurately.
The statement said the attack "came in a retaliatory response to Saudi continuing aggression criminal war against the Yemeni people since two years." http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459406.htm
17.3.2017 – MbKS15 (A K PS)
Royal #Saudi Land Forces send more M198 howitzer units to Ma'rib, #Yemen (photo)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/842693389976068096
17.3.2017 – Saba Net (* A K PH)
Tens of mercenaries killed, injured in Serwah
Tens of Saudi-paid mercenaries on Friday were killed by a missile attack of the army and popular forces in Kawfal camp in Serwah district of Mareb province.
A military official told Saba the army and popular forces hit the mercenaries camp with missile rocket of Zizal 1.
The attack hit its target accurately.
Tens mercenaries were also injured in the attack.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459249.htm
This impact is a real one, as seen here:
17.3.2017 – Reuters (*A AT)
Twenty two people killed in mosque attack in Yemen's Marib
Twenty two people were killed in an attack on a mosque during Friday prayers inside a military base in Yemen's Marib province, local officials said.
Two missiles were fired at the mosque located inside the military camp of Kofal in the west of Marib after a rocket was fired, the officials said.
Most of Marib is under the control of forces loyal to President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi. Iran-allied Houthis are battling his internationally recognized government – By Maha El Dahan
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-idUSKBN16O1ZL
17.3.2017 – Aljazeera (* A K)
Houthi missile attack kills dozens in Yemen mosque
At least 22 members of pro-government forces have been killed in a rebel attack on a mosque inside a military base in Yemen, according to medical sources.
Two missiles fired by Houthi rebels on Friday hit worshippers in Sirwa, western Marib province.
The first missile hit the mosque inside the Kofal military camp during prayers, while the second struck during rescue efforts, local sources said.
Dozens of people were also wounded in the attack, which was claimed by a rebel news agency.
photo: https://twitter.com/JosephJo1221/status/842738616191401984
17.3.2017 – Arab News (* A K)
26 Yemen soldiers killed in Houthi missile attack
A Houthi missile attack Friday killed 26 members of pro-government forces in a camp east of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, hospital officials in the town of Al-Maarib said.
The news agency of the internationally recognized government said the attack took place during Friday prayers in Al-Maarib province, eastern Yemen.
The death toll is expected to rise, it said. A loyalist military source said the attack targeted the mosque at Kofel camp.
Lt. Gen. Ali Mohsen Saleh Al-Ahmar, Yemeni vice president, condemned the “heinous terrorist crime” targeting the mosque.
“It reveals the true face of the coup who violated the sanctity of mosques,” the official said in a statement to the Yemen News Agency.
“The militia’s coup perpetrated in this incident a double crime. They bombed the mosque and then re-targeted the medics who were trying to provide aid to the victims.”
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1070126/middle-east
My comment: It’s war, it’s a military camp, military target, why that excitement? International laws of war do not protect military religious places.
18.3.2017 – Al Araby (* A K)
camp toll rises
The Yemeni army said the toll from Friday's rebel rocket attack on its camp in Marib province, east of the capital Sanaa, had risen to 32 dead and 81 wounded.
Military sources said the rebels hit the Kofel camp in Sarwah district with a Katyusha-type multiple rocket launcher and hit a mosque crowded with soldiers for the main weekly prayers.
18.3.2017 – AFP (* A K)
Houthi missiles kill dozens of Yemen soldiers at mosque
Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed dozens of pro-government fighters in a missile attack on a mosque during Friday prayers.
A loyalist military source said the attack targeted the mosque at Kofel camp in Marib province, east of the rebel-held capital Sanaa.
Hospital officials in Marib city, the provincial capital, said at least 26 pro-government fighters were killed.
A military official in Marib said attack was carried out with Katyusha-type rockets, but the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency said the rebels used Iranian-made Zelzal-1 missiles, followed by artillery fire.
"Dozens of bodies of burned soldiers were evacuated from the site," Saba said, without mentioning that a mosque had been hit.
Earlier on Friday, more than 40 Somali refugees including women and children were shot dead aboard a boat in the Red Sea off Yemen’s east coast.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.
The refugees were hit by light weapons fire in waters off rebel-held Hodeidah but managed to dock in the city’s port, an official there said.
Major General Ahmed Assiri, spokesman for the coalition, dismissed the accusation and said its forces had not been involved in fighting in Hodeidah.
"There has been no firing by the coalition in this zone," Maj Gen Assiri said.
http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/houthi-missiles-kill-dozens-of-yemen-soldiers-at-mosque
And on this piece of propaganda journalism (and propaganda also to be found elsewhere on these incidents), there is a very useful comment by
19.3.2017 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (** A K)
THIS imbecilic misinformation attempt,
under guise of journalism, to clear Saudi-led Co from boat attack in #Yemen (full text in image)
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/843461216152489984
18.3.2017 – Saudi Press Agency (A K P)
GCC Secretary General Strongly Denounces Bombing Mosque in Marib, Yemen
Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), strongly condemned a missile attack carried out yesterday by Houthi and Saleh militias against a mosque in Sirwah Directorate, in Marib Province, which resulted in martyrdom and wounding scores of innocent worshipers.
In a statement to Saudi Press agency (SPA), the GCC Secretary General stressed that this rocket attack is a heinous terrorist crime which is incompatible with the principles of Islamic (Sharia) law and international law, stressing that targeting places of worship and shedding the blood of innocent people are terrorist crimes and represent a dangerous escalation which cannot be justified or tolerated.
http://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1603446 and http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2596865&Language=en
My comment: He of course omits that this was a mosque for soldiers within a military camp.
19.3.2017 – Ahram Online (A K P)
Egypt, Al-Azhar strongly condemn Houthi attack on Yemeni mosque
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/261223/-.aspx
My comment: They all seem not to know what a military camp is.
18.3.2017 – National Yemen (A K P)
Yemen: The local authority in Marib Release Statement on the Mosque Attach
The local authority in Marib is working side by side with the legitimate government personals in charge, local, regional and international humanitarian organizations in order to overcome the existing situation which is created by the Houthi militias coup and their bloody aggressions.
The local authority here, appreciates the endless efforts and support of H.E. President Abdu-Rabbou Mansour Hadi, president of the Republic of Yemen, Vice President Lt. General Ali Mohsein Al-Ahmer, Prime Minister, Dr. Ahmed Obaid Bin Daghar, who made everything is possible and highly urged the local authority to assist the families of victims. They have taken the necessary measures to pay more attention for the families of martyrs and wounded people.
The Militias did not give up by shelling the mosque, they have attacked as well the ambulances and crews, not just that, they have proudly announce their shameful attack in their media TV channels and news websites.
This attack proves the militias’ awful and inhumanities practices which is not less than the globe terrorist attacks, that hit civilians everywhere in the world (photo)
My comment: Nice propaganda, but that’s war, and soldiers and the precinct of a military camp are legitimate military targets – no such targets within a military camp only would be military hospitals marked as such, and nothing else, no mosques, churches etc.– Declaring warfare as “terrorism” seems to be the way Hadi / Saudi propaganda tries to politically capitalize on this strike, look at the following article. If this attack at a military target should be labeled as “terrorism”, there are many others which could be labeled as “terrorism”: all the Saudi coalition air raids, targeting at civilians and civilian infrastructure, many thousands of air raids. – If as a Muslim someone thinks it is infuriating that a mosque is targeted and a mosque must stay safe as it is a sacred place, keep in mind that this is not covered by the laws of war (might-be of the rules a good Muslim should comply with in war) and let sink this figure please: Until day 700 of the Saudi air campaign (today: day 723), Saudi coalition air raids had destroyed or damaged 706 mosques in Yemen (https://www.facebook.com/551288185021551/photos/a.551858951631141.1073741828.551288185021551/779763265507374/?type=3). THIS IS ONE A DAY. Wahabists also like to bulldoze mosques, as happened in Bahrain in 2011 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_Shia_mosques_during_the_2011_Bahraini_uprising and http://bahrainrights.org/sites/default/files/The%20Destruction%20of%20Places%20of%20Worship%20in%20Bahrain_2.pdf). Who are the “terrorists” and bad Muslims, please? The only way out is an end of this war, which had been blocked by “president” Hadi and his insisting on UNSC resolution 2216 since the start of any peace negotiations. – Of course, All deaths are pointless and sad. The war needs to end.
18.3.2017 – Al Arabiya (A P)
Yemen’s Hadi: Marib mosque attack is an act of terrorism
President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi described the 'terrorist attack' on a mosque in Yemen’s military base in Marib province as ‘ugly.'
Hadi pointed out that the killing methods pursued by Houthi militias cannot be tolerated, and that they represent all the aspects of terrorism (with photos)
18.3.2017 – Simon Shercliff, British ambassador to Yemen (A K P)
Reports of 2 terrible attacks on civilians y'day: the refugee boat & mosque in Marib; over 50 innocents dead. #Yemen needs a peace agreement
https://twitter.com/simonshercliff/status/842971334112088065
Comment by Judith Brown: The strike on refugees fleeing Yemen was by Saudi Arabia. The strike in the mosque in Marib was by the Houthi-Saleh alliance and local sources tell me it was an attack on an army camp. If this is so it's hard to think that he didn't know and he is just misleading his followers.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155326136808641
Comment by Haykal Bafana: This mosque in Marib? It's an army camp, only soldiers killed, in the middle of a war. The word "innocents" does not apply.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/843018274640183296
More comments: In all cases, any facility within a military camp are legitimate targets in the wars and within the rules of engagement
https://twitter.com/I4Yemen/status/843062933181599744
The boat was full of refugees, attacked by Saudi. The mosque was inside a military camp, full of soldiers.
https://twitter.com/simonshercliff/status/842971334112088065
My comment: I agree to these comments.
Houthi / Saleh reports:
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459461.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459466.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459430.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459396.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459341.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459308.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459302.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459298.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459288.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news459246.htm
Pro-Saudi / Pro-Hadi reports:
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170216-saudi-intercepts-three-missiles-from-yemen-houthis-in-24-hours/ and http://english.aawsat.com/theaawsat/news-middle-east/saudi-led-coalition-intercepts-missile-targeted-towards-jizan
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/842790794859831296
Houthi / Saleh films:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL6mM8_L1As&feature=youtu.be&a
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfOKAWQw_KI&feature=youtu.be&a
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8bkDhlcafI&feature=youtu.be&a
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZlCuXds3qA&feature=youtu.be&a
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19R6ZQcLts8&feature=youtu.be&a
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YBJ9Nj5_mU&feature=youtu.be&a
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4sr82a1MK4&feature=youtu.be&a
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu700LXkToA&feature=youtu.be&a
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/843224064244285440
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5WRHhLxoHE&feature=youtu.be&a
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjKFFsZ5Pos&feature=youtu.be&a
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFzfe55fYoA&feature=youtu.be&a
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi9KqsGXtp8&feature=youtu.be&a
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fENYatsCbXE&feature=youtu.be&a
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxPHIt8I_bs&feature=youtu.be&a
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZkirvR_T9U&feature=youtu.be&a
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTA1lXMk0zg&feature=youtu.be&a
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
2017 – 123rf
Lizenzfreie Fotos Altstadt von Sanaa (License free photos of old Sanaa)
https://de.123rf.com/photo_13855531_stock-photo.html
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-281-yemen-war-mosaic-281
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-281 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-281:
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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